FanHouse Drew Bennett

If Derrick Mason has retired as a negotiating ploy, his hand just got a whole lot stronger. The announcement that his replacement Drew Bennett has also retired means that once again, the Ravens are faced with arguably the worst receiving corps in the league.

You could argue that adding Bennett didn't do a whole lot to change that, but without Mason and Bennett, the Ravens are left with Mark Clayton and very little else.

It's hard to think of a receiver more important to his offense than Mason. He was Joe Flacco's target on 121 passes last year -- the rest of the receivers on the Ravens' 2008 roster were targeted for only 110 combined passes. According to Football Outsiders' stats, Clayton was the target for 82 passes, No. 3 wide receiver Demetrius Williams was thrown 23 balls and Yamon Figurs, a kick returner who occasionally will get a play at wide receiver, saw five balls.

On Thursday, the Ravens agreed to a deal with veteran wide receiver Drew Bennett, in hopes that he would fill the gap created by Derrick Mason's retirement. That plan lasted all of three days.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Bennett decided to retire on Sunday due to an old knee injury.

"After returning home from Baltimore this weekend, a previous knee injury flared up, making me realize that I am unable to play another NFL season," Bennett said in a statement released by his agent. "Therefore, I have decided to retire from the National Football League."

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Drew Bennett isn't playing hard to get.

The former Titans and Rams receiver left Nashville a couple of years ago in free agency, but after finding plenty of losses and little production in St. Louis, Nashville looks pretty good. Bennett is trolling for a contract offer -- something he's had no luck getting up to now after visits to Atlanta and Cleveland.

Two years ago, Drew Bennett was one of the most heavily touted targets of a pretty lackluster free agent wide receiver crop. The Rams managed to outbid several other teams for the ex-Titan, snagging the big receiver with a six-year, $30-million deal.

In hindsight it was one of the dumber moves the Rams have made in a while. The Rams let Bennett go on Wednesday, even though it will save them only $50,000 on the salary cap. In essence, St. Louis decided that it would be better off without Bennett, even though it would have cost them very little to keep him.

Waiver Wire Wonders is your weekly guide on how to use/abuse those pesky waiver claims that come with every fantasy football league.

The beauty of fantasy football is that this late in the season, there are always people of relative importance popping up. Sometimes it's because they took a while to develop, and sometimes they emerge because of early season injuries that turned them into cast offs and pariahs. Yet, here you are, still desperate after all these weeks. Go ahead, don't be shy. You can admit you're at least intrigued by Cadillac.

Cadillac Williams, RB, TB
Yes, that's right. The old car that your grandmother drives is suddenly relevant again. Why? Because he's coming off the PUP soon and Jon Gruden has shown little to absolute zero care about how he manages his roster in the name of winning. (What? Don't believe me? How about starting Brian Griese and putting Earnest Graham in at fullback?) And yeah, Caddy has talent. He's hurt, sure, but, hey, so is Ryan Torian. Sigh. Not your top priority, but certainly worth a claim.

Deion Branch, WR, SEA
Just like this guy. Branch hasn't garnered much attention this year because he hasn't done anything other than pretend he might come back. But he will be back in Week 11, presumably, and that's why you want to grab him now -- if you're hurting at WR and Matt Hasselbeck happens to make it back about the same time, suddenly you're staring at a poor man's Billy Volek - Drew Bennett combo.

In case you didn't get the memo, it's Hate On The Rams week across America when it comes to NFL coverage. Apparently Marshall Faulk did, and he wasn't shy about joining in:

"Decisions have to be made. Do you blow it up, where do you go, what do you do? I mean, players that have had big time success, we're talking Pro Bowl caliber players: Marc Bulger, Torry Holt, Orlando Pace, Steven Jackson. They look like they don't belong in the league. And it's not because they can't play. You're not going to tell me that. I'm not believing that they all of a sudden can't play in this league."

So he's blaming the coaches? Not completely, check out this gem:

"You're not going to tell me that the (Bears) offense that they put out there is more talented than the offense that the Rams put out. It's preparation, it's understanding what you have; it's having guys that are reliable."

It sounds like Marshall is definitely not a fan of Scott Linehan and that he has problems with many of the offensive players ... just not the four he mentioned above.

The word from St. Louis this week is that the Rams are the worst team in the NFL Drew Bennett is out for at least a month with a broken bone in his foot. Bennett was attempting to fill the void left by the departed Isaac Bruce in the offense formerly known as a "show" of some sort. The obvious next in line would have been explosive-at-times rookie Donnie Avery ... only Avery didn't even suit up Sunday against the Eagles and the team still isn't sure he'll be able to play this Sunday. Lucky break for him, really. Who would want to suit up and be embarrassed?

Anyway, the Rams logically decided upon bringing in the ancient Eddie Kennison. It's hard to call Kennison washed up, because he was never really that good a player anyway. But wait, Rams fans, there is hope:

From the 2002 through '06 seasons, Kennison averaged 58 catches for 961 yards for Kansas City. He was released by the Chiefs following an injury-plagued 2007 season, but has stayed in touch with Rams offensive coordinator Al Saunders, who was his coordinator during most of his time in KC.

Wow. Talk about grasping desperately for any shred of positivity.

It's apparently going to be a long season for the Rams, and Scott Linehan better start working on that resume.