Raiders Sign Whose-your-mama (Houshmandzadeh)
Written by playerpress.com, Tuesday November 01 2011
First the Oakland Raiders gave quarterback Carson Palmer a contract and now he will finally have a teammate he recognizes to throw to with the Raiders—his old Bengals buddy T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
The Raiders announced that they signed the 10-year veteran to a contract on Tuesday.
Palmer and Houshmandzadeh were teammates with the Bengals for six seasons, when they both had their greatest success. Although the former Oregon State product is past his prime, the Raiders hope is that he and Palmer will have no trouble getting on the same page.
Houshmadzadeh has been out of the NFL this year after playing for the Baltimore Ravens in 2010, but had been working out with Palmer in Southern California before the quarterback was signed last month.
Houshmadzadeh, 34, is also familiar with Raiders head coach Hue Jackson, who was the Bengals receivers coach for three years. Houshmandzadeh averaged 89 catches over a five-year span in Cincinnati and caught a career-high 112 passes for 1,143 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2007.
Houshmandzadeh left the Bengals and signed with Seattle in 2009 where he caught 79 passes for 911 yards and three touchdowns. In 2010 with the Ravens, he only had 30 catches for 398 yards.
In 10 NFL seasons Houshmandzadeh has caught 616 balls for 7,091 yards and 43 touchdowns, the vast majority of course with Palmer throwing him the ball.
"He's a guy that made a lot of catches when it was sticky," Jackson said on Monday when Houshmandzadeh worked out for the Raiders. "With people draped all over him, he made some uncommon plays for us in Cincinnati."
It is unclear how Houshmadzadeh will fit in with the young and unproven wide receivers already on the Oakland roster. Darius Heyward-Bey leads the team with 27 receptions for 434 yards, but no other receiver has more than 15 catches. Jacoby Ford has been slowed by injuries all season, rookie Denarius Moore had a fast start before fading, Louis Murphy has no catches in the only two games he's played this season, Chaz Schilnes has caught more than two passes in a game only once all season and veteran Derek Hagan had a only one reception in the past three games.
Palmer is expected to start on Sunday when the Raiders host the Denver Broncos and the most polarizing player in the NFL, Tim Tebow. It's doubtful that Houshmadzadeh will play, but that's exactly what everyone thought about Palmer before he played in his first game in Oakland.
Tags:
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- Raiders Sign Whose-your-mama (Houshmandzadeh)
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