ZeroClub;2782158 said:
Using similar statistical logic, one could argue that in 1995, the Dallas Cowboys had one of "the best RB tandems in football" with Emmitt Smith and Sherman Williams. Statistically, it would almost certainly be true.
But really what the Cowboys had in 1995 was the best RB in football and an unproven rookie RB who showed potential (Williams averaged over 4 yards per carry in 1995). To suggest that Sherman Williams was part of "the best RB tandem in football," though, would be to overhype him. It's a half-truth.
Today, Witten is great and Bennett shows potential. Bennett had, what, 20 catches? Certainly that's not bad and we all hope that he'll get better (and not regress).
My point is that Bennett remains a promising but unproven commodity. IMO, to label him a part of "the best" of anything is to overhype him at this point.
Bennett has shown more as a tight end than Williams ever showed as a running back. That doesn't mean Bennett has proven to be a good tight end. It is more so that Williams sucked.
No team in the league has a true two good tight end tandem. It is usually a good tight end and a hopefully serviceable guy. Dallas has their good tight end in Witten and their serviceable guy in Bennett. Atlanta has their good tight end in Tony Gonzales and some no name serviceable guy. Heck, the other guy in Atlanta may not even be serviceable. The Falcons two tight ends last year combined for 18 catches, 185 yards and 2 TDs. San Diego has Gates and some hard to pronounce or spell guy.
Bennett is better than those two guys. Bennett is better than a lot of #2 tight ends in the league already. He may not get any better from the point forward, but he would still be better than a lot of them. The teams that do have better #2 tight ends don't have anyone near as good as Witten as their #1 tight end threat.
Take Chicago for example. They have Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark. Those are two good tight ends and both are probably better than Bennett at this point. Neither comes close to Witten. Chicago is one of the rare teams that has two competent tight ends. I would take Witten and insert name here over those two.
My point of saying that Dallas has one of the best tight end tandems is not necessarily a ringing endorsement of Bennett. It is credit to Witten and indictment on the plethora of less than stellar #2 tight ends in the league. Witten and Tony Curtis would make one of the top TE combos in the league. Bennett is clearly better than Curtis. Bennett clearly played better than Fasano did in two season in Dallas. If Bennett does improve that makes the TE position that much stronger. He doesn't have to catch 50 passes in order to show improvement. And if Bennett doesn't improve it is still a strong position because Witten is that good.
