Justin Morgan McCareins In 2003, McCareins had a career year with the Tennessee Titans compiling 813 yards receiving along with 7 touchdowns and 47 receptions, adding one rush for 13 yards. He played an important role for the Titans, especially in their 2002-2003 playoff campaign, setting up the game-winning field goal in overtime against the Pittsburgh Steelers by catching 31-yard and 22-yard passes from quarterback Steve McNair to set up Joe Nedney's game-winning field goal. He is also one of only five players since the franchise moved to Tennessee to return a punt for a touchdown.
After the 2003 season, he was traded to the New York Jets.
New York Jets
McCareins signed a 7-year, $30 million contract with the New York Jets after the 2003 season. McCareins had a successful first year with the Jets in 2004, catching 56 passes for 770 yards and 4 touchdowns, which placed him second on the team in receiving. McCareins also had 13 catches for 169 yards in the 2004 playoffs for the Jets. Despite catching only 43 passes in 2005, he still racked up 713 yards for the Jets, his third straight 700+ yard season.
The Jets released him after the 2007 season, the 4th year on his 7-year contract. McCareins finished 26th on the Jets all-time receiving list.
Tennessee Titans (second stint)
On March 12, 2008, McCareins re-joined the Titans on a one-year, $1 million contract after four seasons with the Jets. On September 21, 2008, McCareins caught a 17-yard pass from quarterback Kerry Collins, making Collins only the 15th player in NFL history to pass for over 30,000 yards. McCareins has the 35th most receiving yards in Titans franchise history with 1614 yards and has the 8th highest yards per catch average (minimum 50 catches) in Titans franchise history, averaging 16.4 yards per catch. He would fumble just four times in his four years in Tennessee, and his 10.9 yards per punt return places his 5th in franchise history (minimum 35 returns).
NFL career statistics
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
! colspan="2"| Legend
|-
| Bold
| Career high
|}
Regular season
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!rowspan="2"| Year
!rowspan="2"| Team
!colspan="2"| Games
!colspan="6"| Receiving
|-
! GP !! GS !! Tgt!! Rec !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD
|-
! 2001 !! TEN
| 4 || 1 || 3 || 3 || 88 || 29.3 || 36 || 0
|-
! 2002 !! TEN
| 16 || 1 || 48 || 19 || 301 || 15.8 || 55 || 2
|-
! 2003 !! TEN
| 16 || 10 || 82 || 47 || 813 || 17.3 || 73 || 7
|-
! 2004 !! NYJ
| 16 || 16 || 90 || 56 || 770 || 13.8 || 43 || 4
|-
! 2005 !! NYJ
| 16 || 16 || 102 || 43 || 713 || 16.6 || 45 || 2
|-
! 2006 !! NYJ
| 16 || 7 || 40 || 23 || 347 || 15.1 || 50 || 1
|-
! 2007 !! NYJ
| 16 || 6 || 46 || 19 || 232 || 12.2 || 51 || 0
|-
! 2008 !! TEN
| 14 || 10 || 72 || 30 || 412 || 13.7 || 37 || 0
|-
! colspan="2"| !! 114 !! 67 !! 483 !! 240 !! 3,676 !! 15.3 !! 73 !! 16
|}
Playoffs
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!rowspan="2"| Year
!rowspan="2"| Team
!colspan="2"| Games
!colspan="6"| Receiving
|-
! GP !! GS !! Tgt!! Rec !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD
|-
! 2002 !! TEN
| 2 || 0 || 4 || 2 || 53 || 26.5 || 31 || 0
|-
! 2003 !! TEN
| 2 || 1 || 5 || 4 || 83 || 20.8 || 49 || 1
|-
! 2004 !! NYJ
| 2 || 2 || 24 || 13 || 169 || 13.0 || 30 || 0
|-
! 2006 !! NYJ
| 1 || 1 || 6 || 2 || 31 || 15.5 || 20 || 0
|-
! 2008 !! TEN
| 1 || 1 || 6 || 2 || 24 || 12.0 || 17 || 0
|-
! colspan="2"| !! 8 !! 5 !! 45 !! 23 !! 360 !! 15.7 !! 49 !! 1
|}
Post NFL
McCareins now lives with his family in Whitewright, Texas, following a brief career in law-enforcement.
References
</references>
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