Devin Thomas

I agree on this, I will give Thomas (and Kelly) at least 3 years to show us something promising before I write them off as players.

I still think Thomas was a bad pick given all the information available to us, and though I think Cerrato has by and large done a good job since taking control, Thomas is going to have to prove --to me -- by his play on the field that he was deserving of the pick we used on him. Until he can prove me wrong, I'll continue to think his selection was a mistake.

I'm just trying to make the distinction here clear between the justification of a player's selection, and the evaluation of his NFL career. I want to give DT every chance to prove he can be the future No. 1 WR of the Redskins, because the team certainly has that faith in him. I just think that it might be faith misplaced.

Would you have felt like that if we had a first round pick to spend on... say... a stud DE... then went on to pick him in the second round? Remember that just because he was our first pick, he was still a second round pick. Second round should produce either good solid talent or a chance at a big talent IMHO.

Not saying I'm right. Just wondering your thought process and/or where you had him ranked.

Would you have felt like that if we had a first round pick to spend on... say... a stud DE... then went on to pick him in the second round? Remember that just because he was our first pick, he was still a second round pick. Second round should produce either good solid talent or a chance at a big talent IMHO.

Not saying I'm right. Just wondering your thought process and/or where you had him ranked.I was really, really ecstatic when we got the Falcons to trade up into our spot, and even knowing the outcome of the draft haul, I would not wish for any sort of do over where we have to use that first round pick.

Because of weakness in the class, he was the second receiver off the board. Based on what I know about college receivers with a limited history of successful seasons, I did not have him in my top ten WRs.

Disclaimer: I don't want this to sound like I expect Cerrato and Snyder to base their drafts off the lists I create for player rankings. Given that all the scouting info I can get is second-hand knowledge, it would be really stupid of them to do something like listen exclusively to a fan when selecting.

However, draft analysts can totally ignore red flags on prospects when they are ranking them..because after the draft, no one is going to remember what the draft analyst thought of the prospect. There's no accountability factor. And that's why it's dangerous to pick a player only because he is highly liked by the Mel Kiper/Todd McShay/Mike Mayock scouting crowd.

The Redskins, I feel, should have done their own independent scouting on the wide receiver class (which isn't to accuse them of not doing their homework, but this is part of a larger point). Had they done so, I'm pretty confident that they would have taken a more productive college player than Thomas with their top selection. I think they liked a lot of the receivers, and grabbed Thomas because they thought that they we're getting great value on him. And while that's a great way to work your fantasy football draft, draft value should be relative to actual historical trends.

I'm know they liked Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly, and I'm sure they also liked the Limas Sweeds and DeSean Jacksons of the world. I simply disagree with any methodology in which you line all those guys up against the wall, and decide that the safest pick on the board is the guy with one ridiculous college season...and nothing else remotely close to matching that production.

Anyway, I'm sure Vinny will do a great job in his tenure as Redskins V.P. of Player Personnel, but I do (still) think he'll look back on the second round of this draft with a little bit of a "what if" factor.

And hopefully, I'm totally wrong on this and Devin Thomas ends up developing into a top target in this league. The early returns just aren't positive right now (and since its the preseason, that should probably be taken with a grain of salt).

I'm not writing him off by ANY means, let me make that clear. I just have very, very tempered expectations for the guy. I don't see him as the savior of our inconsistent receiving corps.

I just realized I only partially answered GOSkins' question in that long response.

Basically, had we not traded down, it would have depended on the available players at that #51 selection. If for some reason, there had been a run on receivers, and teams left Devin Thomas on the board, I would have said, "OK, if we want a top WR prospect in this draft, this is pretty much the only option." In that case the potential reward of the Number One WR they expect Thomas to become overshadows the enormous risk that comes with drafting a prospect like him, and the selection is justified.

But otherwise, no, probably still a poor selection.

They didn't fail physicals they failed the team conditioning test, big difference.

thank you matty, yeah there is a big difference. either way i was surprised to find them out of shape to the point it has slowed their ability to get on the practice field and have zorn comment on it a few times. yeah the hammy has keep them off the field too.

just surprised 23 year old wide receivers are out of shape for the beginning of their football careers.

thread hijack! desean of the eagles looks like he has that "it" factor.

go skins!

I just realized I only partially answered GOSkins' question in that long response.

Basically, had we not traded down, it would have depended on the available players at that #51 selection. If for some reason, there had been a run on receivers, and teams left Devin Thomas on the board, I would have said, "OK, if we want a top WR prospect in this draft, this is pretty much the only option." In that case the potential reward of the Number One WR they expect Thomas to become overshadows the enormous risk that comes with drafting a prospect like him, and the selection is justified.

But otherwise, no, probably still a poor selection.

Thanks for the response. But I guess I don't really understand why you say the skins expect him to be the Number One WR (at some point). For example, if we had picked Randle El in the second round I would think we would have made a good pick. He is clearly not a number one receiver, but he is solid as a number 2 and good as a 3. If Deven Thomas can be a solid (or hopefully dangerous) number two, I'd be really happy.

Also, I think we can both agree the WR class this year was pretty weak. I don't really see any "sure things". Maybe that's why the skins decided to gamble on a one year wonder. I think they picked three receivers in the second and hoped to hit one right based on shear volume!

Thanks for the response. But I guess I don't really understand why you say the skins expect him to be the Number One WR (at some point). For example, if we had picked Randle El in the second round I would think we would have made a good pick. He is clearly not a number one receiver, but he is solid as a number 2 and good as a 3. If Deven Thomas can be a solid (or hopefully dangerous) number two, I'd be really happy.

Also, I think we can both agree the WR class this year was pretty weak. I don't really see any "sure things". Maybe that's why the skins decided to gamble on a one year wonder. I think they picked three receivers in the second and hoped to hit one right based on shear volume!Those are both very good points.

I do think that if ARE didn't have very good special teams value, we would say that the Steelers reached on his selection. He hasn't justified a 2nd round pick with his receiving skills. I think if you are addressing WR in the first two rounds, you are doing so with the idea that they guy you are taking should develop into a No. 1 WR. It seems like the Redskins (ideally) want Kelly and Thomas to be co No. 1 WRs, sort of like Housh and CJ in Cinci, or Boldin and Fitz in Arizona. I think they'll be happy if they get a No. 1 and a No. 2 out of those picks, but would probably be disappointed if neither Kelly or Thomas becomes a No. 1 WR.

There was definately not a sure thing in the WR class, but IMO, that only makes the logic of grabbing two WRs in the 2nd round more flawed.

Fred Davis, for example, was a very solid selection at least as a receiving TE. The argument against Davis was that we didn't need to spend a high pick on a TE, but let's face it: our depth behind Cooley was a guy (Yoder) who was out of the league in 2006 when we grabbed him...and though he's been a nice role player, even making Yoder a spot starter would have been stretching us thin.

So I like the Davis pick, even though I wouldn't have picked him there if I was in Vinny shoes. I'm just trying to show how even if I think we had more pressing needs elsewhere, I can get on board with a selection if the logic behind it makes sense. To me, the logic behind taking Thomas was much weaker: we needed a WR, but we didn't take the best one available, IMO. The Skins will say that they had him highly ranked with a bunch of other guys they liked, but I would have hoped they took anyone else over him. I'm not convinced that too many other teams would have taken him on day one.

The one thing that I have found very curious about D. Thomas' performance in the off-season so far, is how few times Zorn has called his number. I have watched a couple of Philly's game and you can tell that they are running plays just to get D. Jackson involved. For some reason I haven't seen Zorn do any of that, now I obviously don't know what plays are getting called but I haven't seen anything where I felt that they were just trying to get Thomas the ball - no slants, no screens nothing. Has anyone else noticed the same thing?

Right now I kind of wish we nabbed Jordy Nelson instead of Devin Thomas. Hopefully I'm wrong and both have great careers with Devin having the better. However as others have said give Thomas time (see Roddy White), it does take at least 3 years to develop a quality receiver and even if they have a great rookie year, there is still the possibility of regression (see Michael Clayton).

I believe over time Malcom Kelly will prove to be a worthy pick. I think he is a much better route runner than Thomas. Devin is very raw and will need time to learn route running. Right now he cannot get open.

The one thing that I have found very curious about D. Thomas' performance in the off-season so far, is how few times Zorn has called his number. I have watched a couple of Philly's game and you can tell that they are running plays just to get D. Jackson involved. For some reason I haven't seen Zorn do any of that, now I obviously don't know what plays are getting called but I haven't seen anything where I felt that they were just trying to get Thomas the ball - no slants, no screens nothing. Has anyone else noticed the same thing?

they threw him a screen sat. night which he ran for 3-4 yards. He was definitely hesitant, just like he was on the kickoff returns. Definitely looks like a rookie who hasn't played much in camp.