2010 is the weeding out process: You're either going to fit here beyond 2010 or not.

[Rudechain]

Longshot I can agree with everything you say with the exception of Thomas.

On Saturday, Shanahan made this statement concerning Thomas.

"I sat down and talked to Devin many times and told him what he needed to do to be a pro football player," Shanahan said, "both on and off of the football field. And if he does do that, both on and off of the football field, he'll have a chance to play in the National Football League. But until he does that -- he's got the talent. He sure does. But he's going to have to commit to being a pro."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/devin-thomas/mike-shanahan-devin-thomas-mus.html#more

I could be wrong, and it would not be the first time or probably the last, but that statement says Thomas is not doing the mental things day in and day out to make it in the league. Or perhaps it's more of a maturity issue, I am not sure which. I get the feeling the coaching staff felt Thomas did not show enough commitment to his craft and less heralded players were more willing to.

[Rudechain]

no we need the best possible player, second tier free agents on oline are what we have now, im tired of not quite good enough to start guys, I want solid starters at the least.

But free agency next season will be quite different than probably any free agency period in memory. With the end of the CBA last season, many players who would have been eligible for UFA found themselves restricted and signed one year tenders. ( including some Skins such as Rogers and Rocky) This should deepen the talent pool next offseason. With a deeper talent pool and a finite number of positions available in the league, you should be able to find some gems for relatively low cost.

Not really second tier in terms of talent, but in pay.

[TheLongshot]

For a while, I believed that Thomas had the right attitude to eventually excel, as he certainly seemed to be saying the right things consistently in the media. I still wish we kept him and feel that it is both nearsighted and foolish to have cut him, given his affordable contract, superb play on special teams, excellent blocking ability and his vast, vast potential. Given that he is only 23, I still feel that he has some years before he will likely "get it" (Miles Austin took until his 4th year at the age of 25 and is the exact same size and build; our own Keenan McCardell took 5 years; took Brandon Lloyd til now; etc.).

However, upon his release, Thomas' immaturity was unmasked - his distinct inability to grasp the attitude that Shanahan is looking for. "Maybe I just wasn't the type they're looking for. Maybe they just don't want a big-play receiver who can do everything. Maybe that wasn't appealing to them. I mean, I really don't know what it was."

Sure, Devin - we didn't want a "big-play receiver who can do everything." Shanahan had this to say today: "I sat down and talked to Devin many times and told him what he needed to do to be a pro football player both on and off of the football field. And if he does do that, both on and off of the football field, he'll have a chance to play in the National Football League. But until he does that -- he's got the talent. He sure does. But he's going to have to commit to being a pro."

Reading between the lines, it seems like Thomas isn't studying the playbook away from Redskins Park, isn't putting in the extra time outside of practice to make himself a better player. He just doesn't "get it" - and in Shanahan's mind, players like him won't help us win football games down the line. Shanahan, quite clearly, isn't looking for just talent, but more importantly, players with the right mental attributes rather than physical.

It's interesting that Thomas hasn't been claimed on waivers yet. Even the WR-desperate Rams, looking to build for the future, have strongly denied any intent to claim him.

Thanks for the quote from Shanahan. I hadn't seen it yet.

Certainly some aspects of this reminds me a bit of the Brandon Lloyd situation. Course, he eventually figured it out and now is reaping the benefits of it. The same can happen with Thomas. I do wonder, tho, if things would have been smoother if Thomas was thrown a bone. While we know what Shanahan said, there are a lot of aspects that I can see from Thomas' perspective as a desire of "do not want". The rest of the league viewed it the same way, which is why a deal couldn't get done. Personally, I think that's one of the downsides of Shanahan in that he can't really disguise such things and makes me wonder if we can get value for players under those circumstances. Given the lack of draft picks, it is important.

I'm not stressing too much about Thomas in that most of us knew that Thomas was a boom-or-bust pick. I knew the risks at the time, but given his talent he was worth the risk in the 2nd round. It didn't work out for us and I wish Thomas luck at his next stop.

I agree to an extent, but a player like Desean Jackson would excel in any scheme - maybe not to the extent that he has thus far, but much of that is dependent on QB, system, talent in place, etc. etc. Perhaps the most ridiculous element of our last regime is that Cerrato wasn't drafting players for Zorn's scheme. He had in mind his goal of refurbishing our receiving corps. for Zorn's WR-heavy offense, but Zorn's offense relied on short, accurate passes and receivers who could run precise routes in a timing-based system. Malcolm Kelly's attributes were best served in the deep-passing game and was always said to be a poor route runner. His physique is simply not suitable for the quick-strike, short passing game that demands great route-running -- fortunately, if he can ever stay healthy, Kelly's skills should better translate into this offense.

Sorry, but I disagree with you, at least with him being more suited for the deep game. Kelly's strengths are his size and his great hands. I agree that he's someone who needed to work on his route running, which is why he eventually got benched last year, but if he's able to lick that I think he can be a very valuable part of this receiving corp.

Also, Mitchell was always simply overrated, and has been cut by a few other teams since we did. I'm not sure system has anything to do with that one.

While I agree that Mitchell was overrated by the fans (it was well known that his route running was non-existent when he was drafted), I believe that if he didn't have those two strikes against him, he'd either be on someone's roster or PS this year. Instead, he's has to sit out and hope he can get on someone's camp roster for next year. Not good for a guy who needs a lot of seasoning. What he needs to do is go a similar route as Armstrong did and find a league who does want him to play.

Assuming that the Shanahans are here for the long term, and assuming that there isn't another d-coordinator carousel like there was in Denver, we should be able to fill out our roster with "Shanahan" players over the next two offseasons. And I don't think that necessarily means that we won't be signing "big name" free agents (after all, Shanahan didn't exactly always avoid them in Denver and our salary cap situation is suddenly ideal for a little splurging if need-be... Larry Fitzgerald is a non-franchisable free agent hitting the market in 2011. Just sayin). But Shanahan should be able to build a roster capable of competing for the Super Bowl by 2012, with the assumption that we'll re-sign McNabb. It's not hard to envision Shanahan trading down in the draft, even losing value, to pick up more picks in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, where he has been adept in finding lineman, backs, and other players capable of contributing on offense.

Problem is, I worry that we are yet again going down the path of Gibbs where we sacrifice the building of a team for the future to win now. Personally, I'd rather have a team that's competitive for a long time rather than a team that is one and done. Even given that, I'm not yet convinced that the direction he's taking the team will do any better than Gibbs did.

[REDALERT]

I guess I understand that Dock isn't the greatest OL for the ZBS, but it seems more often than not Lichtensteiger struggles out there. Maybe neither is the real solution there.

I don't know what the plans are for Lichtensteiger, but it better be good because he looks lost out there. Frankly, our OL still needs help and hopefully we draft more next year.