Re: Devin Thomas kick returns??
 

[quote=diehardskin2982;580020]How would Thomas do on punt return[/quote]
I don't know, but I was at the Detroit game last season and Thomas almost took out Moss on his punt return TD. If Moss would have gone down that game could have ended up in a loss. Not sure I would want Thomas returning punts.

Re: Devin Thomas kick returns??
 

Thomas is a good athlete, if he cant break into the starting lineup at WR, put his ass at
KR, hes a 2nd round pick and hadnt been worth anything so far, get something out of him...At worst hes another Josh Cribbs

Re: Devin Thomas kick returns??
 

Your mad at DT but you love Thrash explain to me. It takes some longer to develop than others and if you take Zorn by his word the battle is close between MK & DT. I want all our WR's to perform. HTTR.

Re: Devin Thomas kick returns??
 

[quote=The Goat;580306]Make him a RB on a few plays...especially if Rock is out for the next several weeks. Not really kidding here. Thomas' athleticism is pretty special, he just hasn't become a legit WR yet. But with the ball in his hands he's still dangerous...so find a way to get him a few touches anyway.[/quote]I really like this idea. As long as you have his athleticism, you might as well take advantage of it. Just a crack toss or two would add a wild-cat like wrinkle to the offense, without adding the wild-cat that Zorn hates.

Re: Devin Thomas kick returns??
 

[quote=skinsnut;580328]The only way Rock is cut is if some of the backup RB's can prove they can pass block and catch too.

I really don't think a one dimensional home run hitting runner is enough to consider cutting a "rock" solid special teamer.

Remember last year?
Mason couldn't pass block, and screwed up his Special teams attempts....and I don't remember how he did catching passes.

The problem with some of these little RBs is this...they are way too small to effectively pick up a delayed blitz.
As much as I like the little guys...in order to get playing time, they need to protect the passer first and foremost[/quote]

I'm confused, are we talking about the same player? Rock Cartwright? The reason Rock is 3rd on the depth chart is cause he doesn't run as good as Portis and Betts. You mention "home run hitter" ....when? not at RB. He's never been that. So you must be talking about as a KR, which again I would challenge how many times he has run a kick off for a touch down. I'm not exactly sure myself but I'm betting it's only like 2 or 3 times in his 7 yrs in the NFL.

I'm not trying to be a butt hole, honestly, but I get all confused about the love fest for Rock. Yes he is a good KR, not great, but good. He constantly will get your team to the 30 yrd line.

If I had to pick between Betts and Rock I'd pick Betts. The yr Rock was our starting RB under Spurrier Betts did the KR/PR duties very well, because of this Rock is expendable. Yes Dorsey might get eaten up by a pass rush, but most pass rushes the QB has to have a dump off guy anyway. I would put Dorsey in the back field with Portis or Sellers to block. Slide Dorsey out into the open as the dump off guy.

Re: Devin Thomas kick returns??
 

[quote=The Goat;580306]Make him a RB on a few plays...especially if Rock is out for the next several weeks. Not really kidding here. Thomas' athleticism is pretty special, he just hasn't become a legit WR yet. But with the ball in his hands he's still dangerous...so find a way to get him a few touches anyway.[/quote]

He looked great on that reverse he scored on last season.

Re: Devin Thomas kick returns??
 

[quote=SBXVII;580545]I'm confused, are we talking about the same player? Rock Cartwright? The reason Rock is 3rd on the depth chart is cause he doesn't run as good as Portis and Betts. You mention "home run hitter" ....when? not at RB. He's never been that. So you must be talking about as a KR, which again I would challenge how many times he has run a kick off for a touch down. I'm not exactly sure myself but I'm betting it's only like 2 or 3 times in his 7 yrs in the NFL.[/quote]

He didn't say Rock was a home run hitter. He said that giving up the a valuable special teams contributer who consistently gets you out to the 30-35 yard line for a potential home run hitter isn't worth it. Rock doesn't just return kicks. He plays on coverage units as well. Unless one of the young guys shows that they can return kicks, block, and cover kicks on ST, I doubt Rock will go anywhere. The third RB is typically more valuable on special teams than on offense, so having a one-dimensional 3rd RB who can't block doesn't make a lot of sense.

Devin Thomas as our KR?
 

[url=http://www.redskins.com/gen/articles/News___Notes__Thomas_Impresses_As_Kick_Returner_48454.jsp]News & Notes: Thomas Earns Praise As Kick Returner[/url]


I can honestly say I didn't see Thomas falling to one of our KR'S, I thought he was going to jump into the 2 spot at WR and have a good year. Now I see Kelly taking the 2 spot and possibly Mitchell being ahead of Thomas too. I guess it's good to have him back there because he is way more explosive than Rock, but apparently Big10 Receivers just can't make a great impact in the NFL.. Even Braylon Edwards is just an avg player..

Re: Devin Thomas as our KR?
 

Ok, let's check this part here:

[QUOTE]“We just gave [Thomas] a couple reps,” special teams coordinator Danny Smith said. “He has done it in his past and we were waiting for a situation to do that in. We were just trying it out. We’ll see where we go from here.”

At Michigan State, Thomas excelled as a kick returner. In two seasons with the Spartans, he established himself as the Big Ten’s all-time leader with 1,136 kickoff return yards. His 29.1-yard kick return average in 2007 was ranked 11th in the nation.

Cartwright is expected to continue to serve as the Redskins’ primary kick returner.[/QUOTE]

Thomas was simply given a look at returning. There is no indication he is falling to that spot or that he's out of the mix at WR.

Re: Devin Thomas as our KR?
 

big ten players in general im always wary about. thomas could still turn out good though

Re: Devin Thomas as our KR?
 

I'd love making room for something new in the form of Rock getting cut (we need a change of pace back so badly)...

However I think there is an identical thread:

[URL]http://www.thewarpath.net/redskins-locker-room/31443-devin-thomas-kick-returns-4.html[/URL]

Re: Devin Thomas as our KR?
 

[quote=GMScud;582218]I'd love making room for something new in the form of Rock getting cut (we need a change of pace back so badly)...

However I think there is an identical thread:

[URL]http://www.thewarpath.net/redskins-locker-room/31443-devin-thomas-kick-returns-4.html[/URL][/quote]

Yup, merging the threads

Re: Devin Thomas kick returns??
 

Maybe I missed it but was Rock injured for Fridays game because I don't recall him on the field or does it look like maybe the team is just trying to take a look at other returners.

Re: Devin Thomas kick returns??
 

[quote=firstdown;582320]Maybe I missed it but was Rock injured for Fridays game because I don't recall him on the field or does it look like maybe the team is just trying to take a look at other returners.[/quote]

I think Rock has a sore groin muscle.

Re: Devin Thomas as our KR?
 

[quote=Big C;582216]big ten players in general im always wary about. thomas could still turn out good though[/quote]

Still mad about Desmond Howard? :D

Re: Devin Thomas kick returns??
 

[quote=gibbsisgod;579929]Yeah, Cartwright [B]plays on every part of ST[/B] except for the FG team. He plays them well too.[/quote]

What the heck does this mean? I keep seeing people write this. All Rock does is special teams. His main focus is a KR. That's it. nuff said. He has two jobs and if your going to get paid to do them I would hope he would do them well. He KR's and tackles the ball carrier.

Lets see, take out Rock....replace with Thomas, Moss, Alridge, Dorsey. Hmm, sounds like he's expendable to me. and....those other four actually do something besides KR. In other words we would be paying them to be WR's or actual RB's besides KRing. WOW.

Re: Devin Thomas kick returns??
 

[quote=SBXVII;582492]What the heck does this mean? I keep seeing people write this. All Rock does is special teams. His main focus is a KR. That's it. nuff said. He has two jobs and if your going to get paid to do them I would hope he would do them well. He KR's and tackles the ball carrier.

Lets see, take out Rock....replace with Thomas, Moss, Alridge, Dorsey. Hmm, sounds like he's expendable to me. and....those other four actually do something besides KR. In other words we would be paying them to be WR's or actual RB's besides KRing. WOW.[/quote]


My point exactly and why I started this thread. its really common sense. If Rock was a world beater at KR. Then I would be like keep him. But he is not that valuable and he takes up a spot on the team that we could use to add depth ar RB or LB. HE doesn't run the ball doesn't catch it. So we have WRs and RBs that can return kicks. So why waste a spot on someone so average and not that important to our success? There is a difference between liking someone because they are a fan favorite and wanting to win the superbowl with the best plaeyrs possible....

Re: Devin Thomas kick returns??
 

[quote=dmvskinzfan08;582526]My point exactly and why I started this thread. its really common sense. If Rock was a world beater at KR. Then I would be like keep him. But he is not that valuable and he takes up a spot on the team that we could use to add depth ar RB or LB. HE doesn't run the ball doesn't catch it. So we have WRs and RBs that can return kicks. So why waste a spot on someone so average and not that important to our success? There is a difference between liking someone because they are a fan favorite and wanting to win the superbowl with the best plaeyrs possible....[/quote]

While Rock is not the best returner he is one of the better returners in the NFL and does not fumble. You say keep someone like Alridge or Dorsey but what makes them any better then Rock and why would we think they would see more playing time?

Re: Devin Thomas as our KR?
 

[quote=skinsfaninok;582213][URL="http://www.redskins.com/gen/articles/News___Notes__Thomas_Impresses_As_Kick_Returner_48454.jsp"]News & Notes: Thomas Earns Praise As Kick Returner[/URL]


I can honestly say I didn't see Thomas falling to one of our KR'S, I thought he was going to jump into the 2 spot at WR and have a good year. Now I see Kelly taking the 2 spot and possibly Mitchell being ahead of Thomas too. I guess it's good to have him back there because he is way more explosive than Rock, but apparently Big10 Receivers just can't make a great impact in the NFL.. Even Braylon Edwards is just an avg player..[/quote]

You are jumping the gun way too early on Thomas. One, he hasn't fallen to anything. Kelly to date has beat him out because of a very good camp and it just seems that Kelly is a better player. Everything that I heard from last year was that Kelly has always had a leg up.

It used to be you gave receivers at least 3 years. Thomas has finished one year and left school early. So it makes sense that he would take a little more time.

Mitchell is not ahead of Thomas at the moment. Thomas had a good game against the Pats.

You are acting like using him as a kick returner is some indictment. I think it is smart. If he could add some explosion to the kick return game why wouldn't you use him?