Devin Thomas

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by GoSkins!

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.