Ruhskins:
You can delude yourself into believing that the only reason Eddie Royal and Desean Jackson - - and Jordy Nelson and Donnie Avery and Davone Bess - - made contributions to their teams at WR this year was due to injuries that forced them in the lineup. Actually, those guys played their way onto the field for their teams.
It is too much trouble to go and look up all of their stats for the year but I seriously believe that all of them had more catches and yards than did Kelly and Thomas added together. Then again, that would not be difficult. Let me review the facts for you:
Malcom Kelly: 5 games 3 catches 18 yards 0 TDs (Long gain = 7 yards)
Devin Thomas:16 games 15 catches 120 yards 0 TDs
Please note that Devin Thomas was active for every game and got on the field in every game. Now look at those stats again. Depressing...
Now looking at those numbers - and working on the assumption that the coaches didn't keep these players off the field in order to try to lose games - tell me which of the following is most likely correct:
1. Neither of these guys is not as good as the five rookie WRs I listed above. If that is the case, why did we pick these two so high? Who thought they were better WRs?
2. Both of these guys suffered from having to learn a new system. Really, which of the players I named above played in "the same system" in college? So, are these two guys "not as bright" as the five rookie WRs I listed above?
No one conspired to keep Kelly or Thomas on the sidelines this year. Zorn said they both showed up for camp "unprepared"; Kelly reinjured his knee and dropped passes that hit him in the hands during the season; Thomas scored a TD on a reverse one day. That is the succinct version of their rookie seasons...
Here is another fact to consider. The FO obviously thought that improving the WR corps and the pass-catching cadre was an important thing to do between the 2007 and the 2008 season. That's why they spent the 3 top draft picks on pass-catchers. Nevertheless, neither Thomas nor Kelly could manage to replace the same 3 guys who were deemed to need upgrading at the end of 2007. It sure looked to me like Moss, Randle-El and Thrash got the snaps in 08 just like they did in 07.
Might Kelly/Thomas develop? Sure they might. But don't delude yourself into believing that all they need is an injury to a starter to show the world what stud wide receivers they are. If they had shown anything near that ability in practice - - from July through December - - they would have been on the field a lot more.