Thomas Eager to Prove His Worth

[The Goat]

Odds are one of our young wide-outs will make an impact next year. Zorn seemed to show deference to Kelly early on, pointing out Malcolm had a better grasp of the playbook and looked very good in practice. It wasn't until the nagging injury really held Kelly back that Thomas got more looks. I think the thing to hope for is that both guys are 100% healthy going into OTAs, preseason and opening day. Much of this has to do w/ their own preparation and should tell us a lot about which guy is best suited for success.

... one thing that bothered me a great deal is that both players struggled to catch the ball last year. Kelly had great hands in college especially so the drops are sort of a mystery, but i'm always suspicious of Hixon's work. To my knowledge, and I have yet to hear otherwise, Hixon has never developed a WR in the NFL. I don't know why he has a job now, but if neither Thomas/Kelly make strides in '09 Zorn has got to find a replacement for this dude before he looks to more/different WR talent. Honestly, I have a hard time thinking positive about Thomas/Kelly because of our WR coach and the shitty production the vast majority of his receivers yield.

Question to the insiders: if Zorn/Vinny/whoever were going to replace Hixon would it already have occurred?