Like yesterday, rookie Brian Orakpo was practicing with the linebackers, as was Chris Wilson (which is still strange to see). It's too soon to know what the final arrangement will be -- I spoke to defensive line coach John Palermo a little bit, and he seems sure that he'll have both of those guys for certain situations, at least, but for now ... it's linebacker time. And, difficult as it is to tell things in this portion of the offseason, Orakpo certainly doesn't look lost or confused out there, and he's doing a solid job communicating with the other two backers. Something else to watch.


Chris Wilson definitely was having fun rushing the passer, blowing clear past big Mike Williams on a speed rush. Williams is losing weight quickly and looks to be much more of a realistic possibility on the offensive line than he seemed at first, but he's not all the way there yet.

The most interesting part of the day, though, was the guy in the salmon-colored polo here. That's Hall of Fame wide receiver, old pal and former teammate of Jim Zorn, and former Congressman Steve Largent. He was watching practice today as a guest of Coach Zorn's, paying special attention to the wide receivers.


So much special attention that he actually called them into a huddle at one point during practice to explain a few things. "Yeah, he talked to us for a second," Devin Thomas told me afterward. "Matter of fact, he was giving us a lot of tips out there on the field, little things he was noticing we were doing that could help us make better plays."

And did you listen? "Of course. He's a Hall of Famer, man. You gotta soak up things when guys like that come out and share their experiences."

So? What kind of stuff was it. "Little things. Like, he was telling us to keep our eyes downfield -- you get caught looking at the ground or looking at where you're gonna break, so he just made sure to reiterate that we should look downfield. We started doing that and did a lot better today."

I asked the obvious question -- had Largent told any amusing stories about his old friend Coach Zorn? -- but was disappointed on that one. "Coach Zorn told stories about him, but he was a pretty laid-back guy, didn't share any personal stories."

Thomas called Largent "a cool dude," and knew of his great career, but hadn't seen many highlights. In case you're in the same boat as Devin, YouTube is here to help.





Also, if all of the incumbents should lose their position battles, here's what your 2009 Redskins specialists would look like. I'm not even remotely saying that it's likely to happen, but ... in the event that it does, you can feel like you've been looking at it for months already.