Billy McMullen and Marcus Mason were cut by the Redskins on Saturday, and you could make a case that both deserved a spot on the roster. I think both have their strong points. McMullen did everything asked of him. He was available for almost every practice, and the Redskins, who started training camp on July 20, had a LOT of practices.

McMullen caught almost every pass thrown to him. He got open. He worked and worked and worked. But he didn’t make the team. Sometimes, it’s not enough to do everything asked of you. The Redskins knew going in that McMullen was a long shot to make the team. He has size. He has experience. But he doesn’t have speed.

I know, I know. He had enough speed to get open in the preseason games. I know, I know, there’s more to catching passes and being an effective receiver than speed. But the Redskins crave speed. Santana Moss, their top wide receiver, might be the fastest guy on the team. James Thrash, the No.3 receiver, still has plenty of speed, even if he is in his 12th NFL season. Antwaan Randle El is not a burner, but he’s quick off the line.

McMullen does not have that kind of speed. He’s a possession receiver and the Redskins aren’t interested in possession wideouts. They’ve got Chris Cooley for that. So that worked against McMullen, even as he worked diligently every day to prove to the coaches he had earned a roster spot.

There’s one other factor. McMullen is a vested veteran. If a vested veteran is on your roster on opening day, he gets his full salary for the season, even if a team releases him before the second week of the season.

The Redskins aren’t sure that Malcolm Kelly, one of their rookie wide receivers, will be able to play early in the season. He’s got a knee problem that keeps flaring up, much to the consternation of the medical staff, Kelly and the coaching staff. If Kelly is out, that gives the Redskins just four wide receivers. They actually might need McMullen.

But they aren’t sure they need him for the entire season, and they aren’t willing to have McMullen on the roster on opening day, then release him when Kelly is healthy if it means paying McMullen for the entire season.

In that way, McMullen is a victim of the system. A team that needs a big possession receiver might have a different view of McMullen’s value. But the Redskins thinking is that McMullen and a host of other vested veterans will sit out the first week, then be signed before week 2. Then, if it becomes necessary to release one of those players, the team does not take a financial hit. The player does, of course, but that’s life in the NFL.

Here’s one other thing about the Redskins and their receiving corps. They essentially have three wideouts now after doing everything possible to add depth to that position during the off-season. Devin Thomas is the No.4 guy, but he’s far from being ready to have an impact early in the season. He needs to be a good special teams player or he’s going to find himself on the inactive list on game days.

You might also ask, “Woodman, what does Marcus Mason have to do to make the Redskins roster?“ Good question. He gained hundreds of yards in the preseason. He’s a very good runner. The Redskins admit that. But here’s how they describe Mason. “He’s very good with the ball in his hands.“
Well, sure. You can’t be a good running back without the ball in your hands.

The Redskins point is that there’s more to being an NFL running back than gaining yards. Running backs have to be able to pick up blitzes. Mason did not show them he can do that. They gave him plenty of playing time last Thursday against Jacksonville to see if he had learned his role in blitz pickups. They didn’t like what they saw.

Backup running backs have to be exceptional special teams players, and Mason was average on special teams.

The blitz pickup thing is interesting. Ladell Betts struggled with that for almost two seasons. But he was a second-round draft choice with a big upside, so the Redskins worked with him to improve his blocking. Now, Betts is a solid pass protector.

Mason was a free agent. His window of opportunity was much smaller than that of Betts.

The Redskins kept Clinton Portis, Betts and Rock Cartwright as their running backs. Mason is a better runner than Cartwright. If Portis gets hurt, Mason is a better player to have as a backup for Betts. And if Portis does get hurt, and Mason is still available, the Redskins might re-sign him.

But Mason is not anywhere near the special teams player that Cartwright is. Cartwright does not look like your classic kickoff returner, but he’s very effective at that job. He follows his blockers, secures the ball and, if an opening occurs, hits it and gets just about everything there is to be gotten out of a kickoff return.

And while Cartwright is not a dynamic running back, when he’s in the game on offense, he does not make mental mistakes. Cartwright understands what he has to do to make the team and earn hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yep, hundreds of thousands of dollars. (A quick aside on NFL money. Ethan Albright is the long snapper for the Redskins. He comes from a family of lawyers. When he talks about that, and why he didn’t become a lawyer, his punch line is that, “I found a better job.“ He makes $850,000 to snap for punts, extra points and field goals. It is not a job without pressure, but a lawyer has to have a ton of billable hours to make that much money for, and this is the good part, four or five months of work.)

If you’re asking me—are you asking me? I’m going to assume you are—if I’m the GM of an NFL team looking to find a running back to develop for the future, I’d sign Mason, tell him he’d better learn how to handle blitz pickups and ask my running backs coach to spend extra time with Mason on that job. I think the Mason can be a thousand-yard back in the NFL. But as of this moment, no one has called to offer me the job as an NFL GM.

Their loss.