It's kind of a given that the Redskins' decision to work out JaMarcus Russell is strange. How can Mike Shanahan justify babbling about Donovan McNabb's "cardiovascular endurance" and then turn around and bring in a guy that CSN's Ryan O'Halloran described as looking like "a lineman" for a workout? It defies explanation. Sure, he's just one of 20 guys there, but it's amazing that he's even under consideration.
↵But here's the part that gets me: why make it public? The Redskins could have whisked Russell onto the field after the media left. They could have avoided the public seeing him come out. Instead, they didn't, and all the Redskins' beat reporters were able to see him. CSN's Rich Tandler picked up on this too and put it better than I could.
↵↵↵↵↵Apparently, the #Redskins wanted workouts of J. Russell to be public knowledge. Could have waited 15 min. and media would be gone.
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This is jumping to conclusions to an extent, but it's hard to not think that Shanahan might be sending a message to McNabb by allowing the media to see Russell trot onto the field.
↵UPDATE: Okay, according to one Redskins media member, this is jumping to conclusions.