Ten Things I Think I Think

1. I think the Redskins are officially out of their minds. Washington dealt a third-round pick this year and a fourth next year to San Francisco for wideout Brandon Lloyd. This is Lloyd's NFL résumé: three seasons, 105 catches, 14.4 yards per catch, 13 touchdowns. He is a nice deep threat with good hands. But didn't the Redskins already have one of those guys in Santana Moss? In fact, by signing Antwaan Randle El on Sunday (what?!!!!!), the Redskins now have four of the same receiver at spots one through four on the wideout depth chart. Check this out:

Player Height Weight Age Brandon Lloyd 6-0 192 24 Santana Moss 5-10 185 26 David Patten 5-10 190 31 Antwaan Randle El 5-10 192 26

I'm not saying you have to have receivers of different sizes and shapes, but with the exception of speed, the Redskins, over the last 12 months, have dealt for two receivers (Moss, Lloyd) and signed two others who all fit the same profile. Wouldn't someone on the staff there say, Hey, maybe it's a good idea to get a taller, more physical receiver to play against some of the moose we have at safety in this division, like Dallas' Roy Williams?

2. I think the next commissioner of the NFL could well be a man you've never heard of. Read "Scorecard'' in SI this week and you'll see what I mean.

3. I think it's time the NFL spent some investigative might on enforcing the real start to free agency. The league has been a bunch of wimps about chasing teams that tamper, going back to the obvious and admitted tampering on Lawyer Milloy by the Redskins three years ago. The league knows teams and agents are talking before the start to free agency. Sometimes it's relatively harmless, like agents at the NFL Scouting Combine getting approached at bars and on the street and being told, "We're going after Player X of yours. What's it going to take to sign him?'' But sometimes it's more serious.

I heard reliably this weekend that one coach tried to set up a lunch with an agent during the season to discuss a player in his division whom he planned to pursue in free agency months later. You know what that does when the agent goes back to his player and tells him? Well, there are all kinds of ramifications, but how about that player seeking out his prospective next coach after a game, shaking his hand and saying, "I'll see you in a couple of months?'' The whole process stinks, and the NFL should enforce the start of free agency better than it's now doing.

4. I think the World Baseball Classic is an incredible amount of fun. How bizarre is it that in the ninth inning of Japan-USA on Sunday I was actually cheering for A-Rod? It's a lesson for all sports league that the NFL began 20 years ago with international games: Grow the game. I was glad to hear Tagliabue say the other day, "We are talking to a couple of teams about a regular-season game at Wembley Stadium.'' As I said last fall, this is a perfect way for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their Manchester United-owning owner, Malcolm Glazer, to put a game in the refurbished Wembley. A game that counts. That's the next frontier, putting real games in cities around the world to show the real product, with the real intensity.

5. I think the Cardinals did a smart thing, even though it wasn't what coach Dennis Green said they were going to do. They spent an incredible sum for one player. But when you're Arizona, and you've built a new stadium, you've got to do something to get the folks interested in season tickets. And you've got to blow Edgerrin James away to get him to sign. The Cardinals did that by offering him $30 million over four years, including a stunning $20 million the first two years, which is virtually unheard of in an era in which NFL contracts are almost always backloaded in case a team cuts a player before the end of a contract.