Outbound Texas A&M football player posts thank-you with names conspicuously missing

TJ Shanahan posts thank you to Texas A&M football fans and former staff, but leaves off a couple of names

Texas A&M football has mostly had positive attrition so far this offseason. The Aggies haven't seen a lot of big time contributors hit the portal, with most of the names being those of players who have not seen the field very much.

One exception to that is TJ Shanahan. The interior OL saw snaps at both center and guard this year, and though he struggled a bit in pass protection, he was a mauler in the run game— just see the LSU game for an example of what I mean.

Because of his potential, I was under the impression he was a guy the Aggies would want to keep around. Hence, I found his entry into the portal a bit unfortunate.

However, a message he posted today on social media— a "thank-you" to fans and coaches— makes me wonder if there isn't a little more going on. Here's what it said:

Notice any names missing?

Though he mentions development, he only shouts out Jimbo and Addazio— there is no mention of Elko or Adam Cushing.

This is despite the fact that he didn't see the field under Fisher's regime, and only got snaps this year; quite a few of them, as a matter of fact!

He also reposted a not-so-cryptic tweet recently that mentioned being more valued, grass being greener on the other side, etc. I know it's dangerous to try to read football implications into social media activity, but I'm not sure that's a coincidence— especially given the wording of the specific tweet in question.

All this in concert makes me think that perhaps an exit interview for the season with Elko and company had Shanahan dissatisfied with his place on the depth chart going forward. We've heard a lot about the redshirt freshman class that's coming up on the offensive line: Blake Ivy, Papa Ahfua, and Ashton Funk. It could be that the staff sees Shanahan falling behind those guys going forward and delivered that message to him.

Maybe this is all reading too much into things, like I said. But this could turn out to be not as huge a loss for the Aggies as I initially thought.