ESPN NFC East writer, Dan Graziano, was at Redskins Park yesterday taking in practice and revealed this nugget:

Mike Shanahan called Bill Belichick to ask about Brandon Meriweather before Redskins signed him. BB gave a thumbs-up. — Dan Graziano (@espn_nfceast) June 13, 2012

As we know, since that time Meriweather was arrested in April for suspicion of driving while intoxicated and snapping one of the best mug shots of 2012. John Keim pulled up some nice playing nuggets from previous teams Meriweather played on:

Meriweather is an intriguing talent because he last made a Pro Bowl in 2010. Numerous league sources, though, cautioned against expecting too much from him. He's considered talented, but these sources each said they did not like his instincts. That led to him getting burned more in Chicago's two-deep system, but even the Patriots, who cut him last summer, tired of his style. "He fits our system a lot better than he did in Chicago," Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said, "and I can see that on the practice field."

Hmm. The Patriots got tired of his style. That has "DHall" written all over it if I'm reading it correctly.

Here's how I envisioned that phone call between Shanahan and Bill Belichick went: