To be fair to the author of the thread, if Shannahan did indeed make these comments, which the article certainly suggests, then it does prove his point that some franchises are willing to look to the future and sacrifice wins for the opportunity to draft higher or develop young players that they might not otherwise put on the field if they were trying to win ball games.
Even without a first round pick you still want a high pick in other rounds and also you can put young players on the field much much more without worrying about inexperience in an effort to get them ready for next year.