FanHouse Aaron Maybin

There was much consternation around the NFL when the Vikings brought Brett Favre back. The move raised plenty of questions about Favre's ability to help Minnesota, too -- adding an old quarterback with a partially torn rotator cuff who's coming off biceps surgery was certainly a gamble.

But for the Vikings, it's worth risking the season.

NFL teams need elite quarterbacks to succeed at an elite level. Adding Favre makes Minnesota's offense one of the best in the NFC, if he's used right.

Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. " We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Offense -- It's almost impossible to decide how this team will perform in 2009. I have high hopes for Trent Edwards, being that he's a Stanford man and all, and frankly, I can't shake the feeling that Terrell Owens is going to return Lee Evans to superstar mode this coming season. After all, teams have to cover Owens, even if he's getting older and could be hurt half the time; with a second-string CB manning up on Evans as he streaks down the sidelines, well, I like his chances. In terms of running the ball, you also have to think that Marshawn Lynch's three-week absence because of suspension is going to hurt the Bills ... until you realize that Fred Jackson will be highly motivated and might just come out gangbusters to start the season. Which means that Dick Jauron will probably just give the carries to Dominic Rhodes. Heat Index: 5

Offensive tackle Andre Smith became the 31st 2009 first-round draft pick to sign, coming to terms with Cincinnati. Find all the signed picks' contract details below:

GREEN BAY, Wisc. -- Typically, it's the third preseason game when you see starters get the most playing time. Since the Buffalo Bills are playing five games instead of four, they only expect to use their starters into the second quarter at Lambeau FIeld.

The Packers should use their top players for around 20-25 snaps Saturday night at Lambeau Field. That should even out fairly well. When the Bills have the ball, the Packers will face something they aren't used to seeing.

It was a surprise when the Bills drafted Penn State defensive end Aaron Maybin 11th overall in the April draft (especially since Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters had been recently shipped to Philadelphia and there was a gaping hole along the offensive line). Less surprising, perhaps, is that, two weeks into training camp, Maybin still remains unsigned.

It happens every August: the draft's top 10-15 picks play hurry up and wait while their agents work through contract details, making sure that, say, the 11th selection doesn't get a bigger signing bonus than the player chosen just ahead of him. It becomes tedious and frustrating for fans and rookies, and it doesn't take long for the accusations to fly. Usually in the direction of a 20-something kid just out of college suddenly thrust into the spotlight.

After looking through some Average Draft Position lists as well as my rankings, it's proven difficult to come up with a list of five underrated defenses. In my opinion, the top ten drafted defenses are the right ones to draft. Some may be a spot high or low, but there are no surefire starters out there that are underrated.

What I want to talk to you about today, class, is the ill-conceived strategy of drafting defenses in the middle rounds. In the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh rounds, you need to concentrate on adding quality value picks before turning to your defensive selection. All it takes is one injury to turn your supposedly-great draft into a mess, so use these middle-round picks to fortify your QB, RB and WR starters. Because in the end, you don't even need to draft a good defense. It's much more cost-effective to cycle through defenses playing at home against inferior offenses.

But leaving you with that would eliminate the fun, so here are a couple of defenses that you should consider adding at the end of the draft.

The Bills were in an untenable position with Jason Peters. The tight end-turned-Pro Bowl left tackle wanted a new contract, the team wasn't interested in renegotiating, and they wound up sending him to Philadelphia for a first-round pick a few weeks before the NFL Draft.

Armed with two first-rounders -- Nos. 11 and 28 -- it was only a question of when the Bills would draft Peters' replacement. The answer, it turns out, was never. With Michael Oher still on the board, Buffalo took Aaron Maybin and addressed another big need -- pass rusher.

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

The Buffalo Bills seemed destined to acquire a pass-rusher on the first day of the NFL Draft, and their 11th overall pick was a perfect place for that: with Tyson Jackson, Everette Brown and Aaron Maybin all available, the Bills weren't going to have a problem there.

We covered the all-time worst draft picks in a team-by-team fashion earlier this week. Thankfully, the first round of the draft is in the books and not only was it freaking awesome, it was chock full of mistakes -- which, obviously, made it that much more awesome.

We've decided to pick out the top five and mock them here. If you have decisions that you think were worse, by all means, leave them in the comments. Two things to remember: one, "mistakes" can equal a pick or a trade, and two, yes, "Al Davis is insane" is an acceptable comment.

With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.

A year ago, the Dolphins were coming off a 1-15 record and had locked up Jake Long with the first-overall pick a week before the 2008 draft. Now, one year into Bill Parcells' Reclamation Project, Miami is 11-5, defending AFC East champs, and hold the 25th selection in Saturday's draft.