FanHouse AndreBrown

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The most exciting thing that happened at New York Giants minicamp Wednesday was a press conference to announce Timex as the naming-rights sponsor for the team's new training facility here -- the "Timex Performance Center." It's a beautiful complex, but unless you're the ones pocketing $35 million from the deal over the next 15 years, this wasn't exactly the stuff of big headlines.

That's fine with the Giants, who got their fill of headlines at last year's minicamp.

Coming off a Super Bowl championship, the Giants convened last year amid loud, obnoxious Jeremy Shockey and Plaxico Burress contract controversies. Neither of those players was on the team by year's end, but they were here a year ago, and they were making it noisy. This year ... not so much. And Tom Coughlin couldn't be happier about it.

Here's the deal: Upper Deck got a bunch of NFL rookies together and offered up a free autographed Michael Jordan jersey to the guy with the best touchdown celebration.

Random, sure. But also worth the four minutes you would otherwise spend staring at an Excel spreadsheet while thinking about taking a smoke break.

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

With the departure of Plaxico Burress, and the failure (unwillingness?) to make an expensive trade for a veteran star, there was little secret how the Giants would attack the NFL Draft. They needed at least one receiver to help out Eli Manning and the unheralded returnees he has to throw to. Instead of settling for one, the Giants picked up a pair.

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

The Texans have been an 8-8 team for the last two years -- a record I find astonishingly good considering how terrible their defense has been.

Allegedly, this is the year that the defense gets fixed.

The Texans fired the defensive coordinator, the defensive line coach and the defensive backs coach, mostly because they can't fire all the players who aren't particularly good. (Though they did get rid of a number of them.) In short, this is a defense that needs more playmakers.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

The San Diego Chargers are a hot mess. Things are kind of working out for them right now -- Darren Sproles has been franchised and there should be some sort of resolution to LaDainian Tomlinson in the near future -- but there's still a good chance that A.J. Smith screws the proverbial pooch on handling his real franchise player.

No, not Philip Rivers -- although he's really, really good, turning in an MVP caliber quarterbacking season on a relatively shoddy Charger squad. Tomlinson.

Last year, Matt Forte and Leodis McKelvin opened some eyes with their Senior Bowl performances, and both would go on to have outstanding NFL rookie seasons. Andre Woodson, on the other hand, struggled in the college football showcase game, and the former Kentucky star's draft stock plummeted -- he eventually ended the 2008 season on the Giants practice squad.

While a poor Senior Bowl won't automatically torpedo a prospect's NFL aspirations (Joe Flacco stumbled through the game last year), it's a great way for players to separate themselves in a crowded field.

After the jump: a quick rundown of those who impressed and those who didn't.

As FSU prepares for this Thursday night's game against NC State, there has to be one key in the defense's mind: Stop Andre Brown.

Brown, the Wolfpack's bulky 232 pound sophomore running back, shredded the FSU defense for 179 yards and a 65-yard score in a 20-15 NC State win at Doak Campbell Stadium last year. That came one week after he pounded out 248 yards and 2 scores against Southern Miss.

Brown has been inconsistent so far this season. He has played well in their 2 wins over Appalachian State and Boston College, but struggled in 2 losses against Akron and Southern Miss. Combined, he still averages an impressive 6.4 yards per carry. However, he is only averaging 11 carries a game. He has had to split time with fellow highly recruited sophomore Toney Baker.

Florida State has looked good against the run so far this year. They've allowed one 100-yard rusher, and that was to Rice's RB. The Noles have allowed only 340 yards rushing through 4 games and almost half (163) of those were to Rice. We spent most of that game playing young, inexperienced backups so that number does not worry me. Against Clemson, 85 of the 151 yards on the ground we gave up were on 2 trick plays, a reverse and a quick snap with the defense not paying attention.

I believe the Noles' defense will be in top form in Raleigh on Thursday night and keep NC State's ground game in check. Also, FSU had a bye week to prepare to stop Brown and Baker. If we do this, it will be very difficult for Chuck Amato's group to pull off a big upset against Bobby's team 2 years in a row.