FanHouse Brian Dawkins

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.

Give Josh McDaniels this much: He's willing to make an impression. Before he's even coached so much as one regular season game, he's assured that he will either be remembered as a bold, brilliant leader who won because he had the courage of his convictions, or as an abject failure whose hiring set the franchise back by years because he had the courage of his convictions. Some of that has to do with Jay Cutler's career trajectory, but McDaniels needs to win and he needs to win quickly.

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.

A rather mundane offseason in Philadelphia took a dramatic turn on the night of Aug. 13. That was when news broke that the team had signed free-agent quarterback Michael Vick. All of a sudden, the Eagles were the center of the football world -- this attention will continue throughout the season, as the media will keep a very close eye on how Vick fits in. Meanwhile, coach Andy Reid has a veteran starter in Donovan McNabb to keep happy, and he's pretty good, by the way.

The Eagles will be without starting linebacker Stewart Bradley for the season. He tore his ACL during the first week of training camp, leaving a big hole in the middle of their defense (particularly after safety Brian Dawkins wasn't re-signed).

Compounding matters: longtime defensive coordinator Jim Johnson lost his battle to cancer and his replacement, 35-year-old Sean McDermott, is in his first year on the job. The Eagles have signed a couple warm bodies -- Matt Wilhelm and Jason Babin -- and second-year linebacker Joe Mays will also get a shot at replacing Bradley. (There was some speculation that Omar Gaither might get the nod but it looks like he'll remain the fourth linebacker, at least for now.)

While Tony Dungy was popularizing the Tampa 2 defense, Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson was proving that there was another way to succeed.

Dungy's Tampa 2 was all about preventing the big play. Put two safeties deep, run a middle linebacker in between them and have the cornerbacks play zone. Dungy figured that if he made teams move slowly down the field, eventually they would make a mistake. Johnson's style was much more aggressive. He figured that he could force those mistakes on any play by confusing teams with pressure from every angle and every level of the defense.

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

Earlier this offseason Donovan McNabb said he wanted to see how the Eagles upgraded the roster before he would talk about a contract extension. After last fall, when things got so bad that Andy Reid benched McNabb for Kevin Kolb, it looked as if neither head coach nor starting quarterback would be in Philly another year, much less long term.

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

From Mike Shanahan's firing to the Jay Cutler trade, the Broncos are almost unrecognizable from the team that finished last season. After three playoff-less seasons, that may not be a bad thing.

The upheaval does make it difficult to predict where they'll look on draft day, however. A new coach and general manager running their first draft don't have a track record to use as a guide, which should make the Broncos a team to watch on April 25.

Last month, the Eagles fired Dan Leone when, via Facebook, he referred to the organization's decision to let Brian Dawkins sign with the Broncos as "retarted". Leone, a game-day stadium employee, immediately apologized for his actions, but was still dismissed.

Leone subsequently made the media rounds telling his story in the hopes of getting his job back, and during an interview with FanHouse, he hinted that Dawkins' representatives might be in touch with him for his show of loyalty, even if misguided.

Everyone is on Facebook (even FanHouse -- become a fan, holmes!) My older family members, old high-school teachers, everyone. It's just a fact of life.

Here's another fact of life: if you write something on your Facebook page, it's possible for everyone to see it. Texas lineman Buck Burnette learned this the hard way. And now, so has Dan Leone, a former employee of the Philadelphia Eagles, who was recently fired for referring to the team as "retarted" (though he presumably meant "retarded") in his Facebook status.

'HouseCast is FanHouse's audio podcast. Watch out. You might just get what you're after.

BDTH returns early in the week to chat it up with Dan Levy, proprietor of OnTheDLPodcast.com and the aptly named and very awesomely done podcast On the DL. Dan joins Will Brinson and Ryan Wilson to talk about all things Philly, including Brian Dawkins leaving, Donovan McNabb being a "phony," Terrell Owens (he still kind of counts, no?), and Ron Jaworski's preparedness. Additionally, Dan, Will and Ryan touch on Arlen Specter, how politics and sports mix, and how Dan plans to use On the DL to eventually rule the world. Kidding.

Hit the jump to download the various MP3 segments or listen to the whole thing in our embedded player.