We're entering a dark period of the NFL life right now. Nothing is going on. Players and coaches are on vacation. With that we look at 10 quarterback situations worth looking at before training camps start in late July, because, well, it's always about the quarterback.
The situation: It's the same old argument. Do you start the rookie or the veteran? The No. 1 pick of the draft is Stafford, but the vet with a chance to win a few games is Culpepper. Stafford is the future but you don't want to damage it. For every Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco there's a Ryan Leaf and Vince Young.
Solution: Start Culpepper and wait until 2010 for Stafford.
The best thing about the build up to the next NFL season is the exact same thing as the worst. If that makes sense. It's fun to dissect every aspect of everything, but it can also be maddening when you consider we're still just under three months until an actual, real NFL game is played. Regardless, things constantly change in terms of fantasy football draft value.
What I'll do in On Second Thought is take a look at the rankings we compiled as a staff and point out which players I believe we collectively ranked too high and vice versa. This isn't a slap in the face to my colleagues, as some of the rankings I didn't like were my fault (you'll see one here). Plus, we started working on them a month ago. Things change.
Not exactly how McDaniels envisioned things back in January but it is, as they say, what it is. So after trading Jay Cutler to the Bears for a couple first-rounders and Kyle Orton, and then signing free agent Chris Simms to compete for the job, McDaniels used organized team activities to settle on a starter.
FanHouse's crack squad of savvy fantasy football personnel put our five heads together and amassed consensus rankings for non-keeper, standard scoring leagues. We'll update as the season gets closer, but this is our "incredibly early yet still fun" version.
Was last season the year of the quarterback or what? You still had the old reliables like Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner and Donovan McNabb doing their thing, but a whole new crop of passers have elevated themselves. Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers and Jay Cutler led the way for the youth movement. You could have even waited toward the end of your draft and landed stud QBs in Matt Ryan and Tyler Thigpen (who would have been waiver-wire fodder). Team all that with Tom Brady's Week 1 injury, and we had a really interesting season. Let's see how they fall out presently for 2009.
When the Bears acquired Jay Cutler almost two months ago, it became required for all journalists and bloggers alike to spew on and on about how awful Chicago's receiving corps is. CBS' Clark Judge still can't stop doing it, for example. The next chapter in the Bears Offseason Reporting Handbook is to try and connect every single available receiver to the Bears via free agency. Just as quickly as a name pops up, though, Bears general manager Jerry Angelo shoots it down.
The latest example in a long line is cocaine addict former Jags wideout Matt Jones. The talented yet troubled receiver caught 65 passes for 761 yards and a pair of touchdowns last season. Angelo, staying true to form, doesn't seem interested.
Rex Grossman seems nice enough. But the NFL scrap heap is littered with swell guys who couldn't keep their jobs. There are worse fates -- like being David Carr, the former first-overall pick with a ridiculous nickname, who is just passable enough to make the 53-man roster every summer, but will never see the field except for preseason and blowouts -- but it also means that Grossman's NFL days might be behind him.
At 28, he should be entering his prime. Instead, the Bears' 2003 first-round pick is sitting on his couch wondering if he'll get another chance. On the upside, Byron Leftwich and Dante Culpepper were in the same predicament a year ago. Now they're both in line for starting gigs, and Leftwich even got a Super Bowl ring as a backup last season.
Okay, so Danny Hope isn't the only hope in West Lafayette, Ind., this spring. Former Miami Hurricanes quarterback Robert Marve (pictured at right) ended the speculation about his next address Thursday, confirming that he will transfer to Purdue for his final two seasons of eligibility. Marve will have to sit out this coming season but will be eligible in 2010 and 2011.
Marve was Florida's Mr. Football in 2006 but missed all of his freshman season due to a car accident. His numbers from 2008 were not stunning, and when Jacory Harris was named the starter, Marve decided he wanted out.
There's nothing wrong with that, of course. Football players play football, and if Marve didn't want to stand around holding a clipboard, it's his right to walk away. Your head knows this and agrees with it. Your heart, however, is saying something like "Yeah, but ... Purdue?" O ye of little knowledge.
As the season grows closer and closer, the malign on the Bears receiving corps gains steam. It seems as though everyone in the world believes the receiving corps is so bad that Jay Cutler can't be successful. Nevermind the fact that the vastly inferior Kyle Orton threw for almost 3,000 yards and 18 touchdowns (in 15 games) in the same offense last season. It's not as though the losses of Marty Booker and a handful of games from Brandon Lloyd are irreplaceable.
Still, Bears general manager Jerry Angelo just can't escape the question of whether or not the Bears will pursue help at wide receiver. Inevitably, Plaxico Burress' name arises.
Josh McDaniels' honeymoon as the Broncos new head coach was a short one. As soon as Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler commenced with the whinging, fans, for the most part, blamed the 32-year-old McDaniels. He has no prior head coaching experience, and obviously inherited his people-person skills from mentor Bill Belichick.
The confluence of all this eventually led to the Broncos trading Cutler to the Bears for two first-round picks and Kyle Orton. And it was hard to make the case that Denver was better without Cutler, despite the extra draft picks and the steady-but-hardly-spectacular Orton.
A fresh-faced Bill Belichick protégé, McDaniels had coordinated up the most explosive offense in NFL history: the 2007 New England Patriots. As often happens when coaches relocate, McDaniels wanted to bring in his "his" players to run "his" system. Hours into free agency, the Broncos inked former Pats wideout Jabar Gaffney. And then, after Denver tried to acquire Matt Cassel, incumbent Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutlerdemanded a trade, things got messy, and, ultimately, the Broncos ended up with a couple first-round picks, Kyle Orton and a lot of questions.
We're entering a dark period of the NFL life right now. Nothing is going on. Players and coaches are on vacation. With that we look at 10 quarterback situations worth looking at before training camps start in late July, because, well, it's always about the quarterback.
The best thing about the build up to the next NFL season is the exact same thing as the worst. If that makes sense. It's fun to dissect every aspect of everything, but it can also be maddening when you consider we're still just under three months until an actual, real NFL game is played. Regardless, things constantly change in terms of fantasy football draft value. 
Josh McDaniels
FanHouse's crack squad of savvy fantasy football personnel put our five heads together and amassed consensus rankings for non-keeper, standard scoring leagues. We'll update as the season gets closer, but this is our "incredibly early yet still fun" version. 
When the Bears acquired 
Rex Grossman
Okay, so 
As the season grows closer and closer, the malign on the Bears receiving corps gains steam. It seems as though everyone in the world believes the receiving corps is so bad that 
Josh McDaniels
It's been more than four months since 
