FanHouse LandonJohnson

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: Jake Delhomme is coming off Tommy John surgery so no one knows what to expect. At the end of 2006, some fans wanted someone new at quarterback. Before he was injured in 2007, he was off to a white-hot start. How he recovers will go a long way to a successful Panthers season. Matt Moore filled in nicely late last season and may be the team's future. Brett Basanez isn't ready for prime time. No more Vinny or Mr. Mittens. Heat Index: 5

Running backs: The Panthers have been looking for a Stephen Davis type back and may have found one in rookie Jonathan Stewart. He's the kind of bull coach John Fox likes to center his offense around. DeAngelo Williams will be more efficient as a change-of-pace back. Brad Hoover is back again as an effective fullback. Nick Goings is always around to back up anybody. Heat Index: 5

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet the ...
Super Bowl Champions. Look, people can claim they're not homers all day long, but the fact of the matter is, I read/watch/write re: the Panthers a lot. (Well, as often as I can anyway.) And maybe I'm a little biased, but they're going to win the NFC South this year and they're going to do it by scoring a ton of points. Of course, if Jake Delhomme goes down again, I may look stupid. But it wouldn't be the first time.

The Breakout
The bad news? Jonathan Stewart is already getting a lot of preseason love (check him dead center of the sixth round in an average 12 teamer). The good news? The love is warranted. Stewart was thought to be a top choice of plenty of teams in the draft, but a turf toe injury let him hang around for the Cats. Note that the Carolina team doctor performed his surgery

If there was one position you figured the Carolina Panthers didn't have to try and upgrade this offseason, it was linebacker. Jon Beason became the man in the middle, while Thomas Davis and Na'il Diggs were solid on the outside, and all three were returning.

Nevertheless, someone in the Panthers front office wanted to give Diggs and Davis some competition. The Panthers signed former Bengal Landon Johnson to a three-year deal today, giving Carolina more depth at the position. Johnson was a starter in Cincinnati and averaged 74.5 tackles the last two seasons.

Perhaps that depth was necessary, given that restricted free agent Adam Seward may be headed to New England -- if I were the Panthers, I'd take that 5th-round pick, thanks -- and James Anderson has been fairly hit-or-miss after two seasons. Still, Johnson's presence now has to make you wonder if a starting linebacker in 2007 might be benched in 2008.

One guy who won't be on the bench for Carolina is defensive tackle Kindal Moorehead, who signed a two-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons yesterday. Moorehead becomes the second Panthers after Dan Morgan to escape to a division rival this week. John Fox and Mike Trgovac might be wise to start rewriting a few pages in the defensive playbook soon. The Panthers might also be wise to grab an extra free agent tackle on defense. You can only do so much building in the draft.

NFL Offseason Roadmap is a series focused on the needs of NFL teams as they begin the offseason.

Needless to say, the 2007 season for the Cincinnati Bengals was a major disappointment. That being said, Cincy finished 7-9 and has plenty of talent to make a U-turn and get back to the elite status they feel they should be at. The Bengals notoriously doesn't try to build via free agency but they need to fill in some cracks this way for a turnaround to be successful.

1. Defensive Line – The first major move was firing Chuck Bresnahan as defensive coordinator and hiring Mike Zimmer. The next big moves cannot be made until the team decides if it is going to switch to a 3-4 defense or not. If they decide to do that, there will be a ton of work to do.

It is widly speculated that the Bengals will be looking to go after a rush end in the draft. Defensive end Justin Smith may be as good as gone. Smith is a decent player but isn't worth being the second highest paid player on the team. Letting him walk would free up all kinds of money to rebuild this unit. However, re-signing him for a paycut would be beneficial, too. John Thornton could be a salary cap casulty, though the team seems to want him back.

According to the Bengals official website, Odell Thurman plans to appeal his denial for reinstatement:

The process starts early next week with attorney John Michels sending a letter to the NFLPA requesting that it argue the grievance and it then has 30 days to decide if it will take the case. "It's a difficult appeal," said Michels Friday night. "The first tier is to convince the NFLPA and then it would go to the commissioner and he made the original decision." Michels plans to draw up a letter this weekend, have Thurman read it Monday, and then send it to the union.

Some other notes of interest after the first day of camp:

• WR Antonio Chatman tweaked his hammy while running a route in practice. Chatman is in the competition for the third receiver job while Chris Henry sits out eight games due to his own NFL suspension.
• Also, fourth round pick Marvin White signed to a four-year deal. That means that Leon Hall, Cincy's top draft pick, is the lone holdout.
• Here is linebacker Landon Johnson's website. Hat tip to Lance McAllister.
• The Bengals have agreed with Fox Sports Ohio to become the cable home for the Bengals. This will allow the network to exclusively house "encores of all available preseason games, a weekly Bengals Spotlight show, and live coverage of head coach Marvin Lewis' regular Monday news conferences during the regular season. "