FanHouse Renaldo Hill

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.

While the rest of the NFL is taking part in a free agent spree, the Chicago Bears have been incredibly quiet. I'm not necessarily talking about signing guys, because sometimes that stuff is out of your control. I'm talking about the Bears not being mentioned in any rumors for any free agent or possible trade target.

It's not as though the team doesn't have needs, as I outlined five in the offseason roadmap. I unintentionally omitted another need, which was astutely pointed out by the first commenter -- that they need an able-bodied backup to Matt Forte in the backfield as well. So that makes six pretty important needs.

On the first day of free agency, the Broncos landed wideout Jabar Gaffney and long snapper Lonnie Paxton, both formerly of the Patriots. New head coach Josh McDaniels also wasted little time in shoring up one of the league's worst defenses a season ago: Denver inked safeties Renaldo Hill and Brian Dawkins.

And today, the rebuilding process continues: according to Denver's CBS4, defensive tackle Darrell Reid and linebacker Andra Davis have also been signed.

It happens every offseason. A team hires a new head coach, and he ends up remaking the roster in the image of his former team often with many of the same players. For Josh McDaniels, the guy tapped to replace Mike Shanahan in Denver, it's no different; the former Patriots offensive coordinator wasted little time in recruiting a couple former New England players.

On the first day of free agency, the Broncos signed former Patriots wideout Jabar Gaffney a four-year, $10 million deal ($3 million guaranteed). His role in Denver should be similar to that in New England: a third or fourth wide receiver who creates matchup problems for opposing defenses. Brandon Marshall's still the go-to guy and Eddie Royal proved he's a worthy No. 2 receiver. Gaffney and Brandon Stokely will see the field in multiple-wide receiver sets.

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

When the New York Jets tossed Chad Pennington aside in favor of Brett Favre, the Miami Dolphins were happy to pick up the 32-year-old veteran and put him under center.

They were rewarded with a quarterback that finished second in the league's MVP voting, as the team completed one of the most improbable one-year turnarounds in NFL history, claiming the AFC East title one year after a forgettable 1-15 season.

I would love to meet these "Dolphins officials" to ask if they were drunk or high when they made these comments. Via the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson, anonymous source maestro:

Some Dolphins officials believe their safeties are better than Dallas'. Among the best battles in camp: Jason Allen (first-team snaps in May/June), Renaldo Hill (expects to be 100 percent after surgery to an anterior cruciate ligament) and former Falcons starter Chris Crocker vying to start opposite Yeremiah Bell. ''Jason has a lot of speed and I like what I see, as much as you can like in shorts and a T-shirt,'' secondary coach Todd Bowles said.

Also worth finding out: are these "officials" part of the coaching staff/scouting department, or do they work in the ticket office/accounting/anywhere but coaching staff or scouting department? I'm going with the latter.

In any event, assuming somebody actually believes this to be true, I suspect it all comes down to the Cowboys' Roy Williams. The guy has been crucified this offseason for, well, not being very good. Still, Ken Hamlin had an impressive season (so much so that Dallas wants to keep him around for a while), Pat Watkins continues to develop, and Anthony Henry could eventually move to safety, which would only upgrade the unit.