FanHouse RyanFowler

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, 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: If you can say with certainty that you know whether Vince Young is going to take a big leap forward this year, or stumble into mediocrity, I want to hear your stock tips. The Titans say they're happy with the way Young has improved his drops and his accuracy during training camp--we just haven't seen much of it in games. Kerry Collins is a very solid backup, but with the group of receivers these two are going to have to throw to, it's hard to know how much blame they deserve if the passing game struggles. Heat Index: 5.

Ryan Fowler has tried to clear up any of the questions that are dogging him. In his first public comments since news leaked out that he might face a suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs, Fowler explicitly denied that he's ever taken steroids.

"There is not that much interesting in an innocent man, so I think some people who don't know me may be more likely to jump to the conclusion that all of this is true," said Fowler. "So I hope those people can just sort of be patient and wait for the truth to come out and then once it does they can make any informed decision that they want to make."

But for a man who was working to clear his name, there was one problem with Fowler's press conference. When asked if he had ever dealt with David Jacobs--the man who told the NFL he supplied Fowler with performance-enhancing drugs--Fowler said he couldn't comment. If Fowler had never dealt with Jacobs before, there would be no logical reason to say no comment, so until Fowler says otherwise, it's going to seem like he had dealings with Jacobs at some point.

Fowler said he hasn't heard from the NFL and no hearing has been scheduled. As we mentioned before, with Jacobs now dead the NFL and Fowler have a difficult case on their hands.

How do you defend yourself against the words of a dead man?

That's the conundrum Titans linebacker Ryan Fowler is facing. Apparently David Jacobs named Fowler as one of the NFL players who Jacobs named as a recipient of steroids, which is enough evidence to likely nail Fowler with four-game suspension.

But since then, Jacobs and his girlfriend have been found dead in his house. The police have ruled Jacobs' death a suicide--although the fact that he was shot twice, once in the chest and once in the head, would seem to ensure that there needs to be a thorough investigation.

Any death is a tragedy, but for Fowler, Jacobs' death also means that it will be very hard to defend himself against the charges. If the NFL takes Jacobs at his word and considers that sufficient evidence to suspend Fowler, there's not really much of a chance for Fowler to clear his name after all how do you prove that you didn't do something.