Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.
As you would expect with a team that is coming off a season that could best be described as a train wreck combined with a earthquake topped off by a nice little forest fire just to make things tidy, the Falcons have a lot of wide-open starting jobs as training camp begins.
They'll be looking to see if second-round pick Curtis Lofton is ready to take over at middle linebacker, which would allow Keith Brooking to move back outside. They'll be watching disappointing Michael Jenkins to see if he can outplay the unhappy carcass that once was Pro Bowler Joe Horn. And we'll have to see if rookie Sam Baker is ready to step in and start at offensive tackle.
But the battle that will define the Falcons 2008 season will be the quarterback competition. If Chris Redman starts more than eight games this year, it either means that the Falcons are playing much better than expected, or that the offensive line is such a disaster that 0-16 seems possible.
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.
The battle between Oliver Ross and first-round pick Levi Brown will be an intriguing one in Arizona for a variety of reasons. The fact that the Cardinals drafted Brown is a testament to what they thought about Ross protecting Matt Leinart. However, since Brown is likely to be late to camp, it could give Ross a head start and that may be all he needs to lock up the starting role.
Even if Ross leaves training camp as the starter, it will probably only be for the immediate future. Brown is poised to be a stud at right tackle and it would be a shame if the Cardinals didn't start him as soon as possible.
At the same time, we would all be foolish to overlook Ross. He's back under the tutelage of Russ Grimm, whom he had his best years playing for in Pittsburgh.
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.
In a perfect world, one of the Raiders' veteran quarterbacks, Josh McCown or Andrew Walter, would play well enough that the team could feel free to take its time before putting No. 1 draft pick JaMarcus Russell under center.
The Raiders' offense has been anything but a perfect world lately. And realistically, if the offense looks as ugly this year as it did last year, coach Lane Kiffin may feel he has no choice but to insert Russell as the starter early.
But just how early will be determined in training camp, and seeing as Russell is holding out, it's going to be awfully hard for him to earn the job in time for the big Week 1 showdown with the Detroit Lions and No. 2 overall pick Calvin Johnson, who's also holding out. That makes the training camp battle look like it's going to be mostly a matter of McCown vs. Walter for the right to serve as Russell's place holder for the start of the regular season.
Bet on McCown. Although he could only get on the field as a wide receiver in Detroit last year, he showed some flashes of at least being a competent quarterback in Arizona. Walter has never shown much of anything. Kiffin will ask McCown to hold the offense together until Russell is ready to go.
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.
When the offseason began, the Titans had one of the better running back situations around the NFL. With Travis Henry as a starter and Lendale White as a backup, the team seemed to have a solid combination of experienced talent and young potential.
But that was before the Titans misjudged the free agent market and let Henry go by not paying an option bonus. Henry quickly jumped to the Broncos. White then gave the team even more to worry about when he showed up fat for the team's minicamps and missed much of the minicamps with hamstring problems.
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.
While most of the football world focuses on Michael Vick's dog fighting mess, the Atlanta Falcons will open training camp today -- without him.
But just because Vick isn't there, doesn't mean there aren't going to be things to watch. In fact, one of the most interesting aspects of Falcons training camp will come from an under-publicized battle between defensive ends Jamaal Anderson and Chauncey Davis.
While Anderson is the odds on favorite to win the starting job, Davis could give him a run for his money. He showed significant improvement last year and is much more familiar with Atlanta's defense than his rookie counterpart. In 16 games last season, he collected 36 tackles, one sack and one interception.
On the other hand, Anderson is expected to be the star of the future. He has a great combination of size, speed and athleticism. Once he gets a little starting experience under his belt, he'll become a household name.
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team. Texans fans used to complain about Steve McKinney at the center position. Last year, McKinney was moved to guard and after struggling with nagging camp injuries had a hard time getting into the lineup behind Fred Weary. When Mike Flanagan suffered various injuries until he finally had a season ending rib injury, Drew Hodgdon was asked to play center. Finally, after the Hodgdon experiment didn't go so well, McKinney was asked to play center and a number of observers believed that McKinney looked the best of the three.
Drew Hodgdon is being looked at as a guard this offseason, and the primary battle is between Flanagan and McKinney and publicly the Texans haven't declared a front runner. In yesterday's Q&A, Gary Kubiak had high praise for practice squader Chris White too.
Flanagan has a shared history with Texans offensive coordinator Mike Sherman (and Ahman Green for that matter), so he has the edge for the starter role. McKinney is able to play both guard and center, so his versatility may make him more valuable as a backup. That being said, if McKinney is a better center than Flanagan, the Texans would be better served having him in front of the quarterback.
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.
For a team with an inept offense, the Vikings have a big surplus at tailback. Peterson was the best tailback in last year's draft, a big play threat who has the potential to be a difference maker. But Taylor was the Vikings' offenses biggest bright spot (or only bright spot) last year.
Taylor may keep the starting job in the short term, but this is a clear case where it seems best for everyone to share the carries. Taylor was one of the better surprise stories of the 2006 season for about 10 weeks. He ripped off a 95-yard touchdown run against the Seahawks and topped 1,000 yards for the first time by Week 13. But behind his impressive stats, there are plenty of reasons to worry about counting on Taylor as the team's everydown back. Last year was his first season with more than 200 carries, and it showed as he wore down as the weather got colder. By the final month of the season he was averaging less than three yards a carry.
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.
What was supposed to be a three-way battle to be the Browns starting quarterback may lose one of its candidates when training camp begins. As long as Brady Quinn wants to be paid like he was a top 15 pick instead of the No. 22 pick he was than he'll be holding out, which will quickly eliminate the rookie from serious consideration for the job.
If that happens as expected, than the Browns' QB battle is back to what it was last year--Frye vs. Anderson. Frye has more experience, but that doesn't matter much now that everyone is trying to learn new offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski's offense. Although no one looked good during the team's minicamps, Anderson looked the best of a bad lot so it's pretty much a dead heat going into training camp.
Anderson has a stronger arm, so he looks better in passing drills, but the new offense is supposed to take advantage of Frye's mobility, which could allow him to retake the lead when the exhibition games begin. The Browns biggest concern is finding someone to step up--the nightmare scenario has Anderson and Frye both stinking up the joint and fans clamoring for Quinn heading into the season--even if Quinn is weeks away from learning the playbook.
The guess here is that Frye ends up with the job going into the regular season, but that all three quarterbacks will get at least a couple of starts before the season is over.
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.
Steelers fans have been spoiled by great center play through the years. The team has relied largely on four centers in the past four decades as Pro Bowler replaces Pro Bowler. Ray Mansfield manned the position in the early 1970s before handing the job to Mike Webster. Webster became one of the NFL's best ever centers and kept the job until the late 1980s, when Dermontti Dawson arrived to continue Webster's legacy. When hamstring issues forced Dawson to retire, Jeff Hartings took over the job and the tradition of frequent trips to the Pro Bowl.
That streak of Pro Bowlers is likely to end here. When Hartings retired, the Steelers signed former Bucs center Sean Mahan to a five-year, $17 million contract. Complicating the issue is the contract extension Chukky Okobi signed last season that locks him up through 2009 at a cap value of roughly $2.5 million this season. They're expected to battle it out for the starting center job this spring, but if Okobi can't win the job after six years of waiting for this chance, it seems foolish to make him a very highly paid backup.
Okobi is listed as the starter heading into camp, but the contract extension he signed was before Mike Tomlin was named head coach--they're's no real reason for loyalty there, and no reason to believe that Tomlin has any special affection for the long-time backup. In fact, it was after Tomlin was hired that the team went out and got the center he knew from his time in Tampa Bay. Add it all up and it's more likely that the versatile Mahan will end up winning the job and Okobi will be faced with some kind of cut, whether it's a pay cut or a release.
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.
Although there are going to be many significant battles throughout Packers training camp, perhaps the most important will be Vernand Morency versus Brandon Jackson.
Who will step up and who will replace Ahman Green? Those questions must be answered and that problem has to be solved in order for the Packers to succeed this year. And for that reason, it is imperative that one of these two young running backs step up in training camp.
As it stands, the Packers are considering a two-back committee-style system, but would like to see that change. And although they are high on Jackson, Morency seems poised to take the reigns after a 434 yard season (as a back-up) in which he averaged 4.5 yards per carry.
Frankly, I think this one can go either way. Both of these players have an upside and it seems like a win/win situation for Green Bay. The only real concern comes with Jackson's injury history; can he stay healthy for the entire season?
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the most important position battles heading into the season, team by team.
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the 
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the 
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the 
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the 
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the 
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the 
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the 
Training camp is finally here and FanHouse breaks down the 
