FanHouse Nfc West

Send your NFL questions (along with your name and location) to NFLFanHouse@gmail.com. Each Thursday, we'll answer the best -- or, if nothing else, most entertaining -- in our NFL Mailbag.

Excluding Brett Favre, which remaining free agent can play the biggest role in 2009?

The easy answer (INCLUDING Brett Favre!!) is Plaxico Burress. He's a high-ceiling, high-impact wide receiver. You saw the way the Giants' offense missed him at the end of 2008, and we've seen a handful of teams express interest in him -- even though nobody knows if he's going to play in 2009. If he is allowed to play, he's your answer. But it looks increasingly likely that he'll be suspended for at least part of the season, if not all. So in the non-Burress division, I have three veterans who could make an interesting impact in the right situation:

There are plenty of temptations for guys in their early 20s, just out of college, and suddenly wealthy. Actually, you don't have to be recently graduated or rich, just in your 20s. But it's only news when professional athletes get in trouble.

Like, for example, former Ohio State offensive lineman Alex Boone, who was expecting to hear his name called on draft weekend in late April until, well, he got drunk off his ass and lost his mind.

We haven't even gotten to training camp, but teams are already losing players for the 2009 season. Veteran 49ers cornerback Walt Harris tore his right ACL during practice on Tuesday and will likely miss the entire season, according to Matt Maiocco of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

The injury occurred when Harris got tangled up with the wide receiver Dominique Ziegler during a drill. The Niners aren't ready to rule him out for the entire campaign, but the odds are against seeing Harris on the field again this season. Or any season.

In a cost-cutting measure after the NFL Draft, the Arizona Cardinals released cornerback Roderick Hood, despite being only a year removed from his 5-interception campaign. It doesn't appear the 27-year-old is going to have a tough time finding work for this upcoming season. In fact, he'll likely be able to land a starting job.

According to Pro Football Talk, the Rams have made a formal contract offer to Hood, but that's not where the interest ends. Next, he's off to Chicago to visit the Bears, and the Lions and Browns are also interested.

Back in 2002, Pisa Tinoisamoa led the St. Louis Rams in tackles. He became the first rookie in franchise history to pull off that feat. He also had the most tackles on the team in 2004, 2005 and 2008. Friday, he was released from the Rams -- likely a cost-saving measure since he would have counted $4.25 million against the salary cap this season and was signed through 2011.

After landing James Laurinaitis in the second round of the draft, the Rams will likely slide Chris Draft to the strong-side and let the rookie Laurinaitis start in the middle from the get-go.

The goofy NFL news of the day Saturday was the renaming of the home of the Miami Dolphins after Jimmy Buffett's beer company. "Land Shark Stadium" will be the fifth different name this building has had since it opened in 1987.

The stadium has an interesting history. Its $115 million construction cost was completely privately funded (imagine that!) with the help of season ticket holders who made long-term commitments in exchange for the promise of a state-of-the-art football facility. Joe Robbie, the owner of the Dolphins at the time, envisioned it as a stadium that could host baseball as well as football, and for that reason, the front-row seats are set back further from the sidelines than at traditional NFL venues.

Next February, Super Bowl XLIV will be the fifth Super Bowl this stadium has hosted -- under four of its five different names:

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

The Rams entered the draft with far too many holes to be filled with simply seven picks. Steve Spagnuolo entered the Gateway City with the task of returning the Rams to national prominence after they have fallen apart in just a few years. There are some talented pieces in place, and they've addressed some needs this offseason, but many more positions need attention. The logical starting point -- because they've done it before with Orlando Pace -- was a stalwart left tackle. Jason Smith was taken to fulfill this role with the second overall pick.

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

Assuming the loss of last year's offensive coordinator Todd Haley -- and also assuming they keep Anquan Boldin around and happy -- doesn't prove catastrophic, the Arizona Cardinals have built one juggernaut of an offense. Along with Kurt Warner, two of the league's best wideouts, a quality slot receiver and Tim Hightower, the Cardinals have now added an NFL-ready every down back for good balance. Edgerrin James was on his last legs in 2008, and Hightower isn't suited to handle a full load. Enter: Chris "Beanie" Wells.

According to John Clayton of ESPN.com, the Arizona Cardinals have released veteran running back Edgerrin James. The move comes as no real surprise, especially following the Cards using a first-round draft pick on Ohio State running back Beanie Wells. Wells joins Tim Hightower to give the Cardinals a solid, young duo of running backs that should provide the offense all the running game it needs.

James had wanted to be released, but the Cardinals didn't want to grant his wish until they knew they had a worthy replacement. In Wells, they have it, so the man we call Edge was granted his walking papers.

Everyone makes mistakes. But when those mistakes are magnified by intense scrutiny of the NFL draft, well, they become much more embarrassing than, say, my typical Friday morning, mustard-stain-on-khakis incident.

Which is why the NFL FanHouse braintrust got together to determine who is the biggest bust for each NFL team. They're not listed in terms of stupidity -- they're all stupid relative to a team's total draft performance. Meaning, of course, some teams "bust" is much different than another organization's; we did it this way to avoid just linking you to DetroitLions.com.

Instead, we're putting it in current draft order, sans trades, and allowing this list to serve as a reminder of each's team's ability to properly execute a fail. The "bust factor" was based primarily on three things: statistical production (or lack thereof), position in the draft and other available options during that year's draft.

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