The Chargers lost backup running back Mike Tolbert behind Ryan Mathews this offseason and have yet to sign a replacement. It’s possible that they are fine with making Ryan Mathews a true feature back for the first time in his 3 year career, as well as giving backup Curtis Brinkley more carries and running more than normal with fullback Le’Ron McClain, one of the league’s best carrying fullbacks.

However, according to ProFootballWeekly, they are interested in adding a veteran running back. This could mean they aren’t confident in Brinkley and his 32 career carries, as well as 7^th round rookie Edwin Baker. The top two veteran running backs available are probably Cedric Benson and Ryan Grant, but they’ve also worked out Jackie Battle and not Benson or Grant. Battle has been a career backup with divisional rival Chiefs. At the same time, it wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t add a back.

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Rolando McClain is facing 6 months in jail for assault with a deadly weapon, though he is appealing the sentence. He’ll begin his jail time when the appeal is over and there’s a strong possibility that he misses games because of this. He could also be given a suspension from the commissioner on top of that. However, the Raiders themselves will not be handing down any punishment to their starting middle linebacker.

According to the Contra Costa Times, the Raiders will give McClain one more year, play him if available, and then reassess his position with the organization next offseason. If and when he misses games, Travis Goethel would start in his absence. The Raiders’ unwillingness to move on or hand down punishment to McClain could be a sign that they don’t believe in Goethel as a starter.

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A 2^nd round pick in 2010, the Buccaneers’ Brian Price has been a bit of a disappointment with injury, weight, and attitude issues in 2 years. He’s yet to lock down a starting job at defensive tackle and he was benched permanently late last season after a penalty. Now it seems Price has had yet another setback in his life. After the death of his sister Bridget earlier this week in a car accident, Price has been hospitalized for exhaustion and grief. This death comes after his brothers Eddie and Damon were killed in gang violence. Obviously, I hope for the best for Price and that he can make it on the field this season in what could be a breakout 3^rd year.

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Earlier this week Drew Brees called the negotiations between him and the New Orleans Saints “extremely frustrating,” a very understandable sentiment because of how much Brees has done for the organization and the city of New Orleans. Some Saints fans are getting restless with the negotiations and feel they should just pay the man what he’s earned, rather than believing he owes them for taking a chance on him when he was hurt, which they reportedly told him in negotiations.

With BountyGate as well, Saints fans are not happy with their organization and the front office has had to do some damage control. First GM Mickey Loomis commented saying that he fully expects a deal to get done and now owner Tom Benson is saying that he’s not worried about the negotiations either. I don’t know how much that will comfort Saints fans who want to see their leader get what he deserves and be in the black and gold for years to come.

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The Browns’ offense might have been the most devoid of playmakers of any team in the league last year. They changed that this offseason by adding one of the draft’s most dynamic playmakers, Trent Richardson, and upgrading their starting quarterback from Colt McCoy to Brandon Weeden. If you ask the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot, the Browns also have one more dynamic playmaker on their offense.

Cabot says she believes that Greg Little is capable of a Pro Bowl year if Brandon Weeden plays well. Little had 61 catches for 709 yards and 2 touchdowns last season as a rookie 2^nd round pick. He also led the league in drops and had a very low yards per target ratio of 6.3. However, he was very raw as a 2^nd round pick rookie. He has all the physical tools, but fell to the 2^nd round because he missed his final season at North Carolina with a suspension and because he never had elite production.

The Browns knew he was a project when they drafted him. They just didn’t have another other choice but to target him frequently last year. With a better quarterback and another year of experience, those numbers could definitely see a noticeable increase this season, especially since Brandon Weeden doesn’t have much else in terms of receiving options. There’s definitely some fantasy sleeper value with him and while Cabot does sound like a bit of a homer saying he could make the Pro Bowl, she’s not wrong in projecting a breakout season for him.

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A big sticking point of the lockout dispute last offseason was about offseason practices. The players got what they wanted, fewer mandated offseason practices, but it appears it’s backfired in their faces at least for Terrell Suggs and Jason Peters. With fewer mandated practices, players have to stay in shape on their own and sometimes when they attempt to do that, they get hurt, like Peters and Suggs did. Unfortunately, if a player gets hurt on his own, they’re often in breach of contract and liable to forfeit part or all of their salary for the upcoming season, whereas that would not be the case if they were injured during team activities.

While the Eagles are expected to take back 3.25 million from Jason Peters (they amount it cost them to sign replacement Demetress Bell), the Ravens will not be doing the same with Terrell Suggs, this according to the Baltimore Sun. Rather than putting him on the non-football injury list, they’ll reportedly be placing him on the PUP list with his torn Achilles to start the season, allowing him to continue getting paychecks.

This is a classy move for a proud organization and one of its best players and the reigning defensive player of the year. However, it does make you wonder if the same thing would have happened if the Ravens had been forced to go external for a replacement like the Eagles, rather than promoting from within. 2^nd round rookie Courtney Upshaw to expected to see the bulk of Suggs’ old snaps, but Paul Kruger and Pernell McPhee could also see increases in playing time. The Ravens optimistic expect Suggs back by November, but that would be a major recovery.

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Broncos guard Chris Kuper broke his leg week 17 and missed the Broncos’ two playoff games. When he got hurt, he was given a 4-6 month recovery and he seems to be right on track. Once considered a possible candidate for the PUP, Kuper could be ready for June minicamp, this according to DenverBroncos.com.

Kuper graded out as the Broncos’ 2^nd best offensive lineman in 2011, according to ProFootballFocus. He’s an awful run blocker, but was above average as a pass protector. His presence was missed in a playoff loss to the Patriots where Tim Tebow was under pressure on seemingly every play. His return will be a welcome addition to a Broncos offensive line that graded as ProFootballFocus’ 8^th worst pass blocking offensive line and absolute worst run blocking offensive line.

The upgrade from Tim Tebow to Peyton Manning will help, but Manning is 36 and coming off of 4 neck surgeries so they can’t afford to let him take a lot of hits. The only possible upgrade they got in the offseason was Philip Blake, a 4^th round pick who can play guard and center. At some point, he might be their starting center over JD Walton, who graded out as ProFootballFocus’ worst center.

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Mat McBriar was a Pro Bowler as recently as 2010, but after a down year in 2011, in which he averaged 43.8 yards per punt and 36.7 net yards per punt, and an offseason knee surgery, he remains unsigned. The Cowboys have Chris Jones, a 2^nd year player who averaged 42.6 yards per punt last season in 2 starts, but would prefer to resign McBriar according to DallasCowboys.com. If he’s healthy, they could definitely resign him and have him at least compete for the starting job. If they don’t sign him, someone else easily could given how recent his last Pro Bowl was.

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Wes Welker made news this past week for saying he wouldn’t hold out into the season, signing his franchise tender, and then complaining that talks between him and the Patriots had gotten worse. Then he made news because of a report that said the Patriots were mad that he was making news in the first place, especially by saying that the talks had been regressing. The normally tight lipped Patriots were not pleased by that.

Welker then backtracked by saying that he “probably misspoke,” whatever that meant. In addition to that, he says he now “not frustrated whatsoever.” The Patriots demand that their players keep stuff in house and I’d imagine the Patriots reminded him of that this week, which is why Welker came out apologetic. He understands the “Patriot Way” more than almost anyone and he probably attributes a lot of his success to Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and would like to continue to be with them. He has said he’s fine playing out the season under the 9.515 million dollar franchise tag. That might be what ends up happening since the Patriots don’t seem to want to budge from a deal in the 2-3 year range.

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Seahawks quarterback Tarvaris Jackson skipped voluntary conditioning sessions this week. The conditioning sessions are, as their name says, voluntary and players do frequently skip them to train on their own. However, this is newsworthy because Jackson is in a tight competition to not only retain his starting job, but to stay on the roster.

The Seahawks brought two quarterbacks in this offseason to compete with the incumbent Jackson, free agent Matt Flynn and 3^rd round rookie Russell Wilson. They gave Flynn a good chunk of cash and they have been talking up the rookie Wilson endlessly this offseason, even comparing him to Drew Brees.

Owed 4 million next year, Jackson could easily be cut if he doesn’t look down one of the top 2 spots on the quarterback depth chart. All 3 spots are open for competition and when Pete Carroll chooses the order when the time comes, he’ll look at everything, possibly even whether or not the players attended all of the voluntary team activities.

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