The Cardinals made a big investment to get Kevin Kolb last offseason, giving him 63 million over 5 years with 21 million guaranteed and trading away a 2^nd round pick and a starting cornerback, Dominique Rodgers Cromartie, to get him. However, Kolb struggled in his first year in Arizona and was arguably outplayed by John Skelton. Skelton didn’t have better statistical production (Skelton 54.9%/7.0 YPA/11:14, Kolb 57.7%/7.7 YPA/9:8), but his 6-2 record, as opposed to Kolb’s 2-6 record, says a lot.

Skelton, a 2010 4^th round pick, is competing with Kolb for the starting job this offseason, after the team failed to sign Peyton Manning. The two are splitting 1^st team reps evenly and right now it looks like it could be either one who wins the job. Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt did admit that he wants Kolb to win the job because of how much they invested in him, but that he’ll start the better quarterback. The Cardinals have a solid team that made the Super Bowl in 2009 and good talent aside from the quarterback position. There’s a reason they went 8-8 last year despite poor quarterback play. If they can get that position solved, they could compete for a playoff spot.

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When Adrian Peterson tore his ACL late last season, it was reasonable to think he would miss some or all of the 2012 season. However, like he seemingly does with everything he does, Peterson is impressing in his recovery. Speedy teammate Percy Harvin says that Peterson beat him in uphill sprints twice. This comes after reports said he was beating teammates in wind sprints earlier this offseason.

Peterson’s trainer says he’s no lock for week 1, which he isn’t, but with still over 3 months left to go until the season, it wouldn’t surprise me if he started week 1. Peterson said he’s 50/50 for training camp. Wes Welker recovered from a similar injury in less time in 2010, though it’s worth noting that Welker had his worst season as a pro in 2010, catching just 86 passes for 848 yards and 7 touchdowns. Peterson might struggle as well and could lose some carries to backup Toby Gerhart, a former 2^nd round pick, to stay fresh.

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The Patriots brought in seemingly a million wide receivers this offseason, one which was Anthony Gonzalez. Gonzalez is a former 1^st round pick of the Indianapolis Colts in the 2007 NFL Draft, but thanks to injuries, he’s played just 2 games over the last 3 seasons, catching 5 passes. The Patriots didn’t have a ton of room at wide receiver and likely just brought Anthony Gonzalez in as a boom or bust free agent signing to see if he had anything left as a player after all of his injuries.

It appears he doesn’t as the Patriots have already cut him. According to the Boston Globe, they gave up on him because he “doesn’t have the legs anymore.” His past leg injuries have turned him from a player who once went in the 1^st round to a player not even worth bringing in Training Camp. At just 27 years of age, it’s fair to wonder if anyone will ever give him another chance.

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Leodis McKelvin is a former 1^st round pick of the Buffalo Bills, going 11^th overall in 2008. However, he has yet to live up to his billing and the regime that drafted him is gone. The Bills have used premium picks on cornerbacks in each of the last 2 years, taking Aaron Williams in the 2^nd round in 2011 and taking Stephon Gilmore in the 1^st round in 2012, so it was fair to wonder if McKelvin, a free agent after this season, was done in Buffalo.

However, now it appears that McKelvin will be staying on the Bills’ roster. McKelvin is practicing with the 1^st team in OTAs. Though Aaron Williams will probably surpass him on the depth chart and start opposite Stephon Gilmore, McKelvin appears to have the inside track to be the #3 cornerback this season.

The Bills already cut one cornerback, Drayon Florence, this offseason, which is more reason to think they’ll keep McKelvin. His other competition for a roster spot is veteran Terrence McGee, 4^th round pick rookie Ron Brooks and 2011 7^th round pick Justin Rogers. It appears he’ll stay on the roster. It’s still unclear if he’ll resign with the team after the season when he’s a free agent.

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Cam Newton had a record breaking rookie season, breaking Peyton Manning’s rookie passing yards record and shattering the all-time single season quarterback rushing touchdown record. He also brought the Panthers back from irrelevance, helping them to a 6-10 record despite awful defense, and giving them a lot of hope for the future. Possibly most importantly, he silenced all the critics who said he had character problems coming off a college career where he got kicked off the Florida football team and then allegedly got pay in exchange to attend Auburn. Well, all the critics except, perhaps, himself.

According to Newton, he was very immature and a bad teammate at times as a rookie. He said he needs to mature and that his pouting and moping was overdoing it. This is the kind of honesty and self critique that I love in young players and I would think I’m not alone in that belief. Newton may have been a “bad teammate” at times as a rookie, but at least he’s conscientious and humble enough to know what he needs to work on, which is not always the case. He clearly has all the respect of his teammates and should continue to improve as a player.

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The Giants have had injuries at the wide receiver position this offseason, with Hakeem Nicks breaking his foot, leaving his status in doubt for the season opener. However, if you ask Head Coach Tom Coughlin, the team has no interest in bringing back a familiar face: free agent wide receiver Plaxico Burress.

Burress was the Giants’ #1 receiver for several years and caught the game winner in Super Bowl 42, but got arrested for possession of an unlicensed weapon during the 2008 season, killing their momentum and ending his tenure with the franchise. Burress spent 2 years in prison, but came back for one season last year with the crosstown Jets, where he caught 45 passes for 612 yards and 8 touchdowns. He has yet to find another suitor this offseason and has already been ruled out by the Jets, as well as the receiver needy Dolphins, the Eagles, and now the Giants. It’s fair to wonder if the soon to be 35 year old will ever play again.

For the Giants, they will solve any receiver problems they have from within. They drafted Rueben Randle in the 2^nd round to replace departed free agent Mario Manningham. He is currently 4^th on the depth chart behind the injured Nicks, Victor Cruz, and veteran Domenik Hixon. He is expected to leapfrog Hixon on the depth chart in the offseason and play in Mario Manningham’s old #3 outside role. They also have Ramses Barden and Jerel Jernigan in the mix. When asked if there were any plans to help the wide receiver corps, Coughlin said “look for the next Victor Cruz.”

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Dwight Jones had 2^nd or 3^rd round talent, but went undrafted in the 2012 NFL Draft. He was scooped up by the Texans as an undrafted free agent, but it doesn’t appear he’ll ever play for them. Jones has reportedly told the team that he no longer wants to play football. This is not surprising at all. Because he’s so talented and has never had a major off the field issue, there had to be something that came up in interviews that led to him getting undrafted.

If teams noticed a lack of passion, combined with his disappointing offseason workouts, it definitely explains why no one spent a draft pick on him. The Texans aren’t losing anything with Jones essentially retiring. He was a long shot for the roster and, as I mentioned, they didn’t use a draft pick on the 6-3 receiver out of North Carolina.

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They had been turned down by many other teams, but HBO’s Hard Knocks has finally found a suitor: the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins will appear on the behind the scenes show about what goes on with an NFL team. In a way, Hard Knocks and the Dolphins are perfect for each other. The Hard Knocks had been turned down by many teams and the Dolphins were turned down by many quarterbacks this offseason. Both have also seen better days.

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Hakeem Nicks had surgery on his broken foot just 4 days ago, but he is telling Head Coach Tom Coughlin that he is already pain free. Nicks was given an initial recovery of 12 weeks, which would him make questionable at best for week 1, but other reports have put his recovery at 4-6 weeks and there’s still some uncertainty with the time frame.

If he is, in fact, pain free already, it’s definitely a sign that it could end up being closer to 4-6 weeks. For what it’s worth ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio believes it’s overly optimistic that he’ll be back by Training Camp in July. My money would still be on him playing week 1, even if he does miss most of Training Camp and the Preseason.

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The 49ers franchise tagged Dashon Goldson earlier this offseason, but so far he has skipped all of the 49ers’ voluntary OTAs and reports say he has no plans to come to the Bay Area anytime soon, which sounds like a potential holdout. Now reports, according to CSN Bay Area, say exactly how much Goldson is looking for long term.

Goldson reportedly is seeking a deal similar to the one that Eric Weddle got last offseason, 40 million over 5 years. Goldson is only owed 6.212 million this season under the franchise tag. The 49ers are not expected to offer him anything close to that and they’d be stupid to offer him even half of that. Goldson did make the Pro Bowl last season, but he didn’t do anything before last year. There’s a reason he went unsigned deep into last offseason.

Though Goldson did have 6 picks last year, the 49ers’ strong front 7 is to credit for a lot of that. Goldson was an opportunistic safety, but really struggled in pure one-on-one coverage, ranking 4^th in yards allowed among safeties. He’s certainly not worth what Weddle, one of the league’s top safeties on a yearly basis, got last offseason. Goldson wanted a big contract last offseason and the 49ers let him try to find one elsewhere, which he couldn’t, leaving him to settle for a small one year deal in San Francisco. The 49ers could play hardball with Goldson again this offseason. This could be a long holdout.

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