Aldon Smith made a major case for rookie of the year last year, with 17 sacks, 17 quarterback hits, and 43 quarterback pressures in 18 total games with the 49ers en route to the surprise berth in the NFC Championship game. 9 years out of 10, he probably wins that award, but his strong rookie year unfortunately coincided with Von Miller’s even stronger rookie year so Smith did not get that award.

However, as strong as Smith’s rookie year was, he was still just a situational player, splitting reps with Parys Haralson and playing primarily on passing downs. Of Smith’s 616 snaps in 2011, in 18 games, a remarkable 441 of them were rushing the passer, which is almost as much as an every down player (the opposite rush linebacker, Ahmad Brooks, rushed the passer 555 times on 1123 snaps). Smith was still incredibly efficient and graded out as one of the top pass rushers in the league on ProFootballFocus.

Heading into his 2^nd season in the league, Smith is expected to take over an every down role as he gets a full offseason of reps in and a full offseason with the playbook. That was confirmed today by a report in the San Francisco Chronicle. Parys Haralson will play sparingly in 2012. It won’t mean a ton more pass rushing opportunities for Smith as Haralson only rushed the passer 176 times in 2012 and Smith could easily not match his outrageous pass rushing efficiency from 2012 (had a sack/hit/pressure on 17.5% of his pass rush attempts), so I’m not predicting an increase in pass rush production.

However, Smith will have to step in and become a more well rounded player. He played alright against the run in limited snaps last season, but Haralson still graded out better on ProFootballFocus. If he can improve that area of his game, his switch from part-time to full-time will have a positive impact on a San Francisco defense that already ranked 2^nd in the league last year in points per game allowed (only .1 points more than #1 ranked Pittsburgh).

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Bryant McKinnie sat out the Ravens’ minicamp this week to work on his conditioning, which has been a problem for him throughout his career, especially over the last year or so with Minnesota and now Baltimore. The Vikings cut him for his conditioning after the lockout last year and then he signed with Baltimore, where he played solid on the left side. The Ravens decided to keep him this offseason and already paid him a 500 thousand dollar roster bonus back in March. However, according to the Baltimore Sun, the 32 year old McKinnie’s job with the Ravens is not safe.

The Ravens don’t have a lot of depth at tackle behind McKinnie. Their 2^nd string left tackle is the inexperienced Ramon Harewood, a 2010 6^th round pick who has missed the entirety of his first two NFL seasons on IR. Right tackle Michael Oher has experience on the left side, but has played much better on the right side in his career and their 2^nd string right tackle, Addison Lawrence, is just as inexperienced as Harewood.

Jah Reid, their 3^rd round pick in 2011, is a natural tackle, but has seen most of his action at guard this offseason and he’d be better on the right side than the left. 2^nd round pick rookie Kelechi Osemele has some experience at tackle from his days at Iowa State, but was never a natural fit there. Guard Marshal Yanda has some experience at right tackle, but a lineup where Yanda plays right tackle and Oher plays left would feature their two best offensive linemen playing out of position.

Given their lack of depth at the position and McKinnie’s reasonable 3.2 million dollar base salary, I would be highly surprised if the Ravens cut McKinnie, but he’ll need to get his conditioning right. The Vikings didn’t have a replacement for him and they still cut him last offseason. McKinnie will be a free agent heading into his age 34 season next offseason so left tackle will be a major position of need for them in the 2013 NFL Draft. Heading into a crucial contract year, Joe Flacco has to be concerned about his protection up front.

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The Buccaneers traded back up into the end of the 1^st round to grab Doug Martin and many assumed that he would be the lead back for the Buccaneers this season. However, LeGarrette Blount, who has been the lead back for the last two seasons, is still getting most of the 1^st team reps in minicamp. The Buccaneers may just be making Martin earn his starting job, but both Mark Barron and Lavonte David, their other two early picks, are already working with the first team. Doug Martin will play most or all of the passing downs because, even though Blount has reportedly improved that area of his game this offseason, he’s still a liability in those situations. However, Blount could easily get a 50/50 split or more of the early downs.

I actually think Blount is underrated in fantasy circles. He’s still a talented runner that averaged 5.0 yards per carry in 2010, though he was out of shape last season. He’s worked his way back into shape this offseason, likely motivated by Martin’s arrival. Look at Joseph Addai (2009), Chris Wells (2011), DeAngelo Williams (2008), Marion Barber (2008), Fred Jackson (2010). All of those guys arguably had career years the season after their teams spent early picks on a running back. Meanwhile, backs drafted in the 1^st round since 2007 have averaged 165 carries as rookies. The Buccaneers will run a ton this season and Blount could get the goal line carries. He’s still a strong mid round running back.

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Chris Clemons missed the entirety of the Seahawks’ mandatory minicamp this week and was fined 63 thousand, the maximum fine, by the Seahawks for doing so. However, the Seahawks are still reportedly working on a contract extension with Clemons in order to get him back for Training Camp. Clemons is heading into the final year of his contract and is owed a mere 4.5 million, despite having 24 sacks, 18 quarterback hits, and 97 quarterback pressures over the last 2 seasons.

That being said, the Seahawks will be in no hurry to meet Clemons’ demands. Clemons is 31 in October, has never produced outside of Pete Carroll’s very specific scheme, and the Seahawks just used a 1^st round pick on Bruce Irvin, to potentially be his long term successor. Still, the Seahawks are willing to at least talk with Clemons, which is good news for him.

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No undrafted free agent has gotten more buzz so far than Josh Cooper, who is a wide receiver, currently of the Cleveland Browns. This is because the Browns have been praising him and his ability to get open underneath endlessly this offseason. Cooper is expected to not only make the Browns, but to compete for a slot receiver job with Jordan Norwood, Travis Benjamin, and Josh Cribbs, which shows just how thin the Browns are at receiver.

Greg Little and Mohamed Massaquoi will start outside, but Cooper is really impressing and he has past experience with quarterback Brandon Weeden from Oklahoma State, catching 71 passes for 715 yards and 3 touchdowns, playing off of Justin Blackmon last season. The 5-9 180 pound Cooper could start the season 4^th on the depth chart behind Little, Massaquoi, and 4^th round rookie Travis Benjamin. Josh Cribbs will make the roster because of his special teams ability, but Norwood and Carlton Mitchell are going to be squarely on the roster bubble with Mitchell as the less likely one to stay.

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With 3^rd round rookie TJ Graham expected to focus on the slot in his 1^st year in the league, Donald Jones has emerged as the favorite to start outside opposite Steve Johnson, but Derek Hagan also expects to compete for that starting job, according to buffalobills.com. David Nelson, who was actually the starter there for most of last season, is seen as a dark horse right now in that competition.

Nelson caught a good amount of passes last sseason, 61, but didn’t do much with them, going for 658 yards and not showing much after the catch ability. The Bills #2 receiver spot was pretty unproductive on the whole last season, but if Ryan Fitzpatrick can find his early season form from last year and keep it all season, whoever wins the #2 job might have some fantasy football upside in deep leagues.

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The Ravens signed veteran Bobbie Williams earlier this week and a report from Ravens inside Aaron Wilson today explains why. Wilson says that the Ravens’ Kelechi Osemele has yet to practice with a quadriceps injury, though he says he should be fine by Training Camp. Osemele was their 2^nd round pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, but he’s missing valuable practice time so the Ravens might go with the veteran Williams, at least early on.

Williams was given an 800 thousand dollar signing bonus, despite turning 36 in September, and is currently getting the 1^st team reps in minicamp. He played well in 9 games for the Bengals last season, but injuries and age might cause his abilities to decline significantly in 2012. There’s a reason why he was still available into June.

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Despite tearing his ACL in January, Casey Hampton says he’s confident that he’ll be able to play week 1, which would be a mere 8 month recovery. Players have made recoveries in that short of time from torn ACLs in the past. Wes Welker comes to mind and Adrian Peterson might be able to do a similar thing this year. Neither of those guys weigh the 340 pounds that Hampton does, but both have to do a whole lot more moving around than Hampton, who plays nose tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I still wouldn’t be so certain. Hampton is no spring chicken, turning 35 right before the Steelers’ season opener. The Steelers have also drafted a nose tackle, Alameda Ta’amu, in the 4^th round of the 2012 NFL Draft, and have talked up career backup Scott McClendon. I say it’s at least a 50/50 chance that Hamton starts the season on the PUP even though Hampton says he “can’t see that happening.”

This could be Hampton’s last season with the Steelers. He’s a free agent after the season and might not be welcomed back as the Steelers go to a youth movement on defense. He might not find another taker on the open market next offseason either so this could be his last year in the NFL period. If so, it’ll be 13 years in the league for Hampton, which is still a very impressive career.

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According to Pro Football Talk, extension discussions between the Saints and Drew Brees could go down to the wire, with the wire being the July 16^th deadline for franchise players to sign long term deals. If Brees does not sign his tender by that date, he’ll have to play out this season under the 1 year franchise tag and or not play at all, though I can’t see Brees choosing the latter.

This report is essentially the exact opposite of what we were hearing at this time last week, when there was a report that Brees was close to signing a deal in time to be present at his team’s minicamp. He did not sign a deal and has not attended minicamp. Brees is currently seeking a deal upwards of 20 million per year, while the Saints are offering 18-19 million.

It sounds like Brees wants to be paid like Peyton Manning (96 million over 5 years) and the Saints want to pay him like Tom Brady (72 million over 4 years). There’s also a dispute over guaranteed money. The two sides will come to an agreement and Brees will likely end up as the highest paid player in the league, but I agree it could take another month or so and go right up until the deadline. He’ll be at Training Camp either way, but I think I speak for many, many people when I say, pay the man. He’s earned it. This is ridiculous.

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Restricted free agent Mike Wallace is absent from the Steelers’ mandatory minicamp. The word “mandatory” is a little misleading because it’s only mandatory if a player is under contract, which Wallace, who has yet to sign his restricted free agent tender, is not currently, so the Steelers can’t fine him. However, they can reduce his tender value from 2.742 million to 577 thousand on Friday, but multiple sources believe that the Steelers will not do that as an act of good faith as they try to get Wallace signed long term.

However, the two sides are still not close on a long term deal, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Wallace said earlier this offseason that he wanted Larry Fitzgerald money. Fitzgerald got 120 million over 8 years last offseason and since Wallace’s statements, Calvin Johnson actually surpassed Wallace’s deal with 136 million over 7 years, which couldn’t have lowered Wallace’s contract demands. While they want him signed long term, the Steelers don’t have the cap space, nor the desire to pay Wallace that kind of money and frankly he’s not quite worth that kind of cash.

The Steelers have all the leverage in these negotiations and should eventually be able to get Wallace to either sign his tender, in which case they could franchise him next offseason for around 9.5-10 million, or agree to a smaller long term deal, one in the neighborhood of the 55.5 million over 5 that Vincent Jackson got from the Buccaneers this offseason. For now though, the two sides are having little to no discussion.

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