Coby Fleener was a 2^nd round pick of the Indianapolis Colts in the 2012 NFL Draft, but it’s 3^rd round pick Dwayne Allen, not Fleener, who is getting the 1^st team reps at tight end. This is likely because Allen is the better blocker, which means he’ll play on base packages, but Fleener is the better pass catcher and athlete and should be the more productive of the two. He’ll see plenty of the field this season as the Colts plan to use a lot of two-tight end sets, which makes sense given their lack of depth at wide receiver.

He could have an Aaron Hernandez esque rookie year. I know Andrew Luck isn’t Tom Brady, but he has familiarity with Fleener from their time at Stanford and Fleener was a higher draft pick and has less competition for balls than Hernandez did as a rookie. Hernandez caught 45 passes for 563 yards and 6 touchdowns as a rookie in 2010 and then caught 79 passes for 910 yards and 7 touchdowns last year. I’ve got Fleener at 45 catches for 720 yards and 7 touchdowns in my fantasy rankings and recommend him as a low end TE1 with upside.

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Lions’ GM Martin Mayhew named 3 standouts from offseason practices so far, naming running back Jahvid Best, defensive tackle Nick Fairley, and defensive end Willie Young. Best is reportedly 100% healthy, or as close to 100% as he’s going to be and when he is 100%, he’s a very impressive running back. He was actually a top-10 running back in fantasy points per game last year, though he only played 6 games. He’s got some fantasy football upside, but he’s one concussion away from potentially being knocked out for the season and he’ll likely have to split carries with Mikel Leshoure, even if healthy, and Leshoure would likely get the goal line carries. I’d let someone else take a chance on his upside.

As for Nick Fairley, he’s been arrested this offseason for marijuana possession and then a DUI/eluding police double charge and is facing at least a 2 game suspension. However, on the field, Fairley, their 2011 1^st round pick, has been nothing but impressive this offseason and should have a big impact when he can play this season as the likely starter next to Ndamukong Suh.

Willie Young, meanwhile, played very well in 2011 in limited action last season with 4 sacks, 4 quarterback hits, and 19 quarterback pressures on 274 snaps. He could be in line for a bigger role in 2012 with Kyle Vanden Bosch aging. If the Lions trade franchise player Cliff Avril, he could have a major breakout season. ProFootballFocus actually graded Young as a more efficient pass rusher than Avril.

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The Lions used a 2^nd round pick on Mikel Leshoure in the 2011 NFL Draft, hoping he’d help shore up a running game that had been struggling for years. To their misfortune, however, Leshoure tore his Achilles before he could ever get onto the field and missed the entirety of his rookie season. He’s close to healthy now, participating in positional drills at Lions’ minicamp, but he will have to wait 2 more games to make his NFL debut.

The NFL handed down punishment today for Leshoure’s two offseason arrests for marijuana possession, giving him a 2 game suspension, which is actually pretty lenient. Leshoure may have gotten himself out of a larger suspension by enrolling in the league’s substance abuse program and routinely passing drug tests since his 2^nd arrest. Leshoure will, barring further injury, be on the field for 14 games this season, which will go a long way towards helping the Lions run the football. A healthy Jahvid Best would also help. If the Lions can figure something out on the ground, their already explosive, but one dimensional, offense will be that much tougher to stop.

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Speculation started today that the Packers could trade wide receiver James Jones, according to the Houston Chronicle, who named the receiver needy Texans as a potential destination. James Jones caught 38 passes for 635 yards and 7 touchdowns last season as the Packers’ #3 receiver, but the Packers have 2011 2^nd round pick Randall Cobb, who is having a strong offseason, ready to move into the #3 receiver role, so it makes sense that Jones would be expendable, if, in fact, the Packers view him as such.

Jones would also be pretty inexpensive for a team acquiring him. He’s owed just 2.3 million this season. For the Texans, Jones would represent a much needed veteran receiver for a team whose #3-#5 receivers have 0 career catches. They’re so desperate for veteran help at the position that they’ve invited Mike Sims-Walker to participate in their minicamp. Jones would be an obvious improvement and might even be able to challenge the pedestrian Kevin Walter for the #2 receiver job. To this point, any talks of Jones being moved is pure speculation, but it makes sense.

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Mike Williams had an incredibly impressive rookie year in 2010, as a mere 4^th round rookie, catching 65 passes for 964 yards and 11 touchdowns, but struggled last year, catching 65 passes for 771 yards and 3 touchdowns. He was out of shape for most of, if not all of the season, not an uncommon thing for a Buccaneer last year as Head Coach Raheem Morris completely lost the locker room. Morris is now gone, but the Buccaneers brought in another receiver, Vincent Jackson, moving Mike Williams to 2^nd on the depth chart, where he’s a better fit. However, Williams might not be done being demoted on the depth chart.

According to ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas, Mike Williams could lose his starting job to slot receiver Preston Parker. Parker, who caught 40 passes for 554 yards and 3 touchdowns last season, is having a great offseason and earned the praise of quarterback Josh Freeman, while Williams is reportedly in the new coaching staff’s doghouse. If Parker does leapfrog Williams on the depth chart, he’d play outside opposite Jackson in 2-wide receiver sets and move inside on 3-wide receiver sets, with Williams playing outside. There’s definitely some fantasy football upside with Parker late. At the very least, he should exceed his 2011 production with Kellen Winslow gone and Josh Freeman likely to bounce back.

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Peyton Manning is participating in the Broncos’ minicamp, giving outsiders a chance to see him throw the ball in person, after 4 neck surgeries. The Broncos obviously weren’t too worried about Manning’s neck, nor his age, 36, as they made him the highest paid player in the league, despite the fact that he didn’t play a down of football last season.

Manning’s public performance was met with mixed reviews and highly differing opinions. Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com said there was “little difference” between Manning now and Manning in 2010, when he was last healthy. Meanwhile, both USA Today’s Nate Davis and Denver Post’s Woody Paige said that his deep throws were not the same as old, with Davis going as far as to say that Manning doesn’t even have the liveliest arm on the team.

Manning is still in the rehab phase, which he admits, but if he isn’t starting to at least resemble his former self by Training Camp and the Preseason, Broncos fans should be worried. Fortunately, they’ll be able to see him firsthand in the preseason and determine if he’s his old self or not for themselves. If he’s not right, he won’t be able to hide it. For now, I’ll trust Denver’s assessment of him before they signed him, which was that he was still a more than capable quarterback.

That being said, I am projecting a down season for Peyton Manning for several reasons. For one, he’s going to a new team, in a new division, with a new system, and new players, new coaches, new surroundings, everything new. The continuity is gone for Peyton Manning, which is never a good thing. Two, he’s got inferior players around him, at least in comparison to the 2000s Colts or even the 2010 Colts, which had two receivers, Reggie Wayne and Pierre Garcon, who almost had 1000 yard seasons last year with Curtis Painter and Dan Orlovsky.

Three, he was out of football all last year. In 2010, he struggled by his standards for half a season after just missing training camp. Four, he’s coming off of 4 neck surgeries in 2 years. Enough said. Five, he’s 36 and a declining player. He was a declining player even in 2010 and that was 3 neck surgeries and almost 2 years ago. His arm strength wasn’t what it used to be and I can’t imagine it’s any better now. I expect him to have a season worse than 2010, when his 6.9 YPA was his lowest since 1998 and his 17 interceptions were his highest since 2002.

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Jordan Shipley had a strong rookie year in 2010 out of the slot, catching 52 passes for 600 yards and 3 touchdowns, but he tore his ACL early last season and only managed 4 catches for 14 yards. Shipley had a laundry list of injury problems in college at Texas, so much so that he was granted a 6^th year of eligibility (it’s why he’s already heading into his age 27 season). The Bengals took a chance on his talent in the 3^rd round in spite of his injuries, but, even with his strong 2010, it might not end up paying off.

Shipley admitted today that his surgically repaired knee is still stiff and that he’ll be limited in minicamp, though the team still asserts that he’ll be good to go for Training Camp. This is still obviously not good news for someone with his history of injuries. If Shipley is healthy, he’ll be the team’s slot receiver. That’s almost a certainty or as close as you can get to a certainty on a young and unsorted receiving corps.

However, if Shipley can’t go in the regular season, the Bengals would likely move projected #2 receiver Mohamed Sanu, who played the slot at Rutgers, into the slot in 3 wide receiver sets and whoever is 4^th on the depth chart (Marvin Jones? Armon Binns?), would then move outside opposite AJ Green. The Bengals have a lot to sort out at receiver after AJ Green so they would obviously like to get Shipley back healthy. It’s worth noting that Shipley’s admission came on the same day as a report that the Bengals were no longer interested in a veteran receiver.

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Earlier this week, when the New York Giants released Jake Ballard, their starting tight end last season, for injury reasons, there was immediate speculation, fueled by comments by Ballard’s agent himself, that Ballard would be resigned by the Giants in 2013 when he was fully healthy. However, that is no longer going to happen because the Patriots put in a waiver claim for him and claimed him today, the only team to do so. Ironically, the Patriots are the team that the Giants beat in the Super Bowl in February, the game during which Ballard tore his ACL.

Ballard is still highly unlikely to contribute at all in 2012 and the Patriots will probably stash him on IR after he starts the season on the PUP. They have a ton of tight ends anyway, having signed Daniel Fells, Bo Sciafe, and now Jake Ballard behind Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez this offseason. This move was probably made with 2013 in mind, when Ballard will be an exclusive right free agent.

Ballard is a massive tight end at 6-6 275 and a great blocker, but contributed a good amount in the passing game for the Giants last year, catching 38 passes for 604 yards and 5 touchdowns. He’d still be nothing more than the #3 tight end for the Patriots for the foreseeable future, but Alge Crumpler saw a good amount of the field in 2010 as a #3 tight end. Like Crumpler, the Patriots may see Ballard as purely a blocker.

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Despite being arrested over the weekend for DUI, with a BAC of .18, David Diehl is reportedly unlikely to face suspension, according to the New York Daily News. This makes a lot of sense because it was his first offense and because Justin Blackmon, who had a previous offense and a higher BAC, is also unlikely to get a suspension. Like Blackmon, Diehl will probably have to enter a league program for alcohol. Diehl is 32 this season and coming off an awful season at both left tackle and left guard. He’ll compete with 2011 4^th round pick James Brewer to start at right tackle, a competition he could easily lose. His DUI obviously doesn’t help, though it might not hurt either, depending on how the organization views it.

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The Texans drafted Brandon Brooks in the 3^rd round of the 2012 NFL Draft with the intention of having him compete with career backup Antoine Caldwell to replace Mike Brisiel at right guard. Brooks is not the prototypical zone offensive lineman because of his large size (340 pounds or so), but he ran a sub 5 40 at his Pro Day and the Texans took him anyway, acknowledging that they’re never had an offensive lineman as big as him in their zone blocking scheme.

Brooks impressed in OTAs and rookie minicamp, but Gary Kubiak said today that he was disappointed with Brooks’ weight at the team’s minicamp today, though his weight was not disclosed. This is obviously a setback as he competes for the starting job. It’s starting to look like Caldwell, also a former 3^rd round pick, from the 2009 NFL Draft, will be the starter at least to start the season. It’s not over though, but Brooks will have to get his weight back in check.

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