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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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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