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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A week after having a meltdown in OTAs, the Jets’ mercurial wide receiver Santonio Holmes will miss the Jets’ minicamp this week with a hamstring problem. Holmes’ meltdown last week was because he felt he was being overworked by the coaching staff, despite only taking 25 reps. Holmes did not mention anything about a hamstring problem in his public explanation of the situation. The past week or so has undone a lot of the good that Holmes had done to get back on good terms with the organization this offseason. He was almost cut at the end of last season because the headaches were outweighing his production.

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Despite tearing his Achilles last November, Leon Hall says his recovery is going very well and that he expects to be ready for the 1^st day of Training Camp next month. A return for Training Camp seems very optimistic since he’ll be only 8 months removed from an injury that normally takes 10-12 months, but some players do heal better than others.

Joe Reedy, one of the Bengals’ top beat writers, believes that Hall will be ready for the start of the regular season, which would be about 9 ½ months after the injury. If he can’t go, rookie Dre Kirkpatrick will likely start opposite veteran Nate Clements. If Hall recovers for Training Camp and Kirkpatrick impressed in camp, the Bengals may cut Clements rather than pay him 4.3 million this year. The Bengals don’t want to rush Kirkpatrick into action too quickly though.

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In an interview with Bengals.com, Cincinnati offensive coordinator Jay Gruden said he sees no reason to add a veteran receiver and that he’d be surprised if someone didn’t pan out from the current group. The Bengals currently have a young group of receivers, Brandon Tate, Marvin Jones, Armon Binns, Mohamed Sanu, Jordan Shipley, and Ryan Whalen behind clear #1 receiver AJ Green. One veteran they were linked to earlier this offseason was Braylon Edwards, but it appears the Bengals are yet another team that will not be offering him a contract.

Shipley is pretty solidified in the slot, assuming he’s healthy. Meanwhile, the Bengals are hoping one of the rest of the bunch can step up as a starter opposite Green. The favorite right now, based off of comments made by the Bengals coaching staff in the past, would seem to be Mohamed Sanu, their 3^rd round pick in this past NFL Draft. Armon Binns, a 2011 undrafted free agent, and Jones, a 5^th rounder this year, would then compete for the #4 receiver spot. Tate and Whalen are on the roster bubble. There’s still a lot up in the air though, but it doesn’t look like the Bengals will be adding a veteran either way.

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In an interview with the Associated Press today, Steve Smith said that he wants to play “3 or 4 more years” before retiring. This is very consistent with the contract he just signed, so it makes sense. Smith is signed through the 2015 season, 4 seasons from now, for a total of 37.75 million. Smith had a major bounce back season in 2011, catching 79 passes for 1394 yards and 7 touchdowns, after just 46 catches for 554 yards and 2 touchdowns in 2010.

However, his age, 33, is a major issue. If you take a look at the 11 receivers who have played in the last decade and rank in the top 20 all time in receiving, you’d see that even the average top 20 all-time receiver has his last 1000 yard season at age 34-35, averages 48 catches for 594 yards and 3 touchdowns for 2 more seasons after age 34-35, and is done playing by age 36-37. Smith currently ranks 32^nd on this list, but will likely finish top-20. The point is that Smith would have to defy a lot of history to continue to be a #1 receiver for more than 2 years.

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A 2^nd round pick in 2009, Andy Levitre finally emerged as an above average player last year, after 2 mediocre years in 2009-2010. Levitre ranked 6^th among all guards on ProFootballFocus last season, making 12 starts at left guard. He also made 3 starts at left tackle and 1 at center, though he graded out much better at guard than anywhere else. He allowed 5 sacks and 11 pressures, while committing 5 penalties on the season, but only allowed 4 sacks and 7 pressures, with 4 penalties, in his 12 games at guard.

Heading into the final year of his 4 year rookie deal, the Bills have begun extension talks with Levitre. He’s not an elite talent, but he’s above average, versatile, and has started all 48 games of his career. He won’t command Davin Joseph, Carl Nicks, or Jahri Evans money, but he could get a deal similar to Evan Mathis or Ben Grubbs. This offseason, Mathis got 25 million over 5 years and Grubbs got 36 million over 5 years. Both would be a major pay raise over the 615 thousand Levitre is owed this season.

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Maurice Jones Drew and Chris Clemons were two of the three under contract players to skip the 1^st day of his team’s mandatory minicamp. The other was Ed Reed, but unlike MJD and Clemons, he didn’t do so in search of a new contract. Reed is still not 100% committed to play in 2012, which would be his 12^th in the NFL and his age 34 season. The Ravens can fine Reed 60 thousand for missing minicamp.

Even though he said earlier this offseason he was not 100% sure he wanted to play this season, most have assumed he would return. His absence at minicamp is a bad sign, but it’s still highly unlikely that he retires. He’s known for wanting to use the offseason to spend time with his family and workout solo. Ray Lewis says that Reed will, for sure, be there for Training Camp. Ravens’ fans should still be more concerned about Reed’s age, injury history, and contract status (he’s unsigned after this season), than about Reed potentially retiring.

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Unlike Chris Clemons and Maurice Jones Drew, Darrelle Revis was not a no show for mandatory minicamp today. However, he still refused to commit for Training Camp and reiterated his desire for a new deal. He says he wants a “sit down” with owner Woody Johnson, GM Mike Tannenbaum, and Head Coach Rex Ryan. It sounds like Revis is trying to be civil about the situation, but may change his tune if he’s not given a new deal by Training Camp.

Revis has finished with the frontloaded 2 years of his 4 year deal and has lived up to the 32.5 million he’s made over the last 2 years. He’s set to make just 13.5 million over the next 2 seasons. There’s still a good chance that Revis was promised a new deal in 2012, 2 years ago, if he continued to be the best cornerback in the league, which he did. He might get a new deal without holding out. This new deal would likely exceed the 60 million over 5 years that Nnamdi Asomugha got last offseason.

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