A day after it was reported by ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss that it would be Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley, not veteran free agent acquisition Joseph Addai, that would get the bulk of the carries for the Patriots, the Jeff Rowe of the Boston Herald is reporting that Shane Vereen is getting all of the 1^st team work in OTAs.

That being said, I wouldn’t read too much into Vereen being 1^st string and Ridley 2^nd because Belichick has never been one for using just one back. Both were high picks a year ago and he’ll use both in different roles. Ridley will probably see the goal line carries, but this could be a sign that Vereen will lead the team in carries. Danny Woodhead will continue to work as a passing down specialist, while Rowe seconds Reiss’ suggestion that Addai is no lock to make the final 53 at 29 years of age.

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The Browns may have traded up to use the 3^rd overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft on Trent Richardson, but according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Brandon Jackson will be used on 3^rd downs. This move is consistent with what Head Coach Pat Shurmur normally does, taking his feature back out on 3^rd downs. He did so in St. Louis with Steven Jackson when he was their offensive coordinator in 2010 and then again last year in Cleveland with Peyton Hillis.

Richardson is a rookie, so he’s obviously raw in pass protection, even coming over from being coached by Nick Saban. Meanwhile, Brandon Jackson’s specialty is pass protection. This would leave Montario Hardesty without a clear role, but according to the same Cleveland Plain Dealer report, the 2010 2^nd round pick is not likely to be cut. Instead, they believe it will be Chris Ogbonnaya who will be cut, unless he can prove himself as valuable on special teams. Obviously the Browns view Hardesty as the better of the two as a pure runner and want him around in case something happens to Richardson.

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Pete Carroll has said it will be a true competition for starting quarterback between incumbent Tarvaris Jackson, free agent acquisition Matt Flynn, and 3^rd round rookie Russell Wilson. He’s been true to his word so far, alternating 1^st string quarterbacks in OTAs on a daily basis. According to Pro Football Weekly, however, Flynn has been “by far” their best quarterback.

That statement would go along with what everyone has believed since Flynn signed a 3 year, 19.5 million dollar deal with 10 million guaranteed, that he will be their week 1 starter. Carroll loves competition and obviously is not going to name a starter at this point and maybe not until after Training Camp or later, but it wouldn’t shock me if they started giving Flynn more reps with the 1^st team in the coming days. It’ll be interesting to see if they do that. I’ve said all along that Flynn will be the starter and Russell Wilson will be the backup, making Jackson and his 4 million dollar salary expendable and leading to his release. Obviously, nothing is set in stone yet.

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Matt Forte was franchised by the Chicago Bears earlier this offseason and he has not been happy about it. Forte is refusing to sign the 7.7 million dollar tender as he’s looking for a deal worth 8.5 million or so per year over 4-5 years with about half guaranteed: a deal essentially on par with what LeSean McCoy, Chris Johnson, and Arian Foster have gotten in the last 2 seasons. He also took serious offense when the Bears signed Michael Bush to a long term deal, even though it was to be his backup.

The Bears are refusing to meet Forte’s demands, as they have been doing for over a year, since the old regime in the front office. According to the Chicago Tribune, the reason behind this is that they’re worried about his knees. This seems to be a bit of a strange belief as Forte hadn’t missed any games due to injury in his NFL career before last season when he went on IR with a sprained MCL. Forte did tear his PCL in college and sprain it again in 2009, a minor injury, but what running back or what NFL player in general has never had a knee injury?

The Bears obviously know better about Forte’s knees than I would, but I do think the story sounds peculiar. Forte’s agent had a different word for it, calling it “absurd,” pointing to the fact that I just brought up, that Forte hadn’t missed a game due to injury in his NFL career before last year. If the Bears are, in fact, worried about Forte’s knees, they won’t give him what he wants and that means this could be a long, drawn out, and messy hold out. It wouldn’t shock me if the Bears traded Forte before the season, as they did give Michael Bush, who has some starting experience, a good chunk of money this offseason. Also Kahlil Bell played decent down the stretch in place of an injured Forte last season.

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The Patriots seemingly brought in a million wide receivers this offseason and it’s a bit unclear how they’ll stack up on the depth chart. ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss tried to help make sense of the mess. He said that Wes Welker, Brandon Lloyd, and Jabar Gaffney were locks to make the roster, and that Matt Slater and Julian Edelman were borderline locks because of their age and ability to play special teams and defense.

That means that Deion Branch may not make the Patriots’ final 53 and will need the Patriots to keep 6 wide receivers. If Edelman and Slater prove that they are capable #4 and #5 receivers in Training Camp, Branch could easily be cut and at 33 years of age with an injury history and after being cut by the only team he ever had success with, he might not find another job. This also means that Chad Ochocinco is likely going to be left off the final roster, as will offseason acquisitions Donte Stallworth and Anthony Gonzalez. 7^th round rookie Jeremy Ebert will likely start this career on the practice squad.

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Though they signed veteran running back Joseph Addai, ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss believes that 2^nd year players Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen will get the “bulk of the carries” for the Patriots this year. This would make the most sense, but Bill Belichick is often unpredictable with his running backs and tends to go with experience over anything, which Addai represents. As it stands right now, I would say Vereen and Ridley will split 1^st and 2^nd down carries and passing down specialist Danny Woodhead will come in on passing downs. Addai may or may not make the Patriots’ final 53 man roster.

The Titans’ biggest offseason loss was Cortland Finnegan, who signed a massive deal in St. Louis, but the Titans feel they have the in house talent to make up for the loss. Jason McCourty was an above average cornerback last year and will remain a starter this year. Meanwhile, Alterraun Verner is lining up as the starter opposite him in OTAs and, like Finnegan did before him, he’s moving inside to cover the slot in 3-cornerback sets.

There was some talk earlier this month that Tommie Campbell could be the starter opposite McCourty after defensive coordinator Jerry Gray called him the team’s 2^nd best cornerback. However, now it appears that Campbell will be left competing to play in 3-cornerback sets with rookie 4^th round pick Coty Sensabaugh and veteran Ryan Mouton, who is coming off a major injury. Whoever wins that job will line up outside, while Verner moves inside. That’s Verner’s old role from 2011.

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All the focus in New York with the Jets is around offseason acquisition Tim Tebow, but if you ask incumbent starter Mark Sanchez, he’ll tell you that he’s “not really thinking” about Tim Tebow, or at least that’s what he told ESPN New York. However, it’s possible to translate this quotation as Sanchez saying he “trying not to think about” Tebow. Sanchez obviously knows that he if plays like he did last year, he won’t keep his starting job. My prediction is that Sanchez starts a few games, struggles, and then Tebow takes over.

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The Bengals are having as close to an open competition for the #2 receiver job as you possibly can get. Rookies Mohamed Sanu and Marvin Jones, inexperienced former undrafted free agent Armon Binns, and Patriots castoff Brandon Tate are all in the running. If you ask the man who they are competing to line up opposite, AJ Green, Mohamed Sanu is the favorite.

Green praised Sanu’s football speed and mentioned that he didn’t understand Sanu’s perceived lack of speed coming out of Rutgers, a reason why he fell to them in the 3^rd round. A player the Bengals have compared to TJ Houshmanzadeh, I agree with Green’s scouting report of Sanu and the Cincinnati Enquirer’s prediction that he will win the starting job. The Bengals will make him earn it, however.

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Earlier this week it was reported that Urlacher would be healthy for Training Camp, but now Bears fans have a new concern with the face of their franchise. In an interview with NBCSports.com, Urlacher said that it’s “kind of exciting” when asked about his pending free agency after the season. Owed 7.5 million in the final year of his deal, Urlacher mentions that he has never been a free agent and that’s why he finds it exciting.

Urlacher is entering his 13^th year in the league, all of which have been with the Bears, and, 36 next offseason, it’s unclear if Urlacher will get more on the open market than from the Bears, who would obviously love to keep their most recognizable player. I wouldn’t bet on him going anywhere, but rather that he’ll finish his career in a Bears uniform, whenever that times comes.

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