There was a time when Shawne Merriman was one of the most feared pass rushers in the league. From 2005-2007, he had 39.5 sacks in 3 seasons and won Defensive Player of the Year. However, since then, he’s struggled mightily with injuries and has managed just 5 sacks. He appeared on the verge of a comeback last year after a strong preseason, but managed just 1 sack in 5 games before being put on season ending injured reserve once again.

This offseason, he appears to be in great shape, according to the National Football Post’s Dan Pompei. Pompei said that Merriman is getting “outstanding reviews” and that it “looks like he will” be healthy and able to help the Bills this season. With Merriman, somehow only 27 years old, it’s an “I have to see it to believe it” type thing now so there’s absolutely no guarantee that he’ll make it through the season.

Unlike last year, he does not have a starting job waiting for him as the Bills grew tired of waiting for him and signed both Mario Williams and Mark Anderson as free agents this offseason. Merriman, if healthy, could be a situational player and rush the passer on nickel downs with Mario Williams moving inside to tackle. He’ll have to compete with an incumbent starter, Chris Kelsay, to even do that.

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Ras-I Dowling was a 1^st round talent out of Virginia coming out in the 2011 NFL Draft last year, but he fell to the 2^nd round because of his injury history. Dowling missed the majority of his senior year with injury and then reinjured himself at The Combine. The Patriots were not rewarded with their gamble on Dowling last year as he missed the whole season with a hip injury.

However, now it appears he’s finally healthy and on the road to being able to play for the Patriots this year. He will work out with the team at OTAs and according to ESPN Boston, the extra hip surgery he had this offseason was just a minor cleanout and not a major setback at all. Barring another setback, Dowling will be 100% ready for Training Camp, Preseason, and most importantly the regular season. He’ll open the season as the Patriots’ #3 cornerback behind Devin McCourty and Kyle Arrington.

If he can play up to his abilities, it’ll go a long way towards fixing the Patriots’ awful defense. The Patriots are also counting on Patrick Chung staying healthy, Devin McCourty bouncing back from a down season, and strong play from rookies Chandler Jones, Dont’a Hightower, Tavon Wilson, and Jake Bequette, all selected in the first 3 rounds of April’s NFL Draft. If they get all that, their defense will be a solid compliment to their explosive offense.

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When the Raiders drafted Juron Criner in the 5^th round this year, it was not a need pick at all, but it was a tremendous value pick. Criner has been really impressing in practice thus far. Drafting good wide receivers has become something of a trend for the Raiders over the past few years and now they have a huge depth of talented young receivers.

Darrius Heyward-Bey was a publicly shamed pick at 7 overall in 2009, but finally started living up to the pick last year. Denarius Moore was a great value as a 5^th round pick last year. Jacoby Ford was a 2010 4^th round pick, Louis Murphy was a 2009 4^th round pick, and of course Criner this past year. With so much talent at the position, some think that a trade could be on the way.

ESPN’s Bill Williamson, who is an expert on the AFC West, feels differently. He feels that the Raiders will keep all of their receivers and see how things play out in camp. That does leave the door open for a trade in the future, but nothing is imminent. If a trade were to take place, Louis Murphy might be the odd man out. Currently penciled in at #5 on their depth chart, Murphy is too talented and too expensive (1.26 million) for that role. He could be a #3 receiver elsewhere and would bring back a late round pick and some cap flexibility for a team with very little.

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The Redskins overhauled their receiving corps this offseason, cutting former leading receiver Jabar Gaffney and signing Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan. They also have 2011 3^rd round pick Leonard Hankerson back and healthy and ready to compete for a starting job. Meanwhile, veteran Santana Moss, a 33 year old in June who has spent 7 years with the team, is on the roster bubble after missing a large portion of last season with injury.

It’s unclear how it will all shake out right now, except that Pierre Garcon will probably be Robert Griffin’s #1 receiver. Many beat writers are listing Leonard Hankerson as the starter over Josh Morgan and Santana Moss, including CSN Washington’s Rich Handler. Hankerson played barely as a rookie, but has tremendous physical gifts and caught 8 passes for 106 yards in his final game before going down with a hip injury.

Hankerson starting leaves Morgan, who signed a 12 million dollar deal over 2 years this offseason, in the slot, which leaves Santana Moss on the outside looking in. Due 2.65 million this year, that might suggest that Moss would be let go, but Handler also mentioned at the same time that he considers both Santana Moss and Chris Cooley, another candidate for release, as guys who will make the final 53. Cooley would be a pure backup to Fred Davis if that were to happen. It’s certainly a very interesting situation and one to monitor in Training Camp. I certainly don’t see Moss and Cooley as locks at this point, but a Garcon/Hankerson/Morgan trio makes the most sense to me in that order.

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The Lions have used picks in the first 2 rounds on running backs in their last two drafts prior to this year, as well as a 3^rd round pick on a running back in 2008, yet they keep having to turn to the mediocre and aging Maurice Morris down the stretch to get significant carries for them. This is because Jahvid Best, a 1^st rounder in 2010, Mikel Leshoure, a 2^nd rounder in 2011, and Kevin Smith,  a 3^rd rounder in 2008, cannot stay healthy.

As of right now, the Lions expect both Jahvid Best and Mikel Leshoure to be 100% healthy for the start of the season. Both are working out and practicing as of now, though not at full speed, but it’s still a good sign nonetheless. With Best, I’d have to see him make it through a full season to believe it. Incredibly talented, Best has been snakebitten back to his days at California.

Leshoure, on the other hand, is bigger, more built to withstand hits, and doesn’t have Best’s extensive injury history. My biggest concern with him is that he could face a lengthy suspension for failing a drug test. Leshoure has past drug related issues from his days at Illinois. Kevin Smith was not named in the report with Best and Leshoure. He’s been perennially snakebitten in his career thanks to the 450 carries he had in his senior season at Central Florida. The Lions haven’t made a statement on him since resigning him to a one year deal in March. They probably just view him as insurance, as they did last season. He played well down the stretch before, you guessed it, getting hurt.

The Lions didn’t draft a single running back this year because they’re confident in Best and Leshoure. They also kicked the tires on free agent Ryan Grant, but didn’t sign him to a contract. They’ll need their running backs to be healthy to give them the balanced offense that didn’t have last year. If they can have that, they may take the next step as a team.

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Before the draft, the buzz with Mike Wallace was whether or not another team would offer the restricted free agent an offer sheet and whether or not the Steelers would be willing or able to match if a team did so. That deadline for a team to do that, and surrender a 1^st round pick, has passed, but the drama with Wallace is not over.

Wallace has made it clear he wants to be paid like Larry Fitzgerald and Calvin Johnson and is not happy with the 2.742 million dollar restricted free agent tender the Steelers have offered him. Wallace is skipping OTAs in search of a new deal, though it may just be a symbolic gesture. Not only can the Steelers slash Wallace’s salary in 2012 to 577,500 if he doesn’t sign the tender by June 15^th, the Steelers simply don’t have the cap space to give Wallace the deal he wants. Wallace only has had 3 years in the league and he doesn’t have the leverage at this point to get a long term deal so I expect him to sign the tender and join his teammates in practice once his symbolic gesture is over.

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The Bengals drafted Devon Still in the 2^nd round of the 2012 NFL Draft not so much because he filled a need, but because he was a value pick. Especially after the Bengals used another draft pick, their 3^rd rounder, on a defensive tackle in Brandon Thompson, it was unclear how the Bengals planned to use their defensive lineman this year. Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer loves rotation on the defensive line and he has a very deep defensive line this year.

In practice, Devon Still is lining up at not just defensive tackle, but, on occasion, at defensive end. This makes some sense as the Bengals lost two run stuffing defensive ends in free agency, Frostee Rucker and Jonathan Fanene. Still at 305 pounds would certainly be stout against the run at defensive end, though he’s not a natural fit for the position. Fanene and Rucker also played some snaps at defensive tackle. It’s looking like Still could play in that role for the Bengals this season and see immediate snaps as a situational defensive end and defensive tackle. Thompson, meanwhile, will be a pure backup to Domata Peko at nose tackle and won’t see much of the field, at least in 2012.

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Jets’ backup nose tackle and 2011 3^rd round pick Kenrick Ellis was sentenced to 90 days in jail last week for assault charges in an incident that occurred while he was still at Hampton University. After appeal, that sentence has been cut to 45 days, beginning June 15^th. That puts him in position to only miss some of Training Camp and none of the preseason or regular season.

The bad news for him is that even though the incident occurred while he was still in college, ESPN New York reports that he could still face suspension from the commissioner. He could miss 4 games, but the Jets were not counting on him for much this season. He still is a candidate to be their starting nose tackle of the future when Sione Pouha, 33, is no longer capable of doing that.

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The Bengals drafted Dontay Moch in the 3^rd round last year as an athletic edge rusher who could potentially play a joker role for them. However, he has yet to get on the field after missing all of last season with injury. Now he’s suffered another setback, a 4 game suspension from the league for testing posting for an undisclosed illegal substance. He will appeal.

The Bengals already have their starters at linebacker with Manny Lawson, Rey Maualuga, and Thomas Howard so Moch was not going to start for them this season, but he could have seen some situational work, especially as a pass rush. He has legitimate 4.4 speed at 240 pounds, but is very raw and is really struggling to get on the field. The Bengals originally planned for him to take over for Manny Lawson, a free agent this offseason, but they resigned Lawson to another 1 year deal this offseason. Moch looks to be heading down a path to irrelevancy.

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The Broncos took Ryan Clady 12^th overall 4 years ago in the 2012 NFL Draft and he has been their left tackle ever since. He is heading into the final year of his 5 year rookie deal, but the Broncos do not seem prepared to let him potentially go next offseason. According to the Denver Post, the Broncos have opened extension talks with Clady, who is seeking top-5 tackle money.

Clady was awesome as a rookie in 2008. He didn’t allow a sack all season on 696 dropbacks. However, ever since Mike Shanahan left, Clady’s hasn’t been a natural scheme fit and has declined in every season. In 2009, he allowed 8 sacks, 20 pressures, and committed 8 penalties. In 2010, he allowed 6 sacks, 29 pressures, and committed 7 penalties. Last year, he allowed 6 sacks, 32 pressures, and committed 12 penalties, while grading out as one of the league’s worst run blockers.

Nonetheless, the Broncos view Clady as a young and capable franchise left tackle and franchise left tackles are rare. Aside from quarterback, no position more infrequently hits the open market in free agency so I would expect the Broncos to get a deal done with Clady, even if they end up overpaying him. Still just 26 in September, there’s always a chance Clady bounces back to his top-5 form in the future.

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