Even with the way things ended between Brett Favre and the Packers, almost everyone expected that his number would be retired by the organization someday. Favre holds almost every major passing record in NFL history and is arguably the Packers’ greatest player ever. He’ll be a Hall of Famer in 5 years from whenever the hell his last game actually was. Today, the Packers gave a time frame to any Favre jersey retirement ceremonies, saying that it would be retired “in a year or two.” This makes sense as it’s wise to make sure he’s actually retired before doing this.

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Brian Moorman was 5^th in the league with 48.2 yards per punt last season, though only 20^th in net yards per punt with 38.6. Still, one would expect his job to be safe for next season, especially after the Bills did not draft a single punter. However, according to the Buffalo News, Moorman will face competition from undrafted rookie Shawn Powell in camp. I would expect Moorman to be the victor of that battle, but he will have to earn it and if he shows his 36 years of age in a negative way, he might not win the job.

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At the end of last season, when the Jets missed the playoffs, it seemed possible they could cut Santonio Holmes, who was a distraction all season with his comments to the media about the locker room and his general attitude. Also, with only 51 catches for 654 yards and 8 touchdowns, the negatives outweighed the positives for him.

However, now it appears he’s gotten things together. He’s spent a lot of time working out privately with Mark Sanchez and he has been getting praise from all throughout the organization. Wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal called Holmes “very eager, very football-hungry, very competitive” so far in practice, while right tackle Wayne Hunter, who Holmes publicly blamed for his own poor statistics last season, said that Holmes has been “great.” I would project a bounce back season for Holmes, who is 2 seasons removed from catching 79 passes for 1248 yards and 5 touchdowns for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but his quarterback play will limit that. Neither Mark Sanchez nor Tim Tebow are great passers.

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Sidney Rice has only been fully healthy for one of his 5 career seasons, but when he was he caught 83 passes for 1312 yards and 8 touchdowns. However, he’s one of the league most injury prone players. Just this past year, he suffered 3 separate concussions and had 2 offseason shoulder surgeries. Now, he’s back working out and running routes with the Seahawks once again.

They expect him to be as healthy as he’s ever been by Training Camp, but that might be delusional optimistic thinking for a team that signed Rice to a 41 million dollar deal over 5 years and owes him a guaranteed 7 million in 2012. They also don’t have another #1 receiver and need Rice to step up in that role after just 32 catches for 484 yards and 2 touchdowns last season. There’s some buy low upside with Rice in fantasy leagues, but there’s also a clear downside.

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As a linebacker coming out of UCLA, some looked at Akeem Ayers as a potential 3-4 outside linebacker because of his size (6-3 254) and blitzing ability. He ended up in a 4-3 with the Titans and not rushing the passer much at all in 2011, but that sounds like it could change next season. Ayers has been spending a lot of time this offseason with new pass rushing coach Keith Millard in an attempt to become a better pass rusher.

This suggests that not only could we see Ayers blitz more in 2012, but with the Titans lacking depth at defensive end, he could play there in obvious passing situations in sort of a joker role made popular by Mathias Kiwunaka, Brian Orakpo, Von Miller, and Kamerion Wimbley, who now happens to be a starting defensive end in Tennessee.

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There have been several reports throughout the last week or two pertaining to Wes Welker and the Patriots. Welker first said he would not holdout into the season, then signed his franchise tender, then complained to the media that the Patriots were low balling him with a contract worse than the 16 million over 2 years he was offered during the season.

The Patriots, as you can expect, are not happy with Welker breaking their tight lipped philosophy and making their negotiations public, this according to the Boston Globe. Welker responded by saying that he “probably misspoke,” whatever that means. There has been some talk that the Patriots could even trade Welker, 31, rather than resign him long term, given their depth at receiver.

That would be surprising, but then again, nothing would surprise me with the Patriots. They surprised when they shipped Richard Seymour to the Raiders for a 1^st round pick before the 2009 season and Randy Moss to the Vikings for a 3^rd round pick in the middle of the 2010 season. Both of those moves worked out pretty well.

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Two seasons ago, Dallas Clark had 100 catches from Peyton Manning. Now he’s still a free agent in mid May and was passed on by Peyton Manning and the Broncos for his former backup, Jacob Tamme. Clark has been on one visit so far, to Kansas City, who might have been looking at him purely as insurance for another Tony Moeaki injury, as they already have 2 solid tight ends on the roster in Moeaki and Kevin Boss, more of a blocker.

Earlier this week, Clark visited with the Patriots, but it sounds like they were just kicking the tires on him as well. Between Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez, and blocking tight end Daniel Fells, the Patriots don’t have room for another tight end unless someone gets hurt. Clark might not be on a team to start the season if things don’t change and then the 33 year old would have to decide between waiting for an injury and the phone to ring midseason, or retiring.

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When LaRon Landry refused to get surgery on his Achilles, a surgery recommended strongly by Redskins team doctors, the Redskins had no problem letting their former #6 overall pick go. With the bad Achilles, he got little to no interest on the open market, aside from the New York Jets, who, in desperate need of safety help, gave him a heavily incentivized 4 million dollar deal and hoped he could find his former form.

That being said, it’s definitely not a good sign for the Jets that Landry has been thus far unable to participate in the team’s offseason conditioning program as regular. The program is completely voluntary, but Landry has barely attended any workouts for reasons unknown to Jets beat writers. My guess is that the reason has something to do with his Achilles.

Between Landry and all of his problems, and the mediocre Eric Smith and Yeremiah Bell, recently signed, the Jets might have the worst safeties in the NFL. Right now, the Jets best bets at the position would be to hope that Landry miraculously stays healthy for 16 games, that one or both of their late round picks at the position breaks out, and/or that Jim Leonhard is healthy for Training Camp, resigns with the Jets, and makes it through the season.

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Tommie Campbell is not a very big name and he didn’t play much at all last year, which makes sense seeing as he was a mere 7^th round pick rookie. However, Titans defensive coordinator Jerry Gray raised some eyebrows when he called Campbell his team’s 2^nd best cornerback, at least in terms of technique. Campbell has all the measurables as well as he ran a 4.31 40 at 6-3 205 at the Division-II All-Star Game last spring.

Campbell was originally recruited by Pittsburgh, but was kicked out for academic reasons. He then spent 2 years as a janitor at the Pittsburgh Airport, before getting a shot at California University of Pennsylvania. His strong measurables helped him get noticed and the Titans are feeling right now like they might have unearthed a gem.

Jason McCourty is established as the team’s #1 cornerback with Cortland Finnegan gone as he’s the only returning starter, but Gray mentioned that Campbell would compete with Alterraun Verner for the #2 job. Verner did a great job in the slot last year and the Titans have expressed interest in keeping him there.

They could have easily pulled the trigger on Dre Kirkpatrick at 20 in the 2012 NFL Draft had he been there. Even if Campbell loses the battle for the starting job, he would seem to be the favorite for the nickelback job as Ryan Mouton is coming back from an Achilles tear and Coty Sensabaugh is just a 4^th round pick rookie.

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The league’s most prominent contract negotiations right now are between Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. Brees saved the Saints franchise from mediocrity and a possible move from New Orleans, yet the organization is still playing hardball with the single season passing yards record holder. Yesterday, Brees spoke out and called the negotiations, as you could expect, “extremely frustrating.”

Today Saints GM Mickey Loomis spoke out and promised a deal would get done. The Saints would be wise to get a deal done sooner rather than later. Having your quarterback miss any practice is never a good thing and these drawn out negotiations do not paint the front office in a positive light to the rest of the players on the team. The Saints also could really use some good press and karma finally, after an offseason filled with BountyGate news.

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