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10. Looming labor issues
While the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball have had damaging labor stoppages since 1990, the NFL has avoided that strife. And it’s probably no coincidence that, of the four major team sports, the NFL is the most profitable and popular.
But after agreeing to give the players 60 percent of total league revenues beginning in 2006, the league’s 32 owners want to scale that back. They don’t claim to be losing money, only making less profit. The players, meanwhile, don’t want to give back one of the first knockout victories in their long one-sided negotiations with owners.
If the two sides can’t reach an agreement before next March, there will be no salary cap or salary floor in 2010, meaning that teams will be allowed to spend as much or as little on players as they choose. That’s a threat to parity and parity is one of the things that makes the NFL so compelling. That and the guys knocking each other down.
9. The future of Michael Vick
July 20 marks the end of Michael Vick's 23-sentence for his deep involvement in an interstate dogfighting enterprise. Will he have served his debt to the NFL?
Vick, suspended indefinitely since August of 2007, will try to plead his case for reinstatement to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. The commissioner wants to see genuine remorse from Vick. If he gets that, will Vick get immediate reinstatement? And if he does, which team or teams will decide to wade through the negative PR tide that signing Vick would bring?
And when he returns, how good can he still be?
8. Irate wideouts
In Arizona, Anquan Boldin’s been agitating for a new and improved contract for more than a year. In Denver, Brandon Marshall’s been trying to extract more money all offseason. All is quiet on the Chad Ochocinco front at the moment but he could flare up and get weird at any moment and there’s always T.O.
In other words, all is right in the world of wideouts where unpredictable behavior and tantrums over passes not thrown run rampant.
At present, the biggest problem appears to be with Marshall, who hasn’t yet backed off on his offseason trade demand and is a potential training camp holdout.
7. Romo & the Cowboys
Lavished with praise, attention and lofty expectations, the Tony Romo Cowboys have so far proven to be underachieving gag artists.
The faceplant at last year's finish line kept Dallas out of the playoffs and led to the team moving on from Terrell Owens, Pacman Jones and Tank Johnson.
The Cowboys have a new, more circumspect attitude entering 2009. They promise to be more exacting, less self-impressed, more single-minded than the Cowboys of the recent past. Whether they can make a sea change with coach Wade Phillips still at the helm is debatable. Still, with a new stadium opening up and a roster dotted with Pro Bowl talent, the Cowboys will remain — as always — watchable
6. Competition under center, front and center
The Raiders, 49ers, Browns, Lions, Jets and Buccaneers enter training camp with first-round quarterbacks trying to nail down the starting spot.
JaMarcus Russell (1st overall in 2007), Alex Smith (1st in 2005), Brady Quinn (22nd in 2007), Matt Stafford (1st in 2009), Mark Sanchez (5th in 2009) and Josh Freeman (19th in 2009) represent an awful lot of money spent.
Will Stafford, Sanchez and Freeman avoid the fates of Russell, Smith and Quinn — guys who haven’t yet shown they are the no-questions-asked franchise hood ornament? The brouhaha over whether young quarterbacks need the velvet glove or iron fist will rage as these guys try to give their teams some return on their investments.
5. The flight of the Cutler
In Denver, Jay Cutler didn’t like that new coach Josh McDaniels considered trading for another quarterback, Matt Cassel. The tantrum that ensued, nobody expected.
Cutler was so peeved that he went on wildcat strike and issued trade demands. Efforts to smooth things over fell flat and when Cutler refused to take calls from owner Pat Bowlen, it was the last straw. So arguably the league's best young arm was shipped to Chicago for a bounty of draft picks and Bears quarterback Kyle Orton.
Now, the pressure is on Cutler to rehab his sourpuss image and show that he’s more than just a guy with a $40 million arm and a ten cent attitude. And the pressure’s on McDaniels to make sure he doesn’t lose his hold on the Broncos rudder before the ship’s out of the harbor.
4. Turnover at the top
Eleven new coaches were hired this offseason, meaning more than a third of the NFL is working under new management. Now, in two cases the new head man is a former interim hired full time (Tom Cable in Oakland, Mike Singletary in San Francisco).
But at other addresses, the change is significant. Foremost on that list? Indianapolis, Denver, Tampa Bay and Seattle. For Jim Caldwell, Josh McDaniels, Raheem Morris and Jim Mora Jr., the pressure of their predecessor’s successes will shadow them all year. And the potholes have already been run through in some places.
For instance, McDaniels ticked off his young franchise quarterback, mercurial Jay Cutler, and wound up having to deal him to the Bears. Meanwhile, there’s a new vibe in New York where button-pusher Rex Ryan is talking brash and promising a devastating defense.
Meanwhile, three highly-regarded coordinators — Jim Schwartz, Todd Haley and Steve Spagnuolo — take over moribund franchises in Detroit, Kansas City and St. Louis respectively and try to avoid getting stuck in dead-end situations.
3. T.O. shuffles off to Buffalo
After three entertaining seasons, Terrell Owens officially wore out his welcome in Dallas and was released. But it didn’t take long before a coach on the ropes looked at Owens and saw him as the key to his continued employment.
The coach was Dick Jauron and the Bills — 7-9 in three consecutive seasons — are the team.
Will Owens be a savior or a lead-filled life preserver? Considering he’s never had a starting quarterback he didn’t end up skewering (Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb and now Tony Romo), young Trent Edwards will need to watch his back. Of course, since Owens knows an image rehab is in his best interests, he’ll be on his best behavior early and will become bigger in Buffalo than Niagara Falls.
Two things are certain. First, Owens will produce — even at 35, he’s a physical menace. Second, he will flip the switch at some point and go rogue. Getcha popcorn � you know the rest.
2. Brady's back!
In 2007, Tom Brady threw 50 touchdown passes, the Patriots’ offense scored 589 points and New England went 18-0 before getting struck dumb in the Super Bowl by the Giants, 17-14.
In 2008, Brady played seven minutes before getting his left knee blown out by Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard. Now, nine months removed from surgery to repair his ACL and MCL and recovered from an infection that set in after surgery, we find out if Brady’s able to pick up where he left off in 2007.
So far, he’s flown through every physical checkpoint but he hasn’t yet had an opponent chase him down in anger, nor has he been through demanding day-after-day practices in training camp. The Patriots were 11-5 without Brady last year. With him returning and the team adding veteran offensive weapons like Fred Taylor, Joey Galloway and Greg Lewis, the New England offense could once again be a monster.
1. Brett Favre, The Return (Part Deux)
For the second straight year, Brett Favre has demonstrated that goodbye doesn’t mean forever. We think. Any day now, Favre and the Minnesota Vikings will end their game of footsie and make his return official.
And by pulling the ripcord on retirement and parachuting into the Minnesota huddle, Favre has left legions of Packers fans feeling conflicted. For 16 seasons, they cheered, laughed and cried with him. Now, he’s so bent on exacting revenge on Packers management for forcing him out of Green Bay last summer, he goes to a hated division rival to try and make life miserable in Wisconsin.
Unlike last season when he became part of a flawed Jets team, Favre’s joining a Vikings team with a top-tier defense and the game's most explosive runner, Adrian Peterson.
The nagging questions? How well will Favre’s surgically repaired right arm hold up? Is a head-to-toe, feel-it-in-your-soul commitment to helping Minnesota win a Super Bowl there for Favre, or are the Vikings just a vehicle for him to try and prove a point? Will he be the Favre of 2007 who brought Green Bay to the brink of a Super Bowl or the Favre that’s been in evidence since he turned 35 — impetuous and inconsistent?
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