NFL Pre-Season Central...Previews,Injuries,Results,Signings,Pictures,Etc,Etc.

Cardinals sign CB Mike Jenkins.



The Cardinals continued their quest to upgrade at cornerback, signing Mike Jenkins on Tuesday.

Jenkins, 31, is an eight-year veteran who spent the past two seasons in Tampa Bay. He started five games last year for the Buccaneers, finishing with 14 tackles and five passes defensed. His 2014 season ended after one game because of a torn pectoral muscle, but prior to that, Jenkins -- a first-round pick in 2008 -- was a regular starter in stints with the Cowboys and Raiders.

Jenkins, listed at 5-foot-10 and 197 pounds, made the Pro Bowl for Dallas in 2009 and has 10 career interceptions. He visited the Cardinals as a free agent in March of 2014 but eventually joined the Buccaneers, and the Cardinals signed Antonio Cromartie.

"(I'm) back running and everything." So he expects to be fully ready.

Six weeks after being shot in the leg Aqib Talib is walking with a slight limp but plans to be ready for training camp later this month.

Tom Coughlin. Justin Tuck. Ernie Accorsi. The newest members of the NYG Ring of Honor!

Congratulations on an amazing career.

After 13 seasons...Peanut is calling it a career.

Welcome to Miami......The Dolphins sign Arian Foster......NFL Media's Mike Garafolo reported that the deal is worth $1.5 million with an additional $2 million in incentives.

GB/2..........looking forward to the upcoming season..........thank you for the info.............indy

Thank you indy

Eagles rookie QB Carson Wentz will likely be inactive to start the season.

Training camp report date: Rookies and veterans, July 27

Training camp location: Olivet Nazarene University, Bourbonnais, Illinois

Offseason in a nutshell: General manager Ryan Pace and head coach John Fox are in Year 2 of a roster remake. The team brought in linebackers familiar with the system, like Danny Trevathan (who played under Fox in Denver), and high-production vets like Jerrell Freeman to add a consistent punch to Fox's defense. The Bears also smartly inked Bobby Massie on the first day of free agency in order to free their best offensive lineman, Kyle Long, for a move back to guard. This should be the year we see the fruits of Pace's labor across the offensive line, as Massie joins Long, 2015 third-round pick Hroniss Grasu, 2016 second-rounder Cody Whitehair and Charles Leno, who was essentially christened the team's left tackle this offseason. The Bears are hoping a younger backfield, led by Jeremy Langford, gels with the line up front to make life easier for Jay Cutler and yet another new offensive coordinator.

Player to watch: Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery. Jeffery is in between a rock and a hard place here. The wideout did not get a long-term deal done before the deadline to do so for franchise-tagged players, leaving him a very well-compensated receiver for the 2016 season, but not beyond. Some receivers flourish in this type of situation, and others (former Giants first-round pick Hakeem Nicks comes to mind) end up doing more damage to their open-market worth than ever expected. People in Jeffery's position need to balance diplomacy with their obvious unhappiness. They need to balance aggression on the field with the fear that they are not financially secure beyond the current season. We'll get a feel for how Jeffery will approach this early on as he keeps one eye on March 2017.

THREE BURNING QUESTIONS:

1. How much of a "committee approach" will the Bears actually use in the backfield?
Fox told the Chicago Tribune that he'll ride the hot hand between Jeremy Langford, Ka'Deem Carey and Jacquizz Rodgers, with fifth-round pick Jordan Howard potentially mixing in. That's a fairly standard line at this point in the year -- it dangles the reward in front of all running backs and keeps them working hard -- but we'll see how serious Fox is about "limiting the workload" throughout the season and preparing up to four backs for regular roles.

2. Will Kevin White continue to drop passes?
White, Chicago's first-round pick in 2015, missed all of last season with an injury, but debuted his raw skill set during minicamp this year. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, though, drops were a major part of his first lengthy stretch as a full-time starter, which is a problem that will need addressing early on in camp.

3. Will Jay Cutler secure his future in Chicago?
Despite the growing sentiment that Cutler was on his way out, the cannon-armed passer had a decent season last year. Dowell Loggains, his quarterbacks coach in 2015, has been elevated to offensive coordinator, and Cutler's offense theoretically gets better with the addition of a healthy White. We've thrown platitudes at Cutler throughout his career, accusing him of a lack of leadership and poise and gusto, but he has all the tools for a late-career bounce-back. Eli Manning, Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger all got better in their mid-30s -- can Cutler?

Way-too-early season prediction: While Chicago does not seem to possess the talent to contribute in a crowded NFC North, we like the Bears' chances of winning some big games against division rivals and being more of a nagging presence than they were in Fox's first season.

Looking Beautiful!.....Vikings.

Training camp report date: Rookies and veterans, July 27

Training camp location: Atlanta Falcons Training Facility, Flowery Branch, Georgia

Offseason in a nutshell: Atlanta started last season in idyllic fashion before crashing back to Earth. Had it not been for a strong win over the Panthers just before the end of the season -- a game that ended Carolina's perfect run just two weeks after the Panthers had thrashed the Falcons 38-0 -- our opinion about 2015 might have been different. But, as we found out last year, this is a good team that was just too weak at certain spots to sustain a winning record. Will 2016 be different? Dan Quinn has another season under his belt and was able to add some complementary pieces -- Courtney Upshaw, Derrick Shelby, Sean Weatherspoon and rookie first-round pick Keanu Neal -- who should better fit the system. Alex Mack joined the team in free agency and will play alongside a pair of Around The NFL Making The Leap candidates: Mohamed Sanu and Jake Matthews.

Player to watch: Safety Keanu Neal. While coaches often try and dissuade players from smashing one another before the games count, we think there will be an exception made for Neal, considering that skill set is exactly why the Falcons drafted him. Quinn developed the NFL's most feared thumper in Kam Chancellor and is undertaking his next big project with the hope that Atlanta can stabilize its run defense and increase its overall toughness. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Neal spent his downtime between minicamp and training camp working out with Chancellor. That doesn't make him an honorary Legion of Boom member just yet, but it does make us more excited for the first tackling drill of camp.

THREE BURNING QUESTIONS:

1. Does Austin Hooper win the starting tight end job?
This was a supposedly underwhelming tight end draft class, though Hooper was considered one of the more promising options available. We're interested because offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan had his first real crack at drafting a tight end that suits his system after riding with veteran journeyman Jacob Tamme a year ago. Hooper drew comparisons to Coby Fleener, but with a bit more gusto in the blocking department -- and there's nothing wrong with a rookie willing to spring Devonta Freeman free.

2. Is Akeem King ready?
King started college as a wide receiver, but was a late-round pick by the Falcons last year. They hope to continue the 6-foot-1, 212-pounder on the path to elite cornerback. Sound familiar? Quinn and the Seahawks have been doing this for years, and while King is raw, he'll have every opportunity to win a starting job this summer. Last year's second-round pick, Jalen Collins, has been suspended for the first four games of the season, and Quinn is looking for someone physical and versatile to sneak onto the field during obvious passing downs. Is there really a secret to developing these types of players, or did Seattle just get extremely lucky?

3. Will Alex Mack take over this offensive line?
As we noted in our Jake Matthews "Making the Leap" piece, Mack's leadership could be the vehicle that drives Matthews to the Pro Bowl and provides more consistency up front. The Falcons had some great games offensively a year ago, but they were also pushed around significantly in others. Mack comes from Cleveland and likely still has a copy of Kyle Shanahan's playbook. The Falcons paid him $47.5 million over the next five years to walk in and be the consummate, instant-impact professional and expect nothing less.

Way-too-early season prediction: This team was 5-0 at one point last year, even if that was largely due to the team picking apart a laughable NFC East. Atlanta starts 2016 with three very winnable games against the Bucs, Raiders and Saints, an opening stretch that should give us an idea of how much misery carried over from the year before. These Falcons could easily win 11 games with their talent and a renaissance season from Matt Ryan, but they could also lose six games in a row like they did a year ago.

Training camp report date: Rookies: July 25; Veterans: July 27

Training camp location: One Buccaneer Place, Tampa, Fla.

Offseason in a nutshell: The Buccaneers are not the first team to ditch their head coach in favor of the coordinator, but it was a fascinating maneuver for a club that had a promising season with a No. 1 overall pick at quarterback. The perception around the league is that this was a long time coming for Dirk Koetter, who was the hot candidate several times over the past six years, but never got the opportunity. Koetter was the perfect hire for Lovie Smith, and he may end up being the perfect head coach for Jameis Winston as well. Above all else, his ability to understand and manage quarterbacks stands out. As with any new coach, it will be important to watch what major changes he plans on making. The Bucs didn't have an iron-clad culture in place after only two seasons under Smith, but new coaches can rarely succeed by pretending to be just like the old ones.

Player to watch: Austin Seferian-Jenkins. A promising start in 2015 bled into one of the worst seasons catching the football among regular starting tight ends. Football Outsiders has an interesting breakdown of receiving plus/minus numbers and essentially, Seferian-Jenkins ended up underneath the demarcation line for an average replacement-level tight end. He joined Detroit's Eric Ebron, New England's Scott Chandler and Jacksonville's Julius Thomas in the bottom 10. Seferian-Jenkins is now on a self-imposed Twitter ban following an overblown moment on the Tampa Bay practice field when he was sent to the sidelines for a mental mistake. These are the kinds of fork-in-the-road moments that make training camp interesting for the dangerous pass-catcher. Seferian-Jenkins has all the tools and the Buccaneers' offense could take the next step under Jameis Winston with some help.

THREE BURNING QUESTIONS:

1. Will the addition of Todd Monken mean valuable changes for the Bucs' wide receivers?
Austin Seferian-Jenkins wasn't the only player toward the bottom of Football Outsiders' catch list. Mike Evans, the team's 2014 first-round pick, also struggled last year despite putting up 1,206 yards on 75 catches. Evans was targeted a staggering 148 times, meaning that Winston could only expect a catch one out of every two times he threw Evans the ball. His talent level is out of this world and his production should be in line with the rest of that stellar wide receiver class. Monken, who is also serving as the team's offensive coordinator, will be sure to put his stamp on the team's biggest weapon.

2. Who emerges from the offensive line battle royale?
Tampa Bay is oddly deep at random spots on their roster, even if the starters aren't exceptional. For example, Brandon Myers could end up being a third tight end on this roster. Across the offensive line, Gosder Cherilus and Evan Smith won't crack the starting lineup unless something happens to Joe Hawley and Demar Dotson. This team will be fascinating to watch come cut day and could provide some other clubs with emergency starters while giving their very young core some solid competition during camp (Cherilus would only cost the Bucs $500,000 in dead money and Smith could be let go without penalty).

3. Will Roberto Aguayo wow in camp?
Charting field goals is a lonely pastime during training camp, but for writers and analysts, it's part of the job. Roberto Aguayo was a second-round pick out of Florida State in 2016 and while many bemoaned general manager Jason Licht's decision, it made sense to us -- if you have a glaring weakness at the highest-scoring position on your team and the best player is still available, take him. Still, Aguayo's draft position will demand perfection in some eyes. Many teams end their training camp practices with high-pressure, long-distance situations for kickers, and outside of clubs with a legitimate battle at the position, we will be talking the most about Aguayo.

Way-too-early season prediction: NFC South predictions are all over the place this preseason already. Conventional wisdom suggests that the Falcons and Saints will eventually bounce back and the Panthers will come back to earth a bit. Tampa is the interesting middle man. At the least, we'd expect them to improve upon a 6-10 record from last year. The talent on this roster is good enough to finish at least .500.