What's the scoop on your team's training camp?

Zeeck

Sneaky
I want to know the information and news you guys are getting about your local teams from training camp that we may not be getting nationally.

Bears - The stud of training camp so far has been Greg Olsen. He's made diving catches nearly every practice. He's lined up at tight end, fullback and even wide receiver, and reports are that he looks like one of the fastest players on the field when he's running his routes.

There was a lot of hype surrounding Devin Hester at the beginning of camp as he was impressing everyone with his elusiveness after a catch. Now that they're practicing in full pads, though, that has subsided a bit. However, the local media has noted that he has been running his routes well and been catching pretty much everything thrown to him. He looks more natural at the WR position than at cornerback (which is good considering he sucked at corner).

Here's a nugget for Andy - Brian Griese has been bad so far in camp. He hasn't had a day yet where he hasn't thrown a pick. Meanwhile Orton's been playing well and showing improvement. No battle for the starting spot, but we may have one for the #2. Go Orton!!

Garrett Wolfe was out for a week after pulling a hamstring on the first day of practice. He's starting to practice with the rest of the team, but only on a limited basis, as he still needs to be more familiar with the plays.

With Chris Harris gone (and I think the Panthers got a hell of a player in him), Archuletta is pretty much guaranteed the Strong Safety position moving Mike Brown to free safety. Kind of an interesting move as they're both run-stoppers and not necessarily known for their coverage skills. That leaves the Mannings (Danieal and Ricky Jr.) fighting for the nickel corner position, although Danieal Manning will be the #2 behind the injury prone Mike Brown, so the odds of him getting playing time are still good.

Alex Brown has been demoted from starter in favor of Mark Anderson. This move is interesting not because of who replaced him, but because he was demoted over Ogunleye, who has certainly not earned the big paycheck he received from the Bears two years ago. Lovie likes to demote players in camp, though, even if that won't be the case in the regular season, so it may not mean much. After all, Anderson has proven he's a very good pass rusher, but the jury's still out on his run-stopping ability, so they may be splitting time much like they did last year.
 
Not much to report from Alabama's camp so far.......the players are in much better shape for the most part (they have to run 110 yards 26 times within a certain amount of time just to practice :shock: ). We'll be looking for a RB to step up, and hopefully another DT. Josh Chapman, a true freshman, has looked really good there so far. Also hoping another MLB steps it up......another true freshman, Renaldo McClain, will be counted on there.

At RB, we've had some crappy luck.....the #3 guy transferred to South Florida after just enrolling at Alabama in December. A true freshman that was expected to heavily compete for the #3 spot tore his ACL on the first day:doh: All the other guys that are battling it out are unproven and have a history of injuries......but look out for Terry Grant, if he stays healthy, he'll be a stud.
 
Supposedly Giants camp has been much different this year. Coughlin has really taken a step back on how hard he works the players, yet they are still working hard. There is also a much better/happier attitude around camp. Coughlin was asked during the offseason by the Giants ownership to tone it down a little and it seems to be working.

Standouts:

-Brandon Jacobs has been looking like a beast. Large and very fast and shifty for his size. Should be interesting to watch him develop.

-Moss and Steve Smith have both looked very good and it should be a good competition for the 3rd WR spot.

-Toomer looks like he is in great shape after the knee surgery but can he hold off the two youngsters from taking over the #2 WR spot

-The talk is that Eli has been much more accurate than previous camps. I'll believe it when I see him toss a strike with pressure on him during a game.

-Jared Lorenzen is said to be looking great in camp and should be the #2 QB

-Corey Webster is making strides on his comeback from surgery and is really performing well now that the Giants drafted someone to challenge him for the CB position

Question Marks:
- Left Tackle David Diehl. He played there a few games last year and was alright but not great. The Giants cut Petitgout because he was injured so much. Diehl may not be as good but he will be on the field all the time. If he sucks it will be a tough season for Eli's blind side. From what I've read Diehl is holding his own against Osi in practice but gets beat a good bit. But he is up against one of the fastest DEs in the league everyday.

-OLB Mathias Kiwanuka. I don't care who you are you don't just switch from DE to OLB without any issues. Supposedly he is having a hard time picking up the reads that an LB needs to make in passing situations. This should be interesting to watch.

-Secondary - RW McQuarters, Sam Madison, Gibril Wilson, Will Demps, James Butler, Aaron Ross and Corey Webster. To me it just doesn't sound promising. At CB Madison and RW will start with Webster and Ross pushing them. I've heard Ross is not having a great rookie camp but Webster on the other hand is. Will Demps lost his starting job to Butler for now since Butler is having a great camp. Just not sure this area of the defense is improved from last year where they sucked.
 
Patriots:
Jabar Gaffney has been the surprise of camp. He's playing as well as a true #1/#2 NFL receiver. Randy Moss missed another practice last night with a hamstring tweak. Donte Stallworth just got taken off the PUP list yesterday morning, leaving Chad Jackson, Troy Brown and Richard Seymour as the notables still on the list. Laurence Maroney has been in a red non-contact jersey for every practice so far.

On the defensive side, the Samuel holdout continues with not much of an end in sight. Adalius Thomas has been a big story, playing a lot of middle linebacker and even taking over the play-calling duties at times. The defensive line is looking very good, even without Seymour, who should be 100% by the time the season starts. The linebacking corps has been strengthened a lot by the offseason. Right now, the starters are Adalius Thomas and Tedy Bruschi on the inside, and Colvin and Vrabel starting on the outside. Junior Seau is the top backup, and he and Bruschi will probably be together in the middle a lot because they want to use Adalius at a lot of different spots. The defensive backfield is surprisingly deep even without Asante in camp. The starting safeties look to be Rodney Harrison and Eugene Wilson. The top CB's look to be Randall Gay and Tory James, who has had a great camp. Brandon Meriweather has been playing a lot of nickel back, and ended yesterday's practice with an interception.
If the offense can find it's stride and the defense improves the way it should, they should be a tough team to beat.
 
I want to know the information and news you guys are getting about your local teams from training camp that we may not be getting nationally.

Bears - The stud of training camp so far has been Greg Olsen. He's made diving catches nearly every practice. He's lined up at tight end, fullback and even wide receiver, and reports are that he looks like one of the fastest players on the field when he's running his routes.

There was a lot of hype surrounding Devin Hester at the beginning of camp as he was impressing everyone with his elusiveness after a catch. Now that they're practicing in full pads, though, that has subsided a bit. However, the local media has noted that he has been running his routes well and been catching pretty much everything thrown to him. He looks more natural at the WR position than at cornerback (which is good considering he sucked at corner).

Here's a nugget for Andy - Brian Griese has been bad so far in camp. He hasn't had a day yet where he hasn't thrown a pick. Meanwhile Orton's been playing well and showing improvement. No battle for the starting spot, but we may have one for the #2. Go Orton!!

Garrett Wolfe was out for a week after pulling a hamstring on the first day of practice. He's starting to practice with the rest of the team, but only on a limited basis, as he still needs to be more familiar with the plays.

With Chris Harris gone (and I think the Panthers got a hell of a player in him), Archuletta is pretty much guaranteed the Strong Safety position moving Mike Brown to free safety. Kind of an interesting move as they're both run-stoppers and not necessarily known for their coverage skills. That leaves the Mannings (Danieal and Ricky Jr.) fighting for the nickel corner position, although Danieal Manning will be the #2 behind the injury prone Mike Brown, so the odds of him getting playing time are still good.

Alex Brown has been demoted from starter in favor of Mark Anderson. This move is interesting not because of who replaced him, but because he was demoted over Ogunleye, who has certainly not earned the big paycheck he received from the Bears two years ago. Lovie likes to demote players in camp, though, even if that won't be the case in the regular season, so it may not mean much. After all, Anderson has proven he's a very good pass rusher, but the jury's still out on his run-stopping ability, so they may be splitting time much like they did last year.


Love it. I am excited for the season to see Olsen! Im guessing a lot of 2 TE sets for the Bears this season. If Rex can't hit Olsen then he should be benched. There was a rumor that Wolfe might be on Kickoff Returns with Hester any truth to that?
 
Most of what I've read of Saints camp notes is that the players are dying in the heat. They haven't had a drop of rain or break in the temperature during any practices.

DT Brian Young has missed alot of camp with an injury and DE Rob Ninkovich went down with another knee injury (other knee from the one that cost him his whole rookie season). DT Hollis Thomas has been grossly overweight for all of camp and needs to drop some 40+ lbs to be in shape. Needless to say all of this does not bode well for our DL. LB play has been solid with Mark Simoneau apparently showing very well in camp and solidifying his starter role away from FA pick up Brian Simmons at MLB. In the secondary, McKenzie hasn't looked good and neither has FA CB Jason David. Apparently he is struggling with playing man 2 man after his time in Indy in a Zone 2 scheme. Overall the secondary play has been concerningly weak.

For the offense the standouts have been Devery Henderson, Aaron Stecker and Antonio Pittman. Henderson may have locked up the #2 WR role as Meacham is returning from his knee surgery and still getting comfortable in the offense. Pittman and Stecker are battling for the #3 RB role and Stecker doesn't seem to want to give it up. He's running hard and the fact that he knows the offense and can be a return man makes him hard to beat out. Lance Moore has also looked good in the return game and is pushing to grab the #5 WR spot from either Terrance Copper or David Patten who also will be hard to push out. Rumor has it Tyler Palko a rookie FA who looked terrible on Sunday vs. Pitt may have still secured the #3 QB spot. This brings up the question of whether they plan to punt Jason Fife (who looked good Sunday in the game) or 10 year veteran Jamie Martin for the back up role. I can't see why they'd go with 2 backups that have no game experience and get rid of Martin but who knows.

That's about it.
 
LIONS - With Stanton out after knee surgery and Orlovosky blowing it. J.T. O'Sullivan has stepped up to the back-up QB job. He'll probably take alot of snaps in the first preseason game against the Bengals on Thursday.

Tatum Bell looks very comfortable lined up at the wideout position.

Calvin Johnson is taking snaps with the second team, but it's just to get him into football shape. He's 8 days behind the rest of the offensive starters.

Kitna looks real good. He knows where he's going with the ball and not guessing.

Fernando Bryant has made some big plays in training camp so far. Hopefully this translates to a decent season for him.

Martz has tore into the offense a couple of times. The O-Line seems to be gelling though, which for all Lions fans should be the greatest training camp news they have heard to date.

Roy Williams is now 100% healthy. Teddy Lehman remains an injured, disappointing mess. Boss Bailey news is quiet...which makes me sad.

Kevin Jones is running sprints on the sidelines. No cutting, no contact.

Dan Campbell has a lingering elbow injury, so the tight end position is an open competition. I hope Casey Fitzsimmons learns to block a little.

T.J. Duckett has been playing a little fullback. I think this is a great use of his talent and should be fun to watch a double RB set with three wideouts!

I get most of my Lions news from mlive.com and rotoworld.com!
 
Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Just a few things for now.

- Davin Joseph and Arron Sears are holding down the guard spots really well and Davin Joseph has stepped up as the leader of the O-line. Sears is bringing the nastiness back to the O-line in Tampa.

- Maurice Stovall is looking really good and will probably be the #2 WR.

- Gaines Adams has a lot of work to do and is getting pushed around a lot. Kevin Carter has taken him under his wing.

- Jeff Garcia is looking really good and it looks like we have a QB we can rely on now.

- Brian Kelly is healthy and back to his old self.

- Jovan Haye (DT) is looking really good and earned a starting spot so far.

- Josh Bidwell is in mid-season form punting 50 yards.
 
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