There is currently no testing for HGH in the NFL but Commissioner Roger Goodell is currently pushing for HGH testing as a regular part of medical procedure for NFL athletes.

Human Growth Hormone does exactly what it sounds like it would do. In short, it makes the people who use it bigger and stronger. I cannot help but think of all the gruesome injuries that have occurred over the last few years, all the head-to-head collisions that prompted all the advancement in concussion treatment and prevention. If players are constantly getting bigger and stronger by artificial means, is there any way to not expect these types of injuries to occur with even greater frequency than they have been?

It sounds extreme, but I would implement a relatively severe punishment for 1st time PED users such as a year-long suspension. If HGH is as common as the report made it sound like, then players are simply not getting the message that PEDs will not be tolerated. Major League Baseball is still going through this dilemma with steroids. Until more severe punishments are made a reality, players will not mind taking the risk of getting caught using performance enhancing drugs.

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The next, and perhaps the biggest surprise of the 1st round came from another AFC East team, the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo had been rumored to take a QB for awhile now, but the one they ended up taking after trading down from the 8th pick to the 16th was a total shock. Instead of new head coach Doug Marrone taking his college quarterback, Ryan Nassib, whom he coached at Syracuse this past year, the team selected quarterback EJ Manuel out of Florida State. Manuel has to be the most surprising pick of the draft so far because he was projected as the 3rd or 4th QB in this year’s draft class. Instead, Buffalo made him the 1st quarterback taken. While Manuel certainly has plenty of potential and upside, he is a very raw decision maker and now has more pressure on his shoulders to produce as the 1st QB taken in the draft.

It will be interesting to see how both Jordan and Manuel play for their teams. Jeff Ireland’s future status as Miami’s general manager certainly depends somewhat on whether or not Jordan plays well from here on out, and Marrone’s status as head coach of Buffalo could be short-lived if Manuel does not develop as expected.

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Revis suffered an ACL tear 6 months ago, but is owed a ton of money from now until 2017, when he can become a free agent. The deal pays the cornerback $15 million per year, but ESPN is reporting that Tampa Bay has restructured part of the contract with Revis.

The Jets drafted Revis with the 14th overall pick in the 2007 draft. Over the years, Revis has become one of the most dominant cornerbacks in the league. Here are Revis’ career stats (6 seasons):

Combined Tackles: 283

Passes Defended: 95

Interceptions: 18

Touchdowns: 3

To understand how dominant Revis Island has been over the year’s, I compared him to a Antonio Cromartie who was drafted a year before Revis and is very good as well. Over their careers (Cromartie has played 1 more season), Cromartie only has more combined tackles (287) and interceptions (25). This is pretty impressive considering that Cromartie has played all 16 games in a season six times (he played in 15 in 2010), while Revis has only played a full season four times. Revis played in 13 games in 2010 and just two in 2012.

Revis is one of the most dominant cornerbacks in the game and Tampa Bay knows it. I will continue to update this story as more details are released.

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Harrison was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2008. The Bengals went with the two-time champion over Karlos Dansby, the former Dolphins linebacker whom Cincinnati had been in negotiations with as well.The two-year deal brings the Bengals an added benefit because of Harrison’s former association with the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers. He spent the last nine seasons in Pittsburgh, winning those two titles and going to 5 Pro Bowls in addition.

Harrison’s stats have been impressive over his nine year career, with his best work coming in a 4-season span from 2008-2011. He made the Pro Bowl each of those season and amassed an impressive 45.5 sacks. There are, however, a few injury concerns with the embattled outside linebacker. He has missed 8 games over the past two seasons due to various injuries. Last season saw Harrison put up his lowest number of sacks, 6, since his 3rd season in the NFL. Still, if he can get completely healthy, he provides an intensity and edge that the Bengals previously lacked.

Cincinnati, meanwhile is trying to earn its 3rd straight playoff berth, appearing as a wild card team in 2010 and as division champions in 2011.

It should not be difficult to institute a fast-paced practice routine while running the offense, but translating that pace to the actual games can be a difficult task. There are multiple factors that can affect the amount of offensive plays a team can get off during the course of a game. For instance, if a team makes a high number of substitutions during the course of an offensive drive, the time it takes to call a play and get up to the line will be longer. If a team’s defense cannot get off the field–meaning they cannot stop the opposing offense from sustaining long drives–then they will not be able to get their offense on the field as much as they would have liked to.

How hard is it to consistently run a high number of offensive plays throughout the course of a season? Just ask the Miami Dolphins and head coach Joe Philbin. Philbin came to Miami last offseason after calling the offense for the Green Bay Packers with the intention of ramping up the pace on the offensive side of the ball. Anyone who attended training camp last season noticed the up-tempo practices that Philbin instituted and got excited at the thought of the offense functioning in a similar fashion once the games started counting. Fast-forward to the beginning of the regular season and things did not exactly turn out as planned. In 2012 the Dolphins managed only 61 offensive plays per game as opposed to 67 per game by their opponents.

Chip Kelly should take into consideration the Dolphins’ 2012 season if he really plans on trying to run a high-octane offense come 2013.

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1. Kansas City Chiefs - Luke Joeckel (OT) (Previously 1st):

I would stunned if anyone else was taken first.

Rodgers, 29, has been the starting quarterback in Green Bay for five seasons and has already won an MVP award, a Super Bowl, and a Super Bowl MVP.

A.J. Hawk, Rodgers’ teammate, talked about his QB recently and had a couple interesting things to say about the potential deal.

“He deserves every dime he’s going to get. He’s going to get a billion dollars,” Hawk said. “Be he’s one of the best in the world and he deserves everything.”

Rodgers’ accolades and stats make what Hawk said extremely reasonable. The Packers QB has thrown 171 touchdowns over his career to go along with 21,661 passing yards. What’s more impressive is the fact that Rodgers has only thrown 48 interceptions in his career and has only thrown more than 8 interceptions in a season twice (13 in 2008, 11 in 2010). The best season for Rodgers statistically was in 2011. Rodgers won the NFL MVP after he threw a career-high 45 touchdowns, career-low 6 interceptions, and career-high 4,643 passing yards.

After he was drafted with 24th overall pick by Green Bay in the 2005 draft out of Cal, Rodgers was Brett Favre’s backup for three seasons. When Favre “retired” in 2008, Rodgers took over and has been the starting QB for the Packers since.

Rodgers should get a 6-year-deal and buckets of money. Pinpointing an exact amount is tough because you never know how much will be guaranteed. Overall, Rodgers deserves the largest contract in total, and the largest amount of guaranteed money ever.

Earlier in the offseason, Joe Flacco, 28, signed a 6-year $120.6 million dollar deal with the Ravens, making him the highest-paid NFL player ever. Flacco’s deal guarantees him $52 million overall. The deal was great for Flacco, even if it might have been more than he deserved. But for Rodgers, the deal was even better. Rodgers is much better than Flacco, and arguably one of the top three quarterbacks in the league.

When the Packers extend Rodgers, he should set a new record for a contract. If he doesn’t, A.J. Hawk will be very surprised.

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Now former quarterback Jeff Garcia, who has been hired by quarterback Mark Sanchez to teach him the West Coast offense, has come out and stated that the Jets need to find a way to get rid of Tebow before offseason workouts begin.

“It’s their decision, but from an outsider looking in, having Tebow there doesn’t bring anything positive,” Garcia stated. “It just brings distraction. For Mark, the main competition is going to be David Garrard and Greg McElroy.”

Ouch. Those are some harsh words from a respectable source and a former quarterback who enjoyed a lot of success in the league. So how did Tebow’s value fall this much in only a few years? You can make an argument for bad luck or insurmountable obstacles–such as Denver acquiring Peyton Manning the year after Tebow earned a playoff victory as a starter–but what seems to be the main reason for his downfall is the fact that he was never, not even in college, an accurate passer. Since he joined the NFL, Tebow never improved the flawed mechanics that plague his accuracy: his delivery and footwork in the pocket.

No quarterback in the NFL can enjoy sustained success in this league without being able to make all the throws necessary to exploit increasingly athletic defenses. Tebow has yet to master these throws and there is still a question of whether he ever will. For now the Jets are stuck with him until they can either find a trade partner or decide to cut him. If Garcia’s advice is taken into consideration we could be hearing news of another quarterback hitting the open market.

Update 4/29: After drafting Geno Smith with the 39th overall pick in last weekends NFL Draft, the Jets have decided to go ahead and release Tim Tebow. NYJ was hoping all along to find someone who was willing to trade for the polarizing QB, but the only teams that called about him wanted him to move to a different position, something Tebow was unwilling to do. Now the team moves forward with Geno Smith, Mark Sanchez, and David Garrard. The 3 signal callers will compete in training camp and preseason for the starting job. There is also still a possibility that Sanchez will be on the move as well. Stay tuned as that story unfolds over the coming summer.

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5. The Express

This movie was extremely underrated. Not only did it tell a great story, but it also told it very accurately. Dennis Quaid was very good, and it was just a fun movie to watch as a whole. The story line was easy to follow and featured some pretty good football scenes along the way. Most sports movies feature a couple scenes of games or one or two long montages. “The Express” had scenes of football games or practices throughout the whole thing, which isn’t seen in many sports movies.

4. The Longest Yard (1974)

The 1974 version was much better than the 2005 version. Even though the recent version was funnier, the older version is a classic in its own right and is funny as well. There isn’t really anything else to say other than Burt Reynolds was fantastic.

3. Rudy

Who doesn’t love an underdog story? “Rudy” is the epitome of one. Notre Dame is a storied football program, which just makes this movie even better. The reason why is because it’s hard to imagine someone like Rudy playing for the Fighting Irish now. The answer is no. As a result, this movie, which is a tad bit unrealistic, even though most of it is true, is just a great feel good movie that features a lot of good football scenes.

2. The Blind Side

Personally, this is my favorite movie on the list. But in the end, it is the second best overall. The story is told perfectly and the fact that real college coaches played themselves makes it even better. The movie was also surprisingly funny at times and even though there were some sad scenes, the ending made the tougher scenes worthwhile to watch.

1. Remember the Titans

If you haven’t seen “Remember the Titans”, stop reading this and go see it. This movie is easily the greatest football movie of all time because it combines all of the aspects from the other four movies into one. It features an underdog team that has to overcome tons of adversity to win. Denzel Washington was fantastic in this movie and if this scene doesn’t make you want to go out and play football, I don’t know what will. Additionally, that scene I just linked is probably one of the greatest sports movie scenes of all time.

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What New England has essentially done here is hand-cuff the Steelers because of their extreme inflexibility with salary cap space. Pittsburgh is right up against the cap going into the draft and they may not be able to afford matching the Patriots’ offer while also getting their upcoming draft picks under contract. This was a crafty move by New England’s front office as they are in need of as many play-makers at the receiver position after losing two of their starters from last season. Wes Welker left in free agency to the Broncos and Brandon Lloyd was cut for cap reasons. Emmanuel Sanders had a career high 44 catches last season for Pittsburgh, and if he finds himself playing with Tom Brady in 2013 that number could rise significantly. Of course, the Pats already signed Danny Amendola to help replace Welker’s production in addition to signing former Bills receiver Donald Jones, but getting Sanders would seemingly ensure that at least one of these new additions–or possibly a combination of all three of them–will step up and produce Welker-like numbers. The team still has slot specialist Julian Edelman under contract after they recently extended his contract, and he could also see a rise in his stats when the 2013 season gets underway.

Of course, the real brilliance behind this move by the Pats is the fact that they would severely cripple the Steelers’ passing game, which saw lead receiver Mike Wallace bolt for the Dolphins and South Beach on the first day of free agency. The plan for Pittsburgh was for Antonio Brown and Sanders to be the starting two receivers, with veterans like Jerricho Cotchery and Plaxico Burress available for depth and experience. Now however, the Steelers face a rather perplexing dilemma. Do they let one of their planned starters walk to a hated AFC rival for merely a third round draft pick? Or should they match the offer by New England, provided they have the cap room to do so, and further handicap their ability to get their draft picks under contract? This dilemma is precisely why so much influence on whether a team is competitive or not rests solely with its general manager.

If I am playing GM for Pittsburgh, I would have to let Sanders walk and hope that I could fill his role with one of the team’s draft picks in the upcoming draft. That might not be so hard a task this season as there seems to be a plethora of potential steals at the position in the first three or four rounds this year.

Update: Pittsburgh matched the offer from New England, ensuring that Sanders will be a Steeler for at least one more season. He will earn $2.5 million in 2013.

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