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It’s a good question. According to FO metrics, Carter was targeted in pass plays 22 times last season and did pretty well. The Redskins didn’t run a lot of zone blitzes under Greg Blache, and Carter didn’t feel totally comfortable in a 3-4 back in his San Francisco days, but he’s said that he’s better-suited to the new scheme. He’s aid that Haslett’s designs put him in fewer reading situations – he’s able to react more and decide where a play goes. Alexander really isn’t that coverage guy. It’s quite possible that you’ll see the linebackers doing more of that intermediate coverage – I have questions about London Fletcher’s ability to fit as a true downhill 3-4 ILB, but he’s still great against the pass. Re: Orakpo … I love his motor going forward, but he’s got a lot of work to do when it comes to coverage. Understandable, since he was pass-rushing so much in college.

On McNabb: The good news is that only Aaron Rodgers had a higher DVOA (FO’s per-play efficiency metric) than did McNabb in 2009. The bad news is that McNabb looks to be hurried quite a bit behind an offensive line with the question marks you mentioned. Trent Williams has great potential, but it’s going to take him a while as he has just one year at left tackle in college. You have to hope Jammal Brown stays healthy as well – the overhanging issue from the Cerrato regime is that after a decade of ignoring the line, getting real depth in there isn’t a one-year fix.

On the 3-4: Success percentage isn’t really a valid metric because there are so many different types of 3-4 defenses and coaches will move their personnel in different ways. If Haslett wants to run a hybrid 3-4 like the 49ers and Cards run, and move to a 3-4 base over time, that could work. A full-on switch from day one could prove disastrous. They’re just not ready for that, personnel-wise.

At this point, not much. He can still be a fairly dominant 4-3 nose or one-tech, but the conditioning issues just add to hs declining value overall. Other teams know that the Redskins will have to bail at some point if they dangle Haynesworth and there's no interest.

Slightly higher pick total because of the unstable line. The good news is that he's in an offense he understands. We're projecting him with a 61.3 completion percentage, over 3700 yards,  and 25-10 TD/INT. I'd take downthe yards a few hundred and move the INTs up to 13-15.

I like his receiving totals -- Shanahan loves to take backs out of the backfield and motion them out wide. Portis is onbviously familiar with this concept and he did it well in Denver. From a fantasy perspective, you want to stay away from any Shanahan-coached RB, and it's been the case since Terrell Davis retired. He'll be a good cog in that offense.

I love Bradford as a pure QB -- his long accuracy is quite rare. But he has very few playmaking targets and a line in transition. Also, he took exactly one snap under center in 2009. We have to see whether Pat Shurmur forces Bradford into a WCO or bends to a bunch of shotgun sets. The latter would be a wise move for a number of reasons.

As far as overall ROY, if Ndamukong Suh doesn't hold out too long and doesn't get hurt, he'd be my bet. Great line coaches and his skil set is just freaky. On offense, C.J. Spiller has the potential to make the most difference to his team because the Bills have NO quarterbacks. I mean, NONE. it's really bad up there. Watch out for Eric Berry, too. He could be the next Ed Reed.

Their line was so in tune last year, a bit of regression can be expected. And they did so well last year despite an underperformeing secondary. Baltimore uses a lot of six-man fronts -- a lot of power. And Ray Rice is so good at finding the gaps. They're going to have to lean more on Flacco this year - -that's why they got Boldin inh there. They will have to outscore more teams. That said, they're still my early pick to win it all.

One guy to wtach out for is Texans rookie running back Ben Tate -- his Speed Score (one of our draft projection metrics) was off the charts. I talked with Houston RT Eric Winston about a month ago, and that team is very aware that they must shore up the red zone issues.

Other prospects to watch this year: Mike Wallace of the Steelers, Tashard Choice of the Cowboys (one of my favorite players), Early Doucet of the Cards, Justin Forsett of the Seahawks,  Jared Cook of the Titans, and Legedu Naanee of the Chargers.  

Two receiving stats that I think are interesting -- Bill Barnwell came up with a stat called +/-, which drills down and helps adjust a receiver's performance from that of the league.

And Vince Verhei came up with Playmaker Score, which, along with SackSEER (our new way to project busts out of college among pure pass-rushers), endeavors to find new ways to project college to pro success. Right now, we're looking a lot of performance above and below expected in different situations and field zones so that we can find better indicators of what actually constitutes on-field success.

I have to wonder what it means for Colt Brennan. He's been working out with McNabb, but between scheme and durability questions, I just don't know.

I found it unsettling as well, but I can't say I'm surprised. Without going off on one of those "What's wrong with us as a society?" rants (which we can all do without), the culture of fame is what it is. Roethlisberger has led his team to two Super Bowl wins (well, he participated in XL), and that puts him on a higher pedestal with the home fans. It's wrong -- in his case, it's kinda creepy -- but it is what it is. I just hope he's done with whatever it is that he has or hasn't been doing; there haven't been too many people telling him "no" in the past few years. Will a suspension rectify that? Hard to say.

Yeah, they are, pretty much. At this point, anyone out there is out there for a reason. The thing is, the Ravens still had a very good defense last year without a dominant pass rush, and ongoing questions in the defensive backfield. Pittsburgh has proven just recently that you can win a Super Bowl with a killer pass rush and a really creaky secondary (Polamalu excepted). Ed Reed is obviously the million-dollar question there.

Unfortunately, yes. Unless the union is willing to concede more than they want to, the owners have some guaranteed TV money to play with in 2011, and I believe that many of them are happy enough to risk a lockout to a.) get half the money they would in an actual season; and b.) drastically reduce their overhead. Plus, there's the side "benefit" of trying to break the union as the players panic over time. This thing is going to get worse before it gets better. I have talked to people in the know on labor matters, and nobody's really encouraged right now.

Weak division, the NFL's easiest schedule per our metrics, a better line and running game, injury luck, better coaching.

Okay -- maybe I'm not done! Would like to address this issue. It is comon practice among NFL teams to put their players who do not participate in facility-run offseason programs to undergo conditioning tests when they report. Now, those players don't train at the facility for different reasons -- some like to train in a posse (like the Miami U guys), some are holding out, some have been hurt. There are now those who are saying that the ongoing tests are punitive, making Haynesworth some sort of sympathetic figure, and in my mind, nothing could be further from the truth. Shanahan has an obligation to the team that employs him to make sure that all his players are in what he (and his training staff) deems to be football shape before they hit the field.

There's still a potential disconnect whe it comes to building through the draft. As much as Cerrato was rightly slammed for not knowing how to do it, Shanahan and Allen have each had their stints running personnel in the NFL where they favored free agents to long-term team development to the detriment of the franchise. Hopefully, the new Redskins are smarter than that.