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The Jacksonville Jaguars have picked their spots very carefully with outside veterans.

Former Green Bay linebacker Desmond Bishop may be one of those spots.

Per Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union, the Jaguars are interested in Bishop.

Bishop’s been an inside guy in the Packers. Over at the NFC North blog, Kevin Seifert considers how Bishop would fit in Minnesota, with the Vikings a primary suitor.

"…[F]rom a football standpoint, I don't see how anyone could argue against making Bishop the Vikings' middle linebacker and using [Erin] Henderson and Chad Greenway as the outside linebackers. That's how good Bishop is when he's healthy."

Jacksonville, too, is a 4-3. But while the Vikings would move people to get Bishop in the middle, the Jaguars would put Bishop outside, leaving Paul Posluszny in the middle.

Currently, Geno Atkins and Russell Allen are in line to start as the Jaguars' outside linebackers. Bishop would push one out of the starting trio.

I asked ESPN.com's resident scout, Matt Williamson, about Bishop playing outside.

"My initial thought was no, but thinking about Seattle's D, which I assume Jacksonville will employ, maybe Bishop can play the every-down K.J. Wright role at strongside linebacker," he said. "Bishop is a real good, productive football player when healthy."

I suspect Minnesota, and perhaps even Chicago, will be a stronger suitor than Jacksonville. But it’s definitely of interest that the Jaguars are curious.

The New England Patriots are arguably the most disciplined, well-coached team in the NFL. But one area where they struggled mightily last year was tackling in the secondary and preventing yards after the catch.

New England was 27th in the NFL with 1,845 yards allowed after the catch last season, according to ESPN's Stats and Information. The Patriots struggled to cover. But once receivers made the catch, they were oftentimes able to run freely and/or break tackles from New England's secondary. The Patriots were 29th against the pass last season.

The New York Jets, even without star cornerback Darrelle Revis (knee) for most of the season, led the NFL with the fewest YAC in 2012. Here are the YAC totals for all AFC East defenses last season:

• No. 1: Jets, 1,301 yards

• No. 6: Buffalo Bills, 1,482 yards

• No. 25: Miami Dolphins, 1,814 yards

• No. 27: Patriots, 1,845 yards

Tackling receivers and tight ends must become a huge priority for New England’s defense this year. The Patriots’ top-ranked offense carried the team most of last season, but personnel changes and injuries may force this group to take a step back. Therefore, New England's defense must make major strides and fix its weaknesses.

This further explains why New England signed physical, hard-hitting safety Adrian Wilson in free agency to add an intimidating presence on the back end of the defense. The Patriots also were wise to bring back No. 1 cornerback Aqib Talib, who was a midseason acquisition last year.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Minnesota Vikings center John Sullivan didn't miss a play last season in what many considered a Pro Bowl-caliber performance. Yet offseason microfracture surgery on his left knee has cost him every snap of offseason workouts so far, and he is not expected to participate in the final two days of mandatory minicamp this week.

The nature of Sullivan's surgery and his extended layoff makes it fair at least to ask if he will be ready for training camp. Coach Leslie Frazier said Tuesday that he is planning on Sullivan's full recovery by late July and added: "From what I've been told, there should not be any restrictions."

It makes perfect sense to mandate offseason rest for an established starter after significant offseason surgery. Sullivan, entering his sixth season, doesn't need organized team activities (OTAs) and minicamps as much as say, right guard Brandon Fusco, who is entering his second year as a starter.

Of course, the most notable clue on the Vikings' true assessment of Sullivan's situation can be found in their personnel moves, as we discussed when the surgery occurred in February. The Vikings clearly weren't moved to acquire a player who could replace Sullivan on a longer-term basis.

They didn't draft a center, nor did they sign a free agent who projects as a starter. To this point, all they've done is bring back veteran backup Joe Berger with a one-year deal that included a $65,000 signing bonus. Berger has worked the position in Sullivan's place but figures as a backup center/guard during the season. At this point, it appears, all is well.

At this point of the offseason, salary-cap totals don’t mean nearly as much as they did three months ago. But I know there is always interest in cap numbers -- so, thanks to the invaluable John Clayton, I have gotten ahold of the latest figure for each AFC West team:

DENVER BRONCOS

Cap room: $10.6 million

What does it mean? The Broncos can pretty much do what they want. They can easily sign their top draft pick, defensive lineman Sylvester Williams, and add a piece or two as the summer goes on. They could also perhaps give an extension to someone such as Ryan Clady, Demaryius Thomas, Von Miller or Eric Decker.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

Cap room: $3.5 million

What does it mean? The Chiefs have had a great offseason, but there is little cap room left. The Chiefs have to sign No. 1 overall pick Eric Fisher. They are also reportedly hosting linebacker Desmond Bishop this week. The Chiefs may need to restructure a deal or two to get a little more room.

OAKLAND RAIDERS

Cap room: $7.6 million

What does it mean? The Raiders have yet to sign their first-round draft pick, cornerback D.J. Hayden; their second-round pick, offensive lineman Menelik Watson; or their fourth-round pick, quarterback Tyler Wilson. They can execute those signings and still have some emergency money.

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS

Cap room: $3.1 million

What does it mean? The Chargers have their entire draft class signed, so they have some decent just-in-case money available.

 
After the Atlanta Falcons came within a game of making it to the Super Bowl last season, the "NFL Live" crew takes a look at whether the team -- particularly with the addition of Steven Jackson -- is ready to play for a title.

It's been a tough offseason for tight ends of the New England Patriots. The latest situation involves fourth-year player Aaron Hernandez, who was questioned by police Tuesday in relation to a homicide investigation, according to a report by Sports Illustrated.

A source told Sports Illustrated that Hernandez is not a suspect. However, police are investigating a SUV rented in Hernandez’s name that might have a connection to the body found of a 27-year-old man earlier this week in North Attleboro, Mass.

It’s too early to speculate exactly what this means for Hernandez. But this is yet another dose of bad news for New England’s talented duo of tight ends. Hernandez being questioned by police happened on the same day that teammate Rob Gronkowski just completed back surgery -- his fifth surgery since last November.

Washington Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett was talking last week about second-round draft pick David Amerson, specifically why his 2012 season wasn't as strong as his 2011 season at North Carolina State. Haslett said he thought it came down to one game. Per Rich Tandler:

“He got surprised the first game of the year,” said Haslett. “Tennessee comes out with these two wideouts, one was a junior college transfer and he didn’t know who he was. He got beat on a double move a couple of times, had some bad body language and he struggled the first half of the season.”

In that game against the Vols, Amerson was beaten by Cordarrelle Patterson, who was a first-round pick in the draft, for 42 yards and a touchdown. Then to show that he was willing to pick on the cornerback who had led the nation in interceptions in 2011, Tennessee QB Chandler Whitmer went deep to Zach Rogers. The result was a 72-yard touchdown pass that had Amerson throwing up his arms in apparent frustration.

As Rich goes on to write, the issue was that Amerson appeared to let his bad game bother him for a few weeks after that. And that's what the Redskins are working on with Amerson this summer -- professional maturity. Amerson has great instincts and should be the kind of player, right away, who can make plays on the ball at the NFL level. But if given regular playing time right away, he's also likely to be exposed, give up big plays and possibly get down and discouraged about it. That's why it's the job of Haslett and defensive backs coach Raheem Morris to "coach up" Amerson and sand down the rough edges that are expected to come along with 21-year-old rookies.

The Redskins have DeAngelo Hall, Josh Wilson and E.J. Biggers, at least, ahead of Amerson on the depth chart at cornerback. Maybe Chase Minnifield too. So they aren't necessarily counting on a significant contribution from him this season. But they aren't ruling it out either. Their belief is that he has the talent to play in the league and that his start date as a factor on defense depends on the speed with which he hones the technique and maturity issues that defensive backs his age have to get under control when they arrive in the league. The Redskins don't think it's a matter of "if" with Amerson, but "when."

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains and whoever was calling the defense -- coordinator Jerry Gray or senior assistant/ defense Gregg Williams -- didn’t call plays off a script during the first practice of the Tennessee Titans' minicamp Tuesday.

Mike Munchak and his coaches decided that the three final practices of the offseason won’t be scripted. Coaches and players will go into them with a sense of what they want to do. And in what appears a very healthy exercise, the playcallers and players will be tested on the fly, just like they will be on fall Sundays.

“Whatever you call, you call and the players have got to make their adjustments off of it,” Gray said before practice. “So we’re really going through a bunch of game-type situations: You’re in two minute, you’re in four minute, you’re in goal line, it’s first-and-10. All they are going to do (on offense) is tell us personnel. Then we are going to treat it as a game …

“Not only does it help me, it helps Dowell, it helps the head coach get a chance to see what we like to call in certain situations, and the players do, too. You can script and say hey, ‘I can always have the pen last and win.’ You’ve got to make the call from what you are looking at, what you’re thinking, what’s that going to do to you, because that’s how the game is.”

After practice quarterback Jake Locker talked of the real situations the offense faced and said he thought the offense did well, hitting on some big plays and consistently getting positive yardage. Those big plays included a great play on which Kenny Britt took a pass away from Coty Sensabaugh and stayed in bounds, and a long catch-and-run touchdown by Kendall Wright against coverage by rookie cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson.

Munchak said that while the players benefit from the lack of scripts, it’s as much of an exercise for their bosses.

“That’s as good for the coaches as anybody, to make them have to think how to try to attack each other and not be able to pre-plan everything we are doing out here,” Munchak said. “Once we had everything installed, once we spent the first nine OTAs getting everything in and doing it at a teaching pace where we felt they had a good understanding, then to me this is the best thing we could do.

“You can’t tackle, this is as close as you get to playing real football, at least mentally. I just thought this would be a nice change for these couple days. Let it flow, let it happen and create some situations."

Monday on the blog, we asked whether Green Bay connections within the division could drum up interest in linebacker Desmond Bishop.

Tuesday, we received a quick answer. The NFL Network is reporting Bishop, who was cut by the Packers on Monday, will visit the Kansas City Chiefs on Wednesday and Thursday. He is visiting Minnesota on Tuesday.

Bishop was in Green Bay with new Kansas City general manager John Dorsey. Clearly, Dorsey thinks Bishop can help his team, which has been busy reloading all offseason. Many NFL observers think the Chiefs have had one of the very best offseasons in the NFL. Adding Bishop would only make it stronger.

He is the best linebacker available. He is coming off a major hamstring injury, but he is expected to be ready for the season.

Bishop, a 3-4 inside linebacker, is a strong fit for the Chiefs. One of the few question marks on Kansas City's defense is at inside linebacker.

The Chiefs think they have their answer in fourth-round pick Nico Johnson. He looked good this offseason. But you can’t blame the Chiefs if they would rather have an established player such as Bishop start instead of a fourth-round pick. If Bishop is signed, it doesn't affect Johnson’s long-term potential.

If Bishop goes elsewhere, Johnson will simply slide in and start.

Investigating a situation like this is what good front offices do. In a short time, Dorsey has shown he is running a strong front office.

ESPN.com's Fantasy Roundtable hits a topic that is pretty difficult to answer: How would you rank the Green Bay Packers' receivers from a fantasy perspective?

Touchdowns are most important, of course, and last season James Jones led all NFL receivers with 14 scoring receptions. But as the panelists noted, in 2011 the Packers' leading receiver in terms of touchdowns was Jordy Nelson (15). And we haven't even mentioned Randall Cobb, whom most conventional observers project as the Packers' top receiver in 2013.

It makes sense to predict Cobb will get more targets/touches than either Jones or Nelson this season. But opportunities haven't always correlated with touchdowns in recent Packers history. Last season, Jones had fewer targets (98) than Cobb (102) but had six more touchdowns. In 2011, Nelson's 15 touchdowns came on only 94 targets. Greg Jennings had nine touchdown receptions that season on 99 targets.

If anything, the fantasy panel concludes, expecting a repeat of Jones' 2012 scoring performance is risky at best.

Consider this your fantasy football post of the day. As much as I always liked former New York Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw as a player, I always hated having the Giants' running back situation on my fantasy team.

Two years ago I had Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs and traded the pair of them for Ryan Fitzpatrick because Michael Vick was hurt and I had lucked into Kevin Smith, who was getting hot as a No. 2 running back option for me and I was just sick of trying to guess on the Giants every week. The guy to whom I traded them lost a playoff game because he started Bradshaw instead of Jacobs in the game in Dallas where Tom Coughlin benched Bradshaw for the first half. Remember that game? Anyway, fantasy nightmare.

I bring this up because, if you're asking me in 2013 which Giants running back you should take in fantasy, I'm once again going to say, "None of them." I don't want to have to count on David Wilson or Andre Brown as anything more than maybe a strategic bye-week fill-in until I see one of them prove he's more than that. And this from Ohm, who spoke last week with running backs coach Jerald Ingram, backs me up:

"I think he's grown," Ingram said of 2012 first-round pick Wilson. "He has a fairly good understanding of the offense right now. He's definitely in position to be the guy, but I think just like what we've done in the past here, we're going to be a rotation-type team and what certain backs do best, we'll play."

The Giants are very concerned about the blocking they're going to get from their running backs with Bradshaw now in Indianapolis. He was a critical part of their pass protection, and the plain fact is that until the pads go on this summer they have no way of knowing how close Wilson or Brown can get to replacing that aspect of Bradshaw's game. That's why you're not going to see the Giants commit to one of these guys over the other, likely all year. The Giants use their backs in pass protection, which means even if one of them turns out to be good at it, he's going to need a lot of rest.

Popular thinking in Jacksonville is that the presence of No. 2 overall pick Luke Joeckel at right tackle will have a direct bearing on tight end Marcedes Lewis.

The team got poor play from Cameron Bradfield and Guy Whimper on the right edge of last year’s offensive line, which meant Lewis, a solid blocker, was held in to help far more often than was ideal.

Joeckel will be a far steadier player. That should free Lewis up to be a target more often for quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert or Chad Henne.

“You like to think you can block these guys by yourself, one-on-one, every play,” Joeckel said. “But you’re going against some of the best athletes in the league and if you’re having trouble, there are protections set up to get help from Marcedes and the other tight ends. It’s something that’s part of the game now because the pass-rushers are so good and so athletic.

“So I accept the help whenever I can get it. Everyone needs help sometimes and it is a big help when they are able to do that for us. But we’ve got to have the mindset that we’ve got to be able to block guys one-on-one to get more guys out for routes.”

At Texas A&M, Joeckel was very close friends with Jake Matthews. Matthews will now flip from right tackle to left tackle for the Aggies and figures to be a high draft pick next year.

Jake Matthews' father, Bruce Matthews, is an Oilers-Titans Hall of Fame offensive lineman who now coaches the Titans' offensive line. (Here are his thoughts on Joeckel after the draft.)

Joeckel got to talk football with Bruce Matthews during A&M spring practice as Joeckel watched his twin brother, Matt, and Matthews watched his son.

“I had a chance to talk to him about what to expect, he knew the schedule and all that stuff, he had a lot of good tips about what I need to be ready for and was a big help that way,” Joeckel said.

I wondered if Bruce Matthews told Joeckel that there will come a time that such advice gets cut off, considering the Jaguars and Titans play in the same division.

“I hope he keeps giving me advice when he can,” Joeckel said. “I’ll probably have to ask Jake to ask his dad now, that’s probably the route I’ll have to use.”

Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie wasn't joking in March when he mentioned his desire to have the Super Bowl at Lincoln Financial Field. Trust me, I know. I was standing right there, reminded of the same sick feeling I got back in 2010 when I realized they weren't joking about having the Super Bowl in New Jersey.

So I'm kind of kicking myself for not making this connection Zach Berman made about the planned renovations to the Eagles' home stadium:

Lurie first mentioned the possibility in March when he was asked about New Jersey's MetLife Stadium hosting the Super Bowl this season. Lurie noted that if the event proves to be a success, he would push for Philadelphia to host the annual event. An updated stadium will enhance the Eagles' bid.

"That wasn't the intention, but certainly when I'm on the Super Bowl committee, when you're bidding on a Super Bowl, the committee looks very closely at your stadium and your city and what you can host," Lurie said. "Philadelphia would be a great place."

So maybe it's not the intention, but surely it's a potential byproduct that has crossed Lurie's mind. I personally don't think it matters how the weather is for this year's Super Bowl in East Rutherford, N.J. -- I think places like Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington are going to start to bid for Super Bowls, and if their stadiums are deemed fit to host them they will likely get them. When the NFL announced the New York/New Jersey Super Bowl, they insisted it was a one-time deal and special because of New York. But the NFL says a lot of things that aren't true, and they've made it clear that the stadium is the biggest factor in a city getting the game. That's why they'll end up going back to Dallas, even though the weather there crippled the entire Super Bowl week. That's why they won't go back to Miami, which has hosted 10 Super Bowls and is the perfect place to hold it, until they improve or replace the Dolphins' stadium.

The NFL knows it's risking a huge weather mess by holding the game in a cold-weather location and a stadium without a roof. It just doesn't care. If weather wrecks this next Super Bowl, nothing we know about the NFL indicates that it will step forward and admit it made a mistake. No, it will press on, and if owners like Lurie really, really want to host the Super Bowl and their stadiums are of sufficient caliber to do it, the game will go to those towns. Bank on it.

The screw in Ahmad Bradshaw's right foot could be an issue for him going forward.

If he's healthy, he could be a heck of an acquisition for the Indianapolis Colts.

And the price sure seems right: It’s a one-year, $1.1 million contract that came with a $250,000 signing bonus. There is another $650,000 available in per game roster bonuses.

I fielded a good question in the last couple days about whether or not Bradshaw’s contract and the Denver Broncos’ release of Willis McGahee sheds further bad light on the Titans contract with Shonn Greene.

I don’t really factor in McGahee -- he’s a bigger injury question than Bradshaw and that’s why Denver is moving on.

But compare the Bradshaw price to Greene’s. Green got three years at $10 million, with a $2.5 million signing bonus and $4.5 million guaranteed.

It’s one-third the time under contract for Bradshaw. But he could well be starting for the Colts while Greene is the No. 2 back for the Titans. Yet over the life of this contract, Green’s average per year will be nearly double.

If Green gives the Titans what they want, his deal won’t seem outrageous.

If Bradshaw has a solid and healthy year, the Colts will have to spend more to keep him longer.

The verdict will take time. Right now things look to tip to Indianapolis.

Shortly after the Elvis Dumervil fax fiasco, the Denver Broncos reached out to veteran pass-rushers Dwight Freeney and John Abraham.

It seemed like Denver would replace Dumervil, the Broncos’ second pass-rushing option behind star Von Miller, with one of the two veterans.

However, because of financial reasons, Denver pulled away from both players. Instead it added former San Diego pass-rusher Shaun Phillips and drafted rookie Quanterus Smith in the fifth round to help Miller.

However, the USA Today thinks a Denver-Abraham pairing could still be achieved. It looks at its top 10 remaining free agents. Abraham is No. 1 on the list. It think his best fit is Denver.

Could it still happen? I think if the price is right, sure. Denver is in win-now mode and if it thinks the veteran Abraham is a missing piece, it will pursue him.

I wouldn’t count on Abraham signing in Denver, but I can certainly see it as well.