NFL

We're entering a dark period of the NFL life right now. Nothing is going on. Players and coaches are on vacation. With that we look at 10 quarterback situations worth looking at before training camps start in late July, because, well, it's always about the quarterback.

1. Detroit. Matthew Stafford vs. Daunte Culpepper.

The situation: It's the same old argument. Do you start the rookie or the veteran? The No. 1 pick of the draft is Stafford, but the vet with a chance to win a few games is Culpepper. Stafford is the future but you don't want to damage it. For every Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco there's a Ryan Leaf and Vince Young.

Solution: Start Culpepper and wait until 2010 for Stafford.

Last month, NFL Network's Jamie Dukes argued that it was "hypocritical to say [Brett Favre] should stop playing because you think it's time for him to stop." Never mind that no one has ever argued that. Instead, most fans -- even those with just a casual interest in the sport -- would prefer Favre not fake retire every offseason. I don't think that's asking for a lot.

Dukes is back. The just-concluded NFL Rookie Symposium prompted Dukes to writes that, "... there is an expectation among the populous that NFL players are supposed to be perfect because they were given the right to play football. THAT NOTION IS LUDICROUS!"

If the television thing doesn't work out for Cris Carter, he's got a future in motivational speaking. Carter was the final speaker at this week's NFL Rookie Symposium, and his message was what you might expect -- don't do drugs, don't fall for groupies, don't start a dog-fighting enterprise, so on and so forth -- but his delivery was what made it memorable.

It was part overdramatized reality teevee, part televangelist. No mention of living in a van down by the river, however. Either way, I think he got through to almost everybody.

What possess a man to leave one team that finished third in its division for another that didn't win a game the previous year?

Well, we asked cornerback Phillip Buchanon the other day why he left the Bucs, who finished third in the NFC South, for the Lions, and his answer was simple.

"I did want to stay in Florida," Buchanon said. "Tampa was going in a different direction and I truly feel like I'm still a starter, and Detroit was one of the teams that was actually there. There were a few other teams, but Tampa was taking their time and I didn't want to wait. You either want me or you don't."

To veteran NFL players, the preseason is a necessary evil, a four-game stretch in which they get paid peanuts (relatively speaking) and just hope they don't get hurt. But to young players trying to prove themselves, the preseason can represent a major opportunity. And Redskins backup quarterback Colt Brennan says he's going to make the most of that opportunity.

Not to pick on poor Calvin Pace, who claims today to be the latest NFL victim of those sneaky, nefarious over-the-counter supplements, but come on here, people. At what point is it fair to start calling out the NFL on the performance-enhancing drug issue? This guy's no superstar, but he's an important player on a New York team. The baseball equivalent would be somebody like Ryan Church on the Mets or Hideki Matsui on the Yankees. Imagine if one of those guys had been suspended today for steroids? Would ESPN even think about leading SportsCenter with anything else?

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Caleb Campbell, the 6-foot-1, 230-pound Army safety who the Detroit Lions selected in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft, is currently training with the U.S. bobsled team in an effort to make the 2010 Winter Olympics team. It's quite the change of careers for Campbell, who had his NFL dream yanked out from under him at the last possible moment in July of 2008.

The Army's decision to reverse course and require Campbell to report for service, despite having implemented a 2005 exemption penalty, ignited a firestorm of debate. Now Campbell is training in Lake Placid, N.Y., while stationed at West Point. He has a new dream -- making the Olympic team.

While the military won't allow Campbell to pursue a career in the NFL until late 2010, they do have a policy in place that allows would-be Olympians to pursue their training as part of their military commitment. After being contacted by a member of the U.S. bobsledding team in July of 2008, Campbell has thrown himself into the training and pronounces himself in the best shape of his life. "Some days, it hurts to get out of bed," he says.

Kerry Joseph (no, not that Kerry Joseph)* Arland Bruce leads a relatively obscure life as a wide receiver for the Toronto Argonauts; such is life in the CFL. But something tells me Mr. Joseph* Bruce will be getting a little more attention soon. You see, the CFL is currently reviewing a recent touchdown celebration in which Joseph* Bruce honored Michael Jackson by pretending to be buried. See for yourself and then we'll debate!

Send your NFL questions (along with your name and location) to NFLFanHouse@gmail.com. Each Thursday, we'll answer the best -- or, if nothing else, most entertaining -- in our NFL Mailbag.

Excluding Brett Favre, which remaining free agent can play the biggest role in 2009?

The easy answer (INCLUDING Brett Favre!!) is Plaxico Burress. He's a high-ceiling, high-impact wide receiver. You saw the way the Giants' offense missed him at the end of 2008, and we've seen a handful of teams express interest in him -- even though nobody knows if he's going to play in 2009. If he is allowed to play, he's your answer. But it looks increasingly likely that he'll be suspended for at least part of the season, if not all. So in the non-Burress division, I have three veterans who could make an interesting impact in the right situation:

It seems like everybody has a distinct memory of what Michael Jackson meant to them, particularly those of us in our 30s, who grew up listening to him. For me, it was convincing my parents to buy the "Thriller" album (33 RPMs!), and listening to it for hours at a time on our sweet Curtis Mathes all-in-one home entertainment system that looked a lot like this.

For a college buddy of mine (who shall remain nameless to spare him the shame of what I'm about to write) it was probably attending breakdancing classes as a chubby preteen while sporting one sparkly glove and a backpack stuffed with his Cabbage Patch Kid. (Amazingly, he now holds down a full-time job and spent very little time in therapy.)

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And for Terrell Owens, the enigmatic NFL wideout currently with the Bills, it was a Michael Jackson dance contest. Via BuffaloBills.com's Chris Brown: