NFL Afc North

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:

With the season just two months away, the Patriots seem to once again be the clear favorite to win the AFC, but the Football Scientist K.C. Joyner makes a pretty compelling argument that the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers are being underrated.

Joyner cites a healthy Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers defense bringing back nearly everyone from last year's historic unit, an easier schedule and an improved running game.

When the Steelers drafted Tony Hills in the fourth round of the 2008 draft, there was some thought among Steelers fans that he might be the team's starting left tackle in 2009. Max Starks was playing under a one-year transition-tag contract while his backup, Trai Essex, was also in the final year of his deal.

So the thought was: Starks and Essex may leave in free agency while Hills moves into the starting lineup after a one-year apprenticeship. It was the same path that Willie Colon took as a 2005 fourth-round pick.

The Steelers have never seemed to fully know what to do with Max Starks, but it seems clear that Starks has always wanted to be a Steeler.

Two years ago, Pittsburgh slapped Starks with a transition tag--guaranteeing him a contract worth nearly $7 million even though he was considered a backup. It took an injury to Marvel Smith to finally get Starks into the lineup on an everyday basis.

A year later, Starks was slapped with the franchise tag, as Pittsburgh once again decided that it both couldn't part with Starks, but also wasn't willing to work out a long-term deal immediately. But Starks has now gotten his long-term contract. although the terms seem more favorable to the Steelers than to Starks.

Let's be honest, there are few things more entertaining in sports than when an athlete is absolutely despised by a city. And I don't mean despised in the Michael Jordan-tears-out-Cleveland's-heart-with-a-wooden-spoon level hate. That's rooted in Jordan's superhuman play on the field.

I mean on a level like LenDale White stomping on the Terrible Towel and refusing to apologize -- where the entire city is outraged at one particular player.

I get that first-rounders, particularly those taken in the top 15 picks, would threaten to hold out if it meant more leverage during contract negotiations. In recent years, however, both players and organizations have made efforts to get deals done before training camp because holdouts, in the long run, don't benefit anybody.

Rookies, already playing catch-up in a new system with new players, can least afford to miss practice. And the teams, who invest a lot of coin in developing players, often don't see a return in the first year. JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn might be farther along if not for protracted training camp holdouts. On the other hand, the 2008 first-overall pick, Jake Long, was signed prior to the draft, started every game and had a productive rookie season.

Braylon Edwards would probably like to get his hands on a time machine and go back 12 months. And as long as we're defying the laws of physics, Derek Anderson would like to hitch a ride, too. A year ago, both players were coming off Pro Bowl seasons.

Today, they're still with the team, but have endured myriad trade rumors, inconsistent play, and for Anderson, a midseason benching.

Yet, training camp is five weeks off and both remain on the roster. New head coach Eric Mangini hasn't named his starting quarterback, although the word on the street is that it's Brady Quinn's job to lose. And Edwards, the club's 2005 first-round pick, is not only off the trading block, but should be an integral part of the Browns' offense.

After saying that he and Carson Palmer "were like Brokeback Mountain," it only made sense that Chad Ochocinco would move in with the Bengals quarterback this summer. That was the plan (according to Mr. Ochocinco), anyway.

Palmer's wife -- and I'd assume Palmer, too -- had other ideas. The family just had twins, and even if they hadn't, I'm not sure they would be interested in introducing crazy into their home. Via the Dayton Daily News' Chick Ludwig:

Bernie Kosar spent his first eight NFL season with the Cleveland Browns. A native of Youngstown, Ohio, he was a fan favorite, although Bill Belichick, hired in 1991, was less enamored with the immobile quarterback and eventually benched him for Vinny Testaverde in 1993, before releasing him in Week 8.

We're still a month away from training camp, but Pittsburgh is almost finished with signing all of their draft picks. Tight end David Johnson, the team's seventh-round pick, signed on Friday, making him the seventh of the team's nine picks to sign.

The only two rookies left unsigned are the two the Steelers most need in training camp. First-round pick Evander Hood, who is expected to be the team's No. 3 defensive end, and third-round pick Kraig Urbik, who is expected to battle for a starting job at offensive guard, are still unsigned, although with a month to work out those deals, it shouldn't be that hard to get the deals worked out.