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Retired NFL quarterback Trent Green is the first-ever guest columnist of MMQB, filling in while Peter King is on vacation. Green provided an interesting read on subjects relating to the league's personal conduct policy, concussions and the expanded season. And of course it wouldn't be a MMQB without a healthy dose of Favre thrown in for good measure.

What jumps out of Green's article is his prediction that 10 quarterbacks will have over 4,000 yards passing this season. He says six are a lock to do it (Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, Phillip Rivers and Aaron Rodgers), and seven have the potential to do it (Jay Cutler, Matt Cassel, Carson Palmer, Matt Schaub, Donovan McNabb, Tony Romo, Matt Hasselbeck).

Let's put this prediction in context:

After six Pro Bowl appearances and 13 seasons, well-traveled defensive tackle LaRoi Glover has decided to put away his jockstrap.

At his best, Glover was one of the better defensive tackles in the game thanks to a quick first step that allowed him to beat bigger and stronger offensive linemen (he was only 6-foot-2, 290 pounds). With the Saints in 2000, he led the NFL with 17 sacks, starting a string of six straight Pro Bowl appearances.

He carried that success over to the Cowboys, but Dallas' switch to a 3-4 defense left him trying to play nose tackle in a system that didn't fit him nearly as well. Eventually the Cowboys pushed him aside, bringing in Jason Ferguson to provide more bulk in the middle.

Perhaps the Saints should stop looking at damaged goods to fix their weakside linebacker position?

In 2006, they brought in Anthony Simmons, a former Pro Bowler, to play there. It didn't matter that Simmons missed most of '04 and all of '05 with injury; he was supposedly healthy and low-risk/high-reward. He retired before his first game as a Saint ever came.

In '08, they brought in Dan Morgan, a former Pro Bowler. It didn't matter that Morgan had a list of concussions that would make Steve Young commiserate, as well as a partially torn Achilles tendon, the collaborative effects of which forced him to miss almost all of '06 and '07. He was supposedly healthy and low-risk/high-reward. He retired before his first game as a Saint ever came.

Morgan then unretired earlier this year and claimed that the Saints, who still had his rights, were getting a healthy and motivated player. On Monday, he retired. Again.

Pio Sagapolutele, a former player for the Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints, passed away after a massive stroke and heart attack Sunday. The Samoan-born defensive lineman was only 39 years old.

UPDATE: Reports have now surfaced that Sagapoutele actually died of a brain aneurysm, not a heart attack and stroke as was originally reported.

Sagapolutele was born in American Samoa, grew up in Hawaii, and attended San Diego State University before being selected by the Browns in the fourth round of the 1991 NFL Draft. He played 92 games in seven seasons, amassing seven career sacks and 89 solo tackles. He started at right defensive tackle in Super Bowl XXXI for Bill Parcells' Patriots. A bevy of injuries forced Sagapolutele to retire in 1999.

Two weeks ago, Jeremy Shockey was rolled out of the Hard Rock Casino's "Rehab" pool party on a stretcher suffering from "dehydration," which is basically a sanitized hospital euphemism for "ridiculously wasted." This weekend, Shockey returned to Saints practice and addressed the issue.

"You know what they say, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," Shockey told reporters at the Saints training facility. "That's the past. I'm looking forward to the future."

Predictably, the New Orleans news media fell all over themselves to pat Shockey on the back for his outlandish wit. Did you see what he did there? He took an advertising slogan and made it his own! That is totally awesome.

Or not. At all.

With NFL teams going though OTAs and minicamps this offseason, we look at 10 young players who can make an impact in 2009. These players have five years or less than NFL experience.

Update: Shockey was treated for dehydration and was released from the hospital "in good shape," according to an ESPN report.

According to a TMZ report, Jeremy Shockey was taken from the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas to a local hospital after being found unconscious at Rehab, the Hard Rock's pool party on Sundays.

As TMZ noted, this is a "developing story" and it's entirely possible that the situation isn't as bad as it initially seems. TMZ also reported that "paramedics tried to cover him up so onlookers -- including a TV camera crew -- couldn't ID him."

This is a good thing, this ruling that came down Saturday in the StarCaps case. You may not see it that way if you're a fan of the Minnesota Vikings, who now face the first four games of their season without their Pro Bowl defensive tackles. Or if your team is the New Orleans Saints, who've likely lost their starting defensive ends for those first four games.

But if you're the kind of person who thinks pro athletes (and, by extension, the children who admire them) should be discouraged from taking drugs to cheat at their games, you have to look at today's development as a positive.

As you may recall, five NFL players were slapped with respective four-game suspensions late last season -- though they never served them while their legal claims were being heard in court. Friday, a federal judge dismissed the claims of the players -- Kevin Williams and Pat Williams of the Vikings, Charles Grant and Will Smith of the Saints, and unsigned Deuce McAllister.

Those five players -- well, four if McAllister doesn't sign somewhere -- will be forced to sit out the first quarter of the season for their respective teams.

Michael Vick's release from prison Wednesday morning in no way ensures that he's going to play in the NFL in 2009. But the mere fact that Vick is headed home has prompted a new round of speculation about which teams might be willing to give him a second chance in the NFL.