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The once elite NFL wide receiver missed all of last season because of an ACL injury suffered in the spring of 2011. Many people in the media and in the league believe that T.O. has finally worn out his welcome and teams are not willing to bring his side show on board.

Owens definitely looked rusty in his first preseason game with the Seattle Seahawks against the Denver Broncos. He was targeted five times and ended up with no catches including a dropped touchdown pass in the end zone.

T.O. did not fair that much better in the Seahawks preseason game on Friday night against the Kansas City Chiefs. He did manage two catches for 41 yards, but he still had some drops and did not do anything to secure a roster spot. With fellow WR Braylon Edwards outplaying him this preseason the writing was on the wall for Owens to be released.

At 38 years old it is anyone’s guess if T.O. will get another chance.

The Red Sox will get first baseman James Loney, infielder Ivan Dejesus Jr., pitcher Rubby De La Rosa, outfielder Jerry Sands and Allen Webster. Baseball America ranked Webster as the second best pitching prospect in the Dodger organization.

Some people in Red Sox nation are up in arms over the move, but once cooler heads prevail they will realize how shrewd this deal is for the team long term.

First of all the Red Sox are ridding themselves of more than $250 million off the books depending on what the BoSox’s salary contribution will be in the deal. This is an absolute dream trade for a general manager like Ben Cherington to make especially considering Boston’s failures this season.

The team has now dumped a great portion of what was considered by fans to be bad deals with Crawford and Beckett. Gonzalez was well liked for the most part, but he underachieved to an extent as his numbers over the course of the past four seasons have steadily gone down.

Only time will tell if A-Gon is a player showing some decline or if he just was not a good fit in Boston. Maybe he can regain the 40 home-run type power he had for the San Diego Padres out in L.A.

The Red Sox have big hopes for the pitching prospects. Loney will almost certainly just be a throw away player after the season unless things change from here on out. By getting rid of Josh Beckett the Red Sox are turning the page on the “Chicken and Beer” era and I do not mean the Ludacris album from back in the day.

In Carl Crawford’s defense, he was not able to completely prove himself because of injuries. His contract was controversial from the start though and now the Sox can rewind back to the 2010 off-season with Crawford and Gonzalez gone. Both moves did not pay off so the team has been given a big mulligan by the Dodgers.

This is not the biggest trade in baseball history by any measure, but it may be the biggest MLB trade in late August.

Red Sox nation may think that their team is rebuilding or they are far off from competing, but do not believe that for a second. Boston’s organization has deep pockets and now they have emptied some cash and bad debts from their wallet. The Red Sox will reload again at some point. It is just a matter of when as opposed to if it will happen.

It is now also coming out that news of the positive test was leaked in late July. This was something that Melky Cabrera flat out denied at the time. Someone mysteriously posted on twitter that Cabrera violated baseball’s PED policy.

Reporter Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area questioned Cabrera about the leaked steroid report, but then issued an apology column about the questioning. Baggarly reported that Melky asked his agent, the union, and team trainers about the rumor and found that it was untrue. At the time it appeared as though Baggarly jumped the gun or that he did not have his facts right, but now it looks as if he was spot on. We now know that the player was actually going through the appeal process for the positive test and actually lied to the reporter about it.

The player known simply as the “Melk Man” to fans in the bay area is not the good story of hard work and perseverance that we all thought he was. His ascent to being mentioned amongst the top players in the game seemed too good to be true. Maybe now the trade the Kansas City Royals pulled off with the Giants to land Jonathan Sanchez while sending Cabrera out west doesn’t seem so bad anymore.

A baseball diamond full of irony exists in the fact that an ex-New York Yankee and current San Francisco Giant tested positive for PEDs and it wasn’t who we would think it was. Cabrera works out with Alex Rodriguez in the off-season, which looks a little suspicious at this point. The headlines are already scrolling across the internet that a San Francisco Giant outfielder not named Barry Bonds tested positive for PEDs.

It is a shame for the game of baseball that a guy who was such a good story this season, and who won the All Star game MVP award, was using PEDs. The “Melk Man” can say good-bye to a big contract this off-season.

Even though players are still getting caught violating the MLB drug policy, the rising sentiment amongst people around the game was that the sport was cleaning up. Well, after the Cabrera news hit on Tuesday that is not necessarily true anymore is it?

Best and Leshoure are coming off of an injury-plagued 2011 NFL season. Best had his season end prematurely with concussion issues. Concussions have been a problem with him since his college days.

Leshoure tore his left Achilles in the 2011 preseason and never got a chance to get on the field in what was to be his rookie season. His off-season has been marred by arrests and because his off the field problems NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has suspended Leshoure for the first two games of 2012.

Best has shown flashes of greatness, which could one day make him an elite back if he stays healthy. Staying healthy though is the key for best. I’m starting to think that injuries and Jahvid Best are about as mutually exclusive as Don Draper and booze.

All joking aside, Best has the talent to be a fantasy sleeper in the Lions high powered offense that will try to make more of a commitment to the run this year.

We are still not sure what to expect of Leshoure since he has not even been able to get on the field yet and will not do so until week three at the earliest. He seems like a risky choice, but with Best being injury prone and RB Kevin Smith in the mix Leshoure will get his chance to carry the load in the back field.

Detroit’s offense will almost certainly be amongst the league leaders again in 2012. The New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots are probably the only teams with more weapons than Detroit.

If Detroit commits to the run and their young backs can stay on the field they might make good late round draft picks.

The Lions were so grateful that they gave Johnson $132 million over eight years. An astounding $60 million of that contract is guaranteed. So a big contract brings big responsibilities.

“Megatron” is at the top of many fantasy football boards this season and justifiably so. His 96 catch season for 1,681 yards put him on a different level than most wide receivers.

Johnson was only the third receiver in NFL history to catch at least 95 passes along while amassing 1,600 yards in a single season. The other two were WR Randy Moss when he was with the Minnesota Vikings and the great San Francisco 49ers WR Jerry Rice. Not too shabby to say the least.

Even Arizona Cardinals wide out Larry Fitzgerald said that people should “Pick Megatron over me in fantasy football” last week on ESPN. That is a big statement from another one of the league’s premier wide receivers and a perennial top choice for receivers in many fantasy football drafts.

The question here is not whether or not Johnson deserves to be the first WR picked in a fantasy draft, but more so if he can duplicate his ridiculous production from 2011.

Calvin Johnson is the first WR on my board and I would not have a problem picking him in the first round if other viable quarterback and running options were not still on the board.

I would not draft him over the likes of Baltimore Ravens RB Ray Rice or Houston Texans back Arian Foster. There are several quarterbacks I would choose above him as well like Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers and New England Patriots QB Tom Brady. I would even take his teammate QB Matthew Stafford before I would pick him, but that’s no slight to Johnson at all.

Chances are Johnson will not have as big of a year as he did last season, but at his age, the talent he has and the offense that he is in it is most certainly a possibility. Let’s just hope that he avoids the so-called “Madden cover jinx” in 2012.

This is big news for the Lions organization and their fans and a nice change of pace from the various arrests that have dominated team news as of late.

The team also announced that it is parting ways with CB Aaron Berry after his 2nd arrest in a month and the team’s seventh total arrest of the off-season. It seems as though the organization has had enough of undisciplined players and finally decided to make a big statement that should ring through the locker room (Or at least one would hope so).

The Reiff signing is big for a multitude of reasons. Not only does it give the team the opportunity to report something positive for a change, but it also allows the Lions to get a young player that they have big plans for in the future in camp on time.

Riley should play a key role on Detroit’s O-line for many years to come and Monday’s signing is the beginning of what the team hopes to be a long and successful relationship.

The Lions open training camp this week and for a team that has turned things around and that is supposedly on the up-track a great deal of questions exist going into the 2012 campaign.

Detroit is a young team with much talent, but talent can be squandered if a team is not disciplined. If the Lions are trying to follow the Dallas Cowboys handbook from the 1990s for off the field problems they are off to an excellent start.

If Detroit wants to overtake the Green Bay Packers in the division and take the next step in the progression needed to be a championship caliber team they must clean their act up immediately and stay focused as a unit.

DE Cliff Avril will be a no-show at the start of camp and he has not signed his tender offer either. 2012 first round pick OT Riley Reiff remains unsigned, but the team expects him to report to camp on time.

There are also many questions in the teams back field as well. Jahvid Best looks to return from concussion problems last season and the team should clear him for contact this week.

Mikel Leshoure will be back from the tore Achilles tendon injury that he suffered in the 2011 pre-season. Leshoure will be suspended the first two games of the 2012 season as punishment for his off the field problems.

The Lions defense will be of question and scrutiny in this year’s training camp. The team needs to address the defensive unit as a whole and more specifically the corner back position.

Can QB Matthew Stafford and WR Calvin Johnson repeat their performances from the 2011 season? Only time will tell. It certainly will not be easy.

This year the team enters camp with lofty expectations and it will be interesting to see if Detroit can return to the playoffs and continue the team’s growth into the upper echelon of the league.

The season opener against the St. Louis Rams is just around the corner. Welcome back football, we are all ready.

Brady should be able to reach the 350 point mark again in the 2012 season, which puts him among the top fantasy draft selections.

Brady will be 35 when the season starts and he has not shown any real significant signs of rust thus far. His 2011 numbers of 39 touchdowns, 12 interceptions and 5,235 yards in the air are impressive to say the least.

We all know that as players play at a peak level well in to the prime of their careers that it is only a matter of time before “father time” regulates everything. Time catches up to all of us in one way or another and even the all time greats have to face the reality of “getting old”.

I am not saying that Brady is on the downside of his career by any measure. I am just reminding everybody that it is around the corner and drawing eerily closer to fruition.

Many players in the NFL currently benefit from rules that protect their safety more than ever before. This is especially evident at the quarterback season. Hence, where the saying comes from that the NFL is a: “quarterback driven league”.

Quarterbacks are protected more by NFL rules more than ever before and it was Brady’s season ending injury in week one of the 2008 season that contributed to the league crafting the so-called “Brady Rules” to protect QB’s.

It certainly does not hurt Brady to have young weapons around him like dual headed TE monster of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. WR’s Wes Welker and the newly acquired Bandon Lloyd could put up good numbers as well. The Patriots new lead RB Stevan Ridley could be a sleeper in terms of production as takes over for the sure handed BenJarvis Green Ellis.

The Pats offense will be potent again this season with the likes of the New Orleans Saints, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles to name a few. Brady is projected to produce more than 350 fantasy points this season and if he stays healthy he should have the opportunity to do so.

Besides injury and health, the one thing that could derail Brady as a top fantasy pick is that he will go up against the league’s toughest pass defense schedule this season.

With opponents like the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, San Francisco 49ers and the New York Jets it is clear that Brady will have some challenges. With all that being said he is still a solid choice to be a first round pick in many leagues, but just proceed with caution as Brady’s window begins to close.

He is now considered to be a solid early round pick and a strong alternative to some of the other top tier NFL quarterbacks that would be drafted ahead of him. That is what a 41 touchdowns and 5,038 yards in the air will do for a guy. Pencil Stafford in for 20 plus points a week.

Talent has never been an issue for Stafford, but his health or lack of it in his first two seasons was a major question mark. Enter his 2011 NFL season and now there are not nearly as many questions about him being injury plagued.

2012 Fantasy Football players would drool at the stats Stafford put up in 2011 and if he can replicate that he propels himself among the early round picks in every fantasy draft. Expect him to go as the fourth or fifth quarterback in many drafts and he could be a great second round pickup, maybe even a first round choice in some drafts.

Chances are that he does not throw up quite as high of numbers as defenses will adjust and try to eliminate the deep ball to Calvin Johnson. With that being said though, it is still likely that Matthew Stafford will put up big numbers again for the 2012 season.

His health and “mr. glass” nickname will continue to stick until he gets a few more injury free seasons under his belt. Detroit’s “New Orleans North” offensive attack will more than likely produce big numbers that will put the unit among the top of the NFL stat leader boards.

Many early projections have Stafford going in the early rounds with only Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers,  New England’s Tom Brady and New Orleans’ Drew Brees as the quarterbacks that are being consistently drafted ahead of him. His projections for fantasy points range from 320-340 in many mock drafts.

If Stafford can stay healthy and as long as Calvin Johnson does not suffer from the “madden curse” it should be a big fantasy year for the Detroit QB.

The Patriots are notorious for cutting ties with prominent players in the organization regardless of popularity or on field production. The team has a monetary value of the worth of each position player and will not exceed that number to keep players around.

Welker has meant a great deal to the franchise since his arrival in Foxboro in 2007. Many people within the organization actually feel as though that Welker is part system player and that the combination of Tom Brady at quarterback and the offense that the Patriots run plays a big role in his production.

Say what you want about Welker system WR or not, he is definitely a big time player in today’s NFL. He has thrown up astounding numbers over the past five seasons.

I’m sure that it does not hurt to have a guy like Brady at QB, but Welker has gotten a reputation around the league as a guy who stretches plays out with his run after the catch numbers and his abilities to turn short passes into first downs.

How many times have Patriots fans seen Welker catch a short four or five yard route and then juke the first defender, run a few yards and then dive past the first down marker to keep drives alive.

Welker may not be a freak of nature or a beast on the field with the likes of Calvin Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald, but he has shown over the years that he is as good as it gets from the slot receiver position.

Based on how the Patriots organization has handled situations with Lawyer Milloy, Ty Law and Richard Seymour to name a few, this could really be the last year for Welker in a Patriots uniform. Somebody in the NFL will pay him big money if the Pats do not think that he is worth it.