Position battles worth keeping your eye on
New faces on field, sideline offer hope for new season
Mark Sanchez, above, hopes to replace Peyton Manning for the Broncos. The scramble for starting jobs makes for a compelling preseason.
The offseason is waning, and teams are reporting for training camps.
This is the time of the year that every franchise begins on equal footing in the pursuit of one goal.
With that said, there are a number of story lines that will impact a number of teams. USA TODAY Sports’ Lorenzo Reyes looks at the five biggest ones.
Position battles
Training camp is the time when depth charts are formed. It’s also the time when the majority of the NFL’s battles for playing time are forged.
The biggest position battle to watch in training camp comes via the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos. Peyton Manning retired and the team drafted Paxton Lynch as its quarterback of the future. But the starting job for Week 1 likely comes down to veteran Mark Sanchez and largely unknown Trevor Siemian. Coach Gary Kubiak says he will list a tentative starter when the Broncos report to training camp through an unofficial depth chart. Because Sanchez played the majority of first-team reps in organized team activities, he’s the safe bet to earn the job.
New San Francisco 49ers coach Chip Kelly will decide between Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert at quarterback, and the Cleveland Browns’ Hue Jackson will pick either Robert Griffin III or Josh McCown.
With featured back Marshawn Lynch retired, the Seattle Seahawks have plenty of carries up for grabs. The favorite to become the permanent starter is Thomas Rawls, who filled in last season (147 rushes, 830 yards, four touchdown runs) when Lynch was hurt. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told USA TODAY Sports recently that the team would have a competition but is counting on Rawls, who suffered a broken ankle late in the year, picking up where he left off. He’ll battle Christine Michael and rookies C.J. Prosise and Alex Collins.
First-timers
Each new season also brings in a crop of rookie head coaches getting their first chance to put their stamps on their organizations. This season, there will be four rookie head coaches: Adam Gase with the Miami Dolphins, Ben McAdoo with the New York Giants, Doug Pederson with the Philadelphia Eagles and Dirk Koetter with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Of the four, McAdoo might be the one best propped up for instant success. He has a veteran quarterback who has won Super Bowls before in Eli Manning. His West Coast offense is in its third season. The franchise just doled out more than $200 million in contracts this offseason to lure free agents such as defensive end Olivier Vernon, cornerback Janoris Jenkins and nose tackle Damon Harrison.
But Gase (Ryan Tannehill) and Koetter (Jameis Winston) have capable quarterbacks in their programs and could be poised to compete for wild-card spots.
Even though Jackson’s not a first-time head coach, his second try at the job — this time with the Cleveland Browns — is definitely another venture that bears watching. Perhaps unjustly fired after one season with the Oakland Raiders (8-8 in 2011), Jackson has been one of the top coordinators in the NFL since then and has a reputation for extracting the best out of quarterbacks.
On the mend
Perhaps no teams were hurt more by injuries than the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens.
Dallas, with quarterback Tony Romo and wide receiver Dez Bryant missing extended chunks of time, sputtered and fell to last place in the division. With both healthy, the Cowboys should be considered one of the favorites to win the NFC East.
Baltimore placed a franchiserecord 20 players on injured reserve, including quarterback Joe Flacco, wide receiver Steve Smith, running back Justin Forsett and linebacker Terrell Suggs. The Ravens struggled and are looking for a big bounce-back season.
Other notable players looking to return to form in health are Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell, Arizona Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu, Kansas City Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles and Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston.
Brady’s backups
Now that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has offi- cially bowed out of what had been a seemingly never-ending fight of his four-game suspension stemming from Deflategate, New England finally will get the chance to see what it has in backup Jimmy Garoppolo.
The 24-year-old quarterback will see the first meaningful action of his career against the Cardinals on the road and against the Dolphins, Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills at home in Weeks 1-4.
But Brady will turn 39 in August. And as much as he vows that he wants to play well into his 40s, the Patriots are going to need to come up with a plan for the future. Ga-