The Packers have spent two of their last three first-round picks at the offensive tackle position, but it could be a seventh-rounder who saves their bacon this season. 

Today, Jason Wilde of ESPN Wisconsin reported that 2011 first-round pick Derek Sherrod did not pass his physical due to issues with the broken leg he suffered in December last season. According to Wilde, Sherrod suffered a setback in his recovery during the spring:

Paul Imig of Fox Sports Wisconsin reports that head coach Mike McCarthy was not very specific about when Sherrod would return. McCarthy said optimistic things like "coming on strong" and "making progress," but he also said "I can't tell you exactly how far he is away."

In the meantime, 2012 seventh-round pick Andrew Datko will be the swing tackle behind Marshall Newhouse and Bryan Bulaga. There's reason to think that Datko might not give that spot back once Sherrod is healthy. 

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While most Cincinnati Bengals fans were falling asleep with visions of an AFC North title dancing in their heads, the team's first first-round pick, cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, was apologizing for a leg injury he suffered that could cause him to miss all of his first training camp as a pro.

CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora first reported the injury on Twitter on Tuesday night, revealing that Kirkpatrick had told his teammates about the injury "in (the) knee area that could cause him to miss much of camp."

Kirkpatrick popped up on Twitter about two hours later, confirming the injury with a message to the team's fans:

Geoff Hobson, from the team's official site, chimed in Wednesday morning with a report that the team examined the injury two weeks ago and didn't think it was serious enough to announce until the team does its physicals on Thursday.

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No team was bolder in the 2011 draft than the Atlanta Falcons, trading five picks, including their 2011 and 2012 first-rounders to move up for wide receiver Julio Jones. The team still ended up being one and done in the playoffs for the third time in the Dimitroff/Smith/Ryan era. Dimitroff now had to approach the the 2012 draft without his first and fourth-round pick and still basically where he was coming into the 2011 season. How would he deploy his limited resources to try to take the next step?

There was one area that the Falcons felt the need to improve more than any other

The Falcons offensive line was somewhere between a liability and a disaster last year. Everyone remembers the Matt Ryan pick in 2008, but Dimitroff moved up for Sam Baker later in the first round, and the move has not yielded a stalwart left tackle. The right guard position was a mess "led" by Garrett Reynolds.

Atlanta wisely used its first two picks on center/guard Peter Konz and offensive tackle Lamar Holmes. This is an admission that while the team has become a consistent winner, it needs to improve the line to get past its first playoff game. It's rarely as simple as "fill your biggest need with your earliest picks" in the draft, but the Falcons did just that.

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In the last week, the 23rd pick (Detroit Lions' Riley Reiff), 24th pick (Pittsburgh Steelers' David DeCastro) and 25th pick (New England Patriots' Dont'a Hightower) have all signed their rookie contracts. It was safe to assume that 22nd overall pick Brandon Weeden would sign with Cleveland soon after, and today, he did, according to Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon-Journal.

The new collective bargaining agreement leaves little wiggle room for the total amount of the contract (about $8.1 million over four years), but that doesn't mean the team and Weeden's camp didn't find something to fight about.

The amount of money guaranteed in the fourth year was an issue, with 21st pick Chandler Jones getting about $750,000 guaranteed in the last year of his contract but DeCastro, Hightower and 26th pick Whitney Mercilus getting nothing guaranteed in the fourth year.

Weeden was able to get more than Jones, $900,000 guaranteed in his fourth year, according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. There is a quarterback premium in play here, but there's also a "player we are already counting on" premium at work.

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came into 2011 as a "youngry" team under 35-year-old head coach Raheem Morris. They had momentum from a strong finish to 2010 and tons of youth and energy.

Instead, the team cratered and Morris was let go after the season. Attempts to hire a new head coach were unsuccessful until the team got deep into its list and tabbed Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano.

Tampa would surely undergo a culture overhaul in the offseason. How would general manager Mark Dominik start to institute the accompanying roster overhaul via the draft? 

The Bucs put a very high value on the safety position in their defense

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This article may hearten San Francisco 49ers fans about the prospects for their first-round pick AJ Jenkins, but don't expect it to lift Jenkins' spirits. As reported by Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News, Jenkins. said he doesn't get on the Internet and Google his name because "there's no point"

According to Inman, Jenkins still heard the noise about his lack of conditioning at the rookie minicamp, and says he has made "long strides." He called the criticism "irrelevant," adding that he is trying to help the team win by "playing special teams, offense or being a real good teammate."

This sounds an awful lot like a rookie who is lowering his expectations after a big reality check during the spring. Beyond his conditioning issues, Jenkins was often on the ground after plays in non-contact practices, according to Sacramento Bee beat writer Matt Barrows. With the 49ers' offseason signings of Randy Moss and Mario Manningham, plus a redeeming offseason from NFC Championship goat Kyle Williams, Jenkins might need to carve out a role on special teams just to be active on game days.

News that Jenkins would be working out on the hill, made famous by 49ers legend Jerry Rice, caused excitement in the Bay Area. Now Jenkins says he hopes to "one day" get in contact with Rice. 

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We hear about arrests of NFL players, but the follow-up reports that sometimes clear their names are given much less attention. In the case of Philadelphia Eagles backup running back Dion Lewis, the charges that will go away if he and his brother stay out of trouble might be the least of his worries this summer.

Lewis and his brother were charged with the felony of falsely reporting a fire, as well as misdemeanor reckless endangerment, after they alleged pulled a fire alarm when hotel security would not allow them in the hotel.

According to Brian Fitzgerald of the Albany Times-Union, the prosecutor handling the case found that the alarm was never pulled. Fitzgerald reports that the felony charges were reduced to misdemeanors and dismissed. The other charges will be dismissed as long as Lewis and his brother have no further incidents in the next six months.

The Pitt product will report to training camp this week, but his competition is already there and getting praise from the team's running back coach. 

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General manager Marty Hurney made waves spending a lot of owner Jerry Richardson's money on free agents and drafting Cam Newton, No. 1 pick overall last year. You wouldn't know it from the team's 6-10 record, but the moves were successful on the whole, and the Panthers entered the offseason ready to contend again in a division that's well-known for worst-to-first transformations.

What would Hurney do in the draft to get Carolina farther from worst and closer to first?

The Panthers are willing to invest more at linebacker than any other team in the league

After doling out over 100 million dollars in contracts to starting linebackers Thomas Davis, Jon Beason, and James Anderson, Hurney decided that wasn't enough resources to throw at the position and spent the ninth overall pick on linebacker Luke Kuechly.

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