Predicting 2012's Top NFL Camp Cuts

Minicamps are all but over, and training camps do not begin in earnest until late July. I am not waiting to declare who the top training camp cuts will be when the dust settles, however.

There will be many great training camp battles, and hundreds of cuts.

Who will be the biggest ones at the end of the preseason?

Knowshon Moreno

This is Moreno's last stand in Denver.

The former first-round pick has been a disappointment for the Broncos thus far. Injuries have plagued him over the past two seasons, and he has simply not delivered when he has been on the field.

Moreno is behind the eight-ball coming back from a torn ACL. He has just returned to practice, only to find he has rookie Ronnie Hillman to contend with on top of resurgent Willis McGahee. To make matters worse, Moreno is going to trial this October on charges stemming from a major traffic stop and failed sobriety test.

Seemingly landing in the dog house for the past two head coaches—we have no proof, but where there is smoke, there is fire—is merely a harbinger of doom for Moreno on this team.

Terrence McGee

The Bills secondary was not very good last season, and McGee's knee injury played a major part.

Unfortunately, McGee might be the odd man out this offseason. The Bills drafted talented cornerback Stephon Gilmore with their first-round pick, who will come in and compete for a starting job. Buffalo already has Aaron Williams—who has a bead on one of those starting gigs thanks to a solid rookie season—and Leodis McKelvin. 

While McKelvin has been relatively disappointing through his first four seasons after being a first-round pick, he has blazing speed and good upside that the veteran McGee cannot match. 

Even fourth-round pick Ron Brooks has been impressive in OTAs thus far.

McGee had better get back to full strength quickly—he puts himself at 75 percent recovered right now—if he is going to keep up with the youngsters. Having missed 15 games over his past two seasons might doom him regardless.

Tarvaris Jackson

The Seahawks have a veritable fiasco brewing at quarterback. Jackson is coming of a decent season, but they brought in Matt Flynn and drafted Russell Wilson to compete for his job.

Three-headed quarterback competitions are not ideal—after all, the quarterbacks split significant practice three ways—but the Seahawks must figure out who will be their starter and move on from one of their competitors as a result. 

Things are not looking so bright for Jackson.

Unless he has a good training camp and stays healthy or one of the other quarterbacks falls off, Jackson is a likely cut—he is being paid too much to be the third string quarterback.

Devery Henderson

Robert Meachem is gone, so Devery Henderson moves up on the depth chart, right?

Not so fast.

The Saints do not exactly have a shortage at receiver—Henderson, Lance Moore, Adrian Arrington, Courtney Roby and rookie Nick Toon reside there to complement Marques Colston, who recently re-signed.

The number there may be one too many for the roster.

Henderson has not been without opportunities to shine in New Orleans. Injuries to Colston, Meachem and Moore over the years have put him in the starting lineup at times, but he has never really been able to take advantage.

His ratings have been consistently poor at Pro Football Focus over the past four seasons, with no significant improvement. 

It will be a great battle to replace Meachem, but the loser might be on the outs in New Orleans. 

Shaun Phillips

San Diego brought in Jarrett Johnson and drafted Melvin Ingram to play Phillips' position. Their pass rush left something to be desired in 2011, and Phillips' lack of production was a big reason.

The 31-year-old outside linebacker saw his sack total dip to just four last season after getting 10 in 2010. His partner in crime, Antwan Barnes, had 10 last season himself.

Phillips may need to bounce back with a good training camp and preseason to fend off the pink slip.

Tanard Jackson

The Redskins needed to bolster the safety position after the departure of LaRon Landry, and they did just that with Brandon Meriweather.

Tanard Jackson and Madieu Williams were brought in to help at free safety, however, and one of them—including incumbent DeJon Gomes—will be on the outside looking in.

Conventional wisdom says that Jackson has the inside track. His former coach, Raheem Morris, is now his defensive coordinator, after all.

Look a bit deeper at these guys and you will see that Jackson led the league in missed tackles last year, and generally played poorly for the Buccaneers.

Gomes and Williams are not necessarily great either, but Jackson is the worst of the three. There is no reason to retain three free safeties, unless they plan on moving one to strong safety.

Anthony Dixon

San Francisco's backfield suddenly looks like New Orleans' with the glut of talent on the depth chart. 

Kendall Hunter, LaMichael James, Brandon Jacobs and Anthony Dixon will all be vying for playing time behind Frank Gore.

James and Hunter—the rookie and sophomore, respectively—can count themselves safe, and Jacobs was just brought in as a free agent. While signing a free agent contract is no guarantee, these factors combined indicate that Dixon is the odd man out here.

Dixon played just 57 snaps last season, and that was before Jacobs and James came to town. This one seems pretty cut and dry, unless Jacobs is just awful through training camp.

David Garrard

If the Seahawks have a fiasco brewing, Miami has a disaster on tap.

Both teams are in an eerily similar situation with a decent incumbent getting competition from a free agent and a rookie.

Matt Moore, David Garrard and Ryan Tannehill play those roles for Miami, respectively, and the situation in South Florida seems worse than in the Pacific northwest, at least in the short run.

Miami is rebuilding their offense under new head coach Joe Philbin, and they may not be inclined to throw Tannehill to the wolves. That means either Moore or Garrard will win the starting job, and I expect the former to retain his starting gig despite getting first-team reps at recent practices.

The Dolphins may choose to keep all three, but there is little reason to keep Garrard as the third-string quarterback.

David Diehl

This has less to do with Diehl's recent arrest for a DUI than other factors, but the incident may have put a nail in his coffin.

Diehl will be 32 this fall. He allowed 13 sacks and 61 total quarterback pressures last season. His combined rating as a guard and tackle last season was, by far, the worst in the league according to Pro Football Focus, a site which the Giants actually utilize.

His job is not in immediate jeopardy because his potential replacements are late-round picks Brandon Mosley and Matt McCants. Veteran leadership or not, though, Diehl was a problem for the Giants' offensive line last season—would a rookie be any worse?

The combination of age and poor play were the beginning of the end, and his big off-field mistake might be his demise with the Giants.

Mike Williams

After surprising the league as a rookie, Mike Williams' sophomore season was the stuff of nightmares. He caught just 54.6 percent of passes thrown his way en route to a disappointing 65-catch, 777-yard season.

Rumors of laziness probably did not help him last season if they were true, particularly when it came to keeping out of Raheem Morris' dog house.

Greg Schiano does not seem to be one to tolerate laziness himself, so Williams had better come to camp with a fire under him. The Bucs signed Vincent Jackson and they have Arrelious Benn, Dezmon Briscoe, Preston Parker and Sammie Stroughter all vying for playing time and roster spots.

Keiland Williams

The Lions have a glut at the running back position too, but in a far more precarious way.

Kevin Smith and Jahvid Best are made of glass and Mikel Leshoure is suspended for his off-field knuckleheadery, meaning the competition between Williams, Joique Bell and Stephfon Green will bear significance for the Lions offense.

While Williams has some pass-catching ability, he has not exhibited the talent to make that roster. Williams sports a career 3.7 yards per carry, though over just two seasons.

Even with injury and suspension issues in the Lions' backfield, I expect Williams to be a cut casualty, though he will find work elsewhere easily.

Chad Ochocinco

"Knock, knock."

"Who's there?"

"HBO..."

Stephen Ross could not resist the call of premium cable, putting his Dolphins front and center on Hard Knocks this summer. The move was panned for a variety of reasons, one of which was a perceived lack of entertainment value.

Enter Chad Ochocinco.

The mouthy receiver instantly increased the watchability of the show for non-Dolphins fans when he signed for the veteran minimum, which in turn will increase Miami's profile, or so Ross hopes. Ochocinco has never been lacking in the entertainment department—just check out his Twitter feed.

Of course, winning football games should be the ultimate goal for Ross and Miami, and Ochocinco does not seem to increase their chances in that department.

Though he is a big name compared to the likes of Brian Hartline, Davone Bess, Clyde Gates and Legedu Naanee, his personality has long outshone his talent. His inability to assimilate New England's offense combined with his deteriorating skills at 34 years of age was the reason he was not even given a chance to win back his spot on the Patriots. 

Sure, the wide receiver situation in Miami is a far cry from their AFC East rivals', but the chances he will be able to learn an equally complicated West Coast offense and stay competitive from a physical standpoint are slim. Once Hard Knocks is over, Ochocinco will enroll in the school of hard knocks.