Predicting the Biggest Hot-Button Topics of the 2012 NFL Season

The middle of July is the only real offseason the NFL has. Not only is nothing happening; nothing's just happened, and nothing is going to happen soon, either.

But even during the only few weeks of quiet on the NFL calendar, the stories we'll be talking about in 2012 are already in motion.

It doesn't take tea leaves or tarot cards predict how today's molehills will become tomorrow's mountains. There are things happening right now that will grow into the stories of the 2012 season—and possibly beyond.

The Passion of the Saints

With the NFL announcing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's refusal to overturn his own suspensions of Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith and Jonathan Vilma, we've reached the end of the New Orleans Saints' suffering.

More accurately, we've reached the end of there being any new suffering; suspensions must be served, fines paid, etc.

The Saints are past the worst of it, though.

As ESPN's Chris Mortensen first reported, the re-signing of franchise quarterback Drew Brees has paved their path back to glory, but it's still a steep one.

Interim head coach Joe Vitt and eventual interim-interim head coach Aaron Kromer will have their hands full trying to keep the team prepared and motivated. Suspended head coach Sean Payton's status for future years has to be considered an unknown at this point, too. The Saints also suffered losses in free agency, most notably first-team All-Pro guard Carl Nicks.

Saints fans not only haven't given up—they've been galvanized by the team's misfortune.

Commissioner Goodell said during a recent press conference that he "understand[s] the frustration of the Saints fans," but he may have given himself too much credit. Recently, Saints spokesman Greg Bensel tweeted that 99.6 percent of season-ticket holders have already renewed, despite the months-long firestorm of negative publicity.

How the Saints do on the field will likely fuel the fire either way. If the Saints pratfall, the fans will howl that Goodell and the league robbed them of their competitiveness.

Rightly or wrongly many will carry a grudge against the NFL for years, just as Seattle Seahawks fans do about the refereeing mistakes that cost them Super Bowl XL.

If they make the playoffs, despite it all?

It'll be the story of the year.

The Ascension of Tim Tebow

To this day the New York Jets' leadership is adamant that Mark Sanchez is the team's starting quarterback of the present and future and that Tim Tebow is just a backup.

Neither are true.

Jets head coach Rex Ryan repeated the party line to the Associated Press, saying Tebow works strictly with the twos and that Sanchez has taken all reps with the ones. That has zero bearing on how they'll stand in the autumn—ask Daunte Culpepper about running with the Detroit Lions starters all summer with then-rookie Matthew Stafford "backing him up."

Tim Tebow isn't just a football player; he's an icon.

Tebow has an built-in fanbase of diehard believers—both in the literal and figurative sense, as Yahoo! Sports' Deborah Braconnier reports. Tebow is the fulcrum of the see-saw debates on college success and professional potential, of athletic quaterbacks versus pocket passers and whether religion should play any role in sports or not.

The bottom line is that the Jets didn't invest fourth- and sixth-round draft picks to add Tebow as depth.

Just the week before, they'd signed Drew Stanton with, according to the New York Daily News' Manish Mehta, an express promise from GM Mike Tannenbaum that they wouldn't add any other signal-callers.

Not only did they then trade for Tebow, but they also announced him as the No. 2 in the same breath—to a press conference with over 200 reporters.

His role as the eventual starter seems inevitable.

Also seemingly inevitable? The Jets' realization—admission—that Mark Sanchez is simply not an elite quarterback.

In his three years as a starter, Sanchez has finished 21st, 29th and 27th in the NFL in net yards per attempt and never thrown for more than 3,500 total yards, and the only time he's ever cracked 20 touchdowns, he also threw 18 interceptions.

When Rex Ryan, Mike Tannenbaum and/or Fireman Ed finally sign off on the inevitable, it'll kick off a debate of biblical proportions.

The Implosion of Instant Replay

A storm has been slowly gathering around instant replay for years, and this may be the season the heavens rain cats and dogs down on the leaky old hood covering the replay display.

The fear of replay lengthening the game as it did in the bad old days of VHS and booth officials prompted the NFL to construct a whole song-and-dance routine around when and how plays can be reviewed.

Over the years, like with many other rules, real-life examples prompted the NFL to add even more rules and caveats, inclusions and exceptions, and restrictions and carve-outs. With modern HD technology piping TV broadcasts' best replays to everyone at home, the fans' jaundiced eye wil boo nearly every call, regardless.

But now those opinionated crowds may have even more fuel for their fire: According to Pat Yaskinskas of ESPN.com, stadium crowds will now see exactly the same replays the ref is looking at, at exactly the same time.

This could result enlightenment or spark full-scale riots when calls are blown.

The ever-rising cost cost of tickets means fans have more than ever invested in seeing a fair result. Even the slightest hint of injustice leaves fans frothing at the mouth.

Not to mention that the NFL is currently hiring and training replacement officials in the event it can't resolve its labor dispute.

The last experience the NFL had with replacement refs had some rough edges, and the scrutiny's never been higher.

At some point in 2013, a whole stadium full of people will know, absolutely know, that a referee blew a replay call, and that might finally get the ball rolling toward a booth-centric system where all the many replay rules are condensed into one: Get the call right.

The Battle for Los Angeles

The NFL is going to put a team back in Los Angeles. In fact, if the league can possibly manage, it'll put two teams in Los Angeles.

Goodell recently sent a memo to all 32 teams, and, as ESPN reported, the commissioner made it clear they're looking for two franchises to share a stadium:

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"Given that simultaneous league-wide investment in two stadiums in the same community is unlikely," Goodell wrote, "we believe that the best approach will be a single site where an iconic facility could credibly both host two teams and provide ancillary entertainment and development opportunities."

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The memo also sets an application window for the 2013 season, meaning there could be at least one team in the City of Angels as soon as next year.

Each time a franchise has moved, it's been accompanied by fan outrage, a loss of history, an abandonment of tradition and sometimes even a mass movement to get the fans a replacement team.

Well...except when teams have moved away from Los Angeles.

Ever since the Raiders returned to Oakland and the Rams moved to St. Louis, the NFL has exploded in popularity. Los Angelenos seem to have barely noticed the teams left; the clamoring for NFL football isn't coming from them, it's coming from L.A. billionaires eager to join the ultimate American billionaires club—and the league office.

It's entirely likely that some franchise, or franchises, will announce their intentions to leave their homes for the limelight of Hollywood (or possibly the City of Industry).

The anguish and upheaval could last weeks...months...or, as happened in Baltimore, decades.

Perhaps none of these things will come to pass; perhaps all of them will. If any of them do, you can be sure they'll be talked about, screamed about and—yes—written about in great volumes.

If none of them do?

NFL fans will find something to argue about; you can bet on that.