The Latest Buzz Around NFL's Most Intense Preseason Position Battles

The NFL's third week of preseason games kicks off Thursday night. That marks the beginning of the most important few days of the exhibition season, as the players who are expected to be starters will see their most extensive action in Week 3 before going back on the shelf until the games begin to count.

This week's preseason action will also likely put to rest many of the NFL's ongoing position battles, and here's the latest on some of the more prominent ones as we head into this weekend's games.

Seattle Seahawks Quarterback

The Combatants: Tarvaris Jackson, Matt Flynn, Russell Wilson

The Leader: Russell Wilson

Raise your hand if you saw this coming.

Put your hand down, you liar.

After signing free-agent quarterback Matt Flynn to a three-year, $19.5 million contract, it was widely presumed that he would be the Seattle Seahawks' opening-day starter, but someone forgot to tell rookie Russell Wilson.

Wilson has shined in two appearances this preseason, although it's admittedly been against second-team defenses.

The youngster from Wisconsin will get his shot to show what he can do with the first-team offense when the Seahawks travel to face the Kansas City Chiefs Friday, and as Chris Mortensen of ESPN recently reported, head coach Pete Carroll may just turn the world on its ear and name Wilson the starter if he has a strong showing.

"We're going to wait after the game and see what happened and see what it feels like and talk it all out and see everything you can possibly see in analyzing it and move ahead with confidence. I'm real confident we're doing the right thing. I don't have any hesitation in this," Carroll said.

Arizona Cardinals Quarterback

The Combatants: Kevin Kolb, John Skelton

The Leader: John Skelton

Given that the Arizona Cardinals signed quarterback Kevin Kolb to a $63 million contract just a year ago, it would have taken a titanic face-plant for the sixth-year pro to lose his job to John Skelton.

Well, you see, what had happened was...

Kolb has been absolutely horrific behind a porous offensive line this preseason, completing well under 50 percent of his passes while tossing an interception and looking very skittish in the pocket.

Granted, Skelton hasn't exactly been magnificent, but he's played much better than Kolb has, and with Skelton set to start the team's third preseason game, it appears that the only thing that can stop Skelton from being named the Week 1 starter is playing like Kevin Kolb.

Arizona Cardinals Running Back

The Combatants: Ryan Williams, Beanie Wells

The Leader: Ryan Williams

The fight to start at quarterback isn't the only position battle raging in the desert, as the Arizona Cardinals are also trying to determine who their starting tailback will be.

The 22-year-old Williams saw his first action since tearing his patella tendon last year in Arizona's second preseason game and played fairly well, carrying the ball five times for 25 yards and a touchdown.

Wells, who topped 1,000 yards for the first time in his NFL career in 2011, will see his first action of the preseason in Thursday's game against the Tennessee Titans, and as head coach Ken Whisenhunt recently told Kent Somers of The Arizona Republic, the team has no concerns about Wells' surgically repaired knee.

"When he gets going, you don't see a limp. It will be interesting to see when he gets the adrenalin flowing in a game. There are no concerns about anything from a health standpoint with his knee. It looks stable and he looks good when he's running," Whisenhunt said.

However, Wells' inability to stay healthy has worn thin enough with the coaching staff to give Williams a narrow edge in this competition. Although, given the durability issues that have plagued both backs, this situation smacks of a backfield committee in the regular season.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Running Back

The Combatants: LeGarrette Blount, Doug Martin

The Leader: Doug Martin

When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded back into the first round of the 2012 NFL draft to select Boise State running back Doug Martin, it was widely expected that he would assume lead-back duties in the Buccaneers' backfield.

However, LeGarrette Blount has played well enough in the preseason to keep this very much a competition, although a recent groin injury may have boosted Martin back into the lead.

Blount is expected to be ready to go when the Buccaneers meet the New England Patriots Friday. The performance of the two backs in that game will probably go a long way towards determining the pecking order in the Tampa Bay backfield to begin the year. But at this point, it appears that the two backs will share the workload.