Biggest NFL Red Flags Heading into 2015 Season

Do you smell it? Can you hear the sounds of NFL training camp echoing back through time? We are mere weeks away, after all. But there may be trouble brewing in some places.

Whether it's an injury to a player or a mass exodus, some red flags have gone up in the NFL this offseason. 

Let's take a look at some of the storylines that could be concerning for fans and fantasy football owners alike heading into the preseason. 

DeVante Parker's Balky Foot

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By all accounts, the Miami Dolphins made a great pick when they selected receiver DeVante Parker at No. 14 in the draft. The Louisville product was catching everything at rookie minicamp and OTAs, per NFL.com's Kevin Patra, looking every bit the part of a No. 1 receiver.

Then he had surgery.

Parker had a screw in his foot from a previous surgery replaced, according to the Miami Herald's Armando Salguero, which may have knocked him out for the remainder of the preseason. That doesn't necessarily mean it has doomed his rookie season—New York's Odell Beckham Jr. missed most of the preseason and the first four games of the 2014 campaign due to injury, for example—but it was certainly foreboding given the nature of the issue.

This surgery marks the second over the past year for Parker, who could be plagued by foot issues going forward due to the initial break that spurred the first operation. Hopefully that is not the case for the young wideout.

Peyton Manning's Flagging Production

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The end of the 2014 season was a big disappointment for quarterback Peyton Manning, Broncos fans and fantasy owners alike.

It seemed like Father Time had finally tackled the then-38-year-old. A year after shattering passing records, Manning looked like a mere mortal—or worse—for a multigame stretch. 

The answer came in the form of an injury reveal after his postseason loss to the Indianapolis Colts—a torn quadriceps that severely limited the quarterback. So there was a reason for his sudden drop-off. We shouldn't be worried, right?

Well, what if that injury was a peek into the near future for a man who contemplated retirement after the season? What if Manning winds up hitting the injury report more often than not, his play subsequently affected to a greater degree than if he were younger?

Mike Wallace's Burned Bridges

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Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, well, you know.

Mike Wallace is now with his third team in the past four years after the Miami Dolphins traded him to the Minnesota Vikings. The mercurial wideout had a disappointing tenure in South Florida despite scoring double-digit touchdowns last season, and the Dolphins decided to move on after some of his antics last season.

Miami overpaid him when they inked him to a five-year, $60 million contract, but cutting bait after just two seasons is a huge red flag. The Vikings didn't give up much to get him, but Wallace is a powder keg ready to blow up the locker room wherever he lands.

San Francisco's Exodus

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It might be coincidence. It might be bad luck. It might be something in the San Franciscan water.

The 49ers have been snakebitten this offseason, with seemingly a new and unexpected retirement every other week. Of course, it's only been three guys—linebackers Patrick Willis and Chris Borland and offensive tackle Anthony Davis. Combined with free-agent departures, however, it seems like there might be something fishy going on in San Francisco. 

Can San Francisco survive the loss of 11 starters (and counting) from a year ago? Probably, but not to great effect—the NFC West is a gauntlet. 

Beyond that, can they survive the current regime? Why would so many players follow former head coach Jim Harbaugh out the door? 

Donte Moncrief's Vote of No Confidence

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The Colts had their wide receivers of the future—emergent T.Y. Hilton and nascent Donte Moncrief. Then the offseason happened.

Indianapolis picked up longtime AFC South rival Andre Johnson to start opposite Hilton. Then they drafted Phillip Dorsett. What was once a promising position for the second-year receiver suddenly turned into a fight for relevance on the depth chart.

It's likely Moncrief will have a leg up on Dorsett in the short term despite the latter's first-round status, but the Colts haven't shown much confidence in their young wideout. Why else would they have focused on adding guys who could push Moncrief to fourth on the depth chart by the end of 2015?

New England's Defensive Attrition

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The New England Patriots are used to brushing off adversity and winning, and this year may be no different. But it won't be for lack of trying on adversity's part.

We can skip the stuff about Deflategate—the Patriots already overcame that in a little game they like to call the Super Bowl, and Tom Brady will be back from a relatively short suspension with a vengeance. Real adversity is about attrition and consequence.

A Patriots defense that sought for years to field a quality secondary suddenly has a new gaggle of defensive backs to replace a talented crop that was led by one of the best cornerbacks in the league.

Cornerback Darrelle Revis took his talents back to New York, and Brandon Browner, Kyle Arrington and Alfonzo Dennard are also gone. The Patriots managed to hang onto safety Devin McCourty at a bit of a discount, but, as posited by Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald, speculation has swirled that they might move him back to cornerback—where he has been less effective in the past—thanks to the outflux of talent. 

The Patriots also let Vince Wilfork go and had to release newly reacquired linebacker Brandon Spikes after his damaged car was reportedly found abandoned on the highway, per ESPN.com's Mike Reiss.

All the losses could add up to a serious slide down for a defensive unit that was looking pretty good a year ago.

Jordan Reed's Latest Surgery

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In shocking news, Washington tight end Jordan Reed had offseason knee surgery, per Liz Clarke of The Washington Post. “He’ll be fine,” head coach Gruden said. “He’s got to take this time to get his knee stronger.”

Can you trust him?

The oft-injured Reed has been a promising talent since coming out of Florida in 2013, but his inability to stay healthy has short-circuited his young career. Reed has missed 12 games in the first two years of his career due to myriad injuries, and surgery during the offseason can't be a good sign.

It might have been a minor knee procedure, but it should throw up red flags for Washington fans and would-be fantasy owners alike.

Le'Veon Bell's Slow Recovery

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We are all aware of Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell's three-game suspension to start the season, but what about injury concerns?

Bell was injured late last season, forcing him to miss Pittsburgh's playoff game. It was a knee sprain that didn't require surgery, so he should have been fine after a few weeks.

A few months later, however, Bell is still not at 100 percent, per ESPN.com's Jeremy Fowler. He was close to full strength and participated in OTAs, but the fact that it took almost six months to fully recover from the injury should give additional pause to any fantasy owners who might be looking to take him at the top of drafts this summer.