Interesting position battles in other training camps

Hi everyone.

I was just wondering, as food for thought and debate, what other training camp battles that you are interested in following? I have a top five that I am really interested in seeing:

1. Raiders QB battle - I am rooting HARD for Matt Flynn. Raiders fans seem to be really excited about Tyler Wilson and are even playing up the "mid-round rookie QB named Wilson beats out Matt Flynn and has an amazing rookie season" mojo in some places. I, on the other hand, hope that Flynn to Rod Streater is enough to keep the former as a productive starter. I cannot believe that I will root for the Raiders against the rest of the AFCW because of Flynn. I feel sick about this.

2. Eagles QB battle - This is obvious. This Chip Kelly experiment in general should be pretty exciting.

3. 49ers CB battle - It seems like a mess in the defensive backfield besides Whitner (though Whitner did give up more TDs than any safety in the league last year, so...). Rogers came back down to earth last year. If Eric Reid had any serious competition at safety, I would add the safety battle here too.

4. 49ers WR battle - With Crabtree out, things look to be heated in terms of who plays at X, Z, and slot while he recovers. Boldin seems like he should be a #2 guy, but will he be pressed into #1 WR duty? Will Vernon Davis play outside a little bit? Why do 49er fans have so much hope for a head-case of a receiver like Kyle Williams (as an ASU fan, let me tell you that he has been a guy capable of backing up a brilliant play with a boneheaded one immediately after since college, and he still hasn't changed)? Will Ricardo Lockette remember any of his routes without using flash cards with giant pictures of cars on them? This might actually be even better than the CB battle on second thought.

5. Bills QB battle - I think the Bills will probably start Manuel, but it should be entertaining seeing if Kevin Kolb can beat him out. This would have been even better if T-Jack was still a Bill.

What are you guys interested in when it comes to camp battles, and what do you think the outcomes of some of these camp battles will be?

Thank you for this...great post. Although, because you mentioned the niners, it'll eventually get derailed into a kap debate.

I really have an eye on the Eagles. And, I was very excited when Vick decided to return for less money. I want to an unapologetic, spread/pistol offense, period. But now, I'm concerned Foles may be winning the battle. And, you cant exactly classify him as a running QB.

The Bills are VERY intriguing. I really like Manuel, their coach and their squad. I think Manuel wins it.

Geno v Sanchez will be good just to see if the Jets can hit new depths of incompetence.

1,2 and 5 are really interesting

adding

Jacksonville qb - will Gabbert beat out Henne. I really don't know
Jets "qb" battle as pehawk points out will be interesting

There are some other storylines but not battles that I am real interested in - will Ponder be benched early or late in the season (he will be benched), will Revis make a full comeback, in how many different ways will the Jets implode this year

Any QB battle, really. Will be interested to see if Geno Smith can beat out the butt fumbler. If he can't, it's difficult to see an NFL future, because Sanchez is that bad.

Good call on Jax, mike. All things being equal, it should CLEARLY be Henne. The fact I like Henne aside, he's just better, IMO.

Yeah, I thought about not mentioning the Niners for that very reason, but hey, I really did care about those positional battles.

I was also trying to add some non-QB battles, as those tend to be ignored in some cases. I would like to honorably mention the WR shuffle in New England that will be interesting to keep an eye on. Other than Amendola, they have a lot of injuries and new, unproven faces there. It will be worth looking out for who Brady ends up forming a connection with in training camp.

RE: That Jets QB competition, I honestly am overloaded on that train-wreck of a team, but I really am interested in seeing how John Idzik does and how his draftees progress. I am rooting for Smith, Milliner, and the whole crew for that reason.

I'm a Rex fan. But, I couldn't figure out why Tebow wasn't put in last year. Personal opinions on his play aside, they we're losing, Tebow's a gamer, there was NOTHING to lose by playing him. All the Jets could've done was gained in that situation.

Also, on the Jets, they had numerous injuries. If it were the Hawks we'd all be making reasonable excuses. For that reason, the Jets n Rex MAY be able to redeem themselves.

There's a few running back battles I'm interested in, if for nothing else, fantasy football. Who will win the RB position in Arizona and St. Louis? I liked Stepfan Taylor at Stanford, and think he could beat out Mendenhall down in AZ. Last year, Richardson showed some flashes of talent for the Rams, but is he big enough to carry the load? I believe Miami has a stick jam (log means there's alot of talent...I think) in their backfield as well.

MooseKnuckle":2lcrqlru said:

There's a few running back battles I'm interested in, if for nothing else, fantasy football. Who will win the RB position in Arizona and St. Louis? I liked Stepfan Taylor at Stanford, and think he could beat out Mendenhall down in AZ. Last year, Richardson showed some flashes of talent for the Rams, but is he big enough to carry the load? I believe Miami has a stick jam (log means there's alot of talent...I think) in their backfield as well.

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LOL you said load.........

Denver DE. Not sure about their depth but losing Miller for 4 games and Dumerville due to fax-gate, I wonder who they have there.

Jacksonville's secondary and the former Michigan QB Dennard Robinson. Plus just how Bradley does down there in his first HC job.

Green Bay's rookie RBs. Will be noteworthy to see them in Pre-season game 3 against the Seahawks.

Detroit and Reggie Bush (not a battle but more a scheme fit). May not know much from camp but is of note if I get stuck with him in Fantasy.

Good call on Denard (soon to be one of my favorite NFL oddities) and Bush (currently a favorite NFL oddity).

drdiags":294rnktz said:

Denver DE. Not sure about their depth but losing Miller for 4 games and Dumerville due to fax-gate, I wonder who they have there.

Jacksonville's secondary and the former Michigan QB Dennard Robinson. Plus just how Bradley does down there in his first HC job.

Green Bay's rookie RBs. Will be noteworthy to see them in Pre-season game 3 against the Seahawks.
Detroit and Reggie Bush (not a battle but more a scheme fit). May not know much from camp but is of note if I get stuck with him in Fantasy.

Click to expand...

this is going to be intriguing, but i doubt we will see any of the starting players full potential as the preseason games the starters hardly play....but it will be fun to watch them try and fight for the starting spot....

pillowpounder":2m7litbg said:

drdiags":2m7litbg said:

Denver DE. Not sure about their depth but losing Miller for 4 games and Dumerville due to fax-gate, I wonder who they have there.

Jacksonville's secondary and the former Michigan QB Dennard Robinson. Plus just how Bradley does down there in his first HC job.

Green Bay's rookie RBs. Will be noteworthy to see them in Pre-season game 3 against the Seahawks.
Detroit and Reggie Bush (not a battle but more a scheme fit). May not know much from camp but is of note if I get stuck with him in Fantasy.

Click to expand...

this is going to be intriguing, but i doubt we will see any of the starting players full potential as the preseason games the starters hardly play....but it will be fun to watch them try and fight for the starting spot....

Click to expand...

I'm more interested in seeing if green bay learned how to put on their big boy pants and stop the run, much less man up and run the ball.

MooseKnuckle":2m1325zf said:

pillowpounder":2m1325zf said:

drdiags":2m1325zf said:

Denver DE. Not sure about their depth but losing Miller for 4 games and Dumerville due to fax-gate, I wonder who they have there.

Jacksonville's secondary and the former Michigan QB Dennard Robinson. Plus just how Bradley does down there in his first HC job.

Green Bay's rookie RBs. Will be noteworthy to see them in Pre-season game 3 against the Seahawks.
Detroit and Reggie Bush (not a battle but more a scheme fit). May not know much from camp but is of note if I get stuck with him in Fantasy.

Click to expand...

this is going to be intriguing, but i doubt we will see any of the starting players full potential as the preseason games the starters hardly play....but it will be fun to watch them try and fight for the starting spot....

Click to expand...

I'm more interested in seeing if green bay learned how to put on their big boy pants and stop the run, much less man up and run the ball.

Click to expand...

we picked up a couple great defensive lineman.....no need to be interested in seeing if we can mash on krappernick before he slides to his knees like a little baby.l :49ersmall:

drdiags":3h4i9xbf said:

Green Bay's rookie RBs. Will be noteworthy to see them in Pre-season game 3 against the Seahawks.

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This will be a very interesting game to watch. As a Niner fan, I want to see how those RBs do against your D as a decent indicator or projection of the SF/GB week 1 match. I'm glad its in week 3 of the preseason as it should be a good half of the starters playing.

NorCal, seriously, thanks for discussing something not directly related to the 49ers. Yeah, I'm reaching a smidge, but, I waqnt the NFL forum, to be better.

I may be at the Bucs Night Practice this Saturday with two of my boys (pretty good football players themselves.) While Josh Freeman is probably the starter there, we have witnessed his less-than-accurate passing in drills on more than one occasion a couple of different years. Very poor accuracy, really. It would be interesting to see what Mike Glennon does in comparison. There's been talk Glennon might have enough to challenge Freeman. I don't think it's the most interesting other team battle, but - it's the local team here.

As an NC State fan - Glennon will look good in practice, deliver a nice looking spiral downfield but make really bad decisions. I know some of our fans think he will be a success and he just lacked the weapons. I think he will be a failure but hope I am wrong....

pehawk":ly91m39d said:

NorCal, seriously, thanks for discussing something not directly related to the 49ers. Yeah, I'm reaching a smidge, but, I waqnt the NFL forum, to be better.

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No problem. While I am a Niner fan, I just love football in general. I like to discuss things other than SF/SEA. GB as a team is an interesting topic. I think most people would agree that if they can somehow get a good running game, they will be very scary, even with a suspect defense.

I was commenting to my brother recently how the NFL is funny. Meaning, for many years I felt GB owned the 9ers and then all of a sudden, I now feel like we own them. Whether that is true or not, I at least feel that way. Things change quickly in the NFL. It really is one of the things I love the most about the NFL. Its not just a handful of teams who dominate year in and year out.