Now that I have your attention…Do you like fantasy football as much as I do? Probably. That is, so long as you had more than 10 teams in 2009 and towards the end of the season forgot about half of them.

Anyway. CBS Sports is being even more generous with it’s Premier Commissioner League package!

By following the link posted at the end of this page, you will be taken to the special offer page given to all readers of CatCrave.com, where you will save $80 on a season of fantasy football! Included, is a 14-day FREE trial!

Things didn’t go quite as hoped for the NFC South. The division was ousted quite handily in the first-round. I also don’t think the schedule makers did our division any favors, by pitting the South up against the NFC North with the mass belief from Vikings fans that the refs or the Saints’ defense or any number of excuses caused Brett Favre to throw another duck  and can Super hopes for Minnesota.

Revenge was out for the division, thanks in part — through no fault of their own — that New Orleans shares the division.

Anyway, we’re here, and at least one thing we can do, is vote for the AFC West in hopes of throwing the NFC North out of the final game — the NFL Division Championship game!

So do what you know is the right thing to do: Pull for Philip Rivers and — how in the world the AFC West managed to stay in this late is beyond me — VOTE!

I’ve already cast my vote, and if you just read the previous paragraph, you’ll get a good idea of which side I voted for.

Schedule:

Championship:AFC West vs. NFC North

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I was reading some of Darin Gantt’s notes from Friday’s practice, and of all the things mentioned, the one that particularly stood out was how Matt Moore was looking like the best out of the four quarterbacks.

Of course, that goes without saying that at this stage of training camp, everyone should expect Moore to look the most polished among his competition. That doesn’t mean rookies Jimmy Clausen or Tony Pike won’t improve or even surpass Moore, but at this time, Moore is and should be the best option among his counterparts.

Lost? That’s a word fourth-year wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett and Carolina Panthers fans are quite familiar with.

After a long offseason of what should have been preparation and soul searching, Jarrett started training camp on Thursday on the wrong route.

This is it; the last preview before training camp kicks off today!

Today we look at special teams, which was an area of top priority (even more than receiver) going into Carolina’s offseason. The special teams unit ranked — literally — as one of the NFL’s worst in 2009. Hopefully 2010 will provide better results.

No need to wait and wonder, any longer!

On Wednesday, the day veterans and rookies were expected to report to training camp, the Carolina Panthers came to a contractual agreement with rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen!

The Panthers and Clausen agreed in principle on a four-year, $6.3 million contract, with $2.53 million guaranteed.

Every player reported to training camp on time, without a hitch. This is just one reason why Marty Hurney is considered one of the top GM’s in the NFL.

Update:

Carolina has also placed six players on the active / PUP list.

For those of you who may be new to the game, PUP is the Phyisically Unable to Perform list.

A player can come off the PUP at any time, but must do so before the seventh week of the regular season.

According to beat writer Darin Gantt (who is the Adam Schefter of the Carolina Panthers), six players have been placed on PUP for today’s start of camp, and will not participate.

RT Jeff Otah, RB Jonathan Stewart, DT Louis Leonard, LB Thomas Davis, WR Stevve Smith, and G Duke Robinson.

Suffice to say, Smith and Davis will be on PUP for the longest.

As for Stewart, there’s no explanation given as to why he’s missing the first practice. I can only surmise that perhaps the trainers want to take a look at his surgically repaired foot, but then why not pull DeAngelo Williams out too, as he had a similiar surgery performed?

Gantt also reported that the reason for Robinson’s absence, is a rather irresponsible one. Robinson “flunked the conditioning test.” This will give fellow guard Mackenzey Bernadeau a leg-up and could put Robinson out of the running for the starting job.

Also according to Gantt, Geoff Schwartz will work in place of Otah, while Mike Goodson and Tyrell Sutton receive extra reps at running back in place of Stewart.

We’re coming down to the wire. Today, we’re rolling with the defensive backs, and tomorrow we’ll wrap it all up with special teams. Count ‘em, one day until players report to training camp, and two until it all kicks off.

In today’s edition, defensive backs are comprised of cornerbacks and safeties.

It was at this time last year, when the media and fans alike were questioning the large extension given former Panthers’ quarterback Jake Delhomme; questioning Delhomme’s ability — or stating his inability — to return to 2008, pre-playoff meltdown form, and also wanting to see what backup (third on the depth chart) quarterback Matt Moore was capable of.

All those questions were answered throughout the excruciatingly long 2009 season, and a record of 8-8.

Delhomme was absolutely unable to recover from his post-season meltdown, throwing 16 interceptions in 11 games (I won’t count pre-season); he was not worth the contract he signed, however the club is forced to eat that loss, and we got to see how Matt Moore looked, after Josh McCown was thankfully (sorry, Josh) injured shortly after taking over for Delhomme in the home opening loss against the Philadelphia Eagles.

I really wanted to combine the wideouts with the tight ends in the last edition, but my fingers were overheating and my hands were beginning to cramp from my high-speed typing. So, I felt it best to break this edition into two parts, thus also allowing for proper digestion of Part One.

In this second part, we’re looking at the tight ends. For Carolina, the tight end position has mainly functioned as utilitarian — much like an offensive lineman. There really hasn’t been much flair from the TE position as other teams might show, but one tight end in particular, has seen the most time on the playing field, spending the majority of his snaps as a blocker for the run game: Jeff King.

Yes, today it’s receivers. The word encompasses tight ends and wideouts and clumps them into one group: receivers. Kind of bland, but the product within is quite fascinating.

The wideouts have one tested and proven receiver, who earned his stripes a long time ago. The tight ends are still looking for the one player who, in the sense, has the potential to be an every down target.

Are these two just getting warmed up?

No pair of running backs had ever rushed for 1,100 yards each before DeAngelo Williams and Johnathan Stewart accomplished that feat during the 2009 season.  This little talked about NFL record did not look possible late in the season.  In fact, Williams had to suffer an injury in order to clear the way for Stewart to eclipse the 1,100 yard mark.

If both backs are healthy for all 16 games, can they replicate this feat?  Could they even break their own record?  Could each back top 1,200 yards rushing?

I had stated last night that I was going to preview the cornerbacks this afternoon, until I realized (how could I forget) that I have yet to preview the linebacker core. So in lieu of cornerbacks, this afternoon we’ll take easy path No. 2, linebackers.

Much like the running back position, the linebacker position is also one of Carolina’s strengths this season.