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Kickoff is so close.

Your draft day was Christmas, and tomorrow is New Year’s! Yesterday, we browsed the AFC for pre-season stories. Somehow I forgot the Richard Seymour trade, and subsequent no-show to the Raiders. It’s hard to see the forest through the trees sometimes. Today, we’ll take a last look at the NFC.

Arizona Cardinals: Kurt Warner says his hip is fine, but folks around the net seem nervous. “Beanie” Wells can’t shed his college label as injury prone. Q (Boldin) has been an absolute professional and kept his mouth shut in his attempts to land a fat, new contract. Other folks should learn a lesson from Q.

Atlanta Falcons: Football experts seem to think Michael Turner will have a reduction of carries in 2009. I don’t care as long as he is on the field every snap in the Red Zone. Tony Gonzalez is a huge addition. He may not have a monster season like last year, but he’s still one of the best fantasy tight ends.

Carolina Panthers: Jonathan Stewart will not eat into DeAngelo Williams playing time. Jake Delhomme got a ridiculously large, guaranteed contract. Big mistake. Dwayne Jarrett stinks. Jon Beason should be healthy for Week one. No publicity on Julius Peppers this pre-season.

Chicago Bears: They acquired a new quarterback, and everyone on the Bears instantly becomes a better fantasy option. Matt Forte will be a workhorse in 2009. Devin Hester is officially done with kick returns.

Dallas Cowboys: Owens is out of town, and not-so-coincidentally everything smells fresher and relaxed in Dallas. Marion Barber and Felix Jones will share the load, with a sprinkling from Tashard Choice.

Detroit Lions: Rookie Matthew Stafford is the Lions’ quarterback. The Lions are changing their D’ from a read-and-react to find ball-go kill. Week three, at home vs Washington, is realistically the earliest chance at the Lions first victory in a long time. If they lose that, it’s Week eight, home to St. Louis.

Green Bay Packers: The passing attack is going to be explosive. The Packers will have mismatches on almost every play with Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones, Jordy Nelson, Donald Lee, and pre-season darling Jermichael Finley. The new 3-4 defense has looked fantastic, but it may not produce any IDP studs. Reports indicate Nick Barnett and A.J. Hawk may not be three-down linebackers.

Minnesota Vikings: Their new quarterback is old and washed up, but their running game will be superb behind Adrian Peterson. The Williams Wall is eligible to play, for now. Percy Harvin has the best chance at Rookie of the Year, as long as he stays out of trouble. From PFW “Audibles”: “I don’t know what they were thinking in Minnesota, that after taking one visit to the kid’s (Percy Harvin’s) house in Florida that they thought they could control him. He tested positive at the Combine. Didn’t that say enough? Those guys are my friends, but I wouldn’t want to go to Vegas with them — talk about not playing the odds. He has not even reported to training camp (yet) and he is already causing problems.”.

New Orleans Saints: Pierre Thomas is being drafted ahead of Reggie Bush. Will Smith and Charles Grant are playing Week one.

New York Giants: Who exactly are the fantasy relevant receivers? Don’t say Steve Smith. I said “fantasy relevant”. Eli Manning is a very rich man.

Philadelphia Eagles: The loss of Stewart Bradley has created a massive hole in the heart of the Eagles’ defense. Akeem Jordan and Quintin Mikell are the most likely to pick up all the extra tackles. Michael Vick joined the Eagles. Donavan McNabb supposedly championed the move, then did a 180 and said the offense was out of sync. Typical McNabb nonsense. Westbrook is healthy, but fantasy folks seem bullish on rookie LeSean McCoy. Tight end Brent Celek has no depth behind him, so he’ll be on the field all the time.

San Francisco 49ers: Shaun Hill beat out Alex Smith. Frank Gore is a monster, but he’s going concede a few touches to rookie sensation Glen Coffee. Michael Crabtree is MIA.

Seattle Seahawks: Matt Hasselbeck is healthy, but Walter Jones is not. The ‘hawks are the worst running team in the entire NFL. I foresee a ridiculous amount of 3^rd and 7’s. Rookie LB Aaron Curry is the real deal, and he’s going to be a three-down linebacker sooner than later. The secondary is miserable.

St. Louis Rams: Marc Bulger stinks. Rookie Jason Smith is starting at tackle, which is good news for the offense and S-Jax. Donnie Avery has magical healing powers. Adam Carriker has been a huge bust.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Bryon Leftwich is the starting quarterback. The Bucs’ have the dumbest rotation of all time at running back – “2-2-1”. That’s two series for Cadillac Williams, two series for Derrick Ward, and one series for Earnest Graham. The defense is switching from a Tampa-2 to a traditional 4-3 scheme.

Washington Redskins: Jason Campbell is the starting quarterback. Some rookie named Marko Mitchell has looked like the best ‘skins’ receiver in the pre-season. Clinton Portis is coming off the filed on third downs in favor of Ladell Betts.

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