My NFC pick, Theismann, Keyshawn, NFL-wide notes

	Former USC star receiver Dwayne Jarrett fell to the Panthers in the second round of this year's draft. B.A. Westerholt/Wireimage
	RELATED • KING: Trent Green, Michael Vick and more • SILVER: Leaders in race for Keyshawn

Musings, observations and the occasional insight as the NFL's offseason enters its May minicamp stage ...

• I know Carolina let me down last season, but with 10 weeks or so until training camps start to open, I find myself leaning once again toward the Panthers as my NFC Super Bowl pick. I loved their draft -- Jon Beason, Dwayne Jarrett, Ryan Kalil and Charles Johnson in the first three rounds -- and the additions of offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson and backup quarterback David Carr are plusses too.

Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans and Philadelphia might have something to say about my pick, however.

• Is it just me, or did Joe Theismann come off sounding like the original grumpy old man in complaining that Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn didn't project a "professional image'' on draft day? Chastising Quinn for his gum-chewing and his haircut were quibbles of the highest order, but then, image has always been crucial to Theismann, a guy who in college allowed the pronunciation of his last name to be changed in order to rhyme it with Heisman.

Relax, Joe. It's not Quinn's fault you got booted off Monday Night Football.

• The Browns public relations department issued 104 media credentials for the first day of the team's three-day rookie minicamp on Friday, and I'm guessing most reporters weren't there to watch Joe Thomas do his footwork drills. Nothing in the NFL generates quite as much buzz as the drafting of a new franchise quarterback.

• Pacman Jones' appeal of his one-year league suspension -- which will be heard by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in New York on Friday -- will be built around the fact that the penalty was unprecedented in length when it comes to non-football related misconduct.

Which I imagine comes as a surprise to Paul Hornung and Alex Karras.

• Here's a good idea that dovetails nicely with the league's efforts to step up its preventative measures when it comes to indoctrinating rookies on the perils and responsibilities of joining the NFL: The Dolphins on Sunday afternoon conducted their own rookie symposium after the conclusion of their three-day minicamp, in order to bridge the gap between now and when the league conducts its annual rookie symposium in June.

"Between now and the symposium that the league imposes, some [rookies] got into trouble [last year]'' Dolphins head coach Cam Cameron said. "I just remember on the news one night Reggie Bush saying, 'Hey, we could have used this two months ago.' That registered in the back of my mind. Given the opportunity to have our own, we thought, 'Hey, we've got these guys for the first time.' We thought we'd just have a symposium.''