Ten Things I Think I Think

	The Bills took Cal running back Marshawn Lynch with the No. 12 overall pick. Jerome Davis/WireImage.com
	MAILBAG Peter King will answer your questions each week in Monday Morning Quarterback: Tuesday Edition. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

1. I think this is my favorite time on the NFL calendar every year -- the three-plus weeks of visiting training camps and seeing the newness and raw optimism that comes with a new season.

Late July and early August might be the dog days to many of you, but they're the divine rites of summer to me. New stories, new stars and emerging players.

I start Thursday with a trip to Pittsford, N.Y., and one of the most intriguing camps of them all. How good will Marshawn Lynch be? How soon will Paul Posluszny's impact be felt? Did the Bills spend the offensive-line money wisely? I could spend three days there and not see everything I'd want to see. I can think of 15 camps I can say that about.

2. I think these are the stories that most interest me as camps kick off this week:

a. How Harrington wears the highly unexpected mantel of possible starting quarterback in the Vick-charged atmosphere of Atlanta.

b. The chemistry and the fit of the offensive puzzle of the Patriots, who for the first time in Tom Brady's career have an embarrassment of riches at receiver. And can the front seven do a better job of stopping the run than they did in Indy last January.

c. Wade Phillips turning the troops loose on defense in Dallas.

d. Whether Trent Green has enough left to make the Miami offense a middle-of-the-pack unit

e. Five rookies under the most pressure:

1. Lynch, who has to be a 1,400-yard back for Buffalo to have a shot at contending.

2. Adam Carriker, the St. Louis first-rounder handed the starting defensive tackle job. If he stops the run well, the Rams have a heck of a shot to make the playoffs.

3. Gaines Adams. Jon Gruden gave defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin the player he wanted desperately to make an aging front seven have some teeth. If Adams fails to rush the pass with some venom this year, the Bucs are in big, big trouble.

4. Brady Quinn. Every one knows it's going to take some time for Lane Kiffin to get JaMarcus Russell ready in Oakland, but Quinn is widely considered more pro-ready, even if he was drafted 21 picks lower. All I can say about Quinn is this: His holdout had better not be too long, because those fans in Cleveland will not easily forgive him if he stays away until Aug. 28, ruining his chance to contribute before Thanksgiving.

5. Tony Ugoh. Never heard of him? You will soon. He might be protecting Peyton Manning's blind side by October (read item 4 below).

f. Lane Kiffin. He's standing up to Al Davis already, from what I hear, on the issue of keeping Robert Gallery at left guard instead of Davis' preferred spot of right tackle for Gallery. Kiffin might be a boy wonder, or he might be just another squirrel who gets crushed on the highway in Davisville. We'll see.

g. The Lions. If they're not a top-five offense this year, I'll be stunned. We're all forgetting Tatum Bell, you know. The man's averaged 4.9 yards per rush in three Denver seasons, and now he moves to the artificial turf, where his cuts will be truer and he'll be running behind a pretty good line.

h. Mike Tomlin's toughness in Pittsburgh. The veterans might be slow to adapt to his style, but they'd better not be too slow or he'll run them out of town.

i. Rex Grossman battling the boobirds and the doubters. They're out there, and my guess is he'll hear some of them when he bounces a few throws three yards shy of Bernard Berrian in camp.

j. Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning handling the heat in Albany, where the Giants train. And I don't mean 92 degrees and humid either, which it seems to be every day up there.

3. I think I was hugely negligent last week in ignoring the death of Bucko Kilroy, who, for 64 years, played, coached and scouted in the NFL. Kilroy truly deserves his day in the room when we debate the merits of future Hall of Famers. Imagine this: six times an All-Pro; a member of the 1940's all-decade team; a scout who helped pick the great Dallas players in the '60s; a scout who directed New England to pick John Hannah; a mentor to many of the future coaches and scouts he helped tutor; and one of the greatest story-tellers the game has ever known. What a great character, and a great credit to the game.

4. I think the story that got far, far too little attention in the past few days is the apparent retirement of Indianapolis left tackle Tarik Glenn, who has protected Peyton Manning's blind side for 151 of Manning's 157 NFL starts (including playoffs). If Glenn is serious, and it sounds like he is, the Colts are going to have a major issue on offense in training camp, when they thought all they had to do in camp was fine-tune a D with lot of new starters.

When the Colts picked Arkansas tackle Tony Ugoh in the middle of the second round, I thought: No way the Colts are going to re-sign Glenn. The Colts were on the way to paying Dwight Freeney mega-money, they'd already committed big deals to Manning, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne on offense, and they faced a decision on what to do with Glenn when his contract expired after the 2007 season -- when he was due to make $4.5 million. GM Bill Polian's not the type to shy away from the tough decision to let respected veterans go (David Thornton, Edgerrin James, Marcus Washington, Mike Peterson, Nick Harper, Cato June), and even though the salary cap has risen by $24 million in the past two seasons, my guess is Polian was going to see how Ugoh handled his first year before deciding whether to pay Glenn. And from talking to scouts before the draft, Ugoh will handle the adjustment to the NFL just fine.