In the NFL, the offseason is like watching a collection of soap operas unfold. this offseason has been no exception.
The #1 story was Brett Favre's decision to retire, his prolonged hemming and hawing, then his decision to un-retire, which caused a train-wreck in his relationship with the Packers. There were other stories, but none as interesting as this one, which reminded me of the Western movie where you get to watch the train-wreck - everybody in the movie theater can see it coming, but the folks on the train are blissfully unconcerned and whistling a merry tune right up until just before the wreck.
One interesting reality is how many teams have no real stability at the quarterback position. A handful of teams have an established starter, with no doubts about his preparation or fitness. Most do not. Many teams appear to have no certainty who their starting quarterback will be. This cannot be good for their chances.
Some other thoughts from around the league, classified by SMART or DUMB.

SMART
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1. Michael Strahan staying retired. There was no reputational upside to him returning to the NFL, and he seemed to be well aware of the wear-and-tear aspect of returning. Like Jerome Bettis, he left at the top.

2. The Miami Dolphins signing Chad Pennington and making him the starting quarterback. Never mind his arm strength, Pennington is a smart game manager who will not do Dumb Stuff under center. He will give the Dolphins the best chance to win games. Never mind the whining about arm strength. Arm strength is overrated in the NFL. If it was a big success criterion, Ryan Leaf and Jeff George would have Superbowl rings.

DUMB
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1. The Oakland Raiders signing Javon Walker. They gave him untold amounts of guaranteed money, only to have him consider retirement during training camp, and become a victim of a bizarre assault in Las Vegas. Something is wrong with Javon Walker, and it appears to be between his ears.

2. Mike Nolan even talking about Alex Smith. Nolan drafted Smith in 2005, and has left him to twist in the wind with the 49ers. After last year, when he apparently pressured Smith to return to action even though he had a damaged shoulder that required surgery, Nolan should STFU about Smith and focus on trying to help him, instead of muttering two-faced platitudes in public. Right now the 49ers appear to be entering the season with the relatively unknown J.T. O'Sullivan at quarterback. If this works, Mike Martz is more likely to get the credit than Mike Nolan, and if it fails, Nolan will be the fall guy.

3. Shawne Merriman trying to play for the Chargers with a torn MCL and PCL in his knee. Merriman or his advisors need to ask Tiger Woods about the state of his knee after he played for over 6 months with a torn ACL. I suspect that Woods would tell Merriman that his knee was in pretty bad shape when the doctors finally operated on it. I have no idea who is responsible for Merriman deciding to play, but whoever it is needs to be taken outside and beaten upsides the head with a piece of 2x4. This is a bad decision which could end Merriman's career.

4. The New York Jets signing Brett Favre. Every other picture I saw of Favre when he arrived in New York, he had a "why am I here?" look on his face. It seemed that he really wanted to play for another club (the Minnesota Vikings?) and regarded the Jets as a second-best destination. Lost in the hoopla was the reality that Favre can simply quit at the end of this season. If they are unlucky, the Jets will get one season of play from a quaterback on the backside of his career. There may be a reason why Favre threw the interceptions in the playoff game last season. He may be physically over the hill. His body has a lot of miles on it. If Favre walks away at the end of the season, the Jets have a quarterback development issue all over again. They have bought themselves one "win or bust" season but that merely postpones the day when they will need a new team leader. They ran Chad Pennington, a great leader of men, out of town on a rail for...this?

5. the Kansas City Chiefs firing kicker Jay Feely after 2 days. When something like this happens to an experienced kicker, the phrase "clusterfuck" springs to mind. Feely has put up the numbers in real games over a number of seasons. The Chiefs' other two kickers have potential, but no results (and as Bill Parcells once observed, when you say a player "has potential", what you're really saying is that he hasn't done anything yet). Quite why the Chiefs signed Feely for 2 days is a mystery. Pre-season competitions for this position tend to prove nothing. When the season is under way, a lot of inexperienced kickers start missing easy kicks. Why do you think that older kickers suddenly find themselves signed come October time? Beauty and distance may look good in the pre-season, but accuracy and consistency are more important in the season. If the Chiefs want to see what can go wrong, let them study Tom Coughlin's last season at Jacksonville, when by mid-season the team seemed to be hiring and firing kickers every other week. The results were terrible, and Coughlin lost his job.

6. The Arizona Cardinals not naming Kurt Warner the starting quaterback (yet). It is like everybody in the universe except the Cardinals leadership can see that Matt Leinart is not ready to be the starting quarterback. He has played inconsistently (recently, very poorly) in the pre-season, yet Ken Whisenhunt is still hemming and hawing about whether he is the starter. Kurt Warner energizes the team to do better every time he appears under center. Leinart does not. This reality alone should be sufficient for the leadership to promote Warner over Leinart.

UPDATES: The Cardinals did name Warner the starter and that is working out well so far. Brett Favre is playing well for the Jets, and so is Aaron Rodgers for the Packers, so that might turn out (after all of the drama) to be a win:win for both franchises. Jay Feely signed with a team, but is still missing field goals, so perhaps the Dolphins were right.
Chad Pennington cannot help the Dolphins win when his team spends almost an entire game blowing coverages, committing penalties, abandoning the running game almost immediately, and generally engaging in bush-league behaviour. The team's performance in last Sunday's game was every bit as bad as any of the games from kast season. If this level of performance continues, somebody needs to ask why they hired Bill Parcells and all of this acolytes when they could have had the same performance under Cam Cameron.
Mike Nolan has been freed from The Alex Smith Question since Smith is now on injured reserve and will most likely never take another game snap for the 49'ers.
Shawne Merriman played one game for the Chargers and then realized that he could not perform at any decent level with a defective knee encased in a bulky brace. He had surgery yesterday and is done for the season. Right decision, but 6 months too late.
As for the Oakland Raiders...the focus seems to have shifted to the Lane Kiffin Firing Watch.