All 32 teams got into the mix and there have certainly been some that have risen to the challenge. Although playoff games are not won in the heat of mid-summer, the moves made now do play a part in saying who gets there.

MuscleSport Mag takes a look at some of the teams that did their homework and others that have acted as if the strike is still going on.

WINNERS

*PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

Trading Kevin Kolb to Arizona for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a number two pick is a move that will pay off for years to come, especially when the Eagles picked up Vince Young as a back-up. Pairing him in a secondary that now includes the top free agent on the market in fellow CB Nnamdi Asomugha and also bringing in lineman Cullen Jenkins solidifies an already proven defense for Andy Reid’s bunch.

*NEW YORK JETS

If they were able to land Asomugha, the Jets would have been the top winners. But they did quite alright for themselves by bringing back Antonio Cromartie as a Plan B. GM Mike Tannenbaum shored up his receiving corps by re-signing Santonio Holmes and getting Plaxico Burress as a cheaper replacement for Brayon Edwards. Brad Smith (Bills) was a nice player that could perform many tasks, but he is replaceable.

*NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

The two big – and low cost – moves that the Pats made can either be looked at as ingenious or blow up in their face. Chad Ochocinco should have something left in the tank after a down year in Cincy and can excel in Bill Belechick’s system. On the other side of the ball, Albert Haynesworth can salvage his career or confirm that he is a bust after all.

Photo by William J. Hauser

Gang Green led the NFL in rushing in 2009 and Thomas Jones played a big part in that. The Virginia product had a career-best 1,402 yards on the ground and 14 touchdowns but began to slow down later in the season just as the Jets made their playoff move. Rookie Shonn Greene took over as the number one back in the postseason and looked like a veteran.

Third down back and special teams standout Leon Washington suffered a broken leg halfway through the season and the uncertainty of him being effective after that was on everyone’s mind.

Washington’s leg and Jones running out of gas was more than enough to convince Tannenbaum to look in a different direction. West, to be more exact.

The San Diego Chargers decided to part ways with running back LaDainian Tomlinson and the Jets gladly signed the five-time pro Bowler to a free agent contract. Critics cried that if Jones was on the decline after his best statistical campaign, then how could LT – who saw his rushing totals go from over 1,800 yards in 2006 when he won the NFL MVP Award to 730 three years later – be an improvement?

Through the first 12 games of 2010, Tomlinson has run at times as if he was put through a time machine and amassed 788 yards on 176 attempts for a 4.5 average. With Greene suffering an sophomore jinx, LT has been the starter since Week 3 and his veteran leadership has been a great addition to the huddle and locker room alike.

Even the prospect of playing cold weather games on the east coast in the stretch run didn’t faze Tomlinson. To the contrary, he actually welcomed the challenge and wanted the offense to emphasize the rushing attack.

“I think that we’re going to do what we do, obviously the things that we’re good at,” he said. “That means we’re going to have to run the football and we’ll have to run it successfully. We definitely want to be able to let the run game set up our passing game. We want to be an all-weather football team, being able to run and pass it.”

Jets head coach Rex Ryan realizes that 2009 was a very special year for the running game and with the changes in the backfield and offense line, leading the league cannot happen every time out. “I don’t know if we’ve (had) the same amount of attempts as last year,” he said. “I think we’re throwing it more this year. I think we’re very effective in the rushing part. Obviously, I love to run the football. Hopefully, that will pick up. In the next several weeks, we’re facing some really good run defenses. Still, I have confidence in our running game. I think our backs are healthy.

“I think we’re (in) a good spot.”

No doubt that Tomlinson’s resurgence has a lot to do with that.

Photo by Rich O’Neill

In fact, it was reported that the Steelers were ready to release Holmes if they couldn’t work out a trade with anyone. The 2006 first-round pick out of Ohio State fell out of favor with a domestic violence incident his rookie season and his 2008 arrest for marijuana possession. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin benched the 26-year-old wideout but he allowed him back on the field, which eventually paid off for both parties during the postseason.

In March, Holmes was once again in the news for the wrong reason when a woman accused him of throwing a glass at her at an Orlando nightclub, in which she sustained a physical injury. A lawsuit is pending.

Holmes was facing a suspension from the league for violating the substance abuse policy and the Steelers hierarchy had enough. Enter the Jets. “We discussed it as a staff and did some research,” said Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum. “Then obviously we were able to come up with something that hopefully works well for us and Pittsburgh.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Holmes for the first four games of the upcoming season, something that the Jets were aware of before making the deal. “We understand that there are risks – significant risks – but at the end of the day we felt the price was reasonable and the risk was reasonable,” added Tannebaum. ”Obviously there’s been some bumps in the road in his past and hopefully he’s learned from that.”

Holmes did not try to avoid the obvious when he first met the New York media via a conference call. “Right now, I’m accountable for what happened and look forward to start a new career here with the Jets,” he said. “I have to be on time to all the meetings, front and center, establishing a great relationship with the players on and off the field so those guys can understand who I am and where I came from.”

What Holmes is right now is as talented as he is troubled. In 2009, he started all 16 games for Pittsburgh and had 79 receptions for 1,248 yards (both carer highs) and five touchdowns. Once his suspension is finished, he will be joining an offense that made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game. Quarterback Mark Sanchez should be better in his second season, the same as running back Shonn Greene. LaDanian Tomlinson was signed to take the place of Thomas Jones to solidify a backfield that led the NFL in rushing last year. The receiving corps includes Braylon Edwards (another player who has made a habit of off-the-field issues), Jericho Cotchery and tight end Dustin Keller.

“I want to be able to help [Sanchez] grow and be able to trust me and know that he has a guy on the field that is capable of making any play that he is willing to throw,” Holmes said.

Entering the final year of his contract, it would behoove Holmes to play well and be on his best behavior. If he fails another drug test, he will be suspended for the entire season. Tannenbaum did not discount the possibility of his newest player receiving a contract extension. “Our hope and expectation is he’ll be here for a long time to come,” he said. “He’s under contract for this year. We’ll go from there.”

Adding such a potent threat to a team who played at such a high level for parts of last season may pay off in a big way. Draft picks are very important for teams to build themselves up, but a fifth rounder is used more for depth rather than a starter, especially one with the talent of Holmes. If he becomes a distraction, the Jets can always cut him and send him on his way. Although Tannenbaum feels confident that the front office did their homework, Holmes did say some troubling things at the end of the conference call.

“I don’t think I’ve made mistakes on my own,” he commented. “I’m not blaming anyone for what I’ve been through, but at the same time, being in certain situations, you have to be accountable for what goes on around you. Sometimes you just have no control over some things that do happen.”

Well, Holmes had better get some control or Ryan will have him for breakfast.

Photo by Joe Pietaro (Super Bowl XLIII)

Injuries and the salary cap sealed LT’s fate out west and he now finds himself on the opposite coast looking to extend a career that started coming off the rails last season. He was being wooed by the Minnesota Vikings as well as the Jets but ultimately decided on Gang Green. “I think the major decision that it came down to was having to learn a new offense versus playing in an offense that I already know and (playing for) someone I already know in (Jets offensive coordinator) Brian Schottenheimer,” Tomlinson said in a conference call.

A similar situation existed with the Jets that happened with the Chargers. Thomas Jones led the team in rushing and had over 1,400 yards, but was released because he was due a large bonus and became a salary cap casualty. The 10-year vet also had 14 touchdowns and averaged over four yards per carry. He went on to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Jets were in the market for a veteran to mentor Shonn Greene, who became the feature back in the playoffs and was very effective in that role.

Enter Tomlinson, who will inherit the privilege of working behind arguably the most effective offense line in the NFL for a team committed to pounding the ball. “I’ll just say, this is my type of football,” he said. “I’ve always had an aggressive style and taken pride in running the football and wearing people down.” 2009 was the first time that Tomlinson failed to rush for over 1,000 yards in nine NFL campaigns. His best year came in 2006, when LT ran for 1,815 yards and 28 touchdowns and was named the Associated Press NFL MVP.

General manager Mike Tannenbaum had to make the tough decision to cut Jones, a favorite in the locker room. “We feel like (he) did a great job for us the last three years,” he said. “He did a lot of things obviously on the field as well as off, but when we looked at all the factors and what we thought was in the best interests of our team, taking all factors into account, we’re really excited about LaDanian.”

Now the Jets have a deep backfield that not only includes Greene and LT, but also Leon Washington, who will be coming back from a gruesome broken leg injury and is an effective change-of-pace back. The bulk of the carries will initially go to Green, but Tomlinson is one heck of a fall back option. Being the veteran in this mix, LT is coming into the situation with an open mind about his role, one which he is going to welcome.

“People are going to look at the old tapes and see what he did on the field, but the greatest thing you can have in this league is a legacy and teaching young guys that carry on the tradition of running the football,” he commented. “To me, I embrace that role of mentoring the young running backs, including Shonn Greene.”

Photo by Bill Menzel

If you had a crystal ball, how many of the New York tabloids will be screaming for Mike Tannenbaum’s head after one bad game from Mark Sanchez and one eye-opener from Josh Freeman the same week? The general manager of the New York Jets pulled the trigger on a draft day deal to net his team the fifth overall pick, where he chose the former USC gunslinger.

The Jets were also interested in Freeman in the event they were unable to move up to get Sanchez. The Jets original slot at number 17 eventually went to Tampa Bay after Cleveland traded down and the Bucs picked Freeman.

To move up the 12 spots, the Jets had to not only give up their own first round pick, but their second rounder (number 52 overall), defensive end Kenyon Coleman, defensive back Abraham Elam and back-up quarterback Brett Ratliff.

Heading into the 2009 NFL Draft, there were three quarterbacks projected as first round picks. The Detroit Lions tabbed Matthew Stafford from Georgia first overall, but many draftniks have been saying that Sanchez has a better upside to him.

For the sake of the Jet fans that loudly approved of the move at Radio City Music Hall, they hopefully will be right. 

A team that fell apart during the most important time of the season needs a good shot in the arm, and a guy like Rex Ryan may just be the one to do it. Running the Baltimore Ravens vaunted defense the past 10 years, quality coaching runs in the family. The son of Buddy Ryan (who invented the ’46′ defense that produced a Super Bowl ring in Chicago), he was named the head coach of the New York Jets the day after Baltimore was eliminated by Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game.

The Jets have been a franchise that has always found a way for things to go wrong, regardless of who was in charge. For the past 40 years, that has been the case. The closest that they came to righting the ship was back in 1998 when Bill Parcells brought them within one game of the Super Bowl. Since then, it has been a mixture of nice guys like Herm Edwards and the secretive, quiet type such as Eric Mangini.

When Mike Tannenbaum sought to find Mangini’s replacement, Ryan was on a short list of favorites. Perhaps the five hour meeting they had a week ago sold the Jets general manager on Ryan, and the fact that the Ravens were still alive – even though they were supposed to be going through a rebuilding season – couldn’t have hurt his chances.

“During our search, we were looking for a great football mind and a passionate leader,” said Tannenbaum. “Rex is a coach with an established track record who is universally respected by players and coaches for his skills as a communicator and his creativity.”

The Jets defense, which had played well at some points during the season, looked extremely vulnerable during the fateful December collapse that left them out of the postseason. Ryan will instill the schemes that practically won Super Bowl XXXV single-handedly.

Of course, personnel have a lot to do with success. The Jets do have some talented players on the defensive side of the ball, such as Kris Jenkins, Calvin Pace, Kerry Rhodes and Darrelle Revis. If put in the right spot, any one or all of them can become elite.

Ryan will be officially introduced on Wednesday at a press conference at Jets headquarters in Florham Park, New Jersey.

Perhaps this is a sign of things to come. Buddy Ryan was a member of the Jets coaching staff from 1968-1975, which included the franchise’s lone Super Bowl victory in 1969.

Once the Jets finished their offseason shopping spree by bringing in Brett Favre, team owner Woody Johnson my have had visions of grandeur and foolishly thought that he was getting the quarterback of old, not just an old quarterback.

Even when the Jets were 8-3, they were winning in spite of Favre, not because of him. Their five-game winning streak was the one part of the season where Favre was not forcing the long throw and was having success underneath. Why they went away from that and started having the 39-year-old put the game on his shoulders is also a question that needs to be answered.

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Not even waiting 24 hours to digest what happened, Johnson canned Mangini the morning after the 24-17 loss to Miami that completed the Jets’ December collapse. “I appreciate everything Eric Mangini has done for this organization over the past three seasons,” Johnson said in a statement the team released on Monday. “He is a bright, young football mind and I wish him success in the future.

“In our judgement, we made the decision we believe is in the best interest of the organization. We will begin the search for the next head coach of the Jets immediately.”

And that man will no doubt definitely NOT be Bill Cowher or Mike Holmgren. Neither will be on any sideline next fall, especially not one as shaky as the Jets’.

This is an organization that is in a transition period, one that may go smooth or take a long time to fix. The quarterback position is one that holds the most questions. Both Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum stated that they would like Favre to return. A man turning 40 who led the league in interceptions (22) with possible shoulder issues is not a formula for winning. That was proven in the past five weeks, when the Jets were lucky to win even one of those games.

The remaining QBs on the roster are either unproven youngsters (Brett Ratliff, Erik AInge) or one that has proven himself unworthy of starting (Kellen Clemens).

Whatever direction the Jets go, the quick hook given to Mangini shows that Johnson expected big things out of this team, especially because of Favre’s presence. Unfortunately, the Jets were about five years too late.

You can’t go home again. That old saying rang true when Brett Favre had the door to Green Bay slammed in his face. The same place where he used to walk on water – and the Frozen Tundra – at first tried to be subtle in telling the grizzled veteran quarterback that they were all better off if he stayed away. But Favre wouldn’t accept that and forced a trade, one that even he called “unique” and surprising.

Perhaps the most unlikely of suitors were the Jets, and that’s exactly how this thing played out. When Favre was introduced during a hurried press conference in Cleveland, he, general manager Mike Tannenbaum and team owner Woody Johnson all appeared as if they stayed at the biggest party of the summer too late – exhausted, but glad that they did it.

“Did I ever think that this scenario would present itself?” Favre asked himself. “No.” That may be attributed to the fact that the legendary signal-caller would have preferred staying a Packer or being dealt within the NFC North. Neither was in the cards, so he finds himself in New York…er, New Jersey.

The story has been told ad naseum. Favre has waffled on retirement for years now and has two left on his original contract he signed with Green Bay. It remains to be seen if he will honor that with his new team, or give it one last go and finally call it a day.

“I would keep our conversations private on that except to say that we are taking things season by season,” said Tannenbaum. “We are really happy to have him for the season and we will move forward from there.”

While that may not be a ringing endorsement for a multi-year commitment, even if Favre said he would play two it doesn’t mean anything. He can always walk away at any time. Given the fact that he is such a gamer and fiery competitor, the only way that would happen is if the Jets go through another disaster like last year (not likely, with all the improvements topped off with Favre) or a serious injury (also not likely, with him having played in every game since 1993).

It’s hard to find much fault with this trade, especially when you factor in what Favre brings to the table besides touchdown passes. Yes, he did take a step back in both 2005 and 2006, but he had an excellent season a year ago and may have thrown his worst pass of the season on his last attempt. Corey Webster’s interception in overtime of the NFC Championship Game set up a winning field goal attempt for the Giants.

Looking at what will actually change hands, the conditional fourth round draft pick can go up to a first round if the Jets make the Super Bowl. Even ‘half-empty glass’ guys like WFAN’s Joe Benigno would sign for that right now.

The move ended the Chad Pennington era in New York. While he may not have been able to zip it in there like Favre, he does hold the highest completion percentage in NFL history. Pennington was an accurate passer and a good leader, so losing him – even if he stayed on as a back-up – is tough, and something not lost on Tannenbaum. “This is a bittersweet moment,” the GM said. “I have the greatest respect in the world for Chad.”

If Favre goes down for any extended period of time, the Jets will have to trust Kellen Clemens to keep the position warm. The third-year player was behind in an open competition during training camp with Pennington, and was not effective during eight starts in 2007.

Is Favre worth at least six more wins? In the ultra-competitive AFC, it will take 10 wins to make the playoffs. With all of their new editions, that is definitely a possibility. For that to transcend from paper to the field, a general such as Favre is a good step in the right direction.

One that may end with a parade on Broadway? Let’s get through the preseason first.