This week marks the 20th anniversary of my high school graduation, which simultaneously makes me feel old but also responsible for imparting some wisdom upon the impending grads. Honestly I do not even remember who spoke at my high school graduation, and I don't remember the speech at all. Here's the abbreviated advice I bestow upon the graduates: --Never be afraid to be yourself. If people don't like who you are, you don't need them as friends. --Respect those who are individuals, because they tend to be the more successful adults. --Most of you will never see more than three of your classmates after two years. As freaky as it might sound to you today, you won't miss more than three of them, and they probably won't be the ones you still see. --Now is the time in your life to try something new and crazy, but not stupid. Bail is expensive, babies even more so, that "permanent record" is real and can cost you jobs, and 99% of all tattoos look awful stupid when you're 38. Yours will not be the exception. $.01 -- This time of year is often "holdout time," where veterans upset with their deals threaten to sit out the upcoming minicamps in hopes of negotiating new contracts or snaring bigger bonuses. Each situation is a little different, but there are typically some common denominators. Many times the player has changed agents, and the new agent feels compelled to prove his merit by scoring a new deal, not to mention a fresh commission check. The teams are savvy to this tactic, and most players wind up disappointed. More often, though, a player sees someone that he considers (rightly or not) an inferior player rocket past him on the pay scale. This is why many teams cringe when Oakland's Al Davis or some other rogue owner gives an excessively lucrative contract extension; the bar for every other comparable player gets superficially raised and perpetuates the spiraling higher of all contracts. That takes special meaning this season with no salary cap, because the players can say (and the NFLPA has certainly fostered this opinion) that the only reason the team isn't giving them the deal is either a lack of respect or collusion. It puts teams in very awkward positions, and for Chris Johnson, Darrelle Revis, and Andre Johnson -- guys deserving of being paid like elite talents at their positions -- it could make for a very long and stressful summer. I have a feeling it will be the summer of their discontent, and that discontent will be a sticking point during the (hopefully) ongoing CBA negotiations. $.02 -- In the vein of holdouts, not all teams are disappointed when the star players skip these early camps. Many top execs quietly don't mind it at all and are even somewhat relieved. They trust in the work ethic and ego of the star players, knowing these players will not get out of shape or stop working at being the best. It eliminates the injury and liability risk as well. If the player gets hurt on the field, the team is obligated to pay the guaranteed money left, but if the holdout tweaks a knee or blows out an Achilles working out on their own, the team doesn't have to worry about paying anything. I asked a long-time GM about this recently, and he got a wry smile out of it. His biggest concern is if the team is making a coaching or scheme change, but if the environment is stable it's almost a welcome absence. He added that it also gives other players a chance to step up in the void, and relayed to me the story of a current Pro Bowl player that probably would not have initially made his team without the established star holding out. This player seized the opportunity and it ultimately saved the franchise millions that they were ready to commit to the star player, who lasted with the team just one more season -- without a new extension. The lesson here for fans? Don't worry too much about legit star players sitting out these OTAs and even the early portion of camp. $.03 -- One fan base that should be worried more than a little is Philadelphia, where the Eagles appear to be running a triage department in lieu of training camp. Their top offseason free agent import, defensive back Marlin Jackson, is out for the season after tearing his Achilles tendon. Left guard Todd Herremans continues to struggle with a troublesome left foot, heading to a specialist for further evaluation. He missed nearly half of 2009 with a stress fracture in that foot that apparently has not healed yet. Center Jamal Jackson remains sidelined from his season-ending torn ACL, and he likely won't be ready until late preseason. Eagles fans could take some comfort in that the team made the playoffs last year with those offensive line injuries and subpar safety play, but this is far from the same Eagles team. Transitioning to a new starting quarterback in Kevin Kolb, the Eagles lack the proven dynamic team leader. A flurry of offseason moves have dramatically altered the lineup on defense, where at least two rookies will start and the team has become noticeably and remarkably smaller. This is a team that needs all available hands on deck to come together this offseason, but the virulent injury bug is making that harder. $.04 -- Last week I presented my "All-Lifetime Team," which created quite a stir amongst hordes of fans. I received over 400 emails, most of which centered on two players that didn't make the list: Joe Montana and Ray Lewis. Here?s why neither made it: I picked John Elway (behind Peyton Manning) over Montana for a couple of reasons. Chief among them is that Elway made three Super Bowls in the 80s with a vastly inferior supporting cast. Look at those Broncos teams and compare them to what Montana had at his disposal during the same time in San Francisco, and you'll find that Denver didn't have more than five players that would have started for the 49ers. That impresses me quite a bit, even if the Broncos lost all three of those Super Bowls. I also believe that Steve Young's impressive succession of Montana waters down his case. There was no dropoff at all, and Young's numbers and success are actually just as good, if not better, than Montana's. Much like Elway, I greatly admire Young's ability to make something positive out of broken plays, plays where Montana would just throw the ball away or run out of bounds. That's not to say I don't believe Montana is an all-time great, because he most certainly is one of the best to ever play the game. The pre-Rice teams captivated me, and the savvy way which Montana led those teams to such unprecedented success for a team that was long a laughingstock is a mark of true greatness. I just happen to prefer what Elway accomplished a little more. Ray Lewis was tougher, because when I sat down to write out the list he was the first inside linebacker that came to mind. But as I thought more about it, the more I looked elsewhere. I tried to formulate this list as a function of whom I would want playing these positions on my team, and that's where my big problem with Lewis sprung. I think Ray Lewis is a phenomenal talent, but he's also an unabashed, vociferous alpha male. That's not necessarily a negative, and the Ravens have expertly fed upon this trait and embraced it, but he can be difficult to play with and will rub some the wrong way. I compared that with how Jack Lambert fit into another dominant defense, where he was just a piece and accepted that. Also, Lewis' bark has been stronger than his bite for most of the last six years, a fact at which he -- and apparently many Ray Lewis fans -- bristles. I'd have no argument with anyone else's team that would put Lewis as a starter, but he's just not right for mine. That's part of the inherent conflict that comes out of subjective lists. A few readers came to me with some other comments, many with very good points. Larry Allen definitely belongs on the list at guard, though I would still not put him above Bruce Matthews or John Hannah. Jonathan Ogden is just as, if not more worthy than Orlando Pace, but I shamelessly gave Pace the nod because I competed against him in high school and he attended the same alma mater (Sandusky HS) as my mother. Darren Sharper has a fair case for the impact he's made on some very successful teams. And several Noll-era Steelers just missed because I just missed their primes. If I were even three years older I strongly suspect Mike Webster, Mean Joe Greene, Donnie Shell, Mel Blount, John Stallworth, and Jack Ham would have all made it in some fashion ... and no, I did not forget Bradshaw, Harris, or Swann. $.05 -- Non-Football Thought of the Week: My beloved Cavaliers have strongly reacted to their disappointing finish, a reaction that I think demonstrates a major problem for the future. I strongly agree with the decision to axe Mike Brown, who was simply unable to command respect from LeBron James and never once made a halftime adjustment to counter the opponent. But the heavy-handed dismissal of general manager Danny Ferry scares me more than a little bit. Ferry ostensibly departed out of disgust that he had to fire Brown, a close friend and longtime colleague. But the subtext here is that owner Dan Gilbert is quite obviously giving total control of the franchise to LeBron, should the king choose to keep his throne in Cleveland. I understand Gilbert's rationale here, as he stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars if LeBron leaves (sidebar: I have long suspected the team will not last in Cleveland more than three years beyond LeBron if Gilbert remains the owner, because he bought in high and cannot feasibly not hemorrhage cash by keeping a LeBron-less team in Cleveland playing in front of 10,000 largely apathetic fans). But by pandering and bowing to LeBron, Gilbert has unwittingly destroyed any chance for the Cavaliers to ever win a title, even with James in the fold. It doesn't matter who the next coach might be, because LeBron is in full control ... and everyone knows it. Tom Izzo (intriguing but unlikely), John Calipari (NO!), Larry Brown (thanks, but no thanks), Avery Johnson (hmmm), it simply will not matter. Gilbert might as well name LeBron player/coach, because that's what he'll be should he stay in Cleveland. As great and talented as he is, the past two playoffs have painfully demonstrated that he does still need a lot of coaching and development. LeBron sorely needs someone to get in his face and stop enabling his every whim. Sadly, the way Dan Gilbert has handled this offseason, no coach in his right might that could wield that sort of power will ever come near Cleveland. --Jeff Risdon is RealGM's senior football writer and can be reached at Jeff.Risdon@RealGM.com