The Dallas Cowboys hope to get better play at cornerback in 2014 in the form of an improved Morris Claiborne.

“We feel like he is a guy who is very talented and still needs to grow and develop,’’ head coach Jason Garrett said. “He has certainly shown flashes of the player that we drafted with the sixth pick of the draft a couple of years ago. He has a very good feel for covering guys and just plays that position at a high level. We have a lot of confidence in Mo.’’

The Cowboys want Claiborne to get physically stronger.

The New York Jets currently have the lowest cash payroll in the NFL at $86.1 million.

Their once-top-heavy cap has thinned to the point where only three players have cap charges of at least $7 million -- D'Brickashaw Ferguson ($11.7 million), Nick Mangold ($7.2 million) and David Harris ($7 million).

John Idzik has systematically dumped many of the Jets' highest salaries.

Todd McShay has given Johnny Manziel a last first round pick draft grade.

"I have Manziel ranked as the No. 3 quarterback in this class, behind UCF’s Blake Bortles and Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, and No. 21 prospect overall," writes McShay. "The 90 grade I’ve given him qualifies as a late-first-round grade and is a few notches below Bortles (93) and Bridgewater (92) and several notches below the top three overall talents in this draft: Jadeveon Clowney (97), Greg Robinson (97) and Khalil Mack (96)."

Ron Rivera believes the Carolina Panthers can replicate the production of Steve Smith in aggregate.

"Look at it this way," Rivera said. "Last year we rushed 15 out of 16 games for 100 yards. We were fourth in the league in total time of possession.

"Our receivers averaged -- as a group, collectively -- 10 catches a game. We have to replace those 10 catches a game. If we are going to continue to run the ball successfully, on the average, we have to make 10 catches a game."

But not all receptions are alike and Smith was fourth in the NFL among wide receivers with 15 missed tackles last season.

Pete Carroll wants to make sure the Seattle Seahawks don't let up after winning the Super Bowl.

“We set a direction on having the greatest offseason of our lives, individually,” Carroll said. “That doesn’t mean you cant go out and have fun and live the life. You can work out and still be on the Tonight Show. The most important thing that will happen is if we can recapture the work ethic that made us what we are. Nothing else really matters.

“If a guy’s not having the best offseason of his life, he’s going to get beat out, I think. That’s kind of the way we roll.”

The Oakland Raiders are bullish on the abilities of Matt Schaub, who was acquired this offseason for a late round pick.

"We have a quarterback now that’s on par with the quarterbacks in this division," said Dennis Allen.

Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers and Alex Smith are Schaub's three counterparts in the AFC West.

"The best way to stop those offenses No. 1 is to keep your defense off the field. And I think with some of the things we’ve been able to do up front, both from a protection standpoint, from an ability to run the football, I think those things are going to help us.

"Obviously I think the quarterback’s going to help us."

Schaub struggled badly in 2013 with the Houston Texans.

"Everybody has down seasons. Everybody has down years. It’s not a shame to get knocked down, it’s a shame to not get back up," said Allen.

"This is a guy that’s been a two-time Pro Bowl player, he’s been a top-10 quarterback in the National Football League over the last five years and we believe and he believes that he’s still that."

The Washington Redskins have taken a conservative approach to the offseason, re-signing several key players with Jason Hatcher being their biggest new addition.

“I feel okay,” Bruce Allen said in an interview at The Washington Post on Thursday afternoon. “It’s easier if you said we had one or two deficiencies to target players, but we needed to address every position on the football team except for quarterback. And, so we talked to a lot of players at the beginning of free agency, tried to calculate who we could afford and who we couldn’t, knowing that we needed at least a dozen if not more.”

Vontae Davis and the Indianapolis Colts have agreed upon a four-year, $39 million deal.

Davis will receive $20 million in guaranteed money.

Davis was acquired by the Colts before the 2012 season for a second round pick.

Dennis Allen and Reggie McKenzie are entering their third season in charge of the Oakland Raiders' rebuild and need to show results in what has become a very strong AFC West.

"There's no question that this is the year we have to make something happen," Allen recently told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We need to show significant improvement this season. We have to show that this is a team on the rise ... and the record needs to show that."

"This is (the offseason) that we've been building toward the last few years," said Mark Davis. "So, yeah, there is no question. We have to hit it right now."

Paraag Marathe, president of the San Francisco 49ers, was part of a panel discussion on Saturday at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

Marathe was asked about the importance of a quarterback to a team's success.

"That's the single biggest differentiator," he said. "If you can get by with average talent, but if you have a superior quarterback, you'll see the best quarterbacks -- the Hall of Fame quarterbacks -- it doesn't matter what kind of talent they have, even if they have really bad talent around them, they're going to finish 7-9 [or] 8-8. They're never going to go 3-13."

The 49ers and Colin Kaepernick are in discussions on a long-term extension.