Peyton Manning is still getting accustomed to the Denver Broncos' new offense under Gary Kubiak.

Manning has been more comfortable operating from the shotgun late in his career, but he's coming up to the line of scrimmage on almost all of his snaps right now.

"We know the other end of the stick is fine. It's something he's been doing forever," Kubiak said. "So, we're going to spend a lot of time under center initially. ... He's been very responsive and he's working extremely hard."

After what he called the Broncos' "first real day of practice in shoulder pads," Manning said he's eager to smooth out the roughness in this new hybrid offense, saying, "I feel I can do whatever they ask me to do."

Some believe quarterbacks like the shotgun because they don't have to take their eyes off the pass rush.

Eric Mangini is planning on putting his own mark on the San Francisco 49ers' 3-4 defense with that being total confusion.

"All D-coordinators have their style," 49ers safety Antoine Bethea said, via peCSN Bay Area. "Coach Mangini, his thing is we're going to cause confusion. The opposing offense isn't going to know what we're going to be able to do each down. It could be bringing the pressure. It could be dropping eight into coverage. But it's just keeping the offense on their heels. However, you want to look at it, I think it's going to be a good deal for our defense."

Vic Fangio built one of the NFL's best defensive units from 2011 until 2014.

Mike Pettine will take a more hand-on approach upon the offense in his second season as head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Pettine will sit in on meetings with new coordinator John DeFilippo and learn the playbook "just like a first-year player would learn it."

Kyle Shanahan was offensive coordinator last season and stepped down in the offseason with two years on his deal.

"I have flash cards to help me learn a lot of the formations," Pettine said Friday, per Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. "It was like being a rookie."

Tom Cable, offensive line coach for the Seattle Seahawks, has criticized the widespread use of the spread offense in college football.

"I'm not wanting to offend anybody, but college football, offensively, has gotten to be really, really bad fundamentally," Cable told ESPN 710 radio in Seattle. "Unfortunately, I think we're doing a huge disservice to offensive football players, other than a receiver, that come out of these spread systems. The runners aren't as good. They aren't taught how to run. The blockers aren't as good. The quarterbacks aren't as good. They don't know how to read coverage and throw progressions. They have no idea."

Quarterbacks in the 2015 draft class such as Marcus Mariota of Oregon and Bryce Petty of Baylor drew those very criticisms, but the linemen and running back positions which Cable also sees with spread-related shortcomings escaping criticism. 

Said Arizona's Rich Rodriguez: "I watch the NFL and it looks like 65 percent of the snaps, at least, are in the shotgun, sometimes more. So I think kids running a shotgun, spread-based offense transition easier. I can teach a third-grader in five minutes how to take a three-step drop and a five-step drop under center. But to teach a kid to catch and throw without the laces in the quick game and the full-field read? I think that's a learned skill."

The San Diego Chargers invested in running back with their first overall pick, but went defense with their final four picks.

The Chargers are looking for more speed on that side of the ball.

“The most important thing and our No. 1 goal this offseason is playing faster,” Chargers defensive coordinator John Pagano said this week. “If we’re thinking too much, we’re not going to play fast. So, our mentality going into this spring is we don’t want thinkers. We want reactors and guys playing fast.”

Second-round selection, linebacker Denzel Perryman, third-round pick, cornerback Craig Mager, fifth-round selection, edge-rusher Kyle Emanuel, and sixth-rounder Darius Philon, a defensive tackle, all ran 40-yard times under five seconds.

The New York Jets ($179.3 million), Jacksonville Jaguars ($174.5 million), Miami Dolphins ($137.2 million), Philadelphia Eagles ($121.2 million) and Oakland Raiders ($110.8 million) each spent more than $100 million in contracts.

The Jets invested in cornerbacks with Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie and Buster Skrine, while the Philadelphia Eagles invested heavily in running backs.

Washington drafted Matt Jones in the third round and could eventually replace Alfred Morris at running back.

Scot McCloughan compared Jones' violent running style to Marshawn Lynch.

"Matt Jones reminds me a lot -- a lot -- of Marshawn," McCloughan said, via CSN Washington, "from the standpoint that he's north-south, he's downhill and he's not afraid of contact."

McCloughan can speak with authority on the subject because he was in the Seahawks' front office when Seattle traded for Lynch back in 2010.

"You come downhill, and you know what? I was very lucky to be around Marshawn Lynch for the years I was in Seattle," McCloughan told WJFK's Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier. "And to see the violence he ran with, to see how guys got tired of tackling him; Matt Jones is similar."

Only two of the top-10 picks in the 2015 NFL Draft were five-star recruits coming out of high school.

Jameis Winston and Dante Fowler, who went first and third, were five-star recruits.

Amari Cooper, Leonard Williams, Ereck Flowers and Todd Gurley were four-star recruits.

Marcus Mariota was a three-star recruit, as was Brandon Scherff, Kevin White and Vic Beasley.

LeSean McCoy was asked to elaborate on comments he made in April that Chip Kelly doesn't "like or respect stars."

McCoy was surprisingly traded to the Buffalo Bills.

"The relationship was never really great," said McCoy. "I feel like I always respected him as a coach. I think that's the way he runs his team. He wants the full control. You see how fast he got rid of all the good players. Especially all the good black players. He got rid of them the fastest. That's the truth. There's a reason. ... It's hard to explain with him. But there's a reason he got rid of all the black players -- the good ones -- like that."

McCoy was asked how common his opinion is among other players.

"Oh, man. People have heard it. I mean ... Stephen A. Smith has talked about it. Other players have talked about it. But that's one of the things where you don't even care no more. I'm on a new team, ready to play. So it's nothing to do with Chip. I have no hatred toward him, nothing to say negative about him. When he got [to Philadelphia], I didn't know what to expect. When he let DeSean go last year, I was like: "C'mon. DeSean Jackson?" So it is what it is."

The New Orleans Saints had issues at cornerback last season and the position has undergone more turnover than any other on their roster this offseason.

After signing free agents Brandon Browner, Kyle Wilson and Canadian Football League transplant Delvin Breaux, the Saints followed up by drafting Florida State cornerback P.J. Williams in Round 3 and Georgia cornerback Damian Swann in Round 5.

“There was a little less pressure going into the draft with the addition of a few of those veteran players, and yet we’re seeing a lot more sub-offenses now. And we just feel like we need to stack that position,” Sean Payton said after the draft. “I know the immediate question is you start penciling names and, ‘Where do they all fit?’ And really the true honest answer to that is we’re going to see. We’re going to have them out there and create the competition and look at guys.”