NFL preseason action continues tonight with four games on the schedule. Below are six quick-hit thoughts and things to watch for during tonight’s slate of games.

1. Are the reports true about Palmer?
All indications from Bengals camp is that Carson Palmer is in the best shape of his career after missing virtually the entire 2008 season with a right elbow injury. Palmer is expected to get 12-15 snaps tonight when the Bengals travel to New Orleans to take on the Saints. Just as the Patriots were hoping for a strong showing from Tom Brady last night (he threw for 100 yards and 2 TDs, by the way), Cincinnati is hoping that Palmer flashes the arm strength that once made him the top overall pick. Another thing to keep an eye on is how the young Cincinnati offensive line looks in protecting Palmer. The Bengals have a physical unit in Andrew Whitworth, Anthony Collins, Kyle Cook, Nate Livings and Bobbie Williams, but they’re an inexperienced unit on a whole and Cincy would love to see some cohesion from the group tonight.

2. The starting quarterback battle for the Vikings begins tonight.
Head coach Brad Childress reported that Sage Rosenfels will get the start Friday night against the Colts, which isn’t a huge surprise considering Tarvaris Jackson missed some time in camp with a sprained knee. Still, Rosenfels getting the starting nod tonight may be an indication that he’s pulled ahead in the race for the Vikes’ starting quarterback job. Rosenfels doesn’t have a high ceiling in terms of potential, but he’s steady and could be a good game manager for a Minnesota team that is expected to keep the ball on the ground a lot with Adrian Peterson. While Jackson will certainly get his opportunity to start in preseason, a strong first impression tonight would go a long way for Rosenfels.

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– The Chiefs released three players, including quarterback Damon Huard, linebacker Donnie Edwards and cornerback Pat Surtain. Scott Pioli’s cleansing process in KC has begun.

– The Colts officially released wide receiver Marvin Harrison. Apparently owner Jim Irsay tried to get Harrison to retire, but the wideout wants to keep playing. The Titans, Giants and Eagles could be possible landing spots for the 36-year old.

– All charges from Jonathan Vilma’s January arrest in Miami have been dropped. This is great news for Vilma, who is set to become a free agent on Friday.

– Free agent center Jeff Saturday (Colts) apparently wants to play for the Steelers and is willing to move to guard in order to make it happen.

– After watching game film from last year, Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner attributes quarterback Kyle Orton’s struggles to the ankle injury he suffered midseason. Turenr claims that the injury threw off Orton’s mechanics.

The 2008 NFL Season has entered its second half and while some teams are rejoicing over the moves they made this past summer in either signing or trading for players, others are wondering what the hell they were thinking.

Below are five of the best acquisitions from the 2008 NFL offseason, as well as five of the worst. Granted, these moves might look differently at the end of the season or in a year or two, but for now, these are the best of the best and the worst of the worst from the 2008 offseason.

Five Best Offseason Acquisitions:

1. Michael Turner, RB, Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons handed “The Burner� a six-year, $34.5 million contract in early March and while some pundits loved the move, others thought it was too much for the unproven Turner, who had spent his entire career backing up LaDainian Tomlinson. But the signing has paid huge dividends for a Falcons team that ranks second in the league in rushing thanks to his bruising running style. He’s formed a nice “Thunder and Lighting� combo with Jerious Norwood and more importantly, has taken a lot of pressure off rookie Matt Ryan by demanding opponents to focus on taking away the run. He hasn’t fared well against top defenses this season, which is a concern, but outside of that he’s been everything Atlanta had hoped for. He has rushed for 890 yards on 203 carries and has scored seven times.

2. Asante Samuel, CB, Philadelphia Eagles
There was a lot of talk last offseason that Samuel would never live up to the hype that surrounded him in New England. But through 10 games this season, it’s hard to argue that the former Patriot hasn’t lived up to his big play billing. Samuel has recorded three interceptions on the year and has fit into Jim Johnson’s defense better than most expected. He’s not a shutdown corner, but he plays well in zone and rarely gets burned deep. He has also helped the Eagles rank sixth in the league in pass defense and ninth overall in yardage allowed. He was pricey at just over $57 million for six years, but so far Samuel has been worth the money.

The Browns suspended tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. for one-game following his verbal bashing of GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel in the wake of what he felt was the team’s mishandling of a staph infection. And as Patrick McManamon of the Akron Beacon Journal writes, this could be the beginning of the end for Winslow in Cleveland.

This comes from nothing anyone said privately or publicly, but from the occurrences of the past few days and from the statement released by General Manager Phil Savage that was so cold it had icicles dripping from it.

This clearly is one angry GM.

Savage has always been restrained with announcements and news. That he was blunt and direct in the statement about Winslow speaks volumes.

Savage called Winslow’s comments ”unwarranted, inappropriate, and unnecessarily disparaging to our organization.” He said the comments ”brought unjustified negative attention to our organization, and violated the team-first concept of our football squad.”

…But Winslow undercut Crennel twice — first after the game on Sunday, then Monday morning when he had more to say after meeting with Crennel on the team plane Sunday night.

Winslow cares about the team. But he also believes that he is better than most anyone and that is why he expects the ball.

This time, though, he put himself ahead of the team. After a tough loss, he made it about himself. If his coach is not on board with the suspension — and does anyone expect Crennel to say anything today except ”we’ve moved on”? — Winslow need only realize he is the one who put his coach in this position.

McManamon goes on to note that the Browns were in no hurry to re-do Winslow’s contract this offseason and they even went as far to draft a tight end (Martin Rucker) in this year’s draft.

If the Browns do part was with Winslow, it would be another first rounder from the 2004 draft that a team has sent packing. The Lions recently traded WR Roy Williams to the Cowboys and released RB Kevin Jones, the Falcons dealt CB DeAngelo Hall to the Raiders this offseason and the Jets sent LB Jonathan Vilma to the Saints before the start o of the year. Interesting.

In the weeks leading up to the kickoff the 2008 NFL Season, I’ll take a look at position groups that could potentially lift teams to new heights, or bury them and their postseason hopes. Today I take a look at how the New Orleans Saints can now consider their linebacker corps a strength.

It would be a mistake to say that the New Orleans Saints’ linebacker corps has been a weakness over the past two years. A “limitation� might be a more appropriate description.

The trio of Scott Shanle, Scott Fujita and Mark Simoneau wasn’t the flashiest linebacker corps in the league, but they certainly got the job done in 2006 when the Saints fell one win shy of reaching the Super Bowl. And given his 95 tackles, three sacks and two forced fumbles from a year ago, Fujita is arguably one of the more underrated outside linebackers in the league.

Still, the Saints have lacked bulk and overall athleticism in their linebacker corps, so this past offseason they parted with a 2008 fourth round pick and a 2009 conditional pick to acquire former Jets’ MLB Jonathan Vilma. They also retained Simoneau to help on special teams and provide depth behind all three linebacker positions.

Although he underwent season-ending surgery on his right knee last year, Vilma was out of place in Eric Mangini’s 3-4 defensive scheme in New York. Vilma will return to a 4-3 front, where he once amassed 173 total tackles and a sack as the Jets’ middle linebacker in 2005. If he stays healthy, Vilma might turn out to be the best bargain of the 2008 offseason.

Fujita and Shanle will likely be the opening day starters at outside linebacker and with the addition of Vilma, they now have a strong, experienced and athletic trio in the middle of their defense. If first round pick Sedrick Ellis and veteran Brian Young can keep defenders off Vilma, he’ll be a force against the run and the Saints will have one of the better front sevens in the NFC. Not too mention Fujita, Ellis, Will Smith and Charles Grant (assuming the league doesn’t suspend him for legal issues) can all provide a heavy pass rush.

Questions will remain about Vilma’s health until he proves otherwise and the secondary will need Randall Gay (free agent/Patriots) to step up to complement Mike McKenzie in coverage, but there’s no doubt the Saints’ defense has been vastly upgraded. And that’s a scary thought for the NFC considering the real strength for New Orleans is its dangerous offense.