With the beginning of the free-agent signing period and the annual pre-draft combine workouts both beginning on Friday, and teams scrambling even before that to squeeze under the salary cap by the March 1 deadline for compliance, the NFL is in one of its most tumultuous periods.

There figure to be 50-100 veterans who will restructure their contracts this week or be released. And at Indianapolis, where virtually every coach and key front office person will gather Friday for the combine, the futures of some draft prospects could be determined and franchises might lay the groundwork for later trades.

The upshot is that by next Monday, when the combine concludes and teams return home to assess their strengths and weaknesses, the landscape of the league could be significantly altered. At the least, we should know more then about some key offseason questions, among them:

	Ricky Williams rushed for 1,245 yards last season.

Which league precinct should start ordering up those crazy baseball caps with the dreadlocks dangling from the back?
It appears that New Orleans is hell-bent on trading tailback Ricky Williams this offseason, and turning the starter's job over to 2001 first-round selection Deuce McAllister, so Saints officials probably will huddle in Indianapolis with the teams interested in a deal. No one should be too shocked to see Saints general manager Randy Mueller and Miami vice president Rick Spielman having a few beers together during the combine. The Dolphins have offered first- and third-round draft choices this year for Williams and a second-round selection but New Orleans is still asking for more. The Cleveland Browns and a "mystery" third team have also demonstrated interest in Williams. The price tag will become clearer within the next week.

Who will be the Atlanta Falcons new general manager?
New owner Arthur Blank is scheduled to return this week from the Olympics, where he feted the three Home Depot employees who combined for four medals, and probably will at least close in on a decision about who will operate the franchise for him. With frontrunner Rich McKay opting to remain in Tampa Bay, the new Atlanta owner won't get the man who topped his wish list, and the remaining candidates are Mueller, vice president Mike Reinfeldt of Seattle, and Buffalo Bills director of football operations Tom Modrak. The whispers are that Blank, with counseling from the league, prefers an administrator to a personnel man. So look for the Falcons to hire more of a front man than someone who can upgrade the team's drafts.

Which current NFL assistant, with no previous head coach experience, will be the new adopted son of Darth Vader in Oakland?
There is a strong chance that the Oakland Raiders could go to the combine without a new head coach in place. But owner Al Davis, rest assured, has a plan because he always does. Look for Davis to interview four or five promising young assistants from other teams, bleed them for all sorts of information, then give the job to current Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Callahan.

What team will jump out first in free agency, by signing a player on Friday, and what is the identity of the player?
Even with the start of the combine dividing attentions, there will be some team that wants to make an immediate splash in the free agent pool, and which will have a deal done by early on Friday morning. It used to be that Jacksonville traditionally broke the free agency ice, but the Jaguars are in no position this year to make an early strike. Just a hunch: We're betting that the team is Cleveland and the player is Pittsburgh inside linebacker Earl Holmes.

Whither Willie?
Despite an air-clearing meeting this weekend between Willie Roaf and coach Jim Haslett, the seven-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle is still likely to depart New Orleans for a new address. He will be in Kansas City on Tuesday to huddle with Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil, and the Broncos also are reportedly interested in making a deal for him. The alleged asking price for Roaf, just a third-round choice, isn't monumental. The risk, since he is coming off knee surgery, is still a bit high. As is the case with Williams, look for Saints officials to spend plenty of time during the combine chatting to teams about a Roaf trade.

Who will raise the biggest stink at the Friday agents' meeting in Indianapolis?
It's one of the most entertaining components to the combine. The NFL Players Association convenes its annual meeting of player representatives on the Friday of the combine and, almost every year, there is at least a pretty healthy verbal skirmish. The bone of contention this year is likely to come from the representatives with boutique-type agencies, who feel the conglomerate groups are flexing their muscles a little too much. The bigger groups -- like IMG, SFX and Assante -- are signing clients by offering them guaranteed marketing revenues. In some cases, the payments are worth $250,000 or more. The little guys are finding it increasingly difficult to compete and someone is going to raise it as an issue this year.

How many pending free agents will either restructure their contracts or agree to new deals before the Friday start to the signing period?
Over the past three springs in particular, teams have been more judicious in retaining their own nucleus players, re-signing them before they go into the free-agent market. Look for an already thin free-agent pool to be further diluted in the next few days as teams, at least those with a bit of salary-cap wiggle room, work hard to keep players out of free agency. An educated guess would be that there will be 30-40 contracts restructured and another 20-25 new deals.

After likely top overall pick David Carr of Fresno State and Oregon's Joey Harrington, who also will be chosen in the first round, what player is the third-best quarterback prospect in the draft?
Right now the scouts are split and, if you surveyed 10 different talent evaluators, you probably would end up with a list of five or six possibilities. Much will depend on which of the passers invited to the combine decide to actually participate in the on-field workouts. But our guess is that Patrick Ramsey of Tulane -- who played in a run-and-shoot offense for the Green Wave, has good size, and is very accurate -- continues his climb up draft boards around the league. Ramsey is a bit stiff and doesn't move out of the pocket very well, but he possesses good stature and a natural feel for the passing game. He could be chosen as early as the second round.

	Shannon Sharpe caught 71 passes last season.

Will you have to buy a scorecard to identify the Baltimore Ravens in 2002?
Even after sacrificing weakside linebacker Jamie Sharper and return specialist Jermaine Lewis in the expansion draft last week, the Ravens are still over the salary cap and the clock is ticking. The team is desperately trying to restructure contracts with veterans but meeting some resistance. That means plenty of blood in the streets of Baltimore, with the cuts likely including tight end Shannon Sharpe, safeties Rod Woodson and Carnell Lake, defensive ends Michael McCrary and Rob Burnett and defensive tackle Sam Adams, among others. The departures may force the Ravens to play a 3-4 front under coordinator Mike Nolan in 2002. Mark the Ravens as "Exhibit A" for the kind of binge-purge philosophy that permeates the NFL these days, one that precludes a team from sustaining its excellence for more than a year or two.

How many draft prospects will actually participate in the full battery of combine tests and who will be this year's workout warrior?
Although there has been plenty of prodding, no one should expect the workout numbers to really increase very much over past years, meaning most top prospects will skip the 40-yard dash and some of the other on-field drills. Every year, a player separates himself from the pack with a superior workout. We don't know who that player will be this year, but word is that wideouts Ashley Lelie (Hawaii) and Andre Davis (Virginia Tech) are both going to run and have been laying down some blazing 40-yard times.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.