Weinke

Panthers coach George Seifert is giving quarterback Chris Weinke first-round treatment. Seifert's optimism is reflected in the five-year contract Weinke signed that jumps his salary to $1.5 million a year for a mere 35 percent of playing time and twice that if he's a 50-percent player. Although Weinke was selected in the fourth round, he received the same incentive packages as former first-rounders Cade McNown and Chad Pennington. Not bad for a 28-year-old rookie.

Rice's 'split' personality
Life really is beginning again for the Raiders' Jerry Rice. With Tim Brown entrenched at flanker, Rice is learning what it's like to play split end, a position that puts him at the line of scrimmage going against cornerbacks who can more easily get their hands on him. It's forced Rice to work on techniques to angle his body into routes and to use his hands more to get away from defenders. What he still finds beneficial is doing at least 35 minutes of jump rope daily to keep his footwork precise.

Raiders' other Jerry
Raiders coach Jon Gruden has been besieged by "Jerry" questions, but at a recent function, he caught 49ers fans off-guard by saying he saw Jerry do things he's never seen before. The "Jerry" he was referring to was Jerry Porter, a second-year receiver who runs a 4.3 40 and has a 44-inch vertical jump. At minicamp, Porter caught a touchdown pass and, in trying to dunk the ball, his head and arms soared so far over the crossbar that he had to duck to prevent injury on his decent. Last year, Porter e-mailed NBA star Vince Carter, challenging him to a dunk contest.

NFC tight ends remain faceless
Even though the NFC had only five tight ends who averaged two or more receptions a game, there aren't many new faces entering the conference. Falcons rookie Alge Crumpler and veterans Byron Chamberlain of the Vikings and Fred Baxter of the Bears are among the few new challengers to what will continue to be a wide-open race for Pro Bowl spots, which last season went to the Eagles' Chad Lewis and the Redskins' Stephen Alexander.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.