Alex Boone of the 49ers with his iPad. He is not playing 'Angry Birds.' (Getty Images)Last August, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris was one of the first in the NFL to completely embrace the idea of putting his team's entire playbook on the iPad. The advantages were obvious. Not only could you update playbooks on the fly, but teams could also tie play diagrams to videos of those same plays. The simple mechanics of running a play over and over on film, which happened on prehistoric Betamax machines just a decade ago, was also made easier and more efficient by tablet technology.

"You'd have to use your general remote to fast-forward or rewind," Morris told the Tampa Bay Times of the outdated systems. "With this iPad, I can just flick through, and if that play doesn't apply to me, I just touch it and get out of there and go here, and there's third down. Get out of there, and let's go to the red zone. OK, there's the nickel. It's a different deal now."

The ability to easily collate red zone packages, or blitz reels, for example, made things more present and immediate in the minds of the players. The NFL is preparing fans for an entirely new set of multimedia experiences, as well. This season, you can subscribe to Game Rewind packages that put coach's tape on your iPad. You'll be able to telestrate screencaps and save the pictures to your hard drive or iCloud. In effect, you'll be ahead of some NFL teams in the use of their game tape.

The Bucs may have to subscribe if they want to do this. (NFL.com)

"It's crazy how much technology has changed the game," safety Cody Grimm said before the 2011 season started. "Back in the day, I think probably the whole team had to sit down with a projector and a reel, and watch the film together. They'd have the whole offense in the same meeting room. Now we all have our own iPad. Stuff that we used to come in here to see, we can sit on our couch at home and have access to it 24-7. It's awesome. It's convenient. It's fast. I was snacking out on the couch and watching some film, and realized I was, like, two quarters through [a] game already."

Morris is gone now, replaced by Greg Schiano. And while Schiano's new culture of accountability has been preached ad nauseam, there appears to be a few problems with the iPad idea at One Buc Place -- the players aren't charging and updating their tablets, and there might be a bit too much inappropriate web surfing going on. As a result, rookie linebacker Najee Goode recently said that he's been using only paper playbooks. From ex-Bucs running back Earnest Graham, via JoeBucsFan.com:

"I think the concept of the iPads was excellent but at times a bit too much for players and coaches alike. The problem was that at times guys would forget to charge them overnight or to update them when they came into the building because everything needed to download before meetings. That would cause problems. Also the fact that it's an unnecessary distraction with being able to access the Internet, games, and so on.

"I thought the idea was great but it was definitely more negatives than positives with a young team. I enjoyed being able to access the opposing teams' cut-ups and video of that day's practice, but in my opinion most guys did not use them. If you keep it simple and do your installations using your [paper] playbooks, you don't have to guess whether a guy is on Facebook or not. Based on that experience I would never use them if I went into coaching."

Well, that's a shame. There are benefits to going "old-school" in approach and demeanor, but NFL teams that decide against iPad usage for whatever reason (even stupid ones) could find themselves at a disadvantage as the game moves forward. More and more teams are embracing the technology -- Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning has remarked that the addition of iPads in his team's facility eliminates any excuse for lack of preparation (not that Manning would accept one, anyway), and Broncos head coach John Fox is behind the idea 100 percent.

"I think if you look around, the comfort level with young people now and particularly football players, they are pretty adept [with] it and understand it pretty well," Fox said in late May. "If it's been a growing experience, it's been for guys like me. I think everything is kind of moving in that direction and we're trying to save some of the trees, too."

"Actually, I do," Fox said, when asked if he already owned a personal iPad.

(Getty Images)

With camps opening up for all NFL teams this week, two teams acquired two interesting chips in trades on Monday. The Carolina Panthers acquired receiver Louis Murphy from the Oakland Raiders, and the New York Jets got offensive lineman Jeff Otah from the Panthers. Both players were traded for undisclosed conditional draft picks.

As first reported by Yahoo!'s Jason Cole, the Murphy trade gives Cam Newton a possible second target behind Steve Smith. Murphy was selected in the fourth round of the 2009 NFL draft out of Florida and put up some good stats in his first two years, but was made more redundant in 2011 by the ascent of speedsters Denarius Moore and Darrius Heyward-Bey. After grabbing 75 passes for 1,130 yards and six touchdowns total in 2009 and 2010, Murphy caught just 15 passes for 241 yards and no scores last year. Murphy is a bigger receiver (6-foot-2, 213 pounds) with decent speed and low catch rates cycling through a series of inconsistent quarterbacks.

Last year, Legedu Naanee was the Panthers' second-most prolific receiver with 44 catches for 467 yards and one touchdown, and Naanee is now with the Miami Dolphins. Just as Newton helped resuscitate Smith's career in 2011, there could be a big bounceback season in 2012 for Murphy.

(Getty Images)On Saturday morning, we brought you the news that Detroit Lions cornerback Aaron Berry was arrested for the second time in less than a month. Berry was charged with three counts of simple assault for allegedly pointing a gun at three people from a car. This happened less than one full day after Berry entered a diversion program for first-time offenders, based on a DUI arrest that happened after witnesses saw his BMW hit two parked cars.

Under the agreement, Berry was to perform 20-40 hours of community service in a six-month period and submit to an alcohol evaluation. What happens to that agreement after his most recent arrest is unclear, but one thing became very evident on Monday: Whatever Berry does from here on out, he won't be doing it as a member of the Lions, who released him on Monday.

"Detroit Lions General Manager Martin Mayhew today announced that the team has terminated the contract of CB Aaron Berry due to personal conduct which adversely affects the club," the team said in a statement. "'We have repeatedly stressed to everyone in our organization that there will be appropriate consequences when an expected standard of behavior is not upheld,' Lions President Tom Lewand said."

Berry's second arrest of the offseason was the seventh overall of a Lions player in the last few months, and came amidst growing concern that there's nobody in charge at Lions HQ. Defensive tackle Nick Fairley has been busted for DUI and marijuana possession in two separate incidents, running back Mikel Leshoure has two pot busts of his own, and offensive lineman Johnny Culbreath has one marijuana possession arrest of his own.

The Lions obviously can't release everyone on their team who has traipsed on the wrong side of the law this offseason -- Fairley is a first-round pick from 2011, and Leshoure is expected to be one of the team's primary backs in 2012. But the release of Berry is a pretty significant hit in a personnel sense -- with Eric Wright off to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Berry was expected to start at one cornerback position for a secondary that was a liability last season. Now, there will be a mish-mash through training camp and the preseason between five possible entrants: veterans Jacob Lacey and Alphonso Smith, as well as rookies Bill Bentley, Chris Greenwood and Jonte Green..

In June, and soon after one of Fairley's arrests, head coach Jim Schwartz addressed the overarching concern that the Lions were more about pure physical talent than off-the-field accountability.

[Related: Ten questions going into NFL training camps]

"Well there certainly is accountability, and that's always been the case, and there's a lot of different layers to that," Schwartz said. "There's a personal conduct policy, which is a league matter; there's team rules, there's team discipline; there's also a substance abuse program which is a league matter. So there's a lot of different layers to that discipline process, but I think what we have here is a case of a few guys tainting the reputations of a lot of others.

"We have 90 guys out here working, most of which are doing a very good job and working with a good goal in mind. But the actions of a few have affected the reputations of not just the other guys in the 90, but also the organization as a whole and that's not a good situation."

That's true to a degree, and it's unfortunate that more isn't made of guys like Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson, who have comported themselves with nothing but class through their careers. But you know how it is -- the squeaky wheel and all. And the Lions players who are living right are not at all happy about the reputation of the team.

"One Lions player told me just now: 'This s--- has to stop. We're becoming the laughing stock of not only the NFL but all of sports,'" CBS's Mike Freeman relayed on Monday.

Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien with his son. (Getty Images)

On Monday morning, NCAA President Mark Emmert stopped just short of dropping the death penalty on the Penn State football program, and instead implemented what could be thought of as a "cut everything off and leave them alive" penalty instead.

As has been reported just about everywhere, Emmert reacted to the Jerry Sandusky scandal and the corresponding Freeh Report by sending the strongest possible message: A four-year bowl ban, severe scholarship cuts over the same amount of time, a $60 million fine to be paid over five years that will fund an endowment to help the victims of child sex abuse, and the vacation of all Penn State wins from 1998-2011. If you care about such things (which I do not at this point), losing those wins takes Joe Paterno from the winningest all-time head coach in college football history and puts him out of the top 10 entirely.

In addition, Emmert ruled that any current Penn State player or signed recruit may leave the program without sanctions, and that schools who accept those transfers will receive eligibility waivers so that they will not have to immediately bump other scholarship athletes from their rosters. Basically, Emmert is allowing the rest of the NCAA to plunder Penn State's football team without let or hindrance.

[Dan Wetzel: NCAA sanctions will cripple Penn State for years]

These punishments are understandable, but in a much smaller and less important sense, the task left for current head coach Bill O'Brien just got even tougher than it was when the former New England Patriots offensive coordinator accepted the job as Paterno's official replacement on Jan. 6, 2012. To his credit -- after all, college coaches are supposed to be educators and builders of men, if you can say that with a straight face at this point -- O'Brien has already said in a statement that he's staying with Penn State, and that these obstacles will not change his mind.

Today we receive a very harsh penalty from the NCAA and as Head Coach of the Nittany Lions football program, I will do everything in my power to not only comply, but help guide the University forward to become a national leader in ethics, compliance and operational excellence. I knew when I accepted the position that there would be tough times ahead. But I am committed for the long term to Penn State and our student athletes.

I was then and I remain convinced that our student athletes are the best in the country. I could not be more proud to lead this team and these courageous and humble young men into the upcoming 2012 season. Together we are committed to building a better athletic program and university.

Good for O'Brien.

Chris Kuper, Ben Garland, and Jacob Tamme with Aurora shooting survivor Carey Rottman. (DenverBroncos.com)

It's difficult to know what to think, or what to do, in the wake of the theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., that led to 12 deaths and 58 injuries on Friday morning. Perhaps the best (and only) thing to do right now is to reach out to those in pain and in need. As much as they possibly could, that's what several Denver Broncos players did over the weekend. Seven current and former players visited the surviving injured at the Medical Center of Aurora, and as linebacker Joe Mays said, it was the players who walked out of there with their spirits uplifted.

"What we were trying to do was go in there, show support and try to put a smile on these peoples' faces. But the thing is, they put a smile on our faces," Mays told the Associated Press. "They had such positive attitudes. They knew they were blessed to live and they knew they were going to have another chance to walk about with their families."

Mays, receiver Eric Decker, offensive tackle Ryan Clady, offensive guard Chris Kuper, tight end Jacob Tamme and defensive tackle Ben Garland visited the survivors, retired safety Brian Dawkins went as well, and quarterback Peyton Manning touched base with four survivors by phone.

Kuper's story may have been the most interesting -- one of the survivors he met with, Carey Rottman, used to play college football for Winona State. Kuper's North Dakota team beat Winona State when Rottman was there, and Kuper discovered that the two had actually played against each other.

Tamme was affected enough by the visit to send detailed recaps via his Twitter account:

"Wow. I've got to tell ya, that visit was simply incredible. Had no idea what to expect walking in those doors. But the staff, victims, & families were so impressive. The loss of life is so tragic, but the spirit, resolve, & gratitude in that hospital was just awesome. So many amazing stories of heroism.

"A man shot in the leg telling the story of the 17 year old girl who stopped as others ran by & used her belt as a tourniquet on his leg. Nurses bragging on doctors, & doctors bragging on nurses. One doctor had no time to wait for an OR & began surgery in middle of the ER. Another victim and his friend jumped on the friends wife, and he took a bullet in the arm and leg. Met all 3 of them. Just incredible.

"Still some in critical condition, but amid all the chaos at Aurora Medical that morning, no loss of life … Bottom line, this is still a tragic story due to the awful loss of life. But it was great to see these folks who showed such courage. and, for a couple hrs in that hospital, no one spoke about a madman, but instead they told the stories that give u faith in humanity."

What is Matt Millen thinking right now? Your guess is as good as ours. (Getty Images)

Millen doesn't have a clue? You don't say! Apparently, someone needed to tell ESPN that Matt Millen will generally enter a situation ill-prepared and ready to embarrass himself. So ... nobody at the Worldwide Leader remembers Millen's seven-year tenure as the team president and CEO of the Detroit Lions, when he engineered the worst record in the history of the modern NFL (31-97). Nor does ESPN seem to watch any of Millen's inexplicable turns in the booth, where he spouts meaningless goofball stuff like a low-rent John Madden. Nope.

When it came to getting Millen's opinion of his former coach, Joe Paterno, in the wake of the Freeh Report ... well, let's just say that the network's traditional "car wash" treatment didn't go well. From Poynter, ESPN's current ombudsman, via the Detroit Free Press:

"We thought analyst and Penn State alum Matt Millen was miscast. His difficulty coming to grips with the implications of the Freeh report for Paterno's legacy and Penn State's culture was painful to watch. ...

"Although acknowledging that Paterno had flaws and made mistakes, Millen repeatedly tried to deflect blame to former Penn State president Graham Spanier, and he struggled to articulate his points."

Poynter went on to blame ESPN's producers significantly, saying that Millen was too close to the situation and hadn't had time to digest the report. Of course, what amount of time it would take a man who thinks there's a single safety in Cover-2 to digest a report as complicated as this is open to debate, but we agree. Blaming Millen for pooping all over himself when asked to be coherent on the fly is like blaming your toddler for his inability to drive your pickup truck.

Santonio Holmes, PR Director: According to the New York Jets receiver, if you want to cover his team, you'd best be on the right side. In a recent appearance on Dave Dameshek's NFL.com podcast, Holmes laid it all out for the ink-stained wretches who cover the Jets.

(Getty Images)On Saturday morning, Detroit Lions cornerback Aaron Berry was arrested on three charges of simple assault for an incident in which he allegedly brandished a firearm. It is Berry's second arrest in less than a month, the seventh arrest of a Lions player since the 2012 offseason began, and the 29th police incident involving an NFL player since the confetti came down on Super Bowl XVLI on the evening of Feb. 5.

"We are extremely disappointed by the reports involving Aaron Berry," the team said in a statement that it should be able to copy/paste and find/replace in Word by this point. "We are currently gathering more information and will have further comment when appropriate."

The Detroit Free Press' Dave Birkett, who first reported the news, was told that Berry was taken into custody at around 2:30 a.m. ET, and was no longer at the holding facility when the conversation took place.

"Obviously, I'm limited in what I can provide because it's a pending investigation," Birkett was told by an individual at the Harrisburg Police Department identifying himself as Cpl. Gautsch (Birkett noted that a Cpl. Kyle Gautsch works for the department.) "It looks like he was charged with three counts of simple assault and there was a firearm involved. Any other information would have to be disclosed by our press-release guy."

Berry was also arrested last month on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, and other charges, after witnesses claimed that his BMW hit two parked cars. On Friday, Berry entered a diversion program for first-time offenders. Under the agreement, he is to perform 20-40 hours of community service in a six-month period and submit to an alcohol evaluation.

Obviously, circumstances have changed.

In this exclusive video shot at the new Performance Gaines facility in Los Angeles, Shutdown Corner catches up with Jay Glazer of The NFL on FOX as he shows NFL players the benefits of MMA training. First, Jay talks about the specific advantages football players gain with this kind of work. Then, some hammer-fist drills and pass-rush exercises with linebackers Kirk Morrison, Akeem Ayers, and Brian Banks.

Jay then talks about the challenge of getting Banks up to the NFL level, and we see the linebackers going through some more specific pass-rushing exercises (NSFW warning: There's one F-bomb at the 8:22 mark during the training session).

Running back Ryan Grant (a big supporter of the idea of MMA training in football) weighs on how it's helped him, and we finish off with Jay discussing his new partnership with trainer Travelle Gaines, and what Roger Goodell thinks of all this stuff.

More Performance Gaines Videos:
Taking the nest step with Ryan Mathews
Travelle Gaines and Akeem Ayers