Add the voice of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith to those decrying the increasing use of stats to evaluate football performance. Usually, it's former head coaches unhappy about the numbers (used, as they sometimes are, to help describe why said former head coaches lost their jobs), but in Smith's case, he's tired of the stats despite his 2011 season, in which he finally played with some of the efficiency and consistency expected of the first overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft.

When asked before the 49ers' divisional playoff win over the New Orleans Saints if he might someday throw for more yards in a season than Drew Brees, or some of the NFL's other more high-octane quarterbacks, Smith was quite defiant.

"I really don't care," Smith said. "I'm looking to outscore him. He can throw for as many yards as he wants."

So there! The 49ers did indeed outscore the Saints on their way to a close NFC championship loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants, and in the 2012 season, more will certainly be expected of Smith. He played the caretaker role for Jim Harbaugh in 2011, throwing just five interceptions and helping San Francisco's unflashy-but-effective offense as the 49ers shocked the league with a 13-3 record. He also had career highs in pass attempts (445), completions, (273), passing yards (3,144), and his second-highest touchdown total (17). Now, Smith is being asked if he's ready to bust out with bigger numbers ... and the answer is, he really doesn't care.

"I could absolutely care less on yards per game," Smith told Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday. "I think that is a totally overblown stat because if you're losing games in the second half, guess what, you're like the Carolina Panthers and you're going no-huddle the entire second half. Yeah, Cam Newton threw for a lot of 300-yard games. That's great. You're not winning, though."

Well, hold on there, Huckleberry! Cam Newton smashed many of the NFL's rookie passing records in 2011, and I would argue that he did do a lot of winning -- he took the worst team in the league and helped pull it to a six-win season. Now, the Panthers are rightfully seen as a fringe playoff contender, and Newton is the primary reason. In fact, it could be argued that Newton did everything Smith could not in 2005 -- take a horrible team to the next level with his own play as the first pick in the draft.

It's a bit easier for Smith to say these things now, buttressed as he is by a dynamic rushing attack and supported by one of the NFL's best defenses. Joe Flacco has tried that whole "I'm just winning" thing as well, but he's very much in Smith's camp -- aided severely by his defense and running game.

Total yards may not matter, but can Smith become the kind of quarterback capable of transcending the average and putting a team on his back? That's the real question for any quarterback looking to find that mysterious "elite."

"We're up in the third and fourth quarter and naturally you're going to be in four-minute offense," Smith said of the wisdom behind the 49ers' more conservative game plan. "You're going to be grinding it out. You're going to be running the ball a lot more and you're not going to have as many 300-yard passing games."

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The Monday morning news came straight from the mouth of Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Kellen Winslow when he told Ross Tucker of SIRIUS NFL Radio that his current team was looking to trade him -- and if that didn't work out, a release could be imminent.

"It's kind of shocking, but that's what it is," Winslow said. "He [referring to head coach Greg Schiano] said he was upset that I wasn't working out with the team in the offseason, and then, the first week of OTAs. But, look -- I've been there the last three years, and I've had a successful career so far, and you just don't get rid of one of your best players because of that. That's just what I was told, but I have nothing bad to say about coach Schiano -- it was just a disagreement on why I'm not there yet. I was training in San Diego, and I was going to start [in OTAs with the team] today, but I got the call on Saturday that they're looking for somebody else."

Winslow was especially surprised, given his claim that he has participated in a team event before in this preseason. "There was a previous minicamp -- I went to that. It was a three-day minicamp and then, I came back down to San Diego to train, and I was going to start [back with the team] today."

According to Winslow, he flew cross-country from San Diego to Tampa to hear that he was going to be gone. "They tried to catch me before I left, but that didn't work out."

So, there it is. The Bucs were apparently trying to swing a trade with the Bears involving Winslow a while back, but that never came to fruition. We know that Schiano has said a great many things about creating a new culture of accountability and responsibility for the Bucs (how he does that with a straight face after the circumstances surrounding the Butch Davis hire is another matter), but the plan to just jettison Winslow is a curious one, at best.

Winslow regressed in 2011, but he did so along with the rest of the Buccaneers' offense, and he played often despite a balky right knee weakened from six different surgeries through his career. In October, he leaped over New Orleans Saints cornerback Jabari Greer in a move that showed that he still has at least enough athleticism to help any team that's weak at the tight end position ... like the Buccaneers after Saturday night. Luke Stocker and Chase Coffman are now the relatively unproven incumbents.

"Honestly, I don't even know where that came from," Winslow said after a 26-20 Bucs win in which he caught five passes. "I didn't know I could do that anymore. I'm on one leg out there, but it's all about helping your team out there. You can hurt later."

Does that sound like a malingerer to you? Look -- Winslow has clearly gone through his share of off-field issues, and he's been tagged as a "character risk" as a result. But it isn't as if he's been "lollygagging around the field," to paraphrase the skipper in "Bull Durham."

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Any website can post "offseason grades" for NFL teams, mixing the draft and free agency into transaction soup, then straining it through the mind of some sportswriter who doesn't know who half the players are. Only the Shutdown Corner has the resources to get actual players, coaches, and executives from each team to evaluate their own offseasons! That's right: over the next few weeks, you will get transaction evaluations straight from the horse's mouths: straight talk about who was signed, who was lost, who was drafted, and why.

(For the satirically challenged: all player, coach, and executive remarks are made by an impersonator).

In this segment, former Chiefs coach Todd Haley breaks down the offseason moves of the team that fired him at the end of last season. We have a bad feeling about this.

TODD HALEY: Wash your windshield, mister?

I don't scrub windshields for the money. I have a coaching job now as offensive coordinator for the Steelers. I carry this slop bucket because I like it. It's comforting to wash windows while the mad clown stares at me with his dead, gray eyes, whispering razor truths mortals dare not speak aloud, truths that pierce flesh and cut an inky scarlet line against the throat of the he-goat …

Sorry, my thoughts meander sometimes. The Chiefs had a productive offseason. At the skill positions, they added Peyton Hillis to a running back committee that already includes Dexter McCluster and Jamaal Charles, who is ahead of schedule rehabbing his knee injury. Kevin Boss joins Tony Moeaki, also on schedule to return from a knee injury, to give the Chiefs two tight ends who can block and catch. Two rookie wide receivers, Devon Wylie and Junior Hemingway, will provide extra depth behind Dwayne Bowe, Steve Breaston and last year's top pick Jonathan Baldwin, who started to come on late in the season. Matt Cassel, yet another player who missed much of last season with injuries, won't have to worry about throwing to the likes of Keary Colbert or Anthony Becht.

That's right, everyone gets to come back to Kansas City but me, the guy who got blamed for not being able to build an offense around Tyler Palko and Terrance Copper, while the dead-eyed clown stares back at me from the mirror and cackles. "You ever played cornhole with the devil, son?" he asks, his raspy voice a rusty hypodermic needle scraping gutter concrete. "He don't use no beanbags, boy." And that he-goat just brays and brays like he sees the end coming and don't know whether to fight it or welcome it.

Moving on to the defense, Dontari Poe was one of the most physically gifted specimens in this year's draft class. The Chiefs have a bad habit of striking out with big defensive tackles, from Ryan Sims to Glenn Dorsey, so my former assistant Romeo Crennel will have to be careful about Poe's development and role if he doesn't want Poe to become an overpriced space-eater the greasepaint smears and the sharpened steel glints in the pickup truck headlights behind the barnyard. The loss of Brandon Carr is going to hurt at cornerback, because Stanford Routt is an adequate No. 2 corner behind Brandon Flowers. But the defense will be better if it is not  on the field as often, and when the muffled brays fade to pitch-black silence, vengeful darkness sated all-too-briefly by the still-quivering sacrifice.

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Any website can post "offseason grades" for NFL teams, mixing the draft and free agency into transaction soup, then straining it through the mind of some sportswriter who doesn't know who half the players are. Only the Shutdown Corner has the resources to get actual players, coaches, and executives from each team to evaluate their own offseasons! That's right: over the next few weeks, you will get transaction evaluations straight from the horse's mouths: straight talk about who was signed, who was lost, who was drafted, and why.

(For the satirically challenged: all player, coach, and executive remarks are made by an impersonator).

In this segment, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll breaks down his team's offseason moves.

PETE CARROLL: What an awesome day! The sun is shining! The birds are chirping! Let me give a shout out to all the folks at The Circle Perk coffee shop for working so hard to keep all of us energized! And to all the crossing guards making sure kids get to school safely! And to the Seattle-area sewer workers: you guys are the thin line that separates good citizens from their own filth, and I cannot thank you enough!

Fans really need to get amped about our three-way quarterback battle. The front-runner is Matt Flynn, who got America totally stoked in that awesome Packers-Lions game in Week 17. Next, there's rookie Russell Wilson, who is short but fiery. Isn't that right, Russell?

RUSSELL WILSON: Grrrrrr...

PETE CARROLL: I love this kid! He's like a feral cat! And finally, there's Tarvaris Jackson, the Taylor Hicks of NFL quarterbacks. You don't like him, you keep expecting him to lose, and then bang! He finds a way to win a starting job, if not many games.

But enough about the offense. Let's talk defense!! We are going to have one of the best front sevens in the NFL!! Defensive tackle Jason Jones had a great, if quiet, season for the Titans last year. First-round pick Bruce Irvin may have seemed like a reach, but that is only because West Virginia had this crazy idea that a 245-pound speedster was a good fit at defensive end. I like my defensive ends Red Bryant-sized! When I am not being enthusiastic about everything, you can find me in my office drawing up creative defenses, and Irvin is going to be everywhere the offense doesn't expect him to be!!!

Irvin and Wilson had awesome rookie camps. In fact, all of the rookies had awesome camps, as did our parking lot attendants and the people who work so hard to make sure the office wastebaskets are clean enough to guzzle energy drink out of!! Let me dedicate my Song of the Day to the rookies: "Dog Days are Over" by Florence + the Machine! That's right: I'm a 60-year old man who listens to Florence + the Machine!!! Nicky Minaj, too! And don't forget Ke$ha, who is tiny and has a nasty attitude, just like Russell Wilson!!!

RUSSELL WILSON: Grrrr…

PETE CARROLL: Excellent growling, buddy!!

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Any website can post "offseason grades" for NFL teams, mixing the draft and free agency into transaction soup, then straining it through the mind of some sportswriter who doesn't know who half the players are. Only the Shutdown Corner has the resources to get actual players, coaches, and executives from each team to evaluate their own offseasons! That's right: over the next few weeks, you will get transaction evaluations straight from the horse's mouths: straight talk about who was signed, who was lost, who was drafted, and why.

(For the satirically challenged: all player, coach, and executive remarks are made by an impersonator).

In this segment, Cardinals quarterback (at least for now) Kevin Kolb breaks down the Arizona Cardinals' offseason moves.

KEVIN KOLB: Howdy folks. Don't mind me. I'm just tyin' a few flies, polishin' up the outboard motor, gettin' ready to hit the lake. Goin' fishin' right after we're done. It won't take long, 'cuz the Cardinals didn't do much this offseason.

We didn't get a new quarterback for one thing. Sure, the team chased Peyton Manning, but that was one big river bass with a lot of fight in him. So the quarterback job is mine to lose. And don't you worry, I'm gonna lose it.

It's not that John Skelton is any better than me: he may have led just as many fourth-quarter comebacks as Tim Tebow last year (four), but only city slickers and TV blowhards in fancy suits pay attention to those cow chips. I just have no idea what to do in the pocket. So the third or fourth time I roll to my right and get dragged down by Aldon Smith or somebody, Coach Whisenhunt's gonna decide it's time to cut some fresh bait.

I know Larry Fitzgerald's happy about our new second receiver, Malcolm Floyd. Floyd liked to hit the honky-tonks in college, but he's a big guy, and when he wants to be, he can be as fast as a boar gettin' flushed by three hound dogs.

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If you're the type of person who's already interested in the line for the Week 8 game between the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers -- and, let's face it; you're on Shutdown Corner on a Wednesday afternoon four months from the start of the season, so we know the answer -- then you may want to clear the next 20 minutes.

Cantor Gaming, a company that runs a number of Las Vegas sportsbooks, has released lines for every NFL game through Week 16 of the 2012 NFL season. Want to bet on the Lions-49ers rematch? Hoping to get on the RGIII bandwagon early? Eager to throw some money on your favorite team to win after their bye week? Desperate to find another way to lose your paycheck in Vegas? You're in luck, my degenerate friends.

What do the odds show? Vegas loves the Philadelphia Eagles, has no idea what to do with Peyton Manning's Denver Broncos, wavers on the decimated New Orleans Saints and is fairly certain how Mike Mularkey's first season in Jacksonville is going to go. The season spreads contain few surprises -- the Indianapolis Colts are expected to be bad, the Green Bay Packers are expected to be good -- but are a good way to kill some time during the NFL's May doldrums.

A week-by-week selection of the most interesting lines (via Covers.com):

Week 2

Detroit Lions (+3.5) at San Francisco 49ers

Week 3

New York Giants (PK) at Carolina Panthers

Week 4

New York Giants (+4) at Philadelphia Eagles

Week 5

Green Bay Packers (+9.5) at Indianapolis Colts

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Two things stand out looking at the 10 best rookie quarterback seasons in modern (post-merger) NFL history: one, that there aren't very many great ones; and two, that most of those are recent. If the trend continues, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III  could wind up positioned well on lists like this one in the future.

For now, though, here's who they're chasing. These are the quarterbacks who have gotten off to great starts.

10. Vince Young (Tennessee Titans, 2006)
Vince Young won't appear on many lists of tremendous quarterbacking accomplishments, but he does squeeze onto this one. VY went 8-5 as a starter as a rookie, and just finished on the wrong side of the TD/INT ratio, with 12/13. That doesn't set the world on fire, but for a rookie, it's at least decent. Young's legs added a ton of value, giving the Titans an extra 552 rushing yards and seven rushing TDs.

9. Sam Bradford (St. Louis Rams, 2010)
Bradford threw the ball an insane 590 times as a rookie, trailing only Peyton Manning and Drew Brees in attempts in 2010. And he completed 60 percent of those, which is a plateau not often reached by rookie QBs. It also feels like it's worth pointing out that the top two receivers on that 2010 Rams team were Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson. That ups the degree of difficulty significantly.

[Related: The best skits from Eli Manning's 'Saturday Night Live' gig]

8. Joe Flacco (Baltimore Ravens, 2008)
All Joe Flacco did in his rookie year was compile a record of 11-5 and lead the Ravens to the AFC Championship game. He also hit the 60 percent completion mark, and had more TDs than interceptions, and ended up being named the Rookie of the Year. The only blip was in Baltimore's last game of the season, the AFC championship game in Pittsburgh, which is not an ideal scenario for a rookie QB. Pittsburgh killed him, forcing him into a 13-of-30, 0 TD, 3 INT performance.

7. Andy Dalton (Cincinnati Bengals, 2011)
Dalton was perhaps overshadowed a bit by Cam Newton, but you could argue that he was just as good, especially if you're into the "Quarterback Wins" statistic. Even without it, though, Dalton was formidable: 3,398 yards, with 20 TDs against just 13 INTs. And before the season, most people expected the Bengals to be just horrific. They exceeded all expectations and made the playoffs, due in large part to Dalton's steady play.

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• Twenty-eight-year-old Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden has declared himself ready to start in the NFL. This, despite the fact that he's never before actually faced an NFL defense. In a related story, I am ready to singlehandedly conquer the Lesser Antilles.

• Sticking with the Browns for a second, 44.54 percent of Browns fans are extremely optimistic people.

• Here's a reminder that Jonathan Vilma has actually been accused to accepting money for knocking players out of games before: at Miami, with the money coming from Nevin Shapiro.

• Five reasons to be optimistic that the Chargers can have a better defense in 2012 than they had in 2011.

• Drayton Florence, a starter at cornerback last year for the Buffalo Bills, was released. With the Bills drafting Stephon Gilmore, he became expendable.

• DeMarco Murray says the ankle he broke late last year is fine.

• Darrell Green's son, Jared, is getting a look from the Carolina Panthers.

38: Jacksonville Jaguars -- Andre Branch, DE, Clemson -- A natural pass-rusher with some ability in space, Branch will provide the Jags with some much-needed edge pressre.

39: St. Louis Rams -- Janoris Jenkins, CB, North Alabama -- Jeff Fisher has never shied away from athletic marvels with character issues, and the Rams now have a very interesting buddy for Cortland Finnegan in their defensive backfield. Jenkins raised a bunch of red flags after getting kicked off the Florida team, but even a cursory look at his tape will tell you how good he can be -- if he gets his head together.

[Related: Rams land next T.O. in Brian Quick following secret trip]

40: Carolina Panthers -- Amini Silatolu, OL, Midwestern State -- Silatolu's potential was the sole province of various tape geeks until he started mashing it up at the Senior Bowl. With a big-boy offense like Carolina's, he could stick outside at tackle, or kick inside and become an elite guard.

41: Buffalo Bills - Cordy Glenn, OT, Georgia -- Another big lineman who can do a lot of things. In Chan Gailey's offense, he might be a move guard, but his best fir is as an offensive tackle in a roll-right system. A good front-side pass blocker with surprising agility for his size.

42: Miami Dolphins - Jonathan Martin, OT, Stanford -- The run on O-linemen continues with a guy who needs a conservative offense with heavy tight-end sets. He'll be well-coached as he was in college, but I really question whether he has the functional agility at left tackle, and his root strength on the right side.

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How old is Cleveland Browns first-round draft pick Brandon Weeden? Let us count the ways:

• At 28 years, 195 days, he became the oldest player ever taken in the first round of the modern NFL draft.

• He's 48 days older than Aaron Rodgers.

• He's two years older than JaMarcus Russell.

• The man he'll battle for the starting role in Cleveland, Colt McCoy, is entering his third season in the NFL. Weedon was born three years earlier than McCoy.

• He was selected in the same MLB draft as Prince Fielder, Zack Greinke, Cole Hamels, Curtis Granderson and one of the main characters from "Moneyball."

• Will soon be celebrating his 10-year high school reunion.

• Almost definitely used a Walkman when at said high school.

Weeden was selected with the No. 22 pick by the Browns. He'll join third-overall pick Trent Richardson as rookies likely tasked with getting Cleveland back to the playoffs for the first time since 2002. Weeden is expected to enter training camp as the team's starting quarterback, especially in light of recent quotes from Browns GM Tom Heckert in which he said the team would consider trading McCoy.

The Oklahoma State quarterback didn't make our list of the 50 best draft prospects, but he earned praise from scouts for his quick release and accuracy.

Browns fans scared off by Weeden's age can take solace in one fact: He's not as old as Chris Weinke was when he was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in 2001. The Florida State quarterback was older than Weeden by three months, but went in the fourth round, not the first.