"Any player who misses more than three days of camp is taking a serious risk," said Gil Brandt, long-time personnel director for the Cowboys who now is an analyst with NFL.com. "What rookies see at OTAs and minicamps doesn't compare to what they see at training camp. Everything is accelerated 100 percent.
"Historically, rookie holdouts have a hard time playing well and they often suffer injuries after they show up."
With camps opening around the league and dozens of top draft picks still unsigned, here is a look at the top seven unsigned rookies who least can afford a lengthy holdout:
B.J. Raji, NT, Packers. This is another team switching to a 3-4 scheme. They want to plug in Raji as a run stopper at nose tackle. Green Bay's offense looks potent on paper, but their run defense was shredded like paper last season, ranking 26th in the league.
Will Raji make a difference? It very well could depend on when he reports to training camp.
"porky88" wrote: