It's the best time of year for most of the NFC North. Meh corners are being replaced by short ones. The trenches are beefing up. And the Bears are the winners! Let's discuss what the inferior teams did this year
Vikings
We'll start with the Vikings who went HAM, which could've been expected thanks to their hoard of salary cap space and lack of draft picks. They focused on the lines.
On the defensive line, Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, two former all stars who will likely average one good game per week between them. Allen and Hargrave were both game changers in their day but are now aged and overpriced. Allen was the 119th ranked DT by PFF last season and Hargrave was 73rd. They were both far worse against the run. They probably can't play at the same time unless it's a very obvious pass down. These are big names but it's hard to make an argument that they're going to have a massive impact on the defense.
The offensive line signings were better, sort of. Will Fries was signed to a 5-year $88mm deal at guard. Fries has only had one full season as a start and missed most of last year with a fractured tibia. He did have a great PFF grade, thanks to his run blocking prowess, when he did play last year. Even if he regresses from that, he'll be far better than what the Vikings threw out there last year. Former Colt Ryan Kelly will accompany Fries on the interior o-line as center. Kelly has had a solid career but this will be his age 32 season.
The final focus area was the secondary. The signed Isaiah Rodgers, known for betting on football when he was with the Colts and being bad when he was with the Eagles and brought back Harrison Smith and Byron Murphy. The big move here was bringing back Murphy who the Vikings bet on last year and who may have been the best corner in free agency if he had been allowed to negotiate with other teams. Rodgers is JAG and Smith was born in the 80's but Murphy changes this defense with his ability.
Worth noting that the Vikings, sadly, also brought back Aaron Jones on a two-year $20mm deal and that, as I write this, Aaron Rodgers may be headed there as well. Rodgers signing with the Vikings and destroying their culture is a best case scenario.
Bears
The Bears got to an early start trading for Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney. We wrote about those moves last week and how both are sort of lottery tickets. Jackson is injury prone and Thuney is old but both are good players. Drew Dalman joined the fray in free agency.
The former Falcons center is considered undersized for a center. That means he would probably be the largest human you have ever seen in person but he would probably struggle to block someone who weighs 375 pounds. Dalman has been a pretty consistently good center for four seasons, especially when blocking in the zone run game, which Ben Johnson majors in.
These three moves are ones we see from the Bears every year, they always have a lot of needs and they sign someone who looks great on paper but there's always something weird about them or wrong with them. Maybe Johnson is finally the genius coach to turn the franchise around and get the most out of these guys.
They also added a couple of defensive lineman. Dayo Odeyingbo from the Colts was paid $4mm per year for every sack he had last year. Odeyingbo is an undersized interior rusher who will probably play on the edge for the Bears. To be fair he does have to traditional Dennis Allen traits for an edge and I won't be surprised if he's good but it's hilarious to give someone with four sacks last year a $48mm contract. How can you see that the Bears did that and not just assume it's insane.
Grady Jarrett was the other d-lineman signing. This draft is supposed to be the best for interior defensive line in years, so of course the inferior NFC North teams loaded up on washed overpriced tackles. Jarrett was a great player in Atlanta but his last truly impactful pro bowl level season was in 2020. The Packers were starting Kinglsey Keke back then.
Lions
It's sad to admit that the Lions didn't really need to make many free agent signings. They have a strong roster. They brought back a bunch of guys including Levi Onwuzirike and Marcus Davenport but the most noteworthy move was a head scratching swap at corner.
Under Aaron Glenn, the Lions wanted to play press man and last off-season they traded for Carlton Davis to do that. Davis was meh and then got hurt but he was good enough pre-Lions to warrant a $60mm contract from the Pats. The Lions may have been able to match that, but they chose to replace Davis with 5'9" DJ Reed instead.
Reed has had an up and down career. He was fairly average for four years with the 49ers and Seahawks, the best second corner in the league playing quarters for Bob Saleh and then average again last year. The Lions are betting that he'll be more of the Saleh-era Reed next season but it's definitely interesting to note that they may intend to move off the press-man heavy scheme.
The final Lions tidbit is that they brought Derrick Barnes back on a three-year 25.5mm deal. Part of Packers twitter was in hysterics when they re-signed their just OK number three linebacker to a two-year $8mm deal last week. Brad Holmes saw that angst and said hold my beer.
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE.
__________________________
Mike Price is a lifelong Packers fan who recently moved form Utah to Stoughton (a Madison suberb). You can follow him on twitter at @themikeprice.
__________________________
NFL Categories:
Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
NFC North