NFC North Notes: Lions, Packers, Vikings

Lions

On Monday, the Lions officially activated franchise DE Ziggy Ansah from the PUP list (NFLTR).

Ansah made it clear that he isn’t worried about his contract situation moving forward.

“This is like over with,” Ansah said, via the Detroit Free Press. “I’m just happy to be here. That’s what’s most important, to come out here and keep improving. … The contract, it’s done. I know that I’m here for this year at least. Like I said, the future is going to take care of itself.”

We have him featured in our Top 25 – 2019 NFL Free Agents list.

Packers

• Packers WR Randall Cobb was able to return to practice on Monday after miss the team’s Friday practice to rest his sore/surgically repaired ankle. (Rob Demovsky)
• Regarding LT David Bakhtiari‘s left-ankle injury, Packers HC Mike McCarthy said: “It’s not of the long-term nature, so we’ll see how he goes through the rehab.” (Rob Demovsky)
• Bakhtiari said of his sprained ankle: “I mean honestly the best way to describe it is kind of the typical basketball sprained ankle. You kind of see them go down and they just kind of roll over them. That’s kind of what happened.” (Michael Cohen)

Vikings

Vikings HC Mike Zimmer mentioned during an interview with Sirius XM NFL Radio that he always thought Teddy Bridgewater was going to be his quarterback for the rest of his career, but he now hopes Kirk Cousins will fill that role.

“I always thought Teddy was going to be my quarterback for my career and these are the way things go,” Zimmer said. “Now, I hope that Kirk is the quarterback for my career … and (that) it’s long, too. Not one year.”

Regarding Cousins, Zimmer said his accuracy really stood out to them in terms of making tight-window throws.

“Part of it was his accuracy,” Zimmer said. “He threw the ball into a lot of tight windows and we’re seeing that here in camp. Very consistent in the things he was able to do. So I think that was part of it.

“You know, not too many times is a quarterback that’s really entering his prime at 28 get out on the free-agency market that’s thrown for 4,000 for three straight years. I think he’s my fifth quarterback in five years, so I’m hoping we’ve stabilized the quarterback position. He’s come in and done a great job.”

• Courtney Cornin reports that Vikings C Nick Easton will seek a second opinion this week for neck and back injuries.