NFC North Notes: Bears, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Bears

Bears HC Matt Nagy said having three different running backs with diverse skillsets in David Montgomery, Tarik Cohen and Mike Davis will help the offense. 

“It gives you options,” Nagy said via Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune. “They’re all weapons. They can play on every down. You feel good about where they’re at, and as coaches we’ve got to figure out exactly what (they’re best at), and then there’s only so many touches, so we have to balance that. And that is the difficult part, but it’s a lot easier to do when you have these types of guys with different strengths.”

Even though wide receiver wasn’t an obvious need, GM Ryan Pace was drawn to WR Riley Ridley‘s route running ability. 

“There are certain route runners that just know how to set guys up,” Pace said. “He has a savviness to him to know how to set guys up. For as big as he is, he knows how to drop his weight and quickly get out of break points. So when you’re watching him, you consistently see him separating from man coverage.”

• Undrafted free agent TE Dax Raymond received a $15,000 signing bonus and $30,000 base salary from the Bears. (Brad Biggs)
• Undrafted free agent OL Alex Bars received a $5,000 signing bonus and a $35,000 base salary from the Bears.
• Undrafted free agent TE Ian Bunting received a $5,000 signing bonus and a $10,000 base salary from the Bears.

Lions

• According to Kyle Meinke, Lions LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin, TE Michael Roberts, CB Teez Tabor and S Tavon Wilson are in danger of not making the roster following some of the Lions’ additions in the draft. 

Packers

• The Packers gave undrafted free agent DE Greg Roberts a $7,000 signing bonus and $65,000 in guaranteed base salary. (Aaron Wilson)
• Packers waived G Nico Siragusa and S Jason Thompson. (NFLTR)

Vikings

Vikings GM Rick Spielman downplayed any interest the team received about trading for veterans on their roster like TE Kyle Rudolph or CBs Trae Waynes and Xavier Rhodes. 

“No, not really, no,” Spielman said via Pro Football Talk. “I would say we didn’t. As I said, most of our day was honed in on this. Most of the calls were us either trying to move up or teams calling us for us to move back. But we had an opportunity, a couple opportunities to move back again, but I said we’re going to run out of players on our board. We should have enough to get what we need to get done.”

• According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling, the Vikings could approachRudolph about a pay cut or restructure in order to clear cap space to sign their rookie class. 
• The Vikings gave undrafted free agent S Micah Abernathy a $10,000 signing bonus and $25,000 in guaranteed base salary. (Chris Tomasson)