NFC Notes: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Dalvin Cook, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown is hoping that Detroit can improve once again this coming season and make their way into the playoffs. 

“I know we won a few games last year, we finished pretty strong, but man, I want to go to the playoffs bad,” St. Brown told Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I feel like Detroit as a city, they want it so bad. I feel like as a team we want it badly. I feel like we got the guys to do it, so I’m just excited to start winning games consistently, week in and week out.”

“We had a pretty decent offense last year,” St. Brown added. “Obviously, you want to be No. 1 in every category, so I think that’s what we’re striving for as an offense. Obviously, No. 1 in total yards per game, and total scoring offense, we want to be No. 1 in all those categories. Not turning the ball over. I think we did a pretty good job of that last season, but you can always improve. So I think honestly, I think if you ask Ben, his goal would be to be No. 1 in all categories and that’s my goal, too. I think that’s everyone’s goal on offense because we know we can do it.”

St. Brown is also looking forward to being paired with a fully-healthy WR Jameson Williams.

“I can’t wait to see Jamo fully getting a whole offseason under his belt, being able to work with all of us,” St. Brown said. “I can’t wait to see what he does. I’ve seen it in practice. I know what he can do. It’s just a matter of everything just lining up. He came off that knee, threw him in toward the end of the season, so just him getting a whole offseason under his belt, being able to work out, train how he’s used to training. I think the sky’s the limit for him. I can’t wait to see what he does. I know he’s for sure going to stretch that defense so hopefully underneath routes will be much more open, but I can’t wait to see what he does on the field.”

Packers

• According to Aaron Wilson, the Packers hosted Northern Illinois WR Cole Taylor for a visit on Friday. 
• The Packers had a virtual meeting with Maryland OT Jaelyn Duncan, per Aaron Wilson.

Vikings

• Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said that the team would like to groom a quarterback behind QB Kirk Cousins, but doesn’t know if they need to push the envelop on doing so in April’s draft: “Ideally, you probably would want to have a year to have the person in the building. (But) I don’t know if that’s necessary.” (Kevin Seifert)
• Adofo-Mensah didn’t commit to RB Dalvin Cook being on the roster this year: “Conversations are always ongoing with him. We’re trying to be solutions-oriented and always try to put the roster together within our constraints.” (Seifert)
• Adofo-Mensah said RB Alexander Mattison‘s contract has nothing to do with Cook’s situation: “In theory I think they could exist, of course.” (Seifert)
• Vikings LB Za’Darius Smith is in the same situation as Cook: “He was a great member of our team last year and we’ll keep the conversation ongoing.” (Seifert)