NFC Notes: Bears, Buccaneers, Seahawks

Bears

Earlier this offseason, Bears TE Dion Sims came up as a potential cap casualty for the Bears, who signed Trey Burton to a four-year, $32 million contract.

However, Sims is still with the team and new Bears HC Matt Nagy says he remains “a valuable piece of this puzzle.”

“The nice thing with Dion is that he’s a guy that’s proven to be a solid blocker,” Nagy said, via NBC Chicago. “He can be in there and be your Y-tight end, but yet he still has really good hands. He can make plays on intermediate routes. He’s not going to be anybody that’s a downfield threat — I think he knows that, we all know that — but he’s a valuable piece of this puzzle.”

Even with the talk that he could be cut, Sims says he always expected to remain in Chicago.

“In my mind, I thought I was coming back,” Sims said. “I signed to be here three years and that’s what I expect. But I understand how things go and my job is come out here and work hard every day and play with a chip on my shoulder to prove myself and just be a team guy.”

Buccaneers

Buccaneers GM Jason Licht said during a recent interview with WDAE-AM 620 that he believes they can make a “dramatic change” this season after what was a disappointing 2017 season.

“You take a deep dive into last year and into the season, and we have some great quality players and some guys that represent those traits that we’re talking about with, I don’t want to leave anybody off, but Lavonte, Kwon, Ali, Mike Evans, Jameis, you know we’ve got a lot,” Licht said, via JoeBucsFan.com. “And these guys fought hard through the season and competed hard to the end. And we were in these games at the end of the season, I was very proud of the way they fought. However, I just felt like we needed, and Dirk [Koetter] did as well, we need more of those guys.

“And we need more guys that football is No. 1 — passion, accountability, resiliency. You know if we fill our locker room with guys, you can make a pretty dramatic change pretty quickly and I think we showed that this year with the additions to the d-line with Ryan Jensen and then the draft. You can make a difference in a short amount of time.”

Seahawks

• According to John Clayton of Mynorthwest.com, Seahawks RB Chris Carson looks quicker than last season.
• Clayton wonders if the Seahawks may elect to keep five running backs, given that C.J. Prosise or J.D. McKissic could help out at receiver, which would allow them to keep five receivers on their 53-man roster.
• Clayton says that Jaron Brown looks like he could be Seattle’s deep threat this year, but he’ll battle with Amara Darboh for the No. 3 receiver job.
• Free agent addition Barkevious Mingo is expected to start at strong side linebacker, per Clayton.
• Seventh-round QB Alex McGough was reportedly one of the stars of rookie camp and he has even looked good with the veterans.