NFC Notes: Bears, Falcons, Packers

Bears

According to Bears RB Jordan Howard, second-year QB Mitch Trubisky is starting to take command of the team.

“He asserted himself a lot last year, but I definitely feel like a lot more people are listening to him,” Howard said, via ChicagoBears.com. “He has a lot greater command of the locker room and stuff because he’s the quarterback for sure now.”

Falcons

• Joel Corry of CBS Sports writes that while Pro Bowl WR Julio Jones may feel as though he’s underpaid following the new contracts signed by players such as Sammy Watkins and Jarvis Landry, the Falcons would be justified not doing anything to his contract until he’s closer to becoming a free agent.
• Corry explains that Jones simply doesn’t have the kind of leverage right now to push for a new deal, given that he has three years remaining on his current deal.
• While Jones is underpaid by current market-value standards, Corry mentions that his current deal was actually frontloaded and only A.J. Green has made more money than Jones over the last three years.
• As for what the Falcons could agree to, Corry says that contracts typically aren’t ripped up and the best he should reasonably expect this year would be for the team to add some incentives to the deal much like the Patriots did last year with TE Rob Gronkowski.

Packers

The Packers had expressed interest in DT Joey Mbu dating back to the 2015 draft and they even brought him in for a workout a year later after he was released by the Falcons, but didn’t officially sign him to a contract until last month.

“It was kind of like, ‘They’re bringing me in twice. Maybe they really are interested,’” Mbu said, via Packers.com. “It was cool to see them call again. I did something that they liked in the workout, so I’m here.”

Mbu added that he’s thankful to catch on with a team during offseason workouts, as opposed to being signed with just a few days later in the preseason.

“At least I had two days to get into learning the playbook,” Mbu said. “Some people don’t even get a call until the third week of the preseason. I have a chance to learn even something small to take me through the summer and get ready for training camp.”