Bears
Bears GM Ryan Poles had high praise for the leadership HC Matt Eberflus is providing.
“I love that dude,” Poles said, via Adam Jahns of The Athletic. “When he approaches the team meeting and gets in front of the guys, he’s got juice. But it’s not fluff. It’s not fake. It’s real. And you can feel that energy that he has. The guys love it. I love it. I’m so pumped about his leadership and how he’s going to lead this team.”
Eberflus mentioned that he quickly built a close relationship with Poles.
“We just hit it off right away,” Eberflus said. “When we start talking about, ‘Hey, what do you want your team to look like? What do you want your players to look like? What do you want your coaching staff to be like?’ And it just was in line … and you have to be in line with what you want your vision of the football team to look like.”
Eberflus added that he’s “in line” with Poles about the type of players they wanted to sign this offseason.
“That’s how we fell in line together, and why we were so attracted to each other as partners to run an organization because of that vision of the effort, the intensity of which you play, the tempo, the speed, the long athletic players that we want to acquire,” Eberflus said. “We’re right in line with that.”
- Bears HC Matt Eberflus said WR Velus Jones Jr.‘s hamstring injury is the same which affected him this preseason but is almost ready to play: “We’re close. [He’ll be] ready soon.” (Courtney Cronin)
Lions
Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown is focused on being consistent on a weekly basis as he enters his second season, following a standout campaign as a rookie.
“For me, it’s doing everything right and making plays and doing it over again,” St. Brown said, via DetroitLions.com. “Whether that’s blocking in the run game, catching the ball, scoring touchdowns. Whatever you are doing, being consistent at it and doing it week in and week out.”
Lions HC Dan Campbell feels that St. Brown is focused on the right issues and believes he will have another productive season of football.
“That’s a credit to him because he prides himself on being right and doing things right and his football knowledge, his finish, everything,” Campbell said. “When you’ve got a player in Year 2 that came out of a pretty productive year, you just want to verify that’s for real and everything will be trending that way like, ‘Okay, this kid’s all business.’ And he picked up right where he left off.”
- Lions C Frank Ragnow said he felt his groin “pop” in Wednesday’s practice but felt better than expected on Thursday and was able to practice on Friday. The center still wants to observe how he’s feeling before determining his Week 1 availability. (Kyle Meinke)
Packers
The Packers lost WR Davante Adams this offseason and didn’t really make a huge splash to replace him. Yet most prognosticators are still pretty high on the Packers thanks to the presence of QB Aaron Rodgers. One NFC executive for another team thinks that’s a mistake.
“I’m really surprised by all of these gurus and experts out there predicting the Packers having their best team yet, and going to the Super Bowl,” the exec told Heavy’s Matt Lombardo. “I don’t get it. I don’t get it at all. I understand you have a damn good quarterback, but you gave away his weapon. His most dangerous and most consistent weapon. All of these people think the Packers will be better, and I’m sitting here just asking myself ‘how’? Now he’s going to spread the ball around to four different wide receivers rather than one, well, that one caught 24 touchdowns last year.”
- Packers HC Matt LaFleur believes he’s seen enough from OT David Bakhtiari (knee) in practice for him to play in Week 1: “I think we’ve seen enough, just his ability to go out there and move. He’s looking pretty good.” (Ryan Wood)
- Packers DC Joe Berry believes that the team’s front can be “special” this year due to an upgraded pass rush: “There’s nothing like being able to drop seven guys into coverage.” (Tom Silverstein)
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