NFC Notes: Bears, Lions, Packers, Aaron Rodgers

Bears

Bears’ rookie WR Dazz Newsome is just another player entering the NFL with a chip on his shoulder, especially after watching a kicker be selected before him during the draft.

“I’ve absolutely got a chip on my shoulder,” Newsome told The Parkins & Spiegel Show. “Man, I saw a kicker go before me. I guess everybody going to find out. Tune in.”

Lions

Lions’ DL coach Todd Wash confirmed that Trey Flowers and Romeo Okwara would be playing outside linebackers in Detroit’s new scheme. Both players could also see themselves still playing defensive end in certain sub-packages.

“Every one of the players that we have on our defensive roster has a skill set,” Wash said, via Dave Birkett of Detroit Free Press. “It’s going to be our job obviously as coaches to put them in that position to be successful, and I think Trey has that skill set as a defensive end in base and also in sub. Both of them are athletic to do what we ask them to do and I think you’re going to see both of them elevate their game,” Wash said. “For us, we need to disrupt the quarterback one way or another, either with four, five, six, whatever it may be.”

Packers

The debate on a potential QB Aaron Rodgers trade persists, with one anonymous general manager saying it could take “two ones [and] plus,” with the plus representing a package of non-first-round picks or starting-caliber players.

“I’ve heard that they wouldn’t consider anything less than three [firsts],” the anonymous GM told Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports. “Not sure that’s realistic.”

A second executive also commented on the situation: “Maybe a team that [has a] window closing and tries to keep it open a few more years. I don’t see a building team being that interested.”

Another general manager told Robinson that it is difficult to compare this instance with what QB Tom Brady is doing in Tampa Bay.

“Three firsts is a lot to invest in a short-term fix and I know you guys point at [Tom] Brady’s age, but he’s a total break from history,” the general manager said. “[Rodgers] just had one of his best seasons, but I’m not putting three firsts and probably more into a [37-year-old] quarterback and expecting that he can do what Brady is doing. Watson, before everything that came out [in the civil litigation], was going to be probably three firsts and some extra. But you’re considering that against him having a decade of his best football left. I don’t see Rodgers having the same value at his age as a mid-20s player who is already a top-five quarterback. Not for three or four years of returns.”

A potential extension on Rodgers’contract is also looming over any potential trade, with the anonymous GM disagreeing that is the case.

“I don’t know that this is the case, but if he’s already been offered an extension that would make him the highest-paid player in the NFL or even close to it, then [the Packers] have already set a floor for expectations before you’ve even gotten to talk to him about it,” the GM said. “I assume if they’ve talked about a contract, he’s the league MVP so whatever they’ve exchanged is going to put him at the top [of the NFL]. That’s just the way the top five or six quarterbacks work now. When you’re doing a new deal, you’re trying to reset the last one. So what I’m getting at, I don’t think you’d be acquiring a cheapish contract in terms of whatever his base is the rest of the way. That means you’re going into talks with the Packers already setting the bar and it’s probably at the top.

“But then again, a couple of years ago nobody would have ever thought [the Philadelphia Eagles] could get a first-round pick out of Sam Bradford, and it happened. If it’s the [Denver] Broncos going for Rodgers, [the Packers] just have to hope it’s like that, a situation where a front office and staff agree that it just has to make it happen. But if you don’t have that, and if you’re dealing with someone who has some sand [in negotiations], it’s not going to be the mountain of picks and players that people seem to think. It’s going to be a tougher back and forth than you think.”