NFC Notes: Bears, Packers, Vikings

Bears

• Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune believes the Bears’ coaching staff likes second-year RB Artavis Pierce, who could be in the mix to comepte for playing time. 
• Biggs does not think the Bears are in the market to sign another running back. 
• Biggs writes that it is “reasonable to expect” the Bears relying more on 12-personnel sets with two tight ends, Jimmy Graham and Cole Kmet. 
• Regarding rookies Kmet and Jaylon Johnson, Biggs has a hard time guessing the playing time for them given they haven’t had a full offseason program.
• As for Bears QB Mitch Trubisky‘s development, Biggs believes the ultimate measurement for his progress will be the team’s success.

Packers

Packers WR Davante Adams said “we were all expecting” the organization to draft a receiver instead of first-round QB Jordan Love, but Adams doesn’t think the rookie’s presence will negatively affect Aaron Rodgers. 

“I don’t think that I’ll have any type of effect on him,” Adams said via Stacey Dales. “I don’t think it’s gonna drive him to be a better player or have him sunk in a hole. I think Aaron’s a lot like me, I’m a lot like him, however you wanna put it. Truly confident players who know what they’re capable of, and know what they’ve done, and that continue to work to be better than what they were, we don’t necessarily need – like I don’t care if they brought in Julio Jones in here – that’s gonna necessarily make me work harder, because I’m already a workhorse, and I already know that I’m trying to be better than I was last year. So, them bringing in a rookie quarterback. I mean, extremely solid quarterback. It may have shocked — we were all expecting to have a receiver drafted, but that wasn’t the case.” 

• Per ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, Adams said he “weighed his options” regarding potentially opting out of the 2020 season and decided to play for now: “I have no plans of opting out at this point. I love the game. I love my teammates and I’ve put a lot into this. I think about my legacy when it’s all said and done. This is a tricky time in the world, but it’s something I truly believe we can not necessarily run from.”
• New Packers OT Rick Wagner said his decision in free agency was easy after growing up in Wisconsin as a Packers fan and going to college at Wisconsin: “It was a pretty easy decision to come here.” (Matt Schneidman)

Vikings

Vikings OC Gary Kubiak said they have been using second-round OL Ezra Cleveland at guard so far in training camp. 

“We’re working him at guard right now,” Kubiak said, via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press. “So, he gets reps next to (rookie tackle) Blake (Brandel) as they work together in the young group, and we’ll go from there.”

Kubiak believes Vikings LT Riley Reiff did well last year and helps their offense continuing at his position. 

“I think Riley played really well for us last year,” Kubiak said. “I think we can do some things offensively and me as a play-caller to help our players and help Riley more, from that standpoint. I’m a big Riley Reiff fan.”

Kubiak feels that Cleveland has the flexibility to line up at multiple positions given he has experience at tackle. 

“The nice thing is we think (Cleveland) has flexibility,” Kubiak said. “We know he’s played tackle for a long time. … He’s a very bright player.”