NFC Notes: Buccaneers, Lions, Packers

Buccaneers

Former Patriots’ WR Julian Edelman put rumors to rest that he would be could potentially join his former teammates in Tampa Bay, referring to himself “a one-team guy.”

“My knee’s breaking down, I’m not going to sit here, you know, I got everything I wanted,” Edelman said on The Michael Irvin Podcast. “I got three rings, played in a magical dynasty, with an unbelievable franchise coach, best quarterback of all time, like, yo, I’m not a greedy guy. I played to win, I played to compete, I don’t need anything else to prove. I’m good with what I did, I left it all out on the field.”

Lions

Regarding the Falcons declining a Lions’ trade offer for the No. 4 overall pick, GM Brad Holmes confirmed that they inquired about the selection but Detroit was mostly keeping “all options available” in the 2021 NFL Draft. 

“Well, yeah, we did. We did have dialogue with Atlanta on that pick, and I’ll just leave it at that. But yeah, we did, we did have dialogue there. And they just decided to stay tight, and they could have had the same train of thought, just like we did — that they had their player in mind. I totally understand that. You just kind of want to just make sure that you’re not anchored, and you have all options available. You just can’t be scared to make those moves, if you can make ‘em,” said Holmes, via The Athletics Robert Mays and Chris Burke. 

Holmes called the “intriguing part” of trading Matthew Stafford to the Rams was acquiring Jared Goff in addition to first-round picks in 2022 and 2023. 

“Well, that was the intriguing part of the trade. Yeah, obviously the draft capital is great, but to be able to also get Jared — the record that he’s done, I think his resume speaks for itself in terms of the amount of wins that he’s had in the past four years is among the top in all the league. So that’s what you’ve got to be excited about.”

Packers

Packers HC Matt Lafleur said he has high hopes for first-round pick Eric Stokes and believes he could be an “elite” cornerback. 

“There were a couple times I saw him run through the ball and it looked easy, so that was encouraging,” LaFleur said via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “And you know, he’s going to have to continue to work on that because he could be an elite corner in this league, no doubt about it. And when you find corners that can take the ball away, there’s nothing more valuable than that.”