NFC Notes: Cardinals, Lions, Packers

Cardinals

The Cardinals are one of only two teams so far with a vacancy at general manager and not many others are expected right now, though surprises can happen. They have strong internal candidates in Cardinals VP of pro personnel Adrian Wilson and VP of player personnel Quentin Harris.

CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones lists some of the other top candidates, including Wilson and Harris: 

• Chiefs assistant GM Mike Borgonzi
• Giants assistant GM Brandon Brown
• 49ers director of player personnel Ran Carthon
• Browns assistant GM Glenn Cook
• Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham
• Buccaneers senior director of football research Jacqueline Davidson
• Saints assistant GM Jeff Ireland
• 49ers assistant GM Adam Peters
• VP of player personnel Ryan Cowden

Lions

• Lions HC Dan Campbell on RB D’Andre Swift: “Watching Swifty, that’s like being out in the desert and seeing that water.” (Kyle Meinke)
• Campbell on RB Jamaal Williams: “He’s like a candy bar in the desert. Which I wouldn’t eat until I had that glass of water.”
• Campbell on having the opportunity to play against the Packers with the playoffs on the line: “It’s just so special. It’s as good as it can get. I mean, seriously. … I just don’t think you’d want it any other way.” (Meinke)

Packers

Packers RB Aaron Jones has played through the pain of bothersome injuries this season and RB A.J. Dillon and QB Aaron Rodgers have certainly taken notice.

“Obviously, everybody can kinda see he’s been a little bit banged up, but he’s a leader for us,” Dillon said, via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic. “And I think we have really good communication between me and him, also him and (running backs) Coach (Ben) Sirmans. We can kinda see when he needs a break or I’m watching very closely and if I see him, I’ll just start running out and Coach Sirmans is like, ‘All right, go ahead,’ and he gives us a great spark and he’s done that here for a long time, so just kind of is a testament to the kind of leader he is, just continuing to go out there and do what he can when he can.”

“It’s a long season, so you’re gonna get banged up,” Jones told The Athletic. “That’s the part of the game that you’re signing up for, but just pushing through it and being out there for my teammates that are depending on me. If I’m able to go, I’m out there. Unless something comes up where I can’t — broken or things like that — that’s the only time you won’t see me out there, but I’ll push through anything to be out there with my guys and even though some things may hurt, still pushing through it and give it the best that I can while I’m out there. With that happening and then we only have one back after that which would’ve been P.T. (Patrick Taylor), so you gotta go. You gotta suck some things up. Like I said, it may hurt, but hey, the W’s gonna feel that much better.”

“It goes to the adage that there’s a difference between being hurt and injured and there’s a lot of guys that are hurt. Most of us are dealing with something and for him to consistently wanna be out there week after week and put himself in a position to play is pretty impressive. And then AJ got banged up and here’s 33 trotting back out,” Rodgers said. “That’s the kind of toughness that he has, but we don’t discard that. We just have an increased amount of respect for him and the way he goes about his business and you wish that there were more guys like that.”

• Packers OL Elgton Jenkins‘ four-year, $68 million contract includes a $24 million signing bonus and base salaries of $1.1 million, $3.5 million, $11.7 million and $18.5 million. (Over The Cap)
• There’s a $5.1 million roster bonus due on the third day of the league year in 2025, as well as annual $500,000 workout bonuses and up to $600,000 in per-game roster bonuses in 2023-2025. That increases to $1 million in per-game roster bonuses in 2026.