NFC Notes: Eagles, Lions, Packers, Panthers, Seahawks

Eagles

• According to former Eagles assistant coach Tra Thomas, first-round pick OLB Marcus Smith‘s rookie struggles can be attributed to his lack of strength.

“He’s definitely going to have to get a little stronger out there because when you look at even his body type, he has the build of like a high school athlete still — a young college athlete,” Thomas said, via CSN Philly. “He needs to put on probably about a good 15 to 20 more pounds so he can really execute and be a effective out there.

“He has the same movement pattern as Connor [Barwin], where you can teach him how to work and throw his different moves in and how to help him with his timing.“

Lions

• Michael Rothstein can see the Lions targeting a defensive tackle like Terrance Knighton in free agency if they end up losing Ndamukong Suh.
• Another option for Detroit according to Rothstein could be 49ers G Mike Iupati.

Packers

• Rob Demovsky reports that all contract talks between the Packers and DT Letroy Guion are on hold while Green Bay investigates what happened with his arrest.
• Demovsky writes that this situation “probably adds more urgency to getting a deal done with [B.J.] Raji.”
• According to Demovsky, the Packers are likely to move on with ILBs A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones.
• Demosky mentions that “there seems little chance” of the Packers allowing WR Randall Cobb to walk this offseason.

Panthers

• David Newton of ESPN expects that the Panthers to have between $15 million and $20 million in available cap space to work with this offseason.
• Newton suggests that the Panthers could consider free agent OTs like King Dunlap, Derek Newton, and possibly even Michael Oher, who was recently released.
• Newton can’t see owner Jerry Richardson allowing the front office to re-sign DE Greg Hardy this offseason.
• Newton expects Carolina to sign QB Cam Newton and TE Greg Olsen to contract extensions.
• According to Newton, Torrey Smith and Jeremy Maclin are both “viable names” for the Panthers to consider in free agency.

Seahawks

According to Joel Corry of CBS Sports, the 2015 base salaries for a number of Seahawks players are all guaranteed as of today.

• CB Richard Sherman ($10 million)
• S Earl Thomas ($5.5 million)
• DE Michael Bennett ($6 million)
• LB K.J. Wright ($3.75 million)
• DE Cliff Avril ($7.5 million)
• S Kam Chancellor ($4.45 million of his $4.55 million salary)
• WR Doug Baldwin ($2.3 million of his $2.8 million salary)