NFC Notes: Jaylon Johnson, Jordan Love, Bears, Packers, Vikings

Bears

Bears CB Jaylon Johnson said it’s his goal to prove he’s the best cornerback in the NFL in 2024. 

“Being the best corner in the league,” Johnson said, via Chris Emma of 670TheScore. 

Bears HC Matt Eberflus said Johnson has shown that he’s devoted to improving. 

“Discipline and daily work habits,” Eberflus said. “That’s what he has done, and he showed that he had an area he needed to work on, and he got better at it. So, he showed determination and then he really showed his devotion and love for the game.”

Bears CB Kyler Gordon said Johnson’s teammates will continue pushing him to succeed. 

“He’s going to bring the success here and keep going,” Gordon said. “We’re going to keep surrounding him and pushing him to keep doing what he does and stuff like that. I mean, all you can do when you see a guy get success and do his thing is just keep challenging him. We want to be the best, so on our side of the defense we’re going to keep challenging him and pushing him, talking, getting in his ear, whatever going to make him better.”

Packers

Packers QB Jordan Love expects defenses to have a better understanding of their system going into his second year as a starter. 

“We know going into this year teams are going to have a better feel of what we do, what we did good,” Love said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN. “That’s their job — to try to figure out how to stop that. I think that’s the fun part about the NFL. At the end of the day, we’ve got a very good coaching staff that’s going to put us in the best position, and we’ll also be able to adjust to what defenses might be doing and taking away from us, and we’ll learn on the fly.”

Packers QB coach Tom Clements wants Love to focus on his footwork and navigating the pocket this offseason. 

“It’s just more fundamental things,” Clements said. “Footwork and how he moves in the pocket, and we’re working on the drills, working on throwing a lot of routes on air because you can’t have defenders out there at this point. It’s just presence in the pocket, when to move, when not to move, things like that.”

Packers HC Matt LaFleur reiterated they are putting a “big emphasis” on Love’s footwork and processing progressions. 

“But what we’re making a big emphasis on is [having] perfect feet,” LaFleur said. “Making sure the guys go through their progressions, having perfect feet. And when they’re not, they hear about it. I just think, again, offseason, where we’re at, new defense, it’s important for them to understand the drops that we want them to take, so we implemented it.”

Vikings

Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell commented on the signing of OL Dalton Risner which will give them creativity in finding the best five offensive linemen to start. 

“And then, there was a purpose and a plan of bringing Dalton back to create a very competitive situation at that left guard spot,” O’Connell said, via Trent Knoop of the Vikings Wire. “We want to play the best five guys we can. You could see a bunch of different combinations of guys in there, especially as we try to allow that competition to naturally kind of play out.”