Lions

Lions HC Dan Campbell was asked if the team would attempt to bring it more young talent this offseason, similar to what they did at the start of his tenure in Detroit.

“Everybody wants talent, I’ll always want talent, but it’s always nice to have a little bit of saltiness to you over the talent that lacks saltiness because that’s what we were in ’22, and a part of ’23,” Campbell said, via PFT. “We had talent, but we had some salty guys and we were highly competitive. We were willing to make it work, figure it out, so just getting a little bit of that edge back. Some of that comes with youth. Now, with youth, you’re gonna have some of the stuff that gets frustrating, the mental [mistakes], but we believe we can get them there as a staff and with the rest of the players we have around them.”

Packers

• ECU WR Anthony Smith will visit the Packers. (Tom Silverstein)
• SE Louisiana DT Kaleb Proctor has nine 30 visits, including with the Packers. (Tom Silverstein)
• Louisiana LB Jaden Dugger will take a 30 visit with the Packers. (Tom Silverstein)
• Indiana RB Kaelon Black will take a 30 visit with the Packers. (Gery Woelfel)
• Akron DB Malcolm Dewalt IV will visit the Packers. (Easton Butler)

Vikings

The Bengals signed veteran DL Jonathan Allen this offseason after he was released by the Vikings, which caused them to eat $17 million in dead money after initially signing him to a three-year deal. Minnesota HC Kevin O’Connell stopped short of saying Allen didn’t mesh for their system, but admitted there was an “adjustment period” for him. 

“I wouldn’t say it didn’t quite mesh,” O’Connell said, via Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. “He was incredibly impactful in some division games, helping us win a couple games against the Lions where we were able to get Jared Goff off the spot and get him uncomfortable a couple times. That interior push was, obviously, a big part of that. I think the one unique thing about our defensive system is we can really morph and change as the season ebbs and flows and you are trying to take away the fastball of the offenses that you play. Sometimes, the scheme may call for guys to do different things than just some of the traditional ways of going forward that they’ve maybe done in their past. There’s always an adjustment period.”

O’Connell still thinks Allen and DL Javon Hargrave, who was also cut after one season, provided leadership for players like Jalen Redmond. 

“He brought so much to our team, leadership-wise,” O’Connell said. “You think about a guy like Jalen Redmond. Does he have the ascension and the year that he had without having guys like Jonathan Allen and Hargrave in that room, kind of showing him the way? We’ve got young players that are going to take those next steps, but super appreciative of a guy like Jonathan Allen.”