Bears
Bears GM Ryan Poles discussed trading QB Justin Fields and mentioned how difficult it was for him to do. After some up-and-down years in Chicago, it just made sense for both sides to move on.
“Justin, probably one of the harder things I’ve had to do,” Poles said, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “I always kind of touch on the empathy part, like having that conversation with my own son was hard. His jersey’s up in his room. So, it kind of puts that into perspective of how difficult those moves are.”
“There was a choppy start in his rookie year. And when I came in, we had some cleaning up to do, which delayed another year of adding talent and supporting. And then in terms of the game, I feel like he was making strides and improving. It’s really the timeline and how much runway you have. Because to get a guy up off the ground, you need to support him with as much talent as possible. And then that flips because it takes so much cap space.”
Packers
Packers GM Brian Gutekunst said the team has opened up contract discussions with QB Jordan Love but doesn’t envision them being completed quickly.
“There’s been some, obviously, preliminary discussions,” Gutekunst said, via PFT. “But we want to do it the right way. And certainly the sooner the better, but at the same time, we want to make sure we do it the right way. So, it’s started. But it’s not something that’s going to go quickly, I don’t think.”
Gutekunst pointed to the familiarity the team has with Love already, which mitigates some of the risk when handing him a big contract.
“In every contract extension, draft pick decision you make, there’s a ton of risk and all that. It’s just part of it,” Gutekunst said. “At the same time, I think the nice thing about having a guy in your building for the last four years is you absolutely know who he is. Again, there’s no guarantees [of] anything going forward. But we know how he’s going to respond, how he’s going to react, how he’s going to work. Instead of signing a player that has not been in your building and guaranteeing all that to him, certainly having four years with him, I think, gives us a lot of comfort in what he’s all about — how his teammates look at him, how the organization looks at him. I think certainly that gives me a lot more peace than a different situation.”
Vikings
Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell said the team adding another a first-round pick from the Texans allows them flexibility.
“I think you view it as extra flexibility in a draft where between our pick at 11 and the way we’re looking at this draft at pick 23, we think there’s going to be some really good players available, if we were just to stay at those positions and take players, maybe a quarterback, maybe a couple defensive players,” O’Connell said, via Around The NFL. “I think it’s going to be a big-time offensive draft at the top, so when those marquee defensive players start to go, could be in a range around that 11th pick for us, but I think it was about flexibility.”
O’Connell added that trading up in the draft is not out of the realm of possibilities.
“Yes, we want to, if we identify a player that we would like to go up and try to add to our football team — first and foremost, there’s got to be a willing partner to do that and I think there’s going to be processes that play out, conversations here and onto the future,” O’Connell continued. “We’ll figure out if we’re able to do that, but yeah, I think it was ultimately of having the flexibility of having two ones in what we think is a really strong draft, and I don’t think we’re the only ones that view this draft like that.”
O’Connell added that he’s excited to have QB Sam Darnold on the roster and has had a positive view of him dating back to when he came out of college.
“Always been a fan of Sam going back to — you know, I’ve known him for a long time — watching him progress through his college career and then ultimately being a high draft pick, having done a full process on him then,” O’Connell said of the former No. 3 overall pick of the 2018 draft. “We all go through a quarterback journey in this league, and I use that term very lightly for myself, as well. But it’s a journey where you learn and you continue to grow, and ultimately you just want to find yourself in a position in the future to be the best version of yourself and all the things you’ve learned along the way. I think Sam’s at that point in his career. I think his best football is ahead of him because of how he’s handled the last couple years, whether it’s going 4-2 down the stretch in Carolina in ’22, or when you turn on the tape of his work in San Francisco, you can tell Kyle (Shanahan), Brian Griese — these guys did a great job in the next phase of his career. Fundamentals, techniques; things that you look for to see growth. I’m excited to get going with Sam because I think we can pick up where he left off last year. Like I’ve talked about already, love the group of guys that we have around the quarterback position in our offense right now, and I think it’s a going to be a really positive situation for Sam.”
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