NFC Notes: Justin Fields, Jordan Love, Josh Jacobs, Bears, Packers, Vikings

Bears

Bears GM Ryan Poles admitted he thought there would be a more robust market for QB Justin Fields.

“I was a little bit surprised,” Poles said, via ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. “But as you do research and we have conversations, you have to kind of adjust to the market. But I think just with how other teams are built, because if you look at the beginning, there are probably teams that are looking at the draft for guys to fill in. On the back end, playoff teams probably have someone in place. So really it was a smaller pool of teams.”

Poles added that he tried to do right by Fields by trading him to a team where he had a chance to capture the starting spot.

“They have a starter with Russ but there was more of an open competition, it felt like from my perspective, where there were other opportunities where there were some quarterbacks that were either veteran guys or young guys that had already been paid, so it would have been a tougher situation for him to get on the field,” Poles said. “I always kind of touch on the empathy part; having that conversation with my own [son] was hard. [Fields’] jersey is up in his room. So it kind of puts that into perspective of how difficult those moves are. But I really felt like that was best for our organization and best for Justin. I said that at the combine: I wanted to do right by him. We did that. We had a really good conversation.”

• Auburn CB Nehemiah Pritchett has a 30 visit scheduled with the Bears. (Justin Melo)
• Boston College CB Elijah Jones has a 30 visit scheduled with the Bears. (Ryan Fowler)
• Bears passing game coordinator Thomas Brown is in attendance for UNC’s Pro Day. (Mike Kaye)

Packers

• Packers HC Matt LaFleur mentioned the new defensive staff is enamored with CB Keisean Nixon‘s potential as their starting nickel: “They were really excited with what they saw on tape with his ability to play the nickel position.” (Ryan Wood)
• Packers GM Brian Gutekunst feels good about Nixon being the starting nickel for Green Bay in 2024: “I certainly feel really good about Keisean and what he did as a first-year (starter) with that many snaps in the nickel and where he’s headed. Having some stability there is something that gives me some peace.” (Wes Hodkiewicz)
• Gutekunst mentioned QB Jordan Love‘s time with the team as a reason they would feel comfortable extending him already: “The nice thing about having a guy in your building four years is you absolutely know who he is. We know how he’s going to respond, how’s he going to react, how’s he going to work. Certainly having four years with him I think gives us a lot of comfort to what he’s all about.” (Ryan Wood)
• Gutekunst was happy they were able to retain RB AJ Dillon, who he referred to as a core player: “To get AJ back, that was kind of a nice surprise. The free-agent running back class was strong, and I think that affected a lot of things in that market.” (Wood)
• On new RB Josh Jacobs, Gutekunst had great things to say: “He’s a very proven back. He runs with a lot of violence, explosiveness. He’s a bigger back, a durable back for the most part. He’s really a guy that can flourish in all phases, as a runner, as a blocker and certainly as a pass-catcher.” (Matt Schneidman)

Vikings

• Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell touched on how they plan to use S Harrison Smith this year as he enters his age-35 season: “We are not going to be able to play him as much as we did.” (Kevin Seifert)
• Oregon DT Taki Taimani has a 30 visit with the Vikings. (Matt Lombardo)
• Tennessee TE McCallan Castles will take an official 30 visit with the Vikings. (Ryan Fowler)