NFC Notes: Justin Jefferson, Jordan Love, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Lions

Lions RBs coach Scottie Montgomery said they threw a lot of information at fourth-round RB Sione Vaki during the pre-draft process and he was quickly able to process everything. 

“What we gave him, he was able to regurgitate really quickly,” Montgomery said.

Montgomery recalled Vaki coming to the team’s facility for his official top-30 visit with a folder of notes he made after watching Detroit’s offense. 

“When he came into the building, he had maybe watched all of our tape, just about 80 percent of our schemes, and he had personally drew all of them out vs. different coverages, vs. different fronts,” Montgomery said. “He didn’t know the name of it, he just knew the technical name of it. So, when he sat down, he had this folder, and he just started opening it and flipped it and said, ‘Coach you guys run this, right? Okay, yeah, against Las Vegas. Okay, that was against … ‘ It was refreshing to see an old school mentality of just doing the work. Not having anybody else do it for you. You have it all drawn out the way that it needs to be drawn out. And then preparing for those visits in that way. So that was impressive.”

Montgomery mentioned Vaki is proving to learn from mental errors, but still has a “little ways” to go on the fundamentals. 

“He just understands, ‘Okay, here’s what we’re doing here, here’s why we’re doing it, and this is how it fits into the schematic whole for our football club,'” Montgomery said. “So, everything that he learns every day, he has it. He’s been as good as most guys that we see from a rookie standpoint, from a mental error standpoint. The fundamentals piece we’ve still got to go a little ways, but mental error-wise, he’s been really good.”

Packers

The Packers’ receiving group is filled with young playmakers like WRs Jayden Reed, Christian Watson, Dontayvion Wicks, and Romeo Doubs. Green Bay QB Jordan Love believes having equally capable players makes his job easier and allows him to make the best read on every snap. 

“I think that’s one thing that I’ve always tried to do is just play the play,” Love said, via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic. “Play the play, go through my reads and find who’s open. Don’t try and force it because I feel like once you try and lock in on a guy and force it, not great things happen and then you might miss somebody who might be open on the play … play dependent, if there’s a certain guy I might want to look at matchup-wise and things like that, I’ll go to him, but I just like to play it out.”

“I think it works out well when you can spread the ball out and you got different guys making different plays and you can put ’em in different areas. I think it puts a lot more stress on the defense and the calls that they can get in, so I think in the long run it helps us not having a No. 1 guy, a true No. 1 guy, but I think all those guys can step up and be the one any given day.”

Vikings

Vikings WR Justin Jefferson suffered a hamstring injury which kept him out for an extended period in 2023, and QB Kirk Cousins was injured when it was time for him to return. After rumblings he should sit out the remaining games and focus on health for a new deal, Jefferson shut down the notion that was ever a possibility. 

“No one, no one, no one in this game can ever tell me to not play or to tank the season or to do any of that other stuff because I’m not that type of person,” Jefferson said, via ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. “I want to play. I love the game of football. I want to be the best. In order for that to happen, I’ve got to be out there on that field. … There’s no prolonging the injury, there’s no, ‘Oh he’s sitting out because of the contract. It’s not any of that. At all.”