NFC Notes: Lions, Packers, Vikings

Lions

Lions DBs coach Steve Gregory said first-round CB Jeff Okudah is prepared to make his first NFL start in Week 2. 

“He’s been preparing himself for this moment his whole career,” Gregory said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I don’t think he looks into it as much as the people on the outside look into as being, ‘Oh, this is my first game in the NFL, I’m playing against Aaron Rodgers.’ I think he looks at it as just an opportunity to go out and play a football game and to show the guys in this locker room, his teammates, what type of football player he can be.”

Okudah says he does not feel intimidated to make his first start against the Packers and QB Aaron Rodgers. 

“I wouldn’t say (it is) intimidating,” Okudah said. “I think that it’ll just be, for me it’ll be just pretty awesome, actually, to line up against Aaron Rodgers, someone that obviously, being a football fan, have known about his game and how well he’s played for such a long time. So just to go out there and be able to actually start to compete against these guys that you grew up watching, for me it’s just kind of really cool.”

Gregory added that Okudah has done well learning the finer details of being an NFL cornerback. 

“The thing about Jeff is he’s a very detailed guy so when he’s looking at something, whether it’s a coverage or a concept, he wants to know what the details of that coverage or concept are,” Gregory said. “And he wants to feel completely confident that he knows exactly what he’s doing when he goes out there so that he can go ahead and just let it rip and go use his athleticism and just play football and not be thinking too much. He’s very observant. He likes to watch a lot of film. At moments he does like to stand back and just observe things so that he can see the big picture of it all, and I think he does a good job with that and he knows how to manage that stuff pretty well.”

• Lions DT Nick Williams (shoulder) has been ruled out from Sunday’s Week 2 game against the Packers. 
• Lions signed G Kenny Wiggins.
• Lions promoted DT Kevin Strong and CB Dee Virgin to their active roster. 

Packers

• Rob Demovsky of ESPN reports that the Packers and LT David Bakhtiari were around $4 million a year apart in contract discussions prior to the season.
• Bakhtiari reportedly wants to make more than the $22 million that Texans’ LT Laremy Tunsil earns as the league’s highest-paid tackle.
• According to Demovsky, the Packers have also been talking about extending the contract of RB Aaron Jones since last Spring but the two sides are still unable to reach an agreement.
• Jones is certainly deserving of an extension after the Vikings signed RB Dalvin Cook to a five-year, $63 million extension and the Saints signed RB Alvin Kamara to a five-year, $75 million extension.
• On the possibility of signing an extension, Jones said: “I’m definitely open to getting something done whenever. But like I said, that’s not my main focus. Just gonna continue to focus on football and helping this team bring in the wins, as many as possible.”
• The Packers added CB Jaire Alexander (hand) to their injury report but didn’t officially downgrade him to questionable.
• Packers placed WR Equanimeous St. Brown on injured reserve. (NFLTR)
• Packers promoted TE John Lovett and DL Willington Previlon to their active roster.

Vikings

• According to Andrew Krammer, Vikings CB Jeff Gladney (knee) was a full participant this week and is expected to have an “increased role” in their Week 2 game against the Colts.  
• Vikings promoted CB Mark Fields to their active roster. (NFLTR)