NFC Notes: Lions, Packers, Vikings

Lions

When asked about DT Levi Onwuzurike’s season-ending back injury, Lions HC Dan Campbell is unsure what will happen as Onwuzurike has been dealing with back issues for several years despite being able to play 16 games as a rookie in 2021.

“We just need to see how it is,” Campbell said, via Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. “We talked to him a couple of weeks ago, he was doing good. The rehab has gone well, but you just don’t know. You don’t know with a back. But I mean certainly, he’s going to get an opportunity if the body will allow it.”

• Ryan Fowler reports that California S Daniel Scott will visit with the Cardinals, Lions, and Steelers. 
• Central Michigan RB Lew Nichols III will visit with the Bengals, Broncos, and Lions in the coming days. (Dave Birkett)

Packers

When asked about the quarterback position, Packers HC Matt LaFleur said they want to find the “best guy available” either through a veteran option or a prospect in the 2023 NFL Draft.  

“You can go a couple different ways with it, to be honest,” LaFleur said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN. “You can try to get a veteran in here that’s done it and can help, because I think it’s always important, obviously, the relationships in that room. I think it’s important for a quarterback to have another quarterback and player to lean on in some of those times, especially when you’re going through a little adversity. If you fall in love with somebody in the draft, you can draft a young guy. There’s a lot of different ways to do it. I’ve been a part of a lot of different quarterback rooms. So, I just think you gotta try to figure out and get the best guy available.”

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst previously mentioned they would like to bring in a quarterback with “some experience.” 

“I think it would be nice to have someone who has some experience,” Gutekunst said last week. “We have a lot of respect for Danny and what he’s done and would be very comfortable with him in the [No.] 2 spot, but I think we’ll look at a lot of different options. Back when Aaron took over in 2008, I think it was Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn who we drafted that year, and they were our backups, so I think we’ll kind of see how that works itself out.”

• Per Darren Wolfson, Northwestern RB Evan Hull will visit with the Packers and Vikings. 
• Central Michigan RB Lew Nichols III has already visited with the Packers and will now visit with the Bengals, Broncos, and Lions. (Dave Birkett)

Vikings

Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell talked a little more about the decision to replace DC Ed Donatell with Brian Flores after just one season. Minnesota was porous on defense last season and was often criticized for playing too passively, which O’Connell said wasn’t his vision when he took the job. Ultimately as the head coach, it all comes back to him even if he has more of a hand in how the offense runs. 

“It was just one of those things where it was not the original intent of how we wanted to play defense,” O’Connell said via the Athletic’s Jeff Howe. “We didn’t really reap the value — the original intent was to play a certain style, and that was 100 percent my fault. A big thing for me was bringing in Brian and relying on his expertise and experience, being able to take inventory of what we really were, what we’re going to be personnel-wise then activate the best possible schematics that we can to fit what our players do well.

“I had a pretty clearcut vision when I interviewed … of how I wanted to play in all three phases — not just offense. You spend a lot of time game planning and doing things versus a lot of defenses and a lot of systems in our league. So in my mind, I had a clearcut plan I hoped would materialize into success.