Lions
Lions S Tracy Walker missed nearly all of the team’s 2022 season, going down with a torn Achilles in Week 3. He had to watch as a spectator as the team stumbled to 1-6, then turned it around for a 9-8 record, and now he’s eager to be a part of the next step forward the Lions hope to take in 2023.
“It feels great to be back,” Walker said via Tim Twentyman of the team website. “I can’t hide the emotions, you know? It’s a blessing. I’m very excited. Honestly, I missed it. It’s hard to explain. It was cool I got time to spend at home with my family but at the end of the day I missed ball. I missed coming out here being around my teammates and being the leader that I am.”
Walker’s injury did open up more of a role for 2022 third-round S Kerby Joseph, who had a terrific rookie season with four interceptions. Walker’s excited to get to play next to Joseph instead of watch.
“To see Kerby step up and go out there and do what he did and a lot of younger guys as well … those guys stepped in and had their opportunities,” Walker said. “It was good to allow them to get that exposure. It’s allowing them to come out here now and they look so much better because of that experience they gained. There’s pros and cons to it. As a leader, that’s exciting for me.”
The veteran safety is also coming back to a dramatically retooled Lions secondary after they added a plethora of reinforcements this offseason. Walker is already excited to team up with DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson, particularly as a trash-talking duo.
“Definitely a character. I love it,” Walker said. “Me and him have a lot of similarities. We love talking our trash. There’s going to be a lot of trash-talking this year. Stay tuned for that. He’s just energy. We have a lot of guys right now who are going to bring a lot of energy and make a lot of plays.”
Packers
Veteran Packers DL Kenny Clark says that he plans to make the most out of OTAs this offseason.
“Just being here at OTAs, it’s all about getting closer to teammates. This is the time where you build and guys grow,” Clark said, via PackersWire.com. “In our (defensive line) room, we always talk about if you don’t use it, you lose it. That’s the main reason that I’m out here, to work on my technique and get closer to my teammates.”
Vikings
New Vikings DC Brian Flores was hired to shake things up on defense for the Vikings after they were hardly a speed bump for a lot of opponents in 2022. Flores is known for a specific brand of defense that’s highly aggressive with a lot of blitzes and man coverage. He’s spending this spring trying to instill an identity in his players of how he wants to play — “aggressive but not reckless.”
“I think building an identity is a big part of playing defense,” Flores said via Dane Mizutani of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I try to impart that to our players. That happens over time. Every time we step on the practice field, it’s ‘What is our identity? What are people going to say about us? What do we want it to look like?’”
There are some challenges to doing that during OTAs because of the limitations on how teams can practice but Flores hopes to set the groundwork for his defense to hit the ground running in training camp.
“It’s hard to do that in this setting because so much of the game is physical,” Flores said. “We’re kind of forecasting based on what we’ve seen. That’s part of it too. We have to forecast. The final decisions of what we’re going to be are going to be made down the road.”
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