NFC Notes: Lions, Packers, Vikings

Lions

After trading away QB Matthew Stafford and taking on QB Jared Goff‘s contract, the Lions don’t have a ton of room to maneuver in terms of cap space. That doesn’t seem to be a problem, however, as executive Chris Spielman says their preference will be to build through the draft as opposed to free agency. 

“I’m sure in free agency, in any philosophy, you can fill in voids in free agency, but you can’t buy a locker room,” Spielman said via Justin Rogers of the Detroit News. “That’s been a philosophy for a lot of teams. Generally, what I believe, you want to build your team through the draft. It’s kinda draft, develop and re-sign. I think that’s hopefully the direction the Lions will take. Everybody understands that the most successful teams, usually, build through the draft, get your core nucleus of players and you try to re-sign those guys to a second contract.”

Spielman also talked up Goff, who was seen as a throw-in to the deal that netted Detroit an extra first-round pick to be able to take the burden of his deal away from the Rams. However, Spielman said they see some potential there. 

“You look at a guy like Jared Goff, when I watched him during my time at Fox when he played for the Rams, there’s a lot of good things you like about him — his accuracy, his toughness,” Spielman said. “I think that I’ve always had a great admiration for him. He’s a hard-working guy. … Sean McVay, although he might have a little bit of disagreement with him, always saw the potential in Jared.”

Packers

• NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport notes the franchise tag is a possibility for Packers RB Aaron Jones given it’s projected to potentially be less than what Green Bay offered Jones on a long-term deal in terms of average per year.
• ESPN’s Rob Demovsky says there have been no talks between the Packers and TE Robert Tonyan on a long term deal. Tonyan is set to be a restricted free agent but there would be nothing stopping Green Bay from signing him to a longer deal instead of using the tender. 
• The first-round tender is projected to be $4.766 million and the second-round tender is $3.384 million, according to Over The Cap.
• Miami TE Brevin Jordan lists the Packers as one of the teams that he has consistently heard from and interviewed with. (Justin Melo)

Vikings

• The Athletic’s Arif Hasan lists Buccaneers OLB Shaq Barrett and Bengals CB William Jackson as some potential splashes the Vikings could make in free agency.
• Barrett didn’t have the sack totals in 2020 that he did in 2019, but his pressure rates were outstanding and Hasan says he’s scheme diverse. As for Jackson, he would provide some much-needed stability at cornerback given he’s already played in a similar defense to what HC Mike Zimmer runs.