NFC Notes: Lions, Packers, Vikings

Lions

Lions’ GM Brad Holmes says that he views C Frank Ragnow as a “foundational piece” in Detroit after signing him to a record deal.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s extremely important in terms of we already view him as a long-term piece,” Holmes said, via Chris Burke of The Athletic. “And he is a foundational piece because Frank is a guy that plays the game the right way. He’s everything that we look for and what we want as a Lion. … I’m not going to comment on timetable right now, that would be a little bit premature, but we’re not sitting back and waiting on that one.”

Packers

After drafting QB Jordan Love in the first round in 2020, the Packers always planned to take it slow with his development given they had the luxury of a Hall of Fame quarterback in Aaron Rodgers ahead of him. But now that Rodgers’ future in Green Bay is in doubt, Love could be pushed into action as soon as this season. There was no preseason last year and Love spent his entire rookie year as the third-string behind Tim Boyle so even though the Packers see him as the future, there’s no telling if he’s ready to start in 2021. 

“Obviously we think the world of Jordan and where he’s going to grow and develop,” Packers GM Brian Gutekunst said after the draft via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “I think it’s pretty early to kind of be able to tell you that because obviously with no preseason games last year and just kind of the no spring, but we have a lot of confidence in his talents, in his work ethic, and where he’s going to go. But it’s a little early for that.”

• According to Mike Garafolo, Rodgers has been telling free agents he wasn’t returning to the team since last season.

Vikings

Vikings GM Rick Spielman said that there is “no question” about Kirk Cousins being their starting quarterback after selecting third-round QB Kellen Mond. 

“Right now, there’s no question that Kirk Cousins is our quarterback,” Spielman said, via Mad Dog Sports Radio. “What we wanted to do just like we do with everything else, as the board continues to fall, we want to get the best players available on our board. And Kellen (Mond) definitely checked the box there when we were able to get him in the third round. I did call Kirk the following morning and his agent, but we want to create competition right now behind Kirk. And we have two very young, talented guys, we feel, in Nate Stanley and Jake Browning, but to throw Kellen Mond in the mix, our coaches are very excited to work with him. So let’s see where it goes. Let’s see how quickly he develops. But our whole focus right now is just making sure we have enough depth and young, talented guys to develop at that position as we go into this season.”

Spielman confirmed with Cousins that he will continue as the starter and that adding Mond was to “create competition” for the backup role. 

“Kirk knows he’s our quarterback,” Spielman said. “His agent knows he’s our quarterback. I just told him this is a player we want to work with, and as I said, try to create competition at the position behind you, just like we are at a lot of positions.”