NFC Notes: Sam Darnold, Malik Willis, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Lions

• According to Aaron Wilson, the Lions hosted Ks Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph for visits this week. 
• Of the two players, Detroit signed Joseph to their practice squad. 

Packers

• Packers WR Christian Watson aims to stay healthy after a reoccurring hamstring issue over the last few years: “I want to play 100% of the games, I want to play 100% of the practices. I’m right where I want to be.” (Brandon Carwile)
• Packers HC Matt LaFleur said the team will roll with QB Malik Willis as their starting quarterback while QB Jordan Love is sidelined: “Malik is on the roster, and he’s our No. 2 quarterback, and that’s the way we’re going to roll.” (Ryan Wood)
• LaFleur said the team never approached any free agent quarterbacks with interest: “No. Despite reports. It’s crazy to me how people come up with some of these things. I think you explore every possibility, but at no point in time did we ever have any discussions with anybody.” (Wood)
• According to Howard Balzer, the Packers hosted WRs T.J. Luther, Racey McMath, Seth Williams, and DL Jonathan Marshall for a tryout on Monday.
• The Packers worked out five players on Tuesday including WR Kwamie Lassiter, QB Rocky Lombardi, TE Johnny Lumpkin, DL Leonard Payne, and DL Keith Randolph, per Aaron Wilson. Of this group, Green Bay signed Lumpkin to their practice squad. 

Vikings

Vikings QB Sam Darnold had a tremendous debut with Minnesota leading them to a 28-6 win over the Giants. Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell cited Darnold’s time with the 49ers as why he’s processing the mental part of the game better. 

“I think Sam being around, the Niners and Kyle [Shanahan] and how he coached that group last year, I think he took a lot out of that,” O’Connell said, via Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “And then I think just the way he went about the daily, I really stressed to Sam throughout training camp as we installed plays go through a process of how you were digesting that information, what you were doing at night, if we gave him information early, how he was going about trying to be comfortable with that.”

“What types of questions would he ask either in the quarterback meeting or when I get a chance with him one-on-one? And then that clarity that I can give him going into the games when we go through the whole call sheet the day before Saturday mornings, that red pen meeting where I think that’s the time where any and all uncertainty, gray, where he won’t have a maximum amount of confidence.”