NFC Notes: Taylor Decker, Jonathan Owens, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Lions

Lions LT Taylor Decker told reporters that the offensive line is hoping to be injury free in 2023, as the starting unit didn’t play a single game together last season and also dealt with injury issues in 2021.

“Hope so. We didn’t have our projected starting offensive line for one game last year,” Decker said, via MLive.com. “We had some guys come in and play great and give us some really good games — or even if they had to go in for a series or two. But as we know, that’s the nature of this — seems like for two years we’ve been trying to get this projected offensive line on the field together, and I don’t know if it’s happened yet. I don’t think it has. Preseason maybe.”

Packers

Packers S Jonathan Owens recalled getting cut by the Cardinals in 2019 after recovering from a torn ACL and said he couldn’t see himself walking away from the NFL. 

“I knew it was what I was supposed to do,” Owens said, via Wes Hodkiewicz of the team’s official site. “I’m not going to say I couldn’t see myself doing anything else, but I felt this is really what God wanted me to do. I was here to play football and I knew I was good enough to play.”

Owens was grateful for his opportunity to sign with the Texans, where he spent 2019-2022. 

“It was just about being patient and waiting for that opportunity and Houston gave me that opportunity on practice squad,” Owens said. “I was overjoyed to have that opportunity … and I’m still here, man, fighting. It was all part of the journey.”

Regarding his marriage with Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, Owens said watching his wife gives him a lot of motivation. 

“She brings the best out of me,” Owens said. “Just watching her and how she worked every day going into the Olympics – her focus and her drive – it just makes you want to get up and do something because your partner is doing that.”

Vikings

Vikings’ director of college scouting Mike Sholiton said they tested fifth-round QB Jaren Hall at the NFL Combine, where they made the receiver run an incorrect route to see Hall’s reaction. 

“We set up a play for him, where we knew his receiver ran the wrong route. We were trying to give him a chance to say, ‘This player was wrong.’ All he was willing to say was, ‘I got to make it right’,” Sholiton said via ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.

Hall explained that he never wants to throw a player under the bus when they make a mistake. 

“It’s just a team thing,” Hall said. “You take care of each other and look out for each other, and anybody else on our team would have done the same thing. You don’t throw each other under the bus, because if you make a mistake, you hope no one does it to you. You figure it out in the film study, but you never present that anywhere else.”

Sholiton said Hall’s humility was a trait that stood out to them. 

“The humility to know that he doesn’t know is just as important,” Sholiton said. “We’ve had players in the past that lie through the pre-draft process. They fake it until you make it. With our staff of experts, they have a radar for that. Jaren never tried to pull that off.”