NFL Notes: Bears, Alshon Jeffery, Bills & Packers

Bears

• Jason Cole of B/R, citing multiple, reports that an agreement between the Bears and WR Alshon Jeffery before the upcoming deadline to negotiate with franchise players.
• According to Cole, the Bears are upset that Jeffery did not attend offseason workouts and aren’t willing to invest the kind of money he’s seeking in a new contract.
• Cole says that Chicago would, instead, prefer to pay Jeffery as a second-tier receiver as opposed to the No. 1 receiver money he’s reportedly targeting.
• The Bears would reportedly prefer to invest big money in positions other than receiver, particularly on defense.

Bills

• Bills WR Sammy Watkins (foot) posted a video on Instagram of himself running in a straight line on Friday.
• The good news is that Watkins has shed his walking boot, and this appears to be a positive sign regarding his status for training camp.

Packers

Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Packers appear to be targeting pass-rushers at 6-4 or has the arm length of someone that size to play opposite of Clay Matthews.

“The advantage is when you do have some bigger guys they have the ability to be either an inside or outside pass rusher in pass situations,” DC Dom Capers explained. “You see the same thing with Mike Neal, he could rush inside or outside. Julius, can rush inside or outside, Nick Perry.

“Datone (Jones) has been primarily an inside rusher; we’ve moved him outside. The more flexibility, versatility you have there every year, you get into the season and now you can start trying to match people up.”

Green Bay has brought in a number of smaller linebackers over the years that haven’t worked out for them, so it appears as though their focus is to now target hybrid defensive line/linebackers who they identify as “elephant” body types.