Bears
With the additions of WR Rome Odunze and second-round WR Luther Burden III in the last two drafts, Bears WR D.J. Moore has become the veteran and clear leader in their receiver room. Moore had great things to say about the two young receivers and talked about how they keep him young.
“Well, their role, they’re keeping me young,” Moore said, via Mike Pendleton of the Bears Wire. “Even though I’m not that old in the room, they are like, what? Rome just turned 23 today. Happy birthday to him. But just seeing them just follow behind my lead and just grow from there. Rome’s taken a step up this year, I can already tell. And then Lu (WR Luther Burden III) who we drafted in the second round, I can’t wait to see what he does. I saw him in rookie minicamp doing a lot of things. So that’s that.”
Lions
Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs said he’s being used as a passing threat much more often than he was in previous years.
“I gotta learn the formations for being split out,” Gibbs said, via Around The NFL. “I’m being split out like way more than I was the past two years. That’s good. That’s going to be fun. I’ve been waiting on that.”
Vikings
The Vikings go into 2025 with a wealth of talent at cornerback with players like Byron Murphy, Isaiah Rodgers, Mekhi Blackmon, Keenan Garber, Kahlef Hailassie, Dwight McGlothern, Jeff Okudah, Reddy Steward, Ambry Thomas, and Zemaiah Vaughn. DC Brian Flores said you can never have enough talent at cornerback.
“All these guys bring a level of, there’s experience there, but also talent that [we] can’t have enough of at that position,” Flores said, via Rob Kleifield of the team’s site.
Blackmon missed all of last season after suffering a torn ACL. Flores is glad to see him back at practice this offseason.
“I remember, we’re not late in the year, but we’re [in], you know, October, November, [and] he’s up, he’s moving around, he’s training, and it was kind of a running joke, ‘I’ll see you in two weeks,’” Flores said. “And now we’re here and, you know, seeing him back out on the field is really a testament to his work ethic, his want-to, his belief in himself – just his overall ability to get back as quickly as he could and get himself out here so he could compete and do what he loves. And that’s what we’re looking for. I think K.O. (Kevin O’Connell) [has] said it many times: We want guys who love to play, who love the grind of it, who love the practice element, the studying element, the meetings. That’s certainly Mekhi.”
Murphy is also excited for Blackmon, saying he’s had a “very good mindset” since suffering his injury.
“I’ve been super excited about that because that’s like my little brother,” Murphy said. “Obviously, he’s been in the building a long time putting that work in. I just think he’s been very good mindset-wise. A lot of challenges come with that, but I feel like he’s just been in the right mindset.”
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