Lions
While cleaning out their lockers on Sunday, several Lions players noted that while they feel their title window is still open, there is no telling what the future can hold during the upcoming offseason.
“I feel like it happens to teams every year,” DT Alim McNeill said, via The Detroit News. “Players move in and out. Coaches move in and out. You just gotta roll with the punches and keep going.”
Lions C Frank Ragnow believes that the team can still continue to build even if they lose some coaches to job openings around the league. The Bears wound up hiring OC Ben Johnson on Monday afternoon.
“I just believe, at the end of the day, this league’s all about players,” Ragnow commented. “And the foundation that (general manager) Brad (Holmes) and (coach) Dan (Campbell) have set with the [cornerstone] players in this locker room, I think it’s gonna be tough for us to do anything besides have success.”
“There’s always talented players all over this league, but some of the talented players in this locker room are built like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Ragnow added. “Just the right-wired guys that are willing to do whatever it takes for their teammates and put it on the line.”
“In this business, you gotta do what’s best for you,” rookie CB Terrion Arnold said of DC Aaron Glenn likely becoming a head coach elsewhere. “And if he has the opportunity to go out there — a lot of things have opened up — I wish him nothing but the best. But I told him, ‘If you take a job somewhere else and we play against you, we’re gonna beat you.’”
- Tom Pelissero reports that Lions CB Amik Robertson underwent surgery for the broken humerus he suffered against the Commanders. The surgery went well and he is expected to be ready for offseason workouts.
Packers
Packers HC Matt LaFleur applauded DC Jeff Hafley for what he was able to accomplish with the team’s defense throughout the 2024 season and into the playoffs.
“I thought there was an incredible amount of growth, to be honest with you, in terms of maybe a vision of what we wanted to do and where we went to were kind of two different things,” LaFleur said, via Matt Schneidmann of The Athletic. “But I think that’s good coaching, right? You make the necessary adjustments and you put your guys in position and then ultimately those guys gotta go out there and execute. I thought Hafley did an outstanding job and it’s not just Haf. It’s our entire defensive staff. I envisioned rushing four and playing three deep/four under a heck of a lot more and we ended up doing a lot of simulated blitzes and different pressures and playing a bunch of Cover 2.”
“With pass rushers, you can never have enough and I thought there were times this year … that we were able to rush with four,” GM Brian Gutekunst noted. “There were periods of time where we didn’t do that well enough … I think everybody understands that that affects your football team. Again, I think Haf did a great job of marrying what we had together to make us — what were we, top five, top 10 defense, for sure?… He was in college for four years, so a lot of this improvement that we saw was, quite frankly, it was more impressive than I thought maybe I would see. And I’m really excited to see what he does with our defense moving forward and whatever new pieces we might add.”
Vikings
Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell says that QB J.J. McCarthy will have the full offseason to show he can be the starter after missing his entire rookie season due to injury.
“I’m very excited about where J.J.’s at. . . . He’s returned to on-field training, he’s returned to being able to be right where we hoped he would be at this point to have the type of offseason to answer that question,” O’Connell said. “I think he maximized what this year was for him, I think he has a level of comfort in our offensive system.”
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