Bears
Chicago released DE DeMarcus Walker for cap purposes this offseason, creating an opening opposite Montez Sweat up front. Bears GM Ryan Poles wants to be selectively aggressive in the draft and free agency to bolster a pass rush that hasn’t been noteworthy outside of Sweat.
“I think the clearer the vision, the more aggressive you can be, and that’s important,” Poles said, via ESPN’s Courtney Cronin . “You want to be selective in free agency … but if there are certain players that kind of hit all the checked boxes that you need, there’s really no reason to hold back. I feel like you can be aggressive in those situations.”
“There’s a strategy to that. I would probably argue and say if you get a good pass rusher and you draft a pass rusher, you can’t have enough good ones.”
Lions
Lions OC John Morton believes his ability to put players in a position to succeed and outside-the-box thinking will help him to succeed.
“People that hire me is because I do research,” Morton said, via the team’s website. “What is going to work for this player? It’s a lot of ideas. I just throw everything at them. That’s the way it was at the beginning of my coaching career. When I first started with Gruden. It’s like, ‘Give me ideas.’ Whether he puts it in or not I just keep bringing them.”
Morton added that he’s excited to work with the offensive weapons that Detroit has behind a great offensive line.
“I know it’s fun, isn’t it? I’m like a kid in a candy store. It’s Christmas all over again. I love that part. I live for game planning. I love all the way up to the game. That’s the chess match. When the game starts, it’s a chess match. You have to talk about those different scenarios when the game starts. Game planning, I just love that part. I’ll just stay all day and all night. I’m just looking for that play to help us win the game. You know what I mean? Whatever that is. That’s what drives me to win. I just think it’s cool when you have all these pieces.”
Morton will put his spin on the offense but envisions a lot of the same concepts run by former OC Ben Johnson.
“I think it’s going to be a lot of carry over,” he said. “I think it would be a little bit crazy if we didn’t continue to do what players – we want them to continue to play fast, right? The plays, I don’t think all that is going to change as much.”
Packers
Packers GM Brian Gutekunst said the team won’t shy away from drafting a wide receiver in the first round if the talent matches the value at the spot that they’re picking.
“I will say this: in no time in my 20-some years within this organization, whether it was Ron (Wolf) or Ted (Thompson), did I hear them talk about that as a philosophy,” Gutekunst said of avoiding first-round receivers, via the Athletic’s Matt Schneidman . “I know Ron talked a lot about being mad he didn’t take Randy Moss , you know what I mean? … I never really looked at it that way. I don’t think we’d ever hesitate to take a receiver in the first round if the right one was there. We certainly talked about it at different times in the last seven years since I’ve been in this spot, trying to make that happen (the Packers wanted Brandon Aiyuk in the 2020 first round before drafting Jordan Love ), so I don’t really look at it as a philosophical thing. I will say we’ve hit on a lot of second-round receivers. There’s been a lot of guys that we’ve taken in that group that have become really, really good players for us. Not only us, but throughout the league.”
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