NFC North Rounds 4-7 Analysis: Lions, Vikings, Packers, Bears all draft with their Franchise QBs top of mind
Lions load up on O-Line for Jared Goff. Bears score a RB steal in the seventh round. Vikings find a No. 2 QB. Packers take a major risk in troubled Georgia DT. Bob McGinn examines in full.
By Bob McGinn
The questions that burned brightest for the NFC North Division teams before the draft remained unanswered when three days of player acquisition ended Saturday night.
In Detroit, it’s mainly about Dan Campbell’s ability to minimize disruption after the departures of coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn.
In Minnesota, it’s whether J.J. McCarthy is ready to justify the club’s decision to part company with Sam Darnold.
In Green Bay, it’s whether Matt LaFleur, Brian Gutekunst and a new corporate president can claim a berth in the Super Bowl let alone the Lombardi Trophy for a franchise that has reached the playoffs 11 times in the last 14 years only to peter out each time in the clutch.
And in Chicago, it’s whether Caleb Williams can hold up his end of the bargain for a team that appears improved in many areas besides quarterback.
My entire life has been spent in Michigan and Wisconsin. The NFC Central/NFC North has been at the heart of my journalistic career.
Collectively, the Lions, Vikings, Packers and Bears were never better than they were a year ago — at least in the regular season. No four-team division ever was better than the North’s 45-23.
Now the competition has never been fiercer. Watching the picks roll past on the weekend was like a tag-team event for the best in class.
No one needed even to entertain drafting a quarterback. Each team has its guy, all from past first round: Jared Goff and Williams as No. 1 overall picks, McCarthy as a No. 10 and Jordan Love as a No. 26.
Supplying those passers with more and better weaponry and protection has had the four front offices in a near obsessive state the entire off-season. Of the 28 players drafted by the four teams, offense in this division ruled the day, 16-12.
General managers Brad Holmes, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Ryan Poles and Gutekunst drafted 25 of their 28 players from the Power 4 conferences (the SEC led with 11, the Big Ten had eight). The three other draftees called the Group of Five home. In an arms race like this, FCS and non-Division I players need not have applied this year.
OK, let’s analyze Day 3 of the draft in the NFC North.
ICYMI, here is Bob McGinn’s Day 1 and Day 2 analysis.
DETROIT LIONS (15-2, 0-1)
5/171. MILES FRAZIER, G, Louisiana State (6-5 ½, 317, 5.29)
6/196. AHMED HASSANEIN, Edge, Boise State (6-2 ½, 267, 4.78)
7/230. DAN JACKSON, S, Georgia (6-0, 194, 4.45)
7/244. DOMINIC LOVETT, WR, Georgia (5-10, 185, 4.38)
Former Packers GM Ron Wolf once said he wouldn’t permit any stumblebums to be blocking in front of Brett Favre. The same might now be said for Holmes’ interest in keeping Goff clean as he enters his 10th season.