By now Lions fans have a pretty solid idea and opinion on what Detroit has done in the first few days of free agency. But what about the other three teams in the NFC North?
Here is what the Bears, Packers and Vikings have added to their rosters since the 2020 NFL free agency period opened last week.
Chicago Bears
The Bears have been relatively busy. Not to the extent of the Lions, but Chicago GM Ryan Pace has churned some talent.
Signed EDGE Robert Quinn, adding another big-ticket (5 years, $70 million) pass rusher opposite Khalil Mack. Quinn bagged 11.5 sacks in 14 games for Dallas in 2019.
Traded a fourth-round pick to the Jaguars for QB Nick Foles. Either the Mitchell Trubisky era is over for the Bears or they’ve gone way overboard in replacing backup Chase Daniel, now with the Lions.
Signed TE Jimmy Graham for two years and $16 million, a steep price for a fading talent with a significantly lower red-zone catch percentage (Graham is under 35 percent) than Eric Ebron over the last two years.
Signed TE Demetrius Harris, adding another tight end who’s not good in the red zone. At least Harris can (sort of) block…
Re-signed DE Brent Urban, an underrated move to keep an underrated, useful player.
Added safety Jordan Lucas and CB Artie Burns. Backups.
Green Bay Packers
Perhaps harkening back to the Ted Thompson era, the Packers have been inordinately quiet in free agency thus far. They’ve signed just two players who were on other active rosters in 2019. One of them is a familiar face for Lions fans…
Signed RT Rick Wagner for two years and $11 million. That’s a good deal to get a starting right tackle from the Lions. Wagner isn’t as good as the man he’s replacing, Bryan Bulaga (now with the Chargers), but the Packers got younger and cheaper.
Signed LB Christian Kirksey, an interesting gamble at a surprisingly high price tag (2 years, $13 million). I covered Kirksey with the Browns and he’s a great person. As far as playing LB now after two major injuries that have wiped out almost all of the last two years, color me quite skeptical the Packers get bang for their buck here.
Re-signed TE Marcedes Lewis. Nothing like being forced to keep a soon-to-be 36-year-old backup tight end — for $2.25 million, no less — whose 15 catches in 2019 are irreplaceable to the offense now that the (admittedly underwhelming) Jimmy Graham is gone.
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings were destined to be net losers in free agency based on their salary cap situation at the end of the year.
Signed DT Michael Pierce from the Ravens. It’s a lateral move for the team, which lost Linval Joseph to the Chargers in free agency. The 340-pound Pierce is younger and only costs them under a million per year more than what Joseph got to leave.
That’s it. Pierce is their only import so far. Signing a nose tackle pales in comparison to re-signing Kirk Cousins for an additional $66 million over two more seasons. Cousins will be the Vikings starting QB through at least 2021, with total dead cap value over $100 million if they dump the occasionally above-average QB before then.
They did re-sign kicker Dan Bailey and No. 6 offensive lineman Rashod Hill to reasonably priced deals. When you pay a good-not-great QB $33 million per year, those are the choices you get to make.
