The NFC North Round-Up: Chicago’s Offensive Line is in Trouble
Josh Frey
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The third week of NFL training camp is officially underway, and we are less than a week from the first slate of preseason games this upcoming weekend. With a new week upon us, let’s take a look back at this past week of training camp and cover some of the news from the teams around the NFC North.
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Teven Jenkins Might Get Traded
The situation between the Chicago Bears and their 2021 second-round pick have gone from bad to worse. First of all, Teven Jenkins struggled to find on-field snaps early on in camp with the organization putting the offensive tackle in with the second team.
Now, reports out of Chicago suggest that the Bears are looking to trade the offensive tackle that, just 16 months ago, they traded substantial draft capital to move up into the second round and select. It isn’t exactly like the other options for Chicago are world class players, either. They handed a hefty contract to former Vikings LT Riley Reiff, who has been swapping reps on either side with rookie Braxton Jones. We’ll see how the duo works out, but it’s very clear that things are not going according to plan for the Bears right now.
Dan Campbell Is Still Awesome
The Detroit Lions might not field one of the most competitive teams when the regular season actually starts, but man, I cannot wait until their first episode of Hard Knocks airs on Tuesday. Dan Campbell continues to just be an awesome football guy. Tell me you can watch this speech to his team and NOT be ready to run through a wall for the Lions head coach.
As far as actual football news, Detroit does have an interesting battle going on at the starting linebacker spot. Rookie Malcolm Rodriguez has made an impact already in camp and is in the midst of a fierce competition with second-year player Derrick Barnes and free agent acquisition Chris Board. Again, the winner of this battle likely doesn’t transform the Lions into a contending team, but it will be once again very easy to root for the Kardiak Kitties in 2022.
Green Bay’s Defense Is Giving Aaron Rodgers Headaches
The Green Bay Packers may not be quite as effective on offense this year as they were in 2021, but their defense is looking quite stout. Back-to-back MVP of the league Aaron Rodgers suggested as much earlier in the offseason on The Pat McAfee Show by saying that this might be a “long” camp, and early on, it’s being confirmed to be true.
Green Bay may have lost Za’Darius Smith to the Minnesota Vikings, but they have added two Georgia Bulldogs from one of the best defenses in college football history in LB Quay Walker and DL Devonte Wyatt. It seems like Rashan Gary is handling his own off the EDGE in practice as well.
The Vikings host the Packers in Week 1, and if Green Bay’s defense is anything close to what it looks like right now, that should be a very tough matchup in Kevin O’Connell’s first week as head coach.
Kevin O’Connell Confirms What Everyone Knew
Stop the presses, there’s officially a “competition” for the Vikings center spot, according to the Vikings head coach. After three years of major struggles as the starter since being drafted in the first round, Garrett Bradbury’s spot in the starting lineup for Week 1 is not guaranteed.
We’ve already spoken about the Packers defense, but the Vikings need to have their interior offensive line figured out if they are going to have any chance of containing Kenny Clark. Then a week later, they play the Eagles in primetime, and Jordan Davis is looking like he’s ready to steal lunch money from grown men if they show up unprepared.
The Vikings have a couple, quite literally, massive tests early on in the season. Continuous troubles along the interior offensive line do not bode well for these matchups. Hopefully they get things sorted out soon.
