NFC North

Despite missing out on the 2024 NFL draft, Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy is optimistic the city will host the event at some point in the near future.

During a shareholders meeting on Monday (h/t Sports Illustrated's Bill Huber), Murphy said he is "confident" Green Bay will be the draft's host site in either 2025 or 2027.

"We’ll be given strong consideration," he added. "We’ve been close on other ones, too."

Murphy told reporters last week the city was bidding to host the draft in 2025 and 2027, with the expectation it will be picked for one of them.

After 50 years of the NFL draft being held in New York City, the NFL began taking the event on the road starting in 2015. Chicago; Philadelphia; Arlington, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; Cleveland; and Las Vegas are previous host sites of the event.

Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, is scheduled to host the 2023 draft. Green Bay, Detroit and Washington D.C. were the three finalists for the 2024 draft. The league announced in March that Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit won the bidding.

Huber noted that recent expansion around Lambeau Field has put the Packers in a "strong position" to host draft weekend.

The Resch Expo Center, located one block away from the Packers' home stadium, opened in January 2021.

According to Huber, the Titletown District is a "sprawling complex of offices, condos and green space" that also recently hosted a Jason Derulo concert.

According to Adam Staten of Newsweek, since the league started taking the draft on the road, host cities from 2015 to 2021 combined to generate a total of $500 million to their local economies during the three-day event.

The Packers are one of the most iconic franchises in North American pro sports. They are the NFL's third-oldest team, joining the league in 1921 after the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals (both in 1920) and are one of six teams with at least four Super Bowl titles.

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson said he's aiming to become the first player in NFL history to post 2,000 receiving yards in a single season in 2022.

"I hope so," Jefferson told Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press on Monday. "I think I can. Hopefully, everything goes right and I can get that 2,000. That's my goal."

Detroit Lions legend Calvin Johnson holds the all-time record with the 1,964 yards he posted in 2012. The Los Angeles Rams' Cooper Kupp came close last year with 1,947 yards.

While Kupp staked his claim as the NFL's best wideout with his standout showing in 2021, Jefferson told Tomasson the Las Vegas Raiders' Davante Adams still gets his vote as the top dog at the position, at least for now.

"Just because all that Davante Adams has done," he said. "I'm just showing my respect for him but agree that after the year I'll pass him."

As for Kupp?

"Coop is good, but I'll say he's behind me," Jefferson told Tomasson.

The 23-year-old LSU product is off to a tremendous start to his career with the Vikings. He's earned Pro Bowl selections in each of his first two NFL seasons while tallying 196 catches for 3,016 yards and 17 touchdowns in 33 games.

His yardage total is the highest in the league over the past two years, and he's hopeful the switch to new head coach Kevin O'Connell, who most recently served as the offensive coordinator for Kupp and the Rams, will open up the offense even more.

"[O'Connell] can do a lot," Jefferson told Tomasson. "He'll put me in different positions, put me in motion, put me in different spots to get the ball. So we're excited about this new offense. I feel great about all the different coaches coming into the building."

One thing that could prevent Jefferson from reaching his 2,000-yard goal is Minnesota's pass-catching depth.

Fellow receivers Adam Thielen and K.J. Osborn along with tight end Irv Smith Jr. are going to command a fair share of targets, and running back Dalvin Cook is also a factor in the passing game.

Last year, Kupp finished with 191 targets, and the next-highest total on the Rams was Van Jefferson at 89. It was a similar story for Johnson with the Lions in 2012, when he finished with 204 targets and next on the team was Brandon Pettigrew at 102.

It's hard to see Jefferson pushing toward 200 targets if all of the Vikings' main offensive playmakers remain healthy. If injuries arise, however, all bets are off and he could make that push for 2,000 yards.

Minnesota will kick off the regular season Sept. 11 when it welcomes the NFC North rival Green Bay Packers to U.S. Bank Stadium for a key Week 1 showdown.

Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy doesn't hold any ill will toward Davante Adams despite the wide receiver pushing for a trade to the Las Vegas Raiders in March.

According to Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith, Murphy recently said he expects Adams to eventually be inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame.

"I have tremendous respect for Davante," Murphy said. "Obviously he was a great player for us, and as fine a person as you’ll ever see in the game. The way he handled this entire situation was really outstanding, and I am very confident that he will come back and he will be a member of our Hall of Fame."

Adams spent the first eight years of his career in Green Bay and quickly developed into one of the best receivers in the NFL. His chemistry with Packers star quarterback Aaron Rodgers was unmatched, as the two of them set the franchise record for most touchdowns by a quarterback-receiver tandem with 68.

In 2021, Adams set career-highs with 123 catches and 1,553 receiving yards while adding 11 touchdowns on his way to earning first-team All-Pro honors for the second straight year. The 29-year-old has also been selected to the Pro Bowl in each of the last five seasons.

Despite his success in Green Bay, Adams sought to be closer to his home state of California, which led to his trade to Las Vegas. Joining the Raiders also reunites him with Derek Carr, who was his collegiate quarterback at Fresno State.

Adams recently raised some eyebrows when he compared Carr to Rodgers, who is the two-time reigning NFL MVP.

"Anytime you change quarterbacks from Hall of Famer to Hall of Famer ... it's going to be a little bit of an adjustment," Adams said last week. When speaking to reporters on Sunday, he stood by that statement.

"What I'm not going to do is take away from that statement because, why is Derek not a Hall of Famer? What I meant, I left one key word out of there because that's not exactly what I meant," he said. "But I do think that Derek's career is Hall of Fame-worthy, and why not? Does he have the MVPs right now? No. Has he won a Super Bowl? Not yet. That's obviously what we're chasing."

Most NFL coaches think Justin Fields will improve with a new coaching staff in place.

That said, there remain concerns about whether he can become a true franchise-level quarterback.

“I do think his anticipation in the dropback game needs to improve, but he does throw a really good deep ball and deep cross route where some of those other guys, I did not have that feel in the dropback game of, ‘Can they make certain throws as consistently?’" a coach told Mike Sando of The Athletic. “It is everything else he has to figure out. I don’t think he is going to be a top-shelf guy this year, but you are going to trend. You are going to say, ‘We can win with this guy.’ I don’t think he is ever going to be a 1. I think he can climb to maybe a 2, high Tier 3.”

For reference, here is how Sando (and the coaches) define a Tier 1 quarterback: "A Tier 1 quarterback can carry his team each week. The team wins because of him. He expertly handles pure passing situations. He has no real holes in his game."

Fields is coming off a largely miserable rookie season that saw him struggle amid an ill-fitting scheme and a lack of supporting cast. The Ohio State product threw for 1,870 yards and seven touchdowns against 10 interceptions while adding 420 yards and two scores on the ground. His 26.4 QBR ranked 31st among qualifying quarterbacks.

The Bears organization underwent a seismic overhaul this offseason, with Ryan Poles taking over as general manager and Matt Eberflus as head coach. Eberflus brought in former Packers assistant Luke Getsy as offensive coordinator and former Vikings assistant Andrew Janocko as quarterbacks coach.

Both Getsy and Janocko have experience coaching multiple offensive positions during their NFL careers, which should help the defensive-minded Eberflus focus on his preferred side of the ball.

However, it'll be the offensive staff's work with Fields that determines whether the partnership is fruitful. Former Bears coach Matt Nagy too often tried to fit Fields into a box of what his system wanted from a quarterback rather than working to accentuate the young signal-caller's skills. If Getsy and Janocko focus on building an offense around Fields' rushing ability and smarts, then they should find far more success.

Critics who lambasted the Green Bay Packers for their decision to select AJ Dillon in the second round of the 2020 draft may have to retract those comments and acknowledge that the club has the best running back duo by the end of the 2022 season.

Two years ago, Green Bay added Dillon to a solid backfield that included Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams, which caused some confusion considering a glaring need at wide receiver. For perspective, take a look at the betting odds that the Packers would draft a running back at No. 62 overall:

Packers draft Boston College RB AJ Dillon

They were +2000 to take a RB with their next pick 😳 pic.twitter.com/NGdqxPEtnN

— br_betting (@br_betting) April 25, 2020

On that night, many Packers fans and analysts scratched their heads. In hindsight, the front office made the right decision for the team's future.

Last offseason, Green Bay signed Jones to a four-year, $48 million extension and allowed Williams to walk in free agency. After a quiet rookie campaign as the No. 3 running back on the depth chart, Dillon took a big leap in 2021.

SBNation's Jason B. Hirschhorn composed a comprehensive column on his Substack that highlighted Dillon's second-year growth in the offense. He mirrored Jones' production in a near-even split for touches:

· Aaron Jones: 223 touches for 1,190 yards and 10 touchdowns

· AJ Dillon: 221 touches for 1,116 yards and seven touchdowns

Dillon's 2021 production topped all four of Williams' individual years in Green Bay. Perhaps he's just scratched the surface of his potential while in line for a bigger role.

In March, the Packers traded wide receiver Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders. He commanded 115-plus targets in each of the past two seasons. Without him, quarterback Aaron Rodgers will have more balls to spread among his pass-catchers, and we could see a heavy tilt toward the ground attack.

Head coach Matt LaFleur served as the Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator under primary play-caller and lead skipper Sean McVay when running back Todd Gurley racked up 2,093 yards and 19 touchdowns from scrimmage for the league's No. 1 scoring offense in 2017.

The following year, LaFleur called plays for the Tennessee Titans, who fielded the sixth-ranked rushing offense with Derrick Henry as the featured back and Dion Lewis in the change-of-pace role.

Last season, LaFleur watched his top two ball-carriers rack up 1,602 yards and nine touchdowns combined on the ground.

Green Bay's offense will undoubtedly operate differently without Adams, but LaFleur can adjust with his backfield personnel. He's been exposed to and guided run-heavy offenses that overshadowed the passing attack. Now, the Packers head coach has two lead-type running backs who can fulfill all the playmaking responsibilities at the position.

In his monthly column on the Packers' official website, team president and CEO Mark Murphy expressed a ton of confidence in the team's top two tailbacks:

"Our game is now a quarterback-driven league and great quarterbacks like Aaron can lift up the play of all their teammates. I also believe we have the best running back duo in the league in Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, and they will be a big part of our passing game."

We've seen Jones' versatile skill set. He's a dual-threat playmaker who's recorded 183 career receptions for 1,448 yards and 12 touchdowns in addition to 4,163 rushing yards and 41 scores. For two of the last three years, he's ranked second on the team in catches. Averaging 5.1 yards per carry across five seasons, the 2020 Pro Bowler can cover ground in chunks and poses a threat to break away for a big gain.

Dillon isn't a home run threat yet. However, running backs coach Ben Sirmans referenced the ball-carrier's 36-yard run against the Chicago Bears in their 2021 Week 6 matchup. He believes we'll see a more explosive version of the third-year pro in the upcoming campaign (h/t Zach Kruse of Packers Wire):

"He’s got that type of ability. He can make you miss in the open field. You think about the plays like the Chicago run that he had. He’s faster than what most people think. He’s got the ability to put a little juke on you, even for a guy his size. So really it’s just putting all those facets to his game and putting them together. I do think he’ll have more explosive runs this year."

Dillon, whose nickname is Quadzilla, because of his massive quadriceps, isn't going to outrun defenders or turn on the afterburners in a footrace to the end zone. At 6'0", 247 pounds, he's the thunder in Green Bay's backfield duo.

For the 2021 season, Dillon finished 11th in broken tackles (17), though the 10 ball-carriers ahead of him all had at least 202 carries while he logged 187 rush attempts.

This year, without Adams, who had been a touchdown machine, Green Bay could feed Dillon inside the 20-yard line. With great lower-body strength, he moves piles:

AJ Dillon is TOO STRONG. #GoPackGo

📺: #MINvsGB on NBC
📱: https://t.co/nJofcz3BpO pic.twitter.com/7hgyNISS3D

— NFL (@NFL) January 3, 2022

Though Dillon carries the label of a bruising ball-carrier, he's more than a one-dimensional short-yardage, between-the-tackles running back. As a collegian, the Boston College product didn't have much of a receiving role, hauling in just 21 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns in three seasons as an Eagle.

However, last year, Dillon logged 34 receptions for 313 yards and two touchdowns. Watch him leak out of the backfield, plant his foot in the ground and catch a pass over the middle for a touchdown:

AJ Dillon powers through for the @Packers TD! #GoPackGo

📺: #LARvsGB on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/BIOX5X9JLn

— NFL (@NFL) November 28, 2021

Rodgers may have lost his top wide receiver, but he can hand off or throw to both of his running backs, who should emerge as key players in a new-look offensive attack.

The Athletic's Brandon Marianne Lee took a snapshot of Jones' pass-catching production without Adams on the field in their time as teammates.

"With Adams on the field, Jones would average 2.49 receptions, 17.83 receiving yards, and .14 receiving touchdowns per game," Lee wrote. "Without Adams, Jones averages 4.5 receptions, 48.5 receiving yards, and .5 receiving touchdowns per game."

The Packers signed Sammy Watkins and selected Christian Watson (second round), Romeo Doubs (fourth round) and Samori Toure (seventh round) in the 2022 draft, but don't be surprised if Jones leads the team in multiple receiving categories. Dillon should see growth in his pass-catching role as well.

Green Bay's running back duo can do it all behind a quality offensive line that will eventually welcome back 2020 Pro Bowl guard Elgton Jenkins. Two-time All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari could be back at 100 percent after he played in just one game while recovering from a torn ACL last season. The five-man unit should help the running backs produce big numbers in 2022.

Kruse believes Jones and Dillon have a shot to become the sixth running back tandem to reach 1,000 rushing yards apiece—the first to accomplish that feat since DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart did it with the Carolina Panthers in 2009.

That Panthers squad ranked second in total rush attempts without a 1,000-yard receiver on the roster. The Packers may have a similar dynamic.

Rodgers has to build a rapport with a young wide receiver corps and develop a stronger connection with wideout Allen Lazard, who doesn't have more than 40 receptions in a single season. Watkins has recently struggled to stay healthy, missing 10 games since 2020. Tight end Robert Tonyan is still recovering from a torn ACL. Now in the latter stages of his career, Randall Cobb's catch and receiving yard totals have been on the decline since 2019. As Green Bay's aerial attack goes through a jelling period, LaFleur can lean on what worked on the ground last year.

In June, Bleacher Report's Alex Ballentine ranked the top seven backfields and placed the Packers tandem second behind Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.

Ballentine made a logical case for the Cleveland Browns pair. Chubb has rushed for at least 1,067 yards in three consecutive campaigns. As a rookie, Hunt won the 2017 rushing title with the Kansas City Chiefs, and he’s one of the league's most productive pass-catching backs with 176 career receptions for 1,596 yards and 16 touchdowns.

In the event Green Bay becomes more reliant on its backfield, Jones and Dillon can surpass Chubb and Hunt, especially if they continue to split the bulk of the workload at about 50-50.

In Cleveland, Hunt is clearly the No. 2 running back, and he missed nine games last year. As Kruse suggested, Green Bay may have two 1,000-yard ball-carriers.

Of course, the Packers had no idea they would lose Adams when they drafted Dillon, but we cannot criticize the pick now. Because of that questionable selection, Green Bay could have the NFL’s best running back duo.

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Maurice Moton covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @MoeMoton.

Veteran defensive tackle Eddie Goldman is retiring from the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons announced his decision Tuesday.

Goldman spent his first six seasons in the league with the Chicago Bears.

Following his release by the Bears in March, the 28-year-old signed a one-year deal with the Falcons on July 6.

The Chicago Tribune's Brad Biggs reported last July that some around the NFL thought Goldman was considering retirement. He sat out the 2020 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic and hadn't yet arrived at training camp.

Upon rejoining the team, Goldman spoke of how much he missed playing while on the sidelines the previous year.

"It was kind of painful, you know?" he told reporters last July. "Because when you’re used to the routine, it’s like you know what times they’re hitting the field at this time, they’re warming up around this time, they’re having the locker room speech. You know what I mean. All of that and just being away from it just kind of killed me."

It appears Goldman had a change of heart in terms of his passion for the game that could've been spurred on by his performance in 2021.

The 6'3" nose tackle appeared in 14 games and only made 10 starts, his fewest since 2016. Only once was he on the field for at least 50 percent of Chicago's defensive snaps. By comparison, he hit that threshold nine times in 2019.

Given his reputation, the Falcons were almost certainly counting on Goldman to at least provide competition for Anthony Rush for the starting nose tackle job. Now, they'll have to look elsewhere to bolster their depth on the interior of their line.

Wide receiver N'Keal Harry's tenure as a member of the New England Patriots has come to an end after he was traded to the Chicago Bears, per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.

The Patriots will receive a 2024 seventh-round pick in exchange for the 24-year-old, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

The Patriots had high expectations for Harry after selecting him with the No. 32 pick in the 2019 draft. He was coming off an outstanding college career at Arizona State that included back-to-back All-Pac-12 first-team selections in 2017 and 2018.

An ankle injury suffered during the preseason caused him to start his rookie season on injured reserve. His professional debut didn't come until Week 11 of the 2019 campaign. He didn't make much of an impact with 105 yards and two touchdowns on 12 receptions in seven games.

Despite being healthier in 2020, Harry's performance didn't get much better. He finished the year with 309 yards and two touchdowns on 33 receptions in 14 games.

Jamal Tooson, Harry's agent, issued a statement last July that his client had formally requested a trade from the Patriots:

Statement from #Patriots WR N’Keal Harry’s agent Jamal Tooson, who has formally requested a trade for the 2019 first-round pick. pic.twitter.com/3xdJbbar28

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 6, 2021

Even though the team didn't grant his request, Harry's status with the Pats became even more unclear last summer after the team made a series of offseason acquisitions to upgrade its pass-catching group.

Kendrick Bourne and Nelson Agholor were new additions to the receiving corps. Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith were signed as free agents to give the team two starting tight ends.

The Patriots added DeVante Parker this offseason in a trade with the Miami Dolphins and then drafted Baylor wideout Tyquan Thornton in the second round this year.

The offense looked better with Mac Jones under center during his rookie campaign. New England finished ninth in DVOA, though Harry didn't benefit from the improved play. He had 12 catches for 184 yards in 12 games (four starts).

Chicago presents Harry an opportunity for a fresh start with an offense that could use plenty of help after finishing 30th in passing last season. Harry's 6'4", 225-pound frame could make him an asset for young quarterback Justin Fields alongside Darnell Mooney.