NFC North: Storylines to follow at mandatory minicamps

The Detroit Lions got a head start on their divisional counterparts kicking off mandatory minicamp last week. Here, SideLion Report examines a scenario to track at each NFC North team’s spring practices this week.

There’s no pads on, there’s little live tackling, and important players are often limited in their participation, or absent altogether. However, the Detroit Lions generated a series of intriguing storylines during their mandatory offseason sessions, and their NFC North rivals will likely follow suit this week.

The Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears kick off the mandatory portions of their spring practice sessions this week, and each squad will offer some important trends to follow as they intensify preparations for the upcoming season. The NFC North promises to be one of the most competitive divisions in football in 2019, and each team has made significant changes this offseason in hopes of claiming divisional supremacy.

Not unlike the Lions, chances are that certain members of each team are non-participants in the week’s sessions, for financial reasons or otherwise. To that end, it can be a critical time for younger players, or players on the roster bubble to make an impression in hopes of landing on the initial 53-man roster at the end of the summer.

From hobbled coaches, to underperforming position groups, each of the Lions’ divisional counterparts will have a collection of important trends of which to keep track as the week progresses. Today, we’ll examine one critical storyline for each squad, beginning with the Green Bay Packers.