Bears teammates Willie Young, Ego Ferguson, and Jeremiah Ratliff are all products of Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia. It was an experience that helped mold them for the NFL, writes Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “You can’t explain to anybody else what Hargrave was unless you’ve been through it,” Ferguson, the Bears rookie defensive tackle, said. “People don’t understand unless you’ve been there and understood the struggle and the grind it took to make it.” Today’s look at the NFC North..
- Back on draft day, when the Bills sent their 2015 first-rounder to Cleveland in order to select Sammy Watkins, there was speculation that the Lions had also been considering such a move as well. But head coach Jim Caldwell said today that the Lions weren’t close to trading up for Watkins, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I think it was more driven outside of this building than inside,” Caldwell said. “Folks caught onto it and I think that was probably more so than anything else.”
- The next significant step in the Adrian Peterson case comes on October 8th when he’ll be arraigned on a charge of injury to a child, says Tom Pelissero of USA Today Sports (video link). There have been no plea negotiations and the Vikings running back does not want to plea even if that would get him back on the field sooner. Peterson believes he is innocent and wants to clear his name. It’s up to the judge when Peterson goes to trial and prosecutors have said that it could take 9-12 months to get on the docket. If that’s the case, Peterson will not only miss the whole 2014 season, but could miss part of 2015 as well.
- Because of the injury to Joseph Fauria, rookie tight end Eric Ebron figures to see more time for the Lions, writes Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com. “We see that foundation of it is being built,” coach Jim Caldwell said. “We can see the reaction to different situations that he’s confronted with on the practice field and during the course of the games that we think he’s making good progress.”