NFC Notes: Meachem, Lions, Boone

Former Saints wide receiver Robert Meachem will be working out for the Lions on Tuesday, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press (on Twitter). As previously reported, Detroit will also host receiver Brad Smith and running back Ben Tate on Tuesday. Here’s more from the NFC..

• 49ers lineman Alex Boone, who had not been part of the team’s offseason program to date, will be on hand for the veteran minicamp that runs Tuesday through Thursday, a league source tells Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee. The Niners’ starting right guard was away from the team for the entire 2014 offseason while fishing for a better deal. He wound up settling for a two-year pact, a deal that he’s ostensibly trying to upgrade from now. The 49ers lost their other starting guard, Mike Iupati, in free agency and last week learned that starting right tackle Anthony Davis would retire.
• Cardinals linebacker Larry Foote says the itch to play hasn’t hit him yet and he’s likely to coach this season, Kyle Odegard of AZCardinals.com tweets. The Cardinals added Foote to their coaching staff earlier in the offseason with the intent of signing him to the roster later in the summer if he decided to continue playing.
• Todd Archer of ESPN.com wonders if the Cowboys should lock up Tyrone Crawford now or later. Crawford finished with just three sacks but he had 29 quarterback pressures and four tackles for loss as he learned the defensive tackle position on the fly. Set to make just $675K in the final year of his rookie deal, it could make sense for Dallas to lock Crawford down for multiple years beyond 2015. Still, he’s rather unproven as those three sacks are the only sacks of his career.
• Rainer Sabin of The Dallas Morning News wonders if Darren McFadden can get his second wind with the Cowboys. Dallas has always been enamored with the former Raiders back, but he has lost much of his luster due to injury in recent years. “He was a guy that was interesting to us,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said of McFadden. “Obviously he has some skill sets with his explosiveness and his speed. He can take it to the house if he gets the right seam. He’s an interesting back for us. We think he can bring something to the table here.”