Packers tight end Jared Cook had foot surgery earlier this week and will be sidelined at least until training camp, sources tell Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com, who adds that the operation is being viewed as “preventative.” The hope is that Cook will be able to return when Green Bay begins camp next month, though it doesn’t sound as though that’s definitive. Cook signed a one-year, $2.75MM deal ($825K guaranteed) with the Packers after being released by the Rams earlier this year.
Here’s more from the NFL’s two North divisions…
- True to his scouting report, Lions rookie defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson is having little trouble getting used to Detroit’s scheme. “Athletically, strength-wise, he’s all the things we thought and he can do what we’re going to need him to do,” Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin told Justin Rogers of MLive.com. “What you look at is when you go work them out, can they move? Can they bend? Can they redirect? How powerful are they? He had all those traits and so we thought it would be a no-brainer that he would be able to transition to play for us.”
- The Bengals might have found a new market inefficiency by relying on older players to handle key roles, Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes. Cincinnati will have four members of its club (non-QB or specialist) who will be age 33 or older by season’s end: Andrew Whitworth, Karlos Dansby, Adam Jones, and Eric Winston. Additionally, the club has expressed an interest in pass rush specialist Dwight Freeney, who is still productive at the age of 36.
- With linebacker Daryl Smith and defensive lineman Chris Canty gone, the Ravens’ front seven has gotten younger, CSNMidAtlantic.com’s Clifton Brown notes. Baltimore will depend on a number of players still on their rookie contracts, from defensive lineman Brandon Williams and Timmy Jernigan to linebackers C.J. Mosley and Arthur Brown. Brown, especially, will be counted on to step up in his fourth NFL season — the former second-round pick notably didn’t play a single defensive snap in 2014 and played only 10 last year. Day 2 draft picks Kamalei Correa and Bronson Kaufusi, both edge rushers, could also play large roles next season.
- The Lions worked out cornerback Rod Sweeting, as Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle tweets. Sweeting, 25, entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of Georgia Tech three years ago, and has bounced around the league since then. While his most recent action came in Cowboys camp last year (where he was waived during final cutdowns), Sweeting’s most notable time was with the Saints, with whom he played nine games in 2013.
Zach Links contributed to this post.