NFC North Notes: Packers, Lions, Vikings

Legendary Packers quarterback Bart Starr sadly passed away earlier this morning. Not long after the news broke, fellow legendary Packers quarterback Brett Favre posted a touching tribute to Twitter. “Bart Starr was the most kind, thoughtful and classiest person you could ever know. I consider myself extremely lucky to have called him friend and to have been mentioned in the same breath. Deanna and I are praying for Cherry and the Starr family,” his tweet read. Both Starr and Favre started in Green Bay for 16 seasons, and each etched their names in the record books. Current Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers also shared a photo of Starr on his Instagram account. From everyone at PFR, all of our thoughts are with the Starr family.

Here’s the latest from the NFC North:

• The Lions were dealt a pretty big blow when starting guard T.J. Lang retired earlier this offseason. Lang only started six games this past season because of injury, but he was usually one of the league’s better guards when healthy. The Lions are looking to replace him next to left tackle Taylor Decker, and they have few options. While it’ll still be a competition, Tim Twentyman of the team’s official site thinks it’s Kenny Wiggins‘ “job to lose,” noting that Wiggins was taking the first-team reps during the first batch of OTAs. Wiggins started all 16 games for the Chargers in 2017, but was signed by Detroit initially to be a backup last year. He took over the starting gig once Lang went down, and it looks like he’s the favorite to retain the job on a full-time basis. He received poor grades from Pro Football Focus last season, grading out as their 59th-best guard, so it wouldn’t be surprising if someone pushes him in camp.
• Anthony Barr is back in Minnesota, and he won’t be changing positions either. Barr famously agreed to a contract with the Jets back in March, before spurning them and returning to the Vikings. There was talk that he’d be moved to defensive end for the 2019 season, but Vikings coach Mike Zimmer declared “he’ll be a linebacker” when addressing the media recently, per Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune. Hartman writes there was some buzz about moving him to end in order to turn him into more of a pass-rusher, but it turned out not to be the case. Barr doesn’t usually get after the passer all that much, although he did have three sacks last season. If the Vikings really want their outside rush bolstered, they’ll need a strong return campaign from Everson Griffen, who had his 2018 season derailed by a bizarre off-field incident.
• In case you missed it the Bears are doing some shuffling around of players, including moving James Daniels from guard to center, and Cody Whitehair from center to guard. Both players were starters last season.