We’re now a little over a week into the free agency process. A bevy of moves have been made across the league, including quite a few within the NFC “Norse” Division. Let’s take a look at the action from each of the four teams and see how (or if) they’ve changed the landscape in the North.
The Chicago Bears made a splash by landing former New Orleans Saints’ offensive tackle Jermon Bushrod to address their desperate need for help protecting Jay Cutler; but the six-year, $36 million contract (with $22.5 million guaranteed) is way too much money for a tackle that allowed Drew Brees to get battered all of last season. They also signed tight end Martellus Bennett, finally getting another talented target for Cutler. They may have over spent just a bit, but they really needed a dependable, pass-catching tight end.
Besides those additions, the Bears lost two linebackers, Nick Roach and Geno Hayes; and are in serious need of help at the position. If they fail to bring Brian Urlacher back, the Bears’ once-feared defense will officially be in shambles.
A similar situation took place in Detroit, as the Lions signed (and possibly over-paid) for the likes of Reggie Bush, Glover Quinn and Jason Jones. But they also lost some key contributors on both sides of the ball, including defensive end Cliff Avril to the Seattle Seahawks and offensive tackle Gosder Cherilus to the Indianapolis Colts. Detroit was, however, able to keep things from completely falling apart by retaining the services of Louis Delmas and Chris Houston.
In Green Bay, it’s been another year of false hope for Packers’ fans in free agency. They flirted with Steven Jackson, but ultimately lost out to the Atlanta Falcons. Greg Jennings, Erik Walden, Tom Crabtree and Phillip Merling have all departed the team for greener pastures and the only free agent they’ve retained thus far is linebacker Rob Francois. But worry not, Green Bay faithful; general manager Ted Thompson knows what he’s doing, and you should be used to this by now.
And finally; the Minnesota Vikings. Just hours before the start of free agency, the Vikings traded Percy Harvin to the Seahawks for a haul of draft picks. Wide receiver was already a huge need in Minnesota prior to the trade, so the Vikings wasted no time in signing Greg Jennings to a huge contract. For my analysis and opinion of that deal, check out my story from earlier this week. Besides the Jennings signing, the Vikings were able to add a stable backup quarterback in Matt Cassel and retained the services of important players like Phil Loadholt, Jasper Brinkley, Erin Henderson and Jerome Felton.
In the end though, with the exception of the Packers; all three of the other teams in the division lost key players, and did what they could to fill some holes, but still have a ton of needs to address. So far, the first week of free agency has helped the division stay the same if anything, but really hasn’t done anything to drastically change it for better or worse. That said, there are still a ton of free agents on the market that could fill a need and add value to all four teams, but even then; there’s nobody out there that would alter the division noticeably.