Bears
Bears QB Caleb Williams recently led his offense to a 90-plus-yard drive for a touchdown in Chicago’s offseason program. Chicago HC Ben Johnson praised Williams for getting them down the field in less than a minute.
“I think it was 90-plus yards in under a minute with no timeouts,” Johnson said, via Adam Jahns of The Athletic. “So it was cool to see them stack some plays.”
Johnson added that the defense has been the more successful side in two-minute drills so far this offseason and was glad to see Williams string plays together.
“I know you haven’t been to every single OTA so far, but I would say the defense has gotten the better of the offense more often than not in all those two-minute (situations), whether it’s end of half or end of game,” Johnson said. “So it was good to see the offense stack a few plays together. That’s a very tough situation.”
Johnson said Williams plays his best in critical situations.
“What we thought about him was when the lights are bright that he was going to show up,” Johnson said. “And it felt like the game slowed down a little bit for him (Wednesday), and he was able to just go out and find an open guy and get a completion.”
Lions
The Lions used a second-round pick on CB Ennis Rakestraw a year ago, but he didn’t see the field much for a myriad of reasons. Detroit HC Dan Campbell admitted they might have thrown too much at him by trying to move him to nickel to get him on the field right away.
“Look, we tinkered with some nickel last year and it was probably a little too much, too fast for him,” Campbell said, via Jeff Risdon of the Lions Wire. “We felt like once we did some things with him outside – practice, things of that nature – man, he really began to grow. And I think right now that’s where he really belongs. That’s where he can really take off.”
Campbell has been impressed with Rakestraw’s performance this spring and said they plan to keep him on the outside for the time being.
“Ennis would be another guy that stood out, by the way. He’s going to have a chance to compete. We’d like to keep him outside right now and just let him go. He had a good spring. There again, we’re in pajamas, but he’s going to get a chance to compete and see how much he’s grown and what kind of production he can have for us.”
Packers
Packers HC Matt LaFleur said the addition of OL Aaron Banks allows the team to be flexible with who they deploy on their offensive line.
“He’s a pretty big guy out there,” LaFleur said, via the team’s website. “He’s played a lot of football, and there’s a lot of similarities in regards to the scheme where he came from to what we do. Obviously, we know what he’s capable of doing, but it also provides us with a lot of flexibility with everyone else around him.”
Banks believes that Green Bay is a title contender, which prompted him to sign with them this offseason.
“They’ve been in the playoffs every year and it’s a young team and guys are only getting better,” Banks said. “As the younger guys on this team start to become older guys and then we start to bring everybody along, I just think we’re really close. I think we have all the tools and all the pieces to get there, and not only get there but win it.”
Banks noticed the versatility the team built on the offensive line and said that there’s guys who can play at multiple spots along the line.
“You’ve got a number of guys who are like Swiss Army knives,” Banks said. “Not only large but guys who can move, so we can get around the edge, we can go run down linebackers. We can also set up double teams and move people vertically off the ball.“
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