Bears
Bears second-round OT Ozzy Trapilo is preparing at both right and left tackle and is ready to play either spot depending on where the team needs him.
“I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to play in the NFL, and I’ve had great coaches that told me I had to be versatile, so throughout my career I’ve tried to make sure that both sides are sharp,” Trapilo said, via Bears Wire. “Playing right tackle in college the last two years, obviously I’ve practiced more there as far as live reps, but after practice I got extra work in at left, just in case.”
Lions
The Lions double-dipped at guard in this past draft, creating a slight logjam at the position with second-rounder Tate Ratledge and fifth-rounder Miles Frazier joining incumbents Graham Glasgow, Christian Mahogany, and Kayode Awosika. Lions GM Brad Holmes notes the plan is for OL coach Hank Fraley to cross-train a few of those players so that Detroit has depth all across the line and not just a big batch of guard-only players.
“Hank, he’ll cross-train all those guys,” Holmes said via Tim Twentyman of the team website. “So, if they’ve only been at guard, he’s going to put a ball between their legs and see if they can snap. But again, Hank’s not going to put somebody in a tough position either, so he’s going to be able to assess if they have the right makeup and mentality and communicative skills. That’s a big part of just — it’s not about just being able to snap, I mean, you have to have elite communication skills, not just as a starter, but even as a backup.”
Ratledge has only played guard going back to his college career. Frazier has played everything but center, but both are game for whatever the Lions ask.
“I’m here to do whatever helps the team win,” Ratledge said. “I’m a team player through and through. They need me to kick out at tackle, I’ll go kick out at tackle. They need me to be an X receiver and run go balls, I can do that.”
“If anything happens, at any moment, I’m able to jump to left side, left guard, right guard, right tackle, left tackle. The only position I haven’t played is center, but I’m open to that too,” Frazier added. “But I would just say — and also, not a lot of people know, but I was the backup — I was the starting right guard, but the backup tackle on both sides, so my coaches put a lot of trust in me to have that versatility at the highest level, and I feel like I can definitely do it.”
Packers
Packers LB Edgerrin Cooper had a fantastic rookie season that earned him the 10th-best PFF grade among 189 linebackers. Green Bay DC Jeff Hafley touched on Cooper’s strength gain heading into year two, which should lead to more consistency on a down-to-down basis.
“Consistency. We talked and sometimes joked about he might’ve had that gap, but he made the play over there, right? Like there was a toss run over there that instead of going over the top of the blocker, somehow he ran underneath the blocker and still made a TFL. Now it’s getting the details down,” Hafley said, via the team’s website. “Now it’s lining up exactly where he needs to line up and doing it over and over and over again because then he’s gonna show up faster and he’s going to make more plays and he’s going to become a more consistent player. When you see him now, he looks different. I mean, he’s bigger now. He’s gotta be close to 240 pounds and this Year 2 for him, he knows what it’s going to take. He knows what he has to do now to stay healthy. You can tell he’s dedicated that time into caring for his body and changed his body and now when you sit with him in that room it’s, I mean, he’s locked in and he’s focused. Now he knows what he’s doing. You’re first rookie year you’re kind of in survival mode a little bit, too.”
Regarding fifth-round DE Collin Oliver, Hafley believes he can be more than just a rotational player, but wants to make sure they don’t put too much on his plate too fast.
“It’s about taking the skill set and putting it to use rather than saying, ‘This is our defense. Where is he going to play?’ So we’ve got to get creative and figure out what he can do, what he can do well, and how much (he can) handle in his first year. Right? How much can we teach him? He’s a sharp guy, but we don’t want to overload him so then he gets on the field and he’s thinking, because then he’s not going to be playing fast and he’s not going to be ready to play. It’s our job, though, to get him ready to see what he CAN do, to help us win football games. But I don’t just see him as a DPR and a special-teamer. I’ve watched him closely, and I see a skill set that we have to figure out how to put it to use. And that excites me. That’s the fun thing about coaching.”
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