Rating How the Rest of the NFC North Did

It's only human nature to look at the other guy and wish you had what he or she has.

It's the old grass is always greener routine.

In the NFL draft it's very easy to play that game, and sometimes depressing if you're playing it with other teams in your division.

For the Bears it's very easy to look at the Detroit Lions and see a team on the rise getting that much better.

It was difficult for the Lions not to improve considering how many draft picks they had early.

As for the other two NFC North teams, well, maybe the Bears bumbled around and didn't get their defensive end but at least they're not the Packers or the Vikings.

Here's an assessment of how Bears NFC North rivals came out of the draft.

Detroit Lions: B+

The easy winners from the North. The Bears might have challenged if they had done something shocking and dramatic like take Jalen Carter.

Jahmyr Gibbs and Jack Campbell in Round 1 give the Lions exactly what they need.

Gibbs' speed and receiving ability out of the backfield will be a good complement to David Montgomery, and was the reason they felt they could deal away D'Andre Swift.

On the artificial turf in the dome Gibbs will be especially effective.

The Lions have been getting by with very substandard linebackers for years and Campbell could wind up being another version of Luke Kuechly. He's not quite that fast or as good in coverage and his arm length is in the bottom 34% of linebackers according to mockdraftable.com. He's still a good, instinctive, big inside linebacker who can help dropping in zone or charging the line.

Interestingly, while both of the two Lions picks are good talents, Pro Football Focus had neither ranked as a first-round talent.

The Lions made two solid picks in Round 2 with tight end Sam LaPorta and Alabama defensive back Brian Branch. They needed someone else in after trading T.J. Hockenson. The trouble is, they passed on Notre Dame's Michael Mayer to take LaPorta. Maybe it was just their experience with Hockenson and they liked Iowa tight ends, but Mayer sometimes looks like Gronk.

Perhpas some day they'll get some use out of third-round pick Hendon Hooker, but for now their QB situation is settled. Hooker can just watch for a couple years because Jared Goff's contract doesn't expire until March of 2025.

As for the rest of their draft, if they wanted a defensive tackle they should have just taken Carter and forgot about trading out of it because Brodic Martin from Western Kentucky isn't on the same level as two of the defensive tackles the Bears drafted. Pro Football Focus had him rated as a pick for the middle to late fifth round while the NFLmockdraftdata base's big board had him deep in the seventh round. The Lions got him in Round 3. Enjoy.

Their other two picks were tackle Colby Sorsdal from William and Mary and North Carolina's Antoine Green in Round 7. Sorsdal was ranked no better than 322nd on Mock Draft Database's big board, an undrafted free agent. And the Lions got him in Rould 5. Green has good size but seventh-round receivers rarely pan out. In fact, most seventh-round picks don't amount to much.

Green Bay Packers: C

It seems like a team that just got rid of Aaron Rodgers and robbed the New York Jets blind should come out of a draft with something better than the Packers did.

They at least discovered tight end is a position again. It's apparent coach Matt LaFleur is going to do things his way and rely heavily on wide zone blocking and the running game with the tight ends proving to be big factors and build Jordan Love's confidence. They drafted tight end Luke Musgrave in Round 2 and South Dakota State tight end Tucker Kraft in Round 3.

There were alternative options at tight end to them and this late rush by teams to upgrade Kraft needs to be remembered. He played at South Dakota State, after all, not in the SEC.

First-round pick Lukas Van Ness would have been a solid pick for the Bears as a 6-5, 272-pound edge. Or is it edge? No one knows for sure because he didn't have a set position at Iowa. Van Ness also doesn't seem to be a fit for the 3-4 as much as an end in the Matt Eberflus Tampa-2. At least Van Ness helps bring some fun to the Bears-Packers rivalry. At last check, he was dating Cole Kmet's sister Frankie.

The two best players the Packers got look to be second-round receiver Jayden Reed from Michigan State, fourth-round defensive tackle Colby Wooden from Auburn and sixth-round tackle/end Karl Brooks of Bowling Green.

They had 13 picks but eight of them were in the fifth round or later and the sixth and seven rounds usually don't lead to much.

Another one to watch from late, though, is Virginia wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks in Round 5. The Bears had him in for a visit. He's a big receiver who probably fits the offensive scheme well because the Bears seemed to think so and they run the same attack.

For some reason, the Packers drafted Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford in Round 5. The best rank Mock Draft Data Base's consensus big board gave him was 327th, or an undrafted free agent.

Overall, there's some picks of value in there but with that many picks you expect more.

Minnesota Vikings: C-

It's apparent Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell has no appreciation for defense. They really haven't rebuilt the defense that leaked all over last year and instead they drafted another wide receiver in Round 1, Jordan Addison of USC.

They lost Adam Thielen but Addison, at 5-11, 173 will remind no one of Thielen. He has good hands but is faster. He's more elusive than Thielen. No arguing he belonged in Round 1 or the top of Round 2.

Mekhi Blackmon, their third-round cornerback, must have been someone they saw at a USC game watching Addison. He is a solid pick but was drafted 30 picks ahead of where the NFL Mock Draft's consensus big board had him rated.

Then they went from two USC players to two LSU players in safety Jay Ward and defensive tackle Jaquelin Roy in Rounds 4 and 5. Two definite need positions and Ward is likely to become a solid contributor immediately.

It could be argued very easily that the Vikings needed people for those positions more than they needed another first-round wide receiver, but that's O'Connell's all-offensive approach at work.

For a seventh-round pick running back DeWayne McBride of UAB is a decent selection. Some predraft assessments had him going into the fourth or fifth round. So it's value.

BYU fifth-round QB Jaren Hall isn't going to be the successor to Kirk Cousins.

Overall, the Vikings didn't participate much and so they didn't get enough impact players at positions where they needed help.

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