NFC Notes: Drew Dalman, J.J. McCarthy, Bears, Lions, Vikings

Bears

Bears C Drew Dalman said playing in Atlanta with DL Grady Jarrett was a huge boost to his development, as he would point out flaws in his technique.

“Super fortunate to be a teammate with Grady,” Dalman said, via the team’s website. “Incredible player, incredible guy in the locker room. Absolute professional. I remember coming into Atlanta and seeing him go about his business and seeing him work, and I immediately understood like, ‘OK, this is the gold standard.’ And then in practice, making me look silly dozens of times, exploiting my weaknesses, forcing me to learn from them and adapt to them, so that’s been invaluable in my development. I look forward to practicing against him more … He’s a guy that lets us know about our tells and our tendencies because he’ll pick up on them because he’s a savvy player in that way. I think he’s a huge resource for the offensive line in general.”

Jarrett said that he’s excited to be reunited with Dalman and believes that he will be an anchor in the team’s offensive line.

“I’m super excited to have him here,” Jarrett said. “I think the city of Chicago will love him. It’s so crazy because I got to see him grow as a young rookie and get thrown into the fire early and just get better every year, especially this past season and the season before, just becoming one of the better centers in the league. He’s physical, he’s strong. He’s like a rock. But he’s quick, he’s smart. He’s not much of a talker, but he’s locked in all the time. He’s highly cerebral. He’s a hard worker. He’s going to do every little stretch, stay in the weight room. I respect the heck out of Drew. We’re going to have some good training camp battles.”

Lions

Lions DL Mekhi Wingo is on track to be cleared before training camp after tearing his meniscus back in November. He has been working with personal defensive line coach Brandon Tucker, who says he is ready to have a breakout season after being limited to 11 games.

“He’s going to be special,” Tucker told the Detroit Free Press. “He’ll be special. They saw flashes of it, especially in practice. He’ll be just fine. Now he’s accustomed to the tempo and the pace of play versus coming fresh out of college, he didn’t know. He knows now, so he can prepare for the physicality and the pace and everything else. He’s got it now. Get him back to his explosiveness, his quickness. It’s a project with that, just like restarting an old truck. You’ve got to do it system by system, make sure he’s good. If I had to start a defensive line, it would be with a guy like Mekhi Wingo and Byron Murphy, who have built-in leverage and are quick and twitchy, and strong. We spend so much time telling tall people to stay low versus a guy that’s already there, so Wingo’s going to be special.”

Vikings

Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy spoke to Kay Adams on the Up & Adams show about being the team’s starting quarterback going forward.

“They haven’t told me, and I’m happy they didn’t because I try to earn it every single day,” McCarthy said, via NFL.com. “I never want that to be given to me. It’s such a privilege and an opportunity to give me that chance. I’m just gonna make the most of it every single day.”

McCarthy also mentioned that he is back to full health after missing his entire rookie season.

“I mean, I would say I’m 100 percent,” McCarthy added. “But yeah, just staying consistent with the rehab process and not wavering from that, and just staying disciplined with all the outside stuff and making sure I’m not chopping too much wood and doing all that fun stuff. It was an ultimate blessing because you know it’s just such a time of stillness where you really get to reflect and introspect and find a routine. Especially early on in this career, in this profession, it’s huge for young guys to find that habitual routine that they can rely on and stay consistent with. So, I would say that was the biggest thing for me.”

Arkansas State C Jacob Bayer has three official 30 visits, including with the Vikings, per his agent.

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