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Neil's NFL Daily: July 8, 2013

Our second week of grading the likely starting line-ups begins with two NFC North opponents — the Lions and Packers. As always, I’ll be interested to see what you have to say.

Although a few people may disagree, I do listen carefully to any criticism of the depth charts and, where I feel it’s appropriate, amend them if I think I’ve made an error. So far three ratings have been changed and more will almost certainly follow as infallible I’m not. That said, if you do have feedback, try and make it of the constructive variety — a list of players “wronged” with no rationale is about as helpful as a ladder to a carpet fitter. Twitter’s as good a place as any, so let me have your views @PFF_Neil.

For those new to the series and wanting to catch up, you can find the other teams covered to date with this handy set of links.

Charts by team:

ARZ ATL | BAL | BUF CAR CHI CIN | CLE | DAL DEN DET
GB | HOU IND | JAX | KC MIA MIN NE NO NYG NYJ
OAK PHI PIT STL SD SF SEA TB TEN WAS

 

Monday, July 8th

Detroit Lions (Click to enlarge)

Notes:

— I know there'll be a host of people who think Stafford is under-graded, but if he really is when is he going to start showing us he’s more than just a tool to get Calvin Johnson the ball? When is he going to cut out the truly awful games. such as vs. Green Bay or @ Arizona? Is he Eli Manning or Carson Palmer?

— With a team so badly in need of help in other areas, adding Reggie Bush seems an extreme luxury. He’s a highlight-reel player who tries to bounce everything outside at the first hint of a hole not developing, fumbles and struggles in pass pro. What was wrong with Joique Bell?

— This defensive line could be devastating, but a lot rests on Ansah — the other three will do their bit, will he be able to take advantage of almost exclusive one-on-one treatment?

 

Green Bay Packers (Click to enlarge)


Notes:

— Who starts at halfback is a major question. In OTA’s it was Alex Green, the draft position says Lacy, but many pundits argue Johnathan Franklin will be the man. It will be a key watch in training camp.

— T.J. Lang is a player the Packers seem higher on than we are. His $5.2m APY renegotiation last year appeared excessive at the time. While his pass protection in 2011 was very good, he’s never really done anything in the running game, so when he gave up nine sacks last year it all looked a bit premature. He really needs to up his game this year to repay front office faith in him.

— The crucial area for the Packers is getting some rush from a player not named Matthews to complement their superb secondary — both Mike Neal (rookie Datone Jones or someone else) and Nick Perry need to get consistent pressure on the QB.

 

Other editions of Neil’s NFL Daily can be found HERE

 

Follow Neil on Twitter: @PFF_Neil

 

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