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We're Black and Blue All Over: Conventional wisdom suggests Monday could be the day the Minnesota Vikings part ways with punter Chris Kluwe. As we've discussed, the Vikings made UCLA punter Jeff Locke their fifth-round draft pick last month. Te...

How top-heavy was the 2013 draft in the NFC North? We welcomed more players in the first round (six) than in the second and third rounds combined (four), the result of two big trades. With the 2013 affair basically in the books, let's take a close...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Wednesday was a busy day for the Green Bay Packers, and not just because they made linebacker Clay Matthews one of the most highly-paid defensive players in the NFL. They also took the rare step of hosting a restrict...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler began on-field work Tuesday with his fourth offensive coordinator in five years. The timing of this transition, however, is a bit more dramatic than the rest. As Michael C. Wri...

Monday brought the opening of two more NFC North offseason programs, which in the context of mid-April is big news in these parts. The Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers have opened their doors for voluntary workouts, joining the Chicago Bears, w...

We're Black and Blue All Over: We discussed the possibility of the Minnesota Vikings drafting Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o as recently as last Friday, and over the weekend, Sports Illustrated's Peter King added a more grist to the mill. Accord...

We're Black and Blue All Over: BRISTOL, Conn. -- I'm starting the trek back to NFC North blog headquarters Thursday morning and will be back to full blogging speed by the afternoon. In the meantime, let's pass along some interesting information ma...

We're Black and Blue All Over: PHOENIX -- It's rare when an NFL player re-signs with a team that cut him for financial reasons. Those business issues, as well as hurt feelings, don't usually dissipate quickly enough to foster a re-connection. T...

We're Black and Blue All Over: It appears we are getting close to a resolution on one of the biggest offseason questions in the NFC North: Brian Urlacher's status with the Chicago Bears. Multiple reports suggest Urlacher's agents submitted a co...

In the two months since the Chicago Bears overhauled their coaching staff, we've seen and heard almost nothing specific about the style of offense new coach Marc Trestman will run. That's not a coincidence, given NFL teams' protection of schematic cl...

The NFL's 4 p.m. ET deadline passed without another NFC North team using its franchise tag, meaning that Chicago Bears defensive tackle Henry Melton will be the only player with that designation this offseason. A few random thoughts on how the franch...

Welcome to Eight in the Box, an NFL Nation feature that will appear each Friday during the offseason. This week's topic: How each NFC North team needs to address the quarterback position. Chicago Bears: First, the new coach Marc Trestman must deci...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Good morning and Happy March! As you might have heard Thursday evening, the NFL's 2013 salary cap number -- the total each team can spend for the year -- will be $123 million. That's a bit higher than most prognos...

We're Black and Blue All Over: So the New England Patriots signed quarterback Tom Brady to a far-below market value contract extension Monday, a three-year deal worth $27 million. That annual average of $9 million is less than half what the New Or...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew made a mildly surprising projection Thursday: The Lions will be an active player in the free agent market this offseason. I think we would all agree the Lions need help ...

We're Black and Blue All Over: Here is another reason that NFL teams should be wary of claiming or signing former Detroit Lions receiver Titus Young anytime soon. As recently as Christmas, Young was telling a former coach that he was as good of a ...