We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: WR Johnnie Dixon
Detroit Lions
- Signed: T Darrin Paulo
Green Bay Packers
- Released: CB KeiVarae Russell
Minnesota Vikings
- Claimed (from Texans): OL Cohl Cabral
The Lions have a new regime in place, led by head coach Dan Campbell. Often times, coaching changes put incumbent players on the chopping block, but that’s not necessarily the case for 2019 second-round pick Jahlani Tavai.
“I tell you what, I’ve been really impressed with Jahlani,” linebackers coach Mark DeLeone said (via Justin Rogers of The Detroit News). “He’s been here (and) he’s been doing a great job. He’s in really good shape right now. I’m excited to work with him. I’m excited for us to get to OTAs and be able to continue with him because I’m really excited about him.”
“I can just tell you when he came out when he was out on the field this week, he’s been doing well and I’ve really enjoyed working with him so far. He has a really good understanding of the game. I think he’s gonna be a nice piece for us to work within this scheme.”
The Lions are exploring their options at LB, including newcomer Alex Anzalone, who has history with Campbell. Tavai, meanwhile, has failed to impress in his two pro seasons. After notching two tackles, one forced fumble, and one interception as a rookie, Tavai didn’t make much of an impact last year. He appeared in all 16 games and made ten starts, but earned poor marks from Pro Football Focus across the board, including a dismal 35.7 score for his coverage. Still, the Lions seem to think that this can be a turning point for the young ‘backer.
More from Detroit:
- The Lions’ new scheme will push Trey Flowers and Romeo Okwara to outside linebacker, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes.”He’s got a great skill set for what we’re trying to do,” defensive line coach Todd Wash said of Flowers, who inked a $90MM deal to play DE. “Every one of the players that we have on our defensive roster have a skill set. It’s going to be our job obviously as coaches to put them in that position to be successful, and I think Trey has that skill set as a defensive end in base and also in sub.” Flowers won’t be alone — there will be adjustments across the front seven as Detroit commits to a base 3-4 set under Campbell.
- New second-round pick Levi Onwuzurike will be slotted in as a defensive end that moves inside on clear passing downs, defensive line coach Todd Wash says (Twitter link via Rogers).
- Before the Lions signed Dan Campbell, they also explored Iowa State coach Matt Campbell as a candidate. But, despite a report to the contrary, it sounds like they never made a formal offer.
This week, it was rumored that the Lions offered an eight-year, $68.5MM deal to Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell. But, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, the Lions never put an offer on the table. 
Furthermore, Birkett hears that the Cyclones coach only spoke to the Lions once during the process. And, while other notable names were tied to the job, new HC Dan Campbell was the only candidate to ever receive an offer to be the Lions’ head coach.
It’s possible that something got lost in the game of telephone. Or, perhaps Matt Campbell’s camp is looking to increase the coach’s buzz. For what it’s worth, Dan said he sensed that the Lions were extremely bullish on Matt.
“Just in regards to the head coach search, how I ended up here, one of things would be that I told my agent, Rick Smith, I said make sure that they think I’m Matt Campbell, so I think that’s how this has really worked out great for me,” the Lions head coach said (via Birkett). “So now that I’m in the seat, I am Dan Campbell. But I do know this, you can’t go wrong with a Campbell.”
In addition to the Campbells, the Lions were also connected to Darrell Bevell, Eric Bieniemy, Todd Bowles, Marvin Lewis, Urban Meyer, Robert Saleh, and Arthur Smith.
The Lions have their new head coach in Dan Campbell. But, before they inked the former Saints assistant to a six-year contract, they offered an eight-year, $68.5MM megadeal to Iowa State coach Matt Campbell, according to Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports (on Twitter).
[RELATED: Lions Sign Penei Sewell]
M. Campbell was a hot commodity in this last cycle, starting with early interest from the Jets. He was an early Gang Green favorite after Adam Gase got canned, but he declined to meet with owner Christopher Johnson and GM Joe Douglas. Instead of going to New York or Detroit, the Cyclones coach stayed put to build on last year’s 9-3 record.
Matt Campbell has been on the NFL radar for a while. The Browns, for example, had him on the list before they hired Freddie Kitchens in 2018. Hearing the footsteps, Iowa State locked up their young HC with a lucrative extension through the 2025 season.
The Lions haven’t made the playoffs since 2016, so they were willing to invest heavily in their next head coach. They might not have landed Matt, but they firmly believe that Dan can turn things around, as shown by his six-year commitment.
The Lions have their first-round pick in the fold. On Wednesday, offensive tackle Penei Sewell agreed to terms on his rookie contract (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). 
Per the terms of his slot, the No. 7 overall pick will receive a four-year, $24.1MM fully guaranteed deal. That guaranteed sum includes a hefty $14.9MM signing bonus. There was little doubt that Sewell would sign — rookie contracts are fairly cookie-cutter, thanks to the slotting system. Still, agents and execs will sometimes haggle over the finer points, such as offset language.
Sewell opted out of Oregon’s 2020 season, but the 6’6″, 330-pound prospect was absolutely stellar in 2019. He surrendered zero sacks in the previous year and gave up just seven quarterback pressures in total. The advanced metrics at Pro Football Focus were also fond of his work. In 2019, Sewell finished No. 1 in the country with a run-blocking grade of 95.3 while placing third in pass-blocking (91.1).
The Outland Trophy winner was absent from the Lions’ rookie minicamp after testing positive for COVID-19. Fortunately, it sounds like he’s okay and will be able to join the rest of his teammates soon.
We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed CB Tae Hayes
- Released S Chris Miller, WR Darece Roberson
Atlanta Falcons
- Cut: OLB Eli Howard
Denver Broncos
- Signed: OLB Pita Taumoepenu, OT Cody Conway
- Cut: OT Ryan Pope, LB David Curry
Detroit Lions
- Signed: CB Alex Brown
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: WR Daurice Fountain, DB Manny Patterson
- Waived: DB Jaylon McClain-Sapp
Miami Dolphins
- Claimed off waivers from Saints: CB Trill Williams
Minnesota Vikings
- Signed CB Parry Nickerson, OT Evin Ksiezarczyk
San Francisco 49ers
- Cut: WR Austin Proehl
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: WR Kalija Lipscomb
- Released: LB Davin Bellamy (non-football injury), WR Rashard Davis
Here are Sunday’s minor moves:
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: DT Olive Sagapolu
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: LB Joe Giles-Harris
Carolina Panthers
- Waived: DB Matt Amendola, LB Daniel Bituli, DE P.J. Johnson
Chicago Bears
- Signed: WR Chris Lacy
- Waived: LB Michael Pinckney
Dallas Cowboys
- Signed: T Evin Ksiezarczyk
Denver Broncos
- Signed: QB Case Cookus
Detroit Lions
- Signed: TE Charlie Taumoepeau
- Signed: DB Alijah Holder
Houston Texans
- Signed: CB Shyheim Carter
New Orleans Saints
- Signed: T Kyle Murphy, DT Lorenzo Neal, LB Quentin Poling
Tyrell Crosby could be on the move. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports (via Twitter) that Detroit is “giving indications it will consider or look to move” the starting offensive lineman.
Crosby joined the Lions as a fifth-round pick in 2018, and he’s transformed into one of the team’s more reliable offensive linemen. After starting only seven of his 26 games through his first two seasons in the NFL, Crosby had an opportunity at a larger role in 2020 following Halapoulivaati Vaitai‘s struggles at right tackle.
The offensive tackle ended up starting 11 of his 12 games for the Lions this past season. This naturally led to an uptick in snaps, as he ultimately appeared in a career-high 63-percent of Detroit’s offensive snaps. Crosby also committed only three penalties, a reduction from the seven he committed in 2019.
The Lions ended up using the seventh-overall pick on offensive lineman Penei Sewell, and the Oregon product should immediately slide into the starting lineup. While Taylor Decker locked in on the left side, Crosby is staring at a backup role heading into 2021. His versatility means he could still see plenty of snaps, and his $2.25MM cap hit isn’t enough to break the bank. Still, considering the Lions new depth, it makes sense that the front office is exploring their options ahead of Crosby’s impending free agency in 2022.
We’ll keep track of today’s lower round signings here:
Baltimore Ravens
- WR Tylan Wallace (fourth round; Oklahoma State)
Detroit Lions
- RB Jermar Jefferson (seventh round; Oregon State)
New England Patriots
- LB Cameron McGrone (fifth round, Michigan)
Seattle Seahawks
- OT Stone Forsythe (sixth round, Florida)
In a comprehensive piece, Adam Jahns of The Athletic details how Bears GM Ryan Pace, head coach Matt Nagy, and the rest of Chicago’s brain trust approached their quarterback situation this offseason. These types of behind-the-scenes stories are always worth a read, especially for fans of the team in question, and particularly notable here is that the club identified the No. 8 through No. 12 overall selections as the “sweet spot” to target a collegiate QB. Pace’s predraft research indicated that trying to acquire the Falcons’ No. 4 overall pick would require too much draft capital, but he didn’t want to start calling teams holding picks eight through 12 too early for fear of tipping his hand.
So he waited until the day of the draft to start making those calls, and while the early run on QBs pushed down quality players at other positions, Pace identified Ohio State QB Justin Fields as his top target. 11 Bears staffers filed reports on Fields, and all of them had very similar grades on him. Pace and Giants GM Dave Gettleman had worked out the parameters of a trade earlier in the day, and when Fields was still on the board after the Eagles leapfrogged the Giants — Pace feared Philadelphia might have been targeting Fields — Chicago and New York were able to swing a trade that brought the former Buckeye to the Windy City. Now, Pace and Nagy will hope that the bold maneuver will help them keep their jobs.
Here’s more from the NFC North:
- Even though the Bears just signed Andy Dalton this offseason, they extended him a courtesy that the Packers did not extend to Aaron Rodgers when they drafted Jordan Love last year: they told Dalton that they might pick a QB. “I talked to [Dalton] earlier in the day on [the day of the draft], and we were just catching up,” Nagy said (via Albert Breer of SI.com). “And at the same time I said, ‘Hey, listen man, I have no idea which way this thing may go, you never know, but all positions are open and we can do a lot of different things, including at quarterback. So I just want you to understand that and be aware for that.'” Of course, the news couldn’t have come as a surprise to Dalton, who was signed to a one-year contract and who presumably has no delusions that the Bears acquired him as their quarterback of the future, but it’s the type of gesture that might have helped ease the strain on the Packers’ relationship with Rodgers.
- The Lions‘ first-round pick, No. 7 overall selection Penei Sewell, has tested positive for COVID-19, as Sewell himself tweeted several days ago. He will therefore miss this weekend’s rookie minicamp, but at this point it sounds like he is either asymptomatic or else has mild symptoms, so there shouldn’t be any cause for concern.
- The Packers selected Georgia CB Eric Stokes with the No. 29 overall pick of the draft, but if Minnesota WR Rashod Bateman had still been around, execs around the league believe he would have been the choice, as Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com writes (subscription required). Of course, taking a first-round receiver this year after selecting Love in the first round in 2020 might not have been enough to placate Rodgers. The Ravens took Bateman off the board with the No. 27 overall selection.
- The Vikings have been busy over the past couple of days, trading cornerback Mike Hughes to the Chiefs and signing first-round pick Christian Darrisaw.