It’s the dead period of the NFL offseason, between the initial free agency feeding frenzy and the breathless three-day sprint of the NFL Draft (and subsequent free agency redux) – the “eye of the storm.” Between now and the start of the 2022 NFL Draft on April 28, we’re going division-by-division to look at what moves teams still need to make that will have an impact on 2022’s fantasy rosters. We’ve already hit the AFC North. Our virtual tour now journeys to the frozen tundra of the NFC North, in order of 2021 final standings.

Note: All 2021 fantasy point totals and rankings are PPR unless otherwise noted.

Green Bay Packers: NFC North Champions

Ho-hum. Another fantasy season, another year of Green Bay Packers littering the scoring leaderboards. Except, what’s this?! Fantasy’s top receiver in the past two seasons no longer roams the storied ground of Lambeau Field! As Mike LaFontaine said repeatedly in A Mighty Wind, “Hey, wha happened?!”

That’s right. The dynamic fantasy duo of Aaron Rodgers (QB6) and Davante Adams (the Mitch and Mickey of the NFL, if you will,) is no more. Adams (WR2) gambled on himself by orchestrating a trade to reunite with his former partner Derek Carr in Las Vegas. And after Marquez Valdes-Scantling (WR81) sang “Gimme Some Money” in Kansas City (different Christopher Guest movie), Rodgers is left wishing that neither his top target nor top deep-threat “Never Did No Wanderin’.”

The loss of the versatile Lucas Patrick and Billy Turner, combined with an unknown timetable for the return of the underrated Elgton Jenkins and a worrisome left knee for All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari, must have Rodgers wondering if he’s been blown into a “Hell Hole” by “A Mighty Wind.” (At this point, we’re all in with the Christopher Guest motif, might as well go with it.) Seriously, he’s losing linemen and receivers like Spinal Tap goes through drummers.

Packers’ Bottom Line

By now, you know what you’re gonna get with Rodgers, on and off the field. But to reach the dizzying heights of which he’s capable, he needs some help. The run game is in good hands with Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, both of whom have proven capable of helping in the pass game as well. But even after signing Sammy Watkins, this is not a dominant receiver room. Leading returning receiver Allen Lazard was WR47 last season and more suited to a supporting role. Watkins has never really lived up to his continued billing. Randall Cobb is capable, but aging quickly. The Packers are widely assumed to be considering a member of the deep receiver class with one of their two first-round picks, but this would break with team tradition. They should be looking to break that tradition, as well as continuing to monitor the free-agent market.

In addition to receiving help, Green Bay should be looking to find a “Big Bottom” or two on the offensive line, especially at right tackle. The left side tandem of Bakhtiari and Jenkins is elite when/if healthy. A full season of Josh Myers would be a welcome upgrade. The right side, however, is anybody’s guess. The Packers should repeat as NFC North champions regardless, but they’ll need to shore up the line for Rodgers and company to really turn it up to 11 (last one. Promise.)

Minnesota Vikings: Second Place NFC North

With a new coaching staff in town for 2022, questions abound regarding the Minnesota Vikings heading into the season. While learning a new offense is nothing “new” lately (they’ve had five different offensive coordinators in the last five seasons,) there’s still a learning curve to navigate. The Vikings can at least take comfort in the fact that they return basically the entire starting skill position portion of their roster.

Although Tyler Conklin (TE16) has moved on to greener (Gang Green-er?) pastures in New York Jersey, last year’s intended starter Irv Smith, Jr. is expected to return from the knee injury that cost him the entire 2021 season. Kirk Cousins (a finalist for the Blake Bortles Better-Fantasy-Than-Real-Life-QB Memorial Trophy, and last year’s QB11) has a fresh contract extension. Greg Joseph (K6) was the highest-scoring kicker in the division. The electric (when healthy) Dalvin Cook and the best top-to-bottom receiver room in the NFC North should have fantasy managers’ attention early in upcoming fantasy drafts.

Vikings’ Bottom Line

The biggest place offensively, then, where Minnesota could use some help would be on the offensive line. Last year’s starting five graded out at 23rd in the league, according to Pro Football Focus. They surrendered relatively few (30) sacks, yet had one of the league’s highest percentages of pressures allowed per pass play. Cousins’ release isn’t overly quick, so you’d most likely expect that sack total to regress to the mean. While tackles Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill graded fairly well, the interior of the line needs work. An influx of talent there would go a long way towards maximizing the Vikings’ potent weapons in new offensive coordinator Wes Phillips‘ Rams-style offense, making Vikings’ fantasy managers everywhere very happy. Recent signee Jesse Davis is not necessarily an improvement. Former Packer J.C. Tretter is available and would be a massive upgrade, but unfortunately may be cost-prohibitive.

Minnesota does need some help on the other side of the football, however. Last year’s overall DST10 achieved that ranking largely due to three factors. The first was 16 interceptions from a pass defense that was fairly opportunistic given their overall poor performance (fifth in total passing yards allowed.) The second was four total touchdowns from the unit, tied for fourth-best in the league. The third was 51 sacks, good for second in the NFL. After losing several key members of the defense, you’d expect each of those numbers to regress to the mean a bit. The Vikings did sign former Packers Za’Darius Smith and Chandon Sullivan to help prevent that regression. Needs still remain, however, notably at cornerback and linebacker. Without reinforcements, expect the Minnesota DST’s fantasy ranking to more closely resemble their real-life one from last season.

Chicago Bears: Third Place NFC North

The Bears’ hopes are pinned on the athletic abilities of their new starting quarterback Justin Fields. The second-year phenom may well be the best Bears quarterback prospect since Sid Luckman was backing up Johnny Lujack (use the Google machine, kids.) But for him to succeed in Chicago, a lot will have to go right. Like, A LOT a lot. Chicago has, shall we say, some challenges to overcome this season. A defensive-minded head coach who’s never been a head coach before. A new offensive coordinator who’s never coordinated an offense at the pro level. An offensive line that graded poorly (22nd in PFF’s rankings) last year, has a shaky left tackle situation, and an even shakier interior situation. And to top it all off, a dearth of options in the passing game after Darnell Mooney, a late fifth-round pick who surpassed expectations last year.

Fields right now holds much more value in dynasty and daily formats than he does in redraft leagues. His athleticism and youth rightfully have Chicago fans excited for the future. But this is the NFL, where the future is always “now.” The Bears do boast a strong running game with David Montgomery (RB16) and Khalil Herbert, who filled in admirably for Montgomery when the latter missed a month last season with a knee injury. That will only help Fields as he looks to improve over last year. Former Kansas City Chief Byron Pringle (WR57) can be a playmaker but must find consistency in his game.

Bears’ Bottom Line

Chicago’s new front office and new coaching staff have their work cut out for them. GM Ryan Poles didn’t waste any time getting the re-rebuild started. Khalil Mack was traded, freeing up cap space and gaining valuable draft capital. Former Packer Lucas Patrick was brought in and will be an upgrade at the center position. Former Packer (notice a trend in the division?) Equanimeous St. Brown was signed to bolster the depth at receiver. The Bears are in pretty good shape, cap-wise, and can still afford to shop the free-agent market, albeit in the bargain section. As far as the draft, it’s Best-Player-Available literally everywhere except quarterback and running back.

But what moves will most help, fantasy-wise? Well, raising the talent level in the receiver room should be high on the list (another NFC North trend.) Maximizing the talent for Fields to target will help his development as a passer. He’s a mobile quarterback who will have that rushing floor to boost his stock. If he can grow as a passer with some young, high-end talent around him for a few years, he’ll have a fantasy ceiling as high as the Willis Tower. Beyond that, continuing to strengthen the offensive line is a must. If the left tackle of the future isn’t currently on the roster, that needs to be rectified. At least one more guard would help as well. If a prospect like Texas A&M’s Kenyon Green were to be available when the Bears’ second-round picks are finally up, that would be a windfall too tempting to pass up.

Detroit Lions: Fourth Place NFC North

And now we come to the seemingly perpetually rebuilding Detroit Lions. Like Chicago, the Lions are in BPA-mode when it comes to talent acquisition. There are some decent foundational pieces here. Detroit had the highest-graded offensive line of the four NFC North teams last season, despite injuries preventing their starting unit from taking even a single snap together. The return of Frank Ragnow and a full season of Taylor Decker instantly vault this unit to the upper echelons of the league. Like the rest of the division, the Lions have a strong one-two punch in the backfield, with dual-threats D’Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams both capable of carrying the load. T.J. Hockenson is as solid a tight end as you’ll find on any roster.

As for the rest of the roster, question marks abound.

For “starters” (use that term loosely,) the defense needs players at every level. An inept pass rush and a front seven that surrendered the fifth-most yards on the ground doomed the Lions before they emerged from the tunnel each week. Quarterback Jared Goff (QB24) had to watch former Lion Matthew Stafford win the Super Bowl, and must feel only slightly more wanted in Detroit than Baker Mayfield is in Cleveland. Goff ranked in the bottom half of almost every significant passing category, even though he was passably accurate (67.2 percent, same as Stafford) and threw only eight interceptions (Stafford led the league with 17.) To be fair, he wasn’t exactly throwing to the 2000 Rams’ wideouts. While Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR21) was a pleasant surprise and has actual NFL talent, eight other Lions wide receivers caught only 59.4 percent of balls thrown their way and combined had only one more touchdown than St. Brown.

Lions’ Bottom Line

BPA. I know it, you know it, and the American people know it. And so, too, it seems, do the Lions. Dan Campbell seems to, anyway. But in the fantasy world, we’re looking for points, so besides Swift and St. Brown, where will those sweet, sweet points come from?

Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V. Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V. The Lions need help at wide receiver. (Looking back, saying that the Vikings had the best receiver room in the NFC North probably sold Minnesota short, given the extremely low bar set by the rest of the division.) Yes, Detroit signed D.J. Chark. Yes, late in the season, Josh Reynolds had moments of… competency? But go back two paragraphs and compare Goff’s accuracy last season to the non-St. Brown receivers’ catch percentage. Then remember that from 2017 to 2019, Jared Goff was QB12, QB7, and QB13. He has a great O-line, a seam-stretching tight end, and a talented, two-deep backfield led by a dynamic player in Swift. Get the guy even one more bona fide receiver, and this thing could take off. There are rumblings that Detroit may be looking to draft Goff’s replacement this year. While that may happen, chances are no one supplants Goff for this season, at least.

Defensively, there’s no realistic way they turn it around enough to make the Lions any more than a desperation, match-up-based, bye-week-from-Hell fill-in. Smart money says the Lions go defense with the number two overall pick, but looking at the roster, there aren’t enough top-10 picks in the draft to get the Lions up to a respectable starting 11, even if they had the rest of them.

Check back with Belly Up Fantasy Sports for additional analysis on fantasy football, baseball, and more, and to see what teams in the other seven divisions still need to add to make fantasy managers’ championship dreams come true. Next up: the AFC East. Got something to say? Leave a comment below and follow me on Twitter @SttChaseFFB.