Sept. 6, 2008

 The Vikings love the athleticism and confidence of rookie FS Tyrell Johnson, who has been thrust into a starting role now that Madieu Williams is out indefinitely with injury. But the coaches are a little concerned how Johnson will hold up early in the season and will look to scheme around his strengths until he gets his feet wet. Expect SS Darren Sharper to do a lot of teaching and mentoring during the first few games to make sure Johnson is in the right spots and executing the correct assignments.

 The Lions kept 11 defensive linemen on the final roster, not one of them weighing more than 300 pounds. One small surprise was the team keeping DT Landon Cohen, a seventh-round pick who had played well in the preseason but appeared to be in a numbers crunch. Head coach Rod Marinelli explained that he knew someone would pick up Cohen if the Lions cut him, and the team felt good enough about his upside to keep him, even at a relatively svelte 274 pounds.

 Daily team observers of the Packers think the team might have found itself a supersleeper in undrafted free-agent RB Kregg Lumpkin. “He’s got great size at 225 pounds with decent vision, and he always is surging forward,” one source said of the Georgia product. “And he’s a tough kid, very tenacious.”

 The consensus among our Packers sources is that, after he returns from his sprained medial collateral ligament in about 2-3 weeks, rookie OG Josh Sitton is going to have a hard time working his way back into competition for a starting job.

 We hear newly acquired Bears OG Dan Buenning may have a legitimate shot at competing for the starting OLG job, provided he’s healthy enough. However, considering that he landed on injured reserve in November 2006 and was inactive the entire ’07 season, that could be a pretty big “if.”