NFC North Daily Hot Links for May 2nd, 2012

Good morning all, and welcome to another edition of the NFC North Daily Hot Links, served with a side of draft news and a dash of stadium referendum.

What I most enjoy about post-draft news pieces is the theme that "Other NFC North teams drafted to protect themselves from __."

I don't know when this became a thing, but I love it.

We've got lots to cover today, but before we get to that, I wanted to let you know that today is Lions Day! Hooray!

Yesterday we took a look at the Packers' draft—where the top two players (Nick Perry and Jerel Worthy) fit in depth, what roles the other picks might play and how the strategy we thought might be in play prior to the draft played out.

Today we'll do the same with the Detroit Lions.

As it's Detroit's Day, let's kick the links off with them.

Detroit Lions

Tim Twentyman has some news on Jahvid Best's potential return to full practice in June. This is very good news for the Lions, though the question will still linger as to whether Best will continue to have concussion issues and how that will affect his availability.

Anwar Richardson talks about the factors which led to Kellen Moore dropping in the draft and ending up as a priority free agent on today's MLive.com.

Minnesota Vikings

Your Daily Stadium Update: More political wrangling has ensued as Republican legislators have introduced a bill for a cheaper, roofless stadium—the heartless bastards. The Star Tribune has the story of that and the upset response of Democrats. 

For what it's worth, Republican, Democrat—I'll mock them all. 

CBS has a report that Arkansas wide receiver Greg Childs is "fully recovered" from his torn patella tendon. 

The Daily Norseman linked to an interesting report on the economic impact of the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. Given the wrangling over new stadiums, it's worth a read. 

Chicago Bears

Jeff Dickerson at ESPNChicago reacts to the new ESPN Power Rankings, which has the Bears landing at No. 11. Chicago is a potent team this year—the Bears needs to stay healthy as a whole and keep Cutler upright and then they'll be in the thick of things. 

Meanwhile, Sean Jensen takes a look at how new tight end Evan Rodriguez will be a pain for opposing defenses.

Green Bay Packers

Jason Wilde ponders whether the Packers' defense might be undergoing a change. Interesting to note that this is a consideration CHTV's Brian Carriveau has had for months—that the Pack might move to more of the 3-4/4-3 hybrid which is becoming so common these days in the NFL.

While most of us are looking at today's draft picks, Wayne Larrivee is looking back to the past few years' selections.