We've reached the doldrums of the offseason. Sure, most teams are in the middle of OTAs right now, but there's more excitement coming from the players having fun on boats section of the news than the actual football field. So, we're digging deep for things to write about. Today, we'll talk about which remaining free agents could impact NFC North teams. Remember, the Packers signed De'Vondre Campbell in June -- there are still options out there for enterprising general managers, and none of the NFC North teams are close to complete. 

Deandre Hopkins

Nuk is the obvious starting point for this article but I think it's unlikely that he would end up n the NFC North. The Packers can't afford him. The Bears are bad. The Vikings have a ton of capital invested in wide receivers already. And why bother going to the Lions? 

There are two ways that I could see it happening. First, if the Vikings can talk him into thinking that they are super bowl contenders with him on the team, he could be a perfect way to take pressure off Justin Jefferson while allowing Jordan Addison to come along slowly. The Vikings have a history of making weird investments in already strong position groups. I just don't see Hopkins deciding that Minnesota is a better fit than Buffalo, Kansas City, or even Baltimore.  

Second, the Bears have the most cap space, still, if they offered him an insane amount of money on a one-year deal maybe he'd take it. The Bears would get the opportunity to see if Justin Fields is their future and Nuk can make $30 million or some insane amount for one year while he proves that he still has it. 

Yannick Ngakoue, Melvin Ingram, Jadeveon Clowney, Leonard Floyd

The old guy edge class is still strong among remaining free agents. None of these guys would be a plus starter (unless they get signed by the Bears) but they could all be good rotational pass rushers (or run stopper in Clowney's case). Each of the teams in the North can use another rotational guy.

The Lions made Charles Harris into an impact player last year, why not do the same thing with Clowney?

The Packers probably have the strongest edge group in the division, but they're missing the type of edge who can drop into the flat on simulated pressures or creepers and fill in until Rashan Gary is 100%, like Leonard Floyd.

The Vikings have two potentially strong starters, but both are injury-prone, Melvin Ingram would be a great fit to replace one of them in a pinch.

 Finally, Yannick Ngakoue is a perfect fit in the one-gapping wide-9 type of pass-rush scheme that Matt Eberflus wants to run. 

Marcus Peters

Like edge, each of the North teams could use another strong corner, but I think the Vikings are the best bet here. Peters has spent most of his career on an island while various mad scientist defensive coordinators (Wink Martindale, Wade Phillips, Bob Sutton) send blitzes with only one safety back. Brian Flores majored in cover-1 and cover-0 blitzes in Miami but he doesn't have the firepower at corner to do that now. Peters could potentially be the Vikings' best corner right now and he wouldn't even be a progress stopper because none of the other JAGS on the roster has much potential to stop. 

John Johnson

If the Packers hadn't already signed 17 veteran safeties this off-season, I'd be pounding the table for them to bring in Johnson, whose good season was on the Rams when Joe Barry was linebackers coach. Unfortunately, you can only have so many meh box safeties before 13 of your closest friends have an intervention for you and you thank them for saving your career in the credits a year later.

Anyway, Johnson doesn't really fit with the Lions either after they signed CGJ and drafted Brian Branch and the Vikings can't afford him while they pay 57-year-old Harrison Smith $12 million to do the same stuff. That leaves the Bears.

Surprisingly, the Bears probably have the best safety group in the division. Eddie Jackson is at least paid like a top-5 safety and Jacquan Brisker had a really nice rookie season. They can't sign Johnson to play linebacker on pass downs because they already spent enough to fund a private rocket ship company this offseason on linebackers. The only way it would really work is if they put Brisker in the slot in nickel but I don't know why you'd bother to do that to make a 5th-rate free agent fit. 

Johnson had a really good season with Brandon Staley that one year on the Rams, but with the sheer amount of box safeties in the league, it's easy to see why no one has bitten yet.