Welcome back to Around the NFC North. During the season this weekly post keeps you up to date with everything happening with the Packers' primary nemeses. Here's a special edition centered on the 2020 NFL Draft. 

What did the Bears, Lions and Vikings do, and what does it mean for the Packers? Let's take a look. As always, there is a disclaimer surrounding draft analysis that you can never be certain what you have (or don't have) until a few years have passed.

Chicago Bears (2019 record: 8-8, 3rd place)

The full 2020 Bears draft class is as follows:

• Round 2, 43rd overall: Cole Kmet, TE, Notre Dame
• Round 2, 50th overall: Jaylon Johnson, CB, Utah
• Round 5, 155th overall: Trevis Gipson, EDGE, Tulsa
• Round 5, 163rd overall: Kindle Vildor, CB, Georgia Southern
• Round 7, 226th overall: Arlington Hambright, OL, Colorado
• Round 7, 227th overall: Lachavious Simmons, OL, Tennessee State

The Bears had hardly any draft capital to work with in this draft, thanks to some big roster-building moves over the last couple years, most notably the Khalil Mack trade in 2018. Those moves have resulted in a first-round playoff exit followed by missing the playoffs entirely, so if the Bears are going to return to the postseason in 2020, they needed to nail their offseason.

The draft got off to a dubious start for the Bears, who took a tight end with their first selection in what many saw as a weak tight end class, and when they already had nine tight ends on their roster, and just paid Jimmy Graham a boatload of money in free agency. A head scratcher to be sure.

Jaylon Johnson could prove to be an intriguing selection. He comes at a big area of need for the Bears, who (like every other one of the Packers' foes in the NFC North) needed to do some retooling in their secondary. 

Picks in the fifth through seventh round are generally tossup selections--you grab people who show flashes of big potential and hope to get lucky with them. The Bears ultimatley decided to double dip at corner and bring in a couple new bodies for the offensive line. Gipson, like any late rounder, is a developmental prospect, but has a lot of athleticism.

With the weight of the Bears' draft in the later rounds, it's unlikely any will be big difference makers in 2019, so they're going to have to hope their other offseason work is sufficient for bringing the team back to the playoffs. But with the Packers and Vikings still contenders in the same division, they're going to face a tall order this season.

Detroit Lions (2019 record: 3-12-1, 4th place)

The full 2020 Lions draft class is as follows:

• Round 1, 3rd overall: Jeff Okudah, CB, Ohio State
• Round 2, 35th overall: D'Andre Swift, RB, Georgia
• Round 3, 67th overall: Julian Okwara, LB, Notre Dame
• Round 3, 7th overall: Jonah Jackson, G, Ohio State
• Round 4, 109th overall: John Simpson, OL, Clemson
• Round 4, 121st overall: Logan Stenberg, G, Kentucky
• Round 5, 166th overall: Quintez Cephus, WR, Wisconsin
• Round 5, 172nd overall: Jason Huntley, RB, New Mexico State
• Round 6, 197th overall: John Penisini, DT, Utah
• Round 7, 235th overall: Jashon Cornell, DE, Ohio State

The headline pick here obviously is Okudah. Rare is it to see a defensive back go in the top three in the modern NFL.  Even before the Lions traded away Darius Slay they were in desperate need of additional secondary help, so going CB high was a sensible choice for the Lions, who were among the league's worst passing defenses in 2019. The Lions are going to have to hope Okudah adjusts to the speed of the NFL game quickly, which can be a difficult task for all young NFL players, but particularly defensive backs.

Swift is the kind of running back highly valued by today's pass-heavy NFL game, a player who is versatile enough to feature in the running and passing game, and who's got plenty of speed. Okwara is likely to play at the outside linebacker spot, and Jackson adds some much needed competition to an offensive line that wasn't particularly inspiring in 2019.

The later round selections show the Lions filling out other areas of need, as well as doubling down at the running back spot. Wisconsin natives will certainly watch Cephus's career with interest. Cephus was a reliable presence for the Badgers in the passing game, but was doomed to late-round status after running the 40 at a dismal 4.73.

Minnesota Vikings (2019 record: 10-6, 2nd place)

The full 2020 Vikings draft class is as follows:

• Round 1, 22nd overall: Justin Jefferson, WR, LSU
• Round 1, 31st overall: Jeff Gladney, CB, TCU
• Round 2, 58th overall: Ezra Cleveland, OT, Boise State
• Round 3, 89th overall: Cameron Dantzler, CB, Mississippi State
• Round 4, 117th overall, DJ Wonnum, DE, South Carolina
• Round 4, 130th overall: James Lynch, DT, Baylor
• Round 4, 132nd overall: Troy Dye, LB, Oregon
• Round 5, 169th overall: Harrison Hand, CB, Temple
• Round 5, 176th overall: KJ Osborn, WR, Miami
• Round 6, 203rd overall: Blake Brandel, OT, Oregon State
• Round 6, 205th overall: Josh Metellus, S, Michigan
• Round 7, 225th overall: Kenny Willekes, DE, Michigan State
• Round 7, 244th overall: Nate Stanley, QB, Iowa
• Round 7, 249th overall: Brian Cole II, S. Mississippi State
• Round 7, 253rd overall: Kyle Hinton, OL, Washburn

The Vikings stockpiled a massive number of draft picks, giving them the ability to fill out a lot of areas of need on their roster and to be aggressive with their early round picks.

Their first selection was one a lot of Packer fans (including yours truly) hoped Green Bay would manage to snag: Justin Jefferson out of LSU. Jefferson is an extremely talented, versatile player who the Vikings will hope to slide into Stefon Diggs' recently vacated role in the passing game. 

The Vikings addressed another one of their biggest team needs with their second first-round selection by snagging Jeff Gladney, the TCU cornerback. Ever since Xavier Rhodes' game dropped off a cliff, the Vikings have been getting routinely exposed by receivers on the outside. Gladney will likely be thrown into the fire right away after a large exodus of Vikings defensive backs in the offseason, so Packer fans will be hearing his name come up a lot in matchup previews in games against Minnesota this year.

The second and third rounds also saw the Vikings focus on areas of need, including offensive line (grabbing another possible Packer selection, Ezra Clevleand) and another corner (Dantzler). The Vikings would go back to the cornerback well a third time int he draft with their first selection in the fifth round.

One intriguing selection is Troy Dye, the Oregon linebacker. This wasn't exactly a position of need for the Vikings, but Dye has a lot of experience and is one candidate for a mid-round selection who may be a valuable member of the rotation and allow players like Anthony Barr to move around the field a bit more. 

You'll hear a lot of the experts declaring the Vikings to be one of the biggest winners of the draft. It is certainly true that the Vikings built up an impressive selection of picks and that they clearly focused on filling big roster holes. But of course, whether that translates to results on the field is still to be determined.