Going into the 2026 season, our NFC North beat writers decided to put together the all-division team. It’s an interesting group of players with some obvious choices, with others being more contentious.

The four beat writers are as follows:

• Tyler Forness: Minnesota Vikings
• Mike Payton: Detroit Lions
• Wendell Ferreira: Green Bay Packers
• Kole Noble: Chicago Bears

Looking at the offensive and defensive rosters, there are some interesting players. Let’s take a look at how the defense was built, and you chan check out the offensive breakdown here.

Offense

Position	Player	Team
EDGE	Micah Parsons	Packers
EDGE	Aidan Hutchinson	Lions
DT	Jalen Redmond	Vikings
DT	Alim McNeill	Lions
ILB	Jack Campbell	Lions
ILB	Edgerrin Cooper	Packers
CB	Jaylon Johnson	Bears
CB	Byron Murphy Jr.	Vikings
NICKEL	Josh Metellus	Vikings
S	Xavier McKinney	Packers
S	Brian Branch	Lions

Where they were right

There isn’t a ton of discussion about most of the position. The NFC North has the best edge rusher room in the entire NFL. There wasn’t any kind of serious discussion with the likes of Dallas Turner, Andrew Van Ginkel, or Montez Sweat.

The secondary wasn’t much of a discussion, either. Murphy was briefly discusses as the nickel defender, but we identifiend the position as a modern day nickel, and not just a slot cornerback. Plus, Murphy has only played 28.1% of his cornerback snaps in the slot over the last two seasons. Metellus is the perfect nickel defender, as he lines up everywhere across the formation, and is successful everywhere.

Where they were wrong

Honestly, there isn’t a ton of discussion about where things went wrong. It would have been great to get Van Ginkel on the list, but there isn’t any kind of argument to get him on the team over Parsons and Hutchinson. We also could have argued for Harrison Smith on the team, but he’s currently a free agent weighing whether or not he will play in 2026.

The only spot with any kind of real argument is at off-ball linebacker. Blake Cashman has been a really good player over the last three years, and the Vikings’ defense has been significantly worse when Cashman isn’t on the field. It was a difficult argument to not have him on here, but both Campbell and Cooper are better players. If we had done a flext spot instead of a nickel, then Cashman would have warranted more consideration.

Overall, this was a better list than the one on offense, and the Vikings ended up with five players on the tea. It would be seven if special teams was done, as kicker Will Reichard and long snapper Andrew DePaola would have been unanimous selections.