Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford and he is Wes Hodkowits were
Speaker 1: coming to you here from our studios at lambeau Field.
Speaker 1: Hope everybody enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend West. A bit
Speaker 1: of Packers news here since the last time we spoke,
Speaker 1: and I'm talking about the signing of a veteran tight
Speaker 1: end in Marcedes Lewis, veteran player a lot of years
Speaker 1: for the Jacksonville Jaguars, now in Green Bay. What are
Speaker 1: your initial thoughts on this addition to the tight end group. Well,
Speaker 1: here's the two thoughts I have on this. One is
Speaker 1: more from a broader perspective the Packers. Historically, when Ted
Speaker 1: Thompson was running the personnel department, they would bring guys
Speaker 1: in for visits. But the one thing I've noticed this offseason,
Speaker 1: in particular with Bryan Goudekunst, is the guys coming in
Speaker 1: for a visit. It's serious. Um, Mohammed Wilkerson visits signs.
Speaker 1: After about another week, Lewis comes in for visits Signs. Um.
Speaker 1: And if you look at and you break it down
Speaker 1: and really look at the whole picture of this thing.
Speaker 1: Louis gives them a dimension that they were missing at
Speaker 1: that tight end position. You know, he was a former
Speaker 1: pro bowler seven eight years ago. He's had some some
Speaker 1: fine receiving seasons, but his bread and butter, in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways has been as a blocker. The Packers
Speaker 1: toyed around with this idea of really having a blocking
Speaker 1: tight end in two thousand and thirteen with Matthew Mulligan
Speaker 1: not nearly as accomplished as Lewis ended up not making
Speaker 1: the roster. But other than that, they've really just been
Speaker 1: trying to make the guys they have into blockers. I
Speaker 1: think Louis gives them a guy that is bona fide
Speaker 1: at that position. And and really, I mean you look
Speaker 1: at in terms of all these guys accomplishments with Lance
Speaker 1: Kendricks figured in there as well, Uh, definitely the most
Speaker 1: decorated group of tight ends of the Packers have probably
Speaker 1: hadn't going back to the late nineties. Yeah, I agree
Speaker 1: with you, and the when I look at Louis, I
Speaker 1: do believe that his blocking is his forte and that
Speaker 1: is what he's going to bring first and foremost to
Speaker 1: this team. But you also can't ignore the fact that
Speaker 1: last season, even though he had only was it, twenty
Speaker 1: five receptions, five of those, if I'm not mistaken, were
Speaker 1: for touchdown. That's that's an interesting percentage. I guess when
Speaker 1: you look at the statistics, you say, Okay, well, maybe
Speaker 1: he doesn't have the big time downfield threat. You know,
Speaker 1: the Packers have that in Jimmy Graham. They don't necessarily
Speaker 1: need another one. He's not the big time downfield threat.
Speaker 1: Maybe he was earlier in his career, but those numbers
Speaker 1: from last year tell you that in the red zone
Speaker 1: he can still be a tough matchup and if he
Speaker 1: catch the ball. I mean, you saw a lot of
Speaker 1: the film that the Packers have, and I think we
Speaker 1: even put up the top ten plays he had in
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen on our website. Yeah. Uh, he still
Speaker 1: made a lot of plays. And the other thing is too,
Speaker 1: is there were some questions because he'd been on injury
Speaker 1: reserved twice in the last four years, one into two
Speaker 1: thousand seventeen, and whether or not the durability was starting
Speaker 1: to wane. Started all sixteen games for the Jaguars last
Speaker 1: year and then obviously into the playoffs as well as
Speaker 1: they gotten on their run. I think he played somewhere
Speaker 1: around like I think it was like seven or eight
Speaker 1: hundred offensive snaps. So he's more than capable of handing
Speaker 1: handling that kind of workload. But he's also at the
Speaker 1: point of his career having just turned thirty four a
Speaker 1: week ago that you know, he can fit a potential
Speaker 1: niche as well. And if he means he isn't playing
Speaker 1: you know, you know, five six hundred snaps, I think
Speaker 1: he's gonna be okay with that. So adding him into
Speaker 1: the mix of that position, like I said, I think
Speaker 1: it just gives them a more traditional inline tight end uh,
Speaker 1: but also allows Jimmy Graham to to really be free
Speaker 1: to do whatever they want with them. It just keeps
Speaker 1: those two tight end packages alive and well in this
Speaker 1: offense and and really being able to maximize those three veterans. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I got a question in our Insider Inbox column. Somebody asked,
Speaker 1: so does this signing improve the Packers running game more
Speaker 1: or the passing game more? And this is how I
Speaker 1: answered it. I think because of the blocking prowess and
Speaker 1: just the experience that Lewis has, I think on the surface,
Speaker 1: this helps the Packers running game more, you've got a
Speaker 1: blocking tight end. If you want to line up and say,
Speaker 1: here we come, you've got that option. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, if you're improving the running game, you're improving
Speaker 1: the passing game. You're helping Aaron Rodgers because if this
Speaker 1: team can run the ball consistently, Aaron Rodgers becomes that
Speaker 1: much more dangerous a quarterback because of how defenses have
Speaker 1: to respect the run. So if you can improve the
Speaker 1: running game, you are improving the passing game. Whether or
Speaker 1: not Louis catches twenty or forty or fifty passes this year,
Speaker 1: that that's almost irrelevant in some senses. Yeah. And as
Speaker 1: one of the things I pointed out to I mean,
Speaker 1: I think the impact he could potentially have, assuming he
Speaker 1: still has something left. You know, he's gonna have to
Speaker 1: make this roster too. Yeah, but if he does, I
Speaker 1: think his impact is going to be seen more on
Speaker 1: the whole than just an individual stat box. Uh. The
Speaker 1: thing that was very interesting about last year with Mark
Speaker 1: Tellis Bennett and I know a lot of things went
Speaker 1: south there, but he is he was. He's the best
Speaker 1: acker the Packers have had going back to Bubba Franks,
Speaker 1: And you could see the impact he made on those games.
Speaker 1: You know where Aaron Jones was able to get his
Speaker 1: first hundred yard performance and and how that really was
Speaker 1: important to being able to establish that early on in
Speaker 1: the season. We'll see how Lewis matches up in that regard,
Speaker 1: But certainly when you look at time Montgomery and and
Speaker 1: Jones and Jamal Williams all coming back, all underneath twenty
Speaker 1: five years old, all really unique in terms of their
Speaker 1: skill sets, they will really benefit from a guy that
Speaker 1: brings that experience. And to take this one step further,
Speaker 1: because I know some people have asked, well, what does
Speaker 1: this mean for the other tight ends, the younger tight
Speaker 1: ends on this roster. Mike McCarthy said it going back
Speaker 1: to the owner's meetings the Packers. If he had his
Speaker 1: druthers and the Packers had what they want, they would
Speaker 1: love to have four or five tight ends on this
Speaker 1: roster because of what that position lends itself to on
Speaker 1: special teams. So, by no means does this disqualify Manuel
Speaker 1: Bird or Robert Tonyan or some of these undrafted rookies
Speaker 1: trying to make this roster. They still have a very
Speaker 1: good opportunity. It's just the Packers now we are going
Speaker 1: to take a look at an accomplished tight end and
Speaker 1: see what he brings to the table as a blocker. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a guy like Lewis certainly had an impact on the
Speaker 1: career of Maurice Jones, drew on the early success of
Speaker 1: a guy like Leonard Fournett and Jacksonville. So tatersting to see, yeah,
Speaker 1: Fred Taylor back earlier in Lewis's career as well. So
Speaker 1: with that, we've got to go to a break back
Speaker 1: with more on Packers Unscripted right after this, Welcome back
Speaker 1: to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford in this chair, West Hodkowitz
Speaker 1: and that one Wes. You brought up his name in
Speaker 1: the opening segment, Mohammed Wilkerson, the I guess more highly
Speaker 1: touted free agent signing. The Packers had this one coming
Speaker 1: on the defensive side and with the defensive line, and
Speaker 1: we've talked about it. This was really a signal in
Speaker 1: my mind, when you already have Kenny Clark, Mike Daniels
Speaker 1: and up and coming type of players like Dean Lowry
Speaker 1: and Montrevius Adams on that unit, you add a veteran
Speaker 1: guy like Wilkerson. Two double digit sack seasons in his career,
Speaker 1: has a Pro Bowl on his resume. You're sending the
Speaker 1: signal that the defensive line is the foundation of this
Speaker 1: new defense under Mike Patton. You get that same impression absolutely, Mike,
Speaker 1: because here's the thing. The Packers strength the defensively is
Speaker 1: their defensive line. It was that way before Mohammed Wilkerson signed,
Speaker 1: and it's certainly re emphasized that after he did sign
Speaker 1: with the Packers, and I think listening to him speak
Speaker 1: both when he talked to the media last week but
Speaker 1: also when he did the Q and A with the
Speaker 1: Packers Twitter account, um the reasons for him coming back,
Speaker 1: it really was two fold. It was Aaron Rodgers, which
Speaker 1: you know we often hear, we heard it from Rickie
Speaker 1: Jean Francois last year. But it's also really being able
Speaker 1: to be the tipping point for this defensive line and
Speaker 1: and maybe give them that veteran presence that not only
Speaker 1: they you know they've had veterans in the past, but
Speaker 1: a guy that can make an impact. This is the
Speaker 1: biggest thing, and and it's the biggest question I've had
Speaker 1: all offseason. Again, I don't think we're gonna get answers
Speaker 1: for it completely until we see week one how these
Speaker 1: guys are utilized. But Wilkerson has a wealth of football
Speaker 1: behind him. He's been incredibly durable throughout the course of
Speaker 1: his career, and the fact that he was able to
Speaker 1: make the impact he did during his first two seasons
Speaker 1: with Mike Petton in New York. That third season is
Speaker 1: where he truly broke out and became an all Pro
Speaker 1: type player. But how productive he was for being an
Speaker 1: end of the first round pick in two thousand eleven
Speaker 1: and then in what he did in two thousand and twelve,
Speaker 1: I mean, he was a guy getting five six secs
Speaker 1: seasons and you don't always see that for defensive lineman
Speaker 1: in this league being able to step in there. There's
Speaker 1: been a couple along the way that they're just impactful,
Speaker 1: high round players that can do it. But I think
Speaker 1: Wilkerson and how easily he was able to get involved
Speaker 1: and immerse himself in that defense, not only does that
Speaker 1: speak well for him now coming back into Petton's defense,
Speaker 1: but I think it also says something too about the
Speaker 1: scheme that Petton runs and how young players can come
Speaker 1: in and thrive immediately. Yeah, and he downplayed a little bit.
Speaker 1: The whole notion of him sort of teaching everybody on
Speaker 1: the defensive line, you know everything about Mike Patton's defense.
Speaker 1: He he even admitted, Hey, you know, it's been a
Speaker 1: few years. There's some things that I've got to you know,
Speaker 1: brush up on here and and uh and catch up
Speaker 1: on because some you know, things change and evolve over
Speaker 1: time in this league. But at the same time, then
Speaker 1: you hear from a guy like Kenny Clark, who really
Speaker 1: pointed out, you know, it's not so much you know,
Speaker 1: Mohammed Wilkerson showing like the xs and os in the
Speaker 1: meeting room or something like that. It's more when they're
Speaker 1: on the practice field in a sense, like hey, you
Speaker 1: know on this certain type of rush package, like this
Speaker 1: is the angle you know that you take, or this
Speaker 1: is how you take on the double team. It's those
Speaker 1: little things that aren't necessarily written in the playbook. They're
Speaker 1: not spelled out. But when you get out on the
Speaker 1: field and a guy like Wilkerson has played for Mike Petton,
Speaker 1: then he can he can just pass along those little
Speaker 1: tips like hey, this is what he's looking for, this
Speaker 1: is how he wants this to look in action, and
Speaker 1: I think the players are going to benefit from that. Yeah, absolutely, Mike.
Speaker 1: And and the thing is too that, you know, you
Speaker 1: look at the Kenny Clarks of the world, a guy
Speaker 1: now twenty two going into twenty three years old, um
Speaker 1: youngest can be, but yet still falling success in his
Speaker 1: second NFL season. It's gonna be interesting to see what
Speaker 1: exactly pett and thinks of these guys, because, as we
Speaker 1: talked about it last week's show, first time Clay Matthews
Speaker 1: is gonna be playing in a defense that isn't Dom
Speaker 1: Capers for the most part, with a couple exceptions here
Speaker 1: and there, the Capers is the only d C a
Speaker 1: lot of these guys have known. Patton is gonna come
Speaker 1: in and, as I wrote an insider inbox on on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: with a fresh pair of eyes to to kind of
Speaker 1: look at this thing and determine, Okay, who can be
Speaker 1: our playmakers, how do we build this defense, and how
Speaker 1: do we get the most out of this collective whole
Speaker 1: into me Again, this is just looking at the board
Speaker 1: as it stands right now, it appears as if defensive
Speaker 1: line is where they're going to have the starting point.
Speaker 1: When you have Mike Daniels coming off his first Pro Bowl,
Speaker 1: the history and lineage of what Mohammed Wilkerson has done
Speaker 1: in this league, and Kenny Clark at twenty two years
Speaker 1: old being able to have the performance he did late
Speaker 1: last season throwing Dean Lowery maybe montrevious Adams taking another step.
Speaker 1: They added some more defensive him in through the draft
Speaker 1: and unrestricted undrafted free agency. It is a complete group,
Speaker 1: and trying to find the best ways to get the
Speaker 1: most out of that is going to be probably the
Speaker 1: biggest task that Petton has, you know, going into this
Speaker 1: training camp. Yeah, and when you look at something that
Speaker 1: Wilkerson has in common, he's from New Jersey, where like
Speaker 1: Daniels is also from New Jersey. But interestingly, two very
Speaker 1: very different personalities here in terms of uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Mike Daniels being very very loud, very outspoken, not shy
Speaker 1: at all, not saying Mohammed Wilkerson is a shy guy,
Speaker 1: but just as I said before, very understated, a little
Speaker 1: bit more low key. I think he's fine with with
Speaker 1: Mike Daniels being the the vocal leader of the group.
Speaker 1: And what I really like about the Wilkerson signing, because
Speaker 1: you've heard me talk about this before, I write about
Speaker 1: it an insider inbox all the time. Never underestimate a
Speaker 1: motivated professional athlete. Mohammed Wilkerson is motivated. He he was
Speaker 1: released in the middle of a large, big money contract.
Speaker 1: He now he's at the Packers. He's still got believes
Speaker 1: he's still got plenty of tread left on the tire,
Speaker 1: so to speak. He's he's looking to revive his career here.
Speaker 1: He's looking to make a statement whether then his future
Speaker 1: is in Green Bay or somewhere else. He's a motivated
Speaker 1: player and I kind of like throwing that into the
Speaker 1: mix here with a new defense. Yeah, and it's been
Speaker 1: a long time since he's been in the playoffs too,
Speaker 1: so I mean trying to, you know, after getting that
Speaker 1: little bit of tastic success the first few years with Rex,
Speaker 1: Ryan and Petton, now trying to, you know, get back
Speaker 1: on that winning ways. It's it's going to be something
Speaker 1: that I think when you look at the opportunity now
Speaker 1: in front of you in Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: as your quarterback, if you hold up your end of
Speaker 1: the bargain at the end of the day, good things
Speaker 1: are gonna happen. You're gonna have a chance with that
Speaker 1: we'll go to a break back with Morn Packers Unscripted
Speaker 1: right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford
Speaker 1: right here, West Hodko, It's all the way over there, West.
Speaker 1: Continuing our discussion of the Packers defense, Mike Patton's defense,
Speaker 1: what he's bringing. We heard from Clay Matthews last week
Speaker 1: during the first open practice of O T A S.
Speaker 1: And Matthews touched on a lot of different subjects here
Speaker 1: and there, as he often does when he stands at
Speaker 1: his locker fields questions from all angles from the media.
Speaker 1: One of the key things that I took away from
Speaker 1: his words, and I wrote about this on our website.
Speaker 1: I think he he really believes that one of the
Speaker 1: the driving forces, so to speak, behind this Mike Petton
Speaker 1: defense is going to be unpredictability. It's going to be
Speaker 1: about not necessarily the the opposing offense, opposing offensive coordinator,
Speaker 1: opposing quarterback knowing quite for sure what you're gonna be
Speaker 1: running in certain down and distant situations and certain spots
Speaker 1: on the field, red zone, short yardage, whatever that might be.
Speaker 1: There's going to be an element of unpredictability here. And
Speaker 1: I'm really curious to see exactly how it's gonna play.
Speaker 1: I want to just quickly bring up the Mic Zimmer
Speaker 1: defense for a moment um. And again I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to sit here and be like, Okay, that's the standard.
Speaker 1: But but the double a gap blitz scheme that he
Speaker 1: always runs, why is that so effective in this league?
Speaker 1: Would you care to take that question? I think it's
Speaker 1: because when those guys mug up there at the at
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage on either side of the center,
Speaker 1: you never know if you don't come it or not.
Speaker 1: You don't know if they're dropping, you don't know if
Speaker 1: they're sending both. You don't know if they're gonna go one,
Speaker 1: you don't know if they're gonna come on a stunt.
Speaker 1: A lot of different avenues for what you can do.
Speaker 1: And to be fair to down capers, there was a
Speaker 1: lot of that in his scheme as well. But I
Speaker 1: think what happened the last two years in specific, when
Speaker 1: you have the injuries mount up like they did, and
Speaker 1: we saw this in two thousand thirteen as well, it
Speaker 1: reduces the amount of unpredictability you can do, and especially
Speaker 1: with some of the young guys coming in, we talked
Speaker 1: about the communication issues, some of the problems with guys
Speaker 1: trying to step up. That was ultimately the downfall of
Speaker 1: last season. The challenge for Petting here is that he
Speaker 1: has a lot of pieces on the chessboard here during
Speaker 1: the off season with this, with Wilkerson coming in the
Speaker 1: revamped secondary. But the question is gonna be once you
Speaker 1: get to week eight and week nine, what are you
Speaker 1: gonna do When somebody goes down, somebody else has to
Speaker 1: step up. And the thing that I took away from
Speaker 1: what both what Matthews has said and both what other
Speaker 1: players have said this offseason is it's making sure that
Speaker 1: everybody is ready. Whether it's the undrafted rookie, whether it's
Speaker 1: the accomplished veteran. They need to be in a position
Speaker 1: to come in there and not have a drop off,
Speaker 1: not just at the position, but in terms of the
Speaker 1: group the eleven players on the field. You have to
Speaker 1: be able to keep that chemistry, that fluidity going throughout
Speaker 1: the defense. So, yeah, with Petton, there is gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of unpredictability. There is gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: of different looks and something. It's not even just like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna send all eleven guys at the quarterback. It's
Speaker 1: not like that. It's giving them different pre snap looks
Speaker 1: that they can't just sit there and identify the mic
Speaker 1: and identify who's coming on a blitz or where the
Speaker 1: safety is going to be. It's being multiple. That's what
Speaker 1: Petton did in New York and had success. It's what
Speaker 1: he did in Buffalo that one season in two had success.
Speaker 1: And it's the system now that he's going to try
Speaker 1: to bring the Green Bay. Yeah, and as I said,
Speaker 1: I'm very curious to see how it's gonna work out,
Speaker 1: because when you look back when Dom Caper's first arrived
Speaker 1: two thousand nine, two thousand ten, he was working with
Speaker 1: a lot of veteran players. You look at two thousand ten,
Speaker 1: I know there were injuries, the Packers said, guys filling in,
Speaker 1: But who was filling in for Nick Barnett and inside
Speaker 1: linebacker when he went out with an injury Desmond Bishop,
Speaker 1: who had been drafted in two thousand seven. He was
Speaker 1: a fourth year player, Exactly. You know, Dom Capers was
Speaker 1: working with a lot of veteran guys and that's where
Speaker 1: you know the acquisition of of Mohammed Wilkerson comes in
Speaker 1: the Packers have had a lot of young players who
Speaker 1: are now reaching that latter stage of their career. But
Speaker 1: Petton also has to work in there. It's a young
Speaker 1: cornerback group. There's a lot of young players in the secondary.
Speaker 1: You know, Blake Martinez, an inside linebacker now into his
Speaker 1: third year, he's getting to that stage where you start
Speaker 1: to call him more of a veteran player. There's a
Speaker 1: there's a mix here, and you know some of that,
Speaker 1: some of the unpredictability can be based on, you know, okay,
Speaker 1: how much of the playbook can they absorb? Patton has
Speaker 1: to find the right balance with his veteran guys and
Speaker 1: his young guys. How much can how much can they
Speaker 1: really handle so that you don't have the communication issues
Speaker 1: and other things that can happen during the course of
Speaker 1: the season when injuries happen and guys are shuffling in
Speaker 1: and you know what else happens to Mike. You have
Speaker 1: Wilkerson coming at the defensive line, You have Tremont Williams
Speaker 1: resigned at cornerback. What does that do? It challenges the
Speaker 1: young guys on the roster to step up to elevate
Speaker 1: their game. You want to start on the boundary you
Speaker 1: want to start at that nickel star position. Earn the job,
Speaker 1: win the job, take the job, and run with it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all right there for everybody, and I think for me,
Speaker 1: I know there's questions at outside linebacker. People are going
Speaker 1: to talk about that all summer long. But there are
Speaker 1: so many roles, not just starting jobs, but so many
Speaker 1: rolls up for grabs right now on that defense. Patton
Speaker 1: is looking for guys to grab that, to take that
Speaker 1: opportunity and run with it. And it's all there for you.
Speaker 1: If you play well, if you step up, you show
Speaker 1: that you can handle the system in the scheme, you're
Speaker 1: going to have an opportunity in this defense. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: agree with you with that. We're gonna go too their
Speaker 1: break back with more and Packers Unscripted right after this.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Packers Unscripted Mike Spofford alongside Wes Hodkowitz
Speaker 1: and West. Before we go today, I want to shift
Speaker 1: gears back to the offensive side of the ball for
Speaker 1: a minute. Interestingly, we've talked a lot during this offseason
Speaker 1: about how players are forgetting about two thousand seventeen. It
Speaker 1: was a rough year for a lot of guys involved. Obviously,
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of change front office wise, player wise,
Speaker 1: coaching wise since then. But one guy who definitely has
Speaker 1: a really strong, solid two thousand seventeen to look back
Speaker 1: on is offensive lineman Justin McCrae. But interestingly, he's one
Speaker 1: of the first guys in the locker room who's also
Speaker 1: going to say, hey, I've got to forget about sev
Speaker 1: I can't rest on anything that I did in the past.
Speaker 1: I need to look forward. I think it's his recognition
Speaker 1: that he has an opportunity in front of him. His
Speaker 1: opportunity right now is a completely different one from where
Speaker 1: he was last year at this time. He recognizes it
Speaker 1: and he's really going to try to go after it. Well. Mike,
Speaker 1: And in the last segment you talked about, you know,
Speaker 1: never underestimating a motivated player. And there's two ways to
Speaker 1: do that. I mean, there is the way that Wilkerson has,
Speaker 1: you know, where he's had success, he's two time All Pro,
Speaker 1: trying to show that he's still that guy. Then you
Speaker 1: look at a guy like McCrae, who has been an undrafted,
Speaker 1: you know, under the radar prospects since day one, you know,
Speaker 1: and coming into the league in two thousand and fourteen,
Speaker 1: spending a year with the Titans, getting cut off their
Speaker 1: practice squad, being out of football for full two seasons,
Speaker 1: you know, working as a bellman in Orlando, trying to
Speaker 1: train with his twin brother, Jordan's, you know, for another opportunity,
Speaker 1: you know, playing the Arena Football League. This was his
Speaker 1: last chance last year, after he impressed at that UCF
Speaker 1: Pro day that the Packers brought him in. He was
Speaker 1: probably the nine guy on the roster during the off season,
Speaker 1: but he gradually worked his way up and when opportunities
Speaker 1: presented themselves, he took advantage of those and he showed
Speaker 1: an eight spots starts that he can handle whatever the
Speaker 1: Packers throw at and whether it was guard, tackle, even center.
Speaker 1: So the lesson there for McCrae is that nothing is guaranteed.
Speaker 1: He has to do it all over again to prove
Speaker 1: not only am I worthy of a spot on the
Speaker 1: fifty three, but a guy that legitimately could be considered
Speaker 1: for that starting right guard job. Yeah, and we've heard
Speaker 1: some things from Mike McCarthy and from offensive line coach
Speaker 1: James James Camping about mccrawe's dedication in the off season
Speaker 1: to his conditioning he's he I don't want to say
Speaker 1: he's rebuilt his body, because he had an NFL body
Speaker 1: obviously to begin with, but he's he's reworked and he's
Speaker 1: reconditioned it a little bit. They're not putting any numbers
Speaker 1: on it in terms of where his weight is or
Speaker 1: or the body fat percentages, all that kind of stuff
Speaker 1: that maybe other other players other teams make more public.
Speaker 1: But um, he's shown the dedication that it's going to
Speaker 1: take to take the next step in his career. I
Speaker 1: think it's a great sign that a guy who really
Speaker 1: came out of nowhere in a sense and made a
Speaker 1: name for himself in the NFL, he's not satisfied. He
Speaker 1: realizes there's more out there in front of him, there's
Speaker 1: more work to do, and he's going to do what
Speaker 1: it takes. And I think that's where the undrafted thing
Speaker 1: comes in, and him flying underneath the radar and understanding
Speaker 1: what it's like to be out of this league and
Speaker 1: trying to earn your way back in it. And and
Speaker 1: you know, now the Packers Jarry Evans still a free agent.
Speaker 1: It looks like the Packers are looking at McCrae and
Speaker 1: some of these internal reserves to fill that spot for
Speaker 1: the time being. McCrae wants to show that you don't
Speaker 1: need to look no further. Yeah, what he put on
Speaker 1: film last year should get be enough, but also putting
Speaker 1: himself over the top to being consideration for that job. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a valuable swing guy at multiple positions, but maybe the
Speaker 1: starting right guard in ten. We'll see. With that, we
Speaker 1: have to sign off on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the
Speaker 1: team on Packers dot com on Twitter. He's at west Hot,
Speaker 1: I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account.
Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time.
Speaker 1: H