Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford. He is the
Speaker 1: one and only West Hodkowitz. Were coming to you here
Speaker 1: from our studios at lambeau Field West the two thousand
Speaker 1: and twenty two Packers Mini Camp Mandatory Mini Camp. Essentially
Speaker 1: it's in the books. We had two days of practice
Speaker 1: and now today actually as we are taping this show,
Speaker 1: the team is on its way to a team building activity.
Speaker 1: Practice was canceled, sort of a tradition in some respects
Speaker 1: over the years here. So two practices we got to
Speaker 1: witness um, two locker room sessions, lots of interviews with
Speaker 1: players and whatnot. I'll just throw it out to you
Speaker 1: as an as an open ended question. What made the
Speaker 1: biggest impression on you over the last couple of days.
Speaker 1: One moment and it was where we actually Evan Siegel
Speaker 1: perfectly captured it and we paired it with your story
Speaker 1: on Aaron Rodgers. It was Aaron Rodgers talking to Samori
Speaker 1: to Ray and uh, I remember watching it live as
Speaker 1: it happened. Yeah, you and I were standing right next
Speaker 1: to each other. We saw it and it was super
Speaker 1: cool because on the other side of the field. Evan
Speaker 1: was shooting that and it's such a great moment. What
Speaker 1: was happening in practice as there was in early routes
Speaker 1: on air period and two Ray and Rogers. Rogers had
Speaker 1: thrown him a deep ball. I think he was kind
Speaker 1: of running like a deep corner route. They don't they
Speaker 1: didn't get it connected. But then two Ray comes back
Speaker 1: and Rogers very just calmly kind of talks through with
Speaker 1: him kind of what was going on there and what
Speaker 1: he's looking for now Before people hear me say that
Speaker 1: and run away with it and go, well, this is
Speaker 1: why he should have been here for the entire offseason program.
Speaker 1: I want to just make it the point that it's
Speaker 1: this is what this time is for. This is why
Speaker 1: you have Mini camp um to get the veterans now
Speaker 1: working with the young guys that have had a chance
Speaker 1: to sort of grow and blossom here over the last month,
Speaker 1: and a chance to learn some of the offense, go
Speaker 1: through the eatings and learn some of the stuff that's
Speaker 1: on paper in the playbook. And what stood out to
Speaker 1: me the most. I'm not saying that there's a you know,
Speaker 1: one lead to another, but then you see the next
Speaker 1: day happened. We get the rain, we're in the Hudson Center,
Speaker 1: and Samari Toure had as big of a day as
Speaker 1: anybody in that practice. I mean, just some incredible catches,
Speaker 1: mostly with the two's and and you know, with Jordan's love.
Speaker 1: But it's the process of these young guys coming around
Speaker 1: and we shot our three Things video and I don't
Speaker 1: want to give anything away on that, but I thought
Speaker 1: Larry had such a great take to where it's these
Speaker 1: young guys that it's just every day somebody else is
Speaker 1: stepping up and making plays. And to have Rogers here
Speaker 1: for this week to get guys sort of accustomed to him,
Speaker 1: I just thought it was an incredibly productive week for
Speaker 1: them to get those two practices in. Fans at Nichky
Speaker 1: Field were able to actually see you know them them
Speaker 1: work a little bit. On Tuesday, I thought it checked
Speaker 1: all the boxes and from all accounts, they got through
Speaker 1: and injury free. Yeah, and it was interesting too to
Speaker 1: watch you mentioning, you know, different guys on different days,
Speaker 1: and there there were moments in just where we saw
Speaker 1: the veteran guys Sammy Watkins and Randall Cobb making plays
Speaker 1: and doing the types of things that veterans do. They
Speaker 1: don't need all the snaps and O T A s.
Speaker 1: They don't need to be here for absolutely everything. But
Speaker 1: it's just it's it's sort of like, Okay, get the
Speaker 1: legs under him, catch some catch some passes and whatnot,
Speaker 1: and then they're getting ready to take their break now
Speaker 1: before before they come back in several weeks for training camp,
Speaker 1: which is which is the grind that they've all been through,
Speaker 1: and they all know what they have to do to
Speaker 1: get ready for it. And before we close that chapter this,
Speaker 1: I just want to go back to Rogers for a
Speaker 1: second to the other thing about it. And you did
Speaker 1: such a great job if you haven't read it already.
Speaker 1: Mike summation of Roger's thoughts on Tuesday, Rogers explaining, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of his thought process with this off season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about that some more. When everybody discusses,
Speaker 1: you know, him being here and he needs to be
Speaker 1: with the young guys. You also have to remember about
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers too, at thirty eight years old this December
Speaker 1: will be thirty nine. You know, this is a guy
Speaker 1: that's been doing this for a long time, most of
Speaker 1: his life, and there's the body work process, in the
Speaker 1: mental process that he wants to go through during the
Speaker 1: off season. He's been big on that for years. It's
Speaker 1: something he's been doing since he basically turned thirty, making
Speaker 1: that investment into his body, making that investment into his
Speaker 1: mental health and awareness, and he feels like there's a
Speaker 1: value in that as well. Where he goes, the people
Speaker 1: that know him, how he works, the one on one
Speaker 1: attention that he gets, and also just being able to
Speaker 1: refresh and reset going into another season with high expectations.
Speaker 1: It's not just a guy picking up his lunch pay
Speaker 1: on going to work. It's Aaron Rodgers being the two
Speaker 1: time reigning m v P deciding hey do I can
Speaker 1: I perform at this level and meet those expectations that
Speaker 1: I have for myself. And everything he's done over the
Speaker 1: last four months plays into that, right And I thought
Speaker 1: it was interesting how Rogers described, you know, how he
Speaker 1: does need to go through that mental reset. It's not
Speaker 1: something he needed to do at two years old, necessarily,
Speaker 1: but it is something he has to do now. When
Speaker 1: you think about this past off season, think about how
Speaker 1: much he had to process. I mean, there was the
Speaker 1: incredibly disappointing play off loss in which he knows he
Speaker 1: didn't play up to his own standards. The offense didn't
Speaker 1: hold up its end of the bargain in a game
Speaker 1: in which the defense obviously played very very well. So
Speaker 1: there there's that that bitter disappointment. He's trying to process
Speaker 1: through the off season. How much longer do I want
Speaker 1: to keep playing? Do I want to retire? Do I
Speaker 1: want to give this another go? Then he goes through.
Speaker 1: He said he was involved in all the conversations regarding
Speaker 1: Davante Adams and his you know, his favorite target, good friend,
Speaker 1: decides it's best for him in his career personally and
Speaker 1: professionally to get back to the West Coast, and uhum
Speaker 1: and Rogers has to process losing, losing the guy who's
Speaker 1: been his top target here for the past handful of
Speaker 1: seasons and and you know, arguably the best receiver in
Speaker 1: the league. Then there's all the coaching changes. You know,
Speaker 1: Luke getsye Nathaniel Hackett, uh justin out and the coach,
Speaker 1: the coaches on the offensive staff that he's gotten to
Speaker 1: know for the last three years, those guys and yets,
Speaker 1: he longer than that, those guys moving on to two
Speaker 1: bigger and better career opportunities for themselves. I mean, he
Speaker 1: had a lot, he had a lot to go through here.
Speaker 1: But then all that said, and he had made the
Speaker 1: comment after the golf match last week about yeah, like,
Speaker 1: of course I still think about retirement, but he made
Speaker 1: a point to emphasize when I decided in March, you know,
Speaker 1: amidst everything with Adams and you know, than him signing
Speaker 1: the contract extension and all that, he said, I'm all in. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm still going to think about retirement and maybe what
Speaker 1: the future holds, but right now, for this season, for two,
Speaker 1: I'm all in. I'm here, I'm committed. Everybody knows that. Um,
Speaker 1: he's got his old quarterbacks coach, Tom Clement's back in
Speaker 1: the building. He said, for all the change that's gone on,
Speaker 1: that makes makes things sort of feel a little bit better,
Speaker 1: feel a little bit more. Okay. You know, as as
Speaker 1: this uh, this offense goes through this transition and uh
Speaker 1: and Rodgers's Rogers ready for it. He's uh, he planned
Speaker 1: it is to be all set to go for the
Speaker 1: start of training camp, and then at the end of
Speaker 1: the season he'll go through his He'll go through the
Speaker 1: process again and see where he is he is mentally
Speaker 1: with regards to his future. Yeah, and I don't think
Speaker 1: this was intentional, but I am personally enjoying kind of
Speaker 1: the Benjamin Button sort of aspect of his career here
Speaker 1: where you know, Clements is back, who was his original
Speaker 1: quarterbacks coach. He's grown the long hair back out again,
Speaker 1: which is kind of the way he entered the league
Speaker 1: back in two thousand and whatever that year he did that,
Speaker 1: oh seven. But at the end of the day, it's
Speaker 1: just the appreciation for greatness and that was what my
Speaker 1: takeaway was when I was covering the match that night
Speaker 1: and afterwards, I as I'm writing, I left on you know,
Speaker 1: the quarterback conversation that Ernie Johnson did just expertly, and
Speaker 1: listening to Rogers and Brady talk sitting side by side, um,
Speaker 1: it was incredibly refreshing because I feel like so many
Speaker 1: times we just talked about, well, when so and so
Speaker 1: going to retire, and they've been doing that now with
Speaker 1: Brady for seven years, and both of those guys recognizing that,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to figure that out is very difficult
Speaker 1: for human being in any walk of life, trying to
Speaker 1: figure that out when you're a first ballot Hall of Famer,
Speaker 1: When you're gonna go down as one of the greats,
Speaker 1: When when my son has children, when when you have grandchildren,
Speaker 1: they're they're gonna hear stories about Aaron Rodgers that, just
Speaker 1: like how I heard stories of bart start and and
Speaker 1: understanding that jumping off point and leaving that aspect of
Speaker 1: your life behind it's not easy. And even Mercedes Lewis
Speaker 1: touched on it this week too. You know, he's going
Speaker 1: into year seventeen now he has his eyes on tying
Speaker 1: Tony Gonzalez and and obviously Jason went for that record
Speaker 1: then maybe potentially surpassing it, depending on how this is
Speaker 1: where your goes. But as he said, you know, when
Speaker 1: your body feels good, it's just about mentally figuring out
Speaker 1: when is the next step for you. And I feel
Speaker 1: like with Rogers he said it perfectly. Once March came,
Speaker 1: he was all in. This was it. We are going.
Speaker 1: It's two thousand twenty two now, the season and the
Speaker 1: goal of the Super Bowl. That's all in touch and
Speaker 1: and building with this group that they have. I think
Speaker 1: it's incredibly exciting because for the first time in a
Speaker 1: long time, Mike, I think there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: in the NFL, A lot of people like myself, we
Speaker 1: don't know what form this offense is going to take
Speaker 1: and what the identity is going to be at this
Speaker 1: football team, and there's a certain amount of you know,
Speaker 1: adrenaline I think, sort of hits when you're when you're
Speaker 1: when you're going through those emotions. Yeah, I think it
Speaker 1: was also interesting, I thought, and I wrote about this
Speaker 1: in the story that I posted on the website the
Speaker 1: other day, just his perspective on where things are with
Speaker 1: this receiving corps right now, and the line, you know,
Speaker 1: if you want the SoundBite, the one line that jumps
Speaker 1: out about it with regard to this Packers receiving corps,
Speaker 1: he's as well, I'm in favor of production over potential.
Speaker 1: Now that's not a knock against the rookies, but that's
Speaker 1: basically the reminder that you know, whether you're talking about
Speaker 1: Christian Watson being drafted at the top of the second round,
Speaker 1: Romeo Dobbs in the fourth round, tour a in the
Speaker 1: seventh round, he made a made a very clear point
Speaker 1: of saying the expectations for the rookie receivers need to
Speaker 1: be reasonable and um and yeah, that that goes for
Speaker 1: that goes for him, but it also goes for for
Speaker 1: the fans and everybody as well, because as far as
Speaker 1: Rogers perspective on the Green Bay Packers Receiving Corps, he
Speaker 1: sees three veterans that are at the top of the
Speaker 1: depth chart right now, put him in whatever or do
Speaker 1: you want Al Lazard, Randall Cobb, and Sammy Watkins the
Speaker 1: new edition. We'll talk a little bit more about him
Speaker 1: in a minute. And then from Roger's perspective, the rest
Speaker 1: of it is all guys competing to see where they fit,
Speaker 1: and Rogers like, hey, those top three, I feel pretty
Speaker 1: good about those top three. And then we're gonna see,
Speaker 1: We're gonna see what happens with the rest of these guys.
Speaker 1: And yes, there is a ton of potential there. This
Speaker 1: was a this was a retooling, a reboot of the
Speaker 1: Packers Receiving Corps with with trading Adams, with losing mvs
Speaker 1: and free agency, all of that um. But Rogers knows
Speaker 1: what he has and then he's going to see exactly,
Speaker 1: you know, how that potential potentially comes to fruition um
Speaker 1: with these other young guys. And and it's a it's
Speaker 1: a complete it's a complete reset at that position. But
Speaker 1: he's excited about it. He knows that and made a
Speaker 1: point of saying that having Randall Cobb in that receiver
Speaker 1: group as a leader, he's a guy that even when
Speaker 1: Rogers is not around, Randall Cobb can you know, look
Speaker 1: at the film and explain to the young guys, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is this is how the quarterback sees this. This
Speaker 1: is what he's gonna want you to do. You know,
Speaker 1: Randall Cobb can be his his voice in the receiver's room.
Speaker 1: So conjacent Rabel, who has now worked with Rogers for
Speaker 1: multiple years. So um, all of that is part of
Speaker 1: the process here as the Packers are putting together their
Speaker 1: offense for two. And another receiver that we definitely should
Speaker 1: mention as well, happens to have the same last name,
Speaker 1: that being Rogers. You talked with Amari Rodgers and wrote
Speaker 1: about him a little bit, and there's been you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of speculation as to okay,
Speaker 1: just what's happening. You know, the rookie season didn't go
Speaker 1: the way he too. Here he's headed into year two.
Speaker 1: But but share what you learned as far as Amari
Speaker 1: Rodgers and where he's headed in his so called sophomore season.
Speaker 1: It was interesting on Packers dot Com. I had the
Speaker 1: Rogers story, Marie Rogers story, and then the next day
Speaker 1: you wrote about Sammy Watkins. And while they're different players
Speaker 1: at different junctures of their careers, it was interesting listening
Speaker 1: to both of them and reading about both of them,
Speaker 1: you know, feeling like they have something to prove this season.
Speaker 1: In Watkins case, it was that, yeah, he has won
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl, He's done a lot in the lead.
Speaker 1: You know, he came out just you know, gangbusters his
Speaker 1: first two years in the NFL, but has had a
Speaker 1: lot of injuries, has had some stuff to work through
Speaker 1: on that side of things. Well, on the other side
Speaker 1: of it, Amari comes out and as he equated it, it
Speaker 1: it was kind of like a freshman years. How he
Speaker 1: looked at it like going back to high school, going
Speaker 1: back to Clemson and trying to find your way. And
Speaker 1: that's a difficult, humbling experience. This is a young man
Speaker 1: that won a national championship, was a thousand yard featured
Speaker 1: receiver for for the Tigers, and now here here he
Speaker 1: is in the NFL trying to find his way. Unfortunately
Speaker 1: for him, you talk about cobbying a you know, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of a guiding light for all these
Speaker 1: guy as well. Cobb has known him since the kid
Speaker 1: was nine, based on the connections with Cobb playing for
Speaker 1: his father T. Martin way back and win over at
Speaker 1: uh Kentucky and now this aspect I thought was really
Speaker 1: interesting him saying that, you know, last year, everything that happened,
Speaker 1: maybe he let it get to him a little bit.
Speaker 1: Maybe he did have kind of a confidence, you know,
Speaker 1: loss there after what happened with the kickoff or the
Speaker 1: punt returns, uh, you know, and also just his his body,
Speaker 1: you know, wanting to get back to being himself again.
Speaker 1: You know, I think he was trying to fill out
Speaker 1: a little bit more and trying to be this NFL
Speaker 1: receiver when you know, I think a Marie starting to
Speaker 1: realize the Packers drafted me to be a Mari Rodgers,
Speaker 1: not to be this guy. I thought a Marie Rogers
Speaker 1: should be in the NFL, and and all those things together,
Speaker 1: I think is really going to be what carries him forward.
Speaker 1: And to be honest with you, Mike, we said it,
Speaker 1: Larry McCarron said it. He's looked a lot more confident
Speaker 1: in this camp and just seeing some of the place
Speaker 1: he made in the two minute period on Wednesday, you know,
Speaker 1: coming across on across or fifteen yards a third and
Speaker 1: ten got have its situation to keep the chains moving.
Speaker 1: He comes up in that in that area you're seeing
Speaker 1: the pre stap motion and how he could potentially fit
Speaker 1: factor into that equation. That was something we thought he
Speaker 1: was kind of you know, earmarked four from the day
Speaker 1: he was drafted. So he said that when that media
Speaker 1: conversation we had with him on Tuesday, was that he
Speaker 1: wasn't quite a Marie Rogers last year. He was a
Speaker 1: Marie Roger. Marie Roger, but he wasn't a Marie Rogers.
Speaker 1: He's like he's feeling, you know, like himself again. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And it was interesting too because Matt Lafleur was was
Speaker 1: asked about him, and one of the things la Fleur
Speaker 1: said is is he's definitely in better shape here in
Speaker 1: his second year than he was as a rookie. And
Speaker 1: those are the kinds of things that that you kind
Speaker 1: of just never know exactly what's going on with a guy,
Speaker 1: right and and um, you look at you look at
Speaker 1: this Packers receiving corps. I mentioned the three, the three veterans.
Speaker 1: But now over the last two years, you've added a
Speaker 1: second round, a third round, and a fourth round draft
Speaker 1: pick to this mix. Plus you have some returning guys
Speaker 1: and Malie Taylor, Juwan Winfrey, the seventh rounders, some more
Speaker 1: a toure an undrafted rookie, and Danny Davis otto Wisconsin.
Speaker 1: I mean, the competition and training camp will definitely be
Speaker 1: um something to watch. I do want to talk about
Speaker 1: Watkins as well, because I wrote a story yesterday late
Speaker 1: in the afternoon yesterday that we posted on on the website,
Speaker 1: and um, it was the first we had heard from
Speaker 1: Watkins in the media. He had held court at his
Speaker 1: locker after practice yesterday and uh, and I tell you, Wes,
Speaker 1: it was um. Um. You know, whether whether you want
Speaker 1: to talk about sports or politics or whatever, all the
Speaker 1: obfuscation that goes on in the media in terms of
Speaker 1: in terms of messages and this and that and what
Speaker 1: people want to perceive or believe and whatever else that
Speaker 1: you know, eight minutes with with Sammy Watkins at his
Speaker 1: locker was one of the most refreshing things I've encountered
Speaker 1: in a long time, because he was he was absolutely honest.
Speaker 1: He was. He was insightful, um very blunt about his
Speaker 1: own situation. He's as far as his career, He's like, hey,
Speaker 1: my back is against the wall. I mean he's played
Speaker 1: for multiple teams. Now, he admitted, I haven't had the
Speaker 1: career that I expected to have. Right. He was the
Speaker 1: number four overall pick back in the same year the
Speaker 1: Packers drafted Davante Adams in the second round, and he
Speaker 1: got off to a great start those first couple of
Speaker 1: years in Buffalo, but then the injuries. You know, he
Speaker 1: over the last six years, I counted it up. He
Speaker 1: has He has missed in totality, more than two dozen
Speaker 1: games over the course of six years. That's a that's
Speaker 1: more than a season and a half of football. And
Speaker 1: that doesn't include the games in which you only play
Speaker 1: like part of a game, or you miss a big
Speaker 1: chunk of a game because of the moment that you
Speaker 1: do get hurt and you can't continue. So he knows
Speaker 1: it's all it's all on him to stay healthy, to
Speaker 1: stay on the field. But he was also very honest
Speaker 1: in saying you you could see the look in his
Speaker 1: eye and hear a little bit of the excitement in
Speaker 1: his voice about how great a fit. He feels this
Speaker 1: is with the Packers, where you have you have a
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. You're on a contender.
Speaker 1: He's with a head coach who was his offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: five years ago two thousand seventeen with the Rams, where
Speaker 1: he caught eight touchdown passes that one year with the Rams,
Speaker 1: by the way, which is the most touchdowns he's had
Speaker 1: in a season since those early years in Buffalo. Jason
Speaker 1: Vrabel was an offensive assistant who worked with the wide
Speaker 1: receivers those early years in Buffalo. That's now his position
Speaker 1: coach and the passing game coordinator for this offense. A
Speaker 1: lot of the a lot of these other outside elements
Speaker 1: kind of came together to to to say to Sammy Watkins, hey,
Speaker 1: this is this is my shot at reviving my career.
Speaker 1: This is year nine for him, but he wants to
Speaker 1: play another three, four or five years and this is
Speaker 1: his chance to make that happen. He has a one
Speaker 1: year deal in Green Bay. He's playing on a really
Speaker 1: good team that's going through major transition at his position.
Speaker 1: This is uh, this is the the opportunity for the
Speaker 1: reboot of his career and he and and he mints
Speaker 1: no words about that. Yeah, you know almost in a
Speaker 1: way and again different part of his career, but it
Speaker 1: almost kind of reminds you, like of Devandre Campbell, where
Speaker 1: he was just he was very deliberate about what that
Speaker 1: next move was going to be this offseason, understanding he
Speaker 1: needed to get in the right opportunity with the right team.
Speaker 1: He's played with m v P quarterbacks, He's won a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, right knows the standard that that is out there.
Speaker 1: But the thing that stand out stood out to me
Speaker 1: the most after going back and reading your story and
Speaker 1: looking at what Watkins had said, is that Sammy Watkins
Speaker 1: has had a fine NFL career. He really has. This
Speaker 1: is a league where guys come in, whether they're hyped
Speaker 1: or not. I mean, they would all love to have,
Speaker 1: you know, over five thousand yards in their career, you know,
Speaker 1: thirty or four touchdown passes, a guy that has played
Speaker 1: in all these offenses and started all these games. But
Speaker 1: when you're drafted fourth overall, the expectation is that you're
Speaker 1: the next Calvin Johnson, Right, You're You're the guy who's
Speaker 1: going to play tenant. You know you're going to end
Speaker 1: up with that that ten or twelve year career, whatever
Speaker 1: it is, and you're gonna be talked about for Canton, Ohio.
Speaker 1: That hasn't happened for Sammy Watkins. Yes, he's had a
Speaker 1: really really good career, but even he was willing to
Speaker 1: admit it's not the career that he wanted. But it's
Speaker 1: funny to me because I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: still wouldn't even say that. A lot of people that
Speaker 1: are in his shoes that would be a top pick.
Speaker 1: They'd kind of rest back on that and be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it turned out, Okay, I made some money. It's been
Speaker 1: fun a super Bowl, got a Super Bowl ring. But
Speaker 1: it was listening to Watkins be like, no, I still
Speaker 1: got time and I have an opportunity here, and I
Speaker 1: want to show everybody that that guy that flashed early
Speaker 1: on I can be that guy. And some of that
Speaker 1: ultimately is out of his control, you know that, The
Speaker 1: injury factor of it. Sometimes there are things that you
Speaker 1: can't quite you know, do I mean you go back
Speaker 1: to two thousand thirteen, Randall Cobb breaks his leg randomly,
Speaker 1: you know, and going across the middle against Baltimore. Sometimes
Speaker 1: this game dictates your future more than you do. But
Speaker 1: in terms of the self awareness factor of it and
Speaker 1: Watkins understanding where he is at this point career and
Speaker 1: what he still feels like he needs to accomplish. As
Speaker 1: you said, it was one of the more refreshing things
Speaker 1: I think you've really heard said in the Packers locker room,
Speaker 1: at least during my time on the beat. Yeah, another
Speaker 1: point I think is worth making because we've talked about
Speaker 1: how Watkins does have a Super Bowl ring. Another thing
Speaker 1: I think that makes him a good fit here for
Speaker 1: for a Packers team that expects to contend, wants to
Speaker 1: make another run at the Super Bowl and all that.
Speaker 1: Take a look at Sammy Watkins postseason statistics two thousand
Speaker 1: eighteen and two thousand nineteen, um. Those two years, the
Speaker 1: one year where the Chiefs lost in the a f
Speaker 1: C Championship Game to the Patriots, the following year they
Speaker 1: won the Super Bowl, and twenty nineteen, just in the postseason,
Speaker 1: Sammy Watkins had I believe it's twenty four receptions for
Speaker 1: over four hundred yards UM in five playoff games for
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. That's another thing
Speaker 1: when you're talking about working in rookie receivers and guys
Speaker 1: who haven't been in the NFL. Sammy Watkins hasn't just
Speaker 1: been in the NFL. He has been a producer in
Speaker 1: the host season in January where it matters, outdoors in
Speaker 1: Kansas City. All those things that those are just other
Speaker 1: things that point to him being a really, really good
Speaker 1: fit here. Now it's on him to stay healthy and
Speaker 1: stay on the field, and he and and that's his
Speaker 1: goal and he said that, but he's excited about it.
Speaker 1: Matt la Fleur is excited about it. Aaron Rodgers is
Speaker 1: excited about it. And uh, and we'll just see where
Speaker 1: this goes. And Watkins might be the greatest Week one
Speaker 1: receiver in NFL history too. I mean, he's had some
Speaker 1: incredible performances right out of the game, you know, for
Speaker 1: for all these teams too. But the thing I like
Speaker 1: that you said, they're especially at that time where you know,
Speaker 1: Tarik Hill, all the eyes are on this guy. You
Speaker 1: hear you read about it. We saw it. There were
Speaker 1: so many one on one opportunities created for Watkins there
Speaker 1: and the guy absolutely just you know, devoured those. He
Speaker 1: delivered me. And seeing this offense and the way it's
Speaker 1: it's built now, certainly there aren't gonna be as many
Speaker 1: double teams as there was, you know, as much cloud
Speaker 1: coverage as there was when Davante Adams was roaming around there.
Speaker 1: But Matt Lafleur, you know, Adam Stenovitch, these offensive coaches,
Speaker 1: they're gonna try to trick the defense's mind. They're gonna
Speaker 1: try to really get their eyes mixed up and to
Speaker 1: have a Guyli Watkins, to have these plethora of different
Speaker 1: types of playmakers, different body types. That that's the exciting
Speaker 1: thing about it because I think you're going to see
Speaker 1: an active backfield. I think you're gonna see an active
Speaker 1: pre snap and seeing how they kind of build the
Speaker 1: offense from there at the road Trees is gonna be fascinating. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: I do want to touch on a few things with
Speaker 1: regard to the defense before we go, and I'll take
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Speaker 1: all right. A couple of things on the defensive side.
Speaker 1: One not too much of a surprise in that in
Speaker 1: seeing particularly in Tuesday's first mini camp practice, we saw JR.
Speaker 1: Alexand er Eric Stokes, Russeul Douglas the top three cornerbacks
Speaker 1: out there with the number one defense, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: low and behold, a couple of different guys were playing
Speaker 1: the slot position. Right. It was, I mean it was
Speaker 1: we saw Douglas probably more in there that but but
Speaker 1: Alexander was in there as well. We had talked about
Speaker 1: that on our last show. How um, the Packers aren't
Speaker 1: going to label label one of those three guys the
Speaker 1: slot corner. That's not not how this defense is gonna work.
Speaker 1: The other thing that that caught my eye was that
Speaker 1: while we see the two first round picks from Georgia
Speaker 1: Kuaywalker Davante Wyatt, they were getting getting worked in, getting
Speaker 1: some reps with the number one defense UM in some
Speaker 1: different spots. We also saw plenty of Chris Barnes and T. J.
Speaker 1: Slayton um linebacker and defensive line um those same positions
Speaker 1: that the first round picks from Georgia play. It was
Speaker 1: it was almost you know, for me, it was almost
Speaker 1: like a reminder that, Okay, these guys are still these
Speaker 1: guys are still here too, and they're gonna be They're
Speaker 1: gonna be factors. They may not play fifty snaps a game,
Speaker 1: but those are those are two guys who are going
Speaker 1: to be factors in the rotation in the in this defense.
Speaker 1: And uh and perhaps we saw a little bit more
Speaker 1: of Slaton on the defensive line than we expected because
Speaker 1: throughout this uh these offseason workouts. Dean Lowry, the veteran
Speaker 1: has been has been sidelined with with an undisclosed injury.
Speaker 1: But um, when you go when when you have a
Speaker 1: guy like Barnes, you know, I expect, personally, I expect
Speaker 1: kay Walker to play quite a bit on defense with
Speaker 1: the way Joe Berry likes to play defense. But when
Speaker 1: a guy like Barnes, who has played as much as
Speaker 1: he has suddenly is uh is a really really solid,
Speaker 1: reliable depth piece. Potentially as as this defense evolves, you
Speaker 1: just got a heck of a lot better at that position. Well,
Speaker 1: you gotta remember the way they use their personnel last
Speaker 1: year too, I mean not just Barnes, they found ways
Speaker 1: to get or in Burke's involved on defense, whether it
Speaker 1: was Nickel or Dime whatever. I think you're gonna see
Speaker 1: a lot of those same parallels with Walker, maybe even
Speaker 1: more so. I think there's gonna be ways for this
Speaker 1: defense to be able to maximize the playmaking abilities of
Speaker 1: him while also realizing that, hey, two years ago, Chris
Speaker 1: Barnes was our Mike. I mean that was the way
Speaker 1: this defense was structure we had. Yeah, So I feel
Speaker 1: like that middle interior the defense is really strong right
Speaker 1: now and and being able to be multiple with that,
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be Joe Berry's real strength here
Speaker 1: moving forward. I mean, if you think about it, Mike,
Speaker 1: the Packer defenses at least during my generation, I couldn't
Speaker 1: give you all the scheme breakdowns of we know how
Speaker 1: Friz Shermer did it, but it's been strong, sturdy up
Speaker 1: the middle has been sort of the winning recipe for them,
Speaker 1: right the thousand pound line back in like nine and
Speaker 1: ten with you know, Johnny Jolly and b J Raji
Speaker 1: and and also having Ryan Pickett involved, But then you
Speaker 1: had really good inside linebackers in the prime of their career.
Speaker 1: There you know, whether it was you know, Nick Barnett
Speaker 1: and a j Hawk, Desmond, a Ship Brandon Chillar. I
Speaker 1: mean like they had deep pieces there in the middle
Speaker 1: of the defense, and I just feel like the deeper
Speaker 1: you are there, the more things you can do. And
Speaker 1: Mike I said it from Draft night. I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: it again, even just watching individuals. When Devandre Campbell is
Speaker 1: standing next to kuay Walker. I'm a short guy. I
Speaker 1: get that, but I'm not much taller than you. But
Speaker 1: but I mean, like just the way those two guys
Speaker 1: sort of lord over the defensive front. There's just there's
Speaker 1: so many things you can do, and especially when you're
Speaker 1: that explosive in and out of your hips, you can
Speaker 1: cover sideline to sideline. There's there's a there's a presence
Speaker 1: there when those two guys are next to each other,
Speaker 1: there's no doubt. It's and off the bus, you know,
Speaker 1: walking off the bus kind of you know, intimidation factor.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the cornerbacks too, and the way you
Speaker 1: can use these guys. You want to match up and
Speaker 1: go athletic with the jyr Alexander inside. You want to
Speaker 1: go with the Rasul Douglas who's a bigger body, you know,
Speaker 1: almost more in that that Charles Woodson type build in
Speaker 1: terms of what his body looks like when he's in
Speaker 1: on the field. It's the most exciting I think it's
Speaker 1: been here on defense in a number of years. But
Speaker 1: certainly Matt Lafleur said it. It looks great on paper,
Speaker 1: but you've gotta have it, you gotta execute, you gotta
Speaker 1: keep guys healthy. But my goodness, Mike, the sky is
Speaker 1: the limit for that defensive unit. Yeah. A couple of
Speaker 1: other uh call them nuggets regarding the depth chart, just
Speaker 1: to just to throw out there for now, to keep
Speaker 1: in mind for when we do UM when the team
Speaker 1: does come back for training camp at the end of July,
Speaker 1: on the defensive side, for the most part, UM, it
Speaker 1: looks like the fourth cornerback is Keishaan Nixon, the um,
Speaker 1: the veteran acquisition from the Raiders who's also going to
Speaker 1: play a significant role on special teams. Right now, he
Speaker 1: would you know, he looks like he's the fourth corner
Speaker 1: and then the third, the third safety behind your starters
Speaker 1: um Amos and Savage at this point looks like Sean Davis. Um. Again,
Speaker 1: these are things that can change when training camp rolls around,
Speaker 1: or you get one week into training camp and other
Speaker 1: guy start to emerge and whatnot. But I just throw
Speaker 1: those nuggets out there now for those who like to
Speaker 1: look look at the depth, look further down. That's sort
Speaker 1: of sort of where how things look right now. And
Speaker 1: as far as the offensive line goes, we didn't see
Speaker 1: David Bak try out on the field yet, Elton Jenkins
Speaker 1: still re having his knee. We saw, you know, some
Speaker 1: some flip flopping back and forth with with Yosh Naiman
Speaker 1: Cole van Landon playing both of the tackle spots. And
Speaker 1: we also saw Jake Hansen get some snaps um as
Speaker 1: a guard with the number one offensive line when Royce
Speaker 1: Newman moved out to right tackle. So some some different
Speaker 1: combinations there um with regard to to the top units.
Speaker 1: But so those are just some names all throughout there
Speaker 1: in terms of keeping your eye on the depth chart
Speaker 1: and uh and where things will probably be at the
Speaker 1: start of training camp and then we see where it
Speaker 1: goes from there the offensive line and if you just
Speaker 1: take all of it with such a big grain of salt,
Speaker 1: because you go back and you think about, you know,
Speaker 1: really it was just Josh Myers is the only rookie
Speaker 1: I can never really remember just starting and being right
Speaker 1: in with the starters from day wonder in the off
Speaker 1: season program. The defense was really telling though, because those
Speaker 1: are two positions with cornerback and safety where they don't
Speaker 1: really have rookies. It's a lot of returning veterans. So
Speaker 1: the fact that Davis is kind of sitting up there
Speaker 1: right now when you have a Vernon Scott back, when
Speaker 1: you have an inn, its gains and even the rookie
Speaker 1: and Carpenter, I thought that was very interesting. And in Nixon, man,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna say it. I'm not trying to do comparisons,
Speaker 1: but my goodness, the more you learn about what he
Speaker 1: did with the Raiders and the more you see what
Speaker 1: he can do potentially playing inside and outside in Green Bay,
Speaker 1: you kind of get that Jared Bush kind of vibe
Speaker 1: from him a little bit. But I will say this
Speaker 1: maybe a maybe a tad shorter than Bush. I would say,
Speaker 1: not quite not quite the same, not quite the same
Speaker 1: body type, but I definitely get where you're going. And
Speaker 1: the fact when they are in the special teams period,
Speaker 1: there is no question who is one of the guys
Speaker 1: that's one of the Rich Pisaccia, Leaders Disciples, It's Keishawn
Speaker 1: Nix and that kid makes his voice heard on the field. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: Well with that, we'll call it a wrap on this
Speaker 1: edition of Packers Unscripted. We will be back next week
Speaker 1: for one more show before kind of signing off for
Speaker 1: the summer break and then coming back for training camp.
Speaker 1: But for now, thank you for tuning in everybody for Wes.
Speaker 1: I am Mike. We will see you next time.