Speaker 1: You are listening to the Miami Dolphins podcast Network.
Speaker 2: This is Drive Time with Travis Wingfield.
Speaker 3: Back to throw to a looking clips about.
Speaker 4: A wide Dolphin touchdown, trickquel, uncolievable, just blue by it for.
Speaker 5: A second time.
Speaker 3: Don knew where he was going right away.
Speaker 5: I want to hit that man.
Speaker 4: I'm wanna help you.
Speaker 3: Someone will stup on his man.
Speaker 4: Away Wattle Wadle to a shotgun, back to throw, looking
Speaker 4: at them, it's up Myers touchdown.
Speaker 3: It's Waddle his sixth touchdown, Parados the King.
Speaker 2: Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins.
Speaker 3: Now check your pulse if you're not of.
Speaker 2: What is up? Dolphins? And welcome to the Drift.
Speaker 4: Time podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins podcast Network, covering
Speaker 4: your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going everybody? I
Speaker 4: am your host, Travis Wingfield. And on today's show, another
Speaker 4: edition of the summer preview series, I See North is
Speaker 4: up today with my good friend Wes Hodkowitz from Green
Speaker 4: Bay Packers dot com. Plus we'll hear from Dolphins offensive
Speaker 4: lineman Rob Hunt. All of that and more from the
Speaker 4: Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Speaker 2: This is the Draft Time.
Speaker 5: Pard he fish.
Speaker 4: Let's jump straight away into my interview, my walk and
Speaker 4: talk with Dolphins offensive lineman Rob Hunt. Well, guys, another
Speaker 4: edition of one hundred yards here with Travis Wingfield. That's
Speaker 4: me from my Dolphins offensive lineman Rob Hunt.
Speaker 5: Today.
Speaker 4: Let's go ahead and get going down here, Rob, What
Speaker 4: have you been up to the summer? Man, It's been
Speaker 4: a long off season looking forward to football. But what
Speaker 4: have you been doing to refresh your mind in your
Speaker 4: body a little bit.
Speaker 5: Prior to football?
Speaker 1: I just went I went to Hawaii and got a
Speaker 1: little bit with my own family.
Speaker 5: That was really fun.
Speaker 1: And then I've just been fishing, man, doing a lot
Speaker 1: of fishing, trying to keep up and get better at that.
Speaker 1: So I'm been doing that mainly for this off season.
Speaker 2: Did you get off the fence weekend?
Speaker 1: I did it up. Yeah, that was pretty fun. Caught
Speaker 1: four fis myself. I call two, but my book cut four.
Speaker 1: I thought too of them.
Speaker 5: I know, it was fun.
Speaker 1: My first time ever deep sea fishing, so it was
Speaker 1: a little different, but it was fine.
Speaker 2: Fifty percent of the production coming from you, it's a
Speaker 2: pretty big time.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeay. What could I say of a fishing.
Speaker 4: You mentioned Hawaii? I obviously have to go to two
Speaker 4: on that. Did he give you any advice on places
Speaker 4: of travel, places to see?
Speaker 5: No, So actually it was Connor.
Speaker 1: So Connor was out there for a while, him and
Speaker 1: his family and they were in Kawaii and he's like, hey,
Speaker 1: this place is beautiful, just like selling me on and
Speaker 1: like you should come out. And then we got up
Speaker 1: and went out and it was it was beautiful, man.
Speaker 1: It was just bread taking magical place. One of my
Speaker 1: one of my favorite kids.
Speaker 2: It's the best I got married in Kawai.
Speaker 5: Really.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like the Drastic film Drastic.
Speaker 5: Yes, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, beautiful. Yeah.
Speaker 4: So last summer at training camp, you'd mentioned and you'd
Speaker 4: played in a similar offense that really prioritized coming off
Speaker 4: the ball and speed on stuff in Louisiana and you
Speaker 4: it's had a comment that I still think about more
Speaker 4: than I should. I'm crazy about this game, so I
Speaker 4: do that stuff. But you mentioned do you want to
Speaker 4: play in this scheme for the rest of your career.
Speaker 4: I was curious to kind of just get like a
Speaker 4: one year refresher and update on how you feel about
Speaker 4: that and how you felt you performed in.
Speaker 5: This new system. I feel the same way, man.
Speaker 1: I think this is the system that I would want
Speaker 1: to play for until I'm done. I think it gives
Speaker 1: me an advantage to run off the football and put
Speaker 1: my big body on another body and try to, you know,
Speaker 1: move them from point A to point B. And uh,
Speaker 1: it's been it's been good, man. I thought I had
Speaker 1: a better year last year, just improving each year I've
Speaker 1: been in the lead, and hopefully I can do the
Speaker 1: same this year.
Speaker 4: How do you feel like all the experience from last
Speaker 4: year and going into the second year in the system,
Speaker 4: how do you think that familiarity can help you? Guys
Speaker 4: get even better? Number six offense last year, but it
Speaker 4: can still get better.
Speaker 2: How do you feel you will help?
Speaker 5: I feel good, man, I think we'll do well.
Speaker 1: We've got a lot of guys coming back on on
Speaker 1: the office side of the ball. Second year in the offense.
Speaker 1: I think we'll I think we all do better.
Speaker 5: Than last year. That's my opinion. Hopefully we can. We'll
Speaker 5: see how I go. But a lot of work to
Speaker 5: be done, but I think we can do something.
Speaker 4: We believe.
Speaker 2: It's already year four for you.
Speaker 4: Isn't that crazy to think about?
Speaker 1: That's really crazy to think about actually get flies by man.
Speaker 1: Like they always say that we haven't fun time flies, right,
Speaker 1: and that's why I'm having fun.
Speaker 5: Man, I'm blessed to be in this position and it's flying.
Speaker 4: We think you can take away from all like if
Speaker 4: you're an experiencer, you're going from a college because obviously
Speaker 4: now you're a grizzled veteran, like, right, well, you learning
Speaker 4: that four years as a man, as a player.
Speaker 1: Right man, as a lot as you learn in those
Speaker 1: four years man from from looking the houses to buying
Speaker 1: the houses, to tax taxes man, to buying car all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. Man, family, and then it's on
Speaker 1: the field, just growing man from a young pup and
Speaker 1: it's coming from a sunbeat school. The speed is a
Speaker 1: little different. And then you know, once you get just
Speaker 1: to the game of the speed man, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: it's a fun game. And it's been their journey has
Speaker 1: been a grind. But I'm thankful and I'm happy to
Speaker 1: be here.
Speaker 4: Appreciate, thank you, thank you, and away he goes to
Speaker 4: great Rob Hunt. Let's go ahead and take our first
Speaker 4: break right there and come back on the other side
Speaker 4: and get to my other guest today, Wes Hodkowitz, Packers
Speaker 4: dot Com breaking down everything NFC North. That's next Draft
Speaker 4: Time podcast. Your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by
Speaker 4: Auto Nation and Beck for his second appearance on the
Speaker 4: Drive Time podcast. He helped us preview last year's Christmas
Speaker 4: Day game. A senior writer at Packers dot Com and
Speaker 4: part of the Packers Unscripted podcast, He's Wes Hodkowitz. And Wes,
Speaker 4: you told me before we came on the air here
Speaker 4: that maybe it would have been best sur for you,
Speaker 4: because I had to ask you how to pronounce the
Speaker 4: name after I've met you a few times.
Speaker 3: And you aced it by the way.
Speaker 2: Well, you help me, you walked.
Speaker 4: Me there, you took me to the answer, but you
Speaker 4: mentioned a possible pen name.
Speaker 2: I'm just curious. You got me thinking, what would that
Speaker 2: have been for you.
Speaker 6: My wife's maiden name is Fitzgerald. I would have actually
Speaker 6: considered that. I think Weston Fitzgerald would have been a
Speaker 6: really good one. We weren't married at the time, though
Speaker 6: that probably have been a little controversial. I usually will
Speaker 6: use my middle name sometimes, but that's not great either.
Speaker 6: That's Lee because that was a compromise between my parents.
Speaker 6: My mom wanted to name me Wesley. My dad wasn't
Speaker 6: having it, so, like all good marriages, you find compromise
Speaker 6: in between, so it was Weston Lee instead. So I
Speaker 6: don't know, man, I probably just changed the whole thing
Speaker 6: altogether if I really had to go that direction. But
Speaker 6: I am proud of my family and I'm proud of
Speaker 6: everything else. It's just the uh back in the day.
Speaker 3: I don't know. You don't really get him as much anymore.
Speaker 6: But like telemarketers when I was a kid, it was
Speaker 6: always funny when they'd call up and they'd be like,
Speaker 6: is mister and missus how just available?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 3: They just bail on it.
Speaker 4: You know, Well, what Weston Fitzgerald sounds like you belong
Speaker 4: at a great gaspe party, so I think it does.
Speaker 4: You would certainly be a high society if that was
Speaker 4: that was where you went with that direction.
Speaker 2: How co which just sounds like a Green Bay packer
Speaker 2: of me, So I think you're a good company there.
Speaker 4: How's your off season been going, Man, it's been a
Speaker 4: long time to be last talked.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's been good. It obviously was a lot of
Speaker 6: things that happened April to May. As far as off
Speaker 6: seasons are concerned, Travis. I think this is my twelve
Speaker 6: years I've been doing this now on a full time basis.
Speaker 6: That was the busiest month I think I've ever been
Speaker 6: a part of. And it certainly is going to be
Speaker 6: that way. Right when you trade Aaron Rodgers somebody that
Speaker 6: is gonna be a first future, first ballot Hall of Famer,
Speaker 6: arguably the best player in franchise history, It's going to
Speaker 6: create a lot of stories, news headlines, and everything that
Speaker 6: goes along with that. But when you factor in the draft,
Speaker 6: you factor in schedule release. I'm sure you went through
Speaker 6: that as well, and then now the dawning of the
Speaker 6: Jordan Love air here in Green Bay. It made for
Speaker 6: a very busy offseason, but I think also very exciting
Speaker 6: one too, because we are sort of venturing into a
Speaker 6: new territory that I've never been a part of. I've
Speaker 6: never covered a rookie QB one before our first year started,
Speaker 6: before Aaron Rodgers was already an MVP a Super Bowl
Speaker 6: champion by the time I started covering the team. So
Speaker 6: it was an eventful offseason but also very intriguing one
Speaker 6: as well.
Speaker 4: It's funny to talk to, you know, people like yourself
Speaker 4: because you know not making the comparison to quarterbacks and
Speaker 4: head coaches, but like those positions, there's thirty two of
Speaker 4: us and some teams have a couple of us.
Speaker 2: I guess maybe like fifty of us, but not that
Speaker 2: many of us here.
Speaker 4: So it's always interesting to hear you kind of talk about,
Speaker 4: you know, your schedule, your layout, your content, playing all
Speaker 4: that fun stuff, and it's good to bounce those ideas
Speaker 4: off each other so we can kind of maybe help
Speaker 4: each other in the long run. You mentioned Packers there
Speaker 4: and the transition from the going from Aaron Rodgers to
Speaker 4: Jordan Love, which obviously is a key storyline here before
Speaker 4: we get into the Packers, just want to get your
Speaker 4: thirty thousand foot view, your bird's eye view of the
Speaker 4: NFC North with you know, changing times here in the division,
Speaker 4: your key storylines here heading in the year. Just kind
Speaker 4: of walk us through what you've seen in the NFC
Speaker 4: North this offseason.
Speaker 6: I think the funniest thing for me, Travis, is the
Speaker 6: grim mid Packers traded Aaron Rodgers, and yet I still
Speaker 6: think that that's probably the team that has maybe not
Speaker 6: even had the most upheaval, you know, when you look
Speaker 6: at what's happened with the Minnesota Vikings. When you know
Speaker 6: your thirteen win team and you win the division, and
Speaker 6: yet in some ways they still sort of tore down
Speaker 6: certain parts of it. I don't want to call it
Speaker 6: a rebuild because I think in the major areas they
Speaker 6: still are a very, you know, front runner type team.
Speaker 6: I think they're gonna be a team that sort of drives,
Speaker 6: you know, this this division in terms of their experience
Speaker 6: and everything. But the Delvin Cook moving on from that,
Speaker 6: Zadarias Smith, who we had some experience with in Green Bay,
Speaker 6: him getting traded down to Cleveland. There's and then certainly
Speaker 6: Adam Thielen leaving and now going to Carolina. A lot
Speaker 6: of different moving pieces and for a team that otherwise
Speaker 6: appeared to be right in the thick things for the
Speaker 6: Super Bowl last year. So when you factor that in
Speaker 6: in Detroit being on the come up here every year,
Speaker 6: they've taken a step forward. With Dan Campbell Chicago Bears,
Speaker 6: I still have a lot of questions about that team,
Speaker 6: but I think if you ask anyone around that area
Speaker 6: or in the state of Illinois, I think people feel
Speaker 6: very strongly about what their potential could be. In the
Speaker 6: Green Bay Packers for the first time in a you know,
Speaker 6: really fifteen years with some legitimate questions coming into the season.
Speaker 6: So it is probably the most wide open that I
Speaker 6: can remember the division being between either Green Bay. You know,
Speaker 6: everyone focuses so much on the Packers, right, but I
Speaker 6: mean the Bears made a Super Bowl in two thousand
Speaker 6: and six, Minnesota's won plenty of division titles as well.
Speaker 6: Detroit's even made the playoffs a few times. So there
Speaker 6: have been other teams in this division, But in terms
Speaker 6: of the wide open competition before between the four among
Speaker 6: the four, I don't recall anything quite like this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it should be a fun division to take a
Speaker 4: look at here, and we go ahead and start with
Speaker 4: the Green Bay Packers, like you mentioned, because where else
Speaker 4: would you go in a division? Like you said, that
Speaker 4: seems wide open for the first time in a long
Speaker 4: time because of that change at quarterback, and you know,
Speaker 4: we went through some rough times there after Dan Reno
Speaker 4: retired with the Miami Dolphins. You guys hired the opposite after,
Speaker 4: you know, going from one Hall of Fame quarterback to
Speaker 4: the next. And so I'm curious because and the quarterback
Speaker 4: that we have now that we're super happy with now
Speaker 4: was in that same draft class as the guy you
Speaker 4: will roll out this September to start week number one
Speaker 4: and Jordan Love, but just like kind of touch on
Speaker 4: that topic man of going from Far to Rogers and
Speaker 4: now the next guy, like the pressure on Jordan Love,
Speaker 4: but also kind of how the team feels about him,
Speaker 4: because this is a guy that you know, I think
Speaker 4: a lot of folks forget that man. The arm, talent,
Speaker 4: the way that he can hit the ball around the field,
Speaker 4: and just some of the plays he made at Utah Stay.
Speaker 2: I loved his game out there at college.
Speaker 4: Just kind of give us your I guess you're you're
Speaker 4: connected to the team conversation about Jordan Love and the
Speaker 4: expectation and just kind of what he's facing this upcoming season.
Speaker 3: No Travis here, one hundred percent right.
Speaker 6: I think the most exciting part of this entire thing is,
Speaker 6: let's say Jordan Love actually does you know, work out
Speaker 6: he ends up being a ten year starter. My goodness,
Speaker 6: that twenty twenty draft class could end up being incredibly
Speaker 6: star studded an all timer. It already is there, but
Speaker 6: if you factor Love into that too, especially the first
Speaker 6: and then now Jalen Hurts what he's done in Philly.
Speaker 3: It could be really special.
Speaker 6: The part that I don't know if you ever ended
Speaker 6: up seeing true Detective the first year with Russ Cole
Speaker 6: when he does the time is a flat circle thing.
Speaker 6: That's basically the agreement Packers where it's like, Okay, Brett
Speaker 6: Farv leaves. Aaron Rodgers was a backup for three years,
Speaker 6: becomes the starter, right, Aaron Rodgers is basically here fifteen
Speaker 6: years as a starter. Jordan Love is the first round
Speaker 6: pick waiting for three years. Now he's the starter. It's
Speaker 6: just this pro just the way the process has worked
Speaker 6: in Green Bay. And when you mentioned his arm talent,
Speaker 6: that is the number one thing that stands out to me.
Speaker 6: And we actually have been able to watch him quite
Speaker 6: a bit. The general fan, even Packer fans, haven't been
Speaker 6: able to see him a whole lot. But with Rogers
Speaker 6: not being here for the off season program the last
Speaker 6: two years, for the most part, we saw a lot
Speaker 6: of Jordan Love and watching him grow. And I'm sure
Speaker 6: it's the same thing you went through looking at Tua,
Speaker 6: you know, going from day one to where he's at
Speaker 6: now is it is incredible watching him kind of come
Speaker 6: into his own as a football player. There's so much
Speaker 6: more that goes into it than arms strength, There's so
Speaker 6: much more that goes into it than just size and
Speaker 6: being a first round pick. But the locker room has
Speaker 6: rallied around this young man. He did everything the way
Speaker 6: you need him to do it. He did not raise
Speaker 6: a fuss for the last three years. You know, there
Speaker 6: was a lot of you know, consternation outside of Green
Speaker 6: Bay and with Aaron Rodgers and what his future is
Speaker 6: going to be.
Speaker 3: Jordan just kept his nose down.
Speaker 6: He kept working. When he had the opportunity to be
Speaker 6: the number one, he took it. When he didn't, he
Speaker 6: sat back and he was the number two. And I
Speaker 6: think from that perspective, he earned a lot of respect
Speaker 6: within this building. And there's tons of players now on
Speaker 6: this offense and in that entire locker room that really
Speaker 6: want to play for him and show that he can
Speaker 6: be the next guy.
Speaker 4: In that twenty nineteen college season, I was clipping off
Speaker 4: all the top quarterbacks highlights of every game and talking
Speaker 4: about what I thought was really you know, strong suits
Speaker 4: of their game. So if you go to at Wingfield,
Speaker 4: NFL and type in Jordan Love, you're gonna find a
Speaker 4: bunch of crazy talented clips of him at Utah State
Speaker 4: making all kinds of plays.
Speaker 2: Like I said, I was a huge fan of his game.
Speaker 5: He was.
Speaker 2: I was big on the two much. I thought Tua
Speaker 2: was the.
Speaker 4: Guy that I wanted all along from really, you know,
Speaker 4: going back to that national championship that he won. But
Speaker 4: Jordan Love was the guy that I was really intrigued
Speaker 4: by after that. So A big fan of his game.
Speaker 4: And I'm curious here because I almost feel like maybe
Speaker 4: going from you know, a grizzled veteran like an Aaron
Speaker 4: Rodgers to a guy like Jordan Love who you want
Speaker 4: to support and make sure that he has the proper
Speaker 4: pieces around him to get him going and develop him
Speaker 4: that way, I almost feel like West they could potentially
Speaker 4: maybe transition to the offense to more of what it
Speaker 4: was suited to do in the past. With an age
Speaker 4: j Dillon and an Aaron Jones. I'm a big fan
Speaker 4: of both their games. Do you think we're gonna see
Speaker 4: more of a running game effort behind a pretty good
Speaker 4: offensive line as well up there in Green Bay?
Speaker 6: Yeah, especially if the offensive line can get settled this year, Travis.
Speaker 6: You know, last year, the first half of the season
Speaker 6: was such a grind for Green Bay because you know,
Speaker 6: David Bakhtiari was still working his way back from the
Speaker 6: ACL injury. Elton Jenkins also was unavailable for the first
Speaker 6: two months coming back from his own ACL that he
Speaker 6: tore while he was replacing David the previous season. Now
Speaker 6: both of those guys are back and they both finished
Speaker 6: last season a high note. Elton end up getting to
Speaker 6: a second Pro Bowl. They feel really good about that
Speaker 6: left side. So I think what is going to be
Speaker 6: the most important part of this.
Speaker 3: Thing is going to be the Aaron Jones AJ Dillon.
Speaker 6: Aspect because the Packers have invested so many resources there.
Speaker 6: You saw all the cost cutting that teams around the
Speaker 6: NFL did with their running backs. The Green Bit Packers
Speaker 6: did not do that. They did sort of change his
Speaker 6: contract Aaron's a little bit this season, but they made
Speaker 6: no bones about it. They want him to still be
Speaker 6: the primary playmaker in this offense. And you even saw
Speaker 6: it a little bit last year. When Aaron is right
Speaker 6: and he's getting the ball and he's producing, this offense
Speaker 6: is different. He's going to go. This offense is going
Speaker 6: to go where he takes them. Now that being said,
Speaker 6: I think you look at them bringing in a guy
Speaker 6: like Jaden Reid second round out of Michigan State. He's
Speaker 6: a little bit more of that traditional slot type receiver
Speaker 6: that they've sort of been missing. They can use him
Speaker 6: on some of the jet motions. Christian Watson really came
Speaker 6: on strong at the end of last season. Romeo Dobbs
Speaker 6: has been incredibly consistent so and then with adding the
Speaker 6: two other tight ends to the draft, I think all
Speaker 6: the pieces are there for Matt Lafleur to really execute
Speaker 6: the offense that he wants to play with. And not
Speaker 6: to say they didn't do that in the past, I
Speaker 6: think they very much did. But when you're talking about
Speaker 6: building up, you know, a scheme for a first time,
Speaker 6: first year starter, I think that's what the Shanahan offense,
Speaker 6: with the McVeigh offense, and I think even Matt when
Speaker 6: you look at what he did in Tennessee before he
Speaker 6: came to Green Bay, all of that is on the
Speaker 6: table for him. So I think it is going to
Speaker 6: be a very QB friendly, you know, type of formation
Speaker 6: and scheme for Jordan to get comfortable with this season.
Speaker 6: In addition to his most veteran player on the offensive
Speaker 6: side of the ball at least from the skill position
Speaker 6: standpoint being a Pro Bowl running back.
Speaker 4: One hundred percent, and that I think it also favors
Speaker 4: if those two young tight ends can get acclimated right away,
Speaker 4: you could see lots of twelve and maybe even twenty
Speaker 4: two personnel. Or you have two backs and two tight
Speaker 4: ends out there and you have a good run heavy offense,
Speaker 4: use that play action game where Jordan Love can step
Speaker 4: back there and you know, take his shots down the
Speaker 4: field to a player that looks like the next great
Speaker 4: receiver in Christiana Watson.
Speaker 2: So fun offense.
Speaker 4: Man really team a team that I'm really intrigued to
Speaker 4: watch this year's touch on the defense here before we
Speaker 4: get back to the division champion from a year ago,
Speaker 4: the Minnesota Vikings, because I'm looking at this defense and
Speaker 4: again down the board like pretty good players all across
Speaker 4: the roster here. But I think I starts with the
Speaker 4: pass rush, doesn't it, With Preston Smith and what you've
Speaker 4: got off the edge there, obviously with Rashaun Gary and
Speaker 4: what he's been able to do so far in his career.
Speaker 4: Tell us about this defense and how they're going to
Speaker 4: get back to being this this team that has really
Speaker 4: taken the football away in recent years and just kind
Speaker 4: of been, you know, a pest in the way the
Speaker 4: gyr Alexander is for all the guys that he faces,
Speaker 4: this defense can be a pest for opposing offenses.
Speaker 6: Yeah, first and foremost, everything's going to start with them
Speaker 6: getting Rashawn back, and the Packers lost him last November.
Speaker 6: With that, acl before that, he had six sacks in
Speaker 6: his first eight games.
Speaker 3: He really looked like he was.
Speaker 6: In the middle of a breakthrough type Pro Bowl season,
Speaker 6: a double sack you know, double digit sack season. Green
Speaker 6: Bay actually played better I think down the stretch after
Speaker 6: losing Gary. I think that was almost more born out
Speaker 6: of necessity with what they did.
Speaker 3: Justin Hollins came from LA. He's back this year.
Speaker 6: He's been the guy that's been working across from Preston
Speaker 6: in these offseason pract is with the number one unit.
Speaker 6: But they also drafted Lucas Vanas out of Iowa. That
Speaker 6: was their first round pick, number thirteen overall. He is
Speaker 6: going to be such an important piece for them because
Speaker 6: his body type, it kind of is in that Aiden
Speaker 6: Hutchinson type of role where you can play him in
Speaker 6: a bunch of different positions. Early on this season, he
Speaker 6: can factor into that rotation while you're waiting to get
Speaker 6: Rashaan back. But once he's back, you can move him
Speaker 6: and Rashawan around a lot when Joe Berry's defense. When
Speaker 6: Green Bay's defense is at its best, it's being able
Speaker 6: to move around those edge rushers and not just have
Speaker 6: them stationed at one particular spot.
Speaker 3: That's where I think they could be really valuable this year.
Speaker 6: But as you said, when you go back to that
Speaker 6: game obviously against Miami last season, that's also where Rasul
Speaker 6: Douglas at cornerback kind of got back into his rhythm.
Speaker 6: Packers were playing him in the nickel earlier in the season.
Speaker 6: They lose Eric Stokes in that same game that they
Speaker 6: lost Rashaan Gary, so then Douglas has to go back outside.
Speaker 6: He ends up having three interceptions in the month of December.
Speaker 6: Played really well down the stretch. He's opposite of jay
Speaker 6: r Alexander, who now a two time All Pro. Jaws
Speaker 6: right up there now, I mean the Xavian Howard's those
Speaker 6: type of players in the National Football League. When you
Speaker 6: can be a true shutdown cornerback, it opens up so
Speaker 6: much for your defense and they're going to ride them.
Speaker 6: You know, I think when you look at last year,
Speaker 6: I think the Packers had really high expectations for the defense.
Speaker 6: I don't necessarily believe they met all of them. But
Speaker 6: this year, especially with this transition to Jordan Love, They're
Speaker 6: going to need to rely on that unit. And really,
Speaker 6: when you look at the experience of this football team,
Speaker 6: it mostly resides on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you mentioned the Vikings having a lot of overturn
Speaker 4: this offseason.
Speaker 2: Not lot for the Packers.
Speaker 4: I mean, but as the quarterback position, can you give
Speaker 4: me some notable acquisitions because I'm looking at their draft
Speaker 4: class year and it's mostly just draft picks, man, And
Speaker 4: they had how many was it? Wes like there's double
Speaker 4: digit draft?
Speaker 6: There was like thirteen draft picks I had. I had
Speaker 6: to write bios on every single one of them on
Speaker 6: draft night.
Speaker 2: That reminds me of twenty twenty.
Speaker 4: We like we like traded a pick out and like
Speaker 4: just didn't have like we traded back twenty twenty one.
Speaker 4: I was like, thank you, I just needed like ten
Speaker 4: minutes to breathe here for a little bit.
Speaker 2: But you guys had four.
Speaker 4: Seventh round picks, two sixth round picks, three man busy,
Speaker 4: busy draft day for you up there. But so, but
Speaker 4: that's at end of yeah, yeah, that was pretty much it, right,
Speaker 4: Nothing in free agency.
Speaker 3: Really, yeah, I mean they did make a couple moves.
Speaker 6: I mean, this is gonna sound kind of silly that
Speaker 6: I'm saying this, but you know, they signed Matt Orzich,
Speaker 6: the long snapper from La green Bay. Though you have
Speaker 6: to understand, as silly as that might sound, Green Bay
Speaker 6: has been.
Speaker 3: Going through a carousel at long snapper.
Speaker 6: I thought Jack Coco did a nice job last year,
Speaker 6: but Jack was an undrafted rookie. He was the guy
Speaker 6: that originally came to Green Bay on a tryout. They
Speaker 6: want to be able to get back to more of
Speaker 6: a veteran type guy. So that really is the biggest
Speaker 6: thing I think when you look at special teams Orzich,
Speaker 6: and then also now Anders Carlson taking over as the kicker.
Speaker 6: Mason Crosby has been here the last sixteen years. That's
Speaker 6: going to be a huge switch as well. He's still unsigned,
Speaker 6: but Carlson is the only the younger brother of Daniel Carlson,
Speaker 6: the only kicker on this roster right now. Other than that,
Speaker 6: it mostly was a lot of bringing back. You know,
Speaker 6: they were able to extend Elton Jenkins at the end
Speaker 6: of last season. That was a huge move for them,
Speaker 6: But because of kind of a lot of these teams
Speaker 6: with twenty twenty and COVID, I had to sort of
Speaker 6: kick the can down.
Speaker 3: The road a little bit with the salary cap.
Speaker 6: Green Bay kind of took its medicine a little bit
Speaker 6: with that this year to various more comes over from
Speaker 6: the San Francisco forty nine ers. He's more of a
Speaker 6: special teams type guy, guy that could potentially factor into
Speaker 6: that starting job, but is not really you know, guaranteed anything.
Speaker 6: And then realistically, as you guys saw in that game
Speaker 6: against Miami, the biggest move that Green Bay made after
Speaker 6: March was re signing Keyshawn Nixon. He is the guy
Speaker 6: that completely turned around the Packers special teams unit. He
Speaker 6: only was the kickoff returner of the second half of
Speaker 6: the season, yet he was still first team All Pro.
Speaker 6: It shows you his value to the Packers and obviously
Speaker 6: how people around the league respect that. He's also going
Speaker 6: to get the opportunity to be the nickel cornerback. So
Speaker 6: a huge, huge chance right now for Nixon to really
Speaker 6: solidify himself as a top playmaker in this league coming
Speaker 6: back in kind of a one year sort of Okay,
Speaker 6: we're going to give you the chance, now, can you
Speaker 6: prove that you're going to be a long term guy.
Speaker 6: But other than that, Travis very much a lot of
Speaker 6: internal growth that Green Bay is expecting from this roster.
Speaker 4: That right there is why you go to the team
Speaker 4: team reporter for the in depth analysis on long snappers
Speaker 4: and special teams right there.
Speaker 2: You love to hear it.
Speaker 4: But I'm a big fan of you know, every year
Speaker 4: I talk about how the best growth a team can
Speaker 4: typically have is it growth from their incumbents. So that's
Speaker 4: definitely the Packers testing that theory out a big time
Speaker 4: here in twenty twenty three. You mentioned the vikings off
Speaker 4: the top of the team that really pivoted from away
Speaker 4: from a lot of you know, high priced talented Maybe
Speaker 4: it was in the back end of their career at
Speaker 4: this point of their career and coming off a thirteen
Speaker 4: win division championship season in a one and done playoff run,
Speaker 4: just a really strange year. And I guess it's to
Speaker 4: me interesting to hear the perspective of how that all
Speaker 4: played out from a Packers fan and a Packers beat
Speaker 4: coverage guys.
Speaker 2: Well, what beat coverage guy was? I mean to beat works.
Speaker 2: I got something.
Speaker 4: You worked with the Packers in some capacity. I all
Speaker 4: agree on that. But just your perspective on the Vikings
Speaker 4: that run last year and then the off season that
Speaker 4: preceded that run.
Speaker 2: Just kind of want to hear your perspective on that.
Speaker 6: Honestly, Trevisa reminded me of the twenty nineteen Packers in
Speaker 6: a lot of way where I don't think it wasn't
Speaker 6: that nobody was expecting them.
Speaker 3: Minnesota won't do anything.
Speaker 6: They still had Kirk Cousins, justin Jefferson looks like he's
Speaker 6: gonna be the next great receiver in this league. Defensively,
Speaker 6: I think they felt really confident about what they had built.
Speaker 6: But I with you have told me they were a
Speaker 6: thirteen win team, I would not have believed you. I
Speaker 6: even said at the beginning of last season, I thought
Speaker 6: nine wins was going to win the division. As it
Speaker 6: turns out that pretty much was the case. It's just
Speaker 6: that it was Minnesota was the team that was getting
Speaker 6: it done. The Vikings beat the teams they needed to beat,
Speaker 6: and honestly, when you look at the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 6: this upcoming year, they're gonna have to do the same
Speaker 6: exact thing. The way these schedules work, You've seen it
Speaker 6: time and time again, facing the top teams from the divisions,
Speaker 6: some of those cross conference games. Now, then Minnesota is
Speaker 6: gonna they're going to be Inford a little bit when
Speaker 6: you look at how their schedule lines up. But you know,
Speaker 6: Kirk Cousins has been so gosh darn consistent, and I
Speaker 6: know there's some Packer fans that kind of want to
Speaker 6: disrespect him a little bit and say, well, he's not
Speaker 6: a super Bowl quarterback in that If you look at
Speaker 6: Kirk cousins stats against Green Bay, they've been really strong
Speaker 6: because I think over the years, regardless of who the
Speaker 6: defensive coordinator is for the Packers, those type of quarterbacks
Speaker 6: that can get the ball out quickly and also are
Speaker 6: able to protect the football, they've given Green Bay a
Speaker 6: lot of problems. And I think when you look at
Speaker 6: Kirk Cousins, you know, stat line, he's a guy that
Speaker 6: doesn't make a lot of mistakes. When he does, it
Speaker 6: tends to be the undoing of that football team. But
Speaker 6: when he plays clean football, they're tough to beat and
Speaker 6: They're going to be leaning on that even more this year,
Speaker 6: assuming everything goes through with the Delvin Cook trade or
Speaker 6: what the release, whatever they end up doing there. In
Speaker 6: Alexander Madison being the next guy, it's going to be
Speaker 6: a change. Then I think we're all going to have
Speaker 6: to see exactly what the Vikings have. It's so weird
Speaker 6: to say, Travis, but out of four teams in the division,
Speaker 6: the defending's champion thirteen win team is probably the team
Speaker 6: that I have the most question marks about right now
Speaker 6: because you just don't know what you're going to get.
Speaker 2: That's why it's so crazy to me.
Speaker 4: And you talk about, you know, and the team that
Speaker 4: probably has the most ability at the quarterback position, like
Speaker 4: you mentioned there in terms of proven veteran that has
Speaker 4: done it before. And you know, it seems like all
Speaker 4: of Kirk Cousins' bad games just happen to come on primetime,
Speaker 4: and I feel like that kind of shapes the perception
Speaker 4: around him. But like you talked about, he's a guy
Speaker 4: that throws for four thousand yards and thirty touchdowns just
Speaker 4: about every single year and does it by humping the
Speaker 4: ball to like you talked about, one of the best
Speaker 4: in the league might be you know, Tyreek Kill I
Speaker 4: think is the best receiver.
Speaker 2: I might be a little bit oler on that, but
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 6: Seriously though, that's where we are in this thing. I mean,
Speaker 6: when you see what guys like Hill and Jefferson bring
Speaker 6: to the table now, I mean, this is the next
Speaker 6: when we had the era of you know, Larry Fitz
Speaker 6: and you know DeAndre Hopkins and in DeVante Adams. I'll
Speaker 6: still throw Tay in there too, but these young guys,
Speaker 6: when you can mesh the speed and route running ability,
Speaker 6: and then especially someone like Hill that can be used
Speaker 6: in so many various ways. I've just it's been so
Speaker 6: funny to me that the Green Bay Packers, for as
Speaker 6: much as they've dominated, you know, this division for the
Speaker 6: last thirty years, the fact that you've had to see
Speaker 6: Randy Moss, Calvin Johnson, and I honestly put you know,
Speaker 6: Justin Jefferson in that now too. They've had to face
Speaker 6: the elite of an elite when it comes to the
Speaker 6: receiver position.
Speaker 4: And they also get Jordan Adison to add to that
Speaker 4: group as well, which I think is going to be
Speaker 4: a really big get for them in terms of the
Speaker 4: way he can create separation with his natural route running.
Speaker 4: Like you see these rookies coming to the league and
Speaker 4: they shine right away because they are sharp and their
Speaker 4: route running. And Jordan Aisen's caught a billion balls both
Speaker 4: at Pittsburgh and USC. So a fun compliment there, I think,
Speaker 4: justin Jefferson with that run game. Like you mentioned, let's
Speaker 4: go ahead and talk about this defensive side of the
Speaker 4: football here and what the Vikings looking at on that side,
Speaker 4: because you know, last year they scored plenty of points
Speaker 4: and a lot of these games were close and crazy
Speaker 4: at the end because they just couldn't get stops on
Speaker 4: the defensive side of the football.
Speaker 2: They were trying to learn a new.
Speaker 4: System, you know, kind of an offshoot of the Vic
Speaker 4: Fangio defense that we're going to see this year in Miami.
Speaker 4: They just didn't really click for him last year in
Speaker 4: terms of, you know, keeping that roof on top of
Speaker 4: the defense, and they allowed a lot of openings underneath
Speaker 4: in that shell coverage. And now they're going to make
Speaker 4: a change to a completely different style of defense, one
Speaker 4: that we know here well as well with the Miami
Speaker 4: Dolphins and Brian Flores. How do you think that scheme
Speaker 4: change will help this Vikings defense and how teams prepare
Speaker 4: for it.
Speaker 6: Well, I mean they had to do something different, right,
Speaker 6: I mean, it's just it, it just did not click.
Speaker 6: And you know, for everything we heard about, you know,
Speaker 6: Zadaria Smith and Daniel Hunter right after the bat and
Speaker 6: you know this is gonna be the best defense in
Speaker 6: the NFL, and it just it did not.
Speaker 3: Go that direction.
Speaker 6: Now, the weird thing is is dumb is they were
Speaker 6: and as solid and I mean there was a time there,
Speaker 6: Travis where you could look at the Vikings defense when
Speaker 6: you know, in the real prime of the Mike Zimmer years,
Speaker 6: where it's like they had stars and names at every
Speaker 6: position cornerback. They've not been able to get back to
Speaker 6: that level. And as much as it is about the
Speaker 6: pass rush and as much as they got to get
Speaker 6: this Hunter situation figured out, it all comes down to
Speaker 6: whether or not they can stop teams on the perimeter.
Speaker 6: And you know, Harrison Smith not getting any younger, obviously
Speaker 6: took a pay cut himself this offseason. When we talk
Speaker 6: about the questions surrounding the Vikings, I think a lot
Speaker 6: of that goes to the defense. As much as people
Speaker 6: want to perseverate on Cousins and things like that, and
Speaker 6: what's happening with Cook. It's what are they going to
Speaker 6: get defensively?
Speaker 5: Now?
Speaker 6: They do have a brilliant mind there. I love what
Speaker 6: Flores brings to the table. I think they're going to have,
Speaker 6: you know, an interesting blend of figuring out what worked
Speaker 6: last year and obviously what didn't and where they need
Speaker 6: to go this season. But to do that, they need
Speaker 6: people to step up. They need they need new stars
Speaker 6: to emerge. And I just feel like over the last
Speaker 6: five six years it's just been a real slog for
Speaker 6: them trying to figure out who those staples are going
Speaker 6: to be on that defense.
Speaker 4: Yeah, trying to figure out what's gonna happen to Neil
Speaker 4: Hunter is the key, like you mentioned, because they do
Speaker 4: lose they do lose Smith, but to get Marcus Davenport
Speaker 4: could be yeah there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I like Devenport a lot.
Speaker 6: You know, that was a guy that the Packers had
Speaker 6: looked at, I think back in eighteen when they made
Speaker 6: that trade back with the with the Saints.
Speaker 3: But it is it's it's also this.
Speaker 6: Plug and play kind of thing right where you know,
Speaker 6: they went through Zadarias, they went through some of these
Speaker 6: other edge rushers and trying to find something that works
Speaker 6: with Hunter. But Downboard certainly is another one of those
Speaker 6: guys that you can throw into that equation of guys
Speaker 6: that probably not only are playing at a certain level,
Speaker 6: but probably.
Speaker 3: Still have room to grow in their own game.
Speaker 4: Six six, two sixty five, heavy hands. It's the kind
Speaker 4: of player that Brian Flores loves off the edge there.
Speaker 4: He brought in Shack Lawson and Emmanuel Ogba his first
Speaker 4: his first real off season of spending down here, so
Speaker 4: it makes a lot of sense. They also get Byer
Speaker 4: Murphy that secondary to help him out as well, so
Speaker 4: lots of moving parts.
Speaker 2: They're interesting team, the Vikings.
Speaker 4: Let's go ahead and take our last break of the
Speaker 4: show right here and come back on the other side
Speaker 4: and talk about one of the most rigging teams in
Speaker 4: the entire National Football League, possibly the NFC North favorites
Speaker 4: at this point, the Detroit Lions. We'll do that next
Speaker 4: Draft Time podcast. My guest today, Wes Hogkowitz. Draft Time
Speaker 4: Podcast Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. Nailed
Speaker 4: the pronunciation there on the last end of that first
Speaker 4: knock formerly West and Fitzgerald Westwitz here on the podcast
Speaker 4: breaking down some NFC North with you guys here today
Speaker 4: and West, we appreciate your time in doing this with us.
Speaker 4: It really helps us get through the summer months here
Speaker 4: and right into the regular season. And might we see
Speaker 4: this Lions team back on hard knocks again?
Speaker 3: Who knows?
Speaker 2: Uh heard some stuff about that.
Speaker 4: Possibility being one they floated out there earlier this summer.
Speaker 4: Let's go ahead and talk about this Lions team because
Speaker 4: to me, it's it's always easy, not easy, but easier
Speaker 4: to go from you know, that three win team that
Speaker 4: was kind of slogging it out and had some good
Speaker 4: showings and just felt like they were better than the
Speaker 4: record to then make that jump to seven or eight wins.
Speaker 4: That's that's the expectation you get there. But to me,
Speaker 4: the real test is when you go from that year
Speaker 4: to the third season where you're supposed to win double
Speaker 4: digit games, you're supposed to compete for a division title.
Speaker 4: How do you see a young Lion's team that hasn't
Speaker 4: experienced a whole lot of success dealing with expectations and
Speaker 4: can they take that next step?
Speaker 6: Well, that's what I've been kind of asking myself, Travis,
Speaker 6: because Dan Campbell is sort of this mad scientist.
Speaker 3: Right, and obviously, you know, you.
Speaker 6: Look at the way he played his career and the
Speaker 6: way he kind of rolls up the coaching ranks. He's
Speaker 6: the guy that plays without fear, and obviously his coach
Speaker 6: without fear. But now you are sort of entering that
Speaker 6: front running stage where you need to be a team
Speaker 6: that produces. You can't just show up and you know,
Speaker 6: hope to surprise teams. You got to actually be a
Speaker 6: team that pushes things. I found their offseason to be
Speaker 6: very quizzical. This is I think a boomer bust offseason
Speaker 6: for them. The Jack Campbell pick. I think some people
Speaker 6: originally had some questions about that. I know some of
Speaker 6: the people I've talked to said, this guy is an
Speaker 6: absolute maler. When you talk about Dan Campbell and the
Speaker 6: you know, motor City Dan kind of thing, like this
Speaker 6: is this is the guy that you want to have
Speaker 6: at the center of your defense in Campbell. Certainly, I
Speaker 6: think they raised a lot of you know, eyebrows when
Speaker 6: they traded back and then took it, took a running back,
Speaker 6: you know, after after passing on arguably the best one,
Speaker 6: and then in the draft. So it is going to
Speaker 6: be really interesting to see where they take. A team
Speaker 6: that has so much talent has defensively, I think, really improved,
Speaker 6: even if the statistics don't show it. They put together
Speaker 6: one of the two the two of their best performances
Speaker 6: all season were against Green Bay, regardless of where their
Speaker 6: rankings were, and I think Aiden Hutchinson is going to
Speaker 6: be a real star in this league for years to come.
Speaker 6: If they're going to win, I think what they have
Speaker 6: to do is bring up that blueprint of what the
Speaker 6: Rams did with Jared Goff, you know, five, six, seven
Speaker 6: years ago. Now he's a guy that is going to
Speaker 6: be able to be competitive and win football games, but
Speaker 6: he's going to need that core around him. They have
Speaker 6: arguably the best offensive line in the game. Now they've
Speaker 6: done it. They've put the they put the time in,
Speaker 6: they've put the resource into that. That was one area
Speaker 6: that for so long plagued them during the Matthew Stafford era.
Speaker 6: That is no longer an issue, but it's about who
Speaker 6: steps up around them and can they play power football.
Speaker 6: My last point I'll make with them, the one that
Speaker 6: made me raise my eyebrow. The biggest this offseason was
Speaker 6: the fact that they let Jamal Williams walk. Jamal Williams
Speaker 6: the guy that obviously we're very familiar with in Green Bay.
Speaker 6: But when you watch Hard Knocks, when you talk about
Speaker 6: all that stuff, Travis he was the guy that kind
Speaker 6: of helped change the culture, right. He's the guy that
Speaker 6: was in there. He was the one taking those bolts.
Speaker 6: He was the one saying we're not going to lose anymore.
Speaker 6: Oh and then he ended up having fifteen touchdowns last year.
Speaker 6: To let him walk and to sign David Montgomery, I
Speaker 6: think is a real risk because I've also seen David
Speaker 6: Montgomery and while probably pound for pound he's more talent
Speaker 6: than than Jamal, he does not have the durability of
Speaker 6: Jamal Williams. And I felt like last year, even though
Speaker 6: this isn't what their offense is going to look like
Speaker 6: anymore with DeAndre Swift, Jamal was the perfect elixir to
Speaker 6: DeAndre because he was the guy that was going to
Speaker 6: be there every Sunday for you, and you can allow
Speaker 6: you to be a little bit more selective with how
Speaker 6: you use Swift. They don't have that anymore. What is
Speaker 6: that running back gonna look like? What is that backfield
Speaker 6: going to look like? In that regard your guests, is
Speaker 6: as good as mine.
Speaker 4: Well, by far, the best interview in the National Football
Speaker 4: League Jamal Williams and I, you know, I listened to
Speaker 4: a lot of NFL material and one of my favorite
Speaker 4: podcasts around the NFL. They're big into the hard knock scene,
Speaker 4: and they always play that clip of him talking about
Speaker 4: if you know, if you're a scared puppy, stay on
Speaker 4: the piss on the porch.
Speaker 2: Whatever he talks about, you know.
Speaker 4: The whole speech he gave to rally the team about
Speaker 4: I'm not going three and thirteen again or whatever.
Speaker 2: It was a couple of years ago.
Speaker 4: So it is an interesting dynamic because you talk about
Speaker 4: like perhaps more talented, but you can kind of, you know,
Speaker 4: you know, mess with that inner workings of a team
Speaker 4: and the mindset they have because I look at this
Speaker 4: team and you mentioned it off the top of the
Speaker 4: offensive line, that's this identity of this football team is
Speaker 4: in the trenches. You know, the classic bite their kneecaps off,
Speaker 4: you know, the Dan campbellisms that we all love to
Speaker 4: rip that. But also it's worked for them, and he
Speaker 4: really fits the mindset of that team in that city.
Speaker 4: So it's it's cool to see it come together that way,
Speaker 4: because I look at this team as one that you
Speaker 4: mentioned Jared Goff like had a really good year last year.
Speaker 4: But if this team can run the football, stop the run,
Speaker 4: and you know, dominate the trend, they have a chance
Speaker 4: to be pretty good. And I think that what we
Speaker 4: saw in the second half of the season was you know,
Speaker 4: a defense that played much much better basically from that
Speaker 4: Miami game where Tua did what he wanted to do
Speaker 4: to do that entire game. After that, they got much better.
Speaker 4: I think the next game was actually it might have
Speaker 4: been the Pack game that they It was a low
Speaker 4: scoring game there, but to me, that in the trenches
Speaker 4: where they win their games. But I think the biggest
Speaker 4: acquisition in the division this offseason to me was a
Speaker 4: guy that fits that mindset, fits the way they play
Speaker 4: the game. And Chauncey Gardner Johnson talk about his acquisition
Speaker 4: and that defense and how they might come together on
Speaker 4: that side of the football, Well.
Speaker 6: That was what they needed to do, right. They've been
Speaker 6: so pragmatic with their signings and their acquisitions, a lot
Speaker 6: of this the last two and a half years, and
Speaker 6: I give a lot of credit to you know, Brad
Speaker 6: Holmes and John Dorsey and everybody over there for the
Speaker 6: way they did it, because they one thing that I
Speaker 6: thought when the Lions were really struggling is they were
Speaker 6: just like, Okay, let's just get the top three free
Speaker 6: agents on the board. It kind of that Jacksonville Jaguars approach, right,
Speaker 6: and they'll see if they fit.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 6: They were very selective with how they did their veteran
Speaker 6: contracts and now that they finally they have a base
Speaker 6: built with some of those players on defense. When you
Speaker 6: look at a guy like you know, am and Ross
Speaker 6: Saint Brown, the way he's blossomed for them as a receiver,
Speaker 6: Jamis and Williams is a huge question mark for them,
Speaker 6: but still they invested that first round pick into that position. Well,
Speaker 6: this is where now you start figuring out, Okay, where
Speaker 6: do we need the veteran And then when you get
Speaker 6: someone like Gardner Johnson in there to see where he
Speaker 6: could potentially take this thing, that was I think sort
Speaker 6: of the missing piece because they have kind of like Minnesota,
Speaker 6: they've taken some hits to their defensive backs and their
Speaker 6: secondary in recent years. You know, they had a really
Speaker 6: difficult time replacing Darius Slay. We all know, you know
Speaker 6: what happened when they you know, they tried to draft
Speaker 6: the cornerback right after that, and his name is escaping me.
Speaker 6: Now I apologize, thank you, Jeff Akudah. See, that's what
Speaker 6: happens when guys end up not working out and then
Speaker 6: getting cut or traded. I start forgetting their names. But
Speaker 6: you know, Akudah really struggled, he was hurt, and then
Speaker 6: he just didn't work out. And then you know, they
Speaker 6: needed that guy to be a number three overall pick
Speaker 6: and didn't have happens. So now that you start building
Speaker 6: out the secondary, and I think you also see it too,
Speaker 6: that you know you can never go wrong with depth.
Speaker 6: You need five six guys to get through a season.
Speaker 6: And when you can take a star, when you can
Speaker 6: get a guy in your offense or defense that has
Speaker 6: that type of experience, Now that that could be the
Speaker 6: missing piece for them, and certainly I'm sure that's what
Speaker 6: their expectation is now going into twenty twenty three.
Speaker 4: Now, I know you probably don't want to hear this West,
Speaker 4: but just from a fan of the league and outside
Speaker 4: the NFC North in general, seeing Detroit and Chicago rise
Speaker 4: up would be kind of fun for me, just to
Speaker 4: see them, you know, It's been a long time since
Speaker 4: those teams have been competitive.
Speaker 2: I think we kind of are getting to a point.
Speaker 4: To where at least one of them should be, and
Speaker 4: we'll see what the Chicago Bears we finish up with
Speaker 4: here on our NFC North preview.
Speaker 5: Who.
Speaker 4: You know, It's funny because I feel like you have
Speaker 4: teams follow the same three or four different cycles in
Speaker 4: the NFL nowadays, are the same cycle at three or
Speaker 4: four different stages, and the Bears are in that post
Speaker 4: like kind of scale back, spend a bunch of money,
Speaker 4: go all in in terms of putting a lot of
Speaker 4: resources into the roster stage their team building cycle behind
Speaker 4: a third year quarterback who. I think that's where we
Speaker 4: start here at Chicago Barris with most teams obviously, but
Speaker 4: for for Justin Fields. You know, we got a first
Speaker 4: hand look at him and the way he ran the
Speaker 4: football against the Dolphins defense a year ago. If he
Speaker 4: can get you know, that passing game element of the
Speaker 4: quarterback position just up a little bit, could be a
Speaker 4: really dangerous player in this league. I'm curious how a
Speaker 4: Packers fan views that Bears offense led by Justin Fields
Speaker 4: boom or bust.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's similar sort of thing.
Speaker 6: I mean justin you know, he he had his down
Speaker 6: moments against Green Bay last year. I think, you know,
Speaker 6: when you look at a guy that has his skill set,
Speaker 6: you have to respect it. But as you said, it's
Speaker 6: also about the passing element, and it's not just totally
Speaker 6: on fields either. I think the receiver position has been
Speaker 6: a huge weakness for them for many years now. And
Speaker 6: as much as you know, I don't feel like Alan
Speaker 6: Robinson ever really got his just due there for what
Speaker 6: he did, I think he was much better than people
Speaker 6: gave him credit for, even though last year I know
Speaker 6: it didn't work out very well with the RAM but
Speaker 6: he you know, they they've just they've not been able
Speaker 6: to find real resources for him. Cole Comet, you know,
Speaker 6: it seems like it's going to be, you know, kind
Speaker 6: of a one two battery with him. You know, Darnell
Speaker 6: Mooney had a really strong year two years ago. Last
Speaker 6: year kind of took a step back. I'm more interested
Speaker 6: about the pieces around justin fields than just justin fields
Speaker 6: because I feel like athletically, you know what you're gonna get,
Speaker 6: and certainly we saw it with this year. I mean,
Speaker 6: if there were real questions about whether or not Fields
Speaker 6: was the answer. There were tons of you know, quarterbacks
Speaker 6: that Chicago could explored. They felt good about how he
Speaker 6: finished the season. So I just the one thing I
Speaker 6: just didn't quite get about Chicago right now is you know,
Speaker 6: you're seeing these reports out and I think it was
Speaker 6: Justin Jones or whoever was kind of talking about Packer
Speaker 6: fans and things like that. That's all good and well
Speaker 6: for the rivalry, but I wrote about this in our
Speaker 6: insider inbox Q and A we write like it was like,
Speaker 6: I just I wanted Aaron Rodgers to state so we
Speaker 6: get one more shot a him. I want to beat
Speaker 6: him at Lambell Field. And it's like, dude, justin, I
Speaker 6: understand you've only been there one year, but like, yeah,
Speaker 6: it's it's been it's been five years since the Bears
Speaker 6: are going to have beaten the Packers Periodicago or green Bay.
Speaker 6: And here's a spoiler alert. At some point Chicago will
Speaker 6: beat the Packers again. It's going to happen, just like
Speaker 6: how Detroit went twenty four years without winning at Lambellfield
Speaker 6: and now they've kind of had green Bay' number the
Speaker 6: lastew years. But it's to me, it's this Monty python
Speaker 6: thing of like you know, 'tis but a scratch, right,
Speaker 6: Like I how many strikes do you? Yeah, eventually you're
Speaker 6: going to win, But I mean it doesn't necessarily So
Speaker 6: at that part of it, I think it's good for media.
Speaker 3: I think it's good for fans.
Speaker 6: But at the end of the day, the green Bay Packers,
Speaker 6: they're thinking about that Week one game against Chicago because
Speaker 6: it's going to be Jordan Love's first start and it's
Speaker 6: going to be the start of this next season and
Speaker 6: the ultimate let miss test for green Bay win loser,
Speaker 6: draw is going to be how does the offense look
Speaker 6: around Jordan Love? And are we going to be able
Speaker 6: to build this thing around him in twenty twenty three
Speaker 6: and beyond Chicago is what they are? Is what it is,
Speaker 6: I should say to get my singular grammar right there correctly.
Speaker 6: But at the end of the day, I just when
Speaker 6: I look at this division, I think you have a
Speaker 6: lot of resources, a lot of talent In Detroit. I
Speaker 6: think you got a lot of experience and some elite
Speaker 6: talent in Minnesota. Chicago's a team that when I ended
Speaker 6: last season, I still really don't know what the Bears have.
Speaker 2: Is that Week one game a one o'clock kickoff in
Speaker 2: the east.
Speaker 6: Three to twenty five. East would be four to twenty five.
Speaker 6: I think it's America's game of the week.
Speaker 3: Damn. I agree.
Speaker 4: You know. I think I'm probably higher than the general
Speaker 4: public on both those quarterbacks, Jordan Love and Justin Fields.
Speaker 4: I think they're both going to be really good players personally.
Speaker 4: But the Dolphins play at four to twenty five that
Speaker 4: day as well, so wh'll get a chance to watch
Speaker 4: that game live. I was hoping that maybe the early kickoff.
Speaker 4: We don't get very many late kickoffs here. We usually
Speaker 4: play at one o'clock our time, so usually I can
Speaker 4: watch those those early kickoffs when we do have those
Speaker 4: late games.
Speaker 2: But you know that's not gonna be the case. But
Speaker 2: this year.
Speaker 6: I just want to mention this because I do want
Speaker 6: to say I doubt and I think you weren't even
Speaker 6: saying this, but I do definitely respect Fields. I think
Speaker 6: he is an elite talent. I think he's going to
Speaker 6: be a great quarterback for them. I think he's the
Speaker 6: best chance that they've had at that quarterback position in
Speaker 6: a long long time. It's just I just really wonder
Speaker 6: about the offense line. I wonder both the pieces around him,
Speaker 6: if it's there yet, and if he's going to have
Speaker 6: everything he needs to become the passing quarterback that they
Speaker 6: need him to be rather than the guy that is
Speaker 6: going to have to end up, you know, using his
Speaker 6: feed to extend.
Speaker 4: Plays exactly because you know, I mentioned that the team
Speaker 4: building cycles the Bears seem to be maybe a little
Speaker 4: bit you know, not incomplete synergy with that because you
Speaker 4: talk about a third year quarterback on a team that
Speaker 4: is finally now kind of pushing their chips into the
Speaker 4: table in terms of going out and getting a DJ Moore,
Speaker 4: Tremaine Edmunds, you, DeMarcus Walker, Nate Davis, Robert Tanyan, Deontay Foreman.
Speaker 2: They signed a bunch of dudes, But it has.
Speaker 4: To happen quickly because you have to make a decision
Speaker 4: on your rookie quarterback or your rookie contract quarterback sooner
Speaker 4: than later. And typically when teams go this heavy in
Speaker 4: it takes a year, maybe even two for the all
Speaker 4: to kind of gel and come together. So I'm super
Speaker 4: intrigued to see how that all does come together for
Speaker 4: a team that was incredibly aggressive this offseason and using
Speaker 4: the resources they had, So it's it's intriguing. You mentioned,
Speaker 4: you know, the receiving corps with you know, Chase Claypool,
Speaker 4: the thirty third pick in the draft. I think they
Speaker 4: used on him in terms of the trade there, so
Speaker 4: so definitely pushing some chips into the middle of table
Speaker 4: with how they invested around justin fields offensively. And I'm
Speaker 4: also curious on defense because you know, they traded away
Speaker 4: Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith and back to back weeks
Speaker 4: last year and the defense fell apart after that, So
Speaker 4: did they do enough to get that back together? I
Speaker 4: think is a big question there for the Bears as well.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean Jack Sanborn from Wisconsin ended up being
Speaker 6: kind of a middle of the pack. Not in terms
Speaker 6: of his skill. I'm just saying like he was their
Speaker 6: middle linebacker the second half of the season and kind
Speaker 6: of had to be that gritty guy there.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: I think they got Tremaine Edmunds now if I remember correctly.
Speaker 6: I like the athleticism they have on that side of things.
Speaker 6: But ultimately, yeah, it is going to be about what
Speaker 6: are the pieces that A'll fit behind him. Eddie Jackson
Speaker 6: has been a staple for them for years back there.
Speaker 6: I think he's kind of sort of recaptured some of
Speaker 6: the magic that he was missing sort of after that
Speaker 6: Adrian Amos arrow with him there. So very interesting to
Speaker 6: see where this thing goes. To give you one little
Speaker 6: last story about that, we were talking about like with
Speaker 6: our game programs in our yearbooks and stuff and getting
Speaker 6: stuff ready, and I had one of our interns was
Speaker 6: asking me like, hey, you know, who should we put,
Speaker 6: you know, other than Justin Jefferson or Justin Jefferson, Justin Fields.
Speaker 6: Who are the guys? Who are the stars that we
Speaker 6: should have for the Bears? And it did take me
Speaker 6: a second because I think that's not necessarily just a
Speaker 6: dig on them. I think it is this reset that
Speaker 6: they're kind of going through and trying to figure out
Speaker 6: who those next faces are going to be for them.
Speaker 6: But certainly Eddie Jackson is the guy that they can
Speaker 6: be able to.
Speaker 3: Hang their hat on there as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you can certainly look at a team and say
Speaker 4: there just doesn a lot of proven you know, resumes
Speaker 4: in terms of their production across the NFL, and they
Speaker 4: could work out.
Speaker 2: But right now, like you know, look at the defense.
Speaker 4: Last year, they traded by their top two guys and
Speaker 4: Eddie Jackson I think was out for some time as well,
Speaker 4: but I like that secondary they did some good work.
Speaker 4: They're getting Jakwan Brisker and Kyli Gordon a couple of
Speaker 4: years back and continue to add to that group there
Speaker 4: as well. So fun division, man, I'm looking forward to
Speaker 4: seeing this thing play out. Like like I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 4: we don't have a game against the team in the
Speaker 4: NFC North this year. Played that division last year, so
Speaker 4: no competition there for the Miami Dolphins. But real quick West,
Speaker 4: just in a ward or two if you can my
Speaker 4: divisions to perlatives here, if you don't mind giving me
Speaker 4: your favorite players with their certain distinctions here across the division,
Speaker 4: which is challenge and this one actually, I don't know
Speaker 4: if this one's a given. It kind of has been
Speaker 4: for the other one so far, like the NFC East
Speaker 4: and the AFC West. But who do you think is
Speaker 4: the best quarterback right now in the NFC North?
Speaker 6: So I actually have a very straightforward answer, so you
Speaker 6: probably can tell what I'm going to say based in
Speaker 6: our conversation earlier. To me, it's Kirk Cousins because I
Speaker 6: feel like there's so many people disrespecting what he's done
Speaker 6: in the National Football League, and by the way, nobody
Speaker 6: knows him better than Matt Lafleur, who was his first
Speaker 6: position coach in the NFL when he was in Washington.
Speaker 6: Until somebody unseats Kirk Cousins, until somebody proves that they
Speaker 6: can win thirteen games as a quarterback in this division,
Speaker 6: I think you got to give him that respect. Now,
Speaker 6: if you turn it over to the upside question, that's
Speaker 6: where it turns back to fields, it turns back to love.
Speaker 6: But to say either of those guys is better than
Speaker 6: a guy that's a ten year vet, twelve year vet,
Speaker 6: that has done it at a high level for so
Speaker 6: long and proven to be irreplaceable to this point. I
Speaker 6: know he hasn't gott an extension yet with the Vikings,
Speaker 6: but they signed him to a big, guaranteed contract many
Speaker 6: years ago now and they continued to extend him, and
Speaker 6: he's kept them in the hunt here with this thing,
Speaker 6: so to me, until proven otherwise, I think Kirk Cousins,
Speaker 6: not Jerk. Cousins, deserves to get the agulation.
Speaker 2: Hey, quit being a homer. I'll call him a jerk now.
Speaker 4: The way you ask that would be exactly why I
Speaker 4: would answer that because I think that right now it's
Speaker 4: Kirk Cousins. But if I projected a year into the future,
Speaker 4: I think at this time next year it will be
Speaker 4: either Jordan Love or Justin Fields.
Speaker 2: This next one, I think is very easy. Maybe you disagree.
Speaker 4: We'll see the best non quarterback player on offense in
Speaker 4: the NFC North.
Speaker 6: It has to be Justin Jefferson right now, and it
Speaker 6: just again for the same reason I answered before. I mean,
Speaker 6: I've watched this guy play so many times now, and dude,
Speaker 6: trust me, you were talking about looking up the Jordan
Speaker 6: Love film. I remember looking at Justin Jefferson's film when
Speaker 6: he was coming out and thinking, Okay, could he be there?
Speaker 6: Could he be available for Green Bay picking in the
Speaker 6: latter half of the second round or the latter half
Speaker 6: of the first round?
Speaker 3: Excuse me?
Speaker 6: And unfortunately, I think he ended up going six to
Speaker 6: seven picks ahead of him to Minnesota. I thought that
Speaker 6: was a great move for the Vikings, also one of
Speaker 6: those very one of those very few and far between
Speaker 6: trades where I think it worked out for both teams.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 6: I think Stefan Diggs was a perfect fit for Buffalo
Speaker 6: and what they've been able to do there, while Jefferson
Speaker 6: was sort of that restart and reset that Minnesota needed. Yeah,
Speaker 6: justin Jefferson is He's an All Pro. He could end
Speaker 6: up being the best one out of this entire era,
Speaker 6: and certainly a guy that I think you look at again,
Speaker 6: looking at the elite talent in this league, A lot
Speaker 6: of that, you know, starts with that veteran, proven, you know,
Speaker 6: established players in Minnesota.
Speaker 4: I remember reading about him at LSU and how he
Speaker 4: felt slightly because of I can't know if it was
Speaker 4: like the recruiting process that he had in college, but
Speaker 4: he was just so slighted about that. And he wound
Speaker 4: up going out and scoring like four touchdowns in the
Speaker 4: playoff game that year for LSU, and then they'd be
Speaker 4: passed over by you know, so many teams in that
Speaker 4: year's draft, especially the Eagles taking Jalen Rager ahead of him.
Speaker 3: You know, I didn't phone his way to Minnesota.
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly, they wind up with the same team. It's
Speaker 4: funny how that works out, man.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I just guys that have that chip like that, you
Speaker 4: can't replace that, that mindset. So how about on the
Speaker 4: other side of the football, best defensive player in your
Speaker 4: estimation in the NFC Norsers.
Speaker 6: I'm finally using my homework card here. I'm going to
Speaker 6: say it's jyr Alexander. The Green Bay Packers defense is
Speaker 6: different with Jyry Alexander. Now, they were able to get
Speaker 6: through twenty twenty one without him for the most part.
Speaker 6: I think he played eight defense that like dime snaps
Speaker 6: in the Divisional playoff game against San Francisco, but otherwise
Speaker 6: missed the entire season after injuring his shoulder. This guy,
Speaker 6: I think, is on the precipice of being one of
Speaker 6: the truly special players of this era. And it's so
Speaker 6: fitting that he was also Brian Goodkin's first pick as
Speaker 6: general manager of the Packers. I'm just so excited by
Speaker 6: watching him in a twenty six years old the amount
Speaker 6: of confidence that he plays with Travis you've probably seen
Speaker 6: it too.
Speaker 3: I Mean when these guys, sometimes.
Speaker 6: You talk to him, they're like, oh, I'm confident, I'm unshakable,
Speaker 6: And sometimes it's almost like, are you telling me that?
Speaker 6: Are you trying to prove that to yourself? Jiy Alexander
Speaker 6: has nothing to prove to anybody, if you know his
Speaker 6: backstory again, kind of like Jefferson completely overlooked in North Carolina,
Speaker 6: of all places. He's like a two star recruit in
Speaker 6: North Carolina. I'll never forget that, Charlotte, and he ends
Speaker 6: up being playing beyond his mind at Louisville, makes himself
Speaker 6: a first round pick despite you know, some size concerns.
Speaker 3: He's one of the best I've ever seen.
Speaker 6: And when he is right, when he's healthy, he can
Speaker 6: shut down anybody. So when we're talking about the Justin
Speaker 6: Jeffersons of the world and that concern of the division,
Speaker 6: you need to shut down cornerback like Jerry Alexander, and
Speaker 6: I think he's right there at the top of that
Speaker 6: position in the entire NFL.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's the man.
Speaker 5: For me.
Speaker 4: It would be either either him or Chauncey Gardner Johnson.
Speaker 4: But going back to the college clips that I was
Speaker 4: talking about, there's a play where he shuts down a
Speaker 4: receiver and then like puts his hands on his hips
Speaker 4: and follows him around the entire play.
Speaker 2: Afterwards, and just just that brash confidence.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 4: I love that in the player, especially backing up with
Speaker 4: their play on the field. So no qualms here about
Speaker 4: that selection. I think this one probably is the easiest
Speaker 4: one of the entire superlatives portion here top coach in
Speaker 4: the NFC at North it's gotta be your.
Speaker 6: Guy, and he doesn't get enough respect. That's the thing
Speaker 6: that ticks me off the most, right. I don't know
Speaker 6: what it is, and maybe you feel a little bit
Speaker 6: too down in Miami. There's something about coming from that
Speaker 6: McVeigh Shanahan coaching tree that I just feel like the
Speaker 6: people get over they get overlooked. And what ticks me
Speaker 6: off the most about Lafleur is that. And no disrespect
Speaker 6: to the AP voters, but the AP Coach of the
Speaker 6: Year voting never ages well.
Speaker 3: They missed the mark.
Speaker 6: On it so many times because it kind of becomes
Speaker 6: the flavor of the Month award. Trust me, if a
Speaker 6: team gets turned around and you do what Brian Dabble
Speaker 6: did last year with no expectations at all, and with
Speaker 6: the Giants, I respect it, I get it. But with Lafleur,
Speaker 6: he came in in nineteen and they won thirteen games.
Speaker 6: They made the NFC Championship Game, although I know it
Speaker 6: already goes in before, but nobody expected anything on a team.
Speaker 6: Everybody thought that Rogers was past it. Okay, so fine,
Speaker 6: Rogers is still good. So we'll just let it slide. Well,
Speaker 6: then in twenty two, in twenty well, Rogers had the
Speaker 6: best season ever for a quarterback, so you're not going
Speaker 6: to get that year. And then twenty one, you know,
Speaker 6: they lose gian year. They have these different things going
Speaker 6: against him. Now he suddenly has won more games a
Speaker 6: head coach than any other coach in NFL history in
Speaker 6: the first three years. And Laflour still doesn't get that respect.
Speaker 6: And what's the number one question right now, Travis going
Speaker 6: into this year, Well, we're really gonna find out about
Speaker 6: Matt lafluor Now, No, you found out about Matt Lafour
Speaker 6: the last four years. You found out out a lot
Speaker 6: about him last year when he pulled that team together
Speaker 6: after going through his first real adversity. You know, they
Speaker 6: never lost back to back regular season games until last season.
Speaker 3: I think this is the.
Speaker 6: Type of year that, in addition to I feel do
Speaker 6: it he's the best right now in this division, absolutely,
Speaker 6: but I feel like greenmy Packers succeed this year, Jordan
Speaker 6: Love succeeds. People need to start putting more respect on
Speaker 6: Matt Laflour's name because what he's done here the last
Speaker 6: three four years now has been pretty special and kind
Speaker 6: of like the Ferris Bueller thing. If you don't start
Speaker 6: paying attention to it, you're gonna miss it.
Speaker 2: I love it, man.
Speaker 4: It's it's such a lazy take to me because like
Speaker 4: it's it's basically says I didn't watch any of the tape.
Speaker 4: I'm just gonna give you this take, Like with with
Speaker 4: Tula for instance, like oh, he got better because he
Speaker 4: had Tyreek Hill. It's like, no, that's mean, No, he
Speaker 4: just was. He played really good football. If you watch
Speaker 4: the games you can see that. So I'm with you
Speaker 4: all the way there, man. And also the Coach of
Speaker 4: the Year, like Belichick won that, since like the early
Speaker 4: Patriots runs back.
Speaker 3: At a fourteen guy, I want to say fourteen maybe he got.
Speaker 4: Because really you could call it the Bill Belichick Awards.
Speaker 4: Just give to him every year there for like twenty
Speaker 4: years and we'd be good with that because he probably
Speaker 4: was that guy for twenty years there or so. But yeah,
Speaker 4: lots of good points there. West, we go ahead and
Speaker 4: finish on this division. Chap Man, who you got this year?
Speaker 4: Are you taking the home squad?
Speaker 6: I have to I have to go with the home
Speaker 6: squad again. I'm gonna use my homework card on that one.
Speaker 6: And the big reason for that is because it goes
Speaker 6: back to what I said from the beginning. This is
Speaker 6: going to be a wide open race if Jordan Love performs.
Speaker 6: Though Creampay actually doesn't have that many questions. I thought
Speaker 6: the two receivers last year proved a lot in Watson
Speaker 6: and Dobbs. I feel like Luke Muskrave that tight end
Speaker 6: is going to be a real down the field, middle
Speaker 6: to field threat that they've been missing. They have augmented
Speaker 6: their roster at the positions they need to do it.
Speaker 6: The one area where they are completely married to where
Speaker 6: it's like this guy needs to perform is Jordan Love.
Speaker 6: I think they're going to put him in a position
Speaker 6: to succeed. And with all the experience he's a now
Speaker 6: working behind Daron Rodgers and just the disposition that he
Speaker 6: carries himself with, I personally feel like this is right
Speaker 6: there for green Bay to bounce back. I know there
Speaker 6: was some I think some Sports Illustrated articles already or
Speaker 6: Monday Morning Quarterback articles talking about how green Bay could
Speaker 6: be a real strong bounce back candidate this year. If
Speaker 6: you look at green Bay's schedule with finishing where they
Speaker 6: finished in the division last year. It actually does set
Speaker 6: up for them pretty well as far as the how
Speaker 6: it looks on paper to be able to pull himself
Speaker 6: back up after a down year in twenty twenty three.
Speaker 6: Well twenty twenty two, not twenty three.
Speaker 2: Sorry, I said, we'll close with this. That's my pick
Speaker 2: as well. Just let you know.
Speaker 4: I'm a big Jordan love fan. I'm gonna back him
Speaker 4: and support him. I think they're doing the right thing
Speaker 4: there in Green Bay by going to him and giving
Speaker 4: him a chance here early or not early, but you know,
Speaker 4: earlier than too late. Early ish where the contract winds
Speaker 4: up comes up there at the end. So Wes Hodkowitz
Speaker 4: Packers dot com. He said it all, man, before you
Speaker 4: get out of here, tell us what you're working on
Speaker 4: this summer. What can the folks look forward to at
Speaker 4: packers dot com with your work?
Speaker 6: Tons of long form features that normally I don't try
Speaker 6: to produce in June, but it just kind of worked
Speaker 6: out that way. Actually, my feature finally on the first
Speaker 6: round pick Lucas van Ness is gonna run next week now,
Speaker 6: so that'll be fun. And then just kind of some
Speaker 6: other little projects that you'll see pop up. Fortunately, this
Speaker 6: will probably end up being my last podcast type appearance.
Speaker 6: We just shut ours down yesterday until training camp, so
Speaker 6: looking forward to that, looking forward to maybe being able
Speaker 6: to break away a little bit and then see what
Speaker 6: this upcoming season has to hold in store for us.
Speaker 6: You know, training camp will be here before we know it.
Speaker 4: Hey man, I'm hoping that we both win the division
Speaker 4: this year, and that means I think we'd play the
Speaker 4: NFSC North Top team next year as well as maybe
Speaker 4: get chance to see Wes in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: If that happened.
Speaker 6: In my element, there will be no air conditioning on
Speaker 6: Christmas Eve at lambeau Field blaring down on my building.
Speaker 4: Man, it was freezing in there, trying to type with
Speaker 4: my fifty degree temperature fingers. In that press box. Was
Speaker 4: a little taste of Green Bay there for us on
Speaker 4: Christmas Day.
Speaker 6: I learned a bad, bad lesson that day, and that
Speaker 6: is always bring a suit code, no matter if you're
Speaker 6: in freaking South Beach, bring us suit rare.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 2: That was such a rarity that day.
Speaker 4: I just just want you to know that we usually
Speaker 4: have beautiful year round down here.
Speaker 2: Wes.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for your time today. Man, I'll
Speaker 4: get you out of here. Wed you said plenty, you
Speaker 4: said enough. Thank you so much you helped us out
Speaker 4: and have a good rest of your summer.
Speaker 3: Man, all right, thanks for having you tube.
Speaker 4: I mean, how much of a gem is Wes fun podcast?
Speaker 4: They are talking all things Packers, vikings, lions, embars. Let's
Speaker 4: get out of here. The next time you guys hear
Speaker 4: from me will be the AFC East episode on Tuesday,
Speaker 4: July the eleventh. Evan Lazar from Patriots dot Com will
Speaker 4: join us for that conversation. Then we have the NFC
Speaker 4: East and then we go ahead and pick up training
Speaker 4: camp previews from the week of July seventeenth, all the
Speaker 4: way up to the start of training camp. So plenty
Speaker 4: to come your way here on the Draft Time podcast.
Speaker 4: You all please be sure to subscribe, rate review, follow
Speaker 4: all that fun stuff. Check out the fish Tank Podcast
Speaker 4: with Seth and Juice, our YouTube channel for Dolphins Today,
Speaker 4: media availabilities.
Speaker 2: And so much more.
Speaker 4: Last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com Until next time.
Speaker 2: Finn's Up, Caroline Ecamer and Daddy is coming.
Speaker 1: Hold