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Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from

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Speaker 1: Packers dot com. I am like Spofford, he is my

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Speaker 1: trusted colleague Weston Hodkoitz. We're coming to you from different

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Speaker 1: locations here at lambeau Field and Wes. It's been such

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Speaker 1: a crazy offseason. I can't even get in the studio now,

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Speaker 1: so I'm up on the fifth floor. I think just

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Speaker 1: down the hall. You're down that way, maybe that way.

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure exactly where you are, but anyway, we

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Speaker 1: are here to resume the podcast and latest unscripted episode.

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Speaker 1: And since our last episode, you were able to cover

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Speaker 1: a press conference that was related to the Packers hosting

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Speaker 1: the draft in twenty twenty five, so I wanted to

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Speaker 1: follow up on that and find out what exactly you learned,

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Speaker 1: because the biggest thing that I from it is that

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Speaker 1: the NFL is going to come into Green Bay here

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Speaker 1: at some point and figure out how to run this

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Speaker 1: whole show. But a lot of the details still very

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Speaker 1: much up in the air as to exactly how this

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Speaker 1: is going to work.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, boss, I mean that was probably my I learned

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Speaker 2: so much, especially our VP of Marketing and fan Engagement,

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Speaker 2: Gabrielle DOAO. It was very enlightening in terms of kind

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Speaker 2: of pulling back some of the layers of the onion

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Speaker 2: and understanding not only what's involved with the packers making

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Speaker 2: the pitch, but what it means once the NFL actually

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Speaker 2: accepts the bid. And one of the big things that

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Speaker 2: I think is, but I've been driving home with our

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Speaker 2: Insider inbox column, is the green Bay Packers City of

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Speaker 2: green Bay are providing the canvas. This is now whatever

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Speaker 2: the NFL wants to paint on it. We know that

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Speaker 2: there's going to be the Lambefield campus involved. That is

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Speaker 2: the resh Center, to our east, the Rush Expo, the

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Speaker 2: ninety three million dollar project here that has brought a

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Speaker 2: lot of new commerce into the area, Lambefield itself, and

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Speaker 2: then to our west, title Town. Those four areas are

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Speaker 2: going to be where you're going to see the media stages,

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Speaker 2: the red carpets, the media rooms, everything related to probably

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Speaker 2: the publicity of the event.

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Speaker 3: The draft stage is completely up to the NFL. They

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Speaker 3: could put it on Lambeau Field, but it's one hundred

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Speaker 3: yard stage, so it would eat up the entire field.

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Speaker 3: If that's the route they went, you know, maybe they

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Speaker 3: have the rest Center available, a lot of different avenues

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Speaker 3: potentially outside, as we've seen some of these concerts recently

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Speaker 3: Train you know, these free concerts have had the stages

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Speaker 3: outside as well. But the fact is that was the

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Speaker 3: most impressive to me that Gabrielle mentioned was Green Bay

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Speaker 3: was really the first team since the NFL started moving

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Speaker 3: around the NFL Draft that it was fronted by the city,

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Speaker 3: by the team they pursued the draft. They wanted this

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Speaker 3: event to be here. Certainly for the green Bay Packers.

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Speaker 3: We're never going to have a Super Bowl here. You

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Speaker 3: and I both know it, at least during our lifetimes.

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Speaker 3: So what does that mean.

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Speaker 2: That means that this is the biggest event that could

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Speaker 2: be in this place, and the Packers work so diligently,

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Speaker 2: so hard, you know. And last thing I'll just close

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Speaker 2: on is really quickly, the fact that Green Bay was

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Speaker 2: really positioning itself for twenty twenty seven, now twenty twenty six,

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Speaker 2: we're gonna have the Wisconsin Notre Dame game. Twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: seven is where they had their sites turned to. They

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Speaker 2: didn't think from what the NFL was saying, that twenty

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Speaker 2: five was going to be a possibility. January, the NFL

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Speaker 2: calls says, hey, you know, we're ready, we will you know,

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Speaker 2: we want to be in consideration for this again. The

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Speaker 2: voters approved it at the spring meetings, and here we go, Michael,

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Speaker 2: in twenty three months, Lambeufield will be home to the

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Speaker 2: NFL Draft.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think it's great that that the Packers

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Speaker 1: and the city of Green Bay got twenty twenty five

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Speaker 1: because later that year, in that summer, is when Mark

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Speaker 1: Murphy will reach the mandatory retirement age as the president

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Speaker 1: and CEO of the Packers at age seventy. So this

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Speaker 1: is something he worked so hard, obviously with the other

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Speaker 1: folks that you mentioned, to get the draft to Green Bay,

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Speaker 1: and now he's actually he will still be the president

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Speaker 1: and CEO of the Packers at the time that the

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Speaker 1: event is hosted, and it sort of becomes, you know,

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Speaker 1: the culmination of his long tenure here atop the Packers organization.

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Speaker 1: So that'll be really exciting. The other thing I want

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Speaker 1: to point out is that for those who are interested

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Speaker 1: in a little bit of history, Cliff Crystal has a

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Speaker 1: story on packers dot com about the only other time

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Speaker 1: that the NFL Draft was held in the state of Wisconsin,

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Speaker 1: and you have to go all the way back to

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Speaker 1: the nineteen forty draft. It was actually held in December

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Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty nine. It was the nineteen forty draft.

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Speaker 1: It was held at a hotel in Milwaukee the day

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Speaker 1: before the Packers were hosting the nineteen thirty nine NFL

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Speaker 1: Championship Game. And there's a lot of great details in there, obviously,

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Speaker 1: the stories of the smoke filled rooms and all the

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Speaker 1: NFL owners gathered in one place, and you know the

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Speaker 1: street and Smith's yearbooks, and you know how they got

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Speaker 1: all the scouting information back then and made the select

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Speaker 1: So a really really interesting historical piece on Packers dot

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Speaker 1: Com by our team history and Cliff Crystal for those

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Speaker 1: I want to check that out. And the draft was

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Speaker 1: like twenty plus rounds or something back then, obviously not

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Speaker 1: as many teams, but twenty plus rounds of selections with

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Speaker 1: with with all the owners smoking their cigars and everything

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Speaker 1: else through throughout a I believe it was a Saturday afternoon,

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Speaker 1: So a really really interesting historical perspective on where the

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Speaker 1: draft is now compared to back then.

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Speaker 3: I had such a smile on my face.

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Speaker 2: You can even hear me jrying to jump over you

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Speaker 2: to talk about this when I was editing that, when

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Speaker 2: I was reading it on Thursday, because it was it

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Speaker 2: the way I equated it, the way I'm envisioning it

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Speaker 2: in my mind, Like Cliff did such a great job

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Speaker 2: of creating the detail of it. It reminds me of

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Speaker 2: if you ever had a fantasy football draft where you

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Speaker 2: rented out of a you know, a bar's, you know, ballroom.

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Speaker 3: To have it. That's basically what it was. Now.

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Speaker 2: Some of these owners, like Curly Lambell, they were entrenched

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Speaker 2: in all this. They're pick of the players. Some owners weren't.

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Speaker 2: Some owners had coaches and they're just kind of sitting

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Speaker 2: around trying to pass time talking to people in that

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Speaker 2: It just again, there's nothing I love more than the

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Speaker 2: wild West of the National Football League. And you kind

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Speaker 2: of forget at that point nineteen forty they'd only had

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Speaker 2: what five six drafts.

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Speaker 3: At that point, it all was sort of this.

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Speaker 2: They didn't know whether to use, you know, like these

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Speaker 2: type of reports or newspapers or not. Some guys just

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Speaker 2: kind of seem like they're picking names out of a hat.

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Speaker 2: But ultimately that's kind of what set the stage for

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Speaker 2: the league that followed in the forties and fifties to come.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that was the fifth NFL Draft. The one that

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Speaker 1: will be in Green Bay in twenty twenty five will

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Speaker 1: be the ninetieth NFL Draft, and something tells me it

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Speaker 1: won't be eighty five years again before the draft is

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Speaker 1: back in Green Bay, or at least we can we

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Speaker 1: can hope for that. So I do want to move

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Speaker 1: on west to our impressions of the first week of OTAs,

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Speaker 1: but I will take care of some sponsor business here.

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Speaker 1: Serious XM NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up

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Speaker 1: to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need

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Speaker 1: twenty four to seven, three sixty five and at Cousins Subs,

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Speaker 1: we have something for everyone like our Wisconsin Cheese Kurds,

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Speaker 1: mac and Cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired

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Speaker 1: with your favorite sub or sub and a bowl Cousin

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Speaker 1: Subs fifty years of better. All right, Well, last week, Wes,

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Speaker 1: we got our first look at the Packers Ota sessions.

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Speaker 1: One per week at this stage of the off season

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Speaker 1: is open to the media, and we will have another

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Speaker 1: one this week, which we can talk about on our

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Speaker 1: next show, but I'll just toss it out to you.

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Speaker 1: Very open ended, What were your initial impressions, What caught

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Speaker 1: your eye the first time seeing the twenty twenty three Packers,

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Speaker 1: at least in terms of the off season roster on

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Speaker 1: the field together.

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Speaker 2: Christian Watson's body, I think is probably the first thing

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Speaker 2: that caught my eye. I mean, my goodness, the dude,

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Speaker 2: in his last press conference with us the Locker Room

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Speaker 2: Availed or Locker Room clean Out Day, talked about how

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Speaker 2: his big goal for the offseason was kind of building

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Speaker 2: himself up better and making sure he gets his body

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Speaker 2: prepared to handle the strength, you know, the stresses of

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Speaker 2: in his seventeen game season.

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Speaker 3: Obviously, you got to play the games. You have to

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Speaker 3: get on the field.

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Speaker 2: But if you ever want to talk about a kid

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Speaker 2: that took that seriously, I mean, I don't know if

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Speaker 2: there's any body fat on him right now. I mean,

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Speaker 2: he just looks strong and lean and fast, and I thought,

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Speaker 2: you know, made some of the biggest plays of the

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Speaker 2: practice in that final two minute period. The offense got

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Speaker 2: off to a little bit of a slow start, but

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Speaker 2: you could I enjoyed and watching how you know, Jordan

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Speaker 2: Love sort of rallied the troops there the second half

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Speaker 2: and then and it is the red zone period is

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Speaker 2: obviously tailor to the offense to a certain extent, but

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Speaker 2: the confidence, the the you know, arm strength, everything. I

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Speaker 2: thought Jordan Love finished the practice on a high note.

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Speaker 2: And that post in the back of the end zone

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Speaker 2: that he threw to Christian Watson, we didn't have a

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Speaker 2: you know, a radar gun on it, but my goodness,

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Speaker 2: that was a fastball that he threw to that kid.

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Speaker 2: And you know, by and large, it's just one practice.

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Speaker 2: We don't know what any of these other ones have

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Speaker 2: looked like. But I was really impressed by what I

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Speaker 2: saw from the young QB.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, the the offense definitely got off to a slow

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Speaker 1: start in terms of the eleven on eleven work that

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Speaker 1: we were watching, but then it seemed as later in

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Speaker 1: the practice got into a red zone period and things

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Speaker 1: started to click a little bit, and we saw in

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Speaker 1: you know, in a span of about five or six

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Speaker 1: red zone snaps, we saw Christian Wattson, Romeo Dobbs, and

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Speaker 1: Soamori Toure all catch touchdown passes from Love toward the

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Speaker 1: end of practice. So the offense definitely finished on a

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Speaker 1: high note. A couple other things that stood out to me.

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Speaker 1: I guess I would say the impression that we had

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Speaker 1: talked about on a previous show of seeing Lucas van

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Speaker 1: Ness in person, the first round draft pick at edge rusher,

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Speaker 1: that sort of carried over. I guess I would say

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Speaker 1: to OTAs where he wasn't just you know, on the

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Speaker 1: field in a rookie mini camp with a bunch of

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Speaker 1: rookies and other tryout guys, like he's out there with,

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Speaker 1: you know, with all the guys and certainly looks from

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Speaker 1: a physical standpoint like he belongs to me. You can

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Speaker 1: just see the physique and the build and the way

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Speaker 1: he carries himself, the way he gets off the ball

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Speaker 1: on the snap in the eleven on eleven all that

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Speaker 1: you can see why this guy was a first round

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Speaker 1: draft pick. So a long way to go. He's got

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Speaker 1: a lot to learn in terms of the defensive scheme

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Speaker 1: and what role he's going to fit best in Joe

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Speaker 1: Berry's defense. But that impression from rookie mini caamp definitely

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Speaker 1: carried over. And the other thing that caught my eye too,

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Speaker 1: in terms of watching both Sean Clifford and Danny Ettling

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Speaker 1: as the backup quarterbacks running things with the second and

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Speaker 1: third units. The ball seemed to find Don Tavian Wis,

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Speaker 1: the fifth round rookie out of Virginia. Ball seemed to

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Speaker 1: find him on a pretty regular basis when we were

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Speaker 1: watching the eleven on eleven's with the twos and the three.

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Speaker 1: So that's something that I'm going to keep my eye

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Speaker 1: on two here moving forward. Obviously there's no pads. It's

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Speaker 1: you know, the underwear league as they call it in OTAs.

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Speaker 1: But certainly as far as first impressions go, that definitely

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Speaker 1: stood out to me as well, just in terms of

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Speaker 1: the number of times that that the ball was headed

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Speaker 1: his way and he was able to make the plays.

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Speaker 2: I totally understand because we're gonna hear it on Wednesday,

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Speaker 2: probably from Matt Leaflor too. You can't crown anybody off

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Speaker 2: of these OTA's practices. But what I always say, I

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Speaker 2: always kind of take the opposite approach to it. You

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Speaker 2: also know what it looks like when guys aren't making plays.

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Speaker 2: You know what it feels like when guys aren't When

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Speaker 2: you get through a practice and you're like, oh, I

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Speaker 2: didn't hear so and so's name the entire time Tay

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Speaker 2: Wicks was in that entire practice, I thought made his

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Speaker 2: presence felt. And I'll always mention this, Michael. It is

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Speaker 2: about consistency. It's about stacking every single day. But what

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Speaker 2: did we say all off season about Romeo Dobbs last year?

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Speaker 2: And he kept doing it? And then it's like, okay,

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Speaker 2: well he was doing it once a week during OTA's

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Speaker 2: with no pads, how's it going to look in training camp?

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Speaker 2: And then it's kept happening during training camp and it

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Speaker 2: started happening in the preseason games. Next thing you know,

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Speaker 2: he's the Week three NFL Offensive Player of the Week.

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Speaker 2: That stuff come pounds because it's not just about okay,

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Speaker 2: he's getting confidence. No, it's telling you something about this player.

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Speaker 2: When you put that stuff on film, that's what we know, Mike.

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Speaker 2: You and I can pontificate and guess all of this

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Speaker 2: stuff and where guys are gonna go, But until you

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Speaker 2: actually see it, that's where you first can really start

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Speaker 2: to believe it. And I just I was really impressed

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Speaker 2: by the young man because coming out of Virginia, what

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Speaker 2: an interesting story. Your story's up right now on packers

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Speaker 2: dot Com. A really enlightening look into his path and

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Speaker 2: how he got to Virginia and what he made out

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Speaker 2: of the opportunity. The young man just graduated college, which

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Speaker 2: he joked about in the locker room last week that

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Speaker 2: his mom was probably more excited about getting that degree

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Speaker 2: than she was actually him getting drafted. But the way

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Speaker 2: he carries himself in the approach he took during a

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Speaker 2: very trying senior year, this is a new chapter for

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Speaker 2: him now. And as you know, one of the things

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Speaker 2: I put in Insider inbox when you get these young

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Speaker 2: guys that aren't first round picks, that are Day three picks,

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Speaker 2: maybe had one season where they kind of lit things up,

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Speaker 2: but then maybe didn't finish the way they wanted to.

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Speaker 2: It's not about how you got here in the build.

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Speaker 2: It's what you do now that you are here in

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Speaker 2: the third round picks, the fifth round picks that have

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Speaker 2: succeeded on Marquez Valdez, Scantling and Aaron Jones, That's what

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Speaker 2: they did. It didn't matter once they were here where

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Speaker 2: they were drafted. It mattered what they were able to

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Speaker 2: accomplish when they were finally in this offense.

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Speaker 3: And it's wide open.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And Wix is intriguing to me too. And we

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Speaker 1: just posted a story that I had written on him,

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Speaker 1: mostly off of an interview during the rookie Mini camp

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Speaker 1: just about not saying that there's been a boatload of

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Speaker 1: adversity that this young man necessarily has overcome. But you

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Speaker 1: mentioned obviously a very trying final season at Virginia and

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Speaker 1: there's a coaching change and a system change, and things

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Speaker 1: didn't go all that well after a really really big

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Speaker 1: season in twenty twenty one, will you rewind the clock

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Speaker 1: a little bit further. This is a young man from

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Speaker 1: Louisiana who wanted to play Power five Conference NCAA football,

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Speaker 1: and within two weeks before signing day as a senior

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Speaker 1: in high school, he didn't have a five offer. He

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Speaker 1: was most likely going to be staying at home at

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Speaker 1: Louisiana Lafayette, staying in state. He did have a Division

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Speaker 1: one offer, and that was looking like where he was headed.

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Speaker 1: Suddenly Virginia swoops in at the last minute, and within

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Speaker 1: a span of like a week to ten days, he

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Speaker 1: went from you know, staying in state at a smaller

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Speaker 1: school in Division one to suddenly getting an offer and

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Speaker 1: making his commitment to Virginia to play in the ACC

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Speaker 1: And then obviously a few years later he becomes a

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Speaker 1: fifth round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers. So

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Speaker 1: this is a young man that you just you can't

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Speaker 1: count him out right, I mean, he's he's been up

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Speaker 1: against it before. And as you said, it's a wide

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Speaker 1: open position group in terms of the depth chart for

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Speaker 1: the Packers heading into twenty twenty three. Also, with regard

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Speaker 1: to the depth chart, I don't want to get too

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Speaker 1: far into the weeds here because there were some veterans

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Speaker 1: who were not at the practice that we witness last week.

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Speaker 1: OTAs are voluntary, not mandatory, except pretty stretch except for

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Speaker 1: what we'll be there when, when required. But the one

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Speaker 1: thing on the depth chart that that did sort of

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Speaker 1: follow our projections when we were previewing OTAs is that

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Speaker 1: Rudy Ford was with the number one defense at safety

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Speaker 1: alongside Darnell Savage. At least that is where things are starting.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: We know that with with Jonathan Owens and in his

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Speaker 1: gains and and the draft pick Anthony Johnson Junior, all

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Speaker 1: sorts of different possibilities as far as how things could

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Speaker 1: go at safety. But in chatting with Darnell Savage afterward,

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Speaker 1: you know, he obviously went through a lot of ups

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Speaker 1: and downs last season in twenty twenty two, and you know,

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Speaker 1: it's not just to say that that he's that he

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Speaker 1: you know, is ready to put twenty twenty two behind him.

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Speaker 1: He genuinely, in speaking with the media, just kept talking

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Speaker 1: about how excited he is for twenty twenty three. He's

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Speaker 1: looking at you know, he's looked at the film. He's

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Speaker 1: learned a lot, but he's also just looking forward to

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Speaker 1: the clean slate and the fresh start and and what

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Speaker 1: a new season can bring for a veteran player whose

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Speaker 1: previous season did not go the way he wanted it

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Speaker 1: to and did not measure up to previous seasons that

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Speaker 1: we've seen from Darnell Savage in this Green Bay Packers defense.

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Speaker 1: So just just seeing, you know, you don't always see

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Speaker 1: a fifth year guy who's you know, at voluntary OTAs

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Speaker 1: he doesn't have to be here. But he's genuinely, you know,

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Speaker 1: fired up and excited about what lies ahead for him.

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Speaker 1: And I think I think that attitude is something that

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Speaker 1: he wants to see permeate throughout the rest of the

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Speaker 1: defense as he is now really the elder statesman at

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Speaker 1: safety with with Adrian Amos not being re signed as

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Speaker 1: a free.

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Speaker 2: Agent, and Darnell Savage isn't gonna say this, but I'll

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Speaker 2: be happily say it. I mean, when you talk about

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Speaker 2: a young man that's on the fifth year option, a

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Speaker 2: guaranteed contract for the season, there aren't these huge workout

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Speaker 2: bonuses factored into that like there are other unrestricted free

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Speaker 2: agent contract offers. He is here to get better, and

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Speaker 2: I think he's here to send a message to everybody

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Speaker 2: with the Packers that I am still the first round

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Speaker 2: pick you thought I was four years ago, and I

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Speaker 2: can be the face of this back end. You know,

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Speaker 2: he made such a great, you know, one to two

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Speaker 2: combo with Adrian Namas. Had felt like their styles really

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Speaker 2: did compliment each other very well. But when the Packers

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Speaker 2: drafted him in twenty nineteen, the first defensive back off

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Speaker 2: the board that year, it was so that he could

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Speaker 2: eventually someday beat the franchise. You know, safety back there

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Speaker 2: the guy that'll be the face of this thing, and

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Speaker 2: now he's in that position to do so. Mike, I

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Speaker 2: don't know how the safety competition is going to work out.

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Speaker 2: I don't know who's going to prevail if Rudy Ford

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Speaker 2: holds off the pack But what I will say, you know,

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Speaker 2: I go back to twenty thirteen I talk about this

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Speaker 2: a lot, and that was where you had the big

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Speaker 2: switch after that season. That's where they drafted Hock Clinton Dix.

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Speaker 2: That's where they moved over Micah Hyde. But one of

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Speaker 2: the reasons for that it wasn't we put so much

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Speaker 2: of this on well m d. Jennings or Jeron McMillan.

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Speaker 2: Now I go back to that training camp, Mike. We

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Speaker 2: got to the final week of camp and I didn't

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Speaker 2: know whether or not there would be a fourth safety

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Speaker 2: on the roster. They just didn't have the depth, they

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Speaker 2: didn't have the numbers, and ultimately Chris Banjo end up

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Speaker 2: being that fourth guy, who was a month earlier signed

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Speaker 2: as a rookie free agent.

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Speaker 3: I love the.

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Speaker 2: Fact that they cast the net that they did to

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Speaker 2: find a player. You know, you look at Michael, you

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Speaker 2: have Rudy Ford, experience, started games for this defense last year.

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Speaker 2: Then you look at it, Okay, what's going on over here,

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Speaker 2: Well you have you know, Tarvarius Moore coming in, former

376
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Speaker 2: third round pick, had some injury issues, but looking to

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Speaker 2: come back also gives you some special teams flexibility. Dalan

378
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Speaker 2: Levitt a guy that's been there, done that. Jonathan Owens

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Speaker 2: started seventeen games last year, had one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 2: five tackles in nine hundred and eighty snaps. And then

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Speaker 2: the guy that I think very few people have talked

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Speaker 2: about is ns Gains. Where Mike, if you know nothing

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Speaker 2: about pro football, if you know nothing about the players

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Speaker 2: and how they line up on this roster, and you

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Speaker 2: just look at Ennis Gains, the guy looks like an

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Speaker 2: NFL safety six foot two, two hundred pounds. Can thud

387
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Speaker 2: I mean they call him thump for a reason.

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Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, any great name by the way.

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Speaker 3: Great nickname.

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Speaker 2: But I think if you notice what happened when he

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Speaker 2: got that second injury with the hamstring, he got you know,

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Speaker 2: the injury designation, and then he came back, he looked

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Speaker 2: like a different guy to me. He looked healthy, he

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Speaker 2: looked confident, and by the end of last year, I

395
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Speaker 2: think he was running with the number one you know,

396
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Speaker 2: gunners and jammers on the punt team. So it is

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Speaker 2: a lot of options for them back there. I don't

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Speaker 2: know who's going to prevail, but I like the fact

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Speaker 2: that they at least gave themselves a multiplicity of things

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Speaker 2: that they could potentially look towards. Also with the fact

401
00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,520
Speaker 2: that sometimes these guys can't switch into the slot as well.

402
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Speaker 2: We saw it last year with you know, Darnell Savage late.

403
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Speaker 3: In the season.

404
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Speaker 2: A lot of flexibility with the safety position. In addition

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Speaker 2: to the fact that it is a core play, a

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Speaker 2: core position on special teams or defense.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you have you have a mixture of guys who

408
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Speaker 1: have been here and know the system with other new

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Speaker 1: guys that have a certain level of experience in the

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Speaker 1: NFL with some other team who are learning a new system,

411
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Speaker 1: but they played a fair amount of NFL football. So

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Speaker 1: it's an interesting mix in terms of how that's going

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Speaker 1: to sort itself out. One last thing to touch on

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Speaker 1: here before we go west, and that is that we

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Speaker 1: heard from third year cornerback Eric Stokes with regard to

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Speaker 1: his injury from last year in the Detroit game, or

417
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Speaker 1: I should say injuries really to be accurate, and what

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Speaker 1: has been a very very long recovery process for him.

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Speaker 1: It turns out that in that Detroit game at Ford Field,

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Speaker 1: he suffered both a knee injury and a foot injury.

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Speaker 1: It turns out that and he had to have procedures

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Speaker 1: done on both. It turns out that the foot injury

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Speaker 1: is the one that was a lot more serious and

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Speaker 1: has required a lot more recovery time. He was actually

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Speaker 1: off the foot completely for multiple months before he was

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Speaker 1: even able to get back on crutches and then get

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Speaker 1: back into walking and running as the off season moved along.

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Speaker 1: But this has been a long process for Eric Stokes

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Speaker 1: and that process continues. He is not out on the

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Speaker 1: practice field yet. He's obviously aiming to try to get

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Speaker 1: back for training. Cat That may be a little bit

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Speaker 1: aggressive of a timeline considering the foot injury and everything

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Speaker 1: he's had to deal with there. But but we certainly saw,

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Speaker 1: and as you wrote about on our website, another story

435
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,560
Speaker 1: to check out for those who are interested, that the smiling,

436
00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:35,480
Speaker 1: somewhat happy, go lucky Eric Stokes is back because he

437
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,320
Speaker 1: sees the light at the end of the tunnel with

438
00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:42,359
Speaker 1: regard to this long recovery, and he's one of the

439
00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:45,479
Speaker 1: guys that that brightens up a locker room, there's no

440
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:49,760
Speaker 1: question about it. And he's looking forward to getting back

441
00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:52,479
Speaker 1: on the field whenever that may be, and the Packers

442
00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:55,600
Speaker 1: are certainly going to be patient, but he's looking forward

443
00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,199
Speaker 1: to getting back on the field here at some point

444
00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:00,520
Speaker 1: in the calendar year twenty two, twenty three.

445
00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:02,879
Speaker 2: Mike, you know what impresses me about this young man

446
00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:04,680
Speaker 2: and you were a part of the scrum a little

447
00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:09,040
Speaker 2: bit too last Tuesday, was it's really easy to when

448
00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:11,399
Speaker 2: things are going well, to put up the posts and

449
00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:13,600
Speaker 2: notes in your locker telling you this is what you

450
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,000
Speaker 2: wanted and you know now you're living the dream and

451
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,440
Speaker 2: things like that, and in all this positive affirmation when

452
00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:21,520
Speaker 2: when things are going well, when you're coming off a

453
00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:23,600
Speaker 2: year like he did and as a rookie in twenty

454
00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:27,200
Speaker 2: twenty one, but to walk the walk when things aren't

455
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,040
Speaker 2: going great when you do sustain probably the biggest injury

456
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,000
Speaker 2: of his life with that Liz Frank two you know

457
00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:37,200
Speaker 2: plate and two screws in his foot and yeah yeah,

458
00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:39,840
Speaker 2: Eric mentions there was some bad times in there, but

459
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,320
Speaker 2: to still have the positivity that he has and still

460
00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:45,920
Speaker 2: have the short memory to want to get back out

461
00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:48,680
Speaker 2: there and show that the twenty twenty one Eric Stokes

462
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 2: was the real deal, that that's the guy that could

463
00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:54,080
Speaker 2: potentially be a staple for this defense for years to come.

464
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:56,679
Speaker 2: I felt like that was such a huge moment for

465
00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:58,520
Speaker 2: him and if he can get back off this thing

466
00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:00,639
Speaker 2: and get back on the field, I think it's going

467
00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:02,639
Speaker 2: to be something that really propels him into the second

468
00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:05,600
Speaker 2: chapter of his career, because, as he mentions, you know,

469
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 2: last year, even before the injury, it wasn't what he wanted.

470
00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:10,280
Speaker 2: You know, he had fourteen pass deflections in a pick

471
00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,280
Speaker 2: in his rookie season, had nine starts last year, you know,

472
00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:15,280
Speaker 2: eight and a half, you know, before he injured himself

473
00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:18,800
Speaker 2: in Detroit, and didn't have any pass deflections, didn't have

474
00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:22,840
Speaker 2: any takeaways. And the key marker for a lot of

475
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:26,160
Speaker 2: those players is being able to put all that stuff

476
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,439
Speaker 2: behind you as a defensive back and push forward. And

477
00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:31,639
Speaker 2: I feel like there's so many parallels between him and

478
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,440
Speaker 2: jyr Alexander that way, that that short memory of having

479
00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:37,000
Speaker 2: confidence in what you do and knowing that when you

480
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:38,880
Speaker 2: get your opportunity, you're going to make the most of it.

481
00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:41,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we always talk obviously about the year two

482
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:45,000
Speaker 1: jump for players, right well, in Stokes's case, as you said,

483
00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:47,240
Speaker 1: his year two didn't start out the way he wanted.

484
00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:49,760
Speaker 1: And now it's almost as though he's going to get

485
00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,960
Speaker 1: a he's going to get a redo on the year

486
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,560
Speaker 1: two because at the end, at the end of his

487
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,040
Speaker 1: rookie season, this is a guy that we saw come

488
00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:01,800
Speaker 1: within an eyelash of a pick six of Jimmy Garoppolo

489
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,439
Speaker 1: in the playoff game against San Francisco that would have

490
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:09,320
Speaker 1: completely turned the game, much as the turnovers did in

491
00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 1: the other direction. He was, you know, the opportunity was there.

492
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:15,959
Speaker 1: It didn't quite go his way, but then you know,

493
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:18,800
Speaker 1: think that it didn't carry over to the following season.

494
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,359
Speaker 1: So now he gets he gets a reboot with that

495
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:25,720
Speaker 1: once he can get himself healthy and get himself back

496
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,000
Speaker 1: out there. The Packers feel good about where they are

497
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,720
Speaker 1: with regard to having Alexander and Douglas on the outside.

498
00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:35,520
Speaker 1: You have Keishawn Nixon in the slot, some other young

499
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 1: depth behind those guys. But when this defense can get

500
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,000
Speaker 1: Eric Stokes back, and then you're looking at who those

501
00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 1: top four cornerbacks are when you want to go to

502
00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,719
Speaker 1: a dime package or perhaps some different types of nickel

503
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:52,160
Speaker 1: packages using three cornerbacks, just having that many options, his return,

504
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:55,600
Speaker 1: whenever that happens in twenty twenty three, his return could

505
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:57,600
Speaker 1: be a real boost to the Packers defense.

506
00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:00,359
Speaker 2: And let's be honest, Mike, we can tape this right now.

507
00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:02,560
Speaker 2: We can talk about all these things. There's always things

508
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:04,639
Speaker 2: that happen. You know, last year, I think the Packers

509
00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:06,399
Speaker 2: had a pretty clear vision for how they wanted the

510
00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,840
Speaker 2: safeties and secondary to shake out. It didn't work out

511
00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,400
Speaker 2: that way, you know, with Stokes going down a year earlier.

512
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,040
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody thought a shoulder injury sustained in

513
00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:16,880
Speaker 2: Week four by Jyry Alexander would really turn the tide

514
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,040
Speaker 2: of what people thought would be a really deep cornerback room.

515
00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:21,280
Speaker 2: It led to Rasulle Douglass coming in, but as we've seen,

516
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 2: I mean, JayR is just a different beast when he's

517
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,040
Speaker 2: on the field. You need to have your options there

518
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:28,679
Speaker 2: at cornerback and I don't know how it'll shape out.

519
00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:30,320
Speaker 2: I don't know what it's going to look like when

520
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:34,040
Speaker 2: Eric Stokes is clear to perform again. But again, guys

521
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:36,360
Speaker 2: do find their opportunities, and a lot of times, unfortunately

522
00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:38,560
Speaker 2: it has something to do with injuries. So as long

523
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:40,119
Speaker 2: as he's still in this thing, as long as he

524
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:42,639
Speaker 2: can put that injury behind him and press forward, I

525
00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 2: still think there's a really bright future there with that kid.

526
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, another OTA practice to watch this week, and

527
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:51,359
Speaker 1: locker room interviews and everything else that go along with it.

528
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:53,760
Speaker 1: So we'll have plenty more to talk about on our

529
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:55,760
Speaker 1: next show, but for now we'll call it a rap

530
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:58,800
Speaker 1: on this edition of Packers Unscripty'd be sure to follow

531
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:02,000
Speaker 1: all of our coverage of everything going on with the team.

532
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 1: Is there for you on packers dot com for Wes,

533
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:07,160
Speaker 1: I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody.

534
00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:08,800
Speaker 3: We will see you next time.