WEBVTT - #901 Packers Unscripted: Many moving parts 0:00:01.730 --> 0:00:07.610 Hi everybody. 0:00:07.650 --> 0:00:11.570 Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers.com. I 0:00:11.619 --> 0:00:14.520 am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my partner in 0:00:14.540 --> 0:00:17.840 everything Packers, Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from 0:00:17.860 --> 0:00:21.160 the Pottawatomie Sportsbook studio inside the walls of Lambeau Field. 0:00:21.220 --> 0:00:23.319 And Wes, we have a ton of stuff to talk 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:27.530 about on the show because these last few days have been, um, 0:00:28.140 --> 0:00:32.520 pretty wild and crazy on the personnel front here at 1265. 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:37.000 Normally we get to this show when the initial 53-man 0:00:37.060 --> 0:00:39.890 roster is set, and we're talking about who's kept at 0:00:39.909 --> 0:00:42.190 this position and how many guys are here, and we'll 0:00:42.229 --> 0:00:44.810 certainly get into some of that. But we have to 0:00:44.890 --> 0:00:47.589 start with the fact that on roster cut-down day, the 0:00:47.630 --> 0:00:51.550 Packers made three trades. They traded one player to acquire 0:00:51.590 --> 0:00:55.720 a draft pick. They acquired two other players for draft picks. 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:57.880 It's a busy time around here. 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.660 It's a busy time. It was funny, somebody in the 0:01:00.700 --> 0:01:03.720 insider inbox asked me about what the biggest surprise was 0:01:03.820 --> 0:01:05.780 on cut down day. To be honest with you, I 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.560 don't really think there was a big surprise, but it 0:01:08.620 --> 0:01:12.039 was the litany of things that did happen were almost 0:01:12.060 --> 0:01:15.560 the surprise, right? I was not anticipating the Packers keeping 0:01:15.580 --> 0:01:18.730 three quarterbacks. I would have been very wrong. There would 0:01:18.750 --> 0:01:20.110 have been a lot of people in Insider Inbox that 0:01:20.130 --> 0:01:21.610 would have shoved that in my face if they did. 0:01:21.830 --> 0:01:24.530 Oh, me too. They would have been the same with me. 0:01:24.670 --> 0:01:29.890 Yeah, so the fact that Kyle McCord wasn't on the 53, 0:01:29.890 --> 0:01:33.010 that is what it is. But two things about the 0:01:33.030 --> 0:01:36.050 McCord situation. One, four teams in the National Football League 0:01:36.090 --> 0:01:40.460 currently have four quarterbacks on their 53-man roster. A fifth team, Cleveland, 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.619 kept four because Dylan Gabriel went to injured reserve. There 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:48.180 weren't a lot of good backup quarterbacks available. So you 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:51.770 look at the situation that unfolds in Miami. First year, 0:01:51.810 --> 0:01:55.090 John Eric Sullivan running the ship there. They sign Malik Willis. 0:01:55.710 --> 0:01:59.010 They trade Quinn Ewers. They cut both of their quarterbacks. 0:01:59.610 --> 0:02:01.590 He makes a phone call to his old buddy up 0:02:01.630 --> 0:02:05.050 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Brian Gutekunst, and trades a six-round 0:02:05.090 --> 0:02:09.090 pick in 2028. For a quarterback that the Green Bay 0:02:09.130 --> 0:02:12.510 Packers signed off the street back in January. I don't 0:02:12.550 --> 0:02:15.190 know what all went into Kyle McCord and Philadelphia and 0:02:15.230 --> 0:02:16.570 him not returning to the Eagles. 0:02:16.710 --> 0:02:16.990 Right. 0:02:17.690 --> 0:02:19.370 But the fact that Green Bay got him as a 0:02:19.410 --> 0:02:24.830 future signing and seven months later threw some fairy dust 0:02:24.950 --> 0:02:27.290 on it and became a draft pick is just one 0:02:27.310 --> 0:02:30.310 of the more inconceivable things I've ever witnessed. And that's 0:02:30.370 --> 0:02:34.370 just talking about the quarterback situation. And then, obviously, everything 0:02:34.389 --> 0:02:36.959 that's happened here with Caleb Johnson, a guy that was 0:02:37.010 --> 0:02:41.679 a former All-American at Iowa, third-round pick for the Pittsburgh Steelers. 0:02:42.260 --> 0:02:45.740 Situation kind of unfolds there. Comes available on the market. 0:02:45.860 --> 0:02:47.780 The Packers find out Josh Jacobs is going to start 0:02:47.820 --> 0:02:50.440 the season on the commissioner's exemplist. They're in the market 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:53.620 suddenly for a running back. And they make a deal 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.889 to get Johnson. and then throwing Mark Redman coming over 0:02:57.930 --> 0:03:01.519 from the LA Rams. The Rams kept five tight ends. 0:03:01.540 --> 0:03:04.240 Yeah, this was tight end six on the Rams roster. 0:03:04.260 --> 0:03:06.980 I mean, Sean McVay, he's become the king of the 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:11.020 three tight end set in the newfangled offenses in the NFL, right? 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:14.920 Not surprising they had... Six viable tight ends on their roster. 0:03:14.940 --> 0:03:16.760 They keep five and ship one to Green Bay and 0:03:16.810 --> 0:03:18.290 they get a draft pick in return. 0:03:18.470 --> 0:03:22.030 They got two starting caliber tight ends, veterans there. They drafted, 0:03:22.050 --> 0:03:24.470 I think, one in the second round. And Mark Redman, 0:03:24.510 --> 0:03:28.070 who had a really strong preseason, six catches, 63 yards, 0:03:28.110 --> 0:03:31.260 and he's considered more of a wide inline blocking tight end. 0:03:31.990 --> 0:03:33.930 the Packers come calling for him after he spent his 0:03:33.950 --> 0:03:35.850 rookie season on L.A. 's practice spot. So to answer 0:03:35.870 --> 0:03:38.410 your question, Michael, when you asked me about all the 0:03:38.450 --> 0:03:41.050 developments that happened and the trades that happened, it was 0:03:41.250 --> 0:03:45.840 a very busy day on the Packers' front, but a 0:03:45.900 --> 0:03:47.960 lot of the moves they made made total sense. 0:03:48.020 --> 0:03:51.180 Yeah, they did make sense. I want to get back 0:03:51.220 --> 0:03:53.440 to the quarterback thing for one minute because there's a 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:57.940 part of me that just is picturing Gutekunst and his 0:03:58.030 --> 0:04:02.280 personnel staff, and they're beginning this discussion of like, boy, 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:04.740 do you think, like, is there any way that Kyle 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.240 McCord could clear waivers and we could get him back 0:04:07.300 --> 0:04:11.020 on the practice squad? And then the phone rings like, hey, Brian, 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.230 Sully down in Miami is on the line and starts 0:04:15.350 --> 0:04:17.770 asking about the quarterback. Well, that takes care of that. 0:04:17.850 --> 0:04:20.730 He's not going to clear waivers, and Miami is not 0:04:20.790 --> 0:04:23.990 interested in another team potentially ahead of them in the 0:04:24.050 --> 0:04:26.070 waiver claim order putting in a claim, so they're going 0:04:26.089 --> 0:04:28.270 to offer a draft pick and make sure they get 0:04:28.300 --> 0:04:31.039 a guy that they believe can be their number two quarterback. 0:04:32.140 --> 0:04:35.560 you just never know how these things are going to unfold. 0:04:35.660 --> 0:04:35.920 Right. 0:04:36.580 --> 0:04:39.960 And the Packers getting a tight end who I guess 0:04:39.980 --> 0:04:42.680 by all accounts would be considered probably tight end four 0:04:42.900 --> 0:04:44.820 on the active roster right now, but he was tight 0:04:44.870 --> 0:04:48.770 end six on the roster for the Rams. So he was, 0:04:49.210 --> 0:04:52.070 he was expendable, but the Packers weren't going to wait 0:04:52.310 --> 0:04:56.510 to risk anybody else claiming Mark Redman before the Packers 0:04:56.529 --> 0:04:59.120 would be up in the waiver claim order. So they 0:04:59.620 --> 0:05:01.460 call up the Rams and make an offer. I mean, 0:05:02.510 --> 0:05:05.890 It was a lot of stuff going down. What stood 0:05:05.980 --> 0:05:08.140 out to me the most– oh, and we should say 0:05:08.220 --> 0:05:11.300 also because we have so many things to talk about here. 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.489 There is another– there is a new QB3 in the 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.370 building for the Green Bay Packers already, and he was 0:05:18.410 --> 0:05:22.410 just here for a few days last week. Keaton Slovis– 0:05:22.850 --> 0:05:25.450 with the Arizona Cardinals. He was in the joint practice. 0:05:25.490 --> 0:05:28.770 He threw, I believe it was 35 passes through for 0:05:28.810 --> 0:05:32.410 over 200 yards in the preseason finale on Friday night 0:05:32.690 --> 0:05:35.640 while Kyle McCord was throwing for four touchdown passes and 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:39.240 pulling off a two score comeback in the last four 0:05:39.300 --> 0:05:41.500 minutes of Friday night's game for green Bay and then 0:05:41.540 --> 0:05:45.580 getting himself a new job in Miami. Slovis is now 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:50.469 the Packers third string quarterback who is on the practice squad. Um, 0:05:51.710 --> 0:05:58.580 When Brian Gutekunst talks about roster building and personnel movement 0:05:58.620 --> 0:06:01.850 in this league being a 24-7, 365 business, he is 0:06:01.910 --> 0:06:02.350 not kidding. 0:06:02.390 --> 0:06:06.250 He's not kidding. And also, while you were flying cross-country 0:06:06.290 --> 0:06:09.589 last week, Jonu Smith suddenly becomes a Green Bay Packer. 0:06:09.790 --> 0:06:11.969 The Packers added a tight end, a veteran tight end, 0:06:11.980 --> 0:06:14.160 a guy that played in the league for nine years now. 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:17.760 Started his career, his second NFL season, was with Matt LaFleur. 0:06:18.420 --> 0:06:21.720 LaFleur kind of threw some jokes out there about that 0:06:21.860 --> 0:06:23.660 offense back then and some of the challenges they had. 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.770 But if you look at what the situation that Smith 0:06:26.810 --> 0:06:28.530 was thrown into, that was at the end of the 0:06:28.570 --> 0:06:32.390 Delaney-Walker era where Walker started getting these season-long injuries and 0:06:32.430 --> 0:06:35.730 he was thrown into the fire immediately. So whether it 0:06:35.770 --> 0:06:38.950 was adding two tight ends, whether it was trading McCord, 0:06:38.970 --> 0:06:41.750 you're going to have to bring in another quarterback, whether 0:06:41.810 --> 0:06:44.420 it's J. Michael Sturdivant making it as an undrafted free agent, 0:06:45.170 --> 0:06:49.070 an undrafted rookie. When you look at roster cut down 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.520 day and the decisions that Gutekunst and his scouts are weighing, 0:06:53.420 --> 0:06:55.940 it just shows you as much as you and I 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:58.540 are sitting on the peripheral, kind of like taking all 0:06:58.580 --> 0:07:00.400 this in and trying to make heads or tails of it, 0:07:01.060 --> 0:07:03.770 what it must be like to be in that room 0:07:04.330 --> 0:07:07.710 and having those conversations with all this different stuff aflutter. 0:07:08.050 --> 0:07:11.070 Because decisions that were made in those 32 personnel rooms 0:07:11.090 --> 0:07:13.370 throughout the National Football League will have huge implications for 0:07:13.410 --> 0:07:15.900 who ultimately is in the playoffs and who wins division titles, 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:18.310 and in some cases, who wins a Super Bowl. So 0:07:18.690 --> 0:07:20.670 for the Packers, feeling like they need to augment their 0:07:20.710 --> 0:07:23.880 roster in these ways, I think was very important. And 0:07:23.900 --> 0:07:26.830 if I may close on one last note. Oh, you're 0:07:26.870 --> 0:07:29.250 not closing. We got a lot to talk about. But 0:07:29.330 --> 0:07:30.810 the other thing I liked about this, and it was 0:07:30.850 --> 0:07:33.250 probably my favorite point, not that I necessarily raised, but 0:07:33.270 --> 0:07:35.230 it was off the question someone had asked in inbox. 0:07:35.850 --> 0:07:38.810 The Packers only had six draft picks this year, five 0:07:38.830 --> 0:07:40.870 of whom actually made the roster. Damani Jackson will start 0:07:40.890 --> 0:07:43.330 the season on the practice squad. There was only one 0:07:43.410 --> 0:07:46.770 offensive player drafted, and that was Jagger Burton, who potentially 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:49.480 could end up being a starting caliber guard for them 0:07:49.500 --> 0:07:54.130 this season. Green Bay needed to find ways to add 0:07:54.180 --> 0:07:58.470 to their roster without having the benefit of eight, nine, 10, 0:07:58.470 --> 0:08:01.450 11 draft picks. So whether it was Sturdivant making it, 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:04.100 whether it was acquiring and signing a Johnnie Smith who'd 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.680 been waiting for the right opportunity, or it is these 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:08.679 trades that they pulled off to bring in a Redman 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.560 as a blocking tight end to bring in a Caleb Johnson. Eventually, 0:08:12.620 --> 0:08:14.260 Green Bay was going to have to make some moves there. 0:08:14.420 --> 0:08:17.460 And with all the equity that the Packers have built 0:08:17.550 --> 0:08:19.450 up and all the capital that they have for the 0:08:19.450 --> 0:08:23.170 2027 and 2028 draft classes, Brian Gutekunst was able to 0:08:23.210 --> 0:08:24.490 push the pedal a little bit there, too. 0:08:24.710 --> 0:08:29.830 Yeah. Color me curious with regard to the Jonu Smith acquisition. 0:08:29.870 --> 0:08:31.790 As you said, a veteran tight end who seemed to 0:08:31.830 --> 0:08:34.689 be waiting for the right opportunity, which is what a 0:08:34.750 --> 0:08:36.370 lot of those guys do. They aren't just going to 0:08:36.450 --> 0:08:39.760 go into a camp. just to have a job where 0:08:39.820 --> 0:08:41.520 they may or may not be able to make the roster. 0:08:41.540 --> 0:08:44.920 They're going to wait for something to open up. This 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:47.620 is a guy who two years ago had 88 catches. 0:08:48.660 --> 0:08:54.010 And last year, the production then in Pittsburgh was not 0:08:54.070 --> 0:08:56.229 what it was the year before. It was kind of 0:08:56.250 --> 0:08:58.750 a completely different offense with the Steelers, and it was 0:08:58.790 --> 0:09:02.860 a lot of short passes tackled right away. So for 0:09:02.900 --> 0:09:08.640 whatever reason, things– Johnnie Smith has not really had the 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:11.980 opportunity yet to build on that 88 catch season. Now, 0:09:12.660 --> 0:09:17.420 that being said, Tucker Kraft is the primary weapon at 0:09:17.490 --> 0:09:19.670 tight end for the Packers here. But with Luke Musgrave 0:09:19.710 --> 0:09:24.670 beginning the season on PUP, still dealing with the neck injury, 0:09:24.750 --> 0:09:27.470 and it sounds like there's potentially some good news that 0:09:27.610 --> 0:09:31.480 Musgrave will be available at some point this season. But 0:09:32.050 --> 0:09:34.840 What Jonu Smith might be able to bring to this offense, 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.380 not only as a pass catcher, but Brian Gutekunst talked 0:09:37.420 --> 0:09:40.880 about just his versatility in terms of he's able to 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.020 line up anywhere and do anything that you ask a 0:09:44.059 --> 0:09:48.780 tight end to do. He's not a pigeonhole, single-role kind 0:09:48.830 --> 0:09:53.410 of guy. This is an acquisition that makes a ton 0:09:53.429 --> 0:09:56.349 of sense for Green Bay, and it's just a question 0:09:56.370 --> 0:09:58.209 of how quickly they can get him up to speed 0:09:58.450 --> 0:10:01.040 in this offense to be able to potentially contribute. 0:10:01.300 --> 0:10:03.020 When you go back to what happened two years ago 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:05.069 in Miami, I think what was the biggest difference there? 0:10:05.660 --> 0:10:08.230 it was Mike McDaniel's offense. Yeah. And the way that 0:10:08.260 --> 0:10:11.189 he uses tight ends and the way he utilizes fullbacks. 0:10:11.650 --> 0:10:12.930 And if you go back and watch a little bit 0:10:12.950 --> 0:10:14.329 of the film and just watch a five minute cut 0:10:14.410 --> 0:10:16.630 up on YouTube of some of the plays he made 0:10:16.670 --> 0:10:19.510 that year, it was creating out of the backfield. I 0:10:19.550 --> 0:10:22.760 think with respect to, you know, Arthur Smith and what 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.360 they did last year in Pittsburgh, it just didn't, we 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:27.000 saw him in one game too. It just didn't seem 0:10:27.020 --> 0:10:28.690 like they really knew how they wanted to utilize him. 0:10:28.700 --> 0:10:32.020 There's a great I got at practice where it's him 0:10:32.059 --> 0:10:34.170 and Redmond standing next to each other reminds me of 0:10:34.210 --> 0:10:38.090 the old adage. I remember when Josiah DeGuar was here 0:10:38.450 --> 0:10:39.359 with Mercedes Lewis. 0:10:39.380 --> 0:10:39.640 Yeah. 0:10:40.059 --> 0:10:42.740 And they both play tight end and they look like 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:44.260 entirely different players. 0:10:44.300 --> 0:10:44.520 Yeah. 0:10:45.059 --> 0:10:47.220 It's not to say that Johnnie Smith is small, but 0:10:47.260 --> 0:10:50.059 it just shows you the levels and different variations of 0:10:50.100 --> 0:10:52.319 that position. And the other thing I want to say too, 0:10:52.460 --> 0:10:56.330 Matt LaFleur talked about Redmond being a wide body. I 0:10:56.380 --> 0:10:58.929 get it. I saw it. Him with pads on. I mean, 0:10:58.950 --> 0:11:01.950 this guy, he's six foot six, but he's got size 0:11:02.130 --> 0:11:03.990 horizontally too. I mean, he's going to eat up some 0:11:04.030 --> 0:11:06.050 space and you can see it on the film what 0:11:06.070 --> 0:11:08.490 they like about him as a blocker. But for Smith 0:11:08.530 --> 0:11:12.620 to get into a scheme more like LeFleur's, I almost 0:11:12.660 --> 0:11:14.540 wonder if he would have been in a Kyle Shanahan 0:11:14.580 --> 0:11:16.640 type offense. You just wonder how much more productive he 0:11:16.660 --> 0:11:19.000 would have been because I think it's been something where 0:11:19.380 --> 0:11:21.570 offensive coordinators and teams are trying to figure out how 0:11:21.590 --> 0:11:23.830 to best utilize him. Now, he just turned 31 years old. 0:11:25.750 --> 0:11:27.860 I think this is a good pivot point for him 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.430 in his career where it's like, OK, they're not going 0:11:30.460 --> 0:11:33.719 to look at him as being a starter. Maybe he 0:11:33.740 --> 0:11:35.180 will get some of those two tight end starts, but 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:36.960 it's not like the offense is going to be predicated 0:11:37.020 --> 0:11:40.040 on him. Even if, you know, depending on what happens 0:11:40.100 --> 0:11:42.520 with Kraft and Musgrave, they have a wide variety of 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:44.979 receivers to work with as well. But I just feel 0:11:45.020 --> 0:11:47.000 like as he gets accustomed to this offense, the type 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:50.179 of professional he is, this is the type of player 0:11:50.220 --> 0:11:53.420 Green Bay needed. We saw how the depth sorted out 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:55.800 during camp. There wasn't going to be a guy like 0:11:55.820 --> 0:11:57.400 this on this roster. You had to go find him. 0:11:57.460 --> 0:12:00.620 Yeah, absolutely. Well, there's lots of other stuff with regard 0:12:00.660 --> 0:12:02.679 to the initial 53 that I want to get to, 0:12:02.730 --> 0:12:04.830 but I don't want to forget to pay some bills first. 0:12:04.890 --> 0:12:08.130 So let's hear a quick word from our sponsors. Sirius 0:12:08.270 --> 0:12:12.850 XM NFL Radio delivers hard-hitting analysis and up-to-the-minute NFL news 0:12:12.890 --> 0:12:18.050 that true football fanatics need 24-7, 365. Did you know 0:12:18.110 --> 0:12:20.790 Lambeau Field is just one of our state's many wonders? 0:12:21.270 --> 0:12:25.150 Start making unforgettable memories on your next vacation. Discover the 0:12:25.210 --> 0:12:32.079 Apostle Islands and more at TravelWisconsin.com slash wonders. Welcome back 0:12:32.100 --> 0:12:34.679 to Packers Unscripted. All right, Wes, we heard from GM 0:12:35.580 --> 0:12:39.179 Brian Gutekunst on Tuesday morning talking about some of these 0:12:39.260 --> 0:12:42.910 roster decisions and how it all came together. I think 0:12:43.010 --> 0:12:46.929 one of the most notable things is the number of 0:12:47.390 --> 0:12:53.319 big guys, 10 offensive linemen, seven defensive tackles, plus three 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:56.960 offensive linemen and one defensive tackle as of this moment 0:12:57.300 --> 0:13:02.220 on the practice squad. And he explained his rationale in 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:04.800 both of those instances. On the offensive side of the ball, 0:13:04.820 --> 0:13:07.750 he talked about, hey, he likes going heavy on the 0:13:07.850 --> 0:13:12.870 offensive line in terms of the roster construction because October, 0:13:12.929 --> 0:13:16.290 November come around and guys start getting injured and going down. 0:13:16.309 --> 0:13:18.190 And even if they're just down for a game or two, 0:13:18.950 --> 0:13:22.800 it's really, really hard to find guys on the street 0:13:22.860 --> 0:13:25.080 or guys on other teams, practice squads that you can 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:27.719 just pluck and plug in and, you know, try to 0:13:27.740 --> 0:13:29.800 survive for a game. So he really likes to be 0:13:29.860 --> 0:13:32.620 heavy there to cover against injuries. And then I thought 0:13:32.660 --> 0:13:35.370 it was interesting what he said with regard to the 0:13:35.450 --> 0:13:40.270 interior defensive lineman that he's expecting to Jonathan Gannon to 0:13:40.340 --> 0:13:44.520 have a much higher snap count for the defensive tackles 0:13:44.540 --> 0:13:46.900 than Jeff Halfley did the last couple of years. So 0:13:46.940 --> 0:13:49.099 he wants to be deep there. He wants to give 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:53.339 Gannon the ability to rotate guys and use a bunch 0:13:53.380 --> 0:13:56.660 of guys for what's going to be that larger snap load. 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.520 And all of that with keeping seven, the Packers were 0:14:00.580 --> 0:14:05.400 still deep enough that Nazir Stackhouse got claimed on waivers 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:09.679 by Tennessee. And the Packers were certainly hoping that they 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.140 could offer him a practice squad spot and bring him back, 0:14:12.220 --> 0:14:14.459 but that didn't happen, and that's just the nature of 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:14.900 the business. 0:14:14.940 --> 0:14:16.620 Yeah, you had to make a tough decision there. Another 0:14:16.660 --> 0:14:18.010 reason why I said I wasn't really going to be 0:14:18.030 --> 0:14:20.530 surprised what they do, because whether you kept him, whether 0:14:20.550 --> 0:14:22.830 you kept Jonathan Ford, or whether you kept Anthony Campbell, 0:14:23.150 --> 0:14:26.030 any of those guys, if you don't keep them, you 0:14:26.050 --> 0:14:28.200 could only have so many, right? And they still kept 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:30.970 seven because of Warren Brinson. being there as well as 0:14:31.010 --> 0:14:32.990 one of these options. I think when you look in 0:14:33.070 --> 0:14:35.650 the terms of the defense that Jonathan Gannon is putting 0:14:35.670 --> 0:14:37.390 together too, I mean, how many times have we seen 0:14:37.430 --> 0:14:40.500 that Penny look during camp where it's three defensive tackles 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:43.560 with an edge rusher and then you're using, you know, 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:47.700 nickel personnel behind it and the flexibility with Edger and Cooper. 0:14:48.660 --> 0:14:50.200 There's going to be a lot of those looks too. 0:14:50.300 --> 0:14:52.600 So you need to have those hosses in the middle. 0:14:53.220 --> 0:14:56.120 Jonathan Ford, who, you know, we'll talk about Anthony Campbell 0:14:56.140 --> 0:14:58.600 here in a second, but If it wasn't for Anthony Campbell, 0:14:58.940 --> 0:15:01.780 Jonathan Ford's one of the best stories on this entire roster, 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:03.430 maybe the best story on the defensive line, in that 0:15:03.450 --> 0:15:08.390 a guy the Green Bay Packers drafted in 2022. Romeo 0:15:08.410 --> 0:15:10.650 Dobbs signed a free agent contract this year. They were 0:15:10.670 --> 0:15:13.430 in the same rookie class together, and Jonathan is still 0:15:13.510 --> 0:15:15.770 trying to get his footing in the National Football League, 0:15:15.860 --> 0:15:18.520 get an opportunity. And at 6'5, and 340 pounds, we've 0:15:18.540 --> 0:15:23.380 always seen him as this big... nose tackle that's going 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:25.140 to be difficult to move. But I felt like since 0:15:25.180 --> 0:15:28.220 he's come back after the waiver claim from Chicago, you're 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:30.800 seeing a guy that's more impactful being able to push 0:15:30.850 --> 0:15:33.710 the offensive lineman and not just holding up space. He 0:15:33.750 --> 0:15:35.770 just seems to have a bigger edge to his game. 0:15:35.810 --> 0:15:39.710 And throughout camp, you saw him become that starting nose 0:15:39.770 --> 0:15:42.170 tackle when you didn't have Javon Hargrave, when he didn't have, 0:15:42.530 --> 0:15:44.440 you know, some of these guys available on the defensive line. 0:15:44.460 --> 0:15:46.479 And I would imagine on early rundowns, he's going to 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.100 have that role. Yeah. And I ultimately felt like it 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:50.580 was probably, I don't know this for a fact, but 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.980 it probably was that conversation between Ford or Stackhouse that 0:15:54.460 --> 0:15:57.040 Green Bay had to pick one. The Anthony Campbell thing 0:15:57.080 --> 0:16:00.750 just blows me away. And I asked Brian Gutekunst about 0:16:00.790 --> 0:16:05.450 that on Tuesday morning. And at the end of his comments, 0:16:05.470 --> 0:16:07.910 he said, and we feel like he's just scratching the 0:16:07.950 --> 0:16:10.450 surface right now, 6'6, 307 pounds, carries his weight well, 0:16:10.470 --> 0:16:10.729 there is no. 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:18.380 You know, fudging the numbers with his 6'6. This guy 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:20.280 is all of it. He is tall. He's lengthy. He 0:16:20.300 --> 0:16:22.520 was batting down passes left and right. We saw him 0:16:22.540 --> 0:16:24.340 getting sacks in the preseason. 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:25.000 Had two of them. 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:27.880 I think that this guy potentially could help on, you know, 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.420 field goal block when you look at the T.J. Slayton 0:16:31.450 --> 0:16:32.910 type role that they've had in the past there. 0:16:33.070 --> 0:16:33.750 Sure. 0:16:34.950 --> 0:16:37.650 Packers got a bunch of defensive tackles, and they all 0:16:37.690 --> 0:16:39.890 look like they can do something. And to your original point, 0:16:40.030 --> 0:16:41.410 you know, Gannon, it sounds like, is going to put 0:16:41.430 --> 0:16:42.230 him to work. Yeah. 0:16:42.330 --> 0:16:47.350 Again, I kind of smiled picturing the– the personnel room, 0:16:48.550 --> 0:16:52.090 Gutekunst was talking about how two guys on the pro 0:16:52.150 --> 0:16:55.270 side of the scouting business, the scouts are essentially divided. 0:16:55.290 --> 0:16:58.170 They're either college scouts. If they're not in the executive level, 0:16:58.190 --> 0:17:00.630 they're either college scouts or they're pro scouts. And he 0:17:00.650 --> 0:17:03.090 talked about two guys on the pro side, Richie Williams 0:17:03.830 --> 0:17:08.240 and Lee Gissendaner, who basically annoyed the heck out of 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:12.340 Brian late last season to take a shot at this guy, 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:16.640 Anthony Campbell, who's out there. And I can picture, you know, 0:17:17.220 --> 0:17:20.330 whatever the personnel department has their weekly meeting. And once 0:17:20.369 --> 0:17:23.970 a week, either Lee or Richie is raising his hand saying, Hey, Brian, 0:17:24.010 --> 0:17:27.450 how about Anthony Campbell? You know, and they essentially annoyed 0:17:27.510 --> 0:17:30.710 him enough that he's like, all right, early January, right 0:17:30.750 --> 0:17:32.510 at the end of the season, they signed Campbell to 0:17:32.530 --> 0:17:35.660 the practice squad. Then he becomes a future signing right 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.399 after that, when the season ends and lo and behold, 0:17:38.460 --> 0:17:41.880 here we are a little less than, you know, nine 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.920 months later. And Anthony Campbell's on a 53-man roster when 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:50.139 in two seasons at the University of Miami, he played 0:17:50.140 --> 0:17:54.510 56 snaps on the defensive side of the ball. And 0:17:54.550 --> 0:17:57.770 Miami was his third stop. He had been junior college 0:17:57.810 --> 0:18:01.090 and then Louisiana Monroe. And then Miami, he was taking 0:18:01.570 --> 0:18:04.149 his shot at the big time, good for him, but 0:18:04.170 --> 0:18:07.369 he couldn't get on the field. And now he's on 0:18:07.390 --> 0:18:11.130 the 53-man roster of the Green Bay Packers. And yeah, 0:18:11.170 --> 0:18:14.330 I mean, what we saw at least Five or six 0:18:14.910 --> 0:18:17.949 batted passes during training camp. He had at least one 0:18:17.990 --> 0:18:21.490 in a game. He had two sacks in the preseason games. 0:18:22.950 --> 0:18:25.399 Just remarkable. My hat's off to that young man because 0:18:25.740 --> 0:18:30.440 that's the kind of story that, I mean, that's a 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:34.219 Hollywood script where he came from and where he is 0:18:34.300 --> 0:18:37.240 right now today. you can't make that stuff up. 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.480 No, and he's actually, the kid was born in Jamaica. 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:40.920 I mean, you know, comes to the States at a 0:18:40.940 --> 0:18:43.000 very young age, and here he is. You know, football, 0:18:43.020 --> 0:18:44.139 I think he even said, I don't even know if 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:45.770 football was his first sport. I think he might have 0:18:45.790 --> 0:18:47.850 told Bill Huber it might have been soccer at first 0:18:47.869 --> 0:18:50.389 for him. And the kid keeps growing. He keeps getting bigger. And, 0:18:50.910 --> 0:18:52.490 you know, the one thing I really, I talked to 0:18:52.510 --> 0:18:56.430 him after the game, and I tweeted this comment before 0:18:56.450 --> 0:18:58.179 he'd even, while we were waiting to figure out what 0:18:58.220 --> 0:19:00.720 was going to happen with the roster. And I just 0:19:00.740 --> 0:19:02.520 thought it was such a salient point he raised because 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:04.700 he's like, You know, he's always wanted it. That's never 0:19:04.740 --> 0:19:07.460 been an issue for him. He doesn't feel. But it 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:09.889 was sitting on the couch last year, just waiting for 0:19:09.930 --> 0:19:14.869 that phone to call and phone to ring and watching 0:19:14.930 --> 0:19:17.790 football on Sundays and not being out there, not having 0:19:17.830 --> 0:19:19.700 a job. And he's like, man, I just need to 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:22.800 get back in it. And if you want to talk 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:25.379 about guys that when they walk in the door and 0:19:26.190 --> 0:19:29.460 And didn't waste a single second of the opportunity. Yeah. 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:31.740 I think that's Anthony Campbell. I mean, could you have 0:19:31.780 --> 0:19:34.040 ever told this guy at any point that, hey, you're 0:19:34.060 --> 0:19:35.939 running with the threes, you know, your chances aren't going 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:37.399 to be very good at making the roster? No, I mean, 0:19:37.420 --> 0:19:39.980 this guy came in and played like he belonged. And 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:43.290 then what ends up happening during the two-minute against Arizona? 0:19:43.330 --> 0:19:46.890 He's rotating in with the ones. It's a remarkable story 0:19:47.070 --> 0:19:47.990 what he's been able to accomplish. 0:19:48.350 --> 0:19:50.379 I want to make one other comment with her. to 0:19:50.420 --> 0:19:52.980 these big guys we're talking about going back to the 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:57.580 offensive line for a second because Gutekunst kept 10 offensive 0:19:57.619 --> 0:20:01.129 linemen on the active roster and brought back three on 0:20:01.150 --> 0:20:03.990 the practice squad. All those guys were in training camp 0:20:04.310 --> 0:20:08.410 and preseason with Green Bay. I think what's worth mentioning 0:20:08.470 --> 0:20:14.210 here is look at the improvement of the reserve offensive 0:20:14.250 --> 0:20:17.820