Speaker 1: Hi everybody.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers.com. I
Speaker 2: am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my partner in
Speaker 2: everything Packers, Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from
Speaker 2: the Pottawatomie Sportsbook studio inside the walls of Lambeau Field.
Speaker 2: And Wes, we have a ton of stuff to talk
Speaker 2: about on the show because these last few days have been, um,
Speaker 2: pretty wild and crazy on the personnel front here at 1265.
Speaker 2: Normally we get to this show when the initial 53-man
Speaker 2: roster is set, and we're talking about who's kept at
Speaker 2: this position and how many guys are here, and we'll
Speaker 2: certainly get into some of that. But we have to
Speaker 2: start with the fact that on roster cut-down day, the
Speaker 2: Packers made three trades. They traded one player to acquire
Speaker 2: a draft pick. They acquired two other players for draft picks.
Speaker 2: It's a busy time around here.
Speaker 1: It's a busy time. It was funny, somebody in the
Speaker 1: insider inbox asked me about what the biggest surprise was
Speaker 1: on cut down day. To be honest with you, I
Speaker 1: don't really think there was a big surprise, but it
Speaker 1: was the litany of things that did happen were almost
Speaker 1: the surprise, right? I was not anticipating the Packers keeping
Speaker 1: three quarterbacks. I would have been very wrong. There would
Speaker 1: have been a lot of people in Insider Inbox that
Speaker 1: would have shoved that in my face if they did.
Speaker 2: Oh, me too. They would have been the same with me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the fact that Kyle McCord wasn't on the 53,
Speaker 1: that is what it is. But two things about the
Speaker 1: McCord situation. One, four teams in the National Football League
Speaker 1: currently have four quarterbacks on their 53-man roster. A fifth team, Cleveland,
Speaker 1: kept four because Dylan Gabriel went to injured reserve. There
Speaker 1: weren't a lot of good backup quarterbacks available. So you
Speaker 1: look at the situation that unfolds in Miami. First year,
Speaker 1: John Eric Sullivan running the ship there. They sign Malik Willis.
Speaker 1: They trade Quinn Ewers. They cut both of their quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: He makes a phone call to his old buddy up
Speaker 1: in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Brian Gutekunst, and trades a six-round
Speaker 1: pick in 2028. For a quarterback that the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers signed off the street back in January. I don't
Speaker 1: know what all went into Kyle McCord and Philadelphia and
Speaker 1: him not returning to the Eagles.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: But the fact that Green Bay got him as a
Speaker 1: future signing and seven months later threw some fairy dust
Speaker 1: on it and became a draft pick is just one
Speaker 1: of the more inconceivable things I've ever witnessed. And that's
Speaker 1: just talking about the quarterback situation. And then, obviously, everything
Speaker 1: that's happened here with Caleb Johnson, a guy that was
Speaker 1: a former All-American at Iowa, third-round pick for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1: Situation kind of unfolds there. Comes available on the market.
Speaker 1: The Packers find out Josh Jacobs is going to start
Speaker 1: the season on the commissioner's exemplist. They're in the market
Speaker 1: suddenly for a running back. And they make a deal
Speaker 1: to get Johnson. and then throwing Mark Redman coming over
Speaker 1: from the LA Rams. The Rams kept five tight ends.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was tight end six on the Rams roster.
Speaker 2: I mean, Sean McVay, he's become the king of the
Speaker 2: three tight end set in the newfangled offenses in the NFL, right?
Speaker 2: Not surprising they had... Six viable tight ends on their roster.
Speaker 2: They keep five and ship one to Green Bay and
Speaker 2: they get a draft pick in return.
Speaker 1: They got two starting caliber tight ends, veterans there. They drafted,
Speaker 1: I think, one in the second round. And Mark Redman,
Speaker 1: who had a really strong preseason, six catches, 63 yards,
Speaker 1: and he's considered more of a wide inline blocking tight end.
Speaker 1: the Packers come calling for him after he spent his
Speaker 1: rookie season on L.A. 's practice spot. So to answer
Speaker 1: your question, Michael, when you asked me about all the
Speaker 1: developments that happened and the trades that happened, it was
Speaker 1: a very busy day on the Packers' front, but a
Speaker 1: lot of the moves they made made total sense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they did make sense. I want to get back
Speaker 2: to the quarterback thing for one minute because there's a
Speaker 2: part of me that just is picturing Gutekunst and his
Speaker 2: personnel staff, and they're beginning this discussion of like, boy,
Speaker 2: do you think, like, is there any way that Kyle
Speaker 2: McCord could clear waivers and we could get him back
Speaker 2: on the practice squad? And then the phone rings like, hey, Brian,
Speaker 2: Sully down in Miami is on the line and starts
Speaker 2: asking about the quarterback. Well, that takes care of that.
Speaker 2: He's not going to clear waivers, and Miami is not
Speaker 2: interested in another team potentially ahead of them in the
Speaker 2: waiver claim order putting in a claim, so they're going
Speaker 2: to offer a draft pick and make sure they get
Speaker 2: a guy that they believe can be their number two quarterback.
Speaker 2: you just never know how these things are going to unfold.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: And the Packers getting a tight end who I guess
Speaker 2: by all accounts would be considered probably tight end four
Speaker 2: on the active roster right now, but he was tight
Speaker 2: end six on the roster for the Rams. So he was,
Speaker 2: he was expendable, but the Packers weren't going to wait
Speaker 2: to risk anybody else claiming Mark Redman before the Packers
Speaker 2: would be up in the waiver claim order. So they
Speaker 2: call up the Rams and make an offer. I mean,
Speaker 2: It was a lot of stuff going down. What stood
Speaker 2: out to me the most– oh, and we should say
Speaker 2: also because we have so many things to talk about here.
Speaker 2: There is another– there is a new QB3 in the
Speaker 2: building for the Green Bay Packers already, and he was
Speaker 2: just here for a few days last week. Keaton Slovis–
Speaker 2: with the Arizona Cardinals. He was in the joint practice.
Speaker 2: He threw, I believe it was 35 passes through for
Speaker 2: over 200 yards in the preseason finale on Friday night
Speaker 2: while Kyle McCord was throwing for four touchdown passes and
Speaker 2: pulling off a two score comeback in the last four
Speaker 2: minutes of Friday night's game for green Bay and then
Speaker 2: getting himself a new job in Miami. Slovis is now
Speaker 2: the Packers third string quarterback who is on the practice squad. Um,
Speaker 2: When Brian Gutekunst talks about roster building and personnel movement
Speaker 2: in this league being a 24-7, 365 business, he is
Speaker 2: not kidding.
Speaker 1: He's not kidding. And also, while you were flying cross-country
Speaker 1: last week, Jonu Smith suddenly becomes a Green Bay Packer.
Speaker 1: The Packers added a tight end, a veteran tight end,
Speaker 1: a guy that played in the league for nine years now.
Speaker 1: Started his career, his second NFL season, was with Matt LaFleur.
Speaker 1: LaFleur kind of threw some jokes out there about that
Speaker 1: offense back then and some of the challenges they had.
Speaker 1: But if you look at what the situation that Smith
Speaker 1: was thrown into, that was at the end of the
Speaker 1: Delaney-Walker era where Walker started getting these season-long injuries and
Speaker 1: he was thrown into the fire immediately. So whether it
Speaker 1: was adding two tight ends, whether it was trading McCord,
Speaker 1: you're going to have to bring in another quarterback, whether
Speaker 1: it's J. Michael Sturdivant making it as an undrafted free agent,
Speaker 1: an undrafted rookie. When you look at roster cut down
Speaker 1: day and the decisions that Gutekunst and his scouts are weighing,
Speaker 1: it just shows you as much as you and I
Speaker 1: are sitting on the peripheral, kind of like taking all
Speaker 1: this in and trying to make heads or tails of it,
Speaker 1: what it must be like to be in that room
Speaker 1: and having those conversations with all this different stuff aflutter.
Speaker 1: Because decisions that were made in those 32 personnel rooms
Speaker 1: throughout the National Football League will have huge implications for
Speaker 1: who ultimately is in the playoffs and who wins division titles,
Speaker 1: and in some cases, who wins a Super Bowl. So
Speaker 1: for the Packers, feeling like they need to augment their
Speaker 1: roster in these ways, I think was very important. And
Speaker 1: if I may close on one last note. Oh, you're
Speaker 1: not closing. We got a lot to talk about. But
Speaker 1: the other thing I liked about this, and it was
Speaker 1: probably my favorite point, not that I necessarily raised, but
Speaker 1: it was off the question someone had asked in inbox.
Speaker 1: The Packers only had six draft picks this year, five
Speaker 1: of whom actually made the roster. Damani Jackson will start
Speaker 1: the season on the practice squad. There was only one
Speaker 1: offensive player drafted, and that was Jagger Burton, who potentially
Speaker 1: could end up being a starting caliber guard for them
Speaker 1: this season. Green Bay needed to find ways to add
Speaker 1: to their roster without having the benefit of eight, nine, 10,
Speaker 1: 11 draft picks. So whether it was Sturdivant making it,
Speaker 1: whether it was acquiring and signing a Johnnie Smith who'd
Speaker 1: been waiting for the right opportunity, or it is these
Speaker 1: trades that they pulled off to bring in a Redman
Speaker 1: as a blocking tight end to bring in a Caleb Johnson. Eventually,
Speaker 1: Green Bay was going to have to make some moves there.
Speaker 1: And with all the equity that the Packers have built
Speaker 1: up and all the capital that they have for the
Speaker 1: 2027 and 2028 draft classes, Brian Gutekunst was able to
Speaker 1: push the pedal a little bit there, too.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Color me curious with regard to the Jonu Smith acquisition.
Speaker 2: As you said, a veteran tight end who seemed to
Speaker 2: be waiting for the right opportunity, which is what a
Speaker 2: lot of those guys do. They aren't just going to
Speaker 2: go into a camp. just to have a job where
Speaker 2: they may or may not be able to make the roster.
Speaker 2: They're going to wait for something to open up. This
Speaker 2: is a guy who two years ago had 88 catches.
Speaker 2: And last year, the production then in Pittsburgh was not
Speaker 2: what it was the year before. It was kind of
Speaker 2: a completely different offense with the Steelers, and it was
Speaker 2: a lot of short passes tackled right away. So for
Speaker 2: whatever reason, things– Johnnie Smith has not really had the
Speaker 2: opportunity yet to build on that 88 catch season. Now,
Speaker 2: that being said, Tucker Kraft is the primary weapon at
Speaker 2: tight end for the Packers here. But with Luke Musgrave
Speaker 2: beginning the season on PUP, still dealing with the neck injury,
Speaker 2: and it sounds like there's potentially some good news that
Speaker 2: Musgrave will be available at some point this season. But
Speaker 2: What Jonu Smith might be able to bring to this offense,
Speaker 2: not only as a pass catcher, but Brian Gutekunst talked
Speaker 2: about just his versatility in terms of he's able to
Speaker 2: line up anywhere and do anything that you ask a
Speaker 2: tight end to do. He's not a pigeonhole, single-role kind
Speaker 2: of guy. This is an acquisition that makes a ton
Speaker 2: of sense for Green Bay, and it's just a question
Speaker 2: of how quickly they can get him up to speed
Speaker 2: in this offense to be able to potentially contribute.
Speaker 1: When you go back to what happened two years ago
Speaker 1: in Miami, I think what was the biggest difference there?
Speaker 1: it was Mike McDaniel's offense. Yeah. And the way that
Speaker 1: he uses tight ends and the way he utilizes fullbacks.
Speaker 1: And if you go back and watch a little bit
Speaker 1: of the film and just watch a five minute cut
Speaker 1: up on YouTube of some of the plays he made
Speaker 1: that year, it was creating out of the backfield. I
Speaker 1: think with respect to, you know, Arthur Smith and what
Speaker 1: they did last year in Pittsburgh, it just didn't, we
Speaker 1: saw him in one game too. It just didn't seem
Speaker 1: like they really knew how they wanted to utilize him.
Speaker 1: There's a great I got at practice where it's him
Speaker 1: and Redmond standing next to each other reminds me of
Speaker 1: the old adage. I remember when Josiah DeGuar was here
Speaker 1: with Mercedes Lewis.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And they both play tight end and they look like
Speaker 1: entirely different players.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's not to say that Johnnie Smith is small, but
Speaker 1: it just shows you the levels and different variations of
Speaker 1: that position. And the other thing I want to say too,
Speaker 1: Matt LaFleur talked about Redmond being a wide body. I
Speaker 1: get it. I saw it. Him with pads on. I mean,
Speaker 1: this guy, he's six foot six, but he's got size
Speaker 1: horizontally too. I mean, he's going to eat up some
Speaker 1: space and you can see it on the film what
Speaker 1: they like about him as a blocker. But for Smith
Speaker 1: to get into a scheme more like LeFleur's, I almost
Speaker 1: wonder if he would have been in a Kyle Shanahan
Speaker 1: type offense. You just wonder how much more productive he
Speaker 1: would have been because I think it's been something where
Speaker 1: offensive coordinators and teams are trying to figure out how
Speaker 1: to best utilize him. Now, he just turned 31 years old.
Speaker 1: I think this is a good pivot point for him
Speaker 1: in his career where it's like, OK, they're not going
Speaker 1: to look at him as being a starter. Maybe he
Speaker 1: will get some of those two tight end starts, but
Speaker 1: it's not like the offense is going to be predicated
Speaker 1: on him. Even if, you know, depending on what happens
Speaker 1: with Kraft and Musgrave, they have a wide variety of
Speaker 1: receivers to work with as well. But I just feel
Speaker 1: like as he gets accustomed to this offense, the type
Speaker 1: of professional he is, this is the type of player
Speaker 1: Green Bay needed. We saw how the depth sorted out
Speaker 1: during camp. There wasn't going to be a guy like
Speaker 1: this on this roster. You had to go find him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. Well, there's lots of other stuff with regard
Speaker 2: to the initial 53 that I want to get to,
Speaker 2: but I don't want to forget to pay some bills first.
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Speaker 2: to Packers Unscripted. All right, Wes, we heard from GM
Speaker 2: Brian Gutekunst on Tuesday morning talking about some of these
Speaker 2: roster decisions and how it all came together. I think
Speaker 2: one of the most notable things is the number of
Speaker 2: big guys, 10 offensive linemen, seven defensive tackles, plus three
Speaker 2: offensive linemen and one defensive tackle as of this moment
Speaker 2: on the practice squad. And he explained his rationale in
Speaker 2: both of those instances. On the offensive side of the ball,
Speaker 2: he talked about, hey, he likes going heavy on the
Speaker 2: offensive line in terms of the roster construction because October,
Speaker 2: November come around and guys start getting injured and going down.
Speaker 2: And even if they're just down for a game or two,
Speaker 2: it's really, really hard to find guys on the street
Speaker 2: or guys on other teams, practice squads that you can
Speaker 2: just pluck and plug in and, you know, try to
Speaker 2: survive for a game. So he really likes to be
Speaker 2: heavy there to cover against injuries. And then I thought
Speaker 2: it was interesting what he said with regard to the
Speaker 2: interior defensive lineman that he's expecting to Jonathan Gannon to
Speaker 2: have a much higher snap count for the defensive tackles
Speaker 2: than Jeff Halfley did the last couple of years. So
Speaker 2: he wants to be deep there. He wants to give
Speaker 2: Gannon the ability to rotate guys and use a bunch
Speaker 2: of guys for what's going to be that larger snap load.
Speaker 2: And all of that with keeping seven, the Packers were
Speaker 2: still deep enough that Nazir Stackhouse got claimed on waivers
Speaker 2: by Tennessee. And the Packers were certainly hoping that they
Speaker 2: could offer him a practice squad spot and bring him back,
Speaker 2: but that didn't happen, and that's just the nature of
Speaker 2: the business.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you had to make a tough decision there. Another
Speaker 1: reason why I said I wasn't really going to be
Speaker 1: surprised what they do, because whether you kept him, whether
Speaker 1: you kept Jonathan Ford, or whether you kept Anthony Campbell,
Speaker 1: any of those guys, if you don't keep them, you
Speaker 1: could only have so many, right? And they still kept
Speaker 1: seven because of Warren Brinson. being there as well as
Speaker 1: one of these options. I think when you look in
Speaker 1: the terms of the defense that Jonathan Gannon is putting
Speaker 1: together too, I mean, how many times have we seen
Speaker 1: that Penny look during camp where it's three defensive tackles
Speaker 1: with an edge rusher and then you're using, you know,
Speaker 1: nickel personnel behind it and the flexibility with Edger and Cooper.
Speaker 1: There's going to be a lot of those looks too.
Speaker 1: So you need to have those hosses in the middle.
Speaker 1: Jonathan Ford, who, you know, we'll talk about Anthony Campbell
Speaker 1: here in a second, but If it wasn't for Anthony Campbell,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Ford's one of the best stories on this entire roster,
Speaker 1: maybe the best story on the defensive line, in that
Speaker 1: a guy the Green Bay Packers drafted in 2022. Romeo
Speaker 1: Dobbs signed a free agent contract this year. They were
Speaker 1: in the same rookie class together, and Jonathan is still
Speaker 1: trying to get his footing in the National Football League,
Speaker 1: get an opportunity. And at 6'5, and 340 pounds, we've
Speaker 1: always seen him as this big... nose tackle that's going
Speaker 1: to be difficult to move. But I felt like since
Speaker 1: he's come back after the waiver claim from Chicago, you're
Speaker 1: seeing a guy that's more impactful being able to push
Speaker 1: the offensive lineman and not just holding up space. He
Speaker 1: just seems to have a bigger edge to his game.
Speaker 1: And throughout camp, you saw him become that starting nose
Speaker 1: tackle when you didn't have Javon Hargrave, when he didn't have,
Speaker 1: you know, some of these guys available on the defensive line.
Speaker 1: And I would imagine on early rundowns, he's going to
Speaker 1: have that role. Yeah. And I ultimately felt like it
Speaker 1: was probably, I don't know this for a fact, but
Speaker 1: it probably was that conversation between Ford or Stackhouse that
Speaker 1: Green Bay had to pick one. The Anthony Campbell thing
Speaker 1: just blows me away. And I asked Brian Gutekunst about
Speaker 1: that on Tuesday morning. And at the end of his comments,
Speaker 1: he said, and we feel like he's just scratching the
Speaker 1: surface right now, 6'6, 307 pounds, carries his weight well,
Speaker 1: there is no.
Speaker 1: You know, fudging the numbers with his 6'6. This guy
Speaker 1: is all of it. He is tall. He's lengthy. He
Speaker 1: was batting down passes left and right. We saw him
Speaker 1: getting sacks in the preseason.
Speaker 2: Had two of them.
Speaker 1: I think that this guy potentially could help on, you know,
Speaker 1: field goal block when you look at the T.J. Slayton
Speaker 1: type role that they've had in the past there.
Speaker 2: Sure.
Speaker 1: Packers got a bunch of defensive tackles, and they all
Speaker 1: look like they can do something. And to your original point,
Speaker 1: you know, Gannon, it sounds like, is going to put
Speaker 1: him to work. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Again, I kind of smiled picturing the– the personnel room,
Speaker 2: Gutekunst was talking about how two guys on the pro
Speaker 2: side of the scouting business, the scouts are essentially divided.
Speaker 2: They're either college scouts. If they're not in the executive level,
Speaker 2: they're either college scouts or they're pro scouts. And he
Speaker 2: talked about two guys on the pro side, Richie Williams
Speaker 2: and Lee Gissendaner, who basically annoyed the heck out of
Speaker 2: Brian late last season to take a shot at this guy,
Speaker 2: Anthony Campbell, who's out there. And I can picture, you know,
Speaker 2: whatever the personnel department has their weekly meeting. And once
Speaker 2: a week, either Lee or Richie is raising his hand saying, Hey, Brian,
Speaker 2: how about Anthony Campbell? You know, and they essentially annoyed
Speaker 2: him enough that he's like, all right, early January, right
Speaker 2: at the end of the season, they signed Campbell to
Speaker 2: the practice squad. Then he becomes a future signing right
Speaker 2: after that, when the season ends and lo and behold,
Speaker 2: here we are a little less than, you know, nine
Speaker 2: months later. And Anthony Campbell's on a 53-man roster when
Speaker 2: in two seasons at the University of Miami, he played
Speaker 2: 56 snaps on the defensive side of the ball. And
Speaker 2: Miami was his third stop. He had been junior college
Speaker 2: and then Louisiana Monroe. And then Miami, he was taking
Speaker 2: his shot at the big time, good for him, but
Speaker 2: he couldn't get on the field. And now he's on
Speaker 2: the 53-man roster of the Green Bay Packers. And yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, what we saw at least Five or six
Speaker 2: batted passes during training camp. He had at least one
Speaker 2: in a game. He had two sacks in the preseason games.
Speaker 2: Just remarkable. My hat's off to that young man because
Speaker 2: that's the kind of story that, I mean, that's a
Speaker 2: Hollywood script where he came from and where he is
Speaker 2: right now today. you can't make that stuff up.
Speaker 1: No, and he's actually, the kid was born in Jamaica.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, comes to the States at a
Speaker 1: very young age, and here he is. You know, football,
Speaker 1: I think he even said, I don't even know if
Speaker 1: football was his first sport. I think he might have
Speaker 1: told Bill Huber it might have been soccer at first
Speaker 1: for him. And the kid keeps growing. He keeps getting bigger. And,
Speaker 1: you know, the one thing I really, I talked to
Speaker 1: him after the game, and I tweeted this comment before
Speaker 1: he'd even, while we were waiting to figure out what
Speaker 1: was going to happen with the roster. And I just
Speaker 1: thought it was such a salient point he raised because
Speaker 1: he's like, You know, he's always wanted it. That's never
Speaker 1: been an issue for him. He doesn't feel. But it
Speaker 1: was sitting on the couch last year, just waiting for
Speaker 1: that phone to call and phone to ring and watching
Speaker 1: football on Sundays and not being out there, not having
Speaker 1: a job. And he's like, man, I just need to
Speaker 1: get back in it. And if you want to talk
Speaker 1: about guys that when they walk in the door and
Speaker 1: And didn't waste a single second of the opportunity. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that's Anthony Campbell. I mean, could you have
Speaker 1: ever told this guy at any point that, hey, you're
Speaker 1: running with the threes, you know, your chances aren't going
Speaker 1: to be very good at making the roster? No, I mean,
Speaker 1: this guy came in and played like he belonged. And
Speaker 1: then what ends up happening during the two-minute against Arizona?
Speaker 1: He's rotating in with the ones. It's a remarkable story
Speaker 1: what he's been able to accomplish.
Speaker 2: I want to make one other comment with her. to
Speaker 2: these big guys we're talking about going back to the
Speaker 2: offensive line for a second because Gutekunst kept 10 offensive
Speaker 2: linemen on the active roster and brought back three on
Speaker 2: the practice squad. All those guys were in training camp
Speaker 2: and preseason with Green Bay. I think what's worth mentioning
Speaker 2: here is look at the improvement of the reserve offensive
Speaker 2: line groups, the twos and the threes, from the first
Speaker 2: preseason game in Pittsburgh to the third preseason game against
Speaker 2: Arizona and what the Packers offense with Kyle McCord looked
Speaker 2: like in the second half of that preseason opener versus
Speaker 2: the preseason finale. That speaks to what Gutekunst was talking
Speaker 2: about at the podium, saying how good he feels about
Speaker 2: this group and that he didn't want to start scouring
Speaker 2: and looking around for other offensive linemen if that were
Speaker 2: to become necessary. He wanted to keep as many of
Speaker 2: his guys as he could. Now, obviously, you can't have
Speaker 2: six or seven offensive linemen on the practice squad, but
Speaker 2: bringing back three to go with the 10 that he
Speaker 2: kept on the active roster, I think it speaks a
Speaker 2: lot to where that reserve group progressed, how they progressed
Speaker 2: from the beginning of the preseason to the end.
Speaker 1: And I'll give you a best example too. When you
Speaker 1: talk about improvement, you know, fans who want to talk
Speaker 1: about improvement, they want to talk about things like that.
Speaker 1: And I say this with all due respect, Darien Kennard
Speaker 1: isn't here right now. Brant Banks isn't here right now.
Speaker 1: That's a guy that was their swing tackle last year
Speaker 1: and Brant had spent other than the week he spent
Speaker 1: with Tennessee on their 53. Both of those guys were
Speaker 1: here all of last season. It just shows you, in
Speaker 1: addition to Burton coming in and competing and getting in
Speaker 1: with the ones for most of the offseason program, most
Speaker 1: of camp, it shows you the young guys that they signed,
Speaker 1: the Josh Geskes of the world, Dylan Wades, and how
Speaker 1: they pushed that group. In addition to Jacob Monk finally
Speaker 1: staying healthy and now competing for a starting right guard job.
Speaker 2: That was the other one I was going to mention
Speaker 2: is Monk coming back from injury changed the look of
Speaker 2: the offensive line room as well.
Speaker 1: It shifted everything because now you have Belton operating more
Speaker 1: in that swing tackle mode. And, you know, Matt LaFleur
Speaker 1: wasn't anointing anybody a starter. He said they'll probably, you know,
Speaker 1: go all the way up to the game time before
Speaker 1: really telling everybody. But Jacob Monk took all these snaps
Speaker 1: with the ones and he played there throughout camp. Really,
Speaker 1: the last three, four weeks, that's the role he's been in.
Speaker 1: So for him being, if you look at a long
Speaker 1: enough trajectory, and this goes beyond Matt LaFleur, this goes
Speaker 1: back to Mike McCarthy and James Campin. The number one
Speaker 1: way that Green Bay likes to develop linemen a lot
Speaker 1: of times is it ends up being two years of
Speaker 1: kind of sitting in the shadows. And then it was
Speaker 1: year three where you get thrown out there. That's what
Speaker 1: happened with TJ Lang. That's what happened with Lane Taylor. Yeah,
Speaker 1: occasionally you get your Elton Jenkins from day one. It
Speaker 1: seems like they're starting. But there's a lot of guys, too, that,
Speaker 1: you know, Sean Ryan played, what, one game his rookie year?
Speaker 1: You look at how long it took for him. He
Speaker 1: was in a rotation up until the beginning of training
Speaker 1: camp last year. It can take time. And it's exciting
Speaker 1: to see. And to close that point, with the Donovan
Speaker 1: Jennings and Travis Glovers and some of these other developmental
Speaker 1: guys that Green Bay kept on, Goodigan said it throughout
Speaker 1: the course of the season, you're going to need big bodies.
Speaker 1: You're going to need guys that can come in and
Speaker 1: you can't just find them. You're not always going to
Speaker 1: be able to get pride, you know, Jared Valdez out
Speaker 1: of retirement to come play for you. You're going to
Speaker 1: need guys that can step up, know the system and
Speaker 1: can hold their own. And that's what Green Bay is
Speaker 1: hoping that they've done.
Speaker 2: And even going back to, you know, my early years
Speaker 2: with Packers.com, a guy like Scott Wells was a seventh
Speaker 2: round draft pick out of Tennessee. He starts his NFL
Speaker 2: career on a practice squad. And a handful of years later,
Speaker 2: he's a Pro Bowl center. So, These are things worth
Speaker 2: watching for sure. A couple other topics I want to
Speaker 2: get to. You mentioned one of them already, J. Michael Sturtevant.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: The lone undrafted rookie to make the initial 53 keeps
Speaker 2: the Packers streak alive, presuming that he keeps his spot
Speaker 2: up until the week one game in Minnesota, the streak
Speaker 2: alive of an undrafted rookie being on the Packers week
Speaker 2: one roster. And it was a heck of a wide
Speaker 2: receiver competition.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: Um, and, uh, Will Shepherd, Isaiah Nayer, they made their
Speaker 2: bids for it too. But, uh, J. Michael Sturvant was
Speaker 2: the guy who was the most consistent, the most steady.
Speaker 2: He had the, he had the most regular presence on
Speaker 2: the practice field throughout the month of August. And that's
Speaker 2: why he got the nod.
Speaker 1: Really had a good thing going with Kyle McCord. And
Speaker 1: then what was impressive is then when he started getting
Speaker 1: opportunities with Tyrod Taylor and Jordan Love a little bit,
Speaker 1: he still kept making plays. It wasn't perfect. There was
Speaker 1: some drops in there. I know there's some plays that
Speaker 1: he wanted back, but my goodness, to Matt LaFleur's point
Speaker 1: on him, the guy made a play basically every single
Speaker 1: day and he found a way to get noticed. And
Speaker 1: the other thing too about Sturdivant is just so interesting,
Speaker 1: was projected with Lance Zerline in the draft for NFL.com
Speaker 1: and the projections had him as like a fifth, sixth
Speaker 1: round pick. His RAS score is almost, it's like 9.96,
Speaker 1: 4-4 or 40 times, 39 inch vertical, almost an 11
Speaker 1: foot broad jump and athletically checks a lot of boxes.
Speaker 1: His mom is a Hall of Fame, you know, track
Speaker 1: and field star at Bradley. His dad, you know, played
Speaker 1: high level football. So like he has the genes for
Speaker 1: it and was really, really good out of the gate
Speaker 1: for Cal. It's just, it's been his production kind of
Speaker 1: waned the last few years. And then obviously last year
Speaker 1: in Florida and a lot of competition in that room.
Speaker 1: But for him to come out with all that competition,
Speaker 1: knowing that there probably is like a solidified top six
Speaker 1: with Savion, with Bo Melton, with Sky Moore being the returner,
Speaker 1: he still found a way to get himself into the conversation. Now,
Speaker 1: 22 straight years, the Packers, assuming the sticks, week one roster,
Speaker 1: having at least one undrafted rookie. I figured it was
Speaker 1: either him or maybe both, him and Nigel E. Kelly.
Speaker 1: I thought Kelly defensively finished camp the same way that
Speaker 1: Sturdivant did on the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 2: Kelly had a really, really impressive game against Arizona last
Speaker 2: Friday night. He really stood out on the defensive side.
Speaker 1: And even though, again, finished at UCF, very respectable school.
Speaker 1: He also has those, that, that pedigree of being a
Speaker 1: high major or not high major, but a power five conference,
Speaker 1: power four conference players. So, um, yeah, these are the
Speaker 1: guys you want to develop. And if you're, as I
Speaker 1: mentioned in the opening, if you don't have that pick,
Speaker 1: what better way than to, to find a guy that,
Speaker 1: you know, very easily could have been a sixth, seventh
Speaker 1: round draft pick and now you can develop them. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And we've heard from multiple people, Matt LaFleur, Brian Gutekunst,
Speaker 2: Kyle McCord, all basically have said in one form or
Speaker 2: another that, J. Michael Sturdivant should have been a draft pick,
Speaker 2: that he was definitely overlooked in the draft.
Speaker 1: The way that McCord said that, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you saw the video, if that was on there or not,
Speaker 1: the way he said it, there was no equivocation in
Speaker 1: his voice at all. I mean, and you got to remember,
Speaker 1: this is a guy that played at Ohio State, you know,
Speaker 1: grew up with Marvin Harrison Jr. and then was extremely
Speaker 1: successful at Syracuse. I mean, he knows ball and J.
Speaker 1: Michael Sturtevant, that was a guy that he looked to
Speaker 1: routinely throughout camp.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, a few injury updates to pass along as well.
Speaker 2: One of them actually at the receiver position, and it
Speaker 2: would have been an interesting decision, even more interesting decision,
Speaker 2: would J. Michael Sturtevant as the undrafted rookie had made
Speaker 2: the 53 if Savion Williams had not gone down with
Speaker 2: the high ankle sprain. Savion is on injured reserve designated
Speaker 2: to return. So he's currently not on the 53. The
Speaker 2: good news is it sounds like both he and Colin
Speaker 2: Oliver got the IR DTR designation. Oliver has an Achilles issue,
Speaker 2: but it doesn't sound like either one of those guys
Speaker 2: is going to be out beyond the mandated four games,
Speaker 2: or at least that's the way things are looking.
Speaker 1: The way Goodkin's made it sound, it sounded like Oliver
Speaker 1: could be ready in a couple of weeks, but it just,
Speaker 1: you need the spot. Yeah.
Speaker 2: They just, they, they had to, they had to do some,
Speaker 2: you know, some maneuvering there to get to where they,
Speaker 2: wanted to be Warren Brinson who missed the, uh, tail
Speaker 2: end of training camp, much of the back half of
Speaker 2: training camp, I guess I would say with the calf injury,
Speaker 2: it sounds like he has a chance to be ready
Speaker 2: for week one, um, which is really good to hear.
Speaker 2: And as I mentioned before, Luke Musgrave, they're still figuring
Speaker 2: some things out with regard to his neck injury, but
Speaker 2: there is some hope and some promise that, uh, that
Speaker 2: he could be back and be an active player again,
Speaker 2: at some point during the 2026 season. And then last
Speaker 2: but not least, Micah Parsons. He's starting the season on PUP,
Speaker 2: which is not a surprise. But Gutekunst opened the door.
Speaker 1: He did. It finally happened today.
Speaker 2: Yeah. He opened the door to the idea of, and
Speaker 2: it's the new rule that we've talked about, that players
Speaker 2: who begin the season on PUP begin the regular season
Speaker 2: on PUP. They have to miss the first four games
Speaker 2: of the regular season at a minimum, but they are
Speaker 2: eligible to practice, to begin practicing after two games. And
Speaker 2: Gutekunst opened the door that that may be a consideration
Speaker 2: for Parsons, that he could get back on the practice
Speaker 2: field as soon as week three. Now for the Packers,
Speaker 2: week three is a Thursday night game. So what that means,
Speaker 2: we'll have to see when the time comes. But it
Speaker 2: sounds like Micah Parsons could be back on the practice
Speaker 2: field here before too much longer, and that was pretty
Speaker 2: good to hear.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you do wonder, although it's not unprecedented. I
Speaker 1: want to say... was it Randall Cobb? There was somebody,
Speaker 1: they actually opened the window to return either from IR
Speaker 1: or PUP during a short week. They didn't play in
Speaker 1: the game, but they did still open it up. You're right.
Speaker 2: It might've been Cobb.
Speaker 1: It might've been Cobb. Because I remember that was like, wow,
Speaker 1: they opened up the window on a guy that isn't
Speaker 1: even really truly going to practice. But I mean, that's
Speaker 1: an option.
Speaker 2: They're only doing walkthroughs sometimes during those short weeks.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, this is, it was the thing
Speaker 1: I was waiting for because everybody's been asking about it.
Speaker 1: And I think the conversation, at least in the media,
Speaker 1: I think you and I have discussed it in Insider Inbox,
Speaker 1: but this is a big change because in the past
Speaker 1: it was, you had to wait those games. And then
Speaker 1: the 21-day window opened after you were out for four games.
Speaker 1: And Micah Parsons has talked about it in his content.
Speaker 1: There's a big... That practice window is big. That's major
Speaker 1: for a player, especially when you don't have training camp.
Speaker 1: I mean, look what... Christian Watson did with it last
Speaker 1: year right when when he was down and then he
Speaker 1: was finally able to go and those three two and
Speaker 1: a half weeks whatever it was that it took from
Speaker 1: I mean he was he was that's like okay Russ
Speaker 1: is off let's go now everybody's different the Packers have
Speaker 1: reiterated time and time again they want to be careful
Speaker 1: with Micah they need him for November they need him
Speaker 1: for December they need him to win a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: so you want to be cognizant of that but when
Speaker 1: you look at whether it's week five against Chicago, whether
Speaker 1: it's week six against Dallas, whether you get into Detroit
Speaker 1: right after that, there is a window there where if
Speaker 1: number one is back on the field for one, if
Speaker 1: not all, some of those games, I mean, that is
Speaker 1: critical for the Packers defense after this opening stretch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll be talking about that plenty when the time
Speaker 2: comes because one of these days, sooner than later, numero
Speaker 2: uno will be back out there on the practice field.
Speaker 2: Before we go, You have something to say. So I'm
Speaker 2: going to turn the mic over to you.
Speaker 1: You know, I just want to quickly point this out.
Speaker 1: You know, we just got done with the roster cut down.
Speaker 1: We have a new roster for the 2026 season. And
Speaker 1: that also works on the Packers side of things too, right?
Speaker 1: People come and go. And there's so many times where
Speaker 1: people mention to me like, man, you're so lucky to
Speaker 1: work for the Packers. That's such a great job. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be happy. And I am. It's an
Speaker 1: amazing job. But whether I worked at McDonald's back in
Speaker 1: the day, Maplewood Meats, the Green Bay Press, Gazette, all
Speaker 1: these different places, it doesn't matter how cool your job
Speaker 1: is if you don't have good people to work with you. Honestly,
Speaker 1: McDonald's was probably one of the most fun times I
Speaker 1: ever had in my life because I loved all the
Speaker 1: people I worked with. aside from management. Kidding. But it's
Speaker 1: people in this building, people like yourself, that make it
Speaker 1: fun to come to work every day. Back at you, sir.
Speaker 1: I'm getting older. We're 10 years in now, and people
Speaker 1: come and go. But man, this past week, we said
Speaker 1: goodbye to a really good friend of ours, Kristen Shand.
Speaker 1: She's moving on with her life. She worked in brand
Speaker 1: and marketing, the Packers everywhere, pep rallies. If you've been
Speaker 1: to any of those, you've probably seen her. We call
Speaker 1: her Crispy.
Speaker 2: One of the best nicknames on the Packers... Office side
Speaker 2: personnel staff. And I come up with a lot of
Speaker 2: nicknames for people. That was not one I came up with,
Speaker 2: but I absolutely love it. I love it.
Speaker 1: It is. And, you know, Kristen is just an incredible
Speaker 1: human being and has been an amazing friend to me.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, dude, when you have people that,
Speaker 1: you know, when all the chips are down and life
Speaker 1: isn't going a certain way that you can go to,
Speaker 1: you can turn to for guidance, for friendship, you know,
Speaker 1: just going to TJ Maxx and grabbing some clothes, you know,
Speaker 1: like just to have those type of people in your
Speaker 1: life are really important. I love you, Chris. I'm wishing
Speaker 1: you lots of luck. She's moved on to a new opportunity.
Speaker 1: I believe it's with the American Red Cross. Hope I
Speaker 1: got that right. If I didn't, I'm sorry. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so a big, big hole in our brand and marketing department.
Speaker 1: You go up there and ask Jill Melcheski and Haley Becker.
Speaker 1: I'm sure they'll tell you that. But she left her
Speaker 1: mark here. And I don't want to just turn it
Speaker 1: into like always just giving shout outs to people. But man,
Speaker 1: when there's people that make it fun to come to work,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what you do for a living. Oh,
Speaker 1: those are the best.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1: Appreciate them.
Speaker 2: With that, we will call it a wrap on this
Speaker 2: edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of
Speaker 2: our coverage of the team. on Packers.com. For Wes, I
Speaker 2: am Mike. Thank you for tuning in.
Speaker 1: See you next time.