Speaker 1: Hi everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford. He is my trusted colleague West Hodkuits.
Speaker 1: We're coming to you here from our studios at lambeau
Speaker 1: Field and West. We are one day closer to the
Speaker 1: end of the two thousand eighteen football season for the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers Sunday noon Central time kick off at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field against NFC North rival Detroit. And if there's
Speaker 1: one aspect from the Packers victory against the Jets that
Speaker 1: perhaps we didn't explore enough when we were recapping that game.
Speaker 1: We've talked a lot during the course of the season
Speaker 1: about the moments that Marquess Valdes Scantling has had, those
Speaker 1: impact moments in games for a rookie receiver equity me
Speaker 1: as st Brown has had some as well. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if there was a game where both of those
Speaker 1: rookies in the same game had, you know, not just
Speaker 1: a statistical but also a visible on field impact in
Speaker 1: what was going on. It's potentially a really good sign
Speaker 1: here for the Packers if these two rookies can finish
Speaker 1: the season that way. Obviously, going forward into year two, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and It's huge for them right now to be able
Speaker 1: to get that kind of production because, as you said, Mike,
Speaker 1: we saw Marcosveldo Scantlin kind of get his shot earlier
Speaker 1: this season, then Equonemius st Brown kind of got his opportunity.
Speaker 1: But you really haven't seen them work in tandem in
Speaker 1: terms of just really solid production, and it made for
Speaker 1: an historic week. You wrote a great story on packers
Speaker 1: dot Com looking over all the different records and things
Speaker 1: that guys are chasing in different types of status marks.
Speaker 1: But that game against the Jets, unbeknownst to me until afterwards,
Speaker 1: was that the first time in franchise history you had
Speaker 1: five different receivers catch at least sixty yards worth of
Speaker 1: passes and Equinemias st Brown I it's I feel terrible
Speaker 1: for him from a physical perspective that he ended up
Speaker 1: sustaining the concussion unfortunate, but from a professional standpoint, five
Speaker 1: catches for ninety four yards, he was on the verge
Speaker 1: of having a really big football game when he had
Speaker 1: to exit if he was able to play that out
Speaker 1: the last quarter and a half. And then from Velde
Speaker 1: Scantling's perspective, I touched on this an inbox for Thursday.
Speaker 1: In that there's been some stuff made out of, you know,
Speaker 1: mid season lulls and those sort of things. The facts
Speaker 1: remain what they are, Mike. This guy has over five
Speaker 1: yards receiving, he's averaging over fifteen yards per catch, and
Speaker 1: he's a rookie. I mean, you look at the conversation
Speaker 1: and your story also outlined to compare him to Christian
Speaker 1: Kirk and some of these other young receivers in the league,
Speaker 1: Veldis Scantlings up there with all of them. It's not
Speaker 1: easy to come in and be an impact player, to
Speaker 1: be putting up those kind of yards as a rookie
Speaker 1: receiver in the NFL. The statistics bear that out. But
Speaker 1: Valdez Scantling has found a way to be able to
Speaker 1: make those impact plays right here in year one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's interesting when you look back at that Jets game.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the five catches for ninety four yards for st. Brown.
Speaker 1: That was five catches on five targets that he had
Speaker 1: had the ball thrown to him five times, made the
Speaker 1: play every time. Felda Scantling his receiving yards was at
Speaker 1: seventy eight seventy seventy five yards receiving but also had
Speaker 1: a couple of key defensive past interference penalties that he drew,
Speaker 1: where if that doesn't happen, he's potentially got a one
Speaker 1: hundred yard game. Uh when you factor that in and
Speaker 1: you mentioned it with regards to MVS, he's is it
Speaker 1: trying to remember now? If it's fifth or sixth in
Speaker 1: the six Yeah, sixth in the league amongst rookie wide
Speaker 1: receivers in terms of yardage right now, and if you
Speaker 1: actually just go by receivers, he'd be fifth because one
Speaker 1: of those five guys in front of him is Sae
Speaker 1: Kwon Barkley, the running back for the New York Giants,
Speaker 1: who's piled up a bunch of receiving yards. But this
Speaker 1: is the other thing that's interesting. West five hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty eight yards right now for MVS. Not only is
Speaker 1: that the most yards receiving by a rookie receiver with
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, he surpassed Davante Adams total in the mid
Speaker 1: four hundreds from but I went back and looked through
Speaker 1: the entire Rodgers and Farv era only two rookie receivers,
Speaker 1: both of them in Brett Farve's final two years in
Speaker 1: Green Bay, surpassed six hundred yards receiving as rookies Greg
Speaker 1: Jennings in two thousand six. James Jones with the record
Speaker 1: in terms of this context six hundred and seventy six
Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven. So yes, there were there
Speaker 1: was a stretch in the middle or kind of towards
Speaker 1: the back half of the season where eq st Brown
Speaker 1: kind of came on and MVS kind of fell back
Speaker 1: in terms of the statistical impact. But over the over
Speaker 1: the whole, when you look at the whole thing, what
Speaker 1: MVS has done this year is nothing to sneeze it,
Speaker 1: you know, and you look at these all these measurables
Speaker 1: and numbers and forty times coming out of the combine
Speaker 1: and and that's all well and good, but you have
Speaker 1: to put to use. And I think the thing as
Speaker 1: impressive as that is to be able to have production,
Speaker 1: have yards, have catches, even have a few touchdowns. It's
Speaker 1: the fact that both of them are above fifteen yards
Speaker 1: per catch that's indicating that they're making big plays in
Speaker 1: your right, I mean, route running, all the small things
Speaker 1: are important. I mean, you know, you have to be
Speaker 1: able to do that to function in this offense. But
Speaker 1: let's be honest, Mike. The reason why Brian Judicins use
Speaker 1: these draft picks on these guys, the reason they brought
Speaker 1: them in on Day three to take a flyer. I
Speaker 1: think you would call them on some later round draft
Speaker 1: picks is because of the home run potential there, because
Speaker 1: of what they do that potentially, with some coaching, can
Speaker 1: be rounded out and make a complete receiver. These guys
Speaker 1: have things you can't coach. And st Brown specifically to
Speaker 1: touch on him, a six round draft pick, maybe came
Speaker 1: out a year early, well did come out of yearly,
Speaker 1: but maybe year too early. Out of order, Dame, you
Speaker 1: know what what he could have potentially did with the
Speaker 1: success that they've had this season, but he has looked.
Speaker 1: The part in what impresses me is you can use
Speaker 1: him as a slot, you can use him on the boundary,
Speaker 1: and he finds ways to still make plays in his
Speaker 1: catch radius. Michael, how many times have you and I've
Speaker 1: seen it throughout the course of this season. A finger
Speaker 1: uh tip toe type catches displays that are instinctive that
Speaker 1: you cannot coach, and that that for a sixth round
Speaker 1: draft pick. That's what's impressed me. Size, speed, everything you
Speaker 1: look for, you get them coached up here in the
Speaker 1: next two or three years, and Aaron Rodgers has some
Speaker 1: legitimate weapons to work with for the foreseeable future. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years, the Packers have needed
Speaker 1: to restock for the future at the skill positions around
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers. We saw two years ago in the draft
Speaker 1: they took a fourth round, fifth round in seventh round,
Speaker 1: pick three guys on the third day at running back. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: for Davante May's, the seventh round pick, some injuries going
Speaker 1: into his second year, things didn't work out. But the
Speaker 1: fourth rounder and the fifth rounder, Jamal Williams and Aaron Jones,
Speaker 1: we talked plenty about them. It turned out kind of
Speaker 1: using this a similar strategy in this last draft. You
Speaker 1: use a fourth round, fifth round, in sixth round pick
Speaker 1: on More and MVS and e Q, And now with
Speaker 1: Jamon More, a lot of fans are asking, well, what's
Speaker 1: the deal with him? He was the first one they
Speaker 1: picked out of the three. You know what's going on there? Okay,
Speaker 1: so the other guys moved ahead of him on the
Speaker 1: depth chart. You know, there are a lot of fans
Speaker 1: who already just right off Jamon More and say, well,
Speaker 1: this guy is obviously not gonna make it. I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to do that right away. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: the fumble last week on the kickoff return unfortunate. But
Speaker 1: I'll remember this about Jamon Moore. He had a couple
Speaker 1: of really bad drop passes in the preseason this year
Speaker 1: and he really had to buckle down. And then he
Speaker 1: came back the very next preseason game. He dealt with
Speaker 1: that adversity, he made some big plays for the Packers,
Speaker 1: and he showed that he can play in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Now he's got another pretty significant moment of adversity he
Speaker 1: has to deal with. These guys don't get this far
Speaker 1: West without being able to handle that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And yes, some will handle it better than others. But
Speaker 1: that being said, anybody who's writing off Jamon Moore right now,
Speaker 1: just because MVS and e Q have moved ahead of
Speaker 1: him on the depth chart this rookie season, that's a
Speaker 1: potentially fatal mistake. I'm glad you set this up for me, Michael,
Speaker 1: because and we didn't plan this. Hung the curve ball
Speaker 1: over the plate here and now I'm ready to take
Speaker 1: it to opposite field. Not that you threw a bad pitch.
Speaker 1: Just you set me up. Well, here, I want to
Speaker 1: take you back to two thousand seventeen. Do you remember
Speaker 1: that year very well? Okay? The Green Bay Packers opened
Speaker 1: the season against the Seattle Seahawks Mike Spofford. The Packers
Speaker 1: had four running backs on the roster for that game.
Speaker 1: Three man roster, Jamal Williams, Davante Mays, Aaron Ripkowski, and
Speaker 1: Aaron Jones. Which one of those three was in Which
Speaker 1: one of those four was inactive for that game? It
Speaker 1: was Aaron Jones was inactives his rookie season, first game
Speaker 1: of his rookie season and he was inactive. He was
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the depth chart. The fifth round
Speaker 1: pick was sitting behind the seventh round pick in Week one,
Speaker 1: and there were questions when you draft that many running backs,
Speaker 1: there's questions about, Okay, how are you going to be
Speaker 1: able to make all this work? Well, here's the reality.
Speaker 1: The players have to figure it out. The coaches have
Speaker 1: to figure it out too. You didn't know what Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones could do until injuries happened, opportunity happened, and he
Speaker 1: ends up having a big performance. That's the way this
Speaker 1: game works. Nothing is absolute as much as we love
Speaker 1: to talk about Madden and you know you you log
Speaker 1: onto your you know you get you get your franchise
Speaker 1: mode up. I know you're a big fan of it.
Speaker 1: You get your franchise mode up. You pick your team
Speaker 1: and you get your roster right, and everybody has an
Speaker 1: overall ranking. You think they got that. In the NFL, No,
Speaker 1: that doesn't exist, And what one team might think of
Speaker 1: one player might be different than what another team thinks
Speaker 1: about them. So for getting back to original point with
Speaker 1: Jamon Moore, We've seen a time and time again. Man,
Speaker 1: there's there's young guys that come in, some guys that clicks.
Speaker 1: There's your Greg jen Things, there's your James Jones that
Speaker 1: just jump off the board and here they are, they're superstars.
Speaker 1: But there's also Jordy Nelson's. There's also these other guys
Speaker 1: that it takes him a few years to figure out
Speaker 1: what they are and what they're going to be in
Speaker 1: this league. Antonio Freeman had eight catches for a hundred
Speaker 1: and six yards as a rookie. That was one stat
Speaker 1: I saw when I was looking back through the rookie
Speaker 1: receivers in the five Rogers era. It's easy to forget
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, and what did Donald Driver? Donald
Speaker 1: Driver was the seventh round pick, but what did he have?
Speaker 1: It was like three catches his first two three years,
Speaker 1: wasn't it? This? It's the way the game works, and
Speaker 1: you don't know UNTI take at opportunities. The big thing
Speaker 1: for Jamon More this offseason mini camps O t a
Speaker 1: s Training camp is making that next step and showing
Speaker 1: the packers you know, this is a fifth round pick,
Speaker 1: this is why you took me, and this is the
Speaker 1: potential that I have at this position. Yeah. And I'll
Speaker 1: make another point along these lines too. I mentioned obviously
Speaker 1: James Jones six hundred and seventy six yards and two
Speaker 1: thousand and seven the most receiving yards by a rookie
Speaker 1: in the far Rogers era. But then even after Jones'
Speaker 1: career got going for a couple of years, he went
Speaker 1: through about with the drops. You know, he wasn't as
Speaker 1: steady with his hands and everything. But then you get
Speaker 1: into two thousand twelve when he was at fourteen touchdowns
Speaker 1: led the league or something like that. He became one
Speaker 1: of the most sure handed guys on the entire roster.
Speaker 1: When in the Super Bowl season of two thousand and ten,
Speaker 1: there were some big drop passes that he was taking
Speaker 1: a lot of criticism for. So these guys, they're they're
Speaker 1: gonna go through their ups and downs, and yes, maybe
Speaker 1: for some guys that doesn't work out. Other guys will,
Speaker 1: you know, eventually take off and maybe never have a
Speaker 1: dip or a lull in their career. But um, I've
Speaker 1: just learned in my time in this league never be
Speaker 1: too quick to judge. Well. The other thing is too
Speaker 1: I'm sure if you asked James Jones now, he much
Speaker 1: rather would have liked to have had those drops issues
Speaker 1: in two thousand seven than he did in two thousand ten.
Speaker 1: A contract year, right, I mean, it's it's the way
Speaker 1: the game is played. Absolutely, It's it's all about timing
Speaker 1: and it's about a contract progression. I think that getting
Speaker 1: back to the overlying point that we're trying to make
Speaker 1: this conversation, you drafted three receivers, they're all on the roster,
Speaker 1: they're all still in play. You got Jake Kumro two
Speaker 1: into that. I mean, there is some some bright spots
Speaker 1: there for the Packers as they moved to the future
Speaker 1: with this receiving. Yeah, the future of this is going
Speaker 1: to be really interesting. Um but wess the powerful noise
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Speaker 1: note on the receivers, the one that everybody is talking
Speaker 1: about here heading into this final game. Davante Adams, Oh,
Speaker 1: I thought you're gonna say all those are well, we'll
Speaker 1: see if the Iowa State products. We we joke about
Speaker 1: Alan Bazard because there are a handful of Iowa State
Speaker 1: alums in the building who were very excited when the
Speaker 1: Packers signed for He's the cyclone receiver. He's the first
Speaker 1: since Wallace right, Seneca Wallace, I think on this roster
Speaker 1: just yes, from from Iowa State. I believe that's correct. Yes,
Speaker 1: but there's always some enthusiasm in the building when an
Speaker 1: Iowa State player arrives. But Davante Adams, he has a
Speaker 1: hundred and eleven receptions this this season. The franchise record
Speaker 1: for one year is a hundred and twelve sterling sharp
Speaker 1: in so two catches. To get that, he also needs
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty four yards two beat Jordy Nelson's
Speaker 1: single season record from of one thousand, five hundred and nineteen.
Speaker 1: Nelson the only receiver in the history of the Packers
Speaker 1: to post a fifteen hundred yards season. How do you
Speaker 1: see this playing out now? Davantae Adams miss practice on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: but he did talk to reporters and sounded pretty optimistic
Speaker 1: that he was going to play. He just got kind
Speaker 1: of an awkward tackles early in the Jets game. Actually,
Speaker 1: he ended up getting eleven catches. He said it was
Speaker 1: the second catch of the game. Um, yeah, yeah, he had.
Speaker 1: He had eleven catches. That he went from a hundred
Speaker 1: to a hundred and eleven but he said on the
Speaker 1: second catch, the defender tackled him a little awkwardly, landed
Speaker 1: on his knee and it got a little stiff and
Speaker 1: sore after the game. So he's being a little cautious
Speaker 1: so far in practice this week sounds like he's gonna play.
Speaker 1: I'm sure he wants to play and take a shot
Speaker 1: at those records. What do you think? How do you
Speaker 1: see this plan out? Yeah, it's a tough one to
Speaker 1: figure out as far as projecting. I mean, I have
Speaker 1: about I don't know, somewhere between three and four thousand
Speaker 1: different things in my job description, but it happens to
Speaker 1: be that physician is not one of them right now.
Speaker 1: So I don't know what what Davant Adams is going through.
Speaker 1: Knee injuries are, so they're tricky because of the nature
Speaker 1: of the position. Not to diminish anything on the offensive
Speaker 1: line they got to get back in their back pedal
Speaker 1: or or the linebackers. It's it's it's tough, but it's
Speaker 1: all about explosiveness now. I think the biggest thing for
Speaker 1: Davante Adams at him and Pat mackenzie. The training staff
Speaker 1: is gonna have to figure out is is there any
Speaker 1: danger long term if they feel like there isn't. I
Speaker 1: think you're going to see him out there, and I
Speaker 1: think you're gonna him make a run at this thing. Again.
Speaker 1: That's as we stand here on Thursday before the padded practice.
Speaker 1: But what impresses me the most about Adams is the
Speaker 1: fact that, as you said, he's a hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: four yards away, he's two catches away from history. And
Speaker 1: he was talking at his locker on Wednesday and sort of,
Speaker 1: you know, mentioning how some of these things happen when
Speaker 1: you least expect it. Now, he's not saying that he
Speaker 1: didn't go into the season with high with high goals
Speaker 1: for himself. We both talked to him this offseason. He
Speaker 1: set the bar incredibly high. He threw that tweet out
Speaker 1: there in the off season about twenty touchdowns, you know,
Speaker 1: which which generated a lot of attention. But but it's
Speaker 1: it's it's it was in the spirit of hey, why
Speaker 1: not h and and I think when you see now,
Speaker 1: as he said, the reason he said those words was
Speaker 1: he never went out this year seeing, Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: beat Geordie's record. I'm gonna aim for a hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty catches he wanted to challenge himself to be better,
Speaker 1: be better than the last season, be better than the
Speaker 1: last time he played the Lions. If he does that
Speaker 1: again nine catches for hundred forty yards, he'll have write
Speaker 1: his way into the history books. But the biggest thing
Speaker 1: for Davante Adams is he said, is he would trade
Speaker 1: it all in for a winning record, to be to
Speaker 1: be in the playoffs. And you know, for a guy
Speaker 1: that just had the Brinks truck back up for him,
Speaker 1: and you know, is considered one of the top receivers
Speaker 1: in league, being paid like one of the top receivers
Speaker 1: the league, and to perform like one of the top
Speaker 1: receivers to league. There's no hype with this guy. He
Speaker 1: is what he is, he plays how he plays, and
Speaker 1: he's only twenty six years old. Mike, you and I
Speaker 1: have covered this league for a long time. Where was
Speaker 1: Jordy Nelson at six? Where was Greg Jennings at six?
Speaker 1: Jennings had some good seasons, but I don't know if
Speaker 1: anyone's been at his advanced Right now is where Adams is.
Speaker 1: And as Aaron Rodgers alluded to the kids only getting better. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and that's what Adams himself. You can almost sense
Speaker 1: when he talks to reporters he's he's very measured, very humble,
Speaker 1: yet always confident, but you can almost sense how excited
Speaker 1: he is for his own future because he knows his
Speaker 1: quarterback believes in him, but that his quarterback also thinks
Speaker 1: there's bigger and better things to come aside from these
Speaker 1: potential franchise records he's going for now, that'll be uh,
Speaker 1: that'll be fun to think about and talk about here
Speaker 1: going forward. And honestly, Michael, the fact that he is
Speaker 1: gonna end up with at least a hundred and eleven catches,
Speaker 1: at least yards, at least twelve touchdowns, this guy is
Speaker 1: still only thinking about, Okay, how can I top that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's no sustainability in his mindset. It's about what can
Speaker 1: I do to get better? And honestly, that's what made
Speaker 1: him the type of receiver he was at Fresno State,
Speaker 1: having two of the most impressive college seasons I think
Speaker 1: you're gonna see for FBS football. It's what made him
Speaker 1: a second round draft pick and it's what's making him
Speaker 1: one of the top receivers in this league. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is just the beginning to I mean, if he
Speaker 1: can stay healthy there, you know, the sky is the
Speaker 1: limit for that gay. Yeah. Well, we've got one more
Speaker 1: show to go this week. We will get two keys
Speaker 1: to victory for the Packers over the Lions on tomorrow's show,
Speaker 1: but for now, we're going to call it a wrap
Speaker 1: on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow
Speaker 1: all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot
Speaker 1: com on Twitter. He's at west Hot I'm at Mike
Speaker 1: Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody,
Speaker 1: See you next time.