Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford and he is Wes Hodkowitz. We're
Speaker 1: coming to you here from our studios at lambeau Field
Speaker 1: and West. Shortly after we turn off the cameras here
Speaker 1: recording this show, we are headed to the airport to
Speaker 1: catch that flight to Kansas City the Packers preseason finale
Speaker 1: Thursday night from Arrowhead Stadium against the Chiefs. A lot
Speaker 1: of stuff kind of going on heading into this one.
Speaker 1: Where do you want to start? Well, I think the
Speaker 1: biggest thing is going to be some of these guys
Speaker 1: who are going to potentially have a chance to play
Speaker 1: in this game. When you look at Trevor Davis, uh,
Speaker 1: certainly a guy that I think you his resume as
Speaker 1: a special team er speaks for itself. I think that
Speaker 1: has sort of been one of the underlying sort of
Speaker 1: things that's been talked about this week. Yes, he's missed
Speaker 1: most of if not all, of training camp here with
Speaker 1: this hamstring injury, but he's put on two years of
Speaker 1: film now. At this point, he was third in the
Speaker 1: NFL in punt return average. So you know, you and
Speaker 1: I we both neither of us know how this whole
Speaker 1: thing is going to shake out on Saturday afternoon. But
Speaker 1: I just think when you look at Davis in particular, well,
Speaker 1: we'll see how much he does. You know, it sounded
Speaker 1: like the emphasis for him might be special teams over
Speaker 1: offense coming back from the hamstring, but uh, you know
Speaker 1: what he offers as a returner, as a gunner, and
Speaker 1: the different things he can do with his speed. And
Speaker 1: then also, you know, a guy like Devonte Mays too,
Speaker 1: who was on the active roster last season, but you
Speaker 1: know he had a couple fumble issues there, comes back
Speaker 1: this year. It looked like with how this training camp
Speaker 1: was gonna work out, was in line to get a
Speaker 1: lot of opportunities. He ends up injuring his hamstring in
Speaker 1: the first week of camp and then he ends up
Speaker 1: spending the next three and a half, you know, injured.
Speaker 1: So I think you look at those two young guys,
Speaker 1: you know, potentially being able to get some work in
Speaker 1: this game could be really big for them as they
Speaker 1: make that final roster push. Yeah, you never know, as
Speaker 1: you said, how it's going to shake out when it
Speaker 1: comes to the final roster decisions on Saturday. But boy,
Speaker 1: anytime you're a young player and you only get one
Speaker 1: preseason game because of injury or whatever other circumstance to
Speaker 1: make that impression before those decisions and may that. That's
Speaker 1: a tough spot to be in, and it's a tough
Speaker 1: spot for both Davis and for me Is. I'll say
Speaker 1: this about Davis. We were reminded this week, um by
Speaker 1: the coaching staff, don't forget that Trevor Davis was also
Speaker 1: a pretty darn good gunner. I know a lot of
Speaker 1: attention went to Jeff Janis as far as that role
Speaker 1: of gunner on the punt coverage team, but Trevor Davis
Speaker 1: had four tackles uh as a as a coverage man
Speaker 1: at gunner. So that's another element of special teams that
Speaker 1: comes into play. And then, you know, let's be honest
Speaker 1: West Throughout the preseason, there have been ball security issues
Speaker 1: on returns for the Packers, both punts and kickoffs. We've
Speaker 1: seen the ball on the ground here and there. Nobody
Speaker 1: has stepped up to, you know, really give the coaches
Speaker 1: any reason to to not give Trevor Davis this opportunity
Speaker 1: to say, Okay, the job is still yours. So let's
Speaker 1: go out in Kansas City and earn it. And then
Speaker 1: when it comes to DeVante May's, you said it, the
Speaker 1: opportunity that was missed for him in this training camp
Speaker 1: when you look at the injury to Aaron Jones that
Speaker 1: kept him out for a while. Jamal Williams has had,
Speaker 1: you know, some nix and bruises here and there, other
Speaker 1: guys being brought in somewhat at the last minute in
Speaker 1: training camp to play the running back position. This would
Speaker 1: have been a huge opportunity to did for DeVante May's
Speaker 1: to really put that uh um, that rookie season behind him.
Speaker 1: He had those couple of fumbles when he first got
Speaker 1: his opportunity. We know about all of that, so but
Speaker 1: that really is what he has to do now. He
Speaker 1: has to put it behind him. Whatever chance he gets
Speaker 1: in Kansas City, he's got to maximize. Yeah, absolutely, Mike,
Speaker 1: and you touched on this early in camp too, before
Speaker 1: he had the hamstring injury. The intriguing thing about him
Speaker 1: is he does bring something else to the party. As
Speaker 1: our colleague Larry mccarren likes to say that the other
Speaker 1: running backs don't. And it's not to say they can't
Speaker 1: be power running backs, but not everybody's built like May's
Speaker 1: a you know, five little over five ten to earn
Speaker 1: thirty pounds, he's a he's a bull when he gets going.
Speaker 1: I think he said high school by the way, exactly right,
Speaker 1: and he showed that at Utah State. It's the short
Speaker 1: time he had there when he wasn't injured. I think
Speaker 1: really showed what he could potentially do as a downhole runner. Again,
Speaker 1: he's coming off that hamstring. You and I both know
Speaker 1: the most difficult injuries, in my estimation, other than just
Speaker 1: a pain threshold to come back from our soft muscle injuries,
Speaker 1: particularly with the lower body, because it's not like a
Speaker 1: broken bone. You can't just say Okay, it's gonna heal
Speaker 1: in six weeks and it's healed. Everything is different with
Speaker 1: those things. None of none of those injuries are the same.
Speaker 1: You don't know what the tweak was like, what the
Speaker 1: tear was like. So it's all about feel and being
Speaker 1: on a timetable. So that's the one in particular. I
Speaker 1: don't know how much we're gonna see him against Kansas City,
Speaker 1: but if DeVante Mays does suit up and he does
Speaker 1: get some reps in that game, really important to show
Speaker 1: what he can do because we do know that Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones is gonna miss those first two games, and also
Speaker 1: you had, you know, the other two running backs there
Speaker 1: in Montgomery and Williams, but you really like to have
Speaker 1: that number three guy available, So could Davante May's solidify
Speaker 1: himself as that. We'll see what happens. Yeah, we've got
Speaker 1: a lot more to talk about with this preseason finale,
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Speaker 1: We believe in Better. Okay, we know there are a
Speaker 1: lot of roster spots here at stake in this final
Speaker 1: game West, but the other thing I'm looking at two
Speaker 1: is it's a combination of roster spot but also depth
Speaker 1: chart position. When you're looking at where this roster, where
Speaker 1: the depth chart is going to be heading into Week
Speaker 1: one against the Bears, A couple of positions jump out
Speaker 1: to me. One is wide receiver. Obviously Trevor Day this
Speaker 1: is in that mix. But you look at wide receiver,
Speaker 1: you have Adams and Cobb and Allison. We know that's
Speaker 1: the first three, But who's number four for the game
Speaker 1: against the Bears. Jake Kumaroles had a heck of a camp,
Speaker 1: but he's injured right now. We don't know necessarily the
Speaker 1: severity of that. How long he's going to be out.
Speaker 1: Jamon Moore had a nice game against the Raiders. Does
Speaker 1: he step up and do it again as we've talked
Speaker 1: about throughout the preseason, maybe he seizes that spot as
Speaker 1: the number four guy. Valdes Scantling, e q st Brown,
Speaker 1: those guys obviously have had their moments along the way
Speaker 1: as well. What do you think right now, any I
Speaker 1: don't want to say prediction, but any thoughts on just
Speaker 1: a worth things stand at receiver, Well, it's intriguing to me, Mike,
Speaker 1: because of how this shapes up last week. We know
Speaker 1: that Davante Adams and Randall Cobb didn't play, so it
Speaker 1: end up being a lot of what you and I
Speaker 1: talked about going into that game. With Kumarroll also being injured,
Speaker 1: Trevor Davis not suiting up, that meant a lot of
Speaker 1: those rookie receivers. And I thought Jamon Moore was a
Speaker 1: young man who really took advantage of that. And you know,
Speaker 1: and I was talking to him about that this week
Speaker 1: and after the game as well, and and Larry McCarn
Speaker 1: even mentioned him when we did our three Things video
Speaker 1: after the final practice on Monday. It just looks like
Speaker 1: a different guy. And it's amazing because it's only five
Speaker 1: or six days. And I think with training camp in
Speaker 1: the preseason, people tend to get so high and low
Speaker 1: on guys, and nothing is absolute. You and I have
Speaker 1: covered this league long enough to know that nothing is
Speaker 1: absolute in terms of young football players. They're gonna have
Speaker 1: their good days, they're gonna have their bad days. I'm
Speaker 1: sure Jamon Moore doesn't want to go into an NFL
Speaker 1: training camp as a rookie and have what happened happened
Speaker 1: to him in the first two or three weeks. But
Speaker 1: if you're a coach, if you're a scout. I want
Speaker 1: to see what's happened with him. I want to see
Speaker 1: this trajectory. I want to see this progression because he's
Speaker 1: a guy that I think over the last week and
Speaker 1: a half you've seen him get better. He didn't just
Speaker 1: have those four catches for sixty one yards or whatever
Speaker 1: it was against the Raiders. He came back and I
Speaker 1: felt had a pretty darn good practice on Monday, had
Speaker 1: press it's so much about stacking success and he mentioned
Speaker 1: it too. I mean, he needs to get to a
Speaker 1: point where he can get the coaches and quarterbacks to
Speaker 1: truck him in for whatever he did against the Raiders,
Speaker 1: and he was happy with it for the most part.
Speaker 1: He knows he has to go and duplicate that again
Speaker 1: against Kansas City in his bid to make the roster. Well.
Speaker 1: We heard from Aaron Rodgers last week talking about a
Speaker 1: guy like Jamon Moore that sometimes all it takes for
Speaker 1: a young receiver is to make that one big play.
Speaker 1: That play he made down the sideline in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter where he took a pretty big wallp a hit
Speaker 1: that was penalized. Questionable call, that's a discussion for another day,
Speaker 1: but he took a pretty big hit and he hung
Speaker 1: onto that ball. Maybe that's the play. Maybe that's when
Speaker 1: you talk about him looking like a different guy. The
Speaker 1: deep ball he caught in Monday's practice inside the Don
Speaker 1: Hudson Center from Deshaun Kaiser, throw was throw, was on target,
Speaker 1: coverage wasn't bad. He he stuck his arms out there,
Speaker 1: right in stride. He brought it in. Everything looked smooth.
Speaker 1: Nothing nothing like a bobble or like, oh that he
Speaker 1: was nervous about it or anything. Maybe the play down
Speaker 1: the sideline in Oakland was the one do you as
Speaker 1: a child, did you ever play that game with your
Speaker 1: dad or maybe a friend on the playground where it's like,
Speaker 1: as the quarterback once the receiver and he goes out
Speaker 1: for maybe five yards, you complete it, then you go
Speaker 1: out for ten yards in twenty. You keep doing, you
Speaker 1: keep going back. Jamond Moore's game kind of reminded me
Speaker 1: of that against Oakland, where he had two pretty simple
Speaker 1: crossers across the middle. I thought that was a key
Speaker 1: building block. Then he had that one play. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it was kind of a post route. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to remember exactly off the top of my head,
Speaker 1: but it was. It was second and fifteen. It was
Speaker 1: for sixteen yards. You remember that he came across the middle.
Speaker 1: He didn't have the thread of the safety over the
Speaker 1: top of him, but it was a bang bang play
Speaker 1: that he needs to catch and run to make it happen.
Speaker 1: He accomplished that. Then he finished it off with that
Speaker 1: really solid catch along the sidelines. Took a step on
Speaker 1: every play and you could see that confidence build. He
Speaker 1: said he just needed to get his mojo back, So
Speaker 1: I think going into this game he's done that. I
Speaker 1: think Marquess Velde Scantling has been fairly consistent, um you know,
Speaker 1: over the stretch of this camp, and Econemius st Brown
Speaker 1: also as a slot receiver for he guy his size,
Speaker 1: I think has been really showcased his talent as well.
Speaker 1: So all three of those guys going in this game.
Speaker 1: It's down to the wires. So I don't know how
Speaker 1: it's going to shuffle out with the receivers, but for
Speaker 1: the first time really on my time on the beat,
Speaker 1: I think it's as wide open as ever with you know,
Speaker 1: who could potentially be those number four or five, six,
Speaker 1: maybe even seven receivers on the roster and another position
Speaker 1: I'll just mention before we do a little bit more
Speaker 1: sponsored business in the same vein. In terms of the
Speaker 1: depth chart status is outside linebacker. We have Nick Perry,
Speaker 1: Clay Matthews, and Reggie Gilbert. We know that those are
Speaker 1: the top three. Who's going to be the number four
Speaker 1: heading into the Bears game? Will Kyler Factral step up
Speaker 1: and take it? Chris Odom, Kendall, Donnerson one of those guys.
Speaker 1: We don't know how this is how this is going
Speaker 1: to shake out, but this preseason finale in Kansas City
Speaker 1: will matter in that respect totally. And Mike Petton when
Speaker 1: he was talking to the media on Tuesday to very
Speaker 1: complimentary Vince Bagel and something, I'm sorry, yeah, no, I
Speaker 1: know what he's done in practice, and he said, you know,
Speaker 1: there's still some things they're waiting to see in games.
Speaker 1: But there was a particular blitz technique that he said
Speaker 1: everybody on the outside linebacker crew has been struggling with
Speaker 1: and he perfected it. He did it perfectly. So we'll
Speaker 1: see if those things can transfer over now and do
Speaker 1: a game setting. Yeah, all right, Well, another round of
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Speaker 1: Bay Packers. Okay, So the Packers will get back on
Speaker 1: the plane somewhere in the middle of the night after
Speaker 1: Thursday night's game, and then it's roster cut time. The
Speaker 1: deadline is three o'clock Central Time on Saturday. I believe
Speaker 1: the roster has to be cut down to fifty three.
Speaker 1: As we've talked about, I've always felt, as much as
Speaker 1: I kind of get an idea, maybe you know those
Speaker 1: last few guys who's gonna make it and who's not.
Speaker 1: I've learned enough over the years that there's so much
Speaker 1: that goes into these decisions that they can be very
Speaker 1: difficult to predict. But let's just in a very general sense,
Speaker 1: give the fans uh some idea of what these different
Speaker 1: factors are, these different discussions that go on behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: because one of them is when you're trying to look
Speaker 1: at your fifty three plus your ten man practice squad.
Speaker 1: It's trying to figure out, well, if we cut this
Speaker 1: guy because we want him on the practice squad, is
Speaker 1: is there enough preseason film out there that maybe another
Speaker 1: team is going to claim him that they're gonna want
Speaker 1: him because they have a need at that position. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know they're there are room the personnel rooms, there
Speaker 1: are boards with all these teams and their depth charts,
Speaker 1: and they're studying all this stuff to figure it out.
Speaker 1: It's not a simple process. It's not at all. And
Speaker 1: have I mentioned the last five minutes how much I
Speaker 1: like listening to Mike pett and talk. I mean, he
Speaker 1: I thought was exemplary on Tuesday because he was asked
Speaker 1: about building a roster in what you need an outside linebacker,
Speaker 1: what you need at safety or defensive back in today's NFL,
Speaker 1: and he used his experience as a head coach with
Speaker 1: Cleveland and that you know, as a defensive minded coach,
Speaker 1: he was always somewhat selfish in terms of well I
Speaker 1: want this player and that player and this guy, without
Speaker 1: thinking of the big picture, without thinking, okay, who does
Speaker 1: wrongs need? For example, on special teams. Now, how does
Speaker 1: a guy's skill set not only apply to being a
Speaker 1: backup maybe outside boundary cornerback, but also as a gunner,
Speaker 1: or as a jammer on on a punt unit, or
Speaker 1: and the kickoff coverage. Those are all factors you have
Speaker 1: to consider during this thing. And it is the least
Speaker 1: enviable position I think for a coach to be in,
Speaker 1: because or even you know Brian goodkuns, because you have
Speaker 1: a lot of guys. You spend four or five months
Speaker 1: getting to know these guys, getting to know their tendencies
Speaker 1: and in defined guys you really like, and sometimes it
Speaker 1: just works out that one or two of them are
Speaker 1: going to go play elsewhere. And as much as that hurts,
Speaker 1: as I wrote on Insider Inbox last week, I think
Speaker 1: you want to see that too, because, as Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: alluded to this week, you don't want those decisions to
Speaker 1: be easy. You don't want it to be that it's
Speaker 1: just Okay, well we got fifty three, and well nobody
Speaker 1: else wants the other ten. They'll come back on our
Speaker 1: practice squad. You want to be in a position that
Speaker 1: these guys have made it competitive. And I think in
Speaker 1: a lot of these positions mike receiver, tight end, outside back,
Speaker 1: or defensive back, cornerback. They're gonna have some really tough
Speaker 1: calls to make. Yeah, And Brian Goodacun said the other
Speaker 1: day he believes that there are more than fifty three
Speaker 1: viable NFL players in this training camp for the Packers.
Speaker 1: I think the Packers fully expect or at least or
Speaker 1: at least would not be shocked if a couple of
Speaker 1: the guys that they cut get claimed by other teams. Now,
Speaker 1: the flip side of that, with the Packers being seven
Speaker 1: and nine a year ago, they are a little higher
Speaker 1: in the claim order, the waiver claim order if the
Speaker 1: Packers see somebody else out there that they think would
Speaker 1: be an upgrade over what they have in house. So
Speaker 1: to speak. The Packers normally, when you're a playoff team,
Speaker 1: you know you're you're in the waiver claim order down
Speaker 1: there at eight or thirty. If you make it to
Speaker 1: the conference championship game, as the Packers have done a
Speaker 1: couple of times this year their fourteen, and so that
Speaker 1: changes the equation as well in terms of, well, who's
Speaker 1: going to be available. We're going to have a shot
Speaker 1: at some of those players before these other teams that
Speaker 1: made the playoffs last year. So that's another um, you know,
Speaker 1: variable that that gets thrown into these discussions that they're
Speaker 1: going to have leading up to three o'clock on Saturday.
Speaker 1: And it's the NFL's version of the Rule five draft.
Speaker 1: Is the way I've always looked at. I have to
Speaker 1: use a Major League Baseball analogy there and that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can claim a guy, and but if you're claiming
Speaker 1: a guy, that means he was underneath four years in
Speaker 1: the NFL and he's gonna have to learn a new
Speaker 1: defense in addition to being a young player. It's sometimes
Speaker 1: difficult to do that. But there are gems out there.
Speaker 1: I think of, you know, Jared Bush back in two
Speaker 1: thousand and six. I think John Coon John was another
Speaker 1: one of them. Pepper was was a waiver claim ended
Speaker 1: up being a starting safety on a Super Bowl. So
Speaker 1: you never know which way that that wind is going
Speaker 1: to blow. But no matter what happens, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I think Brian Goodkin is going through this process now
Speaker 1: is the first time being the guy doing the final
Speaker 1: check marks on all these papers. It's it's gonna be
Speaker 1: very interesting and I'm sure gonna be a tough few
Speaker 1: days for the Packers trying to make those decisions. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and just to clarify for the fans as well, you
Speaker 1: claim a player on waivers, you are putting him on
Speaker 1: your fifty three. That's part of the rules. You don't
Speaker 1: get to claim somebody that that another team has cut
Speaker 1: and then put him on the practice squad. That player
Speaker 1: has to clear waivers. Well, it's not really twenty four hours,
Speaker 1: I guess in this particular instance, it's less than that,
Speaker 1: but the waiver period, the player has to clear waivers
Speaker 1: and not be claimed by anybody, including your the players.
Speaker 1: You cut yourself before you can start building that ten
Speaker 1: player practice squad. So that's part of the process that
Speaker 1: will happen into Saturday evening and into Sunday as the
Speaker 1: practice squad contracts are signed. But um one roster decision
Speaker 1: that in essence has already been made west Um at
Speaker 1: the quarterback position is the Packers traded Brett Huntley to
Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks, So Deshaun Kaiser is the number two
Speaker 1: quarterback on this team, I guess from a roster perspective. Now,
Speaker 1: the question is does Tim Boyle make the roster as
Speaker 1: a number three quarterback or will the Packers release him
Speaker 1: and perhaps hope he cleared that he clears waivers and
Speaker 1: they can sign him with the practice squad. We'll see
Speaker 1: what happens there. We'll see how Boil plays in Kansas City. Um,
Speaker 1: but a move here not necessarily a surprising movie. You No,
Speaker 1: you just never know the timing of when exactly these
Speaker 1: things are going to happen. But it's a sign the
Speaker 1: Packers feel comfortable where they are with the Shaun Kaiser
Speaker 1: and the progress that he's made that he can be
Speaker 1: their number two quarterback for twenty Yeah. And I mean
Speaker 1: the thing you gotta remember with Kaiser is one, he's
Speaker 1: twenty two years old. Um. Certainly has the pedigree. I think,
Speaker 1: going back to those comments that Mike McCarthy and Brian
Speaker 1: Goodkin's maid during the offseason program, that if he would
Speaker 1: have came out in this year's draft, he would have
Speaker 1: been right in the conversation with those other five quarterbacks
Speaker 1: that were all taken in the top ten. They feel
Speaker 1: that highly about his talent, in his ability, and I
Speaker 1: think he's flashed that. I think you've seen him make
Speaker 1: some of those throws you want to see out of
Speaker 1: a starting quarterback in the NFL and and you can't
Speaker 1: coach his size. I think he has really good speed
Speaker 1: and athleticism for the position, and he has really good
Speaker 1: arm strength. That's a great building block in terms of
Speaker 1: developing a young quarterback. And I think it's going to
Speaker 1: be important too. It is I wrote an insider inbox
Speaker 1: here for this upcoming edition. This gives them now an
Speaker 1: opportunity for Kaiser to get some playing time in this
Speaker 1: game against Kansas City, get one more shot at it,
Speaker 1: because you're hoping with everything works out, Aaron Rodgers will
Speaker 1: take every single snap the rest of the season, but
Speaker 1: also to get Tim Boil some reps in this game
Speaker 1: because he didn't get in there against the Raiders. So
Speaker 1: I think there's a pretty good chance they'll be able
Speaker 1: to get some work against Kansas City and and show one,
Speaker 1: you know, one more time what he has to offer,
Speaker 1: because I think in in his own way, I think
Speaker 1: he's in press coming out of you know, Eastern Kentucky
Speaker 1: and showing his own arm strength, good size, good feel
Speaker 1: for the pocket, good moxie, and seeing if you can
Speaker 1: pick up where he left off in those two first
Speaker 1: preseason games. All right, Well with that on our next show,
Speaker 1: We'll be talking about these roster decisions and exactly how
Speaker 1: everything fell into place, but for now we will call
Speaker 1: it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. You
Speaker 1: should have follow all of our coverage of the team
Speaker 1: and the preseason finale in Kansas City on Packers dot com.
Speaker 1: On Twitter, He's at west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford
Speaker 1: at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody.
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time.