Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted Social
Speaker 1: Distancing Style from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford,
Speaker 1: joined as always by the one and only West Hodkowitz.
Speaker 1: We're coming to you from our humble abodes as we
Speaker 1: have for the last several weeks. And West, we're now
Speaker 1: a week a full week essentially after the draft, and
Speaker 1: you and I have been getting to work here a
Speaker 1: little bit on the phones. We're trying to track down,
Speaker 1: you know, college coaches other past connections to the Packers
Speaker 1: draft picks. We've got some stories that are coming up
Speaker 1: on Packers dot com with regards to that. And the
Speaker 1: first one is today, it's already on the website as
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, and it's Boston College running back A. J. Dillon.
Speaker 1: I happened to track down his running backs coach from
Speaker 1: Boston College who's now at Colorado State. His name is
Speaker 1: Brian White, and for Wisconsin Badger fans you would certainly
Speaker 1: recognize White. He is the running best coach and former
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator for the Wisconsin Badgers during the Ron Dane era.
Speaker 1: And uh, he wasn't necessarily going to make any comparisons
Speaker 1: between Ron Dane and a J. Dillon, But pretty interesting
Speaker 1: that that the Packers second round pick is was coached
Speaker 1: by the same guy who coached a Heisman Trophy winner. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and this is the guy that again you're not
Speaker 1: making comparisons too, but when you look at the way
Speaker 1: he's built, the way he runs his vertical, his forty uh,
Speaker 1: there's so many things that Ron Dane did well that
Speaker 1: I think you see with a J. Dillon. Now, Dylan
Speaker 1: gonna look to go on above and beyond that here
Speaker 1: at the next level. But it was really enlightening as
Speaker 1: I read this story. Mike listening to White kind of
Speaker 1: recounts some of his favorite tales what stood out to
Speaker 1: him during his career, and he did mention something that
Speaker 1: I've been talking about quite a bit over the last week,
Speaker 1: and that's you look at this young man two or
Speaker 1: forty seven pounds, six ft all you might have an
Speaker 1: image in your mind of what that looks like, and
Speaker 1: then you see a J. Dillon and it blows it
Speaker 1: out of the freaking water. I mean, this guy he
Speaker 1: even I think he used the word tree trunks. You know,
Speaker 1: when you look at his legs and the way that
Speaker 1: he's built in his lower half, an impressive physical specimen
Speaker 1: who at Boston College had a really incredible run and
Speaker 1: now obviously getting the chance to come to Green Bay,
Speaker 1: Wisconsin and hopefully build upon that now is a second
Speaker 1: round draft choice. Yeah, it was really interesting talking to
Speaker 1: White because I asked him not knowing a whole lot
Speaker 1: about Dylan's background. Before he got to Boston College, he
Speaker 1: was the top rated player in the state of Massachusetts,
Speaker 1: and Brian White was involved in recruiting him, and it
Speaker 1: was interesting just getting his perspective on how he got
Speaker 1: to know A. J. Dillon. And I asked him just
Speaker 1: about his size, like, well, when he was coming out
Speaker 1: of high school, like what, you know, how big was
Speaker 1: He's like, well, he was actually about two forty two
Speaker 1: or two forty five, Like he was really that size.
Speaker 1: And he told kind of a funny story that during
Speaker 1: the recruiting process, they were giving, uh, the Dylan family
Speaker 1: a tour of Fenway Park in Boston, obviously a great
Speaker 1: sports landmark in in that city. And at the time,
Speaker 1: Dylan's younger sister was about five years old, and she
Speaker 1: was getting kind of, you know, tired and cranky, you know,
Speaker 1: like kindergarteners might do, and whatnot, and um so, Dylan
Speaker 1: picked her up. She fell asleep in his arms, and
Speaker 1: he carried her around Fenway Park for forty five minutes
Speaker 1: during during the entire tour. So um so, yeah, I
Speaker 1: guess you need to be a tun and forty pound
Speaker 1: muscularly strong high school kid to carry a kindergartener around
Speaker 1: a major league ballpark for nearly an hour. I just
Speaker 1: I gotta kick out of that story anyway. I encourage
Speaker 1: everybody to, uh check it out. It's it's it's fun
Speaker 1: to listen to the memories of some of these coaches
Speaker 1: who have been involved with these players in their past. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was funny. That was probably one of my favorite
Speaker 1: parts of the story too, because you just imagine what
Speaker 1: that's like for ninety minutes or whatever it is. I
Speaker 1: don't care what kind of drills you're doing in the
Speaker 1: weight room to get yourself ready for that. That that
Speaker 1: taxes the muscles. And obviously it was a comfortable enough
Speaker 1: ride that the young lady was able to fall asleep.
Speaker 1: But uh yeah. The other thing too about Dylan in
Speaker 1: terms of what I took away from the story, the
Speaker 1: way that he approaches the game, the way he works
Speaker 1: at it and also how he goes about you know,
Speaker 1: not just not just putting on film what he's done,
Speaker 1: but where he wants to grow. I think it's something
Speaker 1: that stands out still. A young guy, guy that did
Speaker 1: leave Boston college year early now getting a chance to
Speaker 1: you know, potentially, you know, really have a huge impact
Speaker 1: now with this Green Bay backfield, it is built for
Speaker 1: him to to make an impact sooner rather than later. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: as I said, over the next week or two, West
Speaker 1: and I are going to be posting some stories, follow
Speaker 1: up stories on these draft picks, catching up with some
Speaker 1: of their past connections. A. J. Dillon is on the
Speaker 1: site today, so be sure to check that out. Um.
Speaker 1: What's the other thing I thought we'd get to here
Speaker 1: before the week is out is to take a look
Speaker 1: at the Packers NFC North foes and what they did
Speaker 1: in the draft, because there's a lot of differences in
Speaker 1: terms of the draft capital. These teams had their targets,
Speaker 1: what they went after, how they went about it. Um,
Speaker 1: I guess we'll just start with the Minnesota Vikings. Fifteen
Speaker 1: draft picks. West the largest seven round draft class in
Speaker 1: the short history of the seven round draft, and they
Speaker 1: actually could have had even more, but they made some
Speaker 1: trades and got some extra picks for next year. I
Speaker 1: think they're actually heading into the one draft with a
Speaker 1: dozen picks already. So uh. But Minnesota, they lost a
Speaker 1: lot of guys for they traded their number one wide receiver,
Speaker 1: they lost guys in free agency, other guys for salary
Speaker 1: cap reasons. This was a huge rebuild, retool type of
Speaker 1: draft for the Minnesota Vikings. They have a big, big
Speaker 1: rookie class they do. And I just want to tell
Speaker 1: this quick story. I know there's reveries with Packer fans,
Speaker 1: Vikings fans, NFC North. We are very friendly though with
Speaker 1: our with our colleagues on other NFL team websites. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had a good laugh with Kim and Polito who
Speaker 1: used to work with us over at the Packers now
Speaker 1: she's over at the Vikings. Also Lindsay Young, who's one
Speaker 1: of the reporters and writers over at the Vikings. Kind
Speaker 1: of in Eric Smith as well, just given them a
Speaker 1: little bit of flak last Saturday night on enjoy that
Speaker 1: last third day in all of those draft picks that
Speaker 1: they ended up with, because as you and I well know, Mike,
Speaker 1: if the Packers would have had fifteen, we would have
Speaker 1: probably parceled them out a little bit or pushed them together.
Speaker 1: So we didn't write fifteen stories. But there's still fifteen
Speaker 1: draft picks, and that's fifteen human beings that you have
Speaker 1: to account for in your coverage. A lot of information
Speaker 1: to process, for sure. I remember two thousand thirteen when
Speaker 1: the Packers drafted whatever that was twelve guys. That class
Speaker 1: was a nightmare and I ended up, I am, out
Speaker 1: of all the drafts I've covered, that is the least
Speaker 1: proud I've ever been of any coverage I've ever done.
Speaker 1: I mean, for cripe sakes, I think I ended up
Speaker 1: saying like Micah Hyde was a character concern or something.
Speaker 1: It's just the most ridiculous things that I think I
Speaker 1: could have ever written in my life. But regardless, that's
Speaker 1: what happens when you have thirteen picks. That's a little
Speaker 1: insight into what media is like. But looking at the
Speaker 1: on field aspect of this, the Vikings defense just went
Speaker 1: through a massive overhaul, specifically on the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball. So to get Jeff Gladney at number thirty one,
Speaker 1: the cornerback on the TCU, I mean, these are the
Speaker 1: type of moves they need to make, and certainly when
Speaker 1: you trade a guy of the talent of Stefon Diggs,
Speaker 1: I know there were a lot of Packer fans that
Speaker 1: were upset that they took Justin Jefferson. Listen, folks, the
Speaker 1: Vikings don't get Justin Jefferson if they don't subtract Stefon
Speaker 1: Diggs as just arithmetic of the NFL exactly, they essentially
Speaker 1: swapped the number one receivers they sent, sent their guy
Speaker 1: to Buffalo, and then they drafted a number one receiver
Speaker 1: with that pick that they got from Buffalo. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: that's just the way that you know, the cookie crumbles
Speaker 1: sometimes in this league. And then you know, as we're
Speaker 1: Cleveland was a guy I was really high on. I
Speaker 1: think Troy dies a good prospect for them in the
Speaker 1: fourth round once you got to the sixth round. I
Speaker 1: don't Nate Stanley, I know is from I believe man Nominie, Yes, Manomonie, Wisconsin. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I got a chance to talk with him a little bit.
Speaker 1: I know his family is incredibly excited about that. But
Speaker 1: beyond that, I don't know anything about the rest of
Speaker 1: these guys, but that the first two rounds, specifically I
Speaker 1: think there's a lot of talent there that's gonna be
Speaker 1: able to help the Vikings. Yeah, I mean it was
Speaker 1: pretty it was pretty simple to as much as we
Speaker 1: thought the Packers draft was somewhat unpredictable, it was pretty
Speaker 1: simple to figure out Minnesota's strategy here. You know, they
Speaker 1: drafted Justin Jefferson after they you know, traded Stefon Diggs.
Speaker 1: They've always been for the last several years, they've been
Speaker 1: trying to retool that offensive line. So they spend a
Speaker 1: high pick on a on an offensive tackle in Ezra
Speaker 1: Cleveland from Boise State, and then losing three of their
Speaker 1: top four cornerbacks in free agency Trey Wayne, Zavier Rhodes,
Speaker 1: Mackenzie Alexander all gone. So two of Minnesota's top four
Speaker 1: picks in this draftwork cornerbacks. They got gladni from TC.
Speaker 1: You they got Danceler from Mississippi State, So Minnesota has
Speaker 1: some guys there they could potentially be stepping in to
Speaker 1: play right away as rookies and moving on. Then the
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions, the top of their draft is very similar
Speaker 1: in that respect because you look at you look at
Speaker 1: taking Jeff okuda Um at number three overall, the top cornerback,
Speaker 1: top defensive back in this draft out of Ohio State.
Speaker 1: Then they also get DeAndre Swift, the running back from
Speaker 1: Georgia and Julian Okwara and edge rusher from Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: He's now the guy that looks like they'll be pairing
Speaker 1: with Trey Flowers as far as the two guys they
Speaker 1: will have on opposite edges to get after the quarterback.
Speaker 1: Those are three guys for the Detroit Lions who could
Speaker 1: be stepping in right away to play on Day one
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, and Jonah Jackson to the guard from
Speaker 1: Ohio State, another other guy that could potentially be thrown
Speaker 1: in there. They've been want to play offensive lineman as
Speaker 1: rookies quite often here the last few years. So it's
Speaker 1: another guy. Uh Aqua A great story obviously, Romeo is
Speaker 1: already on the team. Chance for brothers to reunite their
Speaker 1: you love that. Obviously, We'll have to see how it
Speaker 1: plays out for them. Defensively, they had a lot of
Speaker 1: work to do. Both of those brothers they went. They
Speaker 1: both went to Notre Dame too right they were. They
Speaker 1: were both for the fighting Irish. But Romeo was what
Speaker 1: a sixth round pick I don't think he was definitely right.
Speaker 1: He was later in the draft for sure. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: but but yeah then I mean going with the cornerback
Speaker 1: from Ohiouse State. I saw a stat out there, Mike,
Speaker 1: did you notice that too? I think they said he
Speaker 1: was the highest taken, our highest drafted cornerback. Was that
Speaker 1: like twenty five years or something like that too? Yeah,
Speaker 1: the third overall? Um, yeah, that was That's that's going
Speaker 1: back to like the Dion Sanders age. Maybe, And if
Speaker 1: you're talking to five years ago, if we weren't unscripted,
Speaker 1: I would have done more research and look it up.
Speaker 1: But but that something, folks, I'm sure in the future here,
Speaker 1: as we write about him more and more, we'll have that.
Speaker 1: DeAndre Swift was one of my favorites in this draft.
Speaker 1: He did not end up going as far as the
Speaker 1: first running back selected, like I think some people thought,
Speaker 1: including myself. But still listen, Mike, they've been doing this
Speaker 1: for years. It's been a carousel. They're trying to find
Speaker 1: somebody at that running back position that they can count on.
Speaker 1: It looked like at points carry On Johnson was that individual.
Speaker 1: He got hurt, really wasn't able to get that momentum
Speaker 1: back last season. So DeAndre Swift he's the next guy.
Speaker 1: I mean, you look at how many resources that the
Speaker 1: Lions have invested in the first and second round with
Speaker 1: the running backs over the last fifteen twenty years. It
Speaker 1: has been extraordinary in this path through. I mean, I
Speaker 1: guess in some regards say still replaced Barry Sanders. I
Speaker 1: don't know the last time that they've had a running back,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe uh yeah, I'm trying to think the
Speaker 1: last time they've had a running back just back to
Speaker 1: back back, you know, consistent year after year. You know,
Speaker 1: this is the guy. They've been battling that for a
Speaker 1: number of years, and they hope that, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: finally this carousel ends on the Georgia running back. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they keep trying to they keep trying to find that
Speaker 1: feature back, and they keep trying different guys. Sometimes it's
Speaker 1: sometimes it's been injuries. Sometimes it's been more of that
Speaker 1: that flash in the pan type of thing that then
Speaker 1: it doesn't work out for the long term. So um
Speaker 1: Detroit keeps, uh keeps trying to find that a steady,
Speaker 1: consistent running game to put behind Matthew Stafford. I thought
Speaker 1: it was interesting because there was so much talk about
Speaker 1: the Lions possibly trading back from the number three overall
Speaker 1: spot that they were they were going to try to,
Speaker 1: you know, get a king's ransom, so to speak, for
Speaker 1: that pick when everybody knew Joe Burrow was going number one,
Speaker 1: Chase Young was going number two, so then you have
Speaker 1: your pick of everybody else, anybody else starting at number three.
Speaker 1: But it sounds like they just they were going to
Speaker 1: give the number three pick away just to get some
Speaker 1: extra picks. It sounds like they just never really got
Speaker 1: an offer that was very interesting to them. Yeah, what
Speaker 1: probably hurt the Lions here is to uh in the
Speaker 1: hip injury. You think if he's healthy, there would have
Speaker 1: been a team that would have potentially moved up there.
Speaker 1: Heck it might have even been the Dolphins for all
Speaker 1: we know. Yeah. Absolutely, But the thing is is with
Speaker 1: all those question marks and with not having the typical
Speaker 1: metal medical checks. There were some medical checks they were
Speaker 1: able to do, but not having your your full resources,
Speaker 1: that's a big investment teams have to make to be
Speaker 1: able to move up that spot. So they stick with
Speaker 1: where they are. What an interesting day this is though,
Speaker 1: with Akuda coming in now there and then gladly with
Speaker 1: the Vikings. For so many years, it was all about
Speaker 1: you know, Xavier Rhodes and you know and Darius Slay
Speaker 1: and those were the guys every year, Mike, when the
Speaker 1: Packers would play the Lions and the Vikings. We do
Speaker 1: our little scouting reports, we do our little previews on unscripted.
Speaker 1: We're always talking about them. We're talking about the matchup
Speaker 1: with Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams and occasionally Randall Cobb.
Speaker 1: It's a new day and seeing how both of those defenses,
Speaker 1: the Lions coming from a place where they need to
Speaker 1: improve and the Vikings looking to maintain, that's gonna be
Speaker 1: a big question mark for both of those squads going
Speaker 1: into Yeah. Well, the team in the NFC North that
Speaker 1: had the least draft cap a heading any of the
Speaker 1: heading into this was the Chicago Bears. They were short
Speaker 1: on picks. They were still essentially paying for Khalil Mack
Speaker 1: because of the trade of the first round pick that
Speaker 1: was included in the mac deal with Oakland, and then
Speaker 1: they were also down a um a pick i believe
Speaker 1: from the third round round for the for the David
Speaker 1: Montgomery pick from last year when they when they got
Speaker 1: him to add to their backfield. We know, the big
Speaker 1: story in Chicago from now until whenever the season starts
Speaker 1: is what's going to happen at quarterback. They brought in
Speaker 1: Nick Foles. It's gonna be Nick Foles against Mitchell Travisky
Speaker 1: and all that. But boy, if there's one thing that
Speaker 1: head coach Matt Naggi is trying to figure out with
Speaker 1: his offense, it's he wants tight ends. He wants to
Speaker 1: build a lot of his offense there. They signed Jimmy
Speaker 1: Graham as a free as a free agent after the
Speaker 1: Packers released him, and then their first draft pick in
Speaker 1: the second round, they used on Cole Commet, who was
Speaker 1: pretty much considered the top tight end in this draft
Speaker 1: out of Notre Dame. And I think I saw that
Speaker 1: the Bears have something like nine or ten tight ends
Speaker 1: on their roster right now, so they're they're trying to
Speaker 1: sort that out. But other than quarterback, their two biggest
Speaker 1: offseason moves are trying to rebuild that tight end position. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and let's be honest here, Mike about something. The way
Speaker 1: that the Chicago Bears have worked. You go back a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago when when Mitchell Robinski. Everybody was
Speaker 1: so high on him and they thought that the ceiling
Speaker 1: was there. They thought they saw the glimpses in two
Speaker 1: thousand and eighteen. A lot of it had to do
Speaker 1: with Trey Burton in the production that they got from
Speaker 1: the tight end position in the middle of the field.
Speaker 1: They did not have that outlet last year for one
Speaker 1: reason or another. Adam Sheheen has not really worked out
Speaker 1: for them. The big tight end that they got from
Speaker 1: Ashland that they spent a second round draft pick on
Speaker 1: a few years ago, that's Uncourt. He's been a bus
Speaker 1: to this point. So you have the big injury there
Speaker 1: with Burton that took away a massive weapon. You don't
Speaker 1: know what his prognosis is going to be. They obviously
Speaker 1: released him and we'll see where he falls now. I
Speaker 1: think he's working through that hip injury, still trying to
Speaker 1: get cleared from that. So they go and get Jimmy Graham.
Speaker 1: Fine first step tight end. Whatever Packer fans think, there
Speaker 1: aren't a whole lot of them out there in terms
Speaker 1: of dynamic playmakers at that position. Cole commit, as you said, unanimously,
Speaker 1: the top tight end of this draft. If we need
Speaker 1: any further evidence of that look at how far Adam
Speaker 1: Troutman ended up falling. This is the guy. Commit was
Speaker 1: the guy, great size for the position, six ft six
Speaker 1: two and sixty pounds, a two sport college athlete, and
Speaker 1: from all intents and purposes, where while there is a
Speaker 1: transition to be had there for tight ends moving into
Speaker 1: the National Football League, his transition should be relatively seamless.
Speaker 1: It appears. I mean, he has an NFL bill to
Speaker 1: begin with. He's a solid pass catcher, he can make
Speaker 1: plays on fifty fifty balls, and he's a good enough
Speaker 1: in terms of the blocking that I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: have something to work with their in terms of fundamentals.
Speaker 1: But this is it, Mike. This is the year that
Speaker 1: I think that, like the Bears, if they're going to
Speaker 1: do anything, if they're going to be the team that
Speaker 1: everybody thought they were going to be a year ago,
Speaker 1: they need to of it this season. Yes, they'll be
Speaker 1: getting some more draft capital coming up here in the
Speaker 1: next few seasons, but let's be honest, my what happened
Speaker 1: last year shouldn't have happened. They were expected to be
Speaker 1: a powerhouse, not only in the NFC North, but in
Speaker 1: the entire conference, and it didn't happen. There's questions at cornerback,
Speaker 1: there's questions that receiver, there's questions at tight end, and
Speaker 1: obviously the Mitchell Troubinsky question. So many things that they
Speaker 1: have to answer between now at the beginning of the
Speaker 1: regular season. Yeah, and they seem to be also, you know,
Speaker 1: searching the availability right now to add some speed onto
Speaker 1: the field and with it. Just within the last few days,
Speaker 1: they've signed Trevor Davis, the former wide receiver for the Packers,
Speaker 1: and they've signed the the veteran Ted Bean Jr. So
Speaker 1: you know, they no longer have Taylor Gabriel, they let
Speaker 1: him go. You know, they're they're they're trying. They're trying
Speaker 1: to piece it together and and get Matt Naggy the
Speaker 1: the offense, the style, the types of players that he wants,
Speaker 1: but they still haven't quite figured it out at quarterback yet.
Speaker 1: This whole, this whole fulls Trubisky thing is going to
Speaker 1: be the story of the off season in Chicago. I
Speaker 1: don't know what it's gonna look like. I really don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know what their offense is gonna look like.
Speaker 1: I don't know what their season is gonna look like.
Speaker 1: You could ask me every year, you know, how do
Speaker 1: I think the division is gonna play out? Not that
Speaker 1: I'm some kind of soothsayer, far from it, but usually
Speaker 1: you have a relative idea of how these things are
Speaker 1: going to play out, what the division is gonna look
Speaker 1: like in December, the Bears could be anywhere. Honestly, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure because you know, the Vic Fangio defense, it
Speaker 1: still was pretty darn good under Chuck Pagano last year,
Speaker 1: but you know, you subtracted Prince and Mukamara others. There's
Speaker 1: so many things that are going to change their ha ha.
Speaker 1: Clinton dis moved on again, so we'll see. And that
Speaker 1: was I was gonna say to Just like the Packers
Speaker 1: other NFC North foes, the Bears took a top pick
Speaker 1: at cornerback because they had an additional second round pick.
Speaker 1: They took Jalen Johnson, the cornerback out of Utah. As
Speaker 1: you said, Prince and Mukamara is gone, so they needed
Speaker 1: a replacement there. The defensive backfields across the NFC north
Speaker 1: West gonna look really really different in compared to even
Speaker 1: just last year or the year before. As you said
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes ago, it's a New Day in
Speaker 1: that regard in this division for the Packers and what
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers is going to be looking at across the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage. Yeah. And if you wanted to know
Speaker 1: what people still think of Aaron Rodgers the amount of
Speaker 1: assets and capital that has been put into the cornerback
Speaker 1: position by the other three NFC North teams, it's uh,
Speaker 1: it's still a big, big, big emphasis. Yeah, no doubt
Speaker 1: about it. Well, with that, we will call it a
Speaker 1: wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to
Speaker 1: follow all of our coverage of the team and all
Speaker 1: of these draft pick follow up stories I was talking about.
Speaker 1: Those will beyond packers dot Com in the coming days
Speaker 1: and weeks. Enjoy your weekend everybody. For west I Mike,
Speaker 1: take care and we will see you next time.