Speaker 1: Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 2: I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by the newly
Speaker 2: bespectacled Weston Hodkowitz. For those wondering, those a new pair
Speaker 2: of glasses, my friend, how are they working out?
Speaker 3: They're working out great right now, justin I hope you're
Speaker 3: zooming in on me at this moment. I hate buying glasses.
Speaker 3: We've had this discussion before. It is the most stressful
Speaker 3: process to me. I said this to a couple of
Speaker 3: our coworkers, Jennifer Ward and Laurence Stone a couple days ago.
Speaker 3: It is like the worst school shopping you ever did
Speaker 3: as a child, because it gives you so much anxiety
Speaker 3: because if you botch it, if you mess it up,
Speaker 3: you're stuck with these things for two years or you're
Speaker 3: paying more money out of your pocket. So I'm comfortable
Speaker 3: right now. Hopefully they stay on my face. The other
Speaker 3: ones were completely falling apart on me. I got those
Speaker 3: like during COVID.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a good thing you replaced him.
Speaker 3: Then, yeah, so here I am. I have clear vision
Speaker 3: for the twenty twenty four NFL draft.
Speaker 2: Well, that is definitely the topic of discussion today. The
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four NFL Draft, the first round will begin
Speaker 2: exactly one week from tonight, and for those who've been
Speaker 2: following things on our website, we've had our Prospect Primer
Speaker 2: series taking a look at potential guys who might be
Speaker 2: available in the back half of the first round. We
Speaker 2: also have our roster series, positioned by position we call
Speaker 2: pre Draft Picture, taking a look at where the Packers'
Speaker 2: roster stands at different spots heading into the draft. Bottom
Speaker 2: line here Wes. The Packers are going into this draft
Speaker 2: with eleven picks, including five in the first three rounds.
Speaker 2: The last time the Packers actually drafted five players within
Speaker 2: the first one hundred selections of the draft, you have
Speaker 2: to go back to two thousand and six. It was
Speaker 2: eighteen years ago they got That was the draft they
Speaker 2: got Greg Jennings, Darren College, Jason Spitz, guys like that. So, anyway,
Speaker 2: just your thoughts on kind of how this in general
Speaker 2: shapes up for Green Bay. I mean, the Packers don't
Speaker 2: have I wouldn't say they have a bunch of glaring
Speaker 2: needs on the roster. Necessarily, there are certainly a lot
Speaker 2: of places to build depth to fill in some holes
Speaker 2: and to be going into this draft with eleven picks,
Speaker 2: including five in the first three rounds, Brian Guducunz has
Speaker 2: to like where he sits.
Speaker 3: You want to keep cooking, and Brian Goodikunz has done
Speaker 3: a lot of cooking the last two years and his
Speaker 3: scouts and the job that they've done with these rosters. Actually,
Speaker 3: one of the stories I'm gonna be working on, I
Speaker 3: think early next week I'm finally looking to run is
Speaker 3: sort of an introspective look at what they accomplished last
Speaker 3: year and just how prolific that draft class was. You
Speaker 3: can't always expect that. You don't always think that your
Speaker 3: first four pass catchers are all gonna end up being
Speaker 3: year one contributors, and really all these guys Carl Brooks
Speaker 3: in the sixth round having four sacks and being a
Speaker 3: pass rush specialist on third downs with Kenny Clark, those
Speaker 3: type of things cannot be predicted. But what you can
Speaker 3: do is kind of maximize this window and this opportunity
Speaker 3: that's been presented by back to back really strong draft classes. Listen, Mike,
Speaker 3: we have talked so much about how young this team is,
Speaker 3: and I know it got almost be labored last season. Right,
Speaker 3: But one of the reasons why the Packers still are
Speaker 3: so young is because they haven't had a pressing need
Speaker 3: to go out and get a lot of free agent acquisitions.
Speaker 3: They haven't had to go out and find guys or
Speaker 3: trade for guys because of how guys stepped up in
Speaker 3: the interim last season. If you would have told me
Speaker 3: that the injuries that would have happened at receiver and
Speaker 3: cornerback the Packers would have been able to wade through that, yeah,
Speaker 3: I would have had some real doubts because you were
Speaker 3: leaning on inexperienced guys in young rookies to be able
Speaker 3: to fill those shoes. They did that, and now you
Speaker 3: go into this twenty twenty four NFL Draft with an
Speaker 3: opportunity to really widen out that base, fill a couple
Speaker 3: holes that got brought to fold during the free agent process,
Speaker 3: and see if you can really continue to build on
Speaker 3: this up trajectory they finished last season. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: And the position that everybody is talking about, probably more
Speaker 2: so than any other right now, is the safety spot. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Xavier McKinney, as we talked on our last show, was
Speaker 2: the free agent acquisition. The Packers also have Anthony Johnson
Speaker 2: junior seventh round pick from last year, Benny Sapp, who
Speaker 2: was on the active roster toward the end of last season.
Speaker 2: He was an undrafted rookie year ago.
Speaker 1: But a lot of.
Speaker 2: Talk about possibly finding, you know, that that second safety
Speaker 2: starter in this draft. I'm not I'm not entirely sold
Speaker 2: on that that Brian Gudokuntz is looking at this draft
Speaker 2: saying oh, I've got to find a starting safety because
Speaker 2: the safety position was as deep as it gets on
Speaker 2: the free agent market, and there are still some guys
Speaker 2: out there that that Gouda Kounts could pursue if things
Speaker 2: don't fall the way he prefers in the draft, but
Speaker 2: if they do, I think this is where with safety
Speaker 2: being you know, the one need that jumps out the most,
Speaker 2: because you really don't have somebody that you say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's the guy who's going to start next to McKinney, right,
Speaker 2: So that's the need that jumps out the most. But
Speaker 2: there aren't There aren't really a lot of safety prospects
Speaker 2: being talked about his first round picks in this draft,
Speaker 2: and that's where it works out nicely for Gudukunst that
Speaker 2: he is two picks in the second round and two
Speaker 2: picks in the third round. He can do whatever it
Speaker 2: takes to find a safety if he wants to go
Speaker 2: that way, and he doesn't have to overpay for him
Speaker 2: in the sense of his draft cap.
Speaker 3: The thing I love about Brian goudukun so why I
Speaker 3: believe he is truly one of the elite gms in
Speaker 3: this league. And it's not just because of the shirt
Speaker 3: that I'm wearing at the moment. It's the fact that
Speaker 3: he never finds himself backed into a corner right heads
Speaker 3: into an NFL draft, Michael, You're absolutely right about how
Speaker 3: things lined up. Very deep free agent class at safety,
Speaker 3: some interesting possibilities that presented themselves. At running back, neither
Speaker 3: of those positions. I think it's considered a deep draft
Speaker 3: at those two spots. We may get and into the
Speaker 3: third round before we see a running back come off
Speaker 3: the board. We'll have to wait and see. When you
Speaker 3: look at the safety position, there's guys that I think
Speaker 3: are going to be there in the second round, but
Speaker 3: not necessarily that Darnell Savage type that was Okay, this
Speaker 3: is the first defensive back off the board in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3: When you have Xavier McKinney in there. Now you have
Speaker 3: that option to potentially still looking at the free agent
Speaker 3: market like they did last year when they didn't draft
Speaker 3: a safety and they went and got Jonathan Owens a
Speaker 3: couple weeks later. You could go that route. There's still
Speaker 3: some guys out there with some pretty good credentials on
Speaker 3: the market. You could also find one of these guys
Speaker 3: on day two to pair up with McKinney and say, hey,
Speaker 3: you're a fourth year veteran, you're twenty four year old guy,
Speaker 3: You're relatable to these guys. Help bring these guys along,
Speaker 3: and also well maybe counting on an Anthony Johnson Junior
Speaker 3: to step up after seeing about one hundred and fifty
Speaker 3: snaps last year on defense. All those possibilities are there.
Speaker 3: But I just like that when we talk about best
Speaker 3: player available, I really think that truly applies in Green
Speaker 3: Bay because in very limited instances, have you seen the
Speaker 3: Packers go into a draft with a need or they
Speaker 3: came out of it like, Okay, what are they going
Speaker 3: to do now? Right?
Speaker 2: Well, and what you said too about about Guta Kun's
Speaker 2: not backing himself into a corner. He the way things
Speaker 2: went at running back in free agency was not how
Speaker 2: anybody thought, you know, in advance, it was going to go.
Speaker 2: But you lose Aaron Jones, you signed Josh Jacobs. But
Speaker 2: then everybody's wondering, okay, well you know who's you know,
Speaker 2: are how higher the packer's going to draft a running
Speaker 2: back because you need somebody. Well, then he goes and
Speaker 2: brings aj Dillon back into the fold on one year deal. Right,
Speaker 2: So that's a that's another example of he's not gonna
Speaker 2: he's not gonna let himself get boxed in. You could
Speaker 2: say the same thing in some respects at the off
Speaker 2: ball linebacker position, because everybody's looking at it saying, okay, yes,
Speaker 2: Devandre Campbell is gone, you've got kway Walker, You've got
Speaker 2: Isaiah McDuffie. The coaches have a lot of faith in
Speaker 2: those guys. But he goes out and brings back Eric Wilson,
Speaker 2: who is mainly a special teams player but has a
Speaker 2: lot of experience at linebacker in a four to three
Speaker 2: scheme in Minnesota. Earlier in his career, he was he
Speaker 2: was one hundred plus tackle guy one year in his
Speaker 2: in his career in Minnesota. So I'm not saying Eric
Speaker 2: Wilson is just being plugged in as a starter. The
Speaker 2: Packers might find a starting off ball linebacker, you know,
Speaker 2: Edgrin Cooper is a guy whose name is is mentioned
Speaker 2: a lot, and there are certainly some others in that
Speaker 2: second and second and third round projection. But if the
Speaker 2: Packers had to play a game today, they they have
Speaker 2: they have a third linebacker if they want one. Because
Speaker 2: Eric Wilson was brought was brought back. That's the way
Speaker 2: Brian Goodakunz goes about things. And uh, and I give
Speaker 2: him a lot of credit for that because it just
Speaker 2: allows him to stay that much truer to his board
Speaker 2: and how they evaluate the players so that you're not
Speaker 2: reaching to fill a need. You're like, you're you can
Speaker 2: you can let it fall and go Okay, that's the
Speaker 2: best guy out there. And and uh, but you can
Speaker 2: also with the draft capital that he has, he can
Speaker 2: target guys and move around the board, move up, move down.
Speaker 2: We'll talk a little bit more about that on our
Speaker 2: next draft preview show, because there's certainly a lot of
Speaker 2: history of that. But he's put the Packers in quite
Speaker 2: the position. And when you look at a team that
Speaker 2: played as well as it did, down the stretch. Last
Speaker 2: year came within a whisker of advancing to the NFC
Speaker 2: Championship Game. And now you have all this draft capital
Speaker 2: to potentially improve improve your squad and build things for
Speaker 2: you know, for what everyone is hoping is a wide
Speaker 2: open window to a path toward a championship. This is
Speaker 2: this is going to be a big few days for
Speaker 2: Brian Gudakuns.
Speaker 3: And that's what makes those top hundred picks so fascinating
Speaker 3: this year, because what do you do with them? You know,
Speaker 3: when you don't have Oh, the Packers haven't taken a
Speaker 3: receiver in the first round. They don't need one right now.
Speaker 3: They could take one, they don't need one. They haven't
Speaker 3: been in a position where they are like, okay, we
Speaker 3: have to make this address. We have to do it
Speaker 3: right now. I think the only time, the last time
Speaker 3: I remember that kind of being a conversation was twenty twenty.
Speaker 3: We all know how that turned out, the receiver exactly
Speaker 3: when you ended up with Jordan love So. But to
Speaker 3: get back to the inside linebacker deal, I remember asking,
Speaker 3: I believe it was with Brian Gouducuntz first about Isaiah McDuffie.
Speaker 3: And here's a guy that they've developed for three years
Speaker 3: and they feel confident in him. He played, He was
Speaker 3: like the second leading tackler I think last year even
Speaker 3: though we only started eight games.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he'd but he ended up starting half the games
Speaker 2: on the season when going into the year he wasn't
Speaker 2: you know, projected as that at all. He was essentially
Speaker 2: an injury fill in who then used all of those
Speaker 2: starts and all that time on defense to become a
Speaker 2: player that opened some eyes.
Speaker 3: And this is a guy, Mike that when you go
Speaker 3: back to twenty twenty one, barely played at all, even
Speaker 3: with special teams. It wasn't until twenty twenty two that
Speaker 3: he became there. You know, Christian Welch's back. He's a
Speaker 3: guy that's been champion at the bit for an opportunity.
Speaker 3: So you have options, but looking quickly at that inside
Speaker 3: linebacker position, I know we'll break down positions and specific
Speaker 3: prospects a little bit more. Edrin Cooper's a guy I've
Speaker 3: talked to your ear off about a lot. I wrote
Speaker 3: about him today an insider inbox again because I just
Speaker 3: don't have a good feel on where he's gonna go. Yeah,
Speaker 3: Daniel Jeremiah has him as a top twenty five guy
Speaker 3: right now. Some people have him in the forties. The
Speaker 3: one thing I like that he showed though last year
Speaker 3: and it's something that Green Bay has really valued traditionally.
Speaker 3: We'll see what happens now that it's Jeff Hafley's defense,
Speaker 3: but eight of his eight and a half sacks all
Speaker 3: came last season, during his senior season or his junior
Speaker 3: season excuse me, at Texas A and M. He has
Speaker 3: that ability to quickly shoot a gap. He has that
Speaker 3: size and ranging as you look for. Not quite the
Speaker 3: same type of athlete as kway Walker doesn't quite have
Speaker 3: this the height, doesn't quite have the overall weight, but
Speaker 3: plays fast. Peyton Wilson from NC State the senior he's
Speaker 3: another guy that on some boards is considered the top
Speaker 3: inside linebacker. And even like Jeremiah Trotter junior. There are
Speaker 3: guys that are going to be in this conversation and
Speaker 3: then with this four to three defense, they're not gonna
Speaker 3: have to be thrown into the fire necessarily. If they
Speaker 3: earn it, they earn it. But you're going to be
Speaker 3: able to work a guy in in a base defense,
Speaker 3: much like they did with Isaiah McDuffie and given him
Speaker 3: that opportunity before he got more of a three down roll.
Speaker 3: That's where I'm really fascinated to see how Green Bay
Speaker 3: approaches it, because you covered a four to three defense
Speaker 3: in green Bay. I have not other than that quad
Speaker 3: experiment in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it didn't go so well.
Speaker 3: It didn't go so well, and they didn't have the
Speaker 3: bodies an inside linebacker to do it. But that's where
Speaker 3: figuring out the board is one thing for Brian Gudakunz
Speaker 3: who's available is going to be another thing. Where do
Speaker 3: the rest of the league view some of these guys
Speaker 3: and then ultimately figuring out if this is a good
Speaker 3: fit for Green Bay and Jeff Hafley's defense and Mike,
Speaker 3: you and I are going to be just like everybody
Speaker 3: else watching this thing unfold Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: And it's been interesting because I do a lot of
Speaker 2: mock draft research to come up with the list of
Speaker 2: the guys we do for the prospect primers, and you know,
Speaker 2: so that's that's based on, you know, guys who are
Speaker 2: most frequently being mocked, you know, in the bottom third
Speaker 2: to the first round. Because the Packers are picking at
Speaker 2: twenty five. But then after doing all these profiles on guys,
Speaker 2: it gets closer to the draft, all these guys that
Speaker 2: I look at and go, yeah, I could you know,
Speaker 2: I could see Cooper de Gene like really fitting in
Speaker 2: somewhere either at corner maybe safety for the Packers, or
Speaker 2: I could see, you know, a Tyler Geyton at offensive tackle,
Speaker 2: you know, being a guy that the Packers might go with.
Speaker 2: But then the closer it gets to the draft, Oh,
Speaker 2: these guys are gonna be gone by pick fifteen or
Speaker 2: picked you know, pick twenty. You know. Quinyon Mitchell from
Speaker 2: Toledo is another one. I mentioned him on a show
Speaker 2: for Spectrum that we just taped yesterday, kind of an
Speaker 2: off season show, and then looking briefly at the draft.
Speaker 2: But then, you know, as soon as I mentioned him,
Speaker 2: then I go and I go and dig a little deeper,
Speaker 2: and it's like he might even go in the top ten,
Speaker 2: you know, and there's there's no way that he'll be
Speaker 2: around in the twenties for the Packers to have a
Speaker 2: realistic shot at him. So it's it's really it's always
Speaker 2: really interesting how much things change in the you know,
Speaker 2: in the media, the perception, the reporting of things over
Speaker 2: the last couple of weeks, when really it's not changing
Speaker 2: that much for the teams themselves.
Speaker 1: They've built their boards.
Speaker 2: Yes, they're having final discussions and maybe making you know,
Speaker 2: shifting things a little bit here and there. But it's
Speaker 2: all about, you know, whatever whatever sort of gets leaked.
Speaker 2: Sometimes things are leaked on purpose to you know, to
Speaker 2: as a smoke screen, as some kind of subterfuge in
Speaker 2: terms of you know, who's interested in whom it's a
Speaker 2: it's a fascinating it's a fascinating.
Speaker 1: Time of year.
Speaker 2: I did want to get your thoughts though on a
Speaker 2: position that again, it's not it's not a screaming need
Speaker 2: for twenty twenty four, because if the Packers had to
Speaker 2: play a game today, they would they would be confident
Speaker 2: in the starting five that we have on the offensive line.
Speaker 2: But it is a position that that is a need
Speaker 2: in terms of building depth, looking toward the future all
Speaker 2: of those things. Are there any offensive lineman that you've
Speaker 2: looked at that you think maybe would be there at
Speaker 2: twenty five because it's been a long time since the
Speaker 2: Packers took an offensive lineman in the first round.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's funny too, because you talk about okay,
Speaker 3: and I wrote about it this week. It's going up
Speaker 3: on the website Thursday, about how they have starting five
Speaker 3: there if they needed to be. Yeah, but why do
Speaker 3: we know that because of all the injuries that have
Speaker 3: happened and things that happened. You know, John Runyon played
Speaker 3: all last year, but he got kind of banged up.
Speaker 3: That's when they started doing the rotation with Sean Ryan.
Speaker 3: Obviously we know the situation that unfolded with David Bakhtiari.
Speaker 3: Rashid Walker goes from a guy that played four special
Speaker 3: team snaps to be in a guy that played eight
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty one offensive snaps last year. Right, you
Speaker 3: have to prove yourself and unfortunately for Green Bay, and
Speaker 3: it's just the way that the NFL goes. You lost Boktiari,
Speaker 3: he got cut, Nyman went Yosh Niman went to Carolina,
Speaker 3: John Running got paid by the New York Giants. Yeah,
Speaker 3: Greenmit Packers need to be able to rebuild some of
Speaker 3: that depth. They have some in house candidates, but who's
Speaker 3: going to be the ones that step up with that.
Speaker 3: That's why when you talk about first round picks, when
Speaker 3: you talk about guys at the top of the draft.
Speaker 3: When you talk about big bodies athleticism, a lot of
Speaker 3: times that's going to be the tackle position. It's not
Speaker 3: any coincidence that the Brian Blagas and Derek Charrod's, those
Speaker 3: type of body types were what Green Bay sought in
Speaker 3: that first round. And maybe it's just the Larry mccaer
Speaker 3: and rubbing off of me, but a Marius Mims from
Speaker 3: Georgia is a guy that the more I've learned about him,
Speaker 3: six eight, three forty, how many different categories that he
Speaker 3: tested highly in. I don't care so much about the
Speaker 3: eight games play or eight yeah, excuse me, eight stars.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he only only has eight because here's the thing.
Speaker 3: To Michael, he didn't start eight games at you know, NWTC,
Speaker 3: he's at Georgia. Like it's going to be difficult. I mean,
Speaker 3: even Josh Jacobs, when you look at his resume at Alabama,
Speaker 3: it's not like Josh Jacobs had three thousand yard seasons
Speaker 3: at Alabama. He didn't. His most yards I think in
Speaker 3: the season were like six hundred. Some guys. It's harder
Speaker 3: at those colleges where it's just deef you know, five star,
Speaker 3: four star recruits to always get your opportunity. You can't
Speaker 3: coach size, you can't coach that kind of weight and
Speaker 3: being able to move the way he does. As Larry
Speaker 3: pointed out in his prospect primer, be sure to check
Speaker 3: that out if you haven't already. He's going to be
Speaker 3: a project. There's going to be work to be done.
Speaker 3: But the beautiful thing about where green Bay's at right
Speaker 3: now at this offensive line is they got versatility and
Speaker 3: they got experience. And if there's gonna be any position
Speaker 3: that green Bay still has some good experience at that
Speaker 3: you want to lean on, that's one of the good
Speaker 3: ones to do it at. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And the other thing I'll say about the offensive line too,
Speaker 2: is that we heard from Brian Gudokuntz, not only when
Speaker 2: he spoke to the media right after the season, but
Speaker 2: when he spoke at Indianapolis at the combine and then
Speaker 2: also in Florida at the owner's meetings. He talked about
Speaker 2: how as far as the development of the young wide
Speaker 2: receivers last year went, he felt that the competition that
Speaker 2: was in the room, the competition that was going on
Speaker 2: at practice for snaps, for playing time, for who was
Speaker 2: going to play what role, that was a huge factor
Speaker 2: in the accelerated development of these guys. So when I
Speaker 2: look at at the fact that, yes, if the Packers
Speaker 2: lined up today, they would take they would put Rashid
Speaker 2: Walker at left tackle, they would put Sean Ryan at
Speaker 2: right guard. But if there's a guy or guys within
Speaker 2: those top one hundred picks that you could you can
Speaker 2: bring in a guy who can compete for a starting
Speaker 2: job with those guys who got some valuable experience last
Speaker 2: year in the NFL. He's not going to hesitate for
Speaker 2: one second to do that because you just you listen
Speaker 2: to his words and how he talked about the wide receivers.
Speaker 2: He may apply the very same thing, the very same
Speaker 2: process to the offensive line in terms of developing competition
Speaker 2: and trying to push guys to see how much you
Speaker 2: can get out of them.
Speaker 3: And that's ultimately what it comes down to. You don't
Speaker 3: get I mean, if you and I would have made
Speaker 3: this prediction last year May, we would have thought, Okay,
Speaker 3: yosh Niman's going to be in the starting lineup. We'll
Speaker 3: have to see exactly where Zach tom Fitz. Rashid Walker
Speaker 3: was an afterthought for a lot of people at that point. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and then you get to the beginning of the season,
Speaker 3: after a training camp, after a nine week offseason program,
Speaker 3: and the cream does rise to the top and next
Speaker 3: thing you know, Zach tomm ends up being a seventeen
Speaker 3: game starter at right tackle. Will he be there this year,
Speaker 3: We'll have to wait and see. Much like with Elton Jenkins,
Speaker 3: there's decisions Green Bay has to make on where guys fit,
Speaker 3: what is their best position, and also where they have
Speaker 3: the most real value to a football team. But bringing
Speaker 3: in a guy like Mims, you know, even like Tyler Geyton,
Speaker 3: guys that could potentially be there in the second round
Speaker 3: as well. By deepening out that room, I don't think
Speaker 3: you can go wrong. Because I'm not the biggest Jim
Speaker 3: harbaughf fan, but his line at the owners meetings about
Speaker 3: how there's one position that everybody else is dependent on
Speaker 3: that they're not dependent on anybody. It's offensive line. You
Speaker 3: have to have it, and the Packers need to be
Speaker 3: able to build that front up up front for Jordan Love.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's definitely something to watch as the
Speaker 2: three days of the draft unfold next week. A little
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Speaker 2: Last thing I want to get your thoughts on here
Speaker 2: before we sign off. I started looking at looking at
Speaker 2: the draft from the NFC North perspective, and I got
Speaker 2: really intrigued.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because the Bears are going to do Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, here's here's my point. We've talked a lot already
Speaker 2: about the Packers having five picks in the first three rounds.
Speaker 2: The Chicago Bears have two picks in the top ten,
Speaker 2: number one and number nine. What they're doing at number
Speaker 2: one is like the worst kept secret in you know,
Speaker 2: the history of the draft. But on top of that,
Speaker 2: the Minnesota Vikings, because of a trade that they made
Speaker 2: a few weeks ago, they have two first round picks
Speaker 2: as well, number eleven and number twenty three. So everybody
Speaker 2: is wondering are the Vikings going to package those two
Speaker 2: picks to try to jump up into the top five
Speaker 2: or six or wherever that might be to get a quarterback,
Speaker 2: the guy, a guy they believe could be their next
Speaker 2: franchise quarterback. There's a lot of intrigue here with the
Speaker 2: with the NFC North, with what Chicago hasn't and what's
Speaker 2: kind of bizarre is that Chicago has two picks in
Speaker 2: the top ten and only two more picks for the
Speaker 2: rest of the draft. So that also has people wondering
Speaker 2: are they going to take that number nine pick get
Speaker 2: as big a haul of other picks as they can
Speaker 2: so that they can so that they can try to
Speaker 2: build more depth than everything on their roster out of
Speaker 2: this draft, because otherwise, you know, after you know, by
Speaker 2: eight thirty on Thursday night, the Chicago Bears are only
Speaker 2: going to have two more picks left for the rest
Speaker 2: of the three days.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 2: But it's it's interesting. And then on top of that,
Speaker 2: you have Detroit picking at number twenty nine. The Lions
Speaker 2: advanced to the NFC Championship Game last year. The Lions
Speaker 2: are used to picking in the top ten, in the
Speaker 2: top twelve, sometimes in the top five. Ye the Lions
Speaker 2: are the Lions are sitting back there at twenty nine
Speaker 2: and they actually only have four picks in the first
Speaker 2: five rounds of the draft. Very different situation than where
Speaker 2: Green Bay is. When every when it was clear that
Speaker 2: the two best teams in the division last year were
Speaker 2: the Packers and the Lions. Just you know, what thoughts
Speaker 2: do you have on how much? How much the NFC
Speaker 2: North in some ways kind of is is going to
Speaker 2: control the early parts of this draft because of because
Speaker 2: of the capitol that these teams possess.
Speaker 3: Well, everything starts with the Vikings. You have to get
Speaker 3: a quarterback, Yeah, you have to. You can't be a
Speaker 3: sitting duck in this conference or excuse me, this division.
Speaker 3: I mean the conference too, but this division with Caleb
Speaker 3: Williams going to Chicago, the Packers appearing to be on
Speaker 3: the come up, and Detroit being an NFC title you know,
Speaker 3: can tender for that reason, I think they got to
Speaker 3: go get They have to get a quarterback. And honestly,
Speaker 3: I think a lot of that's going to depend on
Speaker 3: Marvin Harrison Junior and Malik Neighbors. Where are those guys going,
Speaker 3: Who's taking them? What is Elliott Wolf going to do
Speaker 3: at number three with New England? Which quarterbacks could be
Speaker 3: available there from four to six, seven, eight yea. And
Speaker 3: that's the decision the Vikings have to make, because I
Speaker 3: don't think you can sit back. Maybe maybe you can
Speaker 3: get somebody at the end of the first round and
Speaker 3: hope that there's something there, But ultimately I think that
Speaker 3: this is a draft class where you have to make
Speaker 3: a move. I think the Vikings have to make a move.
Speaker 3: I agree with you with the predicament that the Bears
Speaker 3: find themselves in. You have to take the quarterback. Now
Speaker 3: that's the worst kept secret. Yeah, and you have to
Speaker 3: get picks. I don't say this disrespectfully to the Bears,
Speaker 3: because Mike, if you remember what I said last year
Speaker 3: when we were going through this, I wasn't sold on
Speaker 3: Chicago last year. I'm still not sold on Chicago. They
Speaker 3: just aren't deep enough with their entire roster. They're making stride,
Speaker 3: but they still have big questions on the offensive line,
Speaker 3: they have some issues still on defense, and then the
Speaker 3: fact that they are now transitioning to yet another starting
Speaker 3: young quarterback. The Bears need picks. So if it's me,
Speaker 3: I move out of that ninth spot, I take Cale Williams.
Speaker 3: I move out of the ninth spot. As far as
Speaker 3: Detroit's concerned, You are right, they don't pick a lot
Speaker 3: at the end of the round. But Brad Holmes has
Speaker 3: done plenty of that. John Dorsey's done plenty of that.
Speaker 3: They're gonna be a team that's gonna be looking to
Speaker 3: widen out their rosters.
Speaker 2: I guess when I was I was saying in terms
Speaker 2: of in terms of the fan base, Yeah, and what
Speaker 2: the fan base expects to get out of a draft.
Speaker 2: It wasn't that long ago that they got pinnae sewel
Speaker 2: right like way up at the top of the draft.
Speaker 2: So that's what their fans are used to. And now
Speaker 2: they're fans on the in the first round of the draft,
Speaker 2: are gonna have to wait all the way till past
Speaker 2: ten o'clock.
Speaker 3: I was gonna say what they're gonna have to get eleven.
Speaker 2: O'clock Eastern time zone before they get.
Speaker 3: What they're gonna have to get used to is actually
Speaker 3: waiting with their surveys a little bit, enjoying their evening
Speaker 3: at a more balanced pace rather than getting the first
Speaker 3: pick and then.
Speaker 2: In the rest of evening, I'm gonna I just I
Speaker 2: just have to say this. I if the the Viking,
Speaker 2: the Vikings are in a very interesting spot, as you said,
Speaker 2: because they have to come out of this draft with
Speaker 2: a quarterback. But I know, I told I told you
Speaker 2: a few years ago when there was all this, you know,
Speaker 2: all this talk about the quarterbacks and everything in the
Speaker 2: first round, that I just wasn't sure about any of
Speaker 2: those guys except Trevor Lawrence. Yeah, in terms of spending
Speaker 2: a first round pick. Now, I still think that Justin
Speaker 2: Fields has a chance to do something in this league
Speaker 2: in if he's given, you know, the right opportunity and
Speaker 2: you know, in the right surroundings, and things just didn't
Speaker 2: work out that way in Chicago. But all these guys
Speaker 2: that are being talked about his first round quarterbacks again
Speaker 2: this year, and I know Jayden Daniels won a Heisman
Speaker 2: Trophy and and all this kind of stuff, But outside
Speaker 2: of outside of Caleb Williams, you know, being number one
Speaker 2: overall and the Bears are going to take him, I
Speaker 2: don't know, I'm not crazy about any of these guys.
Speaker 2: So I guess, you know, if the Vikings are going
Speaker 2: to move up to get their guy, you know, good
Speaker 2: luck to them. But there are there are certainly plenty
Speaker 2: of years where where first round quarterbacks don't work out,
Speaker 2: especially if you end up throwing him into the fire
Speaker 2: right away. And if you're the Vikings and you do
Speaker 2: get that guy and you start the season with Sam
Speaker 2: Darnold because you're going to let your young guy develop, well,
Speaker 2: all it takes is a couple of losses and everybody's
Speaker 2: going to be screaming to put the young guy in there,
Speaker 2: and he's going to get thrown in there anyway. So
Speaker 2: it's not an easy spot for the Vikings to be
Speaker 2: and and not an easy spot for the Bears either
Speaker 2: because everybody knows they need pick. So how much are
Speaker 2: they really going to get for the number nine pick
Speaker 2: when when they're dangling it out there and everybody knows
Speaker 2: that they that they probably want to trade.
Speaker 3: It depends on what quarterbacks are still available. Yeah, that's
Speaker 3: what to and get.
Speaker 1: That's what it's going to come.
Speaker 3: My question for you this was not on the pre
Speaker 3: production rundown, but I'm gonna put you on the spot here.
Speaker 1: All right, Well I do it to you plenty, So.
Speaker 3: Michael Pennox, ju and your where does he go? I've
Speaker 3: seen him at fourteen, I've seen him at thirty one
Speaker 3: Because I think that's the quarterback, that's where the run is.
Speaker 3: So how quickly does that run coming go? I think
Speaker 3: there's probably six quarterbacks taken the first round. I think
Speaker 3: he's the last one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I I think I see I see that as
Speaker 2: being sort of like the Lamar Jackson situation, where somebody,
Speaker 2: somebody is going to say, Okay, if he's if he's
Speaker 2: still there, I'm going to trade up into the thirtieth
Speaker 2: or thirty first or thirty second spot and get that
Speaker 2: guy there and then you know, you have the fifth
Speaker 2: year option and everything if things work out and he's
Speaker 2: an he's still developing. But but that's the thing about
Speaker 2: the draft. All it takes is one and somebody might
Speaker 2: take him at it in the middle of the first round.
Speaker 2: He won't even get out of the top twenty, you know,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: But that that's why it's fine.
Speaker 2: But I look at him as very much like the
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson situation where Jackson ended up, you know, and
Speaker 2: the Teddy Bridgewater It was the same, the same kind
Speaker 2: of thing when he was drafted by the Vikings, where
Speaker 2: it was like, oh, there's a quarterback who's there, and
Speaker 2: you can you can jump up to the bottom of
Speaker 2: the first round and grab him in and then you
Speaker 2: have sort of that contractual advantage down the road if
Speaker 2: if it works out.
Speaker 3: I just don't know what to like. The thing that's
Speaker 3: funny about the Jackson analogy is I was so high
Speaker 3: on Lamar Jackson. I thought that was such a brilliant
Speaker 3: pick by Baltimore. I don't say that for Cloud, I
Speaker 3: mean legitimately, I just I watched him a lot in college.
Speaker 3: I was really impressed by him. I thought that his
Speaker 3: skills could translate. I don't have that type of feel
Speaker 3: on Pennix, but so many people out Washington said he's
Speaker 3: just an incredible talent, great arm strength.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's funny anytime that Lamar Jackson has brought up.
Speaker 2: It's like I distinctly remember being at the combine in Indianapolis. Yeah,
Speaker 2: at you know, standing aways back. It wasn't like I
Speaker 2: was trying to interview him. It was more out of
Speaker 2: curiosity to listen to the conversation. And he's at the
Speaker 2: podium for his meeting with the media and everybody's asked him.
Speaker 2: So you know, you know, what do you think about
Speaker 2: you know, these teams that maybe want to work you
Speaker 2: at receiver and he must in the ten minutes he
Speaker 2: was up there, he must have said I'm a quarterback
Speaker 2: like fifty times, like and and he was doing it
Speaker 2: with a smile and spacel like, Hey guys, like, I'm
Speaker 2: a quarterback. I'm planning to play quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 2: I'm a quarterback and you know yeah, And then it's
Speaker 2: turned out he's you know, he's an MVP caliber guy
Speaker 2: and uh and you know all that's missing on his
Speaker 2: resume right now is obviously getting to a super Bowl,
Speaker 2: which which the Ravens have not yet been able to
Speaker 2: accomplish with him.
Speaker 3: Now, I'm just taking us off track, but I still
Speaker 3: one of my favorite moments ever is still that jay
Speaker 3: Ara actually reacting. Do you ever see that clip when
Speaker 3: he's reacting to Lamar getting picked. He's in the middle
Speaker 3: of an interview.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's picked. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's it's the best clip. He's just like yeah,
Speaker 3: like he just starts. It's like it's almost like that
Speaker 3: thing where he walked up on that lady earlier this
Speaker 3: year during that same thing, like the interview just gets
Speaker 3: completely sidetracked because he's focused on his quarterback going in
Speaker 3: the first round.
Speaker 2: There you go, well, we have one more show early
Speaker 2: next week that we will do leading up to the draft.
Speaker 2: We'll get into, you know, maybe some more of our
Speaker 2: insights on just where the Packers might be headed and
Speaker 2: what might happen while the Packers are on the clock,
Speaker 2: But for now, well we'll call it a rap on
Speaker 2: this edition of Packers Unscripted'd be sure to follow all
Speaker 2: of our coverage of the team, all of the pre
Speaker 2: draft work, prospect primer series, pre draft picture series. It's
Speaker 2: all out there for you on Packers dot com. For Wes,
Speaker 2: I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We will
Speaker 2: see you next time.