Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford. He is my
Speaker 1: trusted colleague West and Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here
Speaker 1: from different locations at lambeau Field and wes. OTAs are
Speaker 1: underway this week for the Green Bay Packers, and not
Speaker 1: long after we get done recording this episode, we will
Speaker 1: be headed out to the practice field for the one
Speaker 1: ota per week that is open to the media that
Speaker 1: is later today, and we have a lot to talk
Speaker 1: about in terms of storylines things will be watching for
Speaker 1: over the next few weeks when we do get to
Speaker 1: watch practices. But we have to begin with the news
Speaker 1: that broke yesterday afternoon. Late in the day, it was
Speaker 1: announced by the NFL that the host city for the
Speaker 1: twoenty twenty five NFL Draft will be none other than
Speaker 1: green Bay, Wisconsin. And I'm a Wisconsin native. I've lived
Speaker 1: in Green Bay for roughly twenty five years now. You
Speaker 1: are a Green Bay area native. You grew up here,
Speaker 1: you have lived here your entire life, you went to
Speaker 1: college here. All of that tell me what this means
Speaker 1: to a Green Bay native For an event of this
Speaker 1: magnitude to be coming to northeast Wisconsin.
Speaker 2: So after the announcement was made Mike and it obviously
Speaker 2: was fast and furious. Following the owner's vote in Minneapolis
Speaker 2: on Tuesday night, I should say Monday night. Sorry, Yeah,
Speaker 2: getting my days mixed up already. I thought back to
Speaker 2: my grandfather, my late grandfather who passed away in two
Speaker 2: thousand and fifteen, and he was the one when the
Speaker 2: whole referendum was happening about the atrium. You know, in
Speaker 2: Bob Harlan practically knocking on doors trying to get drum up,
Speaker 2: you know, interest and support for you know that the
Speaker 2: Saale Ells tax changes the amount of money that was
Speaker 2: gonna be pumped into Lambeoufield. And I'll never forget my
Speaker 2: grandfather saying that, you know, he enjoyed all these years
Speaker 2: of Green Bay Packers football. This is the move that
Speaker 2: is going to set up my lifetime of Packers football.
Speaker 2: And it was so true because not only did the
Speaker 2: Atrium become a huge success in the renovations, I think,
Speaker 2: honestly at Lambelefield have set the standard for the National
Speaker 2: Football League and how you can have a stadium and
Speaker 2: hold true to your character and your history. But also
Speaker 2: continually improve it, right, and then we saw Title Town
Speaker 2: go up, and we've seen the Rush Expo go up
Speaker 2: across the street. We've seen Green Bay grow in so
Speaker 2: many ways, Mike, and for it to finally culminate in
Speaker 2: an NFL Draft coming here, I just thought about how
Speaker 2: exciting the last twelve months have been for Packer fans
Speaker 2: to finally go to London for a game the last
Speaker 2: team in the International Series. Mike. That wasn't because the
Speaker 2: NFL wasn't interested in it. It's because every away team
Speaker 2: in the National Football League? What did it? Let the
Speaker 2: Packers go?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: This is the home of professional football. This is one
Speaker 2: of the pillars of this league. There's never gonna be
Speaker 2: a super Bowl here, and let you and I both
Speaker 2: know that, but the fact that the NFL Draft can
Speaker 2: come here is honestly just as big in my mind.
Speaker 2: And talking to people friends, Packers fans, packers writers, packers
Speaker 2: bloggers on Monday night, you can see how excited they are.
Speaker 2: I think everybody's thinking about how this isn't just gonna
Speaker 2: be a three day celebration of the NFL Draft. It's
Speaker 2: gonna be a three day celebration of football. Honestly, a
Speaker 2: whole week long celebration of football.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be really exciting to see. And
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of hard to process right now that
Speaker 1: we actually have two entire football seasons to play and
Speaker 1: to cover and to talk about and everything before we
Speaker 1: get to this twenty twenty five NFL Draft, and we
Speaker 1: don't even know exactly all the logistics and machinations of
Speaker 1: how this is gonna work in terms of how's Lambeowfield
Speaker 1: gonna be involved. You have Title Town across once, you
Speaker 1: have the Rush buildings across the other street, everything's going
Speaker 1: to be you know, in use I think in some way,
Speaker 1: shape or form. We just don't know all the details
Speaker 1: and how that's going to shake out just yet. But
Speaker 1: it's it's it's really gonna be something when you look
Speaker 1: at what has happened the last couple of years, the
Speaker 1: crowd that has been seen on television for the draft,
Speaker 1: especially for those first two rounds on Thursday night and
Speaker 1: Friday night, and and to think about think about that
Speaker 1: kind of atmosphere going on, as you said, a celebration
Speaker 1: of football here in Green Bay and surrounding Lambeau. It's
Speaker 1: going to be pretty awesome.
Speaker 2: Well, and I want to just mention that quick at
Speaker 2: I mean to try to jump in there, but the
Speaker 2: fact is, I know there are a lot of people
Speaker 2: nationally and people saying, well, is there infrastruction? Is the
Speaker 2: infrastructure in place? Is green Bay big enough for it?
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously there's two different types of people, the
Speaker 2: ones that have been to Green Bay and the ones
Speaker 2: who haven't. And I actually ran a half marathon on
Speaker 2: Sunday and there are people out in their front yards
Speaker 2: handing people beer during race. This city, this community, the
Speaker 2: way that they embrace one another on an average day,
Speaker 2: let alone a game day or a major sporting event
Speaker 2: or something like this where it's potentially a once in
Speaker 2: a lifetime type of deal. With the NFL Draft coming here,
Speaker 2: you're gonna have not just all the community leaders, not
Speaker 2: just the green Packers, You're gonna have the whole city
Speaker 2: of Green Bay and the surrounding towns and suburbs all
Speaker 2: being completely all in on this. And you know, I
Speaker 2: think the Aaron BnB, you know, rates and things in
Speaker 2: Green Bay are just gonna be you know, incredible, and
Speaker 2: how many people are probably gonna open up their homes
Speaker 2: to this thing as well. And that's the aspect that
Speaker 2: I don't think a lot of people can appreciate if
Speaker 2: you've only just kind of, you know, just sort of
Speaker 2: dropped in and tried to offer an analysis here. I
Speaker 2: think back to twenty eleven too, Mike, you were well
Speaker 2: in time, you know, entrenched in your role as a
Speaker 2: Packers writer. I was just a little lowly quote taker.
Speaker 2: I'll never forget walking around lambeau Field during the Kickoff
Speaker 2: concert game before the Packers played the Saints. And I
Speaker 2: don't know if there's an aerial shot of that or not.
Speaker 2: Maybe justin our producer can swoop it in. But it
Speaker 2: was just a massive humanity for the kickoff concert, for
Speaker 2: everything we have put on big events here in Green Bay,
Speaker 2: the EAA, what they do down in Oshkosh, This community
Speaker 2: in the state of Wisconsin has done this before. The
Speaker 2: Democratic National Convention was in Milwaukee. The Republican one, I
Speaker 2: think is gonna be in Milwaukee. We're not just some
Speaker 2: little town that's never seen an event before. I joke
Speaker 2: to somebody on Twitter, this analogy will completely go over
Speaker 2: your head. But I was like, this isn't going to
Speaker 2: be John Snow and mans Raid are trying to get
Speaker 2: the figure out what to do with the wildlings and
Speaker 2: game of throne like they are going to know and
Speaker 2: have two years to prepare for this, and honestly, I
Speaker 2: just I think it's going to be a great exhibit
Speaker 2: of Green Bay and everything that this community stands for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we will have a lot to talk about in
Speaker 1: the coming years, certainly especially after twenty twenty four football
Speaker 1: season ends, and then everything in the NFL be looking
Speaker 1: forward to that twenty twenty five draft. But I do
Speaker 1: want to get to the storylines things we'll be watching
Speaker 1: for in OTAs as the Packers hit the practice field
Speaker 1: here for the next few weeks. I will take care
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Speaker 1: of better, all right. Obviously, the biggest storyline of OTAs
Speaker 1: will be that you know, it's another step in the
Speaker 1: transition to Jordan Love as the starting quarterback. Right that
Speaker 1: being said, Jordan Love has been the number one quarterback
Speaker 1: for this offense during this period during OTAs for the
Speaker 1: last couple of years. So while we will certainly be
Speaker 1: watching that and we'll be talking to Jordan Love after practice,
Speaker 1: I believe today at his locker, I want to hit
Speaker 1: on some other things just in general. And I made
Speaker 1: this comment in an inbox the other day as far
Speaker 1: as okay, what as a reporter, like, what do you
Speaker 1: look for when you go to the practice field at OTA?
Speaker 1: Is like what are you watching for? And in a
Speaker 1: very general sense, the first couple of things I look
Speaker 1: for are one, where are the rookies and particularly the
Speaker 1: draft picks lining up in terms of where's their spot
Speaker 1: on the depth chart as things start right now? Is
Speaker 1: there anybody who's working with the first units when they
Speaker 1: go eleven on eleven? We may see Lucas van Nests
Speaker 1: doing that, we may not. I don't know, are they
Speaker 1: are they with the twos when the twos take the field?
Speaker 1: Are they back with the threes? So it's a matter
Speaker 1: of you know, and you don't put a whole lot
Speaker 1: of stock in it's their first practices other than rookie
Speaker 1: mini camp in the NFL. But you make those mental notes.
Speaker 1: The other thing is, this is our first time to
Speaker 1: actually see the retur hearning players in person. And you
Speaker 1: always talk about and you hear about the jump from
Speaker 1: year one to year two that NFL players can make. Well,
Speaker 1: the first thing that we sometimes notice is a player
Speaker 1: whose body physically from year one to year two looks different.
Speaker 1: It's sort of like, Wow, that guy, like he grew
Speaker 1: up really fast, so to speak, right, And I don't
Speaker 1: mean to disparage anyone who comes into the NFL as
Speaker 1: a young man, but you know what I'm talking about,
Speaker 1: There are guys whose bodies will look different than they
Speaker 1: did as rookies. They've had an offseason to rest and
Speaker 1: recuperate and then train and get ready for this time.
Speaker 1: So those are a couple of the things in a
Speaker 1: general sense that I'll be watching for as we get
Speaker 1: a chance once a week for the next three weeks
Speaker 1: to see the players on the practice field.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it can go a variety of different ways too, Mike.
Speaker 2: I think about Aaron Jones two summers ago when he
Speaker 2: cut out candy and he comes back and just looked
Speaker 2: lean and healthy and strong. I mean, like the guys
Speaker 2: have to figure out what works best for them. I'm
Speaker 2: guessing because of Jason Vrabel's comments last week, Samori Tourey
Speaker 2: is going to be a very popular player in the
Speaker 2: locker room the next few days. You know, Rabel, the
Speaker 2: receivers coach, mentioning that you know, he looks like a
Speaker 2: completely different guy right now. But for me, I mean
Speaker 2: the biggest storylines that I think I'm going to be tracking.
Speaker 2: As you said, you pay attention to where the rookies are,
Speaker 2: but it doesn't mean everything, right I am curious to
Speaker 2: see what they do with Lucas fans because realistically, I
Speaker 2: think the only other person that potentially could be running
Speaker 2: with the ones right now is you know, JJ and
Speaker 2: a Barre, and he's only in a second year, so
Speaker 2: it conceivably, you know, Vanas could be in that role
Speaker 2: across from Preston Smith right off the bat, kind of
Speaker 2: like Darnell Savage in twenty eighteen. But the other thing
Speaker 2: I'm very interested to see play out is defensively, there
Speaker 2: is a huge spot open right now at safety. Rudy
Speaker 2: Ford is the incumbent. I think you would consider a
Speaker 2: guy that played in that role last year, but Jonathan
Speaker 2: Owens started seventeen games, played almost a thousand snaps last
Speaker 2: season in Houston. Tarvarius Moore has been in that role
Speaker 2: in this gains played down the stretch last season. We've
Speaker 2: talked a lot about that wide open competition at safety.
Speaker 2: That's going to be probably the biggest one defensively to
Speaker 2: kind of keep your eye on, and offensively, just as
Speaker 2: you mentioned Mike, seeing how you know, Christian Watson has grown,
Speaker 2: seeing how Romeo Dobbs has grown, and even a guy
Speaker 2: like maybe Zach Tom, who we talked last year about
Speaker 2: having everything structurally but maybe just needing that first offseason
Speaker 2: in the NFL to get his body, you know, to
Speaker 2: let himself grow a little bit. So a lot of
Speaker 2: things attract, for sure. And it's always interesting when you
Speaker 2: go out there and you take attendance for the first
Speaker 2: time and you're kind of keeping an eye on all
Speaker 2: ninety guys on the roster, and I'm sure there'll be
Speaker 2: plenty written and said.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and what you bring up about Zach Tom is
Speaker 1: interesting because I think one thing that we'll all be
Speaker 1: watching is exactly where is he going to line up.
Speaker 1: We've heard he'll be competing for a spot, a starting
Speaker 1: spot on the offensive line, but will he be lining
Speaker 1: up at right tackle or right guard or maybe at center,
Speaker 1: We don't really know. And the other thing, too, is
Speaker 1: what whatever we see today or whatever we see next
Speaker 1: Wednesday or whatever the day is that we're out there,
Speaker 1: we can't put too much stock in it because here's
Speaker 1: the thing. We might go out there today and Zach
Speaker 1: tom will be at right tackle and everybody's going to
Speaker 1: write about that and be talking about that. Well, you
Speaker 1: know what, tomorrow, when the media is not there, he
Speaker 1: might be lining up at right guard, and then the
Speaker 1: next day he might be lining up at center. Those
Speaker 1: days that we don't see because the coaches will have
Speaker 1: these things on a rotation for guys that are that
Speaker 1: are trying out different spots and whatnot, and when we're
Speaker 1: not there every day. When we're there every day in
Speaker 1: training camp, it's a little bit easier to report on
Speaker 1: it and feel a little bit more confident as to
Speaker 1: what is exactly going on in OTAs you have to
Speaker 1: be a little bit more careful in terms of that.
Speaker 1: But that said, we'll definitely be watching where he's lining
Speaker 1: up and where he's competing, and a couple other things too.
Speaker 1: A few weeks ago, we thought when we got to
Speaker 1: this stage, we were going to be potentially watching competitions
Speaker 1: getting going at long snapper and at kicker, and but
Speaker 1: since then, Jack Coco has been released, so veteran Matt Orzik,
Speaker 1: the free agent signing in the offseason, he's the he's,
Speaker 1: you know, clearly the number one long snapper. There is
Speaker 1: an undrafted rookie behind him, but I think the you know,
Speaker 1: the the pecking order there is pretty clear as as
Speaker 1: we head into OTAs here. And then at kicker, Parker
Speaker 1: White was released and Anders Carlson, the sixth round pick
Speaker 1: out of Auburn, is the only kicker on the roster currently.
Speaker 1: So those are things that that maybe we thought we're
Speaker 1: going to be a little bit more intriguing as things
Speaker 1: got going here in late May, but but maybe not
Speaker 1: quite so much at least at this point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's how it usually goes, right. I mean,
Speaker 2: even think back to last year a training camp, we
Speaker 2: thought stephen Wardle going up against Jack Coco was gonna
Speaker 2: be a camp long competition, and then Jack basically I
Speaker 2: think got that job either, right, before the first preseason
Speaker 2: game or after family night. Yeah, it can go a
Speaker 2: bunch of different ways. And certainly when you have a
Speaker 2: ninety man roster in certain positions you want to fill up.
Speaker 2: It's tough to have six guys at a specialists, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's tough to have competition at each spot.
Speaker 2: The other thing that is fun though about this process, Mike,
Speaker 2: Certainly you have to take everything with a grain of
Speaker 2: salt because we're just seeing one practice this week. But
Speaker 2: I go back to last year with Romeo Dobbs, and
Speaker 2: it was right out of the gate, Dobbs look the part,
Speaker 2: and it's something that you and I we were joking.
Speaker 2: I think even Matt Leffleure referenced it a couple times, like, well,
Speaker 2: he just has to keep stacking days. And the next
Speaker 2: thing you knew, it was the end of the preseason
Speaker 2: and the guy still really hadn't blinked yet. It's cool
Speaker 2: when you can watch a rookie come in and not
Speaker 2: necessarily look like a superstar, but just look in his element,
Speaker 2: look comfortable, look at home. So it doesn't really matter
Speaker 2: if it's a quarterback. Could be Sean Clifford, it could
Speaker 2: be Anders Carlson as a kicker. Just the guys that
Speaker 2: their eyes aren't too big, you know, they're looking at
Speaker 2: the opportunity for what it is, and they're realizing that
Speaker 2: this is just an extension of what I've been doing
Speaker 2: the last three, four or five years at the college level.
Speaker 2: And I think that's the most exciting thing about this process.
Speaker 2: Along with that, We're going to see guys like Caleb Jones.
Speaker 2: We're going to see, you know, Jonathan Ford, players that
Speaker 2: were like virtual red shirts last year that have had
Speaker 2: a full year to grow and now not only want
Speaker 2: to compete for jobs, but want to compete for roles
Speaker 2: on their respective side of the ball. It's tough because
Speaker 2: I think the offseason you don't want to make too
Speaker 2: much out of it, as you illustrated, But it's also
Speaker 2: the most exciting time because it's it is sort of
Speaker 2: like opening up the presence here after Christmas and seeing
Speaker 2: what we have here in a football team that ultimately
Speaker 2: is going to decide the destiny of the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: three Packers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think a lot of the notes
Speaker 1: that we make, things that we will write and talk
Speaker 1: about over the next few weeks. It's things that you
Speaker 1: jot down or make mental notes, and you file away
Speaker 1: because the things that you see when they're just out
Speaker 1: there in shorts and helmets at this stage of the spring,
Speaker 1: you make those notes because you want to see then
Speaker 1: if those players carry it over into training camp when
Speaker 1: the pads go out, and then you're looking at the
Speaker 1: same player that you saw in the spring, and and
Speaker 1: things don't necessarily change in terms of their impact, in
Speaker 1: terms of in terms of the way they carry themselves,
Speaker 1: you know, as you get further into training camp. So
Speaker 1: it's about making those those kind of notes. A couple
Speaker 1: of stories I'll share from when I first got here
Speaker 1: when you talk about a rookie making an impression, and
Speaker 1: then also the growth from one year to the next.
Speaker 1: My first year, I actually got hired here at Packers
Speaker 1: dot Com in two thousand and six in the middle
Speaker 1: of OTAs, so I walked out to watch, you know,
Speaker 1: my first OTA practice as a writer for Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: And the guy who was absolutely jumped off the practice
Speaker 1: field right from the beginning was a rookie receiver named
Speaker 1: Greg Jennings. The way he ran his routes, the way
Speaker 1: he cut off of his brakes, the way he caught
Speaker 1: the ball with his hands. Everything you're you know, everybody's
Speaker 1: kind of looked and I was a little sheepish because
Speaker 1: this was my first time out here, but I noticed
Speaker 1: that everybody was looking around and talking like, is this
Speaker 1: guy really a rookie wide? This guy does not look
Speaker 1: like a rookie. Everybody files that away, and then you
Speaker 1: wait and see and train camp when the pads go on,
Speaker 1: when there, when he's out there in the preseason games,
Speaker 1: does he still look like the same guy? Obviously, Greg
Speaker 1: Jennings did still look like the same guy. He was
Speaker 1: a rookie wide receiver who was ready to go from
Speaker 1: the jump. The other story I'll share is two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven. I distinctly remember coming back.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: This would have been after the whole first year of
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy as the head coach, with Tom Clements as
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks coach, and the whole quarterback school in the offseason.
Speaker 1: They would have done it in two thousand and six
Speaker 1: and then again in two thousand and seven leading into OTAs,
Speaker 1: and I remember walking out there on the practice field
Speaker 1: for two thousand and seven OTAs and watching Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 1: the number two quarterback behind Brett Favre. He started throwing
Speaker 1: the football and it was like it was like he
Speaker 1: had a brand new arm compared to two thousand and six,
Speaker 1: Like the ball was coming out harder, faster, the what
Speaker 1: do they say in the with major league pitchers, the
Speaker 1: spin rate or whatever of the of the ball. The
Speaker 1: ball was just spinning faster out of his hand.
Speaker 2: It was cold.
Speaker 1: You could see it with the naked eye. It was
Speaker 1: so obvious the progress made from two thousand and six
Speaker 1: to two thousand and seven, and everybody had filed that
Speaker 1: away as well. And obviously we know where eventually Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers ended up. So while you do take everything with
Speaker 1: a grain of salt, it is it is about making
Speaker 1: notes that you file away to refer to later. Because
Speaker 1: there will be some players who will jump out on
Speaker 1: an OTA practice field, and then in training camp they'll
Speaker 1: start to fade back into the background because they're not
Speaker 1: quite there yet. There are other guys who will jump
Speaker 1: out on an Ota practice field and then you start
Speaker 1: to see it again in training camp and in the
Speaker 1: preseason games, and those are the ones who you know
Speaker 1: have a real chance to stick around.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then I'll close on this too, Mike. I
Speaker 2: mean I again, we're not there yet, But I go
Speaker 2: back to mini camp in twenty twenty one, June ninth,
Speaker 2: when Jordan Love had at that time the best practice
Speaker 2: he'd had as a Packers quarterback. Aaron Rodgers, as you mentioned,
Speaker 2: wasn't in town at that point, so Jordan Love was
Speaker 2: leading the number one offense and him and Juwan Winfrey
Speaker 2: on that day looked like honestly Montana and Rice. It
Speaker 2: was incredible watching out there because it wasn't just real,
Speaker 2: you know, Love's passes. I mean, Winfrey was making some
Speaker 2: really nice catches for him as well. And I felt
Speaker 2: like at a time that was a big turning point
Speaker 2: for Love because twenty twenty was very difficult, very tough,
Speaker 2: not any preseason games, very few practices, had to be
Speaker 2: very cognizant of how they were using players at that time.
Speaker 2: It was mostly about getting ready for Week one more
Speaker 2: so than just developing that rookie class. Twenty twenty one
Speaker 2: was where he made the big jump, the first big
Speaker 2: jump in his professional career, and obviously we've seen where
Speaker 2: it's gone from there. It's put him in a position
Speaker 2: now to be the starting quarterback for the Green Bay
Speaker 2: Packers two off seasons two summers. Mike of kind of
Speaker 2: interning for this job during OTAs in the off season program. Now,
Speaker 2: Jordan love every single rep out there. He is quarterback
Speaker 2: one and he is holding a spot for nobody.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, he is QB one in the spring, and
Speaker 1: he will be QB one when training camp begins in
Speaker 1: late July. So that will certainly be something we'll be
Speaker 1: watching and talking about. But with that we will call
Speaker 1: a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage of the team all
Speaker 1: through OTAs the next several weeks mini camp. At the
Speaker 1: end of this stretch, we'll have it all for you
Speaker 1: on Packers dot Com. With that, we will not have
Speaker 1: another episode later this week, but we will be back
Speaker 1: right after Memorial Day with another episode here of Unscripted
Speaker 1: for you. So with that, for wes I and Mike,
Speaker 1: thank you for tuning in everybody. We will see you
Speaker 1: next time.