WEBVTT - #257 Packers Unscripted: Changes at the top 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:21.600 Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:25.480 I am Mike Spofford next to my trusted colleague West Hodkowitz. 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.600 Were coming to hear from our studios at lambeau Field. 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.360 And first, let me start off by apologizing to our 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:35.120 regular viewers and listeners with regards to our last show 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:37.720 because I had to be out of town on Monday, 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.840 and not just to get a new haircut, but because 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:45.560 of that, we pre recorded a show to air on Monday. 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:48.240 But then over the weekend all of the news about 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.400 the new general manager and all that broke. And so 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:53.960 for those of you who tuned in hoping to see 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.240 a show about the new GM and everything, we certainly apologize. 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:00.360 Sort of Murphy's law. No pun intended that things would 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:02.720 happen when you think you have a plan in place 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:05.520 to deal with an absence. But that being said, West, 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:08.200 today is the day to talk about the Packers new 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:12.399 general manager. His name is Brian Goodkin good akinst I 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:14.759 have to work on the pronunciation. I think everybody does. 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:16.560 I'm used to spelling it, you know, right. No, I 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:21.800 don't have a problem, but um a tremendous football background 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:24.040 in this guy I've known him for a long time 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.199 within the Packers organization as he has climbed the ranks 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:30.199 obviously over the last several years. Um, just a really 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.559 personable guy. What in his background stands out the most 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.440 to you? Well, I think it's the in state connections, Uh, 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:39.640 and really the paradox between the way he was brought 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:41.640 up and kind of how things have played out within 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.720 the Packers organization. Starting with the in state connections. This 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:48.000 is a guy that only forty four years old, actually 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:51.160 played at u w lacrosse a few years after his 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:53.240 father had been the head coach at the University of 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:56.680 Minnesota with their football team, and that's where he started 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.200 to get his start with football and played there for 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.840 two years to stay in. The shoulder injury, which I mean, 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:05.280 you know, serendipity, whatever you want to call it, actually 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.600 probably put him on his course for his profession that 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:10.160 he wanted to look into coaching. Really it was the 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:13.320 doors that were open to him through scouting that that 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:15.520 you know, kind of sort of gave him his path 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.520 and received an opportunity from John Dorsey to come in 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.200 and be an intern with the Packers. Spent a year 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:23.800 with John Schneider in Kansas City, comes back as a 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:27.520 college scout and getting back to the original point I made, 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.160 you know, he traveled in his family, kind of had 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.160 this vagabond lifestyle a little bit, being a son of 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:35.480 a head coach or a football coach. And for him, 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:39.040 he's been able to have stability since has been with 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:41.880 the Packers organization, been in house since two thousand and 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.640 twelve when he became the director of college scouting, and 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:46.720 now here he is as the general manager, the tenth 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:50.079 designated general manager in franchise history. It's funny to look 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:52.280 back on his career when you look at that timeline up. 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:54.960 What would it be like to be a scouting intern 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:57.760 for a team coming off of a Super Bowl championship. 0:02:57.800 --> 0:02:59.520 I mean that that had to be such a unique 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:02.560 and an interesting situation in terms of getting your start 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:06.640 and obviously working immediately, working under a structure and a 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.399 regime that was so successful, as you know, the Packers 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:13.120 really were reborn there through the mid nineties, and then 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:15.760 as a full time scout, really spent a lot of 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.800 his time in the South and particularly the Southeast, so 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:22.800 that sec that Southeastern Conference. He knows those schools, you know, 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:26.520 maybe as well as anyone on the Packers staff. And 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:28.560 uh that that's you know, where he cut his teeth, 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.160 as they say, and and uh and began to uh 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:35.560 to climb the ranks. Um obviously was chosen by President 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:38.840 and CEO Mark Murphy over two other internal candidates, russ 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:42.119 Ball and Elliott Wolf. Russ Ball getting um a new 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:46.560 title as far as executive director of Football Operations, did 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.400 I get vice president executive director of SO And we'll 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:52.800 have some more thoughts on on the structure of things 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:55.600 in our next segment. But um, but as far as 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:58.640 where the Packers go from here, Brian Goodakunst is the 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:01.400 new GM. He is in charge of the fifty three 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:04.640 man roster and uh um it sounds like he's very 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:07.000 excited about the partnership here coming up with head coach 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:09.520 Mike McCarthy. Yeah, he is. And the thing that's interesting 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:11.760 about his upbringing too is that he has such a 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.200 deep foundation, uh in this organization. You talk about Mike 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:17.760 McCarthy when he came back as a college scout in 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:21.200 n That was in within three months of when McCarthy 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:24.400 was brought in as the quarterbacks coach at the time, Um, 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:26.800 you know, he he was raised and developed under Is. 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:28.680 He mentioned Scott McCluin, who went on to be the 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:31.440 Washington general manager. That was one of the guys he 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:33.160 kind of joked that he would always go to when 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.080 guys were too scared to ask a question to Ron, 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:38.800 they went to to McCluin instead. I mean, he had 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.600 those relationships and you know, and and Elliot Wolf has 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:43.360 a lot to figure out with his future right now, 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:45.719 but he looked at that partnership that they had for 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:47.960 a number of years, and you know, the pro and 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.400 college perspectives they were able to provide to Ted Thompson 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:54.320 and a guy that he really admires from that perspective. 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:57.280 The big thing with this Mike was fit. And Mike 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.599 McCarthy made that very clear when he met with the 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:01.920 media in his final news conference of the two thousand 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.040 seventeen season. He was looking for a GM that was 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:08.200 going to be in that partnership with them, And Goudakun said, 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:09.919 I mean he you know, when it comes to making 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:12.719 tough calls on the roster, he's willing to go out 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.159 there and step to the podium and explain his thought process, 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:17.560 which is something that Mike McCarthy said he was looking 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:19.880 for in the next GM, he said, he's a guy 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:24.200 that's willing to have direct communication with different people. He's 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.320 a guy that really values communication and he wants to 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:29.760 open up those avenues. And we'll talk about this in 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:31.080 a minute. But when you look at some of the 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.520 breakdowns maybe they've had in recent years that Mark Mark 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:37.680 Murphy was addressing, that's one of the things I think 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:39.839 could ultimately help them, in addition to the fact that 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:43.120 he is a very talented scout with a deep foundation 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:48.240 in really analyzing, reviewing, and finding talent from the college level. Yeah, 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:51.080 and Mark Murphy has changed the hierarchy a little bit, 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:52.840 the structure of how things are gonna work. And we'll 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:56.040 get to that after the breakback with moreen Packers Unscripted. 0:05:56.080 --> 0:06:16.800 Right after this, Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:19.039 in this chair, West Hodkowitz and that one and West 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:23.239 talking about what really comes down to a major restructuring 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.960 of the Packers hierarchy. Um, you go back to the 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.880 early ninety nineties when Bob Harlan hired Ron Wolf. There 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:34.080 was one man in charge of the entire football operation 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.240 and everybody answered to him. That structure is no longer 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:42.360 in place. Brian Gudakunst rush Ball, Mike McCarthy are sort 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:44.920 of the three men who are all in charge of football. 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.400 They're different areas of the football operations and now all 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:51.680 three of them individually will report to Mark Murphy as 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:54.960 the president and CEO of the organization. A significant change, 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:57.159 it was, and it Mike and it was interesting Mark 0:06:57.240 --> 0:06:59.760 Murphy when he originally met with the media to announce 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:01.839 that Had Thompson would be moving into this new role. 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.440 Uh he originally was planning for the GM two or 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:07.440 the head coach to report to the g M. But 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.000 as he went through the process, he said, it really 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:12.280 opened his eyes to some areas where he thought they 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.160 could you know, have some potential, um you know, areas 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:17.240 to improve in. And one of the things that he 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:19.760 came to, and it came up numerous times in both 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:22.760 his interview and news conference and then Ulso in a 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.240 side session with some some print reporters, is the idea 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:28.840 that they need to knock down some silos that silos 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:33.120 have been built up between the coaching staff, the scouts, 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.160 different areas and they want to improve communication under on 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.320 that point, that's something that Goodin said to when he 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.840 was addressing with reporters afterwards is very important to him. 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:45.000 He sees that he understands and he thinks there needs 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.640 to be greater ties between the scouting department and the 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.160 coaching staff. That maybe there was you don't want to 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.720 say a wall, but but definitely not enough communication from 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.280 that perspective. But it goes up higher than that. And 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:59.320 the thing I think that was the biggest um you know, 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:01.480 area that I took away from all of this is that, 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:04.400 in a lot of ways, the decisions they made here 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:06.360 other than the head coach you know now reporting to 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:10.480 Murphy was sort of putting print in pen and paper 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.160 to something that had really been cemented the past number 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:16.040 of years with Russ Ball's role, you know, with the 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.480 general manager's role. Murphy said, I mean the GM that 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.040 that job description they had for Ted Thompson was incredibly 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.200 broad and there was a lot of stuff that he 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:27.040 had really you know, handed over to Ball to handle 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:29.760 so he could focus more on scouting. That's something that 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:31.960 good at const is all four. He wants to do 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:35.800 what he's good at. That's player acquisition, that's drafting, that's 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:39.120 building a roster, and then now letting ball in addition 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:41.600 to the contract negotiations and you know, handle more the 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:45.120 administrative things. Yeah, And I found Mark Murphy's comments about 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:48.080 the silos and trying to knock down the silos. I 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.880 found that interesting because in previous shows last week we 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:54.400 talked about one of the ways that that the structure 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:57.240 that was in place worked for so long is because 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:01.120 of people having respect for boundaries or what their job was, 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:05.400 not intruding necessarily on other people's. But one of the 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:08.840 potential fallouts of something like that is boundaries can almost 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:11.640 get too rigid. They can they can become silos. And 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:13.959 I think what Mark Murphy is trying to do here, 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.880 if I'm reading his comments correctly, is I think he's 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.600 trying to have a structure that that gets rid of 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.560 the silos that were being created, but that still respects 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.640 the boundaries that that every that everybody has their area 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:31.880 of expertise, they have final say on certain areas of football, 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:35.160 but they're not going to operate just completely independently of 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.280 one another. And as you said, it's about the communication 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:41.440 and collaboration so that everybody kind of at least knows 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:44.000 what's going on all the time and isn't wondering what 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.000 that guy down the hall is up to, so to speak. 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:49.440 Football organizations evolve was another theme that sort of came 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:52.160 out of this, and Murphy was really you know, preaching 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:54.640 in his idea was when they made this shuffle is 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:58.080 basically repainting the lanes a little bit. The past few years. 0:09:58.120 --> 0:09:59.839 With the role that Thompson has sort of taken on, 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:03.040 it did require a little bit more hands on, you know, 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:06.760 stuff from different people and his his personnel department. This 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.199 really this process was meant to kind of redefine all 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.440 of that and to give everybody an idea of what's 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.960 expecting their specific position rather than when you are sort 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.599 of moving out of your lane and in different people's territory. 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:21.600 It basically just rewrites the job description in some ways. 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:23.960 And as Murphy said, I mean he plans to meet 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.400 weekly with Ball, McCarthy and good at cost so they 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.400 can have that open dialogue. He's not looking to micromanaged, 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:32.400 He's not looking to sit here and tell people what 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:34.480 to do. He just wants to be more involved in 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:36.760 the football process. It's something he's done over the last 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:39.800 number of years and he thinks as as they're able 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:41.880 to do that and open up those lines of communication 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.080 is something that overall will help improve the football team. Yeah, 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:48.720 and I took this. There are some alarm bells being 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:52.720 sounded out there about this potentially being a mistake in 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.160 terms of the structure, and that the Packers did this 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:57.120 back in the nineteen eighties and it didn't work and 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:58.959 it's what led to Ron Wolf being brought in and 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:03.000 giving total control. I for one, I'm going to wait 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:05.120 and see how this goes, because part of me thinks 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:09.600 that the reason Mark Murphy made this decision and restructured 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.400 it this way is because of the people he wanted 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:16.360 in place in those certain positions. Somewhere down the line, 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.640 maybe it's ten years, maybe it's fifteen or twenty years 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:21.400 down the line, the next round Wolf might come along 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:25.040 and demand the full autonomy over everything. And if you 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.120 really want that guy, then maybe you have to give 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:30.760 him the structure that he wants. So you talked about 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.440 organizations evolved, Things can change. I'm not saying that you 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:35.840 completely rewrite the structure every time you make a new 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:40.080 higher and an important position, but it's it's also about 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.560 fitting your structure to the people and setting them and 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.280 letting them do what they do best, and that's what 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:48.200 I think Mark Murphy's trying to do here, and he 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:50.560 kept the door open to that. Just because they're doing 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:54.280 something right now doesn't set a precedent forever. Packers could 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:57.240 win three four more Super Bowls, Mike McCarthy could go 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.760 right off into the sunset, they could have another coaching 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.679 and underneath that coaching search, that position could go right 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:06.959 back under Brian Goodkin's There's all those type of options. 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:11.080 He's not really eliminating any process. He said from day 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:13.280 one when he stepped up there announcing that Ted Thompson 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:14.959 was no longer going to be the GM, that he 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:16.640 was going to keep an open mind to this. He 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:18.120 was going to look at scouts, he was going to 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:20.520 look at finance, he was gonna look at all these 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:24.240 different avenues of how you can run an organization. This 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:26.360 is in a way, I think, in a lot of 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:29.360 in a lot of different areas to try to make 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.800 all these pieces fit and try to find something that 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:35.120 can work for everybody. I know there's sometimes can be 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.640 a negative connotation to that, but as he said, when 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.959 you look at the amount of organizations that have kind 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:43.680 of been creative with their structure, there's sometimes something to 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:45.480 be said for that. And if you aren't staying with 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:47.400 that pace, if you're not trying to find the new 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:49.760 way to do things, you are falling back. And I 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.480 think ultimately it comes down to try and to find 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:55.959 a scenario, a fit, whatever you want to call it, 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.480 to make the Packers organization take that next step and 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.000 make sure that that two thousand seventeen season was nothing 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:04.040 more than an anomaly. Yeah, and well, the new GM 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.240 certainly wants to take the next step with this roster. 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:08.600 And we're talking about some of his philosophies after the 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:29.120 breakback with more on Packers Unscripted. Right after this Welcome 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:32.319 back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford here, Wes hodkohit's over 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.480 there and West. Getting back to the Packers new GM. 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:39.840 Goodikins talked about his philosophies a little bit. Particularly was 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:44.640 asked about free agency because of um sometimes the Packers 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:48.000 lack of involvement in free agency under Ted Thompson, and 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.480 some of the phrases he used were interesting. One of 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:54.920 the things he called it is a necessary accessory. And 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:57.040 I think maybe what we've heard more over the past 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.360 decade is more of like it's a potential abode. He 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:03.040 sees it as more of something that that needs to 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:06.800 be explored at all times. Um. Now, not just saying 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:10.240 always about the top guys, million dollars signings or whatever. 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:12.840 That's not what this is about. But but it's about 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.160 how he looks at the entire picture of free agency 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:17.400 as it relates to the fifty three man roster. Yea. 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:19.440 And I'm actually gonna pull the quote right now from 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:21.640 the story I wrote on Monday, just to I don't 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:23.160 usually do these type of things, but I just think 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:25.240 it's such a It was the quote of the entire day. 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.440 Him and Murphy talked for over an hour if you 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:29.720 count the two sessions, but I thought this was the 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.400 biggest quote. The thing I've already told our guys is 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:34.720 that we're not going to be signing every player, which 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:38.240 you can't. But we're gonna be involved. But it's not 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.280 gonna be the foundation. But we're going to want to 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:43.200 be in every conversation. We want to be in the 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:46.520 know and not be afraid. And when the moment comes, um, 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:48.680 you have to be prepared to pull the trigger. Paraphrasing 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.280 a bit of that, but the basic thought process behind 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.760 it is the packers want to be involved in these conversations. 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.600 If there's a free agent, regardless of it's a high, mid, 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.040 low tier, whatever it might be. If there's somebody they 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.600 think could be a potential fit, they want to explore 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.080 that avenue. They want to leave no stone unturned during 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:08.760 this process. That's not to say that isn't what Ted 0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:12.280 Thompson did. I don't want people drawing that analogy. But 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:14.480 I think the big thing is that Good wants is 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:17.360 he wants his scouts, he wants his personnel people with 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:20.240 the communication they have within the building, if there's a 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:23.120 guy they think could work in Green Bay, to pick 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:25.760 up the phone, see what the prices, see what kind 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:27.960 of bidding war they're gonna be in, and make sure 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:31.000 that they are up on all those conversations. Because sometimes 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:32.280 I'm not saying this is just Green Bay, but I 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:34.120 think sometimes some of these guys can fly under the 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.760 radar and you potentially miss out on a guy that 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.080 could be a good value. And I think sometimes you know, 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:40.800 it isn't just always about who's getting the five year, 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:43.480 sixty seven million dollar contract. Sometimes it's the one year, 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:45.600 five million dollar deal that makes all the difference. Yeah, 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:47.960 And I think what I took in some ways from 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.280 his comments was maybe there were times in the past 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:53.760 where the packers made assumptions about the market the price 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:56.080 tag on a certain guy, and they just stayed out 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:57.720 of it because they're like, Oh, that's not really gonna 0:15:57.760 --> 0:15:59.800 fit where we are with the salary cap and what 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:03.000 And then maybe the guy signs with somebody is like, oh, 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:05.160 maybe we should have been involved in that conversation. The 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:07.480 price tag wasn't as high as we thought. So I 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:10.240 think it's maybe, you know, as you said, always being 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:13.760 involved in the conversations and and being prepared to pull 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:17.160 the trigger if the opportunity is there. I also look 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:19.800 at it as what I'm going to be interested in 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.600 in terms of the differences in the roster building, is 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.440 what's going to happen when the injuries strike, because they're 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:28.560 going to inevitably strike. And I wrote this in our 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:31.960 Insider Inbox column. Is the guy who's filling in the 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:33.600 next man up, so to speak? Is it going to 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:36.440 be some young, totally unproven guy or is there going 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.080 to be more depth of veteran players and and those 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.720 can be veteran players you bring in from other places 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.760 two thousand and ten, guys like Eric Walden and Howard 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:48.240 Green experienced guys that were brought in when injuries hit, 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:50.200 when that roster dealt with a lot of injuries, and 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:53.160 those guys helped the Packers win a Super Bowl. Since then, 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:55.920 we haven't seen as many of those type of acquisitions, 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.200 and maybe the new GM gets back to that a 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:00.240 little bit. And think even like Charlie Peppert, who I 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:03.000 think they claimed him off waivers before that season, brought 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.359 him back after he had left, and he ends up 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:07.399 playing a key role after Morgan Burnett tears his a 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:09.560 c L. That's a big part of the equation here 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:12.679 and is is Goodkin said, It's about creating competition from 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:14.520 the first day of training camp to the last day 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:16.600 of the regular season or the or your playoff run. 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:19.399 You have to be able to push. It can't just 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:22.280 be Okay, well, this guy is just the last guy up, 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:24.360 so he's the one in there. You have to make 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:27.560 sure that everybody understands that if you don't perform, there's 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:30.280 somebody else that could potentially do it. Um And to 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.600 touch on one other thing, Mike, because a big question 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:34.439 he was asked is about the state of the roster 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.560 where things are right now, He doesn't see the Packers 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.240 as being that far away from contending for another Super Bowl. 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:43.159 People talk about the defense. Things didn't go well for 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:45.159 the Packers in two thousand seventeen. I'm not going to 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:48.600 sit here and debate that, but Kenny Clark, Mike Daniels, 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:52.280 there is a foundation, Blake Martinez, Haha, Clinton dis Packers 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.080 have talent on defense. That's one thing good Coin said. 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:58.000 He likes the talent that they have there. They have 0:17:58.080 --> 0:17:59.760 to make the pieces fit. They have to find a 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:01.879 D fensive coordinator that's gonna be able to utilize it, 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:04.399 and they need to find players through the draft. They 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:06.800 could have eleven or twelve picks this year or through 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:08.800 free agency that are gonna be able to fill in 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:11.800 those holes when someone goes down. The cupboard isn't bare. 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:14.480 That was the big takeaway. He was basically asked that question, 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:17.280 and he said, the cupboard isn't bare. We still have 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:19.200 what it takes with the best player in football and 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:21.119 Aaron Rodgers to get to where we want to go 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:23.560 sooner rather than later. And I think it's also about 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:27.560 stocking that cupboard with more like pieces. I guess I 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:29.200 would say, And what I mean by that is going 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:32.359 back to the comment about the competition. Hey, these players 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:34.239 are at practice every day. They know who can do 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:36.359 the job and who can't. If you're on the field 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:38.199 and you know the guy right behind you on the 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:41.840 depth chart is, for example, an undrafted rookie who's hardly played, 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:44.160 maybe he's only played on special teams and hasn't even 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:47.720 played on offense or defense. Yet you're not necessarily fearing 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.160 for your job. You're not you. You don't necessarily feel 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:53.919 like you're on notice. Brian Goodacun's yesterday on Monday, I 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:56.160 thought he made it very clear that he wants every 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:58.960 player to feel like he's on notice with everything he's 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:01.560 putting on film and every game. And that's maybe a 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.320 bit of an exaggeration because we're all human, But at 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.080 the same time, that's the type of competitiveness he wants 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.720 within the roster. Comfort creates complacency in every walk all life. 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:13.000 He wants to make sure that people are being pushed. Yeah, 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:15.199 all right, with that, we'll go to break back with 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:35.359 more on Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.640 Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford alongside West Hog Kuits and West 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:40.640 before we Go. Since I was gone Monday, we haven't 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.360 had a chance to talk about NFL Wild Card weekend. 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:46.119 We only have a couple of minutes here. But the 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:50.840 Kansas City Chiefs boy another crushing home playoff loss, blowing 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:54.240 an eighteen point lead to the Tennessee Titans. You have 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:58.520 the Atlanta Falcons um maybe showing that their defense is 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:00.159 even better than it was when they went to the 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:02.359 Super Bowl a year ago. They completely clamped down on 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:06.520 that Los Angeles Rams explosive offense rather lackluster. I guess 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:09.719