Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spafford, joint as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague Wes Hodkoitz. We're coming to hear
Speaker 1: from our new studio at lambeau Field to continue wes
Speaker 1: our preview of Packers ot as.
Speaker 2: When it stop.
Speaker 1: I know we had this discussion before. It's I guess
Speaker 1: the rest of the off season program. Yeah, at least
Speaker 1: at least until at least until we get through last time.
Speaker 1: I'll get through mini camp. Yeah, I don't know. I'm
Speaker 1: at some point I'll get tired of saying new.
Speaker 2: No, I like it, but it is new. Considering what
Speaker 2: our studio used to look like looks like we're in
Speaker 2: the back of it.
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, I think this, this is gonna feel
Speaker 1: This is going to feel new for the next couple
Speaker 1: of years. At least, I would think. O tas are underway.
Speaker 1: They are the Packers have begun. Uh this week we
Speaker 1: will get one access to excuse me, access to one
Speaker 1: practice later this week, and on our last show, we
Speaker 1: previewed OTAs from the offensive side of the ball. What
Speaker 1: we're looking for, things that are on our mind, so
Speaker 1: we'll switch to the defensive side of the ball for
Speaker 1: this episode, and I'll just throw it out there to
Speaker 1: you what rises to the top of your observation list
Speaker 1: when we hit the practice field later this week.
Speaker 2: For me, it has to be edge rusher first and foremost.
Speaker 2: We all know Michaeh Parsons working his way back from
Speaker 2: that acl He's not gonna be out there, He's not
Speaker 2: gonna be taking these reps. We know that Lucas Vans
Speaker 2: is probably gonna be taking that spot opposite of Michaeh
Speaker 2: Parsons this year, that the runway has been cleared. Much
Speaker 2: like with Matthew Golden in the receiver position, Rashaan Garry
Speaker 2: traded Lucas VENs. Go forward, young man, you know, and
Speaker 2: give this, you know, give it everything he got. But
Speaker 2: there's still needs to be somebody lined up across from Vans,
Speaker 2: and you're gonna need guys to fill up in that
Speaker 2: rotation now with kings Leannibari gone. So just seeing which
Speaker 2: young guy fills those roles early on and who ultimately
Speaker 2: emerges during this training camps can be fascinating to whether
Speaker 2: it's obviously Baron Serell, who is a tremendous story. We
Speaker 2: all talked about it. I wrote about it. The guy
Speaker 2: shows up in Green Bay for the draft. Everyone just
Speaker 2: a feel good story. Well, what sometimes I think gets
Speaker 2: overlooked is the fact he was a fourth round pick.
Speaker 2: He was a really good prospect coming out of Texas
Speaker 2: and just looking at him in his body this offseason
Speaker 2: and how he's matured in that capacity and how he
Speaker 2: finished last year at that game against Minnesota, I think
Speaker 2: he's a real contender for that spot, you know, Colin Oliver, Deny,
Speaker 2: Dennis Sutton being the fourth round pick this year could
Speaker 2: potentially contribute right away. And then the dude that probably
Speaker 2: nobody's talked enough about this offseason is Brenton Cox Junior,
Speaker 2: a guy that was really positioned to have a big
Speaker 2: role with this defense last year and then unfortunately gets
Speaker 2: the core injury misses most of the season, but the
Speaker 2: Packers thought enough of him to bring him back. So
Speaker 2: plenty of opportunity there at the edge rushing position, and
Speaker 2: in me personally, I don't know how you felt about it,
Speaker 2: but I love the fact that Green Bay dedicated themselves
Speaker 2: to this young nucleus. They didn't go out and sign
Speaker 2: a thirty two year old pass rusher to stem the
Speaker 2: tide until Michael Parsons gets back. They believed in what
Speaker 2: they had and now it's on those young guys to
Speaker 2: prove the Packers right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. I mean this this spring, this summer, through
Speaker 1: training camp, the preseason is going to be the proving ground,
Speaker 1: you know, so to speak, for these young guys. Because
Speaker 1: we know the personnel department is always looking, they're always evaluating.
Speaker 1: Maybe at some point they'll feel the need to bring
Speaker 1: in a you know, veteran pass rusher stop gap to
Speaker 1: as you said, stem the tide until Michaeh Parsons gets back.
Speaker 1: But the Packers are gonna let these young guys figure
Speaker 1: it out here during the spring and summer with these opportunities.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned Breenton Cox Junior, and you're right, he
Speaker 1: is a guy who hasn't been talked about enough because
Speaker 1: unfortunately last year just became kind of an injury wash
Speaker 1: for him. But when we're talking about this group of
Speaker 1: guys that you know where somebody is going to be
Speaker 1: lined up across from Lucas van Ness here until Michael
Speaker 1: Parsons gets back, Brenon Cox Junior is suddenly the veteran
Speaker 1: of the bunch. You know, he's he's the old guy
Speaker 1: who's you know, who's been around and and has some experience.
Speaker 1: But that being said, also when I look at the
Speaker 1: young group, I think back to a handful of years
Speaker 1: ago when the Packers drafted kings Leannigbari in the fifth round.
Speaker 1: There wasn't a whole lot of fanfare about the draft pick.
Speaker 1: It's a Day three pick pick, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1: But then we saw over the course of four years
Speaker 1: in Green Bay how kings Leannigbari went from you know,
Speaker 1: a guy who is helping on special teams to then oh,
Speaker 1: he's in the rotation at edge rusher and he's getting
Speaker 1: some sacks and some TFLs and he's filling in when
Speaker 1: a guy gets injured. You know, the the more snaps,
Speaker 1: the bigger opportunities. And he's proving himself in that regard.
Speaker 1: Kings Leannigbari, who just got a pretty nice contract from
Speaker 1: the New York Jets as a free agent. Now he
Speaker 1: was a fifth round draft pick. Baron Sorell was a
Speaker 1: fourth round pick. Colin Oliver was a fifth round pick,
Speaker 1: Denied Dennis Sutton a fourth round pick. This year. The
Speaker 1: These are significant investments the Packers are making in the
Speaker 1: draft in these players, and you're absolutely right West, the
Speaker 1: Packers are going to find out what this group is
Speaker 1: made of and who is going to step forward to
Speaker 1: seize opportunity.
Speaker 2: Yeah, JJ Nigbari is an interesting player too, because I
Speaker 2: feel like, you know, we always think about, Okay, well
Speaker 2: can you find in all Pro? Can there be a
Speaker 2: Mica hide out there in the fifth round that you
Speaker 2: bring in and becomes a superstar. But there really is
Speaker 2: something to be being said for an Inigbari, a guy
Speaker 2: that played every snap every game, I should say, for
Speaker 2: Green Bay the past four years, a guy that was
Speaker 2: reliable on both defense and special teams, was you know,
Speaker 2: really good against the run. I think he's a tremendous
Speaker 2: success story. And when you lose a player like that,
Speaker 2: it might not be the one that gets talked about
Speaker 2: at your local diner in the morning. But the fact
Speaker 2: is is that's a big body that the Packers have
Speaker 2: to replace. And at the same time, it should also
Speaker 2: be a reminder to all these young guys of just
Speaker 2: what the stakes can be and how this thing could
Speaker 2: really catapult you to another level. Because as much as
Speaker 2: we focus on the pass rush, and rightfully so, I
Speaker 2: mean that's where people make their money. It also goes
Speaker 2: back to the fact that Inning Bari's not going to
Speaker 2: be there on special teams anymore. He's giving up one
Speaker 2: of those guard positions in punt coverage. Chances are Lucas
Speaker 2: van S is also going to be off that unit
Speaker 2: with what his growing role is now on defense. So
Speaker 2: the Packers, whether it is special teams, whether it is
Speaker 2: on the defensive side of the ball, there is a
Speaker 2: massive opportunity for those young edge rushers and seeing who
Speaker 2: grabs onto that is going to be great because yes,
Speaker 2: there's Inning Barri's But then you also think back to
Speaker 2: when green Bay signed Zadarius Smith Saidarius Smith was a
Speaker 2: fourth round pick a long long time ago by the
Speaker 2: Baltimore Ravens who then became an all Pro pass rusher.
Speaker 2: In this league, you never know where you're going to
Speaker 2: get those contributions from. And I just love the fact
Speaker 2: that green Bay invested all these resources over the last
Speaker 2: few years in that position, and now you're really going
Speaker 2: to be able to see what that group can do.
Speaker 1: And there is the caveat when it is still late May,
Speaker 1: when we're talking about edge rushing, which is about setting
Speaker 1: the edge against the run, getting after the quarterback, you know,
Speaker 1: beating the offensive tackle, all that kind of stuff. There
Speaker 1: aren't any pads going on here during OTAs. There won't
Speaker 1: be pads on for at least a couple of months here.
Speaker 1: But this, you know, with Jonathan Gannon coming in as
Speaker 1: a new defensive coordinator, new defense, he's getting to know
Speaker 1: the players, the other coaches on his defensive staff, getting
Speaker 1: to know these players, figuring out what they do, what
Speaker 1: they do best as they build the playbook and they
Speaker 1: build the different sub packages and oh, this would be
Speaker 1: a spot that Colin Oliver maybe could sub in and
Speaker 1: and you know, provide a spark right here, et cetera,
Speaker 1: et cetera. That's that's what this time of That's what
Speaker 1: this time of year is all about. And on the
Speaker 1: flip side of it, if shifting gears sort of from
Speaker 1: the young guys to the veteran guys, there are a
Speaker 1: couple of new veteran guys coming in to this defense
Speaker 1: now with Gannon, we're going to get a first look
Speaker 1: at Javon Hargrave at defensive tackle, Zaire Franklin at at
Speaker 1: inside linebacker. Two guys who have been there, done that
Speaker 1: in this league that doesn't even really do justice to
Speaker 1: to what they've accomplished in their careers and their presence.
Speaker 1: I just get the feeling west because of who these
Speaker 1: guys are, and we haven't even talked to him yet
Speaker 1: in terms of, you know, the interviews we get in
Speaker 1: the locker room. We'll get an opportunity for that over
Speaker 1: the next few weeks. But I just get the sense
Speaker 1: that these are guys that are walking into the Packers
Speaker 1: locker room with a certain level of respect and they're
Speaker 1: going to be leaders on this defense in some way,
Speaker 1: shape or form, even though they are new. Jonathan Gannon
Speaker 1: is new, but I think it feels like that's the
Speaker 1: dynamic that could be developing, you know.
Speaker 2: Because guys can be Pro Bowlers and they can be
Speaker 2: all pros, and in Franklin's case, he has been right
Speaker 2: and and you know Hargrave's case, he's two time Pro bowler,
Speaker 2: has played in a Super Bowl. I mean, these guys
Speaker 2: have like legitimate on field credentials. But when you sign players,
Speaker 2: you bring players in veterans in and you see that
Speaker 2: Walter Payton Man of the Year nomination next to their name,
Speaker 2: you see team captain in their bio. That tells you
Speaker 2: something about the character of the individual. The other thing, too,
Speaker 2: that always sticks out to me is when a veteran
Speaker 2: leaves somewhere signs elsewhere, and then you see media members
Speaker 2: or people from the Beat corps on social media talking
Speaker 2: about that player wishing them well. That speaks volumes as
Speaker 2: well too. I know you and I both did that.
Speaker 2: When Aaron Jones ultimately went to Minnesota. I remember having
Speaker 2: the conversation with Lindsay Young over there, one of the
Speaker 2: Beat writers for the Vikings, about just the type of
Speaker 2: dude that was entering that locker room. Heard the same
Speaker 2: exact reports on Zagiar Franklin. And the thing I love
Speaker 2: about Franklin too is when you look at his resume
Speaker 2: and he has like the quintessential NFL journey type story.
Speaker 2: Right when you're talking about a seventh round pick, what
Speaker 2: I think some people would refer to as an undersized
Speaker 2: middle linebacker go from a core special teams player in
Speaker 2: Indianapolis to a starting middle linebacker to an all pro
Speaker 2: to a guy leading the National Football League in tackles.
Speaker 2: There is a certain amount of respect and you know
Speaker 2: prestige that comes along with that, and for Green Bay
Speaker 2: to lose kway Walker and then conversely, when you look
Speaker 2: at the defensive tackle position, Kenny Clark and now Kolby
Speaker 2: Wooden and Javon Hargrave coming in, they I needed to
Speaker 2: find guys that you could add to this roster that
Speaker 2: can augment and complement a team that wants to compete
Speaker 2: for a championship. This year. They weren't going to be
Speaker 2: able to just get those guys in the draft. One,
Speaker 2: the number of picks just weren't there to address all
Speaker 2: those needs. But two, they needed to hit the ground
Speaker 2: running with some veterans here too, and I feel like
Speaker 2: they've done it with both of those guys, And for me,
Speaker 2: the most exciting thing of all is just seeing the
Speaker 2: type of experience that they now bring into this team.
Speaker 2: When you think about the best Packer teams going back
Speaker 2: to the Mike McCarthy era, or even in those twenty
Speaker 2: nineteen to twenty one windows where Packers are winning thirteen
Speaker 2: games every year. You had the Mercedes Lewises, you had
Speaker 2: the Julius Peppers back in the middle twenty tens. There's
Speaker 2: something about having that type of leadership on a football
Speaker 2: team in addition to what they provide as a football player.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when I think of Zaire Franklin and just having
Speaker 1: only been able to watch his career from AFAR, and
Speaker 1: you look at the statistics and kind of what he's compiled,
Speaker 1: he's he's like the definition of a guy who paid
Speaker 1: his dues to get to where to get to where
Speaker 1: he is in this league. And I'm really interested to see,
Speaker 1: you know, what he's got left and what he can
Speaker 1: bring to this Jonathan Gannon defense in Green Bay, a
Speaker 1: couple other things I want to get your thoughts on,
Speaker 1: but we do need to pay some bills, So let's
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Speaker 1: three sixty five. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Continuing our
Speaker 1: preview of OTA is looking at the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball and Wes, We've pretty much talked about everything
Speaker 1: kind of upfront on defense, but we also need to
Speaker 1: talk about what's going on on the perimeter defensively, because again,
Speaker 1: no pads are going on, no jobs are going to
Speaker 1: be one or lost here in the next few weeks
Speaker 1: because training camp in the preseason is where these things
Speaker 1: will really sort themselves out. But the competition at cornerback
Speaker 1: is going to get underway here in a legitimate way. Carrington, Valentine,
Speaker 1: Benjamin Saint Juice, Brendan seesay, three guys really vying for
Speaker 1: all of them, I think, legitimate contenders to be the
Speaker 1: number two boundary cornerback in this defense opposite Keyshawn Nixon
Speaker 1: and then of course with Javon Buller being your number
Speaker 1: one slot corner. And you know, Valentine is the is
Speaker 1: sort of the incumbent so to speak, because he's the
Speaker 1: guy who's been here, but yet new defensive coordinator, new coaches,
Speaker 1: lots of change going on. So it you know, this
Speaker 1: as far as a competition for a very prominent role
Speaker 1: on this Packers team in twenty twenty six, this is
Speaker 1: the one that strikes me as as the one with
Speaker 1: the spotlight on.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be the competition of the summer. I will
Speaker 2: say that. I you know, Benjamin Saint Juice actually earned
Speaker 2: some brownie points with me last weekend because he was
Speaker 2: at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. Was checking out
Speaker 2: the F one race, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 1: He didn't bring you along.
Speaker 2: He didn't, And I've joked with you about this before.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm gonna be asking him questions. He's probably
Speaker 2: not gonna want to hear those questions. I probably can
Speaker 2: get annoyed by some of that. But for a guy
Speaker 2: that I haven't met yet, I was in awe of that.
Speaker 2: I got to get to a Formula one race at
Speaker 2: some point. But I really like the way they built
Speaker 2: this thing up in the cornerback room. First and foremost,
Speaker 2: Carrington Valentine a guy that has always been on the
Speaker 2: cusp of a permanent starting role. Right, it seems like
Speaker 2: it was funny. I never even realized it until Keishawn
Speaker 2: Nixon brought it up last season. But all these playoff
Speaker 2: runs green Bay's been on, it's Ben Valentine. With Nixon,
Speaker 2: It's just that he wasn't the incumbent at the beginning
Speaker 2: of the season. Just one thing or another worked out
Speaker 2: that he ended up having to be the guy at
Speaker 2: the end of the season. And it happened again last year,
Speaker 2: even though Jyry Alexander had been released. Green Bay goes
Speaker 2: and gets Nate Hobbs, Javon Bullard, you know, kind of
Speaker 2: solidifies himself in the slot. Hobbs has to be on
Speaker 2: the perimeter, but then he gets hurt. Valentine kind of
Speaker 2: rips that spot away from his old training buddy, and
Speaker 2: then there's not really a place for Hobbs right in
Speaker 2: his contract kind of dictated that Green Bay need to
Speaker 2: go a different direction. So they bring in Saint Juice,
Speaker 2: who's a dude who had some hype coming out of
Speaker 2: college and obviously played a lot for Washington, but really
Speaker 2: things clicked for him last year with Los Angeles and
Speaker 2: he was in this rotational perimeter spot, which you don't
Speaker 2: see a lot in the NFL. I think at a time,
Speaker 2: you know, Devon House did it for a little bit
Speaker 2: here when you got to the sub packages where a
Speaker 2: guy would move in on the perimeter. Usually it's guys
Speaker 2: coming into the slot. But Saint Jus did that last
Speaker 2: year for the Chargers, and as you saw the stats
Speaker 2: from PFF, was the top zone cornerback last year the
Speaker 2: National Football League based on their metrics. So a guy
Speaker 2: that I think has some motion going for him right now,
Speaker 2: and then certainly you add in a Brandon CSA he's
Speaker 2: only twenty years old. You will have to see exactly
Speaker 2: in training camp, in this offseason program how ready he
Speaker 2: is for that spotlight. But there's a continuation of guys
Speaker 2: too that have come out as rookies at that position
Speaker 2: and contributed right off the bat. Jyry Alexander being one
Speaker 2: of them. Casey Hayward was a defensive rookie the Year
Speaker 2: finalists back in twenty twelve, kind of coming out of
Speaker 2: nowhere in the second round and then being a playmaker
Speaker 2: straight away. So I feel like, you know, Keishawn Nixon,
Speaker 2: Javon Bullard, those are your two guys. Those guys are
Speaker 2: locked in right now with that sub package nickel defense,
Speaker 2: which is pretty much the base defense nowadays the NFL.
Speaker 2: Who's gonna be the one that rises up in this
Speaker 2: competition and shows that they can be the one that's
Speaker 2: capable of playing opposite of Nixon? And as we saw
Speaker 2: last year, you need depth at that position. The next
Speaker 2: man up that got kind of roted away for green
Speaker 2: Bay last year, they had to go to the guys
Speaker 2: on the practice squad to finish out that season. This
Speaker 2: year they added the numbers, they built the depth and
Speaker 2: just seeing how that group grows together, a young group,
Speaker 2: how it grows together, I think is going to be
Speaker 2: a big, big key for this Packers team in this
Speaker 2: championship pursuit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and whoever emerges ultimately when Week one rolls around
Speaker 1: and the Packers are heading to us Bank Stadium for
Speaker 1: that opener against the Vikings, and you know whoever it
Speaker 1: is that's that's lined up as that starting boundary corner.
Speaker 1: How the depth shakes out behind that could really be
Speaker 1: significant too, because with Jonathan Gannon coming in, you know,
Speaker 1: Bobby Babbage and you know Daniel Bullocks, all the new
Speaker 1: coaches in the secondary, we don't know necessarily, you know,
Speaker 1: how often is Gannon gonna want to have four cornerbacks
Speaker 1: on the field? You know, does he want? We haven't
Speaker 1: seen a whole lot there's always some we haven't seen
Speaker 1: a whole lot of dime defense in Green Bay over
Speaker 1: the last over the last few years. But you never know,
Speaker 1: if you know, maybe that becomes a more of a
Speaker 1: regular sub package for a coordinator like Gannon. And if
Speaker 1: you need four cornerbacks on the field, you know, okay,
Speaker 1: then who's that second slot guy opposite of Javon Bullard?
Speaker 1: And and you know, the the depth and the pecking
Speaker 1: order of how this how this competition unfolds will definitely
Speaker 1: be important heading down the road. We also need to
Speaker 1: discuss special teams because there are a couple of issues
Speaker 1: and new faces there to talk about. Packers looking for
Speaker 1: that boost in the return game and brought in receiver
Speaker 1: Sky More as a free agent acquisition. Ranked in the
Speaker 1: top I believe he was in the top seven in
Speaker 1: both punk returns and kickoff returns last year for San Francisco.
Speaker 1: He's now in Green Bay. And then, of course, the
Speaker 1: other big special team story is the new kicker, Tray Smack,
Speaker 1: the rookie six round pick out of Florida. The Packers
Speaker 1: traded up to get him, then they release Brandon McManus.
Speaker 1: Lucas Haverstick is haversick, excuse me is still here, so
Speaker 1: that competition will be ongoing. But Trey Smack is the
Speaker 1: is the odds on favorite, is the guy that the
Speaker 1: organization is looking to nail down this job and and
Speaker 1: preferably for the long term. And this will be our
Speaker 1: first chance, hopefully, hopefully, in the limited opportunities we get
Speaker 1: to watch practice and OTAs, we might get a kicking
Speaker 1: period where we just get to see what it looks like.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, and again we'll get our eyes on for
Speaker 2: the first time in terms of what he does in
Speaker 2: real time in front of us here at this Ota practices.
Speaker 2: But every report I've heard it's that it's been extremely
Speaker 2: positive that this guy, his leg talent, everything they saw
Speaker 2: in film, it's been showing up in these early sessions.
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of faith that the player
Speaker 2: that they moved up to take at the end of
Speaker 2: the sixth round could be the next guy to lock
Speaker 2: that spot down again. Long way to go. But what
Speaker 2: I like about it too is there was so much
Speaker 2: focus on the decision to move on from Brandon McManus.
Speaker 2: I don't think enough attention has been put on the
Speaker 2: fact that Lucas Haversack is still here to compete with Smack.
Speaker 2: This is a guy that has been a featured kicker
Speaker 2: in the National Football League. I mean, he's been in
Speaker 2: that role with the Rams, and he was in the
Speaker 2: spot where he had to make some big kicks for
Speaker 2: Green Bay last year too. In addition to the fact
Speaker 2: he ended up acing the longest field goal in franchise
Speaker 2: history in Arizona from sixty one yards.
Speaker 1: That's sixty one yard kick in Arizona was actually a
Speaker 1: pretty big kick in that ballgame. The Packers were losing
Speaker 1: at the time. It was, you know, going right in
Speaker 1: at halftime. I don't think it's a kick necessarily that
Speaker 1: he gets the opportunity to make if it's not the
Speaker 1: last play of the first half where you're not risking
Speaker 1: the field position. But he made it and it played
Speaker 1: a big factor in the Packers winning a big road
Speaker 1: game last year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Harsik has been in the spot before, and
Speaker 2: I think that's going to be an underrated, you know,
Speaker 2: competition to watch here because and if the Packers are
Speaker 2: locked in to Smack, I mean, Aversick knows how this
Speaker 2: game is played. I mean every single time he's on
Speaker 2: the field, whether it's in those practices, whether it gets
Speaker 2: the preseason, he's auditioning for the rest of the league.
Speaker 2: And that's just the way this thing goes now in
Speaker 2: the Nation FOOTBA League. And in addition to the fact
Speaker 2: that with these sixteen seventeen man practice squads, most teams
Speaker 2: are also carrying a kicker now, just based on how
Speaker 2: important that position is. So all that being said about Smack,
Speaker 2: I think the thing I'm most excited about is watching
Speaker 2: the sky More signing playout. I feel like this is
Speaker 2: the right time for both him and the Packers to
Speaker 2: come together. It just feels sort of serendipitous that those
Speaker 2: two are kind of meant for each other. Right. Green
Speaker 2: Bay has been sort of stuck in this perpetual windmill
Speaker 2: here with their special teams and just not being able
Speaker 2: to quite get it right. Even going back to the
Speaker 2: years with Mike McCarthy as head coach. They're trying to
Speaker 2: find guys that fit, and they finally accomplished it at
Speaker 2: punter with Daniel Wheelan. They're still trying to find that
Speaker 2: next kicker after Mason Crosby, but the punt return, kickoff
Speaker 2: return thing. One thing they've very rarely done is act
Speaker 2: had a guy who's sole responsibility, It shouldn't say sole responsibility,
Speaker 2: but what he's majoring in is returns. Yeah, More gives
Speaker 2: them that possibility. Now, this is a guy that came
Speaker 2: into the league with a lot of hype, second round pick,
Speaker 2: didn't really click the way you wanted to see a click,
Speaker 2: but he got a chance last year with San Francisco,
Speaker 2: and I felt that was sort of a renaissance with
Speaker 2: him and finding something and trying something new and succeeding
Speaker 2: in it. And I'm just excited to watch him with
Speaker 2: what you would imagine be some infusion of confidence where
Speaker 2: he can take this thing now in year two, because
Speaker 2: certainly Green Bay bringing him in, signing him as an
Speaker 2: unrestricted free agent, they believe he can be the guy
Speaker 2: to help solve that problem for them.
Speaker 1: It always feels like for the last handful of years
Speaker 1: at least, there's been kind of this imbalance in the
Speaker 1: Packers special teams where you know, a few years ago,
Speaker 1: back to back all Pro kickoff return seasons from Keishawn Nixon,
Speaker 1: So you get a spark there in the return game,
Speaker 1: but you have some coverage breakdowns and you're constantly trying
Speaker 1: to fix. You know, what's going on with what's going
Speaker 1: on with the coverage. You fast forward to last year
Speaker 1: until the very end of the season when Zane Anderson
Speaker 1: and bow Melton were hurt. The Packers coverage units were
Speaker 1: really solid all season long, but then there was never
Speaker 1: the spark in the return game that that you're looking for.
Speaker 1: Jaden Reid getting hurt early in the year played a
Speaker 1: factor in that. Then you're trying you know, rookies save
Speaker 1: on Williams, he ends up getting hurt. Matthew Golden, you
Speaker 1: try him, it doesn't quite work out. So you know,
Speaker 1: will this be the year now that you've you've got
Speaker 1: some things figured out coverage wise last year, can you
Speaker 1: find that spark in the return game so that you
Speaker 1: feel really good about both ends of that. And that's
Speaker 1: even taking you know, the the kicking and punting part
Speaker 1: out of it. I mean, the Packers feel great about
Speaker 1: their punter in Daniel Wheeling, a guy whose arrow is
Speaker 1: still pointing up. And then of course we're we've already
Speaker 1: talked about the kicking situation with with bringing in a
Speaker 1: rookie six round pick, so a lot for cam Acord,
Speaker 1: the Packers new Special Teams Cord to get his hands
Speaker 1: around and to move things forward. But that really gets
Speaker 1: rolling now with these next few weeks of ots in
Speaker 1: mini camp.
Speaker 2: And what excites me is and we've discussed this a
Speaker 2: little bit in the past, but the fact is is,
Speaker 2: compared to four years ago when Rich Bisaccia came in, here,
Speaker 2: there's a nucleus in place. There are coverage players, there
Speaker 2: are core special teams players. The Packers have identified those individuals. Now,
Speaker 2: can you get the specialist right and can you keep
Speaker 2: that together? Jaden Reid could have ended up being an
Speaker 2: all pro punt returner, but the fact is that he
Speaker 2: was going to have a shelf life to that, right,
Speaker 2: he just got a massive contract. I wouldn't imagine that
Speaker 2: he's going to be factoring into that competition unless it's
Speaker 2: an emergency this year based on what his responsibilities are
Speaker 2: going to be for the Packers' offense and the role
Speaker 2: that they expect him to fill. Same thing with Matthew
Speaker 2: Golden being a first round pick that was playing in
Speaker 2: that area last year. Saveon Williams is a third round pick,
Speaker 2: maybe he's still involved in it. But these guys, there's
Speaker 2: an offensive component to it. There's a skill position component
Speaker 2: to it that, just like Randall Cobb, you're going to
Speaker 2: graduate off of it at some point. With more this
Speaker 2: is going to be something that he's going to really
Speaker 2: have his concentration centered on this summer, in addition to
Speaker 2: the fact that potentially what he could add to the
Speaker 2: offense is a compliment to that. So yeah, cam Acord,
Speaker 2: I feel like this guy at this time, with where
Speaker 2: the special teams are positioned, there's a reason why. He
Speaker 2: said he felt like this group can compete right now
Speaker 2: to be a top unit, and it's because of some
Speaker 2: of those things that they've put in place in recent years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, with that, you and I will have to
Speaker 1: get ready to hit the practice field tomorrow. But a
Speaker 1: bit of a programming note. At the end of the week,
Speaker 1: this guy is headed out to the golf course and
Speaker 1: I'm headed out to try to catch some fish. So
Speaker 1: because of that, this will be our only show this week,
Speaker 1: and then when we return to the studio next week,
Speaker 1: we will talk about the first open practice and we'll
Speaker 1: actually be shooting that show right before we go out
Speaker 1: to another practice, so we'll have plenty to talk about
Speaker 1: next week when we're back. But because this is our
Speaker 1: only show this week, it also happens to be the
Speaker 1: last show for our producer, Hannah. And I know that
Speaker 1: she's never been in front of the camera. You' all
Speaker 1: have no idea who she is. She's been with us
Speaker 1: back behind the scenes for a couple of years now
Speaker 1: she is moving on to bigger and better things. So
Speaker 1: I want to provide a heartfelt thank you for everything
Speaker 1: that she has done for us. And Hannah, we said
Speaker 1: goodbye to Marv a while ago as our producer, and
Speaker 1: then he hung around the building for a few more
Speaker 1: years doing all sorts of other jobs before he eventually left.
Speaker 1: And then we said goodbye to Justin, and then after
Speaker 1: a little while, Justin came back and now he's doing
Speaker 1: other things around the building as well. So if you're
Speaker 1: gonna be back at some point, all good, Hey, we'll
Speaker 1: take that. We'll continue to have some fun here. But
Speaker 1: until that happens, so long, farewell and best of luck
Speaker 1: to you, and I mean with all my heart.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny too because hannah' is too humble to
Speaker 2: do this. But if it would have been Justin, he
Speaker 2: probably would have like put his face up yeah screen
Speaker 2: like like have it super imposed really quickly. No, Hannah's
Speaker 2: been tremendous. We appreciate her efforts here. You and I
Speaker 2: are not the easiest people to deal with, especially with
Speaker 2: how our schedules can be sometimes, so wishing her lots
Speaker 2: of luck. It's crazy to me, man, I mean we're
Speaker 2: ten years into this thing now and we were trying
Speaker 2: to do the math beforehand of how many different producers
Speaker 2: we've had at this point. Yeah, with the show, the
Speaker 2: one thing, Mike, my one regret. We have this brand
Speaker 2: new studio, it's so cool, it's so hip, so modern,
Speaker 2: but we still don't have like that uh producer cam
Speaker 2: like all those big shows have, like McAfee and kah Patrick.
Speaker 2: We can go on the back and like kind of
Speaker 2: cue in and see.
Speaker 1: Our Yeah, you can get to see, you can get
Speaker 1: to see and like we could actually have conversations with
Speaker 1: them during the show, like we haven't. We haven't quite
Speaker 1: reached that point yet.
Speaker 2: No, so you get stuck with us the whole time.
Speaker 2: But but congrats to Hannah, good luck to her, and
Speaker 2: uh yeah, you and I will just keep trucking on
Speaker 2: with either Justin or whoever else comes in, yeah, whoever
Speaker 2: else gets stuck with.
Speaker 1: Whoever else finds their way into the into that control
Speaker 1: room over there. So with that, we'll call it a
Speaker 1: wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to
Speaker 1: follow all of our coverage of OTAs this week. We'll
Speaker 1: have all kinds of stories for you on Packers dot
Speaker 1: com and then we will be back with more shows
Speaker 1: of Unscripted next week. So for Wes, I am Mike,
Speaker 1: thank you for tuning in everybody, and we will see
Speaker 1: you next time,