Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted social
Speaker 1: distancing Style from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spoffer,
Speaker 1: joined as always by my trusted colleague West Hodko. It's
Speaker 1: coming to you from our humble abodes. We're here to
Speaker 1: recap the two thousand twenty Packers draft and west The
Speaker 1: three days went just exactly as we predicted, right, we
Speaker 1: knew everything that was going to happen. This was this
Speaker 1: was completely boring and and you know whatever, Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was exactly how you could have predicted it, and and
Speaker 1: certainly it played out just as everyone expected. Here's what
Speaker 1: I love about it. I mentioned I think on one
Speaker 1: of our live streams that I could not have been
Speaker 1: more wrong on the Packers first three picks. I talked
Speaker 1: about the quarterback, the running back, and the tight end positions,
Speaker 1: and I didn't anticipate that those would been higher positions
Speaker 1: for them. I also talked about in the past death
Speaker 1: taxes and defensive linemen. Well, guess what twenty eight years
Speaker 1: streak ended during the draft, the Packers drafting a defensive lineman.
Speaker 1: So because as we know now there it appears that
Speaker 1: Jonathan Garvian is gonna be listed as a as a linebacker.
Speaker 1: So all these things together it makes up what I
Speaker 1: think is the magic and sort of the uh, the
Speaker 1: process of the draft that you never can be too
Speaker 1: certain what's gonna happen. There's always gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: of passionate reactions to it. And here the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers are with a nine player class that you can
Speaker 1: listen to Matt with FLOORA and Brian goodakuins on Saturday
Speaker 1: Evening that they feel pretty good about. Yeah, if if
Speaker 1: you had told me during all of our preview shows
Speaker 1: over the last couple of weeks, which in some ways
Speaker 1: I feel like you can take all those shows and
Speaker 1: just throw them in the garbage because what we previewed
Speaker 1: is absolutely not what happened. But that being said, if
Speaker 1: you had told me that the Packers would not select
Speaker 1: a wide receiver or a D defensive lineman in the
Speaker 1: entirety of their draft, which turned out to be nine picks, Hey,
Speaker 1: that was maybe the one thing we got right. We
Speaker 1: both said they would take nine players, and I said
Speaker 1: they'd trade up. I said they'd up. That's right, You
Speaker 1: did say that, I said, I did. I said that
Speaker 1: would maybe be the least likely occurrence in the first round,
Speaker 1: so totally off there. But no, I I fully expected
Speaker 1: the Packers to take a wide receiver. I fully expected
Speaker 1: them to take a defensive lineman. That did not happen.
Speaker 1: A lot of it had to do with the way
Speaker 1: things fell, obviously, and where the Packers had players ranked
Speaker 1: on their board, but quite frankly, West, we might as
Speaker 1: well start at the top because the first pick, and
Speaker 1: what the Packers did their trading up from thirty to
Speaker 1: twenty six, giving up a fourth round pick to select
Speaker 1: Jordan's Love, the quarterback from Utah State as the potential
Speaker 1: air apparent to Aaron Rodgers down the road. That's really
Speaker 1: the move that sort of set everything else up, because
Speaker 1: then if the Packers had certain guys targeted and maybe
Speaker 1: wanted to move to some different spots in the draft,
Speaker 1: they didn't really have the draft capital to move around
Speaker 1: anymore after what they did in the first round. And
Speaker 1: as I've continued to say, an inbox and otherwise Brian
Speaker 1: goodicunts knew the consequences of that move of trading up
Speaker 1: to get a quarterback in the first round, to set
Speaker 1: the stage to pass the torch somewhere down the road
Speaker 1: from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan's love. He knew the consequences,
Speaker 1: he knew the ramifications, he knew how it would impact
Speaker 1: and limit his abilities throughout the rest of the draft.
Speaker 1: But he did it anyway. And I just think that
Speaker 1: speaks to how highly he thinks of Jordan's love and
Speaker 1: his potential for being that next great quarterback for the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers whenever it is, however many years down
Speaker 1: the road it is, that he eventually takes over. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I made this point to you over the weekend, Mike,
Speaker 1: and I think it was on our Saturday or was
Speaker 1: it our Friday morning livestream. Everything kind of blurs together
Speaker 1: a little bit after that, um, But I mean I
Speaker 1: made this point in that easy thing for Brian Goodkins
Speaker 1: to do would have been to draft the receiver at
Speaker 1: thirty or draft Ross Blacklock or all these other guys.
Speaker 1: I do. I do have to point this out though,
Speaker 1: because we were all about we're we're making the points here,
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm gonna play the old budsman of
Speaker 1: some of this. All the Packer fans out there that
Speaker 1: were saying, why did you trade up to take Jordan's
Speaker 1: love at twenty six when we could have Denzel Mims
Speaker 1: at thirty. Well, Denzel Mims ended up going fifty nine overall.
Speaker 1: So it's not that we all are geniuses and and gms,
Speaker 1: you know, waiting in the wings. But be that as
Speaker 1: it made. The easy move for Brian Goodkins would have
Speaker 1: been to actually just take one of those positions. He
Speaker 1: stuck to the courage of his convictions, though. They trusted
Speaker 1: their board, and that board showed them that Jordan's love
Speaker 1: was an exceptional value for them at twenty six. Now
Speaker 1: where this goes from here, I don't know, and it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a hot minute before we probably talked to
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers and hear what his thoughts are on this.
Speaker 1: We did see the pourts out that Rogers already has
Speaker 1: reached out to love. They've communicated certainly, Brian Goodacin is
Speaker 1: also place that called the Rogers, So Matt Lafleur did
Speaker 1: as well. Matt Lafleur as well, exactly, And for that
Speaker 1: that's the way this goes. And and Rodgers knows it
Speaker 1: better than anyone. The value of potentially accepting a younger
Speaker 1: guy behind you that is a big prospect, much like
Speaker 1: Rogers was in two thousand five. He had to go
Speaker 1: the really hard way in the NFL for those first
Speaker 1: three or four years, a way that really no quarterbacks
Speaker 1: should have to do. Because Jordan's Love didn't ask to
Speaker 1: get drafted by the Green Bay Packers. He just asked
Speaker 1: to get drafted and in the first round. This is
Speaker 1: a guy that has an exceptional story. He's overcome so
Speaker 1: much in his personal life, and he's a really good
Speaker 1: football prospect. He's raw. There are areas that he's going
Speaker 1: to have to refine in his game, and now he
Speaker 1: has time to do that. Yeah, And the way I
Speaker 1: view this, you know, as I said before, Brian Goodacin
Speaker 1: is obviously thought very highly of him with the move
Speaker 1: that he made and what he sacrificed and everything to
Speaker 1: move up and get Jordan's Love of But I think
Speaker 1: he he sees, he sees the the entire situation, the
Speaker 1: parameters of everything, as the right situation for Jordan's Love,
Speaker 1: Because Brian Goodacuns just said on multiple conference calls throughout
Speaker 1: the weekend, Jordan's Love has a lot to learn. He's
Speaker 1: got a long way to go. He is not ready
Speaker 1: to play in the NFL from day one, and he
Speaker 1: probably won't be ready to play in the NFL at
Speaker 1: day three sixty six. Either, what I mean is the
Speaker 1: start of year two for him. He sees Jordan's Love
Speaker 1: as a developmental guy with an incredibly high ceiling. Well,
Speaker 1: you have Aaron Rodgers under contract for multiple years. You
Speaker 1: have Aaron Rodgers not talking about retirement like Brett Farve
Speaker 1: was fifteen years ago. So Jordan's Love does not have
Speaker 1: to play right away, barring an injury, of course, which
Speaker 1: no one wants to happen with Rogers. So you have
Speaker 1: a situation where Jordan's Love has the time to breathe,
Speaker 1: to learn to grow before the torch is ultimately passed.
Speaker 1: And so Brian goodacun is just trying to set up
Speaker 1: the franchise is for the future. But Goodakusta on the
Speaker 1: floor both made it very clear this is not starting
Speaker 1: some ticking clock on Aaron Rodgers. This is not their
Speaker 1: message of some kind to push him out the door
Speaker 1: sooner than later. They want Aaron Rodgers to go after
Speaker 1: Super Bowls here with the Green Bay Packers, and they're
Speaker 1: just protecting the franchise for the inevitable when Rodgers is
Speaker 1: no longer at his at the peak of his powers,
Speaker 1: and they need to move on that. The Packers are
Speaker 1: still going to have a productive, winning quarterback at the
Speaker 1: most important and difficult position in sports. That's what this
Speaker 1: pick was all about. Yeah, and I'm gonna remain accountable
Speaker 1: to my words and one of the things I said
Speaker 1: throughout the draft processes, you know, you look at these
Speaker 1: future Pro Football Hall of Fame teams are Pro Football
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame quarterbacks, very few of them have hair parents,
Speaker 1: and right now, at this very moment, Tom Brady probably
Speaker 1: still doesn't. I mean, in with the New England Patriots,
Speaker 1: they didn't even draft one, so um to have an
Speaker 1: air apparent. It's interesting to set that up, to set
Speaker 1: up that lineage. But the more after I heard Goody
Speaker 1: Kunsen Lafloor talk about the decision afterwards, the more its
Speaker 1: started to make more sense to me of why they
Speaker 1: went that direction, what they thought. First off, Brian Goody
Speaker 1: Quins is not going to talk about his board. He's
Speaker 1: not going to say what they felt. The value was
Speaker 1: past number twenty six, past Jordan's love. So we're not
Speaker 1: gonna That's gonna be something probably for a book someday
Speaker 1: to understand, you know, where things were sitting at that
Speaker 1: point in time, Well, it's been fifteen years and nobody's
Speaker 1: gotten Ted Thompson to talk about his board two thousand
Speaker 1: five either, So I think we'll all be waiting to
Speaker 1: eternity for those details to be released. But go on,
Speaker 1: I didn't mean to interrupt, you know, but I mean
Speaker 1: the thing is is that there are worse ways to
Speaker 1: invest a first round draft pick, because I think the
Speaker 1: way everyone's thinking is that number thirty, whoever that guy was,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be a pro bowler. He's gonna be hall pro.
Speaker 1: It doesn't work like that. This whole situation. It's all
Speaker 1: taking risk, it's all weighing the cost ben fit analysis
Speaker 1: to figure out if this person is going to be
Speaker 1: able to play. And what they're seiling is sure, you
Speaker 1: want every single one of those picks in the late
Speaker 1: twenties to beat Kenny Clark, but it doesn't work out
Speaker 1: that way. Sometimes it's guys that just don't make an impact,
Speaker 1: so you have That's why it's important to trust your
Speaker 1: board and trust your prospects. So what the point I'm
Speaker 1: trying to illustrate with all this is that they put
Speaker 1: an investment into a first round pick into a quarterback
Speaker 1: that is going to inherently hold its value because there's
Speaker 1: gonna be intrigue across the entire football uh the National
Speaker 1: Football League this year of and and beyond of where
Speaker 1: Jordan loves development is at, and potentially other teams that
Speaker 1: could be interested down the way. Brian Goodkuts. You've heard
Speaker 1: me say it for the four hundredth time. He likes options.
Speaker 1: This is another option now, and that's just the way
Speaker 1: it goes. Yeah, Well, looking at looking further down the road,
Speaker 1: at the rest of the Packers picks in this draft,
Speaker 1: and we'll get to you know, of the of the
Speaker 1: Day three guys. But I think you talk about Jordan's
Speaker 1: Love as the potential air apparent, you know, quarterback of
Speaker 1: the future. I think a lot of the Packers picks
Speaker 1: on Day three are guys who are going to be
Speaker 1: competing more for backup roles, special teams roles in terms
Speaker 1: of their potential impact as rookies. But if you look
Speaker 1: at the picks on Day two, I think those are
Speaker 1: the guys who have an opportunity to get on the
Speaker 1: field a fair amount in their rookie seasons. And we're
Speaker 1: talking about running back A. J. Dillon from Boston College
Speaker 1: the second round draft pick, and then tight end Uh
Speaker 1: guavar Uh Deguarra Josiah. Sorry, I lost his first name
Speaker 1: for a minute there. Josiah Deguire, the tight end from
Speaker 1: Cincinnati was the Packers third round selection. And you know
Speaker 1: you said it West and you repeated it as well,
Speaker 1: Matt Goodakun. I'm sorry. Matt Lafleur made it very clear
Speaker 1: at the scouting combine that he wanted a third running
Speaker 1: back to go with Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams. And
Speaker 1: so when the receivers that the Packers liked at the
Speaker 1: top of the draft, a lot of them went off
Speaker 1: the board. I think early in the second round. The
Speaker 1: Packers were down there at sixty two. They didn't have
Speaker 1: the draft capital to move up and get one of
Speaker 1: those guys, so they took the running back late in
Speaker 1: the second round. And this is a two seven pound
Speaker 1: back who runs a four or five three with a
Speaker 1: forty plus inch vertical jump, a ton of power, a
Speaker 1: ton of speed, and a ton of athleticism. This is
Speaker 1: a really, really intriguing prospect who brings a skill set
Speaker 1: and physical attributes to the backfield that Aaron Jones and
Speaker 1: Jamal Williams don't necessarily have This is a completely different
Speaker 1: kind of guy. Yeah, I think he probably has forty
Speaker 1: pounds on Aaron Jones. I mean I don't. Did you
Speaker 1: get a chance to watch any of his prospect primate, Well,
Speaker 1: you wrote one of the but I mean, like the
Speaker 1: the fit, the footage that we had on our website.
Speaker 1: I've only seen a couple of highlights. But can you
Speaker 1: tell Spoff and I are on like four hours of
Speaker 1: sleep at this point. By the way, it was long
Speaker 1: weekend everyone. Sorry, just bear with us. I took a
Speaker 1: nap on Sunday. I think that was the first time
Speaker 1: I'm taking a nap in like fifteen years. Uh No,
Speaker 1: But if you look at some of his his combine footage,
Speaker 1: talk about a guy who doesn't skip leg day. I
Speaker 1: mean just absolute treat trunks, uh in terms of his hips,
Speaker 1: in in his thighs, everything. This guy is built to last.
Speaker 1: And that was his message, Mike. When he was talking,
Speaker 1: he answered all the questions. He was very polished. Um,
Speaker 1: it was very professional. It was he was interesting to
Speaker 1: listen to, very engaging. But he did make it a
Speaker 1: point in the middle of the news conference to actually
Speaker 1: speak out to Packers fans because the question was asked
Speaker 1: of him. Okay, you you ran the ball eight hundred
Speaker 1: plus times in three years at BC. You know what,
Speaker 1: do you think that takes some tread off your tires?
Speaker 1: Do you think that's an indication of your durability? He said, Hey, listen,
Speaker 1: I am a workhorse. I am ready to be a
Speaker 1: workhorse in the that illustration that shows that I can
Speaker 1: handle whatever the Green Bay Packers want to throw at me.
Speaker 1: Aaron Joe Owns is the man. Jamal Williams is the
Speaker 1: great change of pace that was set up with the
Speaker 1: way that this offense has constructed last season. But we've
Speaker 1: seen it with the Baltimore Ravens, Mike, and we've seen
Speaker 1: it with the San Francisco forty Niners. Some of the
Speaker 1: best teams in the National Football League. Now, Mike, they
Speaker 1: are not one yard rusher that's gonna make the All
Speaker 1: Pro team and have all these other accomplishments. It's awesome
Speaker 1: what Christian McCaffrey's done. Carolina Panthers didn't have a whole
Speaker 1: heck of a lot of success last year, though. Packers
Speaker 1: are trying to make this very dynamic. They're trying to
Speaker 1: spread this thing out there trying to be more versatile,
Speaker 1: and A J. Dillon brings a different compliment to those
Speaker 1: other two backs. Yeah, it's kind of interesting. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't want to get into fantasy football discussions because
Speaker 1: I don't even play that game. But I don't know
Speaker 1: if Aaron Jones is gonna be able to repeat his
Speaker 1: plus touchdowns, because when you have a tune and forty
Speaker 1: seven pound running back, once that balls inside the five
Speaker 1: yard line, I'm not so sure Aaron Jones is gonna
Speaker 1: get as many of those inside the five yard line
Speaker 1: carries as he did a year ago. But that he said,
Speaker 1: I see A J. Dillon, you know, and Matt Lafleur said, hey,
Speaker 1: he's got to prove it. He's got to compete with
Speaker 1: these other guys on the roster. He's got to earn
Speaker 1: his playing time. But I think they envision him as
Speaker 1: a young running back adding a third dimension to uh
Speaker 1: to the backfield and to the ground game, and and
Speaker 1: getting playing time as a rookie. And I think Josiah Deguire,
Speaker 1: the tight end from Cincinnati, is is much in the
Speaker 1: same boat. Now. The thing that's being thrown around here
Speaker 1: about Daguia is that is the term h back, and
Speaker 1: you're more of an xs and ose guy than I am.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna throw this h back thing to you
Speaker 1: so you can explain to the fans, Okay, when they
Speaker 1: hear h back, what is everybody talking about? What? What?
Speaker 1: What does this mean? Okay, So there's two things to
Speaker 1: this one. I think h back gets kind of a
Speaker 1: bad reputation because in the most literal standpoint of it,
Speaker 1: it's like a hybrid tight end that you can use
Speaker 1: in the backfield as sort of a pseudo fullback, and
Speaker 1: he can do some stuff off of that, you can
Speaker 1: do some motioning off of that. I think would be disingenuous,
Speaker 1: and I trust me, I've written part of it too.
Speaker 1: It would be disingenuous to look at and say, all
Speaker 1: the packers use a third round picked on an h BAC.
Speaker 1: That means it's an undersized tight end that you're not
Speaker 1: gonna be able to use inline like normal. The thing
Speaker 1: about A. J. Daguerre and I had a chance to
Speaker 1: really look into him, you know, when I wrote the
Speaker 1: story on Friday night and then following up on on Saturday.
Speaker 1: This is a guy that was just an absolute Swiss
Speaker 1: army Knife and Cincinnati. He finished as one of only
Speaker 1: two tight ends in school history that finished with over
Speaker 1: a thousand receiving yards. And that other one, as everyone's
Speaker 1: been saying, wasn't Travis Kelsey, it was Brent Sellek, who
Speaker 1: also had his own decorated career in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: He and I made this point in three things as
Speaker 1: soon as we were done on Saturday night, Mike, you
Speaker 1: want to know how excited Matt Lafleur is about getting
Speaker 1: a J. A. J. Josiah Deguara, get it right, getting
Speaker 1: him in the offense. Listened to his conference call on
Speaker 1: Saturday night. Lafleur was great. He he was awesome for
Speaker 1: thirty minutes. I thought he touched on a lot of
Speaker 1: things that need to be touched on. But when the
Speaker 1: ast she was asked of him, of Daguara, it was
Speaker 1: the longest answer. It was the most impassioned answer. You
Speaker 1: could tell that this was something that Matt Lafleur and
Speaker 1: Brian Ludikins talked about. They wanted to bring in a
Speaker 1: guy between that Danny Vitality, J. Sternberger, somebody that fits
Speaker 1: right in the middle of all that that they think
Speaker 1: can be a playmaker and Taguara was that guy. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I look at what the Packers did on Day two,
Speaker 1: and I know everybody you know was upset that they
Speaker 1: didn't draft a wide receiver, and you know there are
Speaker 1: other areas that they didn't address with their picks in
Speaker 1: the second and third rounds, But what they got was
Speaker 1: productive college players. A. J. Dillon had over four thousand
Speaker 1: yards and thirty eight touchdowns in three seasons at Boston College.
Speaker 1: And Josiah Deguara, you know you mentioned his receiving yards
Speaker 1: as a tight end. He caught twelve touchdown passes over
Speaker 1: his last two seasons for the Bearcats. That's that that's
Speaker 1: legitimate production, and that that's as a receiver, not taking
Speaker 1: into account the blocking and the other potential responsibilities he's
Speaker 1: going to have there. So when it comes to this
Speaker 1: draft last I see the Packers picks on Day two
Speaker 1: as the guys that you might see the most on
Speaker 1: the field as rookies. They do have to earn it.
Speaker 1: We don't really know where this offseason and the training
Speaker 1: camp and everything else is going to go from here
Speaker 1: and how it's going to lay out because there's so
Speaker 1: much uncertainty, But those are the guys that that I think,
Speaker 1: you know, when it comes to rookie impact, Uh, those
Speaker 1: day two picks are the guys. Yeah. And something else
Speaker 1: that I've touched on in the past Jay Sternberger last year,
Speaker 1: I preach patients with him. He was a young guy.
Speaker 1: They had older veterans at that position, and it takes
Speaker 1: time to learn that tight end possession in this league.
Speaker 1: I think the way that Matt Laflour is gonna use
Speaker 1: Josiah Deguarre and we're gonna need months in months ahead
Speaker 1: to fully understand exactly what their vision is for this guy.
Speaker 1: But I think that is going to really hasten this
Speaker 1: whole process for him getting into the National Football League.
Speaker 1: And they were asked to you know, is this gonna
Speaker 1: be a Danny Vitalily, This is gonna be a guy
Speaker 1: that plays fifteen snaps good cons and the floor both
Speaker 1: said no, I mean, this is a guy that he
Speaker 1: projects is so much more than that. And if you
Speaker 1: can just step back and look at what they've done
Speaker 1: with the tight end position, you still have Mercedes Lewis
Speaker 1: your traditional in line tight End's gonna be the big blocker,
Speaker 1: He's gonna be able to catch some passes for you
Speaker 1: here and there, but beyond that, it's all hybrids. It's
Speaker 1: Robert Tony in a converted wide receiver. It's Jay Sternberger.
Speaker 1: Not the biggest tight end of the world, but he
Speaker 1: showed last year he could fit a lot of those
Speaker 1: move tight end tendencies, and I think that's one thing
Speaker 1: that led them down this road to just Joside Deguara.
Speaker 1: The last point I want to make. The receiving position
Speaker 1: is incredibly important. Davante Adams is one of the best
Speaker 1: at it. But you've gotta understand. You gotta look into
Speaker 1: the sand a little bit and see what's coming up
Speaker 1: here with the tide. This isn't the four and five
Speaker 1: receivers spread anymore. This thing has changed. There's more running backs,
Speaker 1: there's more tight ends, there's more versatility. Adams, Lazard, Devin Funcius,
Speaker 1: Marcos Velda Scantling. These guys are still gonna get a
Speaker 1: chance to play, and they're still gonna be on the
Speaker 1: field a heck of a lot. But I don't think
Speaker 1: you're at a position now, at least with the construct.
Speaker 1: Just reading the tea leaves here that you need to
Speaker 1: have six or feavers on the roster and all of
Speaker 1: them need to run four fours. There's a lot more
Speaker 1: that that's going into this right now than what I
Speaker 1: think people are giving credit for in the social media space. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a good note to end on
Speaker 1: for today. I know I said we would get to
Speaker 1: the Day three picks that we've gone on quite a
Speaker 1: while here. So yeah, let's say let's save our Day
Speaker 1: three discussion for our next show later this week. We
Speaker 1: will pick up where we left off, but for now,
Speaker 1: we're going to call it a wrap on this edition
Speaker 1: of Packers Unscripted. Thank you for watching, everybody. We will
Speaker 1: see you next time.