Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my partner in crime, Weston hod Qwitz. We're coming
Speaker 1: to you here from different locations at Lambeufield and Wes.
Speaker 1: A lot has gone on since our last show, So
Speaker 1: without further ado, let's dive into it. First and foremost,
Speaker 1: the Family Night practice, the big event Saturday night at
Speaker 1: lambeau Field. If you were to ask me to pick
Speaker 1: a one and a one A in terms of players
Speaker 1: who stood out on the practice field at Lambo on
Speaker 1: Saturday night, my one is rookie kicker Andres Carlson, and
Speaker 1: my one A is converted inside linebacker Turek Carpenter. I
Speaker 1: thought both of those guys made certain statements of their
Speaker 1: own during that practice.
Speaker 2: That's a great observation, Mike. It was funny.
Speaker 3: I we talked about this before, and I haven't covered
Speaker 3: the Family Night scrimmage practice. Now excuse me in a
Speaker 3: while because I was with Leroy Butler last year at
Speaker 3: the Canton for the Hall of Fame, so maybe I
Speaker 3: have like recency bias here. I actually felt like it
Speaker 3: was more the it was one of the more consequential
Speaker 3: family knights i've covered. It felt like stuff happened when
Speaker 3: I was in the locker room afterwards. I felt like,
Speaker 3: not only was it the seventy thousand people or sixty
Speaker 3: five thousand people, not only was it just the event,
Speaker 3: but I actually felt like it was a really productive practice.
Speaker 2: I thought, and I wrote about it in the Follower.
Speaker 3: Whatever you want to call it, the locker room report
Speaker 3: version of what we did with the practice in Tari
Speaker 3: Carpenter because to me, although he's no longer a defensive
Speaker 3: back technically in Green Bay, he's an inside linebacker now.
Speaker 3: I thought that was a performance that reminded me of
Speaker 3: the Brandon you know, ross the what's the kid's name
Speaker 3: that was the Was it Brandon Smith? I'm trying to remember.
Speaker 3: They've had these guys that have been either like undrafted
Speaker 3: free agents or late round picks that have really stood
Speaker 3: out during the family night, and I felt like that
Speaker 3: was Terrey Carpenter. What I love about this guy is
Speaker 3: six foot three, two hundred and thirty pounds, runs of
Speaker 3: five excuse me, four or five to two forty and
Speaker 3: is so athletically gifted. But I think the Packers and
Speaker 3: a lot of teams around the National Football League. We're
Speaker 3: trying to figure out, how is it going to play
Speaker 3: in the NFL, What is his position going to be now?
Speaker 3: As he said afterwards to us, I mean a lot
Speaker 3: of days, this still feels like an extended rookie season
Speaker 3: to him because he is learning a new position. But
Speaker 3: for a guy that I think probably was sort of
Speaker 3: looking for that confidence boost, he found it in that performance.
Speaker 3: I mean the interception he had off Sean Clifford in
Speaker 3: the live tackling period was just a heads up play.
Speaker 3: It's one of those, as I said when we did
Speaker 3: our three things afterwards with Larry, it's a bang bang play.
Speaker 2: You gotta get it. You have to make it. You're
Speaker 2: not going to get a second chance at it. And
Speaker 2: he made it.
Speaker 3: And then obviously later on was in the right place
Speaker 3: at the right time on the Benny Sap hit of
Speaker 3: Dantavian Wicks that led to a second pick. Some people say, well,
Speaker 3: that one was kind of in his lap, but those
Speaker 3: are the plays you have to make, and you have
Speaker 3: to be in the right position to make the play
Speaker 3: when it's there.
Speaker 2: So I was really impressed with him. And then Andres Carlson.
Speaker 3: It was exactly what that young guy needed. I don't
Speaker 3: think he lacks for confidence at all. He seems like
Speaker 3: a guy that is pretty pretty confident in his abilities
Speaker 3: and what he can do on a football field. But
Speaker 3: I think it was a reminder to all of us
Speaker 3: of Okay, this is what the Packers really liked about him.
Speaker 3: He had some struggles in practices, he's been missing his
Speaker 3: first kick on some of these rotations he's gone through.
Speaker 3: But when the lights were brightest and he needed to
Speaker 3: make a statement, as you said, he definitely did that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Carlson was eight for nine I believe were the
Speaker 1: final numbers on his field goals during family and the
Speaker 1: one miss was really not on him. It was a
Speaker 1: bad snap, the operation was kind of all messed up
Speaker 1: there and he missed the one. But then he also
Speaker 1: followed up with a pretty pretty solid effort in practice
Speaker 1: on Monday back on Nichkie Field, dealing with some significant win,
Speaker 1: probably the most significant win that he's dealt with in
Speaker 1: practice so far, and uh and had another solid showing there.
Speaker 1: So you have to like the way the way Carlson
Speaker 1: has uh had has you know, continued I guess to
Speaker 1: ascend you know, after a little bit of a rough start,
Speaker 1: some ups and downs, maybe things are starting to smooth
Speaker 1: out a little bit for him.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, yeah, something. I'm very proud of myself. I'm
Speaker 2: very proud of myself. It was Brandon.
Speaker 3: It was it was Brandon Smith, the CONVERTI nice job.
Speaker 1: I would not I remember Brandon Ross And obviously it's
Speaker 1: easier to remember him.
Speaker 2: He works in the apartment here.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's been he's been back since his playing days.
Speaker 1: He's been back for quite a while. But but the
Speaker 1: Brandon Smith one, it's a good recall.
Speaker 3: The reason I wanted to bring that one up so
Speaker 3: badly was the fact that he was a receiver at
Speaker 3: ASU that converted to cornerback. He made a big play
Speaker 3: during Family Night in twenty thirteen, I believe it was.
Speaker 3: And again it's those little moments that these guys. You're
Speaker 3: not going to get a live tackling period with Jordan
Speaker 3: Love and Christian Watson and Jay R Alexander, but you
Speaker 3: get the live tackling period with some of those young guys.
Speaker 3: Now that that that live action, and I feel like
Speaker 3: that's where you see the hunger in the desire in
Speaker 3: these A lot of guys.
Speaker 2: Give credit to Benny sapp.
Speaker 3: I don't know anybody talk to him after the practice,
Speaker 3: but that guy went out there and put it on
Speaker 3: the line to create that play for Carpenter.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's gonna happen. Mike.
Speaker 3: We're days away now at the time we're taping this
Speaker 3: away from this, these joint practices, and that this preseason
Speaker 3: game against the Bengals. You've got three weeks to make
Speaker 3: a statement, make the fifty three man roster, and I
Speaker 3: felt like Carpenter did that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I have to admit, Wes, and I think
Speaker 1: I told you this back when we first heard about
Speaker 1: Carpenter being shifted from safety to inside linebacker. I am
Speaker 1: like the ultimate skeptic when it comes to these position changes,
Speaker 1: Like I've seen this happen with young players. Usually, as
Speaker 1: you mentioned, it can be an undrafted guy or a
Speaker 1: late round draft pick. In Carpenter's case, He's a seventh
Speaker 1: round pick last year, and it just it very rarely
Speaker 1: do these things work out. Every once in a while,
Speaker 1: you know, a Spencer Havener comes along who converts from
Speaker 1: linebacker to tight end and ends up making the roster
Speaker 1: and making an impact on the team. But that is
Speaker 1: definitely the exception and not the rule. This one with
Speaker 1: Carpenter just might stick. It just might work out because
Speaker 1: he had already established himself on special teams, so that's
Speaker 1: we have to get that out of the way first.
Speaker 1: So my skepticism was not so much in terms of
Speaker 1: what he could still contribute to this football team. But
Speaker 1: these positions switches, it's it's tough. It's a tough deal.
Speaker 1: They don't work out very often. But he looks like
Speaker 1: he's really settling in to inside linebacker. He doesn't have
Speaker 1: the prototypical body for it, but he also doesn't have
Speaker 1: the prototypical body for safety, which is why they've been
Speaker 1: trying to figure out. You know, he's got he's got size,
Speaker 1: he's got decent speed. There's a lot to work with
Speaker 1: there physically, but where does he best fit if you're
Speaker 1: going to put him into eleven on eleven on defense?
Speaker 1: And I thought he had. I thought he had a really,
Speaker 1: really solid practice. He was obviously very excited about it
Speaker 1: as well as you talked to him afterwards. He felt
Speaker 1: like it was his best practice at inside linebacker since
Speaker 1: he had made the switch. And when you can do
Speaker 1: that on a night like family night under the lights
Speaker 1: sixty five thousand. It sets up well for him to
Speaker 1: now move into the joint practice with the Bengals, the
Speaker 1: first preseason game in Cincinnati. So so Carpenter definitely a
Speaker 1: guy to keep an eye on. A couple other things
Speaker 1: to watch for here, And as you said, Wes, not
Speaker 1: long after we turn off the cameras here, we're going
Speaker 1: to be headed to the airport to go to Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: The Packers have a joint practice with the Bengals on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: The preseason opener is on Friday. But a few other
Speaker 1: things that stood out to me. I'm really curious to
Speaker 1: see if what appears to be developing some decent depth
Speaker 1: on the defensive line with these young players. I'm curious
Speaker 1: to see if this can now carry over into these
Speaker 1: preseason games. As can't move along. Because we've seen Colby
Speaker 1: Wooden and Carl Brooks, the two draft picks, the two
Speaker 1: day three draft picks from this last draft class, and
Speaker 1: then a seventh round pick from last year, Jonathan Ford.
Speaker 1: These guys are starting to flash. Now they're not going
Speaker 1: up against the ones you know, they're they're playing on
Speaker 1: the reserve units and whatnot, but they're doing some things
Speaker 1: to get noticed, and I think as training camp goes along,
Speaker 1: these guys are really starting to get their legs under him.
Speaker 1: And I kind of like what I'm starting to see
Speaker 1: from these young defensive linemen that the Packers are to
Speaker 1: some extent certainly are going to be counting on in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: They're all going to be such huge perirs, you know,
Speaker 2: pieces of this whole puzzle. Mike. I mean, I think
Speaker 2: you've even seen with Kenny Clark.
Speaker 3: I think Kenny had one of his best practices back
Speaker 3: to back from family Night and then going into Monday.
Speaker 3: These young guys in the rotation the Packers can get
Speaker 3: going is going to be so critical to the success
Speaker 3: of this unit moving forward. DeVante Wyatt flashed early on
Speaker 3: that was great to see. As a former first round pick,
Speaker 3: I think TJ. Slayton could potentially feel a huge, huge
Speaker 3: need in this defense as a run stuffing nose tackle.
Speaker 3: But then it's the Carl Brooks is just randomly showing
Speaker 3: up in the backfield so many times now for Green Bay.
Speaker 3: Colby Wooden has really struck me as a very consistent,
Speaker 3: disruptive play.
Speaker 2: Here early on.
Speaker 3: That's how you get in the rotation, right, Mike, when
Speaker 3: you go back to Kenny Clark's rookie year, when you
Speaker 3: go back to Mike Daniel's rookie year. Shoot, even look
Speaker 3: at the way a guy like bj Rogie broke in
Speaker 3: the door in two thousand and nine. You have to
Speaker 3: find ways to contribute to the group, and I feel
Speaker 3: like you're seeing that with these young guys.
Speaker 2: The Packers took a risk.
Speaker 3: I've talked about this in inbox, you and I have
Speaker 3: talked about on this show. They could have easily looked
Speaker 3: to find a three million, four million dollar a year
Speaker 3: veteran defensive lineman to bring into that rotation, but kind
Speaker 3: of like what they did at tight End, kind of
Speaker 3: like they've done in some of these other positions, they
Speaker 3: opted to go young, take those lumps together, but hope
Speaker 3: that over the long run, you're gonna find some real answers.
Speaker 3: But I'll say this, Mike, with DeVante Wyatt specifically, if
Speaker 3: this kid can continue to stack these days the way
Speaker 3: he has for the first two weeks of camp, maybe
Speaker 3: show some of that in the preseason, we'll see. But
Speaker 3: if he gets off to this, you know, kind of
Speaker 3: torrid start that he's been off to in training camp.
Speaker 3: This is probably the most excited I've been about a
Speaker 3: Packer's defensive lineman from the jump in a very long
Speaker 3: time in terms of what his long term potential could be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's a there's a lot to like
Speaker 1: there from what we've seen. It's still early, long way
Speaker 1: to go, and the preseason games are certainly going to
Speaker 1: show us a lot in terms of how far these
Speaker 1: young defensive linemen can develop. A Couple other things on
Speaker 1: family and I don't want to touch on. I thought
Speaker 1: coming off of what was a pretty good practice for
Speaker 1: the Packers tight ends on Thursday, and I had mentioned
Speaker 1: on our three Things video after that practice, I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, Tyler Davis was laying some of blocks in
Speaker 1: the running game and Luke Musgrave and Tucker Craft were
Speaker 1: making some nice catches downfield. I thought they followed it
Speaker 1: up with a pretty solid family night practice as well
Speaker 1: in a lot of those same respects. And then connected
Speaker 1: to Luke Musgrave, he was a big part of the
Speaker 1: lightning fast two minute drill that Jordan Love ran getting
Speaker 1: going seventy five yards I believe in four plays, maybe
Speaker 1: it was five down the fil Old Musgrave had a
Speaker 1: big catch there, and after the two minute drill had
Speaker 1: to be re wrecked because there was a bad snap
Speaker 1: or I should say a mistimed shotgun snap on the
Speaker 1: first one, So rather than just end the drill right there,
Speaker 1: they rewracked it and Jordan Love took the offense right
Speaker 1: down the field lickety split. And another thing I guess
Speaker 1: to make note of, we hadn't really heard or seen
Speaker 1: a whole lot of Christian Watson on Family and Night,
Speaker 1: but then boy, during that two minute drill, it was
Speaker 1: it was banged two catches. I think he covered, you know,
Speaker 1: roughly forty of the seventy five yards, including the last
Speaker 1: twenty with a touchdown on a back shoulder throw and
Speaker 1: a great catch against some pretty good coverage. So that
Speaker 1: two minute drill was a was a pretty good way
Speaker 1: to end that night for the number one offense.
Speaker 2: It really was.
Speaker 3: I mean, I you always have to throw in the
Speaker 3: caveat that. You can't have the miscommunication or whatever that
Speaker 3: issue was that led to the fumbled snap at the beginning,
Speaker 3: because as I was sort of talking about writing about,
Speaker 3: that's the difference between them either getting the ball in
Speaker 3: the red zone the opposition or getting a touchdown or
Speaker 3: Jordan Love bringing this team down the field and looking
Speaker 3: like a million bucks while doing it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's that narrow right. But here's why I like
Speaker 2: the most about it.
Speaker 3: Talking to Sean Clifford, it wasn't about this place specifically,
Speaker 3: but it was Bill Huber asked this question of Sean Clifford.
Speaker 2: I thought it was an excellent question and even better answer.
Speaker 3: The the the rhythm of a two minute drill in
Speaker 3: what it represents, and Clifford said, in a lot of ways,
Speaker 3: it's like art.
Speaker 2: It is. It is a feel.
Speaker 3: It is. You know, there's decisions that you have to
Speaker 3: make within it. You know whether or not to check
Speaker 3: down and do you have a timeout? And if you
Speaker 3: don't have the timeout, you're in the middle of the field.
Speaker 3: Is it worth the five yards? Do you just throw
Speaker 3: it away? Do you dirt it?
Speaker 2: And I just.
Speaker 3: Thought that that series in particular showed the mastery of
Speaker 3: Jordan Love and it kind of gave me some callbacks
Speaker 3: to that game in Philadelphia a little bit. He starts
Speaker 3: off with a very what does the Watson plays were?
Speaker 3: And we'll talk about those in a second. Hitting Luke
Speaker 3: Musgrave down in the seam on whatever that kind of
Speaker 3: like a skinny post, sort of rowdy was running. That's
Speaker 3: something Green Bay's been searching years for. Robert Tunyan did
Speaker 3: it at times, but it's been difficult to find that
Speaker 3: that seam threat. They've been kind of searching for it
Speaker 3: for ten years, to be honest with you, since Jermichael
Speaker 3: Finley retired. So being able to get a big chunk
Speaker 3: play like that, that's what the big offenses in this
Speaker 3: league do. That's why the Travis Kelceys are making the
Speaker 3: money that they're making right now. Flip it forward them
Speaker 3: the two Watson plays. He showed his speed and explosiveness
Speaker 3: on the first one and then just the Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 3: Jordan Nelson whatever kind of you know relationship you want
Speaker 3: to call it on the back throw, back shoulder throw
Speaker 3: and love put it on the money with the catch
Speaker 3: radius of Christian Watson. He caught it, kept it away
Speaker 3: from the defender, scored the touchdown. I think that was
Speaker 3: one of the bigger moments for the Powers number one
Speaker 3: offense in this training camp because those are the competition
Speaker 3: periods and nobody's doing push ups or set ups or
Speaker 3: you know, updowns or whatever. But let's be honest, Mike,
Speaker 3: you and I have watched enough of these things. That's
Speaker 3: when the rubber hits the road in these practices is
Speaker 3: when you get to the two minute situation. I felt
Speaker 3: like the offense, after a little bit of a stumble
Speaker 3: early on, really rallied and I love what I've seen
Speaker 3: from Jordan Love in those moments.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, it was a rough start to the night for
Speaker 1: the number one offense. There were lots of bumps in
Speaker 1: the road in the first you know, one to two
Speaker 1: team periods, the eleven on eleven, But then you saw them,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of start to find find a little something,
Speaker 1: find a little bit of rhythm, and then with the
Speaker 1: two minute drill they got things figured out and lickety
Speaker 1: split went right down the field. So some other news
Speaker 1: actually post family Night that I want to get to,
Speaker 1: but we'll take care of some sponsor business. Here for
Speaker 1: serious XM. NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up
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Speaker 1: with your favorite sub or sub and a bowl cousin
Speaker 1: subs fifty years of better. All right, some news. First,
Speaker 1: on Sunday, the day after Family and Night, the Packers
Speaker 1: made the decision to release backup quarterback Danny Ettling, which
Speaker 1: has now reduced the quarterback room heading into these preseason
Speaker 1: games and the joint practices from four down to three.
Speaker 1: So you have Jordan Love, you have rookie fifth round
Speaker 1: pick Sean Clifford, and you have the reigning USFL MVP
Speaker 1: in Alex Magoo. And then on Monday, Rashaun Gary and
Speaker 1: rookie seventh round pick at wide receiver Grant Dubo's they
Speaker 1: both were activated and practiced for the first time. For Gary,
Speaker 1: it's his first practice since the ACL injury in Detroit
Speaker 1: last November, and for dub it's his first practice as
Speaker 1: a Green Bay Packer because since the Packers had drafted him,
Speaker 1: he'd been dealing with a back injury. He missed OTA's
Speaker 1: and Mini camp and everything in training camp up to
Speaker 1: this point. Now, both of those guys as of Monday,
Speaker 1: just doing individual drills, not cleared for eleven on eleven,
Speaker 1: you know, the full contact stuff just yet. But a
Speaker 1: good sign that those guys are activated, and certainly a
Speaker 1: potentially really good sign that maybe the Packers will have
Speaker 1: Rashaan Gary on the field for a Week one in Chicago.
Speaker 1: Nobody's making any promises, but that game is still a
Speaker 1: month away, and Rashon Geary is cleared to be doing
Speaker 1: some drills on the practice field. That's a great sign.
Speaker 2: Mike, looking at my phone.
Speaker 3: Here the time in which, again we're taping this August eighth.
Speaker 3: The Green Bay Packers at the beginning of the training
Speaker 3: camp said, Hey, we're gonna take these two weeks. We're
Speaker 3: going to see where things are at with Rashaan Gary
Speaker 3: and then move from there. I think that is a
Speaker 3: huge positive sign that everything in his rehab and that
Speaker 3: final sort of stretch in terms of the return into
Speaker 3: play was sort of green light to get to this point.
Speaker 3: You're not going to put Rashaun Gary out there if
Speaker 3: you don't feel confident in the ligament and confident in
Speaker 3: his recovery. Nine months in, one day after tearing his
Speaker 3: ACL he was back out there now again. As you said,
Speaker 3: you don't want to overemphasize things you don't want to
Speaker 3: talk about. Hey, what is this going to mean, when's
Speaker 3: he going to play, is he going to be in
Speaker 3: team periods, what have you. But there was a lot
Speaker 3: of people, including myself, that when those injuries happened in November,
Speaker 3: you immediately start thinking what does that mean for their
Speaker 3: next season? Last year, Elton Jenkins ends up making it
Speaker 3: back after suffering a November ACL tear he missed at
Speaker 3: the beginning of the season, but then is available to
Speaker 3: be able to get Rashaun Gary back in the flow
Speaker 3: of things, I think was huge, and as Larry pointed
Speaker 3: out in three Things, I mean, the fact that this
Speaker 3: young man stood right up and took the first reps
Speaker 3: of the individuals. I think that sets the tone for
Speaker 3: the entire group, and Mike I just salivate at the
Speaker 3: thought of the ways in which Green Bay can use
Speaker 3: all of these pass rushers when they get Rashaan Gary
Speaker 3: back on the field. Lucas Fans is not going to
Speaker 3: be an MVP overnight. I'm not going to try to
Speaker 3: illustrate it as such, but you know, I actually think
Speaker 3: that was one of the things they've kind of missed
Speaker 3: here since the end of the Zadarias Smith era was
Speaker 3: having the three sort of outside backers and the dime
Speaker 3: package that you can really rely on for pressure. Gary
Speaker 3: can play inside, Ben ask could potentially play inside. You
Speaker 3: have pressed and available Kingsley and Nigbari I thought really
Speaker 3: passed a lot of tests last year, and then obviously
Speaker 3: Kenny Clark being utilized in that capacity.
Speaker 2: That's the money down.
Speaker 3: And I would say the Packers with the way they're
Speaker 3: set up right now with those cornerbacks and those inside backers,
Speaker 3: they have a lot of bases covered. But it was
Speaker 3: trying to make sure that you can pressure the quarterback
Speaker 3: in those instances, and Rashan Gary being back and having
Speaker 3: Lucas fans in the fold now goes a long way
Speaker 3: and helping accomplish that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And the way I look at it, I mean
Speaker 1: hopefully Gary is on track to be available for Week one.
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily see Rashaun Gary playing sixty snaps at
Speaker 1: Soldier Field in Week one, considering the length of the recovery.
Speaker 1: But the way this timeline has gone, if you get
Speaker 1: Rashaan Gary for ten snaps at Soldier Field in Week one,
Speaker 1: that's a huge victory for the Packers and for this
Speaker 1: defense because then he can only take off and and
Speaker 1: go from there. So that that was that was really
Speaker 1: really positive news to see him back on the practice field. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he's very excited about it as well, although trying to
Speaker 1: temper his own excitement knowing that it's it's not as
Speaker 1: though he gets completely cut loose to do everything he
Speaker 1: wants to. You know, the medical staffs has have a
Speaker 1: plan for him. They're going to They're going to bring
Speaker 1: him along and see where things go. With regard to
Speaker 1: the backup quarterback situation, We're certainly going to see I
Speaker 1: think a fair amount of rookie fifth round pick out
Speaker 1: of Penn State, Sean Clifford in these preseason games. Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur had suggested that that, you know, Jordan Love may
Speaker 1: may be playing some in these three preseason games as well.
Speaker 1: But but I think I think the coaching staff is
Speaker 1: gonna is gonna put Clifford in there and for a
Speaker 1: good chunk of time, and these these three preseason games
Speaker 1: are going to be, you know, trial by fire for
Speaker 1: him in terms of how quickly, how quickly can we
Speaker 1: get a rookie quarterback to a level that that if
Speaker 1: he's needed, he could step in and no offense to
Speaker 1: to Alex Magoo. But he like just got here right
Speaker 1: before training camp. I mean, there's still a lot with
Speaker 1: the playbook that he needs to learn and everything like that,
Speaker 1: and he's certainly coming along and he's made his share
Speaker 1: of plays. But the Packers invested a fifth round pick
Speaker 1: in Sean Clifford, and now Danny Ettling is gone. Clifford
Speaker 1: is the guy who who's going to have a big
Speaker 1: spotlight on him. I think in this preseason Yeah, credit
Speaker 1: to Edling.
Speaker 3: I mean, he did pretty much everything this team could
Speaker 3: have asked him to do. But at the end of
Speaker 3: the day, Sean was the fifth round pick. And this
Speaker 3: is kind of the way I sort of saw this
Speaker 3: thing playing out as soon as they signed Magoo, because
Speaker 3: it's like, all right, Danny's twenty eight, Do you really
Speaker 3: want to have him on the practice squad again this year?
Speaker 2: If that goes, do you want to take a look
Speaker 2: at somebody else.
Speaker 3: I really thought it was going to take a hercu
Speaker 3: lean effort for him to really use surp Clifford as
Speaker 3: a rookie fifth round pick for that number two job.
Speaker 3: But it also says that the Packers do have confidence
Speaker 3: in Clifford to handle this, because if he did, if
Speaker 3: they didn't. You could have waited another week with Danny,
Speaker 3: you could have gotten through this Bengals game. I think
Speaker 3: they made the ultimately, the decision that Clifford is going
Speaker 3: to be, you know, a guy that we're dedicated to,
Speaker 3: We're dedicated to see in his development, and we've seen
Speaker 3: enough from Alex Magoo to validate no longer having Danny
Speaker 3: here because it is tough. Man.
Speaker 2: It's tough being.
Speaker 3: Able to work in four quarterbacks, especially when everybody's healthy,
Speaker 3: and especially when Jordan Love is going to you know,
Speaker 3: require them on a reps that he does need during
Speaker 3: a training camp. I'm personally very excited for these preseason games.
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be very exciting to see
Speaker 3: what Clifford can do. It's actually interesting he gets to
Speaker 3: play his first preson season game in his hometown of Cincinnati.
Speaker 3: He said he'll have about twenty to thirty people there.
Speaker 3: I'm guessing you'll have some people cheering for him. He
Speaker 3: mentioned having some you know, Clifford number eight Jersey's walking
Speaker 3: around there at the joint practices as well. So a
Speaker 3: neat experience for a guy that used to be able
Speaker 3: to go to Paul Brown Stadium head season tickets, I think,
Speaker 3: he said his senior year of high school. So him
Speaker 3: and his baby brother who's now at Penn State, when
Speaker 3: he was in eighth grade, they went to quite a
Speaker 3: few games together, really grew their relationship and love for
Speaker 3: football that way. So for him to be able to
Speaker 3: start that chapter of his career is very interesting and
Speaker 3: very cool. But Alex McGoo is an amazing story too, Mike,
Speaker 3: and a guy that was actually drafted back to back
Speaker 3: picks with Atling in twenty eighteen has sort of risen
Speaker 3: from the ashes to put together two impressive seasons in
Speaker 3: the USFL to re earn another opportunity in the NFL
Speaker 3: at twenty seven years old. And if you talk about
Speaker 3: a guy that's gonna be hungry and motivated to show
Speaker 3: that he belongs that those two quarterbacks together, I think.
Speaker 2: Are going to make for a really good competition the
Speaker 2: rest of the way.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Well, very shortly here Wes, as a famous
Speaker 1: head coach once said, we are on to Cincinnati, and.
Speaker 2: The famous head coach is going to be here next week. Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1: One last thought for me though, what are you looking for?
Speaker 1: And we'll talk more about the game, hopefully on our
Speaker 1: next show. Technically, if everything goes okay, our next show
Speaker 1: will actually be from Cincinnati. You'll be hearing from us near.
Speaker 2: It will be next to each other.
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, perhaps perhaps we can get that worked
Speaker 1: out as well. But with regard to the joint practice
Speaker 1: on Wednesday, what are you looking for? What are you
Speaker 1: gonna have your eye on? For me, it's seeing Jay
Speaker 1: or Alexander against Jamar Chase hopefully, and then I think
Speaker 1: on the other side, it's seeing a woozy a the
Speaker 1: number one cornerback for the Bengals, up against Christian Watson.
Speaker 1: These will make for some interesting matchups because we don't
Speaker 1: really know if we're gonna see those matchups Friday night,
Speaker 1: but we very well could see them on Wednesday afternoon
Speaker 1: on the practice field.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know guys like t Higgins too, right,
Speaker 3: Rasseill Douglas. I mean, there's a lot of opportunities and
Speaker 3: matchups are gonna be fun to watch. Me personally, I
Speaker 3: can't wait to watch the O line D line work.
Speaker 3: We talked about how good the Packers young defensive line
Speaker 3: has looked. Cincinnati historically has not had one of the
Speaker 3: strongest lines in the football in terms of their O line,
Speaker 3: So seeing and if maybe some of those successes that
Speaker 3: that Slaton has had. You know, you talked about why
Speaker 3: it's seen if those translate, does a guy like you know,
Speaker 3: you know, these offensive linemen that I think have really
Speaker 3: stood out. I thought Sean Ryan has put together a
Speaker 3: good camp so far, Caleb Jones has looked great at tackle.
Speaker 2: They'll get some reps there as well.
Speaker 3: Very interested to see how that plays out for them,
Speaker 3: and honestly kind of seeing how the offensive line rotation
Speaker 3: is going to look. Maybe Dave practices in these things.
Speaker 3: I don't know if him and you know, if he's
Speaker 3: going to go or not. If he does great, you know,
Speaker 3: Trey Hendrickson, you know Sam Hubbard. They got some really
Speaker 3: good edge rushers down in Cincinnati as well. But also
Speaker 3: you know, where's Joash Shneiman, Where's Zach Tom How are
Speaker 3: they looking at that competition? Because that's ultimately the thing, man,
Speaker 3: is that when you get some of these position battles,
Speaker 3: and you talked about it, you know, with the with
Speaker 3: the John Owen story and everything that's going on with
Speaker 3: him at safety right now, there's a trickle down here
Speaker 3: where you want to give everybody an opportunity to win
Speaker 3: the job. But at some point you do need to
Speaker 3: start turning the clock towards the season. And where do
Speaker 3: you feel most comfortable. Where's Jordan Love most comfortable? Where
Speaker 3: is Darnell Savage in the back, and most comfortable seeing
Speaker 3: when the rotation stop, regardless of whether or not we're
Speaker 3: in Cincinnati practicing against the Patriots or the following week
Speaker 3: back get ready for that finale against the Seahawks. When
Speaker 3: the rotation, when the musical chairs starts to end and
Speaker 3: they start to settle in. That's what I'm always interested
Speaker 3: to watch. And for the guys who don't play in
Speaker 3: this preseason game against the Bengals, that practice is going
Speaker 3: to be really essential to understanding not only where they're at,
Speaker 3: but where the direction of this team is at. Now
Speaker 3: two weeks into this program and realistically, you know, four
Speaker 3: months now into the Jordan Love era here in Green Bay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, well, my friend, we have a flight to catch,
Speaker 1: so with that we will call it a rap on
Speaker 1: this edition of Packers Unscript. You'd be sure to follow
Speaker 1: all of our continuing coverage of training camp. Will be
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati for the joint practice the preseason game on
Speaker 1: Friday Night. Be back here in Green Bay next week,
Speaker 1: continuing with everything with the Patriots coming to town, so
Speaker 1: we've got it all for you on packers dot com
Speaker 1: for wes Im Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody.
Speaker 1: We will see you next time.
Speaker 3: M HM.