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Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from

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Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by the

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Speaker 1: one and only Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you hear

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Speaker 1: from our studios at lambeau Field.

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Speaker 2: Wes.

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Speaker 1: It's Mini Camp week. It is the final week of

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Speaker 1: the off season program before the players and coaches take

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Speaker 1: their summer break, and then we come back for training

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Speaker 1: camp and the writers will try to take a break

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Speaker 1: in there somewhere, right. That's sort of the idea at

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Speaker 1: some point along the way. Before we get to previewing

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Speaker 1: Mini Camp, though, just need to touch on the bit

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Speaker 1: of news from Monday at twelve sixty five, which is

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Speaker 1: that the Packers ultimately released seven year veteran cornerback and

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Speaker 1: two time second team All Pro JayR Alexander. It had

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Speaker 1: been sort of an uncertain situation all off season long

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Speaker 1: as to whether Alexander would be back or not, or

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Speaker 1: traded or what would happen. Ultimately, it sounds like they weren't.

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Speaker 1: Packers and Alexander's camp were not able to agree on

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Speaker 1: a restructured contract. Finding a trade partner didn't exactly work out,

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Speaker 1: and with this being a mandatory mini camp week. It

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Speaker 1: was time for a decision to be made, and that

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Speaker 1: decision was made and the Packers have moved on.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. In credit to the Packers and honestly credit to

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Speaker 2: Jah too. I don't think this thing played out that

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Speaker 2: much in the media. I think there was a lot

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Speaker 2: of conjecture, but not a lot of bickering back and

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Speaker 2: forth or anything like that. It's two professionals, two sides

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Speaker 2: that I think at the end of the day, it

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Speaker 2: probably wasn't everybody's best interest for a fresh start. I'll

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Speaker 2: be honest with you, Michael. I made this very clear

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Speaker 2: on social media. I mean, this hurts my heart. I

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Speaker 2: love Jaw. I've really enjoyed covering him the last six

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Speaker 2: seven years and I will continue to say this and

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Speaker 2: you had to edit my insider inbox, but I just

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Speaker 2: feel like there's in all our time, in my time

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Speaker 2: covering the team, there's ever been a player that's probably

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Speaker 2: been more misunderstood than jay R Alexander. He's a good,

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Speaker 2: kind hearted individual. I mean, there's a reason why you

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Speaker 2: saw so many players on this team reposting the Packers

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Speaker 2: thank you graphic to Jaw on their stories on Instagram.

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Speaker 2: Seeing people reach out. You heard Xavier McKinney and Jordan

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Speaker 2: Love and Josh Jacobs, all these guys talk about him

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Speaker 2: this offseason and what he means to this locker room.

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Speaker 2: But here's the thing, and this is the fact of

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Speaker 2: the matter. I mean, jo'sman banged up the last few years,

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Speaker 2: and he's played I believe it's thirty four games since

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Speaker 2: the twenty twenty season. The Packers had to make changes

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Speaker 2: last year, losing him the second half of the year,

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Speaker 2: and a lot of those changes, you know, really worked

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Speaker 2: out well for this defense. When you saw what Keyshawn

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Speaker 2: Nixon can do on the perimeter, when you saw Carrington

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Speaker 2: Valentine getting opportunities again outside, and obviously the depth that

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Speaker 2: they have at the safety position, and now bringing in

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Speaker 2: Nate Hobbs. I mean, the Packers have made the necessary adjustments.

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Speaker 2: You hope, for Jayr's sake, you can catch on somewhere

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Speaker 2: get back to the type of player I think everybody

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Speaker 2: knows he can be. But this is obviously the direction

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Speaker 2: of the Packers have chosen to go. And I think

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Speaker 2: as you move forward down to training camp here in

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Speaker 2: the next six seven weeks, probably the best thing just

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Speaker 2: to be able to have this kind of new chapter.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's one of those situations where where the business

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Speaker 1: of football, you know, sort of gets in the way

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Speaker 1: of of you know what, everybody would just like it

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Speaker 1: to be all simple and and and the business of

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Speaker 1: football isn't simple when you're talking about injuries and high

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Speaker 1: priced contracts and and you know, the the commitments and

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Speaker 1: and all the all the stuff in the CBA and

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Speaker 1: and uh. And it's two sides, a team and an

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Speaker 1: individual player looking out for you know, their own best interests,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes, uh, sometimes those things just don't connect and

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Speaker 1: the and that can be the business of the game.

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Speaker 1: I personally, I'm I really enjoyed covering JayR Alexander as well.

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Speaker 1: I had a really nice, I'll never forget this, a

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Speaker 1: really nice sit down interview with him. It was actually

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Speaker 1: after his rookie season. I was doing a feature story

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Speaker 1: in the Packers' yearbook heading into twenty nineteen, after he

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Speaker 1: was the first dround pick in twenty eighteen, and obviously

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Speaker 1: impressed as a rookie and just sitting down and talking

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Speaker 1: football with the guy. But then once you start talking

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Speaker 1: football with him, the conversation always ends up kind of

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Speaker 1: going somewhere else right, and you it's like you get

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Speaker 1: to know somebody a little bit. And I'll always remember

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Speaker 1: that conversation because I learned very early on that Jay R.

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Speaker 1: Alexander he's wired a little bit differently than just your

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Speaker 1: average NFL player, for lack of a better phrase. But

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Speaker 1: that's not necessarily a bad thing. We've seen guys wired

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Speaker 1: differently come in and out of locker rooms like all

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Speaker 1: the time. It's part of how things go here. And

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Speaker 1: when the guy was healthy, he was a heck of

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Speaker 1: a player for this team. And I I hope he

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Speaker 1: can get back to that level again. I hope he

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Speaker 1: can find good health in his career and UH and

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Speaker 1: get back to UH to the all pro level player

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Speaker 1: that he's been in the past. Will UH. We'll see

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Speaker 1: what happens in that regard. The Packers of UH Packers

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Speaker 1: have been planning for this. This is not this is

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Speaker 1: not something that was a last minute, whimsical decision bringing

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Speaker 1: in Nate Hobbs and in UH in the offseason. Obviously

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Speaker 1: they learned, as we've talked a lot on the show

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Speaker 1: about Keishawn Nixon and what he proved that he could

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Speaker 1: do last year. There's a there will be a lot

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Speaker 1: of eyes on Carrington Valentine now moving forward, and I

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Speaker 1: think even though Valentine, you know, wasn't a big part

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Speaker 1: of this defense for the first half of last season

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Speaker 1: as he was dealing with a lot of injuries and stuff,

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Speaker 1: we started to see some of Carrington Valentine's best football

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Speaker 1: towards the end of last season, and I think that's

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Speaker 1: where he's hoping to be able to to pick up

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Speaker 1: where he left off as Jeff Haflee and the secondary

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Speaker 1: coaches pieced together exactly what the secondary is going to

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Speaker 1: look like in twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 2: Now. Yeah, and you know how it goes within cider inbox.

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Speaker 2: You know how it goes with social media. The moment

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Speaker 2: you move on from a player, people are always looking

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Speaker 2: at one of the big veteran names of free agents

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Speaker 2: that are available, and I understand why fans go down

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Speaker 2: that route. But at the same time, when those questions

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Speaker 2: were posed to me, the first thing I said was,

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Speaker 2: I think Carrenton Valentine. I know, Carenton Valentine deserves the

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Speaker 2: right to compete for a starting position, a permanent role

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Speaker 2: on this defense. He's been a tremendous, tremendous soldier for

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Speaker 2: Green Bay the last two seasons. Starts twelve games his

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Speaker 2: rookie years in a pinch. Last year he ends up,

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Speaker 2: as you mentioned, has the hamstring injuries, the soft tissue injuries.

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Speaker 2: At the beginning of the season, kind of falls out

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Speaker 2: of the rotation a little bit, was mostly just doing

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Speaker 2: special teams, and then when the gay air stuff happens

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Speaker 2: again after Jacksonville, he's thrown back in the lineup. And

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Speaker 2: for as much as people have talked about jazz situation

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Speaker 2: in Nate Hobbs and obviously Keishawn Nixon in his comments

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Speaker 2: about kickoff returns and him wanting to play outside cornerback's,

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Speaker 2: it's mind boggling to me that a bigger topic hasn't

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Speaker 2: been this offseason. How Karens and Valentine really peaked at

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Speaker 2: the end of last season. The interceptions that had eluded

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Speaker 2: him at times during his college career at Kentucky and

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Speaker 2: also early on with this time with Green Bay, he

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Speaker 2: started pulling those passes down. Now he is a legit playmaker.

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Speaker 2: And I keep mentioning this to you, Michael, the guy's

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Speaker 2: twenty three years old. The Packers have players I think

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Speaker 2: in this rookie draft class that are older than Carrington

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Speaker 2: Valentine because he went out so early for the draft

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Speaker 2: as a true junior. Well, now you're seeing him come

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Speaker 2: into his own And the other thing I will also

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Speaker 2: mention what I love about the way the Packers have

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Speaker 2: situated this secondary. You have a guy Nate Hobbs who

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Speaker 2: right now, at this point in time, looks like potentially

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Speaker 2: that Star Nickel position. Well, if an injury happens on

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Speaker 2: the outside, people ask, what happens, who do you go to? Well,

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Speaker 2: Hobbs can go outside, and you got Bullard that can

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Speaker 2: play inside. You have the other these safeties that can

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Speaker 2: get involved in that. It's not just about perimeter, cornerback, inside, cornerback, slot, dime,

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Speaker 2: whatever you want to call it. It's about having a

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Speaker 2: multitude of players that can play those positions. And I

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Speaker 2: think that's ultimately going to be a huge strength of

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Speaker 2: this defense this season.

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Speaker 1: And I think that's what we're going to be continuing

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Speaker 1: to watch this week during mini camp and then obviously

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Speaker 1: during training camp as well. But just how the pieces

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Speaker 1: are coming together in the secondary. I think when you

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Speaker 1: look at the cornerback position for the Packers right now,

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Speaker 1: when you look at both outside and in the slot.

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Speaker 1: It seems to me the top four guys, not in

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Speaker 1: any particular order, are Nixon, Hobbs, Valentine, and Bullard. Bullard

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Speaker 1: being a guy who plays the slot, Valentine being a

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Speaker 1: guy who plays outside, Nixon and Hobbs being guys that

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Speaker 1: will play beat either one. So in a sense, those

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Speaker 1: are your top four cornerbacks, even though I know officially

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Speaker 1: Bullard is a safety, but those are your top four

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Speaker 1: cornerbacks for your nickel package. And I think where this

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Speaker 1: goes from here is, Okay, how does the depth line

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Speaker 1: up behind that? Are the Packers going to make another acquisition? Potentially?

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Speaker 1: Where do things go with young guys like Kyln King

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Speaker 1: and Kamal Haddn't and a new recent signee who's got

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Speaker 1: some NFL game experience in Gregory Junior who has just

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Speaker 1: brought in recently, all of that stuff, the depth behind

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Speaker 1: those four guys is what needs to be sorted out.

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Speaker 1: Because you know as well as I do that we

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Speaker 1: can talk all we want about those four guys. The

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Speaker 1: chances of those four guys at cornerback being available for

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Speaker 1: all seventeen games, plus hopefully the playoffs for the Packers

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Speaker 1: are pretty slim. So you're gonna need You're gonna need

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Speaker 1: the next guys to be stepping up behind them, and

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Speaker 1: I think that's going to be It's not only going

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Speaker 1: to be an ongoing conversation this week through mini camp

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Speaker 1: and also in training camp, but as the twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: five season develops, because some of those guys, like a

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Speaker 1: Gregory Junior for example, just got here and what impression

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Speaker 1: is he going to make, say during training camp to

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Speaker 1: make a bid for the fifth three as this cornerback

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Speaker 1: depth sorts itself out, for.

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Speaker 2: Sure, Mike, And that's one thing I think is also exciting.

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Speaker 2: It's a part of the uncertainty too, right, but I

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Speaker 2: mean for as much and kaylen King, we've heard rave

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Speaker 2: reviews from him so far this off season. Derek Ainsley,

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Speaker 2: the Packers passing him quarter, had talked a couple weeks

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Speaker 2: ago about he felt that he's had a really strong

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Speaker 2: offseason program. But Hadden is such an interesting one too

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Speaker 2: in that conversation because he was actually a higher draft

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Speaker 2: pick than King in the two thousand He was a

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Speaker 2: six twenty four draft, but the Packers brought him in

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Speaker 2: late at the beginning of the regular season on the

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Speaker 2: practice squad, so you kind of forget these things that

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Speaker 2: you know, Gregory Junior was a former draft pick. These

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Speaker 2: guys have credentials. These aren't just random dudes that the

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Speaker 2: Packers signed. But at the same time, you know, we

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Speaker 2: know player acquisition is a three hundred and sixty five

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Speaker 2: day yep thing. And there's been times where we've seen

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Speaker 2: Dennis Kelly come in the week before training camp, right,

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Speaker 2: I mean that they do make those signings too. So

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Speaker 2: seeing what the next move is for green Bay and

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Speaker 2: how you go about handling is gonna be really fascinating.

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Speaker 2: And also the fact of, you know, the salary cap

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Speaker 2: room that you've now cleared with JayR Alexander. The Packers

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Speaker 2: have a multitude of players from that twenty twenty two

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Speaker 2: draft class that'll be coming up for contracts here after

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Speaker 2: this season, you'll be able to extend work on extensions.

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Speaker 2: With a very promising twenty twenty three draft class, the

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Speaker 2: circle of NFL life just continues to go over and

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Speaker 2: you know restart. So a very bright future for green Bay.

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Speaker 2: But it was wild to me too. I'll close on this.

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Speaker 2: When we talked about green Bay, you know, going all

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Speaker 2: in or whatever in twenty one and all this thing,

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Speaker 2: and now Green Bay's at a position where they have

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Speaker 2: so much cap room to play with as well. Again,

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Speaker 2: a lot of different things that Brian Goodikuntz in this

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Speaker 2: personnel department can do.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what else are you going to be watching for

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Speaker 1: here during the three days of mini camp? Just to

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Speaker 1: recap for the fans. Mini camp as of now scheduled

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Speaker 1: for Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday this week and this will wrap

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Speaker 1: up the off season program after this. It's like it's

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Speaker 1: like the last day of school for the players. They

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Speaker 1: head out on their summer break and then they will

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Speaker 1: report back. I believe it's July twenty two for training camp,

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Speaker 1: with the first practice schedule for July twenty three. I know,

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Speaker 1: you know, we've seen the cross training going on with

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Speaker 1: the offensive line. We've seen, you know, all sorts of

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Speaker 1: different guys getting reps at wide receiver with Jordan Love

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Speaker 1: with the number one offense. What are the kinds of

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Speaker 1: things you'll be looking for on the practice field?

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Speaker 2: I can't wait to see. Obviously, most of these guys

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Speaker 2: will be in you know, I have already been here,

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Speaker 2: so we've seen some of these matchups already. But you know,

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Speaker 2: if you watch that I don't know if you got

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Speaker 2: a chance to check out or if people have had

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Speaker 2: a chance to check out the micd up segment that

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Speaker 2: our video department put together. Matt Lafleur from last week.

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Speaker 2: You know, he had a speech for the guys at

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Speaker 2: the end of practice where he was talking about asking

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Speaker 2: the veterans directing this at the young guys, what's it

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Speaker 2: going to be like out here? Once training comp comes around,

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Speaker 2: It's going to be hotter. The competition is going to

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Speaker 2: be fiercer. Everything ramps up. This is the final notch

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Speaker 2: here before I mean the final warm up if you will. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: before you know, jobs in positions and things are going

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Speaker 2: to start to get decided. You're no longer just going

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Speaker 2: to be locked into one role. They're going to start

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Speaker 2: figuring out, Okay, who fits best where and what is

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Speaker 2: that depth shart going to potentially look like. So from

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Speaker 2: that perspective, this Receiving Corps is going to continue to

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Speaker 2: be probably the biggest I think highlight of watching these practices.

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Speaker 2: We saw it again last week and mattel Flour again

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Speaker 2: talked about it every offseason. It seems like I mentioned

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Speaker 2: how Romeo Dobbs is the most consistent practice performer I

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Speaker 2: think I've seen outside of Jordan Nelson during my time

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Speaker 2: covering the Packers, he is just I mean, he doesn't

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Speaker 2: drop passes. He's wherever he needs to be. If you're

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Speaker 2: doing a two minute drive at the number one offense,

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Speaker 2: I guarantee you he's getting that ball three times. It's

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Speaker 2: just the way it always seems to work out. And

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Speaker 2: Dobbs's back to that again. He's put the concussion injury

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Speaker 2: and those type of things behind him and now trying

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Speaker 2: to play and get ready for again. As we've talked

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Speaker 2: about a huge year four for him. You know, Matthew Golden,

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Speaker 2: we saw the fast twitch muscle fiber in practice, and yeah,

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Speaker 2: he's not going to be the biggest receiver on the field,

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Speaker 2: but by golly, this guy finds ways to get open

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Speaker 2: and you can just see when he puts his foot

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Speaker 2: in the dirt how quickly he can get up field.

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Speaker 2: This is going to be a tremendous competition and you've

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Speaker 2: written about it, we all talked about it. I mean,

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Speaker 2: this is probably gonna be one of the hardest years

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Speaker 2: Green Bay's had figuring out what their fifty three man

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Speaker 2: roster is going to be like. Based on what this

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Speaker 2: off season ninety man roster has been, and I think

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Speaker 2: from that aspect of it, it's really exciting. So, yeah,

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Speaker 2: this is your last chance to make a final impression

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Speaker 2: here before we get to training camp, and you know,

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Speaker 2: everything really truly does shift into that final gear.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting. I've been I've been asked an insider

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Speaker 1: inbox about, you know, is this the deepest Packers team

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Speaker 1: that you've ever covered? And I wasn't quite sure how

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Speaker 1: to answer that, but I answered it by saying, at

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Speaker 1: least in recent memory, this feels like one of the

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Speaker 1: deepest ninety man rosters as far as the off season

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Speaker 1: roster that I can recall. But I don't like to

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Speaker 1: say things like this is the this is the deepest

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Speaker 1: Packers team, because, for one, you can't keep every buddy right.

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Speaker 1: You've got to narrow this down to fifty three at

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Speaker 1: the end of August, beginning of September, and between now

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Speaker 1: and then, there is going to be stuff that happens.

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Speaker 1: And what I mean by stuff is guys are gonna

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Speaker 1: get hurt.

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Speaker 2: Though.

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Speaker 1: You know, if injuries happen in training camp or the

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Speaker 1: preseason games, that's going to impact how the fifty three

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Speaker 1: shapes up and then and then what you're going into

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Speaker 1: Week one with and all that. So yeah, I really

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Speaker 1: like the night this ninety man roster that that Brian

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Speaker 1: Gudukunsten's personnel department have put together this summer. But ninety

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Speaker 1: getting cut down to fifty three. That's thirty seven. That's

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Speaker 1: thirty seven guys. You know, now a whole bunch of

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Speaker 1: those guys will be brought back on the practice squad.

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Speaker 1: And the practice squad is sixteen players now, which is

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Speaker 1: double the size of what it was a handful of

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Speaker 1: years ago. But still, you know how how that fifty

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Speaker 1: three shakes out? And I think I said it on

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Speaker 1: one of our shows earlier, I think the Packers are

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Speaker 1: going to be potentially releasing a lot more experienced NFL

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Speaker 1: players potentially than they have in years past because the

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Speaker 1: competition for that fifty three is going to be is

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Speaker 1: going to be so tough, and the personnel department has

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Speaker 1: done such a good job in recent drafts that even

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Speaker 1: if they see a draft pick that maybe isn't going

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Speaker 1: to play right away, they don't want to just they

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Speaker 1: don't want to just let that guy go. They want

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Speaker 1: that guy to be on the fifty three to continue

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Speaker 1: to develop and see where he is toward the end

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Speaker 1: of his rookie year, see where he is in his

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Speaker 1: second year. And if you believe in a player like that,

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Speaker 1: you don't want to just release him and cross your

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Speaker 1: fingers that you get him back on the practice squad,

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Speaker 1: because as soon as you release him, he's available to anybody,

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Speaker 1: and you don't know who might who might snatch him up.

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Speaker 1: And anybody who is on the practice squad is essentially

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Speaker 1: a free agent. They can go sign wherever they want

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Speaker 1: to if somebody comes along and offers them. So all

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Speaker 1: of those roster machinations have to get sorted out at

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Speaker 1: the end of training camp before we really get a

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Speaker 1: feel for, Okay, exactly how deep, how deep is this

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Speaker 1: Packers team? How did the depth sort itself out when

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Speaker 1: you had to when you have to make the tough

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Speaker 1: decisions and those are a ways away, and.

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Speaker 2: You hit the nail on the head there with when

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Speaker 2: you look at the twenty two, twenty three, twenty four

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Speaker 2: draft classes, I personally think, you know, we talked so

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Speaker 2: much about Ron Wolf and oh he traded for Brett

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Speaker 2: Farv and he signed Reggie White and that was so

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Speaker 2: exciting people so oftentimes overlook the fact that those early

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Speaker 2: nineties drafts, the amount of capable players that built those

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Speaker 2: super Bowl teams. How many of those came in ninety two,

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Speaker 2: ninety three, ninety four, ninety five. Yep, this is what

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Speaker 2: it feels like right now with what Green Bay's done

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Speaker 2: with these these recent draft classes. You had twenty two,

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Speaker 2: which I think, pound for pound, is going to end

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Speaker 2: up being one of the best ones of the twenty

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Speaker 2: first century. When you think about the zach Thoms finding

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Speaker 2: them on Day three, right, a guy that could potentially

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Speaker 2: end up being an All Pro right tackle. When you

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Speaker 2: think about the playmakers like you know, Tucker Craft in

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Speaker 2: the third round in twenty twenty three, and then twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty four, the Packers might have gotten the best one

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Speaker 2: of all of them with Eddrian Cooper potentially with the

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Speaker 2: potential he showed early on and where he could potentially go.

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Speaker 2: That's how you build a championship team. I challenge people

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Speaker 2: like with this all the time. I Mean, you see

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Speaker 2: the the you know Kansas City, you see Philadelphia get

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Speaker 2: to the Super Bowl. How did they do that? It's

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Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes as Jalen Hurst. Look at those recent draft

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Speaker 2: classes for the Philadelphia Eagles. I mean they hit it

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Speaker 2: out of the park with their drafts recently. If a

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Speaker 2: team makes it that far, if you look at their

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Speaker 2: last two or three drafts, chances are there was some

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Speaker 2: pretty talented football players that came out of it. And

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Speaker 2: I feel like that's where Green Bay's at right now.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you. One other topic I want

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Speaker 1: to hit on before we go and hit the practice

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Speaker 1: field ourselves for watching mini camp. Here, Serious x MNFL

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Speaker 1: Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute

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00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:57,200
Speaker 1: NFL news that true football fanatics need. Twenty four to seven,

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00:18:57,560 --> 00:18:59,920
Speaker 1: three sixty five and ed cousin subs. We have something

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00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:02,800
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385
00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:05,639
Speaker 1: golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite

386
00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:08,240
Speaker 1: sub or sub and a bowl Cousin subs. Fifty plus

387
00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:11,800
Speaker 1: years of better all right. A lot of content up

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Speaker 1: on packers dot com. You posted a story yesterday on

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Speaker 1: Zach Tom, the right tackle heading into a big year four.

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Speaker 1: We talked about Tom a lot on a previous show.

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Speaker 1: A story that you posted last week that we didn't

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Speaker 1: actually get a chance to address too much. Another offensive Lineman,

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Speaker 1: and it's the newcomer at left guard, Aaron Banks, the

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Speaker 1: free agent signing from the San Francisco forty nine ers.

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Speaker 1: Certainly an understated fella is his first meeting with the

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Speaker 1: media was nothing gregarious. There were no headlines necessarily coming

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Speaker 1: from the comments. But the one thing that you gleaned,

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Speaker 1: and certainly I did as well, is this is a

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Speaker 1: guy that, yeah, he was had a lot of success

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Speaker 1: with the forty nine ers, but that forty nine ers

401
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Speaker 1: team was always just so close and just couldn't quite

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Speaker 1: finish the deal. And he feels pretty good about coming

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Speaker 1: to this team, which maybe hasn't gotten as close as

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Speaker 1: the forty nine ers, but is still a team on

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Speaker 1: the rise and is possibly gonna get the same kind

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Speaker 1: of shot or shots that the forty nine ers have had.

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Speaker 1: His drive, his desire to win a Super Bowl is

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Speaker 1: one of the biggest reasons he's here.

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Speaker 2: This guy man, It was until he said it that

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Speaker 2: I finally went back and looked at what the forty

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Speaker 2: nine ers statistics were and what their records looked like

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Speaker 2: the last four years. Yeah, I wrote it in the story.

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Speaker 2: I mean, Aaron Banks came as close as you can

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Speaker 2: get to winning a Super Bowl ring without doing it. Yep,

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Speaker 2: two NFC Championship Game appearances right away. You forget about that.

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Speaker 2: I forget about that. Maybe you didn't, but I forget

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Speaker 2: about you know, because we focus so much on what happened,

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Speaker 2: and you know, in the Super Bowl and kind of

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Speaker 2: losing that late and then the overtime and everything. You

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Speaker 2: forget that the two years before that they had lost

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Speaker 2: in the NFC Championship Game, and then last year they're

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Speaker 2: hoping to Okay, well we're going to close the door now. Yes,

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Speaker 2: we didn't get it done. We got another shot at

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Speaker 2: this thing, and you saw how the Christian McCaffrey injury,

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Speaker 2: the injuries that followed that sort of knock that train

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Speaker 2: off the tracks, and the forty nine ers. That was

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Speaker 2: a tough way to do this thing. So yeah, Aaron Banks,

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Speaker 2: obviously you're an unrestricted free agent. You want to take

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Speaker 2: care of your family, you want to get paid. But

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Speaker 2: he also didn't want to get too far away from

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Speaker 2: where he had already been. Yeah, in terms of being

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Speaker 2: a competitive, winning organization and culture, I think sometimes fans

433
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Speaker 2: get so wrapped up on well, these guys are making

434
00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,400
Speaker 2: all this money, these guys do this every single day, Mike,

435
00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:39,480
Speaker 2: You and I see them walk in this building every

436
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:42,440
Speaker 2: single day. The hours they have to invest here in

437
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,240
Speaker 2: both at home, taking care of themselves, training all that.

438
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,840
Speaker 2: It is a NonStop job. Now, you don't want to

439
00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:50,920
Speaker 2: do that job and then come out with three wins

440
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:54,399
Speaker 2: a season. You want to compete for that championship. And

441
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,159
Speaker 2: that's where Banks feels like he is. That's where he

442
00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,000
Speaker 2: feels like this place has brought him to the fact.

443
00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:01,119
Speaker 2: In addition to the fact six five, three hundred and

444
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,399
Speaker 2: twenty five pounds, the Green Bay Packers is they've started

445
00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,760
Speaker 2: to meld their offensive line. This is the direction this

446
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,879
Speaker 2: thing is going. This is a power football team with

447
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,160
Speaker 2: Josh Jacobs behind the controls, right. I mean, they want

448
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:15,920
Speaker 2: to be able to run the ball directly at your

449
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:19,200
Speaker 2: face and go through you to the end zone. Banks

450
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:20,800
Speaker 2: is one of those guys that can help them do that.

451
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:22,919
Speaker 2: In addition to the fact, he's pretty darn athletic for

452
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:24,800
Speaker 2: a guy his size. This is a former second round

453
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:27,240
Speaker 2: pick in twenty twenty one. I mean, this is a

454
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:29,680
Speaker 2: guy that came in with major credentials from Notre Dame.

455
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:32,480
Speaker 2: So now coming into his own twenty seven years old,

456
00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:35,040
Speaker 2: and kind of building himself up into this player that

457
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:37,560
Speaker 2: he's become. The Packers feel like this guy could be

458
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:41,240
Speaker 2: the missing piece, and certainly he's motivated to maximize on

459
00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:42,320
Speaker 2: that opportunity. Yeah.

460
00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:45,760
Speaker 1: One really interesting statistic that I found on Aaron Banks

461
00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:47,760
Speaker 1: back when the Packers signed him, and I had kind

462
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,919
Speaker 1: of forgotten about it and then was reminded of it.

463
00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:53,920
Speaker 1: I was just looking it up the other day. He

464
00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:57,639
Speaker 1: basically started the last three seasons, other than missing a

465
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,520
Speaker 1: couple games here and there with minor injuries, started the

466
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:03,920
Speaker 1: last three full seasons at left guard for the forty

467
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,399
Speaker 1: nine ers. That first year he was a starter at

468
00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:10,320
Speaker 1: left guard, he was flagged for holding five times. The

469
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:14,760
Speaker 1: last two seasons combined, he was flagged for holding three times.

470
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:19,000
Speaker 1: This is a guy who he got his opportunity, took

471
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,480
Speaker 1: a few lumps, had to learn some things along the way,

472
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:27,800
Speaker 1: and has developed into a polished pro whom the Packers believe,

473
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:30,560
Speaker 1: as they always do when they make this type of

474
00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:33,560
Speaker 1: investment in a guy coming off of a rookie contract,

475
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,720
Speaker 1: the Packers believe that he hasn't played his best well yet,

476
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:41,280
Speaker 1: that there's still another another step forward for this guy,

477
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,480
Speaker 1: And yeah, that could potentially be be a really big

478
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:48,240
Speaker 1: step because this guy is an awfully big man and

479
00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:51,800
Speaker 1: he's going to he's going to have a presence in

480
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:53,960
Speaker 1: the run game, man the pass game as the left

481
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:54,720
Speaker 1: guard for this team.

482
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:56,560
Speaker 2: I'm glad you brought up the penalized thing too, because

483
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,800
Speaker 2: it's the same thing with Nate Hobbs, where Hobbs played

484
00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 2: a physical nickel position in Vegas had one accepted penalty

485
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:06,639
Speaker 2: I think last season for defensive holding. I mean, this

486
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:09,160
Speaker 2: is a guy that plays within his fundamentals, and that's

487
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:10,720
Speaker 2: what this comes down to, particularly when you look at

488
00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:14,040
Speaker 2: the offensive line like that. When somebody has that few penalties,

489
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:16,200
Speaker 2: it tells you two things. One, he's not getting beaten

490
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,359
Speaker 2: in two, his technique and his fundamentals are where they

491
00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:21,479
Speaker 2: need to be. Because there is that old adage about, hey,

492
00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:23,600
Speaker 2: offensive linemen are holding on every single play, but are

493
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:25,439
Speaker 2: you staying within the framework of the body. Are you

494
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:27,760
Speaker 2: making sure that if a player gets a move on you,

495
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:30,400
Speaker 2: you're not getting to that outside shoulder. Right. That's where

496
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:32,399
Speaker 2: Banks has excelled. And when you see him physically, it

497
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 2: makes sense. I mean, this guy is a road grading

498
00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:37,960
Speaker 2: type interior offensive lineman. Now we have to see everything

499
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,040
Speaker 2: that plays out here with Elton Jenkins and potentially him

500
00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:43,920
Speaker 2: at the center position. Obviously we've seen Sean Ryan take

501
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,760
Speaker 2: and snaps there while also being in that competition for

502
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:50,160
Speaker 2: right guard. Jacob Munk has gotten some important reps inside

503
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:52,399
Speaker 2: and at the center position during this camp and then

504
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 2: certainly figuring out how everything's going to shuffle out the

505
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,679
Speaker 2: left tackle position with Jordan Morgan potentially being incorporated into that.

506
00:24:58,000 --> 00:24:59,399
Speaker 2: What is the point I'm trying to make with all

507
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,879
Speaker 2: that green Bay as options and in addition to the

508
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,040
Speaker 2: fact that now you have a lynchpin, a guy that

509
00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:06,160
Speaker 2: you can build around at left guard, there's a lot

510
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,680
Speaker 2: more flexibility that Green Bay can do there. That was

511
00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:10,760
Speaker 2: one of the drawbacks of where they were at with

512
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:12,840
Speaker 2: Elton Jenkins is that if they had to move them,

513
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,000
Speaker 2: if there was an injury there, who's stepping in for

514
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:17,240
Speaker 2: him at left guard? Ye. Now you have a guy

515
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:19,800
Speaker 2: like Banks that has that position, has that experience, has

516
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,080
Speaker 2: done it at a high levels, played in those big games,

517
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:24,959
Speaker 2: and also still having that versatility with a Jenkins, with

518
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:26,959
Speaker 2: a Tom with a Sean Ryan, guys that can move

519
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:27,960
Speaker 2: around a little bit. Yeah.

520
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,600
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Well, we got to head out to the practice

521
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:32,720
Speaker 1: field catch what we can of Mini camp, so we

522
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:35,360
Speaker 1: will call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.

523
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,159
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the

524
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,080
Speaker 1: team and this week's mini camp on packers dot com.

525
00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:44,760
Speaker 1: We will have one more unscripted show for you later

526
00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:49,320
Speaker 1: this week before we take a break from these chairs

527
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:52,320
Speaker 1: and then come back for training camp. So for Wes,

528
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:54,760
Speaker 1: I am Mike, thank you for tuning in. Everybody, we

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00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:56,000
Speaker 1: will see excit