Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford. He is my
Speaker 1: trusted colleague Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you from different
Speaker 1: locations here at lambeau Field and Wes, let's just dive
Speaker 1: right into it. As members of the media, we are
Speaker 1: getting access to the Packers assistant coaches on various days
Speaker 1: throughout this week, with OTAs beginning next week. And I
Speaker 1: want to start right away with the story that you
Speaker 1: wrote after the media availability on Tuesday of the Packers
Speaker 1: coordinators and specifically with regard to Joe Berry and the
Speaker 1: Packers defense, because we talked on a previous show when
Speaker 1: Kenny Clark had spoken to the media on the same
Speaker 1: day that Aaron Jones and Jordan Love did. We talked
Speaker 1: about how Kenny Clark was not shying away from the
Speaker 1: expectations that there will be for this Packers defense with
Speaker 1: adding another first round pick to now there will be
Speaker 1: eight first round picks first round draft picks for the
Speaker 1: Packers on that side of the ball, and the fact
Speaker 1: that the defense did not live up to for the
Speaker 1: first half three quarters of the season last year, did
Speaker 1: not live up to the expectations that everyone had. Those
Speaker 1: expectations are back in place. Kenny Clark was not backing
Speaker 1: down from them. Joe Barry was not backing down from
Speaker 1: them either.
Speaker 2: No. I think that's the idea here for the Packers
Speaker 2: defense is that they understand what the expectations are going
Speaker 2: to be this season and in how high that they're
Speaker 2: going to have to rise to. The one thing that
Speaker 2: was interesting, we had this little bit of an I
Speaker 2: don't want to call it an awkward exchange, but you know,
Speaker 2: Mark Daniels wanted to play some some word play stuff,
Speaker 2: and I don't think Joe was quite on the same
Speaker 2: wavelength with them at the press conference, but it ended
Speaker 2: up eliciting a pretty good quote though from Joe Barry
Speaker 2: and talking about, you know, it doesn't matter if they
Speaker 2: have eight first round picks or the entire defense is
Speaker 2: seventh rounders. The expectations are always going to be high
Speaker 2: in Green Bay and they understand that. So last year
Speaker 2: wasn't what the Packers wanted defensively. It took too long
Speaker 2: to get to where they wanted to be, and actually
Speaker 2: I think a lot of it ended up being out
Speaker 2: of necessity. The adjustments that they made. They lose Eric Stokes,
Speaker 2: they lose Rashan Gary. You have to start trailing and
Speaker 2: traveling jyr Alexander around the secondary. You have to push
Speaker 2: Rasseul Douglas outside. And I think some of the concepts
Speaker 2: that they worked inside worked for them better down the stretch.
Speaker 2: That one stat I dug up Mike where the Packers
Speaker 2: were at giving up one hundred and fifty four rushing
Speaker 2: yards per game in the first twelve contests and then
Speaker 2: only one hundred the last month of the season in December,
Speaker 2: when you typically see more rushing offense become prevalent in
Speaker 2: the league. I think that told you where they went.
Speaker 2: And also getting back DeAndre Campbell down the stretch I
Speaker 2: think helped as well. So coming out this year, it's
Speaker 2: all about getting off to a faster start. It's all
Speaker 2: about setting a quicker tempo, and the Packers need to
Speaker 2: be able to do that because now you don't have
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers, you don't have that experience on the offensive
Speaker 2: side of the ball. You're going to have a unit
Speaker 2: that you expect to be better at the end of
Speaker 2: the season. But right out of the gate, the one
Speaker 2: known commodity for this football team is its defense and
Speaker 2: it needs to play to that level.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I thought Joe Berry very much reiterated a
Speaker 1: discussion that we had had. Maybe it was a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago. I can't remember for sure if it
Speaker 1: was pre draft or post draft, but a discussion we
Speaker 1: had had with regard to the defense, where the fans
Speaker 1: are always asking, well, is this going to be a
Speaker 1: top five or a top ten defense? And that's not
Speaker 1: how That's not really what's important. What's important when you
Speaker 1: look back at last year is how much the defense
Speaker 1: went through this roller coaster, this peaks and valleys of
Speaker 1: some really good play and then things would really fall
Speaker 1: off and then they would rise back up again. And
Speaker 1: Joe Berry talked about finding a level of consistency. There's
Speaker 1: no such thing as, as you know, saying, Okay, every
Speaker 1: single game, the Packers are going to give up seventeen
Speaker 1: points and that's it. Like, that's not how it works.
Speaker 1: That's not what's meant by consistency. But it's about smoothing
Speaker 1: out those peaks and valleys in the play, finding a
Speaker 1: level of play that that can be relied upon, that
Speaker 1: that can can be more consistent. Because the other two
Speaker 1: phases of this team, the offense and the special teams
Speaker 1: are gonna need something to rely on from the defense.
Speaker 1: And I thought that was really the crux of Joe
Speaker 1: Berry's message, that you know, they went back looking at
Speaker 1: everything in terms of how the defense played last year
Speaker 1: and they are done now looking in the rearview mirror.
Speaker 1: It's about looking for but when they did study it
Speaker 1: earlier in the offseason, it was about, yeah, there were
Speaker 1: some stretches of really really good defensive play, but then
Speaker 1: it wasn't sustainable. And then when things fell off, they
Speaker 1: fell off considerably, and and those those peaks and valleys
Speaker 1: need to be smoothed out. And that's what Joe Berry,
Speaker 1: all of his assistants, the leaders on the defense, the
Speaker 1: Kenny Clarks and the Preston Smiths and the Rashaun Garys
Speaker 1: when he's back jyr Alexander, that's what those guys have
Speaker 1: to figure out, is to smooth things out with this
Speaker 1: group so that everybody knows what they can count on well.
Speaker 2: And I think a good example that too, Mike, was
Speaker 2: that game in Philadelphia, because we all knew that challenge
Speaker 2: it was going to be trying to stop Jalen Hurts
Speaker 2: in that offense, and then he comes right out of
Speaker 2: the gate and has like one hundred and thirty one
Speaker 2: rushing yards in the first quarter. They give a five
Speaker 2: hundred for the game, forty points a season high in
Speaker 2: that matchup, and yet they still almost found a way
Speaker 2: to claw themselves back into it late with Jordan Love
Speaker 2: at quarterback. So probably the best example of defense I
Speaker 2: think in my mind is what Aaron Glenn did with
Speaker 2: Detroit last season. Detroit statistically was not a good unit,
Speaker 2: but if you watch them against the Packers both at
Speaker 2: Ford Field and then in that finale at lambeau Field,
Speaker 2: you wouldn't have known that they put together an effort
Speaker 2: to stop Aaron Rodgers in this offense. That's where the Packers'
Speaker 2: defense needs to get to. The teams that you want
Speaker 2: to dominate, put together a strong performance, give you guys
Speaker 2: a chance. But when you play a team that maybe
Speaker 2: you're not supposed to show up well against, maybe a
Speaker 2: team like in Kansas City and December, how do you
Speaker 2: respond I felt down the stretch, the Packers responded a
Speaker 2: lot better to that, looking at that performance they had
Speaker 2: on Rismas Day against Miami. Obviously, the job they did
Speaker 2: against Minnesota a week later. That's going to be the
Speaker 2: key for them, As you mentioned, getting things even and
Speaker 2: also understanding situationally. The Packers have to do a better
Speaker 2: job this year the red zone. They actually were pretty
Speaker 2: good on third downs last year, but four downs they
Speaker 2: were like thirty twenty third in the league. I think
Speaker 2: it was being able to win situationally. Stopping the run
Speaker 2: is going to be key, especially early on when you
Speaker 2: have to replace Dean Lowry and also Jaron Reid. It's
Speaker 2: so many different things, Mike, It's all these different organisms
Speaker 2: coming into the same sort of body of a season
Speaker 2: that they have to get going in the right direction
Speaker 2: because consistently, that's probably what was the biggest piece that
Speaker 2: was missing for them in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I thought it was interesting in regards to
Speaker 1: that consistency message because that is essentially the same message
Speaker 1: that's being delivered in terms of what the Packers are
Speaker 1: looking for in what appears to be a wide open
Speaker 1: competition at safety for the starting job. Alongside Darnell Savage,
Speaker 1: the Packers they've signed two free agents to various more
Speaker 1: Jonathan Owens. You have Rudy Ford coming back, you have
Speaker 1: a seventh round draft pick in Anthony Johnson Junior. You
Speaker 1: have a lot of guys that are gonna be in
Speaker 1: the mix for that starting spot at safety, and it
Speaker 1: seems like what they're looking for is a consistent, you know,
Speaker 1: even even keel steady performer. Not coincidentally, they're looking to
Speaker 1: replace Adrian Amos, and that's exactly what he was right like,
Speaker 1: they they don't want to take a step back there,
Speaker 1: and obviously we know part of the reason that Adrian
Speaker 1: Amos isn't back is the Packers have some salary cap
Speaker 1: considerations and Adrian Amos's price is going to be higher
Speaker 1: than some of these other free agents that they've signed,
Speaker 1: so they're they're up against it there. But they're looking
Speaker 1: to replace Adrian Amos with a very very similar player,
Speaker 1: a player that can be relied upon, who can make
Speaker 1: the calls, who's going to get people in the right position.
Speaker 1: And it's going to take all of OTA's, all of
Speaker 1: training camp, all the preseason to sort this out because
Speaker 1: when the question was asked, I believe it was asked
Speaker 1: of Greg Williams, the new defensive passing game coordinator, when
Speaker 1: do you need to know who the other starting safety is?
Speaker 1: And he was like, well, when do we go to
Speaker 1: Chicago for Week one? I mean that's they just have
Speaker 1: to get it figured out by then. But they will
Speaker 1: use all the time necessary to get it figured out
Speaker 1: because that is really the one true starting spot that
Speaker 1: is open as this offseason continues.
Speaker 2: Well, and you have to find those answers too, because
Speaker 2: I don't want to, you know, put it through anybody's
Speaker 2: name under the bus. But I think back to twenty
Speaker 2: twelve when they transitioned away from you know, Charles Woodson.
Speaker 2: They had John McMillan, m D. Jennings, and I give
Speaker 2: my credit to both of those guys for the job
Speaker 2: they did. But it just you can tell when you
Speaker 2: don't have that position filled on the back end, kind
Speaker 2: of the domino effect it can have on things. The
Speaker 2: next year, obviously, Mike Hyde transitioned back. They drafted Haja
Speaker 2: Clinton Dixon the first round. The difference here with what
Speaker 2: the Packers are doing is it's a very veteran Leyden Garup.
Speaker 2: I mean, Rudy Ford has started games in this league.
Speaker 2: Jonathan Owens played nine hundred and sixty snaps last year,
Speaker 2: started all seventeen games, one hundred and twenty five tackles
Speaker 2: for the Houston Texans last season. They have guys that
Speaker 2: they can, you know, potentially look towards ta various more.
Speaker 1: Various more started I believe it was started eight games
Speaker 1: in the COVID season in yes, twenty twenty for the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers, and then in twenty twenty one he
Speaker 1: ends up blowing out his his achilles in the offseason
Speaker 1: or during training camp, I can't remember which, but ends
Speaker 1: up missing all of twenty twenty one when he was
Speaker 1: coming off of a season when he had started half
Speaker 1: the game. So this is this is a young player
Speaker 1: who still maybe hasn't quite necessarily reached his peak in
Speaker 1: the NFL either in athletically.
Speaker 2: I mean a lot of potential there. This is a
Speaker 2: former third round pick for the San Francisco forty nine ers.
Speaker 2: So and then you also got guys like in this
Speaker 2: games coming back too. There are so many different players
Speaker 2: that could potentially compete for that. But before we close
Speaker 2: out the point, Mike, I just want to say, ultimately,
Speaker 2: the guy that the Packers are going to be looking
Speaker 2: towards the most though, is Darnell Savage. He's the guy
Speaker 2: that is the fifth year veteran. Now he's the former
Speaker 2: first round pick Darnell Savage is going to be put
Speaker 2: in a place to really thrive this season. He's going
Speaker 2: to be the man on the back end. He's going
Speaker 2: to be one of the big communicators for them. I
Speaker 2: know last year there were some peaks and valleys to that.
Speaker 2: He was in the lineup, he was out of the lineup,
Speaker 2: he was in the slot, he was on the back end.
Speaker 2: This offseason, it's going to be the Darnell Savage show there.
Speaker 2: And whoever it is that ends up lining up next
Speaker 2: to him, creating that team work together, creating that that
Speaker 2: camaraderie is going to be critical. I'm very interested to
Speaker 2: see what training camp looks like and obviously seeing how
Speaker 2: they take the approach to with the preseason. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Well, I want to get to some of the
Speaker 1: other coaches we heard from as well. But first, a
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Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Well, we also on Tuesday, when the coordinator spoke, we
Speaker 1: also heard from Adam Stenovich and Rich Basacia. A couple
Speaker 1: of things with Stenovich that really stood out to me.
Speaker 1: One he talked about how there is going to be
Speaker 1: competition on the offensive line through this offseason, through training camp.
Speaker 1: He mentioned, you know, right tackle and right guard and
Speaker 1: possibly center, competition developing there at those spots. So where
Speaker 1: the Packers ended last season with Josh Myers at center,
Speaker 1: John Runyon at right guard, Yosh Niemen at right tackle,
Speaker 1: that's not necessarily how things are going to look in
Speaker 1: Week one because there's a young fourth round draft pick
Speaker 1: from a year ago named Zach Tom out of Wake Forest.
Speaker 1: Who is who's going to challenge for starting spot on
Speaker 1: this offensive line. We're just not sure yet exactly maybe
Speaker 1: which spot he's going to make the strongest push.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Tom is the number one guy I have my
Speaker 2: eye on this season because for that very reason, Mike,
Speaker 2: I mean, it is not easy to come in and
Speaker 2: play right away as a rookie in the National Football
Speaker 2: League on the offensive line. You and I have seen
Speaker 2: it time and time again. Tom not only did that,
Speaker 2: he did it at a moment's notice. He did it
Speaker 2: at various different positions that game against Washington. That reminds me.
Speaker 2: I said this to you when we were in the
Speaker 2: press box at FedEx State at FedEx Field. It reminded
Speaker 2: me of what J. C. Tredder did. Thinking back into
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen when they needed him to play left tackle.
Speaker 2: He hadn't been a left tackle since college, but yet
Speaker 2: he rose up to that and he played to that level. Zach.
Speaker 2: Tom proved a lot of things to me, and I
Speaker 2: think more than anything, what he showed was given a
Speaker 2: full offseason. We haven't seen Zach. We don't know what
Speaker 2: he looks like, we don't know how all the stuff
Speaker 2: went for him. But given a full offseason to continue
Speaker 2: to grow, I just expect him to compete for a
Speaker 2: starting spots and honestly, when Week one comes around, I
Speaker 2: would not be surprised at all to see him in
Speaker 2: the lineup because I think he can compete at right guard.
Speaker 2: I think he can compete at right tackle. You know,
Speaker 2: Yash Naimen's back on the tender, but still I think
Speaker 2: that's going to be a healthy competition, and as Stenovich said,
Speaker 2: it could even be at center, you know, with Josh Myers.
Speaker 2: I mean, they want to put together the best five possible.
Speaker 2: And at this time the only thing that is for
Speaker 2: certain is that you're going to have a five time
Speaker 2: All Pro left tackle and David Baktiari and a two
Speaker 2: time Pro Bowl left guard in Elton Jenkins, and then
Speaker 2: kind of the rest is to be determined. But I
Speaker 2: love the fact I said this time and time again,
Speaker 2: draft one in the first round if you feel like
Speaker 2: there's a big ten year starter there. If there's not,
Speaker 2: you got twelve guys coming back, Mike, give those guys
Speaker 2: an opportunity to perform and see what they can do. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And the Packers have a lot of guys quite
Speaker 1: frankly at that played a lot of tackle in college.
Speaker 1: You know, Rashid Walker was a seventh round draft pick.
Speaker 1: Last year, you picked up Luke Tanuda, who was I
Speaker 1: forget exactly which team had draft to him, Buffalo, six
Speaker 1: round Buffalo, that's right, a sixth round pick there for
Speaker 1: the Bills. So those those guys, you know, maybe they're
Speaker 1: you know, going to try to push things at right tackle.
Speaker 1: But then you're also looking at You're looking at backup
Speaker 1: spots right on both sides as far as left tackle
Speaker 1: and right tackle. So there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: competition across that offensive line. Go ahead.
Speaker 2: I was just gonna say too, the size of these
Speaker 2: guys to Nuda Caleb Jones at six foot nine Jones Jones.
Speaker 1: Jones is the other one. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I remember Mike and the off season program four years
Speaker 2: ago when when Yash got here for the first time
Speaker 2: and seeing them when we were in the locker room
Speaker 2: talking to some of the rookies and I'm like, holy cow,
Speaker 2: that kid is really big. And then now you see
Speaker 2: you know, Caleb, and especially him putting himself into shape
Speaker 2: he was out at the end of last season. The
Speaker 2: Packers feel like they obviously feel like they can coach
Speaker 2: pad level because they are getting some skyscrapers at those
Speaker 2: tackle positions.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, that's it's it's going to be interesting to
Speaker 1: see when it comes to, you know, trying to follow
Speaker 1: the depth chart through now. I mean, we'll obviously watch
Speaker 1: the depth chart during OTAs, but it becomes a little
Speaker 1: bit more serious in training camp and when you're looking
Speaker 1: at those preseason games in terms of you know, at
Speaker 1: what stage are our guys getting reps? Are they in
Speaker 1: there with the first unit, the second unit, you know,
Speaker 1: all of all that kind of stuff. The other thing
Speaker 1: I thought that was interesting, and this is something that
Speaker 1: will be maybe a thread worth following through the course
Speaker 1: of this first season with Jordan Love as the starting quarterback.
Speaker 1: Is Is Stenovich made a really interesting comment with regard
Speaker 1: to two tight end sets, which is also called twelve personnel,
Speaker 1: the one two one being one running back, two tight ends,
Speaker 1: so that it's called twelve personnel. When you have two
Speaker 1: tight ends on the field, that sometimes that can force
Speaker 1: defenses to essentially play their base defense because the offense
Speaker 1: has five offensive linemen and two tight ends out there.
Speaker 1: So you can't get quite as creative with you know,
Speaker 1: extra defensive backs or different you know, straight pass rush packages,
Speaker 1: you know, things like that. You have to stick with
Speaker 1: the base defense and then you have to react. And
Speaker 1: when a defense has to stick with its with its
Speaker 1: base personnel, sometimes that can simplify the reads. That can
Speaker 1: that can because it can limit the options of what
Speaker 1: the defense might do in a given situation. That can
Speaker 1: that can break things down a little bit easier for
Speaker 1: a young quarterback. Now the Packers, they're going into this
Speaker 1: now with Josiah Deguara, Tyler Davis, and the two draft
Speaker 1: picks as the top four tight ends on the depth
Speaker 1: chart right now. Not a whole lot of experience there.
Speaker 1: I mean, Josiah Deguara has has probably played more tight
Speaker 1: end in regular season games than any of them, and
Speaker 1: he hasn't necessarily been a you know, seven hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty nine hundred and fifty snap kind of guy. So
Speaker 1: there's a lot to there's a lot to sword out
Speaker 1: there at tight end. But that comment about wanting, you know,
Speaker 1: to potentially get two tight ends on the field and
Speaker 1: then see how the defense reacts and put Jordan Love
Speaker 1: in that position, I found that very interesting and it
Speaker 1: will be, uh, it'll be worth following to see if
Speaker 1: the Packers can execute that the way they seem to
Speaker 1: want to for their young starting quarterback.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And the number one thing too to follow with
Speaker 2: that is it kind of helps you remember even some
Speaker 2: of the stuff they did with Mercedes Lewis. And as
Speaker 2: much as I love Sades, it's not like he was
Speaker 2: just completely like shaking guys out of their boots, you know,
Speaker 2: on routes and cuts. I mean, it was some of
Speaker 2: the stuff that they were disguising with him. Teams would
Speaker 2: take him for granted and they would be able to
Speaker 2: get some touchdown opportunities off of it, some big play opportunities,
Speaker 2: just for the fact that you know, he sometimes would
Speaker 2: leak out if you try to sell too quickly on
Speaker 2: the run. That's the beauty of it, if you know
Speaker 2: Luke Musgrave and also Tucker Craft can can master that.
Speaker 2: Aspect of the blocking game is that now everything when
Speaker 2: you think about run action and things of that nature,
Speaker 2: it all is out there for them. Who's blocking, who's
Speaker 2: who's going out for pass routes, Where is Josiah Deguara
Speaker 2: in the alignments? If they do some three tight end work.
Speaker 2: There are so many different ways to build things. And
Speaker 2: when you talk about having a young receiving core, yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean the Packers hope that, you know, Jaden Reid
Speaker 2: is ready right off the bat. They hope that Samori
Speaker 2: two ray you know, makes a big jump. But it
Speaker 2: could be a situation too where they run more traditional
Speaker 2: two receiver looks. Maybe you're not seeing as much of
Speaker 2: the four, you know, receiver spreads with Robert Tunyan out there,
Speaker 2: that's the that's sort of the wild card in this.
Speaker 2: I just feel like when you are young, when you
Speaker 2: don't know maybe what you do best, yet your best
Speaker 2: card to play is going to be being able to
Speaker 2: mix things up. And I look at this depth chart
Speaker 2: both at receiver and tight end and even to a
Speaker 2: certain extent the running backs with what you know AJ
Speaker 2: Dillon and Aaron Jones can do as pass catchers. Is
Speaker 2: giving Matt Lafleur a full entree of what he could
Speaker 2: potentially attack a defense with this season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and moving on with regard to to special teams,
Speaker 1: I just have I just have to touch on this
Speaker 1: because it made me smile when we heard when we
Speaker 1: heard from Rich Pasaci. And we've talked on previous shows
Speaker 1: about this whole connection obviously with Bisaccia and Daniel Carlson,
Speaker 1: who's the older brother of Andres Carlson, the kicker from
Speaker 1: Auburn the Packers drafted in the sixth round. The connection
Speaker 1: actually goes all the way back to the recruiting visit
Speaker 1: to the Carlson home when Daniel Carlson was looking to
Speaker 1: get a college scholarship and Rich Bisaccio he called it,
Speaker 1: he had a cup of coffee with Auburn. He wasn't
Speaker 1: working there very long, but he happened to be the
Speaker 1: guy to do the home visit to the Carlson household
Speaker 1: and that's when he actually first met Anders Carlson. And
Speaker 1: we're not even sure if Anders necessarily remembers that he
Speaker 1: might have just been playing to follow that, Yeah, might
Speaker 1: have just been playing video games that night of the
Speaker 1: of the visit. But the reason I bring it up
Speaker 1: is I thought it was I thought it was a
Speaker 1: pretty entertaining little story. But it also just illustrates sometimes
Speaker 1: how small a world this, this this world of highlight football,
Speaker 1: you know, Division one and into the NFL, How small
Speaker 1: a world it can be that here, however, many moons ago,
Speaker 1: that that Rich Bisacci was actually in Anders Carlson's house
Speaker 1: when Anders Carlson was you know, a teenager, you know,
Speaker 1: a young teenager. And now that's the kicker that the
Speaker 1: Packers drafted in the sixth round and is a guy
Speaker 1: they're going to look at to potentially replace the franchisees
Speaker 1: all time leading scorer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how hilarious is that too? I mean, you look
Speaker 2: at Auburn, they got a whole decade of Carlson's there,
Speaker 2: you know, with what Daniel did, and then I believe
Speaker 2: correct me if I'm wrong here. I think Anders was
Speaker 2: a red shirt during Daniel's senior season. There is all
Speaker 2: American seasons. So those guys, both six foot six, both
Speaker 2: over two hundred pounds. I mean, they are true athletes.
Speaker 2: And as Rich Bassaci talked about, you know, their dad
Speaker 2: a really good tennis player as well that had some
Speaker 2: length and athleticism to them. That that's the interesting aspect
Speaker 2: of this when you get those long levered specialists, there's
Speaker 2: a lot of natural power there. And I think the
Speaker 2: other thing to look up too, and we've talked about
Speaker 2: it numerous times now, but when Daniel Carlson comes out
Speaker 2: of the gate, things don't necessarily go well for him
Speaker 2: in Minnesota. Obviously had a very very forgettable game here
Speaker 2: at Lambellfield that ultimately led to him landing getting cut
Speaker 2: by the Vikings and landing with the Raiders. It was
Speaker 2: understanding the bumps that are going to come along with
Speaker 2: having a rookie, and Rich Bassacia is embracing that he
Speaker 2: understands it, and he's also said, I mean, it really
Speaker 2: is about helping walk those guys through that and helping
Speaker 2: them make the corrections too so many times. And I'm
Speaker 2: not saying this has necessarily been a big problem in
Speaker 2: Green Bay, but I know in the National Football League
Speaker 2: it can be like this. You know, special teams coordinators
Speaker 2: are so much about the coverages and the return teams
Speaker 2: and you're thinking of the big eleven that sometimes they
Speaker 2: can leave the specialists on an island of their own.
Speaker 2: The one thing I've learned about Basachi and also Byron
Speaker 2: Storer is how hands on they are. Last year with
Speaker 2: Jack Coco, Byron Storer was there with Coco from the
Speaker 2: very beginning in until the very end, and they're going
Speaker 2: to do the same thing now. Would be our hatcher here. Obviously,
Speaker 2: as we talked about before, Matt Orzick has been in
Speaker 2: the league now for a number of years. They are
Speaker 2: building this next specialist group together, and Andres Carlson and
Speaker 2: how he grows into that this season is gonna be
Speaker 2: a big part of it. Certainly have to tip your
Speaker 2: hat to to Parker White is also on this roster.
Speaker 2: He's in that competition as well. But as the Packers
Speaker 2: look to take that next step here potentially without Mason Crosby,
Speaker 2: although as Bisachi said, you never know those doors stay open.
Speaker 2: You do want to give Anders an opportunity to make
Speaker 2: this position his own, show that he can do it
Speaker 2: at this level. And when you invest a sixth round
Speaker 2: pick into a guy, much like the Packers did with
Speaker 2: Mason in two thousand and seven, you want to be
Speaker 2: able to see his true potential reveal itself. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I think that that's going to be another storyline
Speaker 1: to follow all through OTAs and training camp leading up
Speaker 1: to Week one. One last thing I want to touch
Speaker 1: on before we go. I mentioned the new defensive passing
Speaker 1: game coordinator earlier, Greg Williams. He's replacing Jerry Gray who
Speaker 1: left for a position with the Atlanta Falcons. And you
Speaker 1: had brought this up or had mentioned it in the
Speaker 1: five things to Know about Greg Williams that was posted
Speaker 1: on our website when he was hired. And it's the
Speaker 1: story of how his coaching career actually got started. And
Speaker 1: it's quite a story, and I'll let you tell the
Speaker 1: cliffs notes version of it.
Speaker 2: How many times do you go out of a mall
Speaker 2: or out of some kind of event and you see
Speaker 2: the flyers on your windshield, like, gosh darn it, now,
Speaker 2: I got to actually take this thing off, or in
Speaker 2: a couple occasions, I even drove away with those things
Speaker 2: without noticing it. Well, that's what happened with Greg Williams
Speaker 2: while he was playing in the Arena Football League a
Speaker 2: long long time ago. They actually had a like basically
Speaker 2: just to put out some flyers for coaches and trying
Speaker 2: to build up some youth programs, and he decided, hey,
Speaker 2: you know what might be a good opportunity for me.
Speaker 2: He absolutely fell in love with it, understood that this
Speaker 2: was probably the end of his athletic career individually, and
Speaker 2: started to look at the coaching aspect of things. He
Speaker 2: ended up taking advantage of that opportunity, and it was
Speaker 2: sort of his foot into the door. I mean, obviously
Speaker 2: a lot of quality control jobs and things that led
Speaker 2: him eventually down the line. But the fact that he
Speaker 2: ended up this all started for him in Arizona when
Speaker 2: I believe he was with the Arizona Rattlers. The fact
Speaker 2: that he ended up then being the cornerbacks coach of
Speaker 2: the Arizona Cardinals, I think is the coolest aspect of
Speaker 2: that story too. Starting off with a flyer looking for
Speaker 2: people to coach, I forgot what the age level was
Speaker 2: if it was like middle school, but looking.
Speaker 1: At it, he said, he said it was. He said
Speaker 1: it was like nine and ten year olds. It was
Speaker 1: young people like yeah, nine and ten year olds in
Speaker 1: like a YMCA basketball league. Now most of us, you know,
Speaker 1: we get involved in coaching in that regard because our
Speaker 1: kids are in it, right. So, like, you sign up
Speaker 1: to be an assistant coach and you're there and you
Speaker 1: do your part to help out the program. He didn't,
Speaker 1: He didn't have kids. He was he was a guy
Speaker 1: who was just, you know, figure trying to figure out
Speaker 1: what his next phase of life was going to be
Speaker 1: as playing football was wrapping up. So he decides, okay,
Speaker 1: I'll go coach a bunch of nine and ten year
Speaker 1: olds in basketball, and they made it to the championship game.
Speaker 1: He said, they ended up losing. They ended up losing
Speaker 1: the championship. But obviously, you know, right out of the gate,
Speaker 1: he had some he had some coaching prowess there, and
Speaker 1: and you know it went from there. I absolutely love
Speaker 1: the story. I think it's I think it's it's tremendous
Speaker 1: and it'll be it'll be fun to get to know
Speaker 1: him here while he's coaching in Green Bay.
Speaker 2: And a cool thing for him to the NFL Accelerator
Speaker 2: Program in Minneapolis. He's going to be representing the Packers
Speaker 2: at that, a venture that was put together by the
Speaker 2: league trying to promote some minority coaching candidates into potentially
Speaker 2: being able to grow their careers and potentially also head
Speaker 2: coaching opportunities DOWNLNE. He'll get that opportunity. I really enjoyed
Speaker 2: our interaction with Greg Williams. I think it lasted like
Speaker 2: ten twelve minutes whatever it was first time we had
Speaker 2: a chance to talk to him. And now is going
Speaker 2: to be the individual working with Jyry, Alexander Rasul, Douglass
Speaker 2: and the rest of that room now going into twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and one of the guys figuring out along with
Speaker 1: Ryan Downer, the defensive backs coach, along with Joe Berry,
Speaker 1: figuring out that that safety competition that we talked about
Speaker 1: and who's going to who's going to line up where
Speaker 1: and uh and uh. That'll be one of the big
Speaker 1: storylines here throughout the spring and summer. So with that,
Speaker 1: we will call it a wrap on this edition of
Speaker 1: Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage
Speaker 1: of the team. It's continuing every day. We have content
Speaker 1: for you on packers dot com for Wes, I am Mike.
Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in everybody. We will see you
Speaker 1: next time.