Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford and he is Wes Hodkowits were
Speaker 1: coming to you here from our studios at lambeau Field
Speaker 1: and West as we continue to review the Packers two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight teen draft, I want to get to
Speaker 1: a few of those Day three picks that we haven't
Speaker 1: had a chance to discuss yet. And I want to
Speaker 1: start on the offensive line because we had talked about
Speaker 1: if there's one thing that's a guarantee, because Ted Thompson
Speaker 1: did it in twelve out of his thirteen drafts, it's
Speaker 1: that the Packers are going to take at least one
Speaker 1: offensive lineman, and they did in selecting Cole Madison from
Speaker 1: Washington State in the fifth Round's actually a three and
Speaker 1: a half year starter at right tackle, but the Packers
Speaker 1: are projecting him as a hard at least that's where
Speaker 1: they want to start him out. What do you know
Speaker 1: about Madison? And certainly the Packers track record here with
Speaker 1: taking tackles and making them guards is pretty good. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And it sounded like this wasn't a secret. Everyone in
Speaker 1: the NFL was kind of looking at him as a
Speaker 1: guard I think he said the St. Louis Rams, excuse me,
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Rams were the only team that really we're
Speaker 1: talking to Hi about tackle now. The one thing he
Speaker 1: gives you, though, with that background, is some line versatility
Speaker 1: if you need to use them in a pinch. But
Speaker 1: I think it appears interial be his concentration. What do
Speaker 1: we know about him? He has a luscious mane of hair.
Speaker 1: And it was funny he mentioned it that he actually
Speaker 1: got a trim the week before the draft, before that
Speaker 1: he hadn't had it cut since before prom in high school.
Speaker 1: The guy was at Washington stayed for a long time.
Speaker 1: I mean, pretty big beard, just a big character. And
Speaker 1: if you look at it, though, Michael, whether it's the hair,
Speaker 1: whether it's the beard. Packers have had some success finding
Speaker 1: really good offensive lineman in the draft through the middle
Speaker 1: rounds with those credentials, and now Cole Madison hopes to
Speaker 1: be the next one. Yeah, and this conversion from college
Speaker 1: offensive tackle to NFL guard or I should just say
Speaker 1: NFL interior player. The Packers have done it with multiple guys,
Speaker 1: Josh Sitting and T. J. Lang also j C. Treader.
Speaker 1: He was a He was a tackle at Cornell, and
Speaker 1: became more of an interior guy in the NFL. Although
Speaker 1: all those guys you know still actually I think all
Speaker 1: three of them have not mistaken filled in at tackle
Speaker 1: in a pinch during during their NFL career with the Packers.
Speaker 1: So um with Madison here, So as we talked about
Speaker 1: before the draft, a lot of uncertainty, a lot of
Speaker 1: open competition, you might say, for where the Packers are
Speaker 1: at right guard and right tackle for team Brian Balaga's injury.
Speaker 1: Week one is ten months away from his injury. He's
Speaker 1: obviously gonna do everything he can to get back. You
Speaker 1: have no guarantees there. Um. At right guard, Jarry Evans
Speaker 1: remains unsigned. He was the starting right guard for the
Speaker 1: majority of last year. I don't know how you see it, West.
Speaker 1: When I look at where things are right now, I
Speaker 1: kind of see Cole Madison and Lucas Patrick competing at
Speaker 1: right guard. I see Jason Spriggs and Kyle Murphy competing
Speaker 1: at right tackle. I'm just not sure which one Justin
Speaker 1: McCray is going to be competing for. You have any
Speaker 1: read or any sense on that. Well, here's the first thing, Mike,
Speaker 1: the fact that Packers didn't address the tackle situation then obviously,
Speaker 1: Brian Goodkin said afterwards they figured that Brian Balagan is
Speaker 1: going to be in the team's plans. A lot to
Speaker 1: figure out, but but they're obviously very hopeful to have
Speaker 1: him back and play, and certainly a guy that's played
Speaker 1: an extemplary level when he has been healthy. But in
Speaker 1: the interim here, especially during the offseason program, I think
Speaker 1: that's where these things are gonna start to sort themselves out.
Speaker 1: Who's that next guy up, Who's going to be the
Speaker 1: guy that really grabs that opportunity? Uh, you look at
Speaker 1: the right guard position. To me, I I still feel
Speaker 1: like justin mccraige's best position as guard, I thought he
Speaker 1: did a phenomenal job given what you had to work
Speaker 1: with the play right tackle last year and having to
Speaker 1: move around the line the way he did, that's really valuable.
Speaker 1: But Lucas Patrick is there as well. How are Jason
Speaker 1: Spriggs and Kyle Murphy gonna come back after their injuries.
Speaker 1: I thought Murphy did a great job those first three
Speaker 1: weeks of the season, especially having to play a little
Speaker 1: bit of left tackle. Spriggs has had his moments as well.
Speaker 1: I just think it's gonna be a really good competition, Mike,
Speaker 1: and I think the best battles when you look at him,
Speaker 1: regardless of position during training camp, are the ones where
Speaker 1: you get a bunch of guys with different types of
Speaker 1: skill sets, different makeups, different body types, but yet the
Speaker 1: skill levels pretty much all on par Who's going to
Speaker 1: be the guy that steps out in front of that?
Speaker 1: You know, James camp and has not spoken to the
Speaker 1: media yet since these moves were made, but I have
Speaker 1: to imagine he's pretty happy because he has a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys that are talented with some versatility there to
Speaker 1: figure out how exactly they want to play things out
Speaker 1: on the right side. Yeah, and bolaga situation is going
Speaker 1: to play into that considerably. Mike McCarthy after the draft
Speaker 1: was asked, you know, what's the update on Bulaga? No
Speaker 1: specifics given other than that in his recovery from another
Speaker 1: a c L injury here he is ahead of schedule.
Speaker 1: All the reports have been positive. McCarthy made it very
Speaker 1: clear though that where he is at the beginning of
Speaker 1: training camp will be the telltale sign, and I took
Speaker 1: that to mean obviously at the getting a training camp
Speaker 1: is when you have to decide with injured players whether
Speaker 1: they go on PUP or whether they stay active. And
Speaker 1: if that decision is made to put him on PUP,
Speaker 1: then that keeps him out a minimum of the first
Speaker 1: six weeks of the regular season. If they feel like
Speaker 1: he's going to be ready in the early stages of
Speaker 1: the regular season, then they won't put him on pup,
Speaker 1: even if he's not necessarily practicing right away. So that
Speaker 1: start of training camp is really going to be potentially
Speaker 1: decision time on blog. Yeah, blog is shown too. I mean,
Speaker 1: he can jump back in there and doesn't really show
Speaker 1: much ring rust at all. He's done. He's done it
Speaker 1: before the worst times he played at a high level
Speaker 1: in spite of, you know, having to deal with some
Speaker 1: stuff in the past. I just think, you know, he
Speaker 1: is you know, he's twenty nine years old, so I'm
Speaker 1: sure he really does want to be a part of
Speaker 1: the off season program. But he's been through this before. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think for young guys like a Cole Madison, even
Speaker 1: these these tackles Spriggs and Murphy now, but in the
Speaker 1: league for two years, those reps are gonna be so valuable,
Speaker 1: you know, throughout o t a s, throughout mini camp,
Speaker 1: throughout training camp. To be able to get that workload in.
Speaker 1: Even you know, a guy like Justin mccraie, who was
Speaker 1: a street free agent last year, really at the bottom
Speaker 1: rung of the depth chart when training camp started a
Speaker 1: year ago in working his way up. So for me personally,
Speaker 1: I think that's the most exciting part of this is
Speaker 1: now you add another guy into that reserve of offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: I don't think it was a position you need a
Speaker 1: draft during the first two days, and it looks like
Speaker 1: they found another really good guy to you know, kind
Speaker 1: of harvest and cultivate and develop from those later rounds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: going to be some competitions to keep an eye on
Speaker 1: for sure. With that, we'll go to a break back
Speaker 1: with more on Packers Unscripted right after this Welcome back
Speaker 1: to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford in this chair. West Hodkin
Speaker 1: wits in that one, Okay, West. The Packers went into
Speaker 1: the two thousand and eight teen draft with a few
Speaker 1: positions that were very low priority. I guess you would
Speaker 1: say one was quarterback because of the trade for Deshaun Kaiser,
Speaker 1: one was running back because you drafted three running backs
Speaker 1: a year earlier, and another being defensive line because you
Speaker 1: would signed Mohammed Wilkerson, and you were going to get
Speaker 1: Montravius Adams, a third round pick from a year ago,
Speaker 1: back from essentially essentially an injury type of red shirt season.
Speaker 1: But the Packers did draft one defensive lineman in the
Speaker 1: seventh round and it's James excuse me, James Looney from
Speaker 1: cal A guy. I don't know a heck of a
Speaker 1: lot about him. You had a chance to to write
Speaker 1: a little bit about him. Um, what what did you learn?
Speaker 1: What type of prospect do you think he is? You know,
Speaker 1: I go back to something I thought. Elliott Wolf, the
Speaker 1: Packers former personnel executive who's now with the Cleveland Browns,
Speaker 1: he had such a great point last year during the
Speaker 1: draft because he was asked about what you're looking for
Speaker 1: day three of the draft, and he said, you're looking
Speaker 1: for trades. You're looking for a certain area that a
Speaker 1: guy really stands out above the rest, whether it's a
Speaker 1: play time, ben s, reps, vertical, whatever, something that they
Speaker 1: do exemplary rather than being, you know, kind of pedestrian
Speaker 1: across the board because hang your hat on something. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Because you're dealing with guys that have obvious flaws in
Speaker 1: their game. The thing that stands out to me about Looney,
Speaker 1: and I'm not trying to make any comparisons to Mike
Speaker 1: Daniels here. It's a different type of football player. But
Speaker 1: he said it himself. He sees himself in terms of
Speaker 1: where his upside is, where his ceiling is, as being
Speaker 1: one of those new modern type of defensive tackles. Guys
Speaker 1: that aren't pushing three twenty, aren't the tallest guys in
Speaker 1: the world, but find ways to win those battles in
Speaker 1: the trenches and to get leverage. He was a really
Speaker 1: consistent football player during his time at Cal and he
Speaker 1: was a transfer from Wake Forest, where his brother was
Speaker 1: a standout. His brother now an offensive lineman for the
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys. And he said it himself. In the pre
Speaker 1: draft process, the advice his brother Joe gave him was
Speaker 1: just get in the league. Doesn't matter where your draft.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if you're drafted. It matters that you
Speaker 1: come in and show what you have to offer. It's
Speaker 1: very loaded defensive line right now for the Green Bay Packers,
Speaker 1: especially when you consider that Montrevious Adams is coming back
Speaker 1: off of that foot injury last year. But Looney is
Speaker 1: going to be in a good spot here. And the
Speaker 1: other thing that's interesting as well, consecutive years of the
Speaker 1: Packers have drafted a defensive lineman I think is Ted Thompson.
Speaker 1: To steal his old phrase, God only created so much
Speaker 1: thought so many of those big guys, especially guys with athleticism.
Speaker 1: I think Looney's a guy that touches on that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think when you look at you look at his
Speaker 1: athletic ability, they're certainly worth uh, you know, worth a
Speaker 1: draft pick. There. One of these guys that I think
Speaker 1: his measurable was what to to eighty five somewhere around there,
Speaker 1: and it's one of he's one of these guys that, yeah,
Speaker 1: if if, if he's got the potential, you know, to
Speaker 1: get to say three hundred or three hundred five pounds,
Speaker 1: you have suddenly you have a different type of player
Speaker 1: than the one who was in college. And you know,
Speaker 1: and obviously adding that weight, maybe you lose some athleticism
Speaker 1: and whatnot. But this is a guy who was projected
Speaker 1: as a late round pick and coming from the Pack twelve.
Speaker 1: I mean, they throw the ball a heck of a
Speaker 1: lot in that conference. So this is a guy who
Speaker 1: who certainly did did his share of rushing the passers
Speaker 1: and one thing it was fun too. This is more
Speaker 1: of an off the field thing. But you know, he
Speaker 1: was praised throughout the pre draft process for his personality.
Speaker 1: Has an infectious personality. You really got a feel for
Speaker 1: that during his interview with the media. I mean it
Speaker 1: was kind of the end of the day. I know
Speaker 1: a lot of beat writers retired, but I mean, Looney
Speaker 1: is he is. He's such a gregarious type of you know,
Speaker 1: individual and to be honest with you, I thought, out
Speaker 1: of all the draft picks, he probably had one of
Speaker 1: the most engaging news conferences. It's just that at that
Speaker 1: point of the day, I don't know how many people
Speaker 1: had questions a lot for these guys. You know, they
Speaker 1: just wanted to get write their stories and get home.
Speaker 1: But it was interesting listen to him talk about the
Speaker 1: relationship with his brother and how competitive they were as kids.
Speaker 1: He mentioned broken controllers, you know, with the PlayStation, and
Speaker 1: you know, kind of getting into a little bit of
Speaker 1: scraps with the kids in the neighborhood. There's there's an
Speaker 1: edge to this guy. Probably not an accident that he
Speaker 1: became as the younger brother became the defensive lineman. The
Speaker 1: older brother was the off ffensive lineman there, there's not
Speaker 1: necessarily just coincidence. No absolutely iron sharpening iron. But you know,
Speaker 1: the one thing that stands out to me though, he
Speaker 1: has some interesting traits and I think as NFL dot
Speaker 1: Com and they're scouting report, they praised him for it.
Speaker 1: You know, he has kind of a cool spin move
Speaker 1: for an interior type rusher. Uh. You know, he he
Speaker 1: just s he's a little he's a little unique in
Speaker 1: terms of how he approaches things. He's not just this
Speaker 1: bull rushing guy that's gonna try to overpower you. He
Speaker 1: understands and he even said this, the NFL is a
Speaker 1: tough league. You have to be savvy. You have to
Speaker 1: be able to have your technique where it needs to
Speaker 1: be to win these battles in the trenches. I'm just
Speaker 1: you know, he's a seventh round pick. Wait and see.
Speaker 1: You know they had success in the past. I think
Speaker 1: a Lawrence guy in two thousand eleven. Even though it
Speaker 1: didn't happen in Green Bay, he became a player in
Speaker 1: this league. They know defensive lineman, and this guy obviously
Speaker 1: showed him something they really like. Yeah, Dave Tollison from
Speaker 1: about a decade ago, another seventh round pick, who was
Speaker 1: a defensive lineman went on to to play for a
Speaker 1: couple of other teams for a few years. But with that,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go to a break back with moreen Packers unscripted.
Speaker 1: Right after this, Welcome back to Packers, unscripted. Mike Spofford
Speaker 1: right here, West, Hodko, it's all the way over there West.
Speaker 1: The Packers. Obviously, they addressed a lot of positions in
Speaker 1: this eleven pick draft that they had, but some areas
Speaker 1: that they actually were not able to address, and one
Speaker 1: that a lot of people are talking about is the
Speaker 1: pass rush. I'll be the first to admit I expected
Speaker 1: the Packers to draft a pass rusher earlier than the
Speaker 1: fourth round last year. I expected them to draft an
Speaker 1: edge rusher earlier than the seventh round this year. We
Speaker 1: all know how things go as far as how the
Speaker 1: board falls, in the philosophy and all of that. They're
Speaker 1: not going to reach for a player and this was
Speaker 1: a very thin draft in terms of edge rushers. They
Speaker 1: did select one though, with their final pick, Southeast Missouri
Speaker 1: State Kendall Donerson. And um, again, you talked about what
Speaker 1: Elliott Will said about, you know, finding traits in the
Speaker 1: seventh round. This is a guy with with a heck
Speaker 1: of a lot of measurables, especially the speed. Be interesting
Speaker 1: to see maybe what he can do coming off the edge. Yeah,
Speaker 1: four point eight forty forty vertical guy has a lot
Speaker 1: of athleticism and just a big enough to be an
Speaker 1: edge rusher in a three or four defense. You know
Speaker 1: he's gonna be slightly undersized. But again, getting back to
Speaker 1: what you said about Looney, you wonder if the Packers
Speaker 1: can put on some weight with him. Yeah, Kyler Facra
Speaker 1: wasn't the biggest outside linebacker either when he came to
Speaker 1: Green Bay. I want to touch on them before we
Speaker 1: touch on Donnerdson. I just want to mention Mike. I
Speaker 1: was a little surprised too. I expected the Packers to
Speaker 1: address outside Russia earlier on. But as I got thinking
Speaker 1: about it, as we began Day three, and as the
Speaker 1: picks started coming off the board and the Packers started
Speaker 1: taking receivers, it made sense to me that they didn't
Speaker 1: look at outside linebacker edge rushier early on day three.
Speaker 1: My thinking is, if you could have if it lined
Speaker 1: up and you wanted to take an edge rusher on
Speaker 1: day one, you take one. You look at the history.
Speaker 1: That's where you're gonna find your biggest playmakers. But the
Speaker 1: Packers have been down this road in the middle rounds,
Speaker 1: taking edge rushers in recent years, Kyler Facral, Vince Bagel
Speaker 1: who had his you know, rookie season basically wiped out
Speaker 1: by those two foot surgeries. They've been there before. So
Speaker 1: I have a hard time believing. And maybe there's a
Speaker 1: big gem waiting out there, but I have a hard
Speaker 1: time believing they were going to draft a guy on
Speaker 1: in the fourth, late in the fourth or early in
Speaker 1: the fifth that was gonna come in and push to
Speaker 1: be that top guy in the rotation. It takes time
Speaker 1: to develop that position. And secondly, just want to mention
Speaker 1: this too. We got spoiled a little bit from fourteen
Speaker 1: to sixteen with Julius Peppers and Matthews and Perry and
Speaker 1: Nick Mike Neil and Dayton Jones when he had some
Speaker 1: success there. It was really deep and outside Russia. But
Speaker 1: I've been covering this team long enough to remember when
Speaker 1: Dom Capers was making do with Desmond Moses and and
Speaker 1: Frank Zombo and mar Latimore, undrafted guys that didn't have
Speaker 1: any accolades whatsoever, and we're starting games for the Packers.
Speaker 1: So yes, comparatively, is this group as deep as it
Speaker 1: wasn't from fourteen sixteen? It's not. But I get kind
Speaker 1: of worn out by the narrative that the Packers don't
Speaker 1: have an outside Russian, you know, contingent. If you could
Speaker 1: find a guy early and you want to take them
Speaker 1: and develop them, go for it. But otherwise I think
Speaker 1: finding a guy like Donnerdson late in the draft is
Speaker 1: kind of the way to go because he has some
Speaker 1: really unique traits that you can develop and adam into
Speaker 1: that mix with the four guys that are returning at
Speaker 1: that position that all had regular game experience last season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I hear what you're saying. As far as the Packers,
Speaker 1: my expectations the last couple of years were in terms
Speaker 1: of taking an edge rusher much higher. Have to do
Speaker 1: with more the long term future. Because Clay Matthews was
Speaker 1: drafted in two thousand nine, Nick Perry was drafted in
Speaker 1: two thousand and twelve. Those are your two guys on
Speaker 1: the front lines right now, and both of them you
Speaker 1: would probably have to say, are are in the back
Speaker 1: half of the Yeah, exactly, and that that's that's where
Speaker 1: That's where my point was, and and as far as
Speaker 1: the teen packers are packers are concerned, I don't think
Speaker 1: Brian Goudakuntz is necessarily done at outside Russia. We saw
Speaker 1: what happened last year when suddenly a Mod Brooks, a
Speaker 1: veteran from the San Francisco forty Niners and their old
Speaker 1: three four scheme became available. Now, unfortunately he had some
Speaker 1: injuries and and probably didn't contribute as much as everybody
Speaker 1: was hoping. But there's possibly a veteran move like that
Speaker 1: out there as well for the Packers to provide a
Speaker 1: little bit of boost to this position. Yeah, you definitely
Speaker 1: think that that could be in the cards again, just
Speaker 1: because of guys who end up getting cut for salary
Speaker 1: cap reasons, or you bring in another prospect that you
Speaker 1: really like and you don't want to move on somewhere else.
Speaker 1: And then also as we get these undrafted free agents
Speaker 1: later in this week, Mike, let's remember that, you know,
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of guys that have pushed for
Speaker 1: playing time in the past. I think a guy like
Speaker 1: Chris odom is also one to watch in addition to
Speaker 1: Reggie Gilbert, based on what he did last season. Of
Speaker 1: the year. But Odom also basically took a red shirt
Speaker 1: season after having to come to Green Bay with no
Speaker 1: off season, with no training camp, learning how to be
Speaker 1: an outside linebacker slash defensive end in Atlanta, and then
Speaker 1: having to play the position in Green Bay. So those
Speaker 1: four young guys, Gilbert Beagle, factrol and and Uh and Odom,
Speaker 1: really want to see them push and then see again
Speaker 1: if if someone else, another veteran or somebody might come
Speaker 1: in along the line. Yeah. Also, no tight end selected,
Speaker 1: which was a little surprising to me. In the eleven picks,
Speaker 1: and the word was that, you know, there was there
Speaker 1: was some depth that tight end to find some guys
Speaker 1: in the middle rounds. The Packers ended up not taking one.
Speaker 1: And you know, you've got Jimmy Graham and Lance Kendricks
Speaker 1: on the top of that depth chart. You have two
Speaker 1: really really young, unproven guys, and Emmanuel Bird and Robert
Speaker 1: tonyan Um below them. I thought the Packers were going
Speaker 1: to going to fill something in there with the draft,
Speaker 1: but but they didn't. And um, you know, we'll see.
Speaker 1: I was really thinking they would because everything I was
Speaker 1: reading was that there were a lot of tight end
Speaker 1: prospects that we're going to get picked. The same reason
Speaker 1: you mentioned about wanting to draft an outside linebacker applies
Speaker 1: the tight end. It takes time to develop that position,
Speaker 1: which is why I was saying it going into this thing.
Speaker 1: It makes sense to potentially look at a guy Packers
Speaker 1: feel comfortable where they are though, and you know, taking
Speaker 1: Graham and Kendricks and seeing what happens as far as
Speaker 1: that third spot. All right, Well, with that, we will
Speaker 1: go to another break back with more on Packers Unscripted
Speaker 1: right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford
Speaker 1: alongside West hodkowits West. Quickly, before we go, I want
Speaker 1: to step away from the draft talk for a minute
Speaker 1: and just address the annual NFL Network Top one hundred
Speaker 1: series Top one hundred players in the league for the
Speaker 1: coming year, voted on at the end of last year
Speaker 1: by the players themselves. The first twenty and what I
Speaker 1: mean by that is from number one hundred up to
Speaker 1: number eighty one, were revealed Monday night on NFL Network.
Speaker 1: The Packers actually had four guys in that mix. Um.
Speaker 1: The one, uh, you know who stands out the most
Speaker 1: is that David Botr came in at number first time
Speaker 1: he has made the top one hundred list. Should have
Speaker 1: made it sooner, but he's in there now. He has
Speaker 1: and you give credit to box Tr joked on Twitter
Speaker 1: afterwards that now he has to get up twenty two
Speaker 1: more spots. I believe it is to get to number
Speaker 1: sixty nine, which is what he ultimately once out of
Speaker 1: this thing. Obviously his number, but Jimmy Graham also included
Speaker 1: in that Mike Daniels once again makes it for the
Speaker 1: third straight year. I would argue you on one point. Obviously,
Speaker 1: kudos to bak Tr for making it. I think the
Speaker 1: biggest one, though, was ha ha. Clinton Dicks, based on
Speaker 1: what he said on social media afterwards, goes he's comes
Speaker 1: in at number one hundred. He was seventy seven last
Speaker 1: year and acknowledged afterwards. He tweeted about it that it
Speaker 1: wasn't his best year, and you know he's gonna take that.
Speaker 1: He's gonna accept it. He's thankful that he's considered among
Speaker 1: those top upper echelon of players in this league, but
Speaker 1: he wants to prove that he can be a perennial
Speaker 1: All Pro and a guy that's a true difference maker
Speaker 1: in this league. And I think out to everything Mike
Speaker 1: that happened in two thousand seventeen. Unrelated to Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: The motivation for ha Ha Clinton Dicks, I think is
Speaker 1: gonna be one of the biggest storylines to follow. Certainly
Speaker 1: you can talk about him being an upcoming free agent,
Speaker 1: but I think more than that, this is a really
Speaker 1: prideful guy and he wants to show everybody what he
Speaker 1: can bring on a year weekend, day out basis. And
Speaker 1: I think haa Clinton dis internally is a guy who
Speaker 1: feels like he has a lot to prove in two
Speaker 1: thousand eighteen, Yeah, and he wants to be a leader
Speaker 1: on this defense. He wants to be a leader on
Speaker 1: this team. And certainly no disrespect to Morgan Burnett and
Speaker 1: those two got along quite well, both of them, you know,
Speaker 1: in leadership positions. But with Burnett now gone, Clinton Dick
Speaker 1: sees this and he mentioned it when he spoke with
Speaker 1: the media on the first day of the offseason program,
Speaker 1: this is my spot to step into, you know. He
Speaker 1: he's it's not just it's not just the on field
Speaker 1: play that he wants to ratchet up a little bit,
Speaker 1: but it's it's also, uh, it's also the leadership aspect
Speaker 1: in the locker room, in the meeting room, all that
Speaker 1: he wants to be a guy that that everybody on
Speaker 1: this defense looks to as an example. Yeah, and Mike,
Speaker 1: it's interesting and you've covered this team for a long
Speaker 1: time as well. But sometimes you get guys like Clay
Speaker 1: Matthews who just walk in, They come in the room
Speaker 1: from day one their rookie season. Sometimes you though, you
Speaker 1: have these guys like ha ha, Clinton Dix. He reminds
Speaker 1: me a lot of Casey Hayward. Remember Hayward in two
Speaker 1: thousand twelve was really sure of himself in front of
Speaker 1: the media, was always kind of nervous when the cameras
Speaker 1: came on. If you turn on that tape from his
Speaker 1: last year in two thousand fifteen. The role that he
Speaker 1: stepped into both in that meeting room but in the
Speaker 1: locker room as well. Clinton Dix really reminds me a
Speaker 1: lot of that. This is a guy that has stepped out.
Speaker 1: He understands his role, He understands that young players look
Speaker 1: to him for leadership, and that his words, what he
Speaker 1: says publicly, it really brings it can send home a
Speaker 1: message to the people around you, and I think that's
Speaker 1: something that watching him grow over the last four years,
Speaker 1: it's been a really intriguing thing to watch in addition
Speaker 1: to his maturity on the field. Yeah, we'll see what
Speaker 1: other Packers players here over the next several weeks potentially
Speaker 1: crack the top one. Obviously, Aaron Rodgers will be in
Speaker 1: there somewhere, who knows where, coming off of the injury.
Speaker 1: H Clay Matthews might be in there as well, and
Speaker 1: Davante Adams I think has a good chance to crack
Speaker 1: it for the first time. But with that, we are
Speaker 1: going to sign off on Packers Unscripted. Be sure to
Speaker 1: follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers
Speaker 1: dot com on Twitter. He's at west Hot, I'm at
Speaker 1: Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for
Speaker 1: tuning in, Everybody'll you next time. M HM.