Speaker 1: Hi, everybody.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 2: I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted
Speaker 2: colleague Weston Hodko. It's coming to you hear from our
Speaker 2: studios at lambeau Field West, final show of the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four off season here for us, we spent the
Speaker 2: last couple of days out there at mini camp practice.
Speaker 2: There were a couple press conferences, a bunch of locker
Speaker 2: room interviews. So let's review the end of the tail
Speaker 2: end of the off season program here. I'll just throw
Speaker 2: it out to you.
Speaker 1: What was your.
Speaker 2: Biggest takeaway from this two day mini camp.
Speaker 3: Jordan Love was locked in, and you know, the defense
Speaker 3: had their moments. I've mentioned this to you before. I
Speaker 3: think Edrin Cooper seeing the athleticism, the explosiveness of him,
Speaker 3: you know, thought I thought some of the defensive front
Speaker 3: really got some nice penetration, some pressure as much as
Speaker 3: you can in non padded practices. But at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, man, we were looking for Jordan Love
Speaker 3: to take a step and I felt like seeing his
Speaker 3: progression from twenty twenty one where it was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: well we're seeing this young guy start to learn the
Speaker 3: position more and get more comfortable to where Matt Lafleur
Speaker 3: was talking about, he's allowing him to call his own
Speaker 3: two minute offense at times, he's allowing him to kind
Speaker 3: of expand his repertoire and in his understanding of where
Speaker 3: things are. Jordan Love is one of the coolest, calmest
Speaker 3: customers that I think I've ever covered, regardless of the
Speaker 3: position he plays, and just seeing him bring together the
Speaker 3: experience factor now is fascinating. He still has yet to
Speaker 3: play more than thirteen hundred offensive snaps in the National
Speaker 3: Football League. He's still twenty five years old. And I
Speaker 3: quoted Rick Flair and Insider Inbox. He got to edit
Speaker 3: that on Thursday. But it's only just begun, I guess
Speaker 3: also the carpenters.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, that's that's true. That's true too. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm totally with you on Jordan Love. I thought I
Speaker 2: thought there were periods in each of those practices Tuesday
Speaker 2: and Wednesday where he looked ultra sharp, where he really
Speaker 2: had that first unit offense clicking for as much as
Speaker 2: you can say that when it's not in pads and
Speaker 2: and you know, the blocking up front is you know
Speaker 2: is not the same of course when when guys aren't
Speaker 2: fully dressed, but along those same lines, I just get this.
Speaker 2: I got this vibe over the couple of days that
Speaker 2: and I maybe, yes, I probably said this earlier on
Speaker 2: one of our shows earlier during OTAs, but I just
Speaker 2: get the sense that this Packers team is ready to go.
Speaker 2: If training camp were on Monday, these guys would be like,
Speaker 2: all right, let's roll here. Let you know, let's get
Speaker 2: to it. You know that that's that's the that's the
Speaker 2: sense I get from the locker room in general, both
Speaker 2: from the veteran guys and the younger guys. Everybody wants
Speaker 2: to take their break. Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 3: For Sean Gary might not.
Speaker 1: What's that for Sean Gary might? Yeah, I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'm not sure if Sean Gary ever ever takes
Speaker 1: a break.
Speaker 2: But you know, there is there is a time to
Speaker 2: there is a time here to to relax a little bit,
Speaker 2: to recharge, to reset. But at the same time, I think,
Speaker 2: I think these guys when when they do come back
Speaker 2: for training camp, they will one hundred percent be ready
Speaker 2: to go and get into that full one hundred percent
Speaker 2: preparation mode for the regular season.
Speaker 3: I think listening to Romeo Dobbs, to whom I'll discuss
Speaker 3: in a minute, because he's another one of the guys
Speaker 3: that really stood out to me again this offseason stopped
Speaker 3: me for heard that before the last two summers.
Speaker 1: Or two springs.
Speaker 3: But right Romeo Dobbs was talking about how special, uh,
Speaker 3: this locker room is and the camaraderie of this team is.
Speaker 3: And I think a really good indicator of that is
Speaker 3: I wrote a couple of weeks ago. Actually it was
Speaker 3: earlier this week. Sorry, everything's getting meshed together about Jaden
Speaker 3: Reid and Dantavian Wicks living together for two months leading
Speaker 3: up to coming back for the off season program. Dobbs
Speaker 3: said he's already gotten together with Jordan Love before they
Speaker 3: came back for the off season program. Obviously they share
Speaker 3: a coach, an off season coach, that they get some
Speaker 3: working together. It sounds like the receivers are going to
Speaker 3: get together with Jordan again during this break. And then
Speaker 3: Rashan Gary, who also said he wishes there was another
Speaker 3: week of the offseason program. This kind of a funny moment,
Speaker 3: he said, him, Preston Smith and Kenny Clark are actually
Speaker 3: going to pull together the defensive line either down in
Speaker 3: Dallas or California. They haven't sorted that out yet to
Speaker 3: get together for some workouts as well. This is a
Speaker 3: group that generally enjoys being around one another, and that
Speaker 3: is not always a given in the National Football League.
Speaker 3: This is a business. People have families, they have interest,
Speaker 3: they have things they want to do in those four
Speaker 3: or five weeks that they can get away from here
Speaker 3: before quarterbacks and young players have to report back on
Speaker 3: July seventeenth. But you can tell that the leadership in
Speaker 3: there and the way that they handle their day to
Speaker 3: day business, this is a group that generally enjoys being
Speaker 3: around one another. And it's not even just the position groups.
Speaker 3: I was in the scrum with Preston Smith and Carington
Speaker 3: Valentine is coming over talking to him afterwards. They're having
Speaker 3: the fun back and forth over some stuff. That is
Speaker 3: what I think often will separate the good teams from
Speaker 3: the potentially great ones, is when it isn't that you're
Speaker 3: just going out there and doing a job, it's that
Speaker 3: you're playing for one another. And you know, Kai Walker
Speaker 3: mentioned it too. He's been on national championship teams, He's
Speaker 3: played on some really good football teams in the past.
Speaker 3: The camaraderie for June twelfth is already there. And that's
Speaker 3: the thing that when the season gets long and when
Speaker 3: you face adversity, is what you often have to lean
Speaker 3: back on, is that camaraderie. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Getting back to the impressions that some players made
Speaker 2: on us, you mentioned Edgrin Cooper a minute ago, and
Speaker 2: I have to say, you could see when when that
Speaker 2: defensive call from Jeff Hafley or whoever was calling it
Speaker 2: during the eleven on eleven and OTAs when there was
Speaker 2: a call that turned Edgern Cooper loose. You could see
Speaker 2: how an off ball linebacker had eight sacks last season
Speaker 2: in college, which is a ridiculous number for a guy
Speaker 2: who doesn't even line up on the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 2: Right Brian Gudakunst had made a comment, and one of
Speaker 2: the other that we heard from during the draft made
Speaker 2: a similar comment. It might have been John Eric Sullivan,
Speaker 2: but it was something to something to the effect of
Speaker 2: that Edgrin Cooper's speed is just different.
Speaker 1: It just looks different out there.
Speaker 2: And I thought, particularly during this mini camp, when Cooper
Speaker 2: seemed to be just settling in a little bit more
Speaker 2: in terms of knowing what he's doing on defense, and
Speaker 2: as I said, some calls that were turning him loose
Speaker 2: a little bit and just letting him, letting him attack
Speaker 2: the backfield and either go after the quarterback or go
Speaker 2: after that TfL on a running play. I thought, I mean,
Speaker 2: his his speed absolutely jumps off the field. There's there's
Speaker 2: no there's no denying it. And and it's not a
Speaker 2: surprise when when you see that for the first time
Speaker 2: in person, at least for me, it's not a surprise
Speaker 2: then that this guy was drafted where he was and
Speaker 2: and was, you know, one of the first off ball
Speaker 2: linebackers to be taken in this draft.
Speaker 3: His forty time is better than half the cornerbacks that
Speaker 3: were drafted. I mean when he's running in four or
Speaker 3: five one, which was a hundredth of a second faster
Speaker 3: than Kay Walker's a year earlier or two years earlier.
Speaker 3: This guy is a real physical specimen. Now, I cautioned,
Speaker 3: I think both an inbox and in a on Twitter
Speaker 3: saying there's a lot that goes into play an inside
Speaker 3: linebacker beyond just athleticism. But one of the things we
Speaker 3: saw from Jeff Hafley in these mini camp practices, they
Speaker 3: dialed up a lot of blitzes. And it wasn't just
Speaker 3: the third down variety. I mean they brought a lot
Speaker 3: of it.
Speaker 1: They were they weren't holding back.
Speaker 3: Eric Wilson was doing it. They were running you know,
Speaker 3: Corey Ballantine. They were running a lot of these things
Speaker 3: to throw some extra pressure at the opposing quarterback. But
Speaker 3: when it was Edgrin Cooper, it was almost like that
Speaker 3: suffocating speed where it's like Mike McCarthy used to like
Speaker 3: that used to use that two point five second shot
Speaker 3: clock to throw the football.
Speaker 2: It's more it's more like it needs to be two
Speaker 2: point two, you know, Like there's just there's that there's
Speaker 2: that little extra edge to it that you know, well,
Speaker 2: you know the quarterback is speeding up that clock in
Speaker 2: his head when it's number fifty six, who gets turned loose.
Speaker 3: And that's why it's gonna be fun to watch him
Speaker 3: when you get the linebacker first, running backs, pass protection drills,
Speaker 3: when you see some of the team stuff, when the
Speaker 3: pads come on during training camp, the guy is very
Speaker 3: exciting to watch. And the Packers are taking this thing slow.
Speaker 3: He's not in there every time with the ones they're
Speaker 3: using Isaam McDuffie. Eric Wilson's getting a lot of reps
Speaker 3: there as well. But when you look at Cooper and
Speaker 3: if kway Walker shows that he's able to handle that
Speaker 3: mic role really well this year, Cooper's gonna find his
Speaker 3: way on the field, there's just gonna be too much.
Speaker 3: He is too much of an athlete, not too Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I think we're gonna be seeing I think we're
Speaker 2: gonna be seeing a lot of him. There's very little
Speaker 2: doubt about that. You mentioned Romeo Dobbs earlier. I'll let
Speaker 2: you I'll let you take it from there. The steadiness,
Speaker 2: the steadiness with which he performs, and I thought, you know,
Speaker 2: his his rookie year, he was starting to establish that,
Speaker 2: but then he had some moments in games that were
Speaker 2: were some letdown moments where where you're just like, oh, like,
Speaker 2: you know, he failed to maybe take you know, make
Speaker 2: the make the play that everybody was hoping he was
Speaker 2: gonna make in a certain situation. But but man, oh man,
Speaker 2: we just see you know, Romeo Dobbs, he doesn't he
Speaker 2: doesn't look any different, you know. I mean, I'm sure
Speaker 2: you know his body is a little bit different than
Speaker 2: than it was as a rookie, but he doesn't really
Speaker 2: look any different. He's running, he's running his routes the same.
Speaker 2: He's you know, he's got he's got the strong hands
Speaker 2: and everything. But there's something he's he's added something to
Speaker 2: where he just has a presence on the practice field
Speaker 2: now even though he's you know, he's not Christian Watson
Speaker 2: and you know, beating everybody deep and whatever. He doesn't
Speaker 2: have that doesn't have that breakaway speed or whatever at
Speaker 2: wide receiver. But you can feel Romeo dobs presence on
Speaker 2: the practice field when he and Jordan Love sort of
Speaker 2: you know, have their little telepathy going. And I thought
Speaker 2: that started to show through here towards the particularly towards.
Speaker 1: The end of the off season.
Speaker 3: From Dob said it on Wednesday, Jordan Love was his
Speaker 3: quarterback first in Green Bay when he was running with
Speaker 3: the you know, the twos or whatever you want to
Speaker 3: call him back in twenty twenty two, before he started
Speaker 3: to establish himself as a starter. He was with Love
Speaker 3: every day in practice. That telepathy that's been building up
Speaker 3: now for over two calendar years. And what I enjoy
Speaker 3: most about watching Romeo because it was what hit me
Speaker 3: the most I was very impressed with his practice on Wednesday,
Speaker 3: thought he he catches the ball effortlessly. Everything is so seamless.
Speaker 3: The greatest like Jordy Nelson, make it look so easy.
Speaker 3: It makes it look like anybody can go out there
Speaker 3: and do this.
Speaker 2: It makes every play, he makes every play look routine,
Speaker 2: routine when what is when what is going on out
Speaker 2: there in terms of in terms of the read and
Speaker 2: the break and sometimes the catch not always the most routine,
Speaker 2: but he makes it look that way.
Speaker 3: Absolutely so when you bring it back and Matt Lafleur
Speaker 3: goes up to the podium and he was asked yesterday
Speaker 3: or on Wednesday about him, and he says, you know,
Speaker 3: I thought he had an outstanding spring, And I immediately
Speaker 3: thought to myself and I'm like, he had an outstanding
Speaker 3: spring in twenty twenty three too. He had an outstanding
Speaker 3: spring in twenty twenty two to get himself on the
Speaker 3: radar as a guy that hey with Alan Lazard and
Speaker 3: Sammy Watkins and Randall Cobb, this guy could potentially contribute
Speaker 3: right out of the gate too. And I just don't
Speaker 3: And as Lafloor also added, he didn't even know if
Speaker 3: he had a bad practice this spring. And that's just
Speaker 3: the way Romeo is. If he drops a ball, you're
Speaker 3: surprised if he's not in the right spot. It's almost
Speaker 3: unheard of. The guy is so about his business, and
Speaker 3: it's the way he carries himself off the field, it's
Speaker 3: the way he handles himself on the field. He has
Speaker 3: a neat personality. He was joking around. You and I
Speaker 3: were laughing at some of the stuff he was doing
Speaker 3: on the punt return drill, you know, kind of joshing
Speaker 3: around with some of the other guys on the punt
Speaker 3: coverage unit. But at the end of the day, when
Speaker 3: it comes to playing professional football again, I don't want
Speaker 3: to get into this wide receiver one, wide receiver two.
Speaker 3: But Jordan Love knows if he needs to turn to
Speaker 3: number eighty seven, that guy's gonna come through for him.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And the way and the way Dobbs goes about his business,
Speaker 2: the extra work he puts in, the the intense focus
Speaker 2: with which he goes about every drill, whether it's an
Speaker 2: individual drill, whether it's an eleven on eleven snap. He's
Speaker 2: not looking. He's not looking for attention or accolades for
Speaker 2: the work. Ethic and how he goes about it to
Speaker 2: Romeo Dobbslake, I'm a professional wide receiver. This is how
Speaker 2: you're supposed to do the job right, and and he just.
Speaker 1: He takes it.
Speaker 2: He takes it seriously, absolutely every every minute that he's
Speaker 2: in this building. One other thing, he's built record wide receiver.
Speaker 3: Two. Yeah, that was the thing when you're talking about
Speaker 3: his physique when I was watching him. Not to interrupt you,
Speaker 3: but no, no, that was one point I wanted to make.
Speaker 3: He's how you design a wide receiver. And I think
Speaker 3: that's why I think you could put him in any
Speaker 3: era of Packers football, whether it was the twenty tens,
Speaker 3: the twenty twenties, when the Mike McCarthy era started, this
Speaker 3: guy would have success. He just he is that type
Speaker 3: of football player.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally, I totally agree with you. One other
Speaker 2: thing I'll throw at you with regard to you know,
Speaker 2: call it a you know, mini epiphany or whatever that
Speaker 2: I have many there you go, j R. Alexander was
Speaker 2: one of the veterans. There were a few veterans Alexander,
Speaker 2: Xavier McKinney, Keishawn Nixon who were excused from the mini camp.
Speaker 2: They weren't there so there was some shuffling going on
Speaker 2: in the defensive backfield in terms of the combinations and
Speaker 2: who was with the ones and the twos and the rotations,
Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera. But it dawned on me watching
Speaker 2: Eric Stokes and Carrington Valentine essentially be the starting outside
Speaker 2: corners with the number one defense. This is setting up
Speaker 2: to be a heck of a training camp competition for
Speaker 2: who's going to be cornerback number two between these two guys.
Speaker 2: And they're two of the most I guess you'd say,
Speaker 2: jovial type guys in the locker room. You know, they're
Speaker 2: laughing and joking around and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: But man, those two are gonna go at it on
Speaker 2: the field in training camp to see who is going
Speaker 2: to be the outside boundary corner starter opposite of Jay
Speaker 2: or Alexander, and it's gonna be it's gonna be entertaining
Speaker 2: to watch.
Speaker 3: Valentine is everything that's great about the National Football League,
Speaker 3: because again it shows you there can be two hundred
Speaker 3: and thirty one picks and then two thirty two ends
Speaker 3: up being a guy that looks like he could be
Speaker 3: a bona fide starter in this league and just you know,
Speaker 3: went out a little early, was probably a little small,
Speaker 3: didn't have as many plays as he probably need to
Speaker 3: make at Kentucky, just didn't have the resume built up
Speaker 3: for a team to go out and want to make
Speaker 3: that pick earlier. But boy, oh boy, when you look
Speaker 3: at the size he put on, when you look at
Speaker 3: the charisma that he has and the way he plays
Speaker 3: the position, there is a knack. There is a X
Speaker 3: factor that I think is associated with being able to
Speaker 3: play cornerback. I wrote about this and Insider. I don't
Speaker 3: know if you saw the video or not, but when
Speaker 3: when Randall Cobb was talking about he was asked on
Speaker 3: Busting with the Boys about what is the hardest position
Speaker 3: to play? And he stopped in his tracks and he
Speaker 3: said it is cornerback. And he listed off eight different
Speaker 3: reasons why immediately about why that spot is difficult to play,
Speaker 3: and it then dawned on me. I had my mini
Speaker 3: epiphany where you can have every tool in the toolbox, Mike,
Speaker 3: but if you don't have the mentals down, if you're
Speaker 3: not willing to play on that island and understand what
Speaker 3: comes along with that, it ain't gonna go very good
Speaker 3: for you. Karenon Valentine has that now seeing him compete
Speaker 3: now with Eric Stokes is gonna be fun to watch.
Speaker 3: And as we've seen time and time again, you need
Speaker 3: as many of those guys as possible to survive a season.
Speaker 3: But Stokes kind of flirted around with playing in the slot.
Speaker 3: He's not a slot corner, at least not in the
Speaker 3: traditional sense. He's a perimeter guy.
Speaker 1: I agree, So.
Speaker 3: You may need both, maybe you only have one at
Speaker 3: the beginning. Who knows, depending on how the starting lineup
Speaker 3: shorts out. But to your point, and as you wrote,
Speaker 3: I think in the five this is one of the
Speaker 3: things that I think is going to really be what
Speaker 3: Jeff Hafley, with his background, is looking to accomplish during
Speaker 3: this training campusy and exactly who's going to be the
Speaker 3: best fit for that outside spot.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2: And when you talk about that, you talk about that
Speaker 2: mentality that a cornerback needs. I think I mentioned this
Speaker 2: an Insider Inbox a couple of days ago. I mean,
Speaker 2: you have you you have to take the field knowing
Speaker 2: that you're going to be attacked, that the rules in
Speaker 2: many ways are geared against you. The rules are tilted
Speaker 2: toward the offensive player. To make plays against you. Plays
Speaker 2: are going to be made against you even when you
Speaker 2: do everything exactly right, and you have to be able
Speaker 2: to just to just forget the whatever bad stuff happens.
Speaker 2: You have to be able to forget it instantly and
Speaker 2: line up again, because none of those other parameters that
Speaker 2: I just mentioned are going to change. They are going
Speaker 2: to be there every single play, and and it really is.
Speaker 2: It's it's a position that has that requires a mentality
Speaker 2: like no other in a lot of respects because of
Speaker 2: the way the game is played, the way the game
Speaker 2: is officiated, and just the combination of the smarts and
Speaker 2: athleticism it takes to play it effectively.
Speaker 3: It's like defenseman in hockey. I mean, you have to
Speaker 3: be so apt at running backwards and keeping your balance
Speaker 3: and flipping your hips and being able to have such
Speaker 3: insane control of your body. Oh and then, by the way,
Speaker 3: also don't get hurt. I mean, like, there's so much
Speaker 3: that goes along with being able to succeed in that position.
Speaker 3: But to be honest with you, I think that's one
Speaker 3: of the reasons why this is gonna be really exciting
Speaker 3: to watch, because the Packers have options at all these positions.
Speaker 3: The secondary. We saw without Zavier McKinney here, Evan Williams
Speaker 3: got some run back there. Zane Anderson had three interceptions, Yeah,
Speaker 3: in tuesday's practice.
Speaker 1: And welcome to the competition, right.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the competition. I mean he was very humble
Speaker 3: about after he said that it was fun. Three plays.
Speaker 3: Two of them probably were right in my lap. But
Speaker 3: that being said, that's what Zane Anderson needs to do
Speaker 3: to interject his name into this thing. Yes, with three
Speaker 3: incoming draft picks, with you know the amount of resources
Speaker 3: they put into that position, with Xavier McKinney coming in,
Speaker 3: Anthony Johnson Junior is back and has gotten a lot
Speaker 3: of snaps in the starting secondary this offseason. So that
Speaker 3: competition again, it's up to Matt Lafleur, Jeff Hafley, these
Speaker 3: coaches that decide whin that how far this thing drags on.
Speaker 3: But Michael, I don't know in the first week of
Speaker 3: a training camp practice leading up to when they finally
Speaker 3: get those pads on, if I can remember a time
Speaker 3: in which there have been this many jobs up for grabs,
Speaker 3: but all the options are pretty darn good. Yeah, you're
Speaker 3: not looking for somebody to surprise you. You're wondering who's going
Speaker 3: to be the one that is sort of the cream
Speaker 3: that rises to the top of that position.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I want to get back to the sort
Speaker 2: of the opening of training camp coming up here in
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Speaker 2: The last thing I wanted to throw at you before
Speaker 2: we sign off for a while goes to the upcoming
Speaker 2: start of training camp and what do you feel will
Speaker 2: be the biggest story. What will we be talking about
Speaker 2: when we return to these chairs and to this show
Speaker 2: and to these cameras. What will we be talking about
Speaker 2: most when training camp opens?
Speaker 3: Do you think it's an excellent question? I think to
Speaker 3: me is where the rotations are and who's all involved
Speaker 3: in those? Right off the bat, because I've often said,
Speaker 3: and you and I remember when we were previewing the
Speaker 3: offen season program or OTAs, don't pay attention to lineups,
Speaker 3: don't pay attention to the depth charts. None of that
Speaker 3: stuff exists right now. And Matt Lafleur even said it
Speaker 3: on Wednesday. They just want to get guys opportunities. Jordan
Speaker 3: Morgan played four different positions this training camp or this
Speaker 3: offseason program. They want to get these guys in position
Speaker 3: to compete for jobs at training camp. But the thing
Speaker 3: that's always interesting is when you see the game of
Speaker 3: musical chairs start to slow down and guys settle into
Speaker 3: certain spots. I look at this receiving corps. I look
Speaker 3: at this cornerback unit. I look at inside linebacker, I
Speaker 3: look at defensive line Mike. The multitude of guys that
Speaker 3: Green Bay can go interior, exterior, there's so many. I
Speaker 3: was talking to Paul Brettel about this at the end
Speaker 3: of practice on Wednesday. You know, you have Lucas Vans
Speaker 3: and Rashan Gary and Preston Smith and kings Leanning Bardy.
Speaker 3: But like I thought, Brenton Cox had a really nice offseason,
Speaker 3: extremely strong hands and just violent at the point of attack.
Speaker 3: You know, Deslin, Alexander I thought had some good place.
Speaker 3: It's really interesting to see who can capitalize on these chances.
Speaker 3: So my biggest storyline coming out of this is where
Speaker 3: are all the pieces aligned when we get back and
Speaker 3: one week into that thing, who's starting to make that
Speaker 3: climb into their positions?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I think that that is definitely what we're going
Speaker 2: to be watching. I think and hope one of the
Speaker 2: big stories as training camp opens is that Jordan Loves
Speaker 2: going to have a new contract. I think I think
Speaker 2: that that is going to happen, And even if it
Speaker 2: doesn't happen maybe by the first day of training camp.
Speaker 3: It'll definitely happen on the day you're on PTO.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as soon as they take a day off, it'll happen.
Speaker 2: Right. But aside from that, which I think will be
Speaker 2: will will certainly be a big story. But the one,
Speaker 2: the one name when you're talking about some of the
Speaker 2: shifting in musical chairs and stuff that've been going on,
Speaker 2: the one name that I'm going to be watching the
Speaker 2: most closely as to where he is is Jordan Morgan,
Speaker 2: the first round draft pick on the offensive line. Where
Speaker 2: is he going to be lining up now. If Zach
Speaker 2: Tom isn't back from isn't fully back from his pectoral
Speaker 2: injury at the start of training camp, then we may
Speaker 2: still be in this OTA mode in terms of where
Speaker 2: guys are, because we know that when Zach Tom is healthy,
Speaker 2: he's one of the best five he's going to be
Speaker 2: He's going to be the guy there. But as you said,
Speaker 2: Morgan's been lining up pretty much everywhere but center during
Speaker 2: this offseason program. I don't think with a first round
Speaker 2: pick and a guy that they see as someone who
Speaker 2: could legitimately compete for a starting job as a rookie,
Speaker 2: I don't know if they're gonna continue to, you know,
Speaker 2: keep moving him around. They might they might decide to
Speaker 2: put him somewhere and go, Okay, go and take that
Speaker 2: job if you want it, you know, prove to us,
Speaker 2: that proved to us that you're the best, that you're
Speaker 2: the best option there. That's the one I think above
Speaker 2: others that I'm gonna have my eye. And of course,
Speaker 2: I mean I'm expecting Edger and Cooper to be out
Speaker 2: there with the ones. On defense, I'm expecting Javon Bullard
Speaker 2: probably to be lining up next to Xavier McKinney, those
Speaker 2: kinds of things with those draft picks. Morgan is the
Speaker 2: guy that sort of has this question mark right now
Speaker 2: as to exactly where is he going to fit. And
Speaker 2: maybe it's not the first couple days of training camp,
Speaker 2: but maybe it's once the pads go on, they're gonna
Speaker 2: make a decision. Okay, Jordan, you know, here's here's your spot.
Speaker 1: Go for it.
Speaker 2: But I think that's going to be a story to
Speaker 2: follow at the beginning and throughout training camp with the
Speaker 2: first round draft pick.
Speaker 3: It's an excellent point and seeing how he responds to that,
Speaker 3: because I go back and he wasn't a first round pick,
Speaker 3: but I do think about Zach tom two years ago, Yeah,
Speaker 3: where he was still rotating around. But what impressed me
Speaker 3: the most with him was they would go to their
Speaker 3: one on one periods and they would line him up
Speaker 3: as a guard, they'd line him up as a tackle,
Speaker 3: and it didn't matter if he was facing a Kenny
Speaker 3: Clark or he was going up against you know, a
Speaker 3: look as Van Ess or Overshan Garry. He held his
Speaker 3: point of attack. And that is what, ultimately I think
Speaker 3: when you look for guys trying to carve out roles
Speaker 3: in a starting lineup. It is how you handle that
Speaker 3: that coursework all of that stuff you get thrown at.
Speaker 3: That's how you find your spot in this league. It
Speaker 3: is an interesting spot. It's the way these offensive lines
Speaker 3: are built. Now. You don't just have a guy coming
Speaker 3: in playing okay, the two tackle positions or the two
Speaker 3: guard positions, or this guy's a center, and then we're
Speaker 3: gonna have him work other spots. Jordan Morgan has had
Speaker 3: the full entree in terms of trying to digest what
Speaker 3: an NFL playbook is like. Yeah, but this was the
Speaker 3: time to get those reps and unfortunately you didn't have
Speaker 3: Zach Tom. They gave him an opportunity and hopefully he
Speaker 3: can learn from it. There. It wasn't perfect. There were
Speaker 3: some false starts, there were some plays that I'm sure
Speaker 3: he wanted to have back. But at the end of
Speaker 3: the day, he has that pedigree and I still look
Speaker 3: at his build and I'm just reminded so much of
Speaker 3: the Elton Jenkins to some extent Zach Tom, although it's
Speaker 3: still just I just can't get over just what Zach's
Speaker 3: been doing at right tackle. But he has that malleable
Speaker 3: frame that wherever you put him structurally it makes sense.
Speaker 2: And here's the beauty of it with how the Packers,
Speaker 2: how Brian Guda Kunston his staff in the personnel department
Speaker 2: have constructed this ross, and with where the Packers are
Speaker 2: with their depth. If Jordan Morgan doesn't rise up and
Speaker 2: sees a starting spot as a rookie first round draft pick,
Speaker 2: nobody's gonna panic. No, you know it, They're they're not.
Speaker 2: They're not begging Jordan Morgan to say it, to say like, hey,
Speaker 2: we need you to prove that you know that that's
Speaker 2: They're gonna give him the opportunity. But if he's but
Speaker 2: if for whatever reason, it's not there yet, it doesn't
Speaker 2: quite come together in the first year for for this
Speaker 2: young man that that that's okay the Packers. The Packers
Speaker 2: have what they need. But h but I think I
Speaker 2: think he's going to be a very curious case to
Speaker 2: follow through training camp just to see where this goes.
Speaker 3: Every single guy, if you think about hit Mike that
Speaker 3: has been on the Packers offensive line as like an
Speaker 3: entrench starter, got there basically via injury, even to some
Speaker 3: extent Josh Sitton, you know, right, But because you think
Speaker 3: about Bachtiari, he's not starting at left tackle. If Bologa
Speaker 3: doesn't blow out his ACL, Elton Jenkins probably isn't a
Speaker 3: full time starter. If Alane Taylor doesn't go down with
Speaker 3: the biceps injury, uh Bloga goes in for an injured
Speaker 3: Mark Tauscher, right Tjan The list goes on and on
Speaker 3: and on. That's why it really just comes down to
Speaker 3: being ready for if that moment does strike.
Speaker 1: Corey Linsley for j C.
Speaker 2: Tritder, that's the biggest one as a rookie, as a
Speaker 2: rookie in twenty fourteen. But yeah, you're right, I mean,
Speaker 2: it's it's a it's a pretty lengthy list in terms
Speaker 2: of the history of that position group in Green Bay, and.
Speaker 3: JC got through the entire training camp before getting hurt
Speaker 3: at the very end, which led to Corey Linsley's first
Speaker 3: in game snaps happening with Aaron Rodgers when the team
Speaker 3: went to Seattle in Week one. Yeah, it's that type
Speaker 3: of stuff that can happen in this sport. But be
Speaker 3: that as it may, I felt like the Packers' rookie class,
Speaker 3: by and large what we were able to see, it's
Speaker 3: an impressive looking group. We'll get closer to real football
Speaker 3: now day by day, week by week, and then next
Speaker 3: thing you know, you and I will be in South Paulo, Brazil.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm still trying to I'm still trying to wrap
Speaker 2: my head around that one because because I think that's
Speaker 2: gonna be before we know it.
Speaker 3: But I just want an ici E Bowl. That's all
Speaker 3: I want. Okay, that's all I'm asking for. All Right,
Speaker 3: I heard the ass is amazing down there.
Speaker 2: Well, July twenty second is the day. It is a Monday.
Speaker 2: It will be the first practice of training camp. The
Speaker 2: day after that will be our first show back. On
Speaker 2: July twenty third, we will return from our little hiatus
Speaker 2: and we'll be back with packers unscripted twice a week
Speaker 2: and all that kind of stuff. So I know you
Speaker 2: and I are going to be kind of in and
Speaker 2: out of the office like over the next several weeks
Speaker 2: and whatnot. So whatever break you do get, my friend,
Speaker 2: enjoy it, and let's come back ready to roll. On
Speaker 2: July twenty two.
Speaker 3: I think my Connor McGregor fights falling apart. I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm still gonna go to Vegas regardless, but.
Speaker 1: I just say, what do you. I'm like, you booked
Speaker 1: your tickets to Vegas.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's done.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's paid off.
Speaker 3: But it looks like McGregor and Michael Chandler might not happen.
Speaker 3: Oh man, yeah that would suck. Yeah. So here we're
Speaker 3: going in on a high note here and.
Speaker 1: Here and here.
Speaker 2: I'm I'm I'm just like, you know, trying to make
Speaker 2: my plans to go see some Brewers games and and
Speaker 2: you know, do a little tailgating and sitting in the
Speaker 2: upper deck at Amfam Field with my scorecard watch watching baseball.
Speaker 3: That's the best type thing to do. But just imagine
Speaker 3: like if you were in my shoes in that situation
Speaker 3: where you go down to Miller Park or am Fam
Speaker 3: Field now and then it's the the Nashville Sounds are
Speaker 3: playing instead.
Speaker 1: It's like it's just not the same, man. Very true.
Speaker 2: If I want to see minor league baseball, which is
Speaker 2: a lot of fun as well, I just go down
Speaker 2: to Appleton to watch the Timber rallers.
Speaker 1: I've done. I've done that as well and probably will
Speaker 1: do that again.
Speaker 2: Don't go to Vegas, No, no, definitely not.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: I'll have my fingers crossed for you, my friend, thank you,
Speaker 2: and with that we will call it a rap on
Speaker 2: this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all
Speaker 2: of our coverage of the team. As I said, we
Speaker 2: will be taking a little bit of a break here,
Speaker 2: but we will be back right here in these chairs
Speaker 2: with these cameras on when training can't begin. So for Wes,
Speaker 2: I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody, and
Speaker 2: we will see you next time.