Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford and he is my trusted colleague
Speaker 1: West Hodko. It's we're coming to you here from our
Speaker 1: studios at lambeau Field. Training camp is underway. Just want
Speaker 1: to give you a rundown now that we're kind of
Speaker 1: in this new production format with being online as opposed
Speaker 1: to on cable television. We still have the podcast obviously,
Speaker 1: of course, but through training camp we will try to
Speaker 1: post new episodes Slash Podcast on Mondays and Wednesdays, and
Speaker 1: then once we get to the regular season, we will
Speaker 1: revert to what has been our regular season format for
Speaker 1: the past two years, which is five days a week,
Speaker 1: Monday through Friday. So with that, let's get right into it, West,
Speaker 1: because the Packers as we speak right now, had the
Speaker 1: first few practices of camp under their belt, and it
Speaker 1: sounds like from what we heard from players in the
Speaker 1: locker room that things got off to a rather rousing start,
Speaker 1: you might say, with regards to Mike Petton's opening speech
Speaker 1: to the team um in one of those team meetings
Speaker 1: the day before the first practice, seems like he really
Speaker 1: kind of set the tone for what he wants to
Speaker 1: get out of this camp from his defense, he did, Mike,
Speaker 1: And the thing that probably stands out to me the
Speaker 1: most with Petton, and I wrote about this during the
Speaker 1: off season program, he always the three times I think
Speaker 1: he's spoken to the media now every time he coaches
Speaker 1: with we have yet to give up a yard, So
Speaker 1: you're always going to be in that honeymoon phase zero yards,
Speaker 1: zero points, so exactly. But I think he's hit all
Speaker 1: the right notes up until this point. I wrote a
Speaker 1: story going back to the off season about how he
Speaker 1: met individually with every defensive player in his position. Coach
Speaker 1: made sure to carve out that time go over goals,
Speaker 1: had players right down their goals for the upcoming season,
Speaker 1: something a lot of those guys really responded well to.
Speaker 1: And now they get back. Mike McCarthy said he wanted
Speaker 1: first time he's done this, he wanted all three the coordinators, Petton,
Speaker 1: Joe Philbin coming back as the offensive coordinator in ron
Speaker 1: Zook to speak to the entire team offensive defense, defense
Speaker 1: to offense, special teams intertwined into that. He wanted everybody
Speaker 1: to be on the same page and Petton being up
Speaker 1: in front of that room in front of Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: those offensive position players, giving them an idea of what
Speaker 1: he expects from his unit, what his philosophy for defenses,
Speaker 1: and what he believes the role of the defense is
Speaker 1: in a team's success. And for Aaron Rodgers to go
Speaker 1: out of his way. He wasn't asked about this speech.
Speaker 1: He brought this up on his own. Yeah. For him
Speaker 1: to do that in in mentioning that, you know, it
Speaker 1: was an all timer, a guy that's now in his
Speaker 1: fourteenth NFL season, that's been through so many different years,
Speaker 1: so many different coaches, so many different mentors. For him
Speaker 1: to say that, I think gives you an idea of
Speaker 1: exactly what Petton has done to this point to really
Speaker 1: get guys to buy in. Yeah, And what I liked
Speaker 1: about what I was hearing from the players in the
Speaker 1: locker room. I go back to a comment that Mike
Speaker 1: Petton made to the media. I believe it was when
Speaker 1: he spoke to reporters during the mini camp in the
Speaker 1: middle of June, and that he said, if he were
Speaker 1: to boil it down to one message to his players,
Speaker 1: it's more important how they play than what they play.
Speaker 1: And what he means by that is the attitude the approach.
Speaker 1: The mentality of beat the guy across from you is
Speaker 1: way more important than scheme and the xs and ohs
Speaker 1: and anything that he's going to dial up. And I
Speaker 1: asked Tremont Williams about that, Williams obviously having played in
Speaker 1: Patton's defense for two years in Cleveland when he was
Speaker 1: the head coach there, and Williams said, flat out that
Speaker 1: is exactly where he comes from. It's about beating the
Speaker 1: guy across from you. You cannot lean on scheme as
Speaker 1: a crutch. If a pass rusher, for example, it's having
Speaker 1: trouble getting to the quarterback, don't look to the sideline,
Speaker 1: don't look to the coaches to say, hey, dial something
Speaker 1: up for me to get to the quarterback. No, you
Speaker 1: beat the guy across from you first, and then then
Speaker 1: you know what Williams said, you start mixing in scheme
Speaker 1: to that mentality, then the scheme becomes a bonus. But
Speaker 1: how you win is to be is to win your
Speaker 1: matchup and and and that that message is definitely getting through. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the It's a tale as old as time. I mean,
Speaker 1: when you look at winning one on ones in this game,
Speaker 1: it is what it boils down to. And being able
Speaker 1: to if there's gonna be situations where teams double cover
Speaker 1: guy or put two blockers on a pass rusher, the
Speaker 1: other guys being able to take advantage of that because
Speaker 1: you always are going to have that one for one matchup.
Speaker 1: I think the thing that that really resonates for me
Speaker 1: so far with pet and coming in here and in
Speaker 1: that message of you know, we're looking for individuals and
Speaker 1: in winning those matchups rather than letting the scheme save you,
Speaker 1: so to speak. Mike McCarthy mentioned, I forget which portion
Speaker 1: of the offseason program this was, but you know, as
Speaker 1: parentially successful as the offense has been top ten and
Speaker 1: whatever it's been now seven in the last nine years,
Speaker 1: something like that, they want the defense to be better
Speaker 1: than that. They don't want the defense to feel like
Speaker 1: the step child. And we've only, at this point in
Speaker 1: time which we're taping the show, had three practices to
Speaker 1: go off of one of those being padded. But there
Speaker 1: just is an energy there um and in in a feeling,
Speaker 1: and I think an attitude that has been instilled with
Speaker 1: these guys that has been passed down and in seeing
Speaker 1: Pett and you know, bringing a couple of extra coaches
Speaker 1: but also finding you know, guys on this current roster.
Speaker 1: You know, you look at a guy like Joe Witt,
Speaker 1: who has been promoted a passing game corter. Their ideals
Speaker 1: a line and they all have a feeling in an
Speaker 1: in an idea of where they want this defense to go.
Speaker 1: And even though it's just been a couple of practices,
Speaker 1: I think you've been able to kind of sense that
Speaker 1: that mentality so far. Yeah, and there's definitely been plenty
Speaker 1: of energy on the offensive side of the tall as well.
Speaker 1: We saw in the first padded practice on Saturday, Um,
Speaker 1: a tight play in the end zone between Jimmy Graham
Speaker 1: and Josh Jones. They get into it a little bit. Hey,
Speaker 1: you know afterwards both guys brush it off. Hey, that's
Speaker 1: training camp. That's how it goes. But um, but if
Speaker 1: we want to talk a little bit about the offense,
Speaker 1: you're interesting to see that it looks like Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: Jimmy Graham off to a pretty fast start. Maybe some
Speaker 1: things to work on in the red zone, that things
Speaker 1: weren't quite clicking between them in the red zone work
Speaker 1: on Saturday, But as far as the stuff we've seen
Speaker 1: normal down at distance middle of the field, Jimmy Graham
Speaker 1: definitely making his plays. He certainly is, and again this
Speaker 1: is a guy that you have to see him to
Speaker 1: believe just how big he is and what he offers.
Speaker 1: And seeing those reps against Josh Jones, Josh Jones is
Speaker 1: a big kid, uh six ft two to twenty and
Speaker 1: you can see the height advantage. And we talked about
Speaker 1: last week and one of our three Things videos when
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers with how pinpoint precise he is when he
Speaker 1: puts the ball where the cornerback can't get it or
Speaker 1: the defensive back can't get it. Jimmy Graham also gives
Speaker 1: you a catching radius that widens that whole a little bit,
Speaker 1: and we saw it on a couple. I think one
Speaker 1: of them was that outroute last week was very impressive.
Speaker 1: Um just a really quickly pivot too. Because you mentioned
Speaker 1: the competitive rep between Jones. It doesn't always need to
Speaker 1: be something where guys are having conflict though. I even
Speaker 1: look at you know what Davante Adams and Kevin King
Speaker 1: have been doing in practice. You know there hasn't been
Speaker 1: any bickering or fighting or anything like that. How competitive
Speaker 1: those reps are for a guy that's coming off a
Speaker 1: pro Bowl working against the second round draft pick from
Speaker 1: last year trying to elevate his game. So, whether it
Speaker 1: is a Jimmy Graham and Davante Adams, you look at
Speaker 1: the defense, specifically the guys they get to work against,
Speaker 1: and and seeing those two, those two things kind of clash.
Speaker 1: To me, That's what I look for in these practices,
Speaker 1: and as time goes on now too, I think a
Speaker 1: guy like Josh Jones is gonna learn a lot from
Speaker 1: going up against the Jimmy Graham because you know what, Michael,
Speaker 1: there aren't a lot of six seven, two or sixty
Speaker 1: pound tight ends in this league that can do what
Speaker 1: Jimmy Graham does. Yeah. Absolutely, and and and to uh,
Speaker 1: to expound on Graham a little bit, he had a
Speaker 1: lot of comments. He spoke to the media for the
Speaker 1: first time in a while after Saturday's practice, yet was
Speaker 1: very complimentary, obviously of Aaron Rodgers. He had talked about
Speaker 1: that in April, how excited he is to be in
Speaker 1: this offense. One comment from Graham that really stood out
Speaker 1: to me though, was when he talked about how he
Speaker 1: can completely trust Aaron Rodgers not to throw a ball
Speaker 1: that's going to put him in a bad situation where
Speaker 1: he has to worry about one of those you know,
Speaker 1: across the middle type of hits, or or one those
Speaker 1: blindside type of shots that you don't see coming and whatnot.
Speaker 1: And it got me thinking, I made and I made
Speaker 1: this comment in our Insider Inbox column that you know,
Speaker 1: you and I. Every year there's a there's a few
Speaker 1: days where the group of officials comes in UM they
Speaker 1: show us, They show the media as well as the
Speaker 1: players and coaches a video of rules, changes, points of
Speaker 1: emphasis and all that for the upcoming season. The whole
Speaker 1: defenseless receiver thing has been a part of that video
Speaker 1: for a number of years now. They've been changing the rules,
Speaker 1: they emphasize different things. I can't recall one time in
Speaker 1: any of those videos that an Aaron Rodgers pass was
Speaker 1: in there. That says something, And that's exactly what Graham
Speaker 1: is talking about. Aaron Rodgers. Not only is his accuracy amazing,
Speaker 1: but he protects his players. His awareness of the field
Speaker 1: is such that he doesn't put his pass catchers in
Speaker 1: a compromising position. And Graham is one of those guys
Speaker 1: who really appreciates three dimensional chess. I don't know how
Speaker 1: many times we've talked about it as it relates to
Speaker 1: him and the pre snap, being able to win that
Speaker 1: battle at the line of scrimma, finding ways to draw
Speaker 1: guys off sides, finding ways to gain a favorable matchup
Speaker 1: for the offense, even you know, the twelve men on
Speaker 1: the field things. But I think that's a really good
Speaker 1: point you raised, because one of the things we never
Speaker 1: talked about because it's not an issue in this offense
Speaker 1: is guys getting lit up because of the ball being
Speaker 1: in a particular place that allows the safety or allows
Speaker 1: the defensive back to come in and lay a heavy
Speaker 1: hit on a guy. Um. And I think when you
Speaker 1: look at Graham in the course of his career, he's
Speaker 1: been able to catch passes from Russell Wilson. I know,
Speaker 1: probably didn't go as well as he wanted it to
Speaker 1: in Seattle, but you know, he also had Drew Brees.
Speaker 1: He's had some high quality quarterbacks to kind of take
Speaker 1: care of him. And now you also have a guy
Speaker 1: like Aaron Rodgers who with that precision, with that accuracy,
Speaker 1: also keeps his receiver's health in mind, a really big
Speaker 1: thing not only for the safety of the player, but
Speaker 1: also the health of the football team as a season
Speaker 1: where's on. Yeah, and the fans might be asking, is
Speaker 1: we're discussing this, so what about Davante Adams and those
Speaker 1: shots he took last year? Well, take a look at it.
Speaker 1: The first one against the Bears, it was a short
Speaker 1: pass over the middle. Adams was basically being held up
Speaker 1: by a Bears guy and then another guy comes in,
Speaker 1: Danny Trevathan and clocks him. And then the one in
Speaker 1: Carolina was after interception on an interception return, you know,
Speaker 1: which those blindside type of blocks the league is trying
Speaker 1: to eliminate and try to get rid of. Thomas Davis
Speaker 1: just lights up Davante Adams for no reason. So in
Speaker 1: discussing this, that hits that Adams took last year certainly
Speaker 1: not on Aaron Rodgers, although Rogers was not happy about
Speaker 1: the fact he through an interception, Yeah, totally. You know,
Speaker 1: I gotta say this too. I don't know if I'd
Speaker 1: bet a cooler cucumber right now than Davante Adams. I mean,
Speaker 1: the fact that he was willing to kind of make
Speaker 1: peace with Thomas Davis at the Pro Bowl too. He's
Speaker 1: a He's probably a bigger man than I at that
Speaker 1: point of his season, you know, trying to do in
Speaker 1: a contract. Oh yeah, he's he's in. He's in a contract.
Speaker 1: You're trying to get a new deal and everything. And
Speaker 1: then he ends up having to having to sit out
Speaker 1: the last few games with another concussions. It was certainly unfortunate,
Speaker 1: But I agree with you, Davante Adams very big man there.
Speaker 1: But continuing the discussion about the wide receiver's west, you
Speaker 1: wrote about a guy late last week, and we've talked
Speaker 1: a lot about the three rookie d wide receivers, how
Speaker 1: that depth chart is going to shake out. There's a
Speaker 1: young man from Wisconsin, Whitewater. Now it's early in camp.
Speaker 1: We haven't even gotten a family night letter in the
Speaker 1: first preseason games, so we you know, throw in the
Speaker 1: caveat that it's early. But Jake kumarole to me, there's
Speaker 1: nothing and I don't I don't mean this as a
Speaker 1: as a detriment to him. There's nothing that stands out
Speaker 1: to me about him except that when we're watching practice,
Speaker 1: he's getting open and making catches. And that's that's really
Speaker 1: the name of the game here for these young guys
Speaker 1: trying to make the roster. Well, I will say this,
Speaker 1: the thing that stands out to me about him, is
Speaker 1: he six four and twitter and nine pounds. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a big kid. And let me put it this way, Michael,
Speaker 1: if you didn't know, he was coming from a Division
Speaker 1: three background and Whitewater has had a lot of success,
Speaker 1: power to them for that. But it is still Division
Speaker 1: three football, right, you don't see a lot of it.
Speaker 1: We saw Matt Blanchard at trying to make the roster
Speaker 1: a number of years ago. There isn't always a proven
Speaker 1: path for D three guys in the NFL. If you
Speaker 1: would have told me Jake Kumaroo take away all the
Speaker 1: colleges and asked which one is the Division three kid,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have said him on this receiver's roster. That's
Speaker 1: a good point. And that's and that's quite a compliment
Speaker 1: to h Yeah. And and the thing that stands out
Speaker 1: to me is he had a phenomenal practice on Friday,
Speaker 1: had three catches in a two minute period, came back
Speaker 1: right the next period, had a nice play in the
Speaker 1: past under pressure where he was able to split the
Speaker 1: cornerback in the safety, made a nice cut CATCHU believe
Speaker 1: on a corner route. Look great. But what stood out
Speaker 1: to me is Saturday morning, McCarthy was asked about him,
Speaker 1: and there was no surprise. He said that they've been
Speaker 1: seeing this throughout the offseason program. It wasn't a one
Speaker 1: hit wonder. Now, don't get me wrong. Camarade has a
Speaker 1: tough road ahead of him to make this roster. There's
Speaker 1: seven guys at the receiver position right now that have
Speaker 1: been drafted into the NFL, including three this past year's rookies.
Speaker 1: Asked him about that on Friday afternoon, said that didn't
Speaker 1: bother him. He was watching, he was expecting it. His goal, though,
Speaker 1: is still to show that he can do this. His
Speaker 1: father was a first round draft pick, his cousin Joey
Speaker 1: Bosa Defensive Player the Year, a Rookie of the Year
Speaker 1: a year ago. He has NFL bloodlines, and he has
Speaker 1: full confidence that he can make that dream come true. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I wasn't aware when he came to Green Bay about
Speaker 1: the connection, you know, those family connections playing in the NFL.
Speaker 1: The last name sort of rang a bell. And then
Speaker 1: when I when you had looked it up in terms
Speaker 1: of his, uh, his father being a rather high draft pick,
Speaker 1: first round pick. Yeah, that's uh, that is that is
Speaker 1: pretty impressive. Those those bloodlines can can matter at certain
Speaker 1: points with regards to the rookies. A lot of people asking, okay,
Speaker 1: are there any of those rookies you know, eq St Brown,
Speaker 1: Jamon Moore, Marquis Valdes Scantling, any of them standing out?
Speaker 1: I will say this, Valdes Scantling unfortunately missed his chance
Speaker 1: to be maybe the star of the day on Saturday.
Speaker 1: He had made a great catch with a safety draped
Speaker 1: all over him in the end zone. You know, kind
Speaker 1: of a corner route there off to the side, great catch,
Speaker 1: gets his feet down in traffic, but then end later
Speaker 1: in practice runs a go route down the middle, really
Speaker 1: starts to separate eight from the defensive backs. Looks like
Speaker 1: a really good throw. Can't quite haul it in the
Speaker 1: end zone. He left his feed, he dove, maybe he
Speaker 1: didn't have to one of those kinds of things, didn't
Speaker 1: bring it in. If he had caught that pass. And
Speaker 1: I know if ifs and butts for candies and nuts,
Speaker 1: but if he had caught that pass, we'd be talking
Speaker 1: about him being, you know, maybe the early star amongst
Speaker 1: these rookie wide receivers. Here's what's interesting, Michael, I've covered
Speaker 1: this is my seventh full time training camp I've covered.
Speaker 1: I covered a couple before then on an interim basis,
Speaker 1: but full time to me, and I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: speak in hyperbole here, but this is going to be
Speaker 1: the most fun receiver battles watch. And we're talking about
Speaker 1: years where Jared Boykin came out of nowhere and you
Speaker 1: had Tory Gurley and and DeAndre Barrell and guys that
Speaker 1: you really were excited about, you know, possibly pushing the
Speaker 1: rest of that deep receiving corpse. This is the most
Speaker 1: excited I've been to watch this group work because you're
Speaker 1: right the Elda Scantling didn't come down with the ball
Speaker 1: on that, but his speed is ridiculous. That was that
Speaker 1: was impressive. That was pure separation while the ball was
Speaker 1: in the air. He just continued to separate from the
Speaker 1: DBS to go and he's done it several times in
Speaker 1: this camp. I think Jamon Moore is a guy that
Speaker 1: has an NFL build. I've been excited to watch him.
Speaker 1: He can hold up. You can see that the way
Speaker 1: he's built is going to be able to translate I
Speaker 1: think in the NFL in terms of a sixteen game season.
Speaker 1: E q st Brown the bloodlines, the pedigree, the work ethic.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to watch this on full because you also
Speaker 1: have Geronimo Allison and Trevor Davis competing for spots too.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be really exciting to see. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: think Allison is off to a pretty solid like like
Speaker 1: what I've what I've seen there, as you say, very steady.
Speaker 1: One other thing I want to hit on on the
Speaker 1: defensive side here West before we bolt out to practice.
Speaker 1: A guy we didn't see much of last year, Montravius Adams.
Speaker 1: The pads go on for the first time on Saturday,
Speaker 1: and suddenly he kind of jumped out a little bit,
Speaker 1: didn't He did, He really did, and they did one
Speaker 1: on one drills. This he beat three offensive linemen with
Speaker 1: the same swim move technique. And the thing you got
Speaker 1: to keep in mind with one on ones, this is
Speaker 1: your you want to beat your guy, but you're also
Speaker 1: working on things too. In a year ago, that first
Speaker 1: padded practice, Montrevia's Adams wasn't on the field. He broke
Speaker 1: his foot after the second one, didn't practice the rest
Speaker 1: of training camp. So realistically, this is the first time
Speaker 1: I've been able to see him in competitive reps because
Speaker 1: we don't get to see a lot of this stuff
Speaker 1: during the regular season. And I was impressed. Larry mccaron
Speaker 1: mentioned the kid has a really good first step. I
Speaker 1: thought his swin move was nasty, being able to, you know,
Speaker 1: give coporation very quick in the middle of the offensive line,
Speaker 1: and I get it. You talked about it, Larry talked
Speaker 1: about he's going up against guys that are lower on
Speaker 1: the depth chart. You know, it's only one on one.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be more traffic in there in the regular season.
Speaker 1: But I've covered training camp practices for a number of
Speaker 1: years now, and I'll say this, I'd rather see what
Speaker 1: Montrevia's Adams put on film on Saturday then the guys
Speaker 1: that go in there and just gets held up at
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. You don't know what you got.
Speaker 1: I thought he flashed him serious potential. It's a deep
Speaker 1: d line room. He's gonna have to work hard to
Speaker 1: get reps in there. But I really liked what I
Speaker 1: saw so far from Montrevia's Adams, given that that was
Speaker 1: our real first taste into the first or the former
Speaker 1: third round pick. Yeah, and or third round pick out
Speaker 1: of Auburn. Definitely showing why he was a top one
Speaker 1: draft pick a year ago. But I made this point
Speaker 1: in our Three Things video, and I'll say this, if
Speaker 1: if fans are going to only go on our website
Speaker 1: for two minutes a day, you have to watch Three Things.
Speaker 1: We want you with us for the minutes what you're
Speaker 1: doing Packers unscripted. Don't get me wrong, but if you
Speaker 1: want a two minute Packer fix every day during training camp,
Speaker 1: just check out Three Things. Larry McCarron is the star
Speaker 1: of the show. We love it. He cracks us up
Speaker 1: and hopefully he cracks you up as well. But I
Speaker 1: made the point in in our Three Things segment that
Speaker 1: with those swim moves you're talking about, Adams was beating
Speaker 1: some guys lower on the depth chart. But what that
Speaker 1: does is that potentially earns him reps in the one
Speaker 1: on ones. Now as camp goes on against the guys
Speaker 1: a little higher on the depth chart, maybe he's gonna
Speaker 1: go against Lane Taylor or Corey Linsley as an inside
Speaker 1: Russia as opposed to those guys further down the depth chart.
Speaker 1: And then that's when you really see what a guy
Speaker 1: like Montravius Adams have has and does he have another
Speaker 1: move because Corey Lindsley is not gonna get Corey Lindsley
Speaker 1: is watching that he sees that swim move. Okay, that's
Speaker 1: what that guy's got. I'm gonna make sure I take
Speaker 1: that away. So then what can Adams do when he
Speaker 1: goes up against a better player to to make an adjustment?
Speaker 1: Those are the kinds of things that are fun to
Speaker 1: watch as training camp goes along. Yeah, and one thing
Speaker 1: to point out to the reason why he was taking
Speaker 1: on a lot of the guys lawering the depth chart.
Speaker 1: You know, Lane Taylor wasn't going through the one on ones.
Speaker 1: He's coming back from that ankle injury, so he got
Speaker 1: Justin McCrae and Lucas Patrick getting a majority of the
Speaker 1: work against the starting guys. So, yeah, you gotta beat
Speaker 1: the guy in front of you. And I thought montrevious Adams,
Speaker 1: for our first taste into seeing him in one on ones,
Speaker 1: looked really good. We'll see where he takes it from here.
Speaker 1: All right, West, Well, you and I have to get
Speaker 1: out to practice, so we're going to do that and
Speaker 1: sign off on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of our coverage of the team and
Speaker 1: of training camp on packers dot com. On Twitter, you
Speaker 1: can find him at west hot I'm at Mike Spofford
Speaker 1: at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody,
Speaker 1: We'll see you next time.