Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford, joined by my trusted colleague West Hodkoits.
Speaker 1: We're coming to you here from our studios at lambeau
Speaker 1: Field West. This will be our final show for a while.
Speaker 1: The Packers offseason program has wrapped up. In fact, it's
Speaker 1: wrapping up today as we are taping this show. The
Speaker 1: team is on a team building activity after two days
Speaker 1: of mini camp practices. We will have some photos and
Speaker 1: potentially some video of that team activity on Packers dot
Speaker 1: com later on, so be sure to check that out.
Speaker 1: But with the offseason program wrapping up, training camp is
Speaker 1: roughly six weeks away. I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm not
Speaker 1: counting down the days yet, but I think it's I
Speaker 1: think it's six weeks away. Matt la Flour kind of
Speaker 1: wrap things up with his final comments to the media
Speaker 1: after Wednesday's practice, and I wrote a story about this
Speaker 1: on the website, kind of characterizing it as he's pleased
Speaker 1: with how the off season program is gone, but like
Speaker 1: any coach, he's not satisfied. Um implementing a new offensive
Speaker 1: system and everything that goes into that. You're not going
Speaker 1: to get everything done that you need to in one
Speaker 1: offseason program with the limitations you have with the c
Speaker 1: B A and all that. But he's fired up, in
Speaker 1: eager and ready to get these guys back for training camp.
Speaker 1: They neither break, so do the coaches. But but there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of excitement here when training camp
Speaker 1: rolls around. Yeah, absolutely, Mike, and I really liked this
Speaker 1: last day of practice and availability. Just hearing some of
Speaker 1: the guys and obviously also Matt Lafleur discussing sort of
Speaker 1: their impressions of that nine week ten week program with
Speaker 1: the extra week this year, with the new coach and
Speaker 1: where they are coming out of it. I think everyone
Speaker 1: was pretty much in agreement. And you touched on it
Speaker 1: as all the fact that the defense is ahead of
Speaker 1: the offense at this point. I certainly saw it in
Speaker 1: the two minute drills. Yeah, she has definitely had some
Speaker 1: good performances there. But to be quite honest with you,
Speaker 1: I really liked what Brian Balagas said standing by his
Speaker 1: locker on Wednesday, saying that, yeah, there's a little bit
Speaker 1: of talking. You know, there'll be some time for the
Speaker 1: offense to come back. But to be quite honest, with you.
Speaker 1: He was actually kind of pleased to see the defense
Speaker 1: playing as well as it is right now and coming
Speaker 1: together the way it is, because, Yeah, the offense wants
Speaker 1: to win these drills, there's no doubt about it. And
Speaker 1: if they can win every single one of them in
Speaker 1: training camp, they'll have smiles on their faces. But the
Speaker 1: fact that the defense has appeared to have taken a
Speaker 1: step forward this offseason with some of the new additions,
Speaker 1: with some of the young players taking the next step,
Speaker 1: and also Mike Petton just having an extra offseason to
Speaker 1: implement his program, whereas Matt Lafleur's in his first offseason
Speaker 1: trying to get his offense. And this is that's why
Speaker 1: Mike Petton came back. It's why they made the decisions
Speaker 1: they did to put themselves in this spot. That being said,
Speaker 1: the Packers offense knows it has work to do. Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur said, it wasn't as crisp as he wanted to
Speaker 1: wants it to be, but they're gonna have a chance
Speaker 1: now coming back in training camp when they start to
Speaker 1: put some pads on to really get going on this thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think when you hear Matt la Fleur say things
Speaker 1: like the defense is ahead of the offense, there's a
Speaker 1: little bit of sloppiness, and some things we need to
Speaker 1: clean up look a little crisper, as he said, not
Speaker 1: surprising observations at all given the circumstances here. And I
Speaker 1: think you know, as you and I have talked to
Speaker 1: a lot of defensive players around the locker room, they
Speaker 1: were all saying, yeah, like last year at this time,
Speaker 1: we were just trying to make sure we're lined up
Speaker 1: in the right place and we know what to do,
Speaker 1: and we're processing a lot more of the details of
Speaker 1: Mike Petton scheme now in year two, while the offense
Speaker 1: now is where the defense was a year ago and
Speaker 1: they're piecing things together. Training camp obviously will be huge,
Speaker 1: and part of training camp two is going to be
Speaker 1: to Matt Lafleur confirmed there will be two joint practices
Speaker 1: here in Green Bay with the Houston Texans leading up
Speaker 1: to the preseason openers. So those two joint practices will
Speaker 1: be between Family Night and the opening preseason game. That's
Speaker 1: going to be an interesting atmosphere, not only from the
Speaker 1: standpoint of the competition amongst the players, and when you
Speaker 1: have the Packers offense working against the Texans defense and
Speaker 1: vice versa. But that could be a big evaluation tool
Speaker 1: as well, because then the practice film includes stuff against
Speaker 1: an actual opponent, not just stuff against your own team. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and I want to ask you this now, two thousand
Speaker 1: nine was the last was that the last time they
Speaker 1: actually brought in another opponent? Was that when they played
Speaker 1: or they went against Buffalo before Okay? There wasn't a
Speaker 1: Family Night one in there too, No, well, buff Buffalo
Speaker 1: was the was part of Family Night. Yeah, so that
Speaker 1: would have preceded you in your time here. That was
Speaker 1: that was the year before I got here. I actually
Speaker 1: remember taking my kids to that Family Night with the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills at LAMB before Okay, because what my question
Speaker 1: was going to be, as someone asked us an insider inbox,
Speaker 1: and it got me thinking, like they wouldn't all be
Speaker 1: on Ray niche Gy. I'm guessing they're either going to
Speaker 1: have to use Clark Hankel as well, and the Don
Speaker 1: Hudson or maybe the Hudson Center have some people in
Speaker 1: the Hudson because you have a hundred and eight players
Speaker 1: you and I see it, Mike, when you have ninety
Speaker 1: on there, when you have ninety on Ray Nitchkey for
Speaker 1: training camp that that's a pretty cluttered field to begin with,
Speaker 1: so um that the logistics of it, I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: fascinated to watch. But as Matt Lafleur said, and he
Speaker 1: said it going back to when we're when I was
Speaker 1: talking with him at the NFL Owners meetings, this is
Speaker 1: a really unique opportunity and he's seen it before. He's
Speaker 1: been involved with teams that bring in opponents, um that
Speaker 1: that take on other guy, you know, teams in practice.
Speaker 1: There's just a different level that guys get to when
Speaker 1: it isn't a friendly face so to speaks. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: the phrase he used I thought was interesting. He called
Speaker 1: it competitive spirit. And there definitely is another notch to
Speaker 1: the level of competition. It's still not a game, it's
Speaker 1: still not even to the level of a preseason game,
Speaker 1: per se, but it's still different than lining up in
Speaker 1: a practice across from your teammate. It's gonna be fun too,
Speaker 1: because then, you know, training camp preseason can get kind
Speaker 1: of monotonous, just sort of the same sort of routine
Speaker 1: every year. I remember some off seasons I got excited
Speaker 1: when I saw, oh cool, there's gonna be some night
Speaker 1: practices something to mix it up a little bit. The
Speaker 1: fact that you're going to have this thing going on
Speaker 1: against the Texans in the first preseason game, the fact
Speaker 1: that Winnipeg is going to be around the corner right
Speaker 1: after that, it's gonna be a lot different. And Matt
Speaker 1: la Floor also mentioned in that same thing that they're
Speaker 1: still exploring the options of potentially having more night practices
Speaker 1: considering they will open up against the Chicago Bears. All
Speaker 1: those things are on the table, but I think more
Speaker 1: than anything, the fact of being able to start to
Speaker 1: condition this football team for what it's going to expect offense, defense,
Speaker 1: and special teams. This process, the offseason program is important.
Speaker 1: It's getting the installs in, It's making sure guys know
Speaker 1: what's going to be asked of them once training hamp
Speaker 1: camp hits. You're trying to hit the ground running. You've
Speaker 1: got to make every single one of those practices count. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: When we come back in a few weeks for training camp,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about a lot of position battles,
Speaker 1: a lot of roster spot battles and whatnot. One I
Speaker 1: want to touch on here before we sign off for
Speaker 1: a while is that the wide receiver position. I think
Speaker 1: this is going to be extremely interesting because, and again,
Speaker 1: as we've talked about all along, you take everything in
Speaker 1: O T A S with a little bit of a
Speaker 1: grain of salt, because nobody's put on pads. Everybody's just
Speaker 1: in shorts and helmets. But based on what we've seen,
Speaker 1: I think there's a couple of things we can fairly
Speaker 1: confidently say heading into training camp. One, the number two
Speaker 1: job is shaping up as behind Davante Adams. I'm saying
Speaker 1: is shaping up as a potentially very interesting competition between
Speaker 1: Geronimo Allison and Marquez Valdez Scandling based on the reps
Speaker 1: that we saw, the way they were being divvied up
Speaker 1: during O t S and mini camp. But the other
Speaker 1: thing is after that, it's not just about the draft
Speaker 1: picks from last year, and I'm talking about e q
Speaker 1: st Brown and Jamond More. Eyes will certainly be on them,
Speaker 1: no question about it, But Trevor Davis and Jake Kumero,
Speaker 1: they made a little bit of a statement here over
Speaker 1: the last few weeks in terms of where they are
Speaker 1: in the mix at this receiver position and in this competition.
Speaker 1: Um and boy, I'm really really interested to see just
Speaker 1: how this shakes out through the month of August. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that statement is worth still here. And they aren't just
Speaker 1: here to make a roster spot there to make a
Speaker 1: run at playing time in this offense. Yeah, there's a
Speaker 1: couple of things I want to touch on here because
Speaker 1: you brought up some excellent points. The first one being
Speaker 1: is that the offseason program. You're right, you take everything
Speaker 1: with a grain of salt, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: We've covered enough of these things that you can also
Speaker 1: tell when guys can't play, When guys just aren't going
Speaker 1: to work, they aren't going to fit in. The thing
Speaker 1: I really like about this receiving corps the same reason
Speaker 1: why the Green Bay Packers didn't go out and find
Speaker 1: another veteran receiver to bring in after Randall Copp departed.
Speaker 1: You want to let these guys spread their wings, and
Speaker 1: I thought there was a lot of them that did
Speaker 1: so this offseason. Well, the Packers didn't draft or receiver either.
Speaker 1: That not only not bringing in another veteran, but they
Speaker 1: use their draft picks in other places. So starting off
Speaker 1: with what you said with Trevor Davis and Jake Kumarro.
Speaker 1: First off, with Kumaro, he has I think one of
Speaker 1: the greatest compliments you could ever give a receiver is
Speaker 1: the one that Aaron Rodgers gave to him this past
Speaker 1: week and saying that he does all the little things
Speaker 1: right the way he practices. Now, that isn't a statement
Speaker 1: that Rogers gave for the first time. He's given that
Speaker 1: a few times even before I want to say, uh,
Speaker 1: Kumarro is even activated to the roster last year when
Speaker 1: he was on injured reserve. He has been incredibly complimentary
Speaker 1: of how he carries himself, and to some extent, you
Speaker 1: expect that from him. Kumaro, that is, he is a veteran.
Speaker 1: He is seven years old. I think he's the second
Speaker 1: oldest or maybe even the oldest receiver on this roster.
Speaker 1: You want to see him have that mentality. But it's
Speaker 1: also telling those young guys on the roster, the draft picks,
Speaker 1: the guys that maybe were a little bit more heralded
Speaker 1: a year ago, of where the bar is. He said
Speaker 1: that really nicely, and then from Trevor Davis's perspective, Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur hit it right on the head when he stepped
Speaker 1: to the group and was talking to the media after
Speaker 1: a practice. I believe on Tuesday, Trevor Davis is sort
Speaker 1: of the forgotten man in this equation. But if you've
Speaker 1: watched these practices, and I know there's three of them
Speaker 1: available to the public and not everybody can get to them,
Speaker 1: but Trevor Davis looks good, and he looks like he's
Speaker 1: put the hamstring injury behind him. He looks like a
Speaker 1: guy who's going into his fourth NFL season, and quite honestly,
Speaker 1: Mike with his speed, there's some people asking an inbox
Speaker 1: when you pair him with an MVS. Those kind of
Speaker 1: type of place. The this receiving corps looks different than
Speaker 1: it did three or four years ago. There's a different
Speaker 1: caliber of athlete right now. And that's saying something because
Speaker 1: the Packers had some good ones. So watching Davis, watching MVS,
Speaker 1: watching Kumar, watch all these guys sort of, as I said,
Speaker 1: spread their wings a little bit, it just tells you that,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, the Packers made the right move investing
Speaker 1: in the young guys on this roster and not going
Speaker 1: out and finding a veteran that might just end up
Speaker 1: log jamming that whole depth chart. Yeah, and what I
Speaker 1: was reminded of in watching Trevor Davis in the handful
Speaker 1: of practices we got to see over the last month
Speaker 1: is that when this guy is healthy, he's fast. I mean,
Speaker 1: you could see the raw speed that he has out there.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the different types of athletes now that
Speaker 1: the Packers have at wide receiver, obviously there's a lot
Speaker 1: of unproven ability. You know, a couple of those guys
Speaker 1: MVS and EQ, they only have their rookie seasons under
Speaker 1: their belt. You know a handful of catches, so to speak,
Speaker 1: relative to what a guy like Davante Adams has accomplished.
Speaker 1: But when you're talking about the different skill sets, the
Speaker 1: different levels of athleticism that these guys have, it does
Speaker 1: give the entire receiver group a different feel. And Rogers
Speaker 1: made the comment also at his locker with regards to
Speaker 1: Valdes Scantling and the progress that he is making from
Speaker 1: year one to year two. As partly why I say,
Speaker 1: based on the reps that we saw, it's looking like
Speaker 1: it'll be a neck and neck type of race between Valdes,
Speaker 1: Scantling and Allison for the number two job when the
Speaker 1: offense is in a two receiver set. But Rogers said
Speaker 1: that MVS is starting to play more to his timed speed.
Speaker 1: This is a guy who ran a four three seven
Speaker 1: or four three eight forty in the combine coming out
Speaker 1: in the draft, and the Packers drafted him in the
Speaker 1: fifth round and we've seen that speed on display, and
Speaker 1: Rogers from the quarterback position is starting to see in
Speaker 1: the live action in the eleven on eleven stuff, he's
Speaker 1: playing more to that timed speed and sometimes it can
Speaker 1: take guys a while to get there. Some guys never
Speaker 1: necessarily get there. They're always just a speed burner. But
Speaker 1: then you know, when they have to make the decisions
Speaker 1: and and make adjustments on the fly, they never quite
Speaker 1: play that fast. And for Rogers Rogers to say that
Speaker 1: about MVS, I thought was really interesting because to me
Speaker 1: then that that makes him a top top candidate to
Speaker 1: watch here during training camp when we get to see
Speaker 1: a lot more eleven on eleven and full speed work.
Speaker 1: You know, I was actually sitting by my desk after
Speaker 1: you know, practice and everything got done, locker room got
Speaker 1: done on Wednesday, and I was thinking about this little
Speaker 1: bit with Velvis Scantling. Aaron Rodgers has had a lot
Speaker 1: of talented receivers, Jordy Nelson's future Packers Hall of Famer,
Speaker 1: Greg Jennings, Donald's driver, Randall Cobb, James Jones, the list
Speaker 1: goes on and on and on. To me, though he's
Speaker 1: never had a four, three, four or four type guy. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Cobb was really good and short, short area quickness.
Speaker 1: Those other guys really master their footwork. I'm just really
Speaker 1: intrigued that if if MVS can put his whole game together,
Speaker 1: if he can get on that quote unquote same page
Speaker 1: that we talk about time and time again. He adds
Speaker 1: a level to this offense that I don't think we've
Speaker 1: quite seen before during the Aaron Rodgers era. And then again,
Speaker 1: you you factor in the Trevor Davis is the Davante Adams,
Speaker 1: all these other guys with these different skill sets. There
Speaker 1: isn't one of the same player on that depth chart
Speaker 1: right now. So when you look at MVS and the
Speaker 1: way he's positioned himself, and I think he has right now,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to, you know, annoint him as a starter,
Speaker 1: but I think he's established himself as one of those
Speaker 1: leading guys that will be going out with the ones
Speaker 1: when we get back on July six. Whatever, it is
Speaker 1: the fact that he took it as seriously as he
Speaker 1: did this offseason. Remember this is a guy that last
Speaker 1: year was drawing the playbook up over and over again,
Speaker 1: doing everything he could to get everything down. Is that
Speaker 1: game starts to slow down and his speed starts to
Speaker 1: catch up. That's a really dangerous combination. Yeah, And he
Speaker 1: had an interesting comment too when I was at his
Speaker 1: locker after Wednesday's practice and I asked him about learning
Speaker 1: an NFL playbook for the second time, and is that
Speaker 1: any different, you know, as opposed to learning an NFL
Speaker 1: playbook as a rookie, and you know how he is.
Speaker 1: He just kind of shrugged and smiled and laughed it off,
Speaker 1: and he's like, I've been learning a new offense every
Speaker 1: year for every year that I can remember, going back
Speaker 1: to a player who transferred in college and played for
Speaker 1: a number of different offensive coordinators and coaching staffs and
Speaker 1: everything like that. So this whole thing about learning a
Speaker 1: new system, it's nothing new to him. He has his
Speaker 1: his own system, like you say, of kind of drawing
Speaker 1: the plays himself to help commit him to memory and
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. And just getting back for a
Speaker 1: minute to Geronimo Allison as well in this mix, Davante
Speaker 1: Adams had an interesting comment in that, um, he really
Speaker 1: sees Alison. Now, Davante Adams is not the wide receiver's
Speaker 1: coach and he's not the offensive coordinator at head coach,
Speaker 1: but he really likes what he sees from Geronimo Allison
Speaker 1: in the slot when they're in the three receiver set.
Speaker 1: Just his experience. And if there's one thing we always
Speaker 1: heard about Allison before he got hurt last year from
Speaker 1: coach Mike McCarthy and the guys on his staff was
Speaker 1: toughness when it comes to Geronimo Allison, and that seems
Speaker 1: to be at least a piece of what the Packers
Speaker 1: maybe are looking for at that slot position. Absolutely, and
Speaker 1: I think the more that the off season program went on,
Speaker 1: I think at the beginning of the off season, I
Speaker 1: wasn't quite sure how that position was going to settle out.
Speaker 1: It does seem like that is where Alison is sort
Speaker 1: of settling in now. That being said, Larry mccarren pointed
Speaker 1: out on one of the three things that we did
Speaker 1: after a practice this week, packers are using a lot
Speaker 1: more bunch formations. They're they're they're doing more to mix
Speaker 1: and match their personnel. We saw plenty of Davante Adams
Speaker 1: lining up inside, so there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: positional flexibility there. They're not the reason they didn't go
Speaker 1: and get a five ten slot receivers because I don't
Speaker 1: think there's really gonna just be one slot receiver in
Speaker 1: this offense. Yeah, we've talked about that before. But that
Speaker 1: being said, I think Geronimo Allison looks natural inside and
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be intriguing to watch how
Speaker 1: he further further develops in that role, and talking to
Speaker 1: him after practice, I believe on Tuesday to this guy
Speaker 1: just wants to be healthy. He just wants to be
Speaker 1: able to go out there. He felt like he was
Speaker 1: on the right trajectory. He didn't care what the stats
Speaker 1: were last year. He didn't care that he was on
Speaker 1: pace for a thousand yards. He just liked the way
Speaker 1: he was playing and how he felt in the offense.
Speaker 1: He can come back now and pick up where he
Speaker 1: left off there again, this Packers offense is gonna be
Speaker 1: positioned really well. Yeah. Well, to touch on the defense
Speaker 1: here quickly was before we go. I don't know about you,
Speaker 1: but if there were two guys defensively that I probably
Speaker 1: had my eye on more than anybody else, it was
Speaker 1: those two first round draft picks for Shawn Gary and
Speaker 1: Darnell Savage. You have to like what you see out
Speaker 1: of Rashaan Gary, just in terms of the athleticism that
Speaker 1: the guy can run. I know they're not necessarily going
Speaker 1: to ask him to drop back into coverage a lot,
Speaker 1: but from an athletic standpoint, he's certainly capable of doing that.
Speaker 1: And uh, then with regard to Darnell Savage, the number
Speaker 1: twenty one overall pick the Packers traded up for the
Speaker 1: safety out of Maryland. Davantae Adams made it pretty clear
Speaker 1: at his locker and you know, I I take the
Speaker 1: comments from the players in the locker room pretty seriously
Speaker 1: because they know when they say things about their teammates
Speaker 1: that it's going to get some traction and it can
Speaker 1: potentially put pressure on guys, especially young guys. Davantae Adams
Speaker 1: made no bones about it. He said, Darnell Savage is
Speaker 1: going to be that guy. He's you know, the expectations
Speaker 1: here for Savage are high. That's been evident from the
Speaker 1: very beginning. They slotted him in there as a starter
Speaker 1: in this defense from day one, from the day he
Speaker 1: first put on that number twenty six jersey. But he
Speaker 1: has not disappointed so far. His athleticism has been on display,
Speaker 1: and when the pads go on, he gets in those
Speaker 1: preseason games and I'm I'm really interested to watch him
Speaker 1: from above, like our view from the press box where
Speaker 1: during the preseason games we get to see how the
Speaker 1: secondary is lined up in the way those guys move.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take at least a few series in the preseason,
Speaker 1: and just watch how he plays and how he moves
Speaker 1: in the back end. Boy, can that guy really cover
Speaker 1: some ground from where he can get to point A
Speaker 1: to point B in his acceleration. To be quite honest
Speaker 1: with you, not to compare a safety to an outside linebacker,
Speaker 1: but that was the number one thing that stood out
Speaker 1: to me with both Gary and Savage this offseason, how
Speaker 1: explosive they are. I don't care about the forties, although
Speaker 1: both of them have impressive forties, but whatever their ten
Speaker 1: yards splits must be must be pretty impressive. Ye from
Speaker 1: Savage's perspective, you like what you're seeing there because quite honestly,
Speaker 1: that's a position where the Packers don't have a lot
Speaker 1: of depth right now, with Josh Jones first being here
Speaker 1: in the mini camp and then obviously not practicing. UH
Speaker 1: you have Raven Green, but Raven Green looks like he
Speaker 1: could potentially be a dime player right now with the
Speaker 1: way that things are situated. N Trelle Jamerson, the the
Speaker 1: guy that was with UH Wisconsin previously in with the
Speaker 1: Houston Texans, looks like he's transitioning more to a safety role,
Speaker 1: so they need there. There isn't like there's a direct
Speaker 1: competition right now for Savage to be with the ones.
Speaker 1: But I like what he's done since he's gotten there,
Speaker 1: and then as far as with Shaan, Gary, Mike and
Speaker 1: I am not one for Hyperbill, you know that, but
Speaker 1: that he is about as impressive as a rookie as
Speaker 1: i've seen come in here. Now, I don't know how
Speaker 1: he is doing with the playbook. I don't know how
Speaker 1: he's gonna do its own dropping. I don't know if
Speaker 1: he's going to be able to master the outside linebacker
Speaker 1: position this offseason, in this summer. But athletically he he
Speaker 1: comes as advertised, no question about it. His ability Now
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to see a lot of times there's
Speaker 1: no pads, so it is just, hey, how quickly can
Speaker 1: you get around the tackle? He is giving David bak
Speaker 1: Tari a run for his money. He's given Alex Light
Speaker 1: a run for his money. This guy needs to be
Speaker 1: able to harness those skills to be an every down
Speaker 1: player because there's always going to be a CounterPunch. But
Speaker 1: in terms of looking for a first round pick, a
Speaker 1: twelfth overall pick to come into an off season program
Speaker 1: and look like the number twelve overall pick. I really
Speaker 1: thought Rashan Gary did that. Yeah. And the other thing
Speaker 1: I will say about this defense too, because we weren't
Speaker 1: sure all the talk about Petton a year two and
Speaker 1: all the progress that can be made, and the guys
Speaker 1: who were here last year are definitely feeling better about
Speaker 1: the Petting system and where they fit. But you're talking
Speaker 1: about adding Preston Smith, Zadarius Smith, Adrian Amos all into
Speaker 1: the starting lineup in this defense, plus adding in a
Speaker 1: couple of rookie draft picks into significant roles. I don't
Speaker 1: know about us, but from what I've heard, it doesn't
Speaker 1: sound to me like Petton held anything back in terms
Speaker 1: of trying to work these guys in He's especially with
Speaker 1: the veteran free agent signings. It's like, hey, these guys
Speaker 1: have played in the NFL. They've all played in the
Speaker 1: league for four years, um, and there's no need to
Speaker 1: hold anything back. Let's give it to him. Let's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, let's pound it into him and let him
Speaker 1: learn it as quickly as possible. And it seems that
Speaker 1: the progress that Patton wanted to make with this defense
Speaker 1: is being made, even though he did have to incorporate
Speaker 1: a bunch of new players. Well, the thing that's nice
Speaker 1: too is with the Smith's Preston Smith, I expected him
Speaker 1: to have a really seamless transition, just based on what
Speaker 1: he did in Washington and how how well rounded his
Speaker 1: skill set is for that position in the three or
Speaker 1: four defense. I expected that to go well. In Zadarius,
Speaker 1: I mean, the thing that's gonna be really fun to
Speaker 1: watch with him is just how he marries his natural
Speaker 1: pass rushing instincts and his his versatility into Mike Petton scheme.
Speaker 1: I think is the season plays out, if he stays healthy,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be the number one telltale sign of the
Speaker 1: success with that pass rush. If he can pick up
Speaker 1: where he left off in Baltimore and Petton scheme, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be really good for that upfront. Yeah. Maybe one
Speaker 1: of my favorite comments of the entire offseason was Mike
Speaker 1: Petton at the podium talking about Zadarius Smith and all
Speaker 1: of the different responsibilities of an outside linebacker, and he said, well,
Speaker 1: Zadarius getting paid to go that way, not that way.
Speaker 1: All the stuff about pass coverage for outside linebackers not
Speaker 1: going to be high on the priority list for Zadarius Smith.
Speaker 1: Just a very funny comment from from Mike Petton, who
Speaker 1: is always entertaining I think at the podium. I liken
Speaker 1: it to a picture, Michael. I mean, obviously you need
Speaker 1: to have your changeups, you need to have your curve balls.
Speaker 1: But if a guy throws ninety eight miles an hour,
Speaker 1: you want the guy throwing nine. And zaire Darius Smith
Speaker 1: throws Yeah, he's a pass rusher, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: With that, we're going to call it a wrap on
Speaker 1: this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all
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Speaker 1: west Hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the
Speaker 1: team account. Thanks for tuning in everybody. We will see
Speaker 1: you for training camp. H