WEBVTT - #292 Packers Unscripted: Not so forgotten 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:20.119 Hi, everybody, Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.200 I am Mike Spofford sitting alongside the one and only 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:26.640 Wes Hodkowits were coming to you here from our studios 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:30.400 at lambeau Field and West. Interesting way to start the 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:33.280 show here, because we've spent a lot of time talking 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:36.960 about the Packers top two draft picks cornerbacks Jiar Alexander 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:39.200 Josh Jackson. We've also spent a lot of time talking 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.040 about the three wide receivers that were drafted on the 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:44.640 third day of the NFL Draft. There was a guy 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:48.000 picked in between all of that that we really haven't 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:50.520 talked about a whole lot. But he's a guy who 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:53.760 could play a pretty important role on this Packers defense. 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.400 And Tea and I'm talking about linebacker or and Burke's 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:59.160 from Vanderbilt. Now we have to see, obviously when the 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:01.360 pads go on in the summer of the preseason games 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:03.880 and how he fits into what Mike Petton wants to do. 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:06.520 But this could be a pretty important draft pick for 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.360 the Packers. See here's the thing. Like you obviously are 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:12.840 a draft expert, I always this is you know, all 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:15.039 two fifty six guys who come off the board, none 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:20.920 of them surprised. I'm more about the first two rounds, 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:22.720 and once you get out of the first two rounds, 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:24.960 that's where it. Sometimes it's like, Okay, you recognize some 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:27.840 of these guys, but others you don't. Burke's is a 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:29.320 guy I, to be honest with you, didn't know a 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.119 whole lot about and then hearing his story and listen 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:34.319 to him talk, you know, you talk about him starting 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:36.839 as a defensive back and playing safety and eventually moving 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:39.120 over to linebacker. So, to be quite honest with you, 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:41.000 when he came into the locker room for the first 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:45.559 availability with the media, I was anticipating guy that probably 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:47.760 looked a little bit more in the form of Josh Jones, 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.640 a full you know, six ft one, six ft two, 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.440 uh safety, But you know a guy that mirrors more 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.520 of a safety. I look at Burks now and it's like, 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:02.960 how did that guy ever played defen because he is ripped. Yeah, 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.480 he's got some size. There is nothing small, you know 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.880 whatsoever about his stature and in how he fills out. 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.399 He looks like an inside linebacker. And now you bring 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:15.440 him in and he has those measurables. The kind of 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:18.320 things you look for in those hybrid tendencies. It just 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.440 seems to me when you also, you know, factor in 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:25.480 Burke's is his um you know, intelligence, and coming from Vanderbilt, 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:27.680 this is a guy who appears to be built for 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:31.880 defenses in two thousand eighteen. Yeah, and he played safety 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:34.680 initially atte Vanderbilt, as you mentioned, but that was about 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:37.000 twenty pounds ago. He said he played safety when he 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:39.040 was around two fifteen, And really he's one of these 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:43.000 guys whose body was still maturing and still developing through 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.360 his college years. He didn't come out of high school 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:49.280 with really that that full grown male adult body, so 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.320 he was still growing and really because his body was 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:56.040 still maturing, that's partly what led to his position changes 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.600 along the way, going from safety to outside linebacker and 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:03.880 then event chually to inside linebacker. What's interesting to me 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.320 about Burke's is I think this sets up very well 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:08.919 because you, you and I are much the same way, 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:11.000 and we're always a little skeptical of just how much 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:14.040 rookies can play in the NFL, how much will they 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:17.840 really contribute right away? And what intrigues me about Burke's 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:21.360 is that coming from Vanderbilt, he has the smarts to 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:23.560 learn the playbook. We've seen that with other guys to 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:27.040 Blake Martinez from Stanford, time Montgomery coming from Stanford, those 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.280 guys were ready to jump in right away. So he's 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.280 got that going for him. He's changed positions a lot 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:34.560 along the way, as we just mentioned, He's played a 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.200 lot of different spots on defense. And then on top 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:40.280 of that, he actually said in meeting with the media 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.720 here in Green Bay for the first time that his 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:46.560 coaches um his head coach Derek Mason at Vanderbilt also 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:49.000 doubled as the defensive coordinator when he was there, and 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:52.200 then also his inside linebackers coach his final year in 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:55.080 Chris mar Both of those guys focused on teaching their 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:59.080 players the entire defense they're they're coaching and teaching wasn't 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:01.880 about here's your position and here's your responsibilities. You know, 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:05.280 just do your job. It was about understanding the big picture. 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:09.280 So he's coming in really with UH with the type 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:13.160 of background that can allow potentially a young player to 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:15.320 hit the ground running, so to speak. And again I 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:17.600 don't want to speak for how he's going to necessarily 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.120 fit in with what Mike Petton wants to do. But 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:22.359 my point is that I think on the mental side 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.320 of things, he's going to be ready if they find 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.760 a role for and it's such an important role to 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:30.359 be able to have that that mental capacity and not 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.160 only process that information, but to be prepared for what 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.640 you're going to see on a given day because of 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:39.159 what your responsibilities are in coverage, what the potential responsibilities 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:41.720 are as a blitzer. He said he did that occasionally 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:44.600 they're being able to defend the run. It is the 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:48.320 one position inside linebacker where you basically have a hand 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:51.239 in everything, and for the most part, it's pretty balanced 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:53.840 across the board and what your responsibilities are. You can 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:56.200 be better in one area than another, but you better 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:58.560 not be deficient in one area, otherwise you're going to 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.599 get exposed. Uh. With Burke's coming into the league now, 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:06.360 As you said, I always am very cautious making expectations 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:08.560 too high for rookies because you and I have seen 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:10.360 a time and time again, Mike, if you go into 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.800 a season and you're counting on rookies to play out 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:16.120 of their mind, you're probably not going to get to 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.039 where you want to go. You have to have plan A, 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.599 Plan B, Plan C, and Sometimes you're gonna get Casey Hayward. 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.320 Sometimes you're gonna get Greg Jennings. Sometimes there's gonna be 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:26.760 these guys that step out and ball out their first year. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:29.479 But for Burks, I think the important thing is understanding 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:31.840 the jump he is making now going from Vanderbilt and 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.800 as it is, talented and experience he wasn't in that 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.120 defense now, trying to understand what Mike Petton is trying 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:39.279 to do and what his role is going to be here. 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:43.200 That being said, all of those experiences pulled together are 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.479 going to be really helpful for him and being able 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.240 to really take his game and transfer it to the 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.560 next level. Yeah, and this potentially sets up well for 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.000 him because we've heard both ha Ha, Clinton Dicks and 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.320 Mike McCarthy use the phrase likable and learnable when it 0:05:56.400 --> 0:06:00.279 comes to Mike Patton's defensive schemes. So from that stamp point, 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:04.400 he may not there may not be the complexities initially 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.360 that a player has to decipher compared to say, Dom 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:10.600 Caper's defense. And it's interesting when you compare with Blake Martinez. 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.320 He picked up capers scheme from the mental side of it, 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:15.599 he had it down, but even he admitted his rookie 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.440 year then he was out there almost thinking too much, 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:20.719 and it wasn't until his second year that he really 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:24.200 cut himself loose and really felt more comfortable. You wonder 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:26.640 with with a different scheme and just a different way 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:29.520 that Mike Petton goes about it, will that process be 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:32.640 accelerated potentially with a player like Burke. The strength is 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.559 the whole with Mike Petton's defense, and that he ties 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.880 all those concepts together. He did in New York, he 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:39.800 did in Buffalo to some extent, he even did it 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.520 in Cleveland, and I think him bringing in his scheme 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:44.599 now into Green Bay. If he can weave all of 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.880 those different components together and have his type of players 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:49.800 in that scheme, I think they're going to get to 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:51.719 where they want to go. But the big thing for Burke's, 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:54.000 because we saw it with a guy from Stanford like Martinez, 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:56.080 is taking it one day at a time and making 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.000 sure you understand what you're doing before you're going out 0:06:58.040 --> 0:06:59.680 there trying to do it, and no question about it. 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:01.400 With that, we will go to a breakback with more 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:23.160 on Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.240 Mike Spofford in this chair, Wes Hodkowits in that one. West. 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.120 Looking back on Rookie Orientation Weekend, we've talked a lot 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.720 about the rookies, obviously, but there are also a handful 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:36.000 of guys who participate in that who are not necessarily rookies, 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:39.080 but they're eligible to participate because they haven't been on 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.120 the active roster. They haven't played in enough NFL games 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:47.240 to be ineligible for for a Rookie orientation type of system. 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.200 And one of those players that is definitely worth discussing 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:54.200 here is tight End Emmanuel Bird. The Packers um haven't 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:57.760 really added to their their tight End depth chart this 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:01.680 year beyond Jimmy Graham and Lance Hendricks at the top 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:04.760 of things. And uh, Um, you wrote a fantastic story 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:08.040 on our website, packers dot Com outlining the background of 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:11.120 Emmanuel Bird, a story that hadn't really gotten out there 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.360 in terms of everything that he's overcome with with his 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.000 family and how he was raised. I don't want to 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:18.920 steal your thunder. Go ahead and tell us what you 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.040 what you discovered in the story that you wrote. Well, 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:23.200 this starts off for me actually going back to last 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:25.280 preseason and I don't know if you remember that, but 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.120 Bird comes in as a street free agent. He got 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.480 cut by the Chiefs, and the Packers brought him in, 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:32.360 and I was really impressed by the kid. He did 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:34.960 everything he possibly couldn't make the team. Caught every pass 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.280 throwing his way, didn't matter if it was Aaron Rodgers, 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.040 Joe kl and he was catching it. Packers cut him, 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.800 He goes back home, almost gets into teaching. They bring 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:45.120 him back in November on the practice squad, and then 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:46.880 at the end of the season, he has that performance 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.640 against the Detroit Lions twenty nine yards and ends up 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:51.600 having a really fine outing. And I talked to him 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.920 after the game, So those quotes, because that was the 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:56.880 end of the season. Yeah, I kind of stashed for 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.960 an offseason story. And I remember being at the Combat 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:03.080 and Chase Lytton, who was the quarterback for Marshall, which 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:06.640 is where Bird played, He was talking to the media 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:08.559 at a side table, and I wanted to ask him 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.559 about Michael Clark, the big phenom you know, came in 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.080 former basketball player, ends up being on the roster, and 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:17.600 I remember that Bird also had gone to Marshall, so 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:21.719 I asked Linton about him. And his face just lit up, 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:24.840 No pun intended the moment I brought up his name 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:27.520 and he just said, he's the most humble and one 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:29.800 of the hardest working people I've ever met. And getting 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:31.400 a chance to talk to him a little bit mentioned 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:33.960 you know, he has a really interesting backstory. So that 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:35.720 allowed me to go back to his bio. It wasn't 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:37.959 like I did this great sleuthing on the story or anything. 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:41.120 And it turns out that Bird had lost his mom 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.240 when he was six years old, and then the woman 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:46.800 who raised him, his aunt, Um Claudia Marshall, She passed 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.560 away during his junior year of college. Father is not 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:51.839 really involved in his life. Those were the bedrock for 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:53.920 him and his brother Roscoe, who was a year older 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:56.559 than him. And getting a chance to talk to Manuel 0:09:56.600 --> 0:10:00.560 and Roscoe about this and what they've gone through, basically 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.800 watching their mom die at a young age. She had 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.040 an asthma attack. She ends up being transport to the ambulance, 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:09.480 dies on the way to the hospital, gets raised by 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:13.960 their aunt, a single mother, herself them and her their 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:18.600 older sister, getting and welcomed into their family, and getting 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:20.280 a chance to talk to him man about what this 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:22.920 has been like and all this pales in comparison, Mike, 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:25.040 when you look at trying to make a roster as 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:27.360 an undrafted free agent whatever. The big goal for them 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.200 was just trying to get a free college education. Roscoe 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.120 went and played at eight. Are you Sorry? You a 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.560 b Alabama Birmingham? They shut down the program at the 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:40.520 same time that his aunt comes down with cancer. She 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.199 was a two time breast cancer survivor and mistastasized to 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:46.839 her jaw, and both of those guys were still playing 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.960 college football at the time when she passes away. There's 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:52.800 so many layers to the story. But just seeing Emmanuel's 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:55.880 approach to everything going back to last summer and even 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.240 you know, no matter how insurmountable it is to make 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:02.400 the roster, he overcomes that. After understanding the backstory a 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:04.720 little more, it gives you a better appreciation for exactly 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:06.520 who this guy is. Yeah, and I know you and 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.400 I are are in the business of of chronicling the 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:11.840 stories and and trying to get to know these guys 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.160 a little bit. And you know, but when you when 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:16.480 you get to know one of these guys in that 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.000 respect and tell that story, it's hard not to root 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.680 for him and um, And I know we can't really 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.120 do that. That's not our job to cheer for certain guys. 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:26.480 But but I think I think a lot of people, 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:28.480 a lot of Packers fans who have now read the story, 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.000 and if you haven't read it, be sure to check 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:33.120 it out on Packers dot com. Emmanuel Bird will be 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.000 become a little bit of a fan favorite as one 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:37.880 of these underdog type guys. And you mentioned all the 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:40.440 different layers to the story, you mean, the other layer 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.080 to it, aside from everything with the family, is just 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:45.760 the fact that this is a guy he started out 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:50.520 at junior college, then he was yeah, then then wanted 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:53.599 to go to Alabama Birmingham to join his brother, but 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:55.400 they shut down the program, so then he had to 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:58.320 find another place to go play, ends up ends up 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:00.800 playing at Marshall. You know, gets into the NFL, is 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.680 an undrafted player. I mean that path alone to be 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.320 where he is right now is pretty remarkable. And then 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.720 when you add in all of the family and personal stuff, 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.080 the trials and tribulations that that that he's gone through. 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.040 I you know, he's an impressive young man. And I 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.839 can't imagine just how how mentally strong he is. I mean, 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.400 you know, he'll be able to handle whatever is thrown 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.080 at him. Yeah, and he has his degree, you know. 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:25.600 And he said one of the big things his aunt 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:27.560 wanted to see was him and his brother walked across 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.840 the stage. Unfortunately she wasn't able to do that, um 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.800 in the you know, literal sense. But the fact that 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:36.960 both of those brothers finished their degrees, that was her 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.600 super Bowl, as Roscoe said. And one of the other 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:41.320 things I was really sad too, is the fact that 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:44.480 when she was having her cancer, that this seerge surgery 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:46.360 to remove the cancer from her job part of her 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:48.880 jaw was the same time that Emmanuel was supposed to 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.400 go to Marshall. But it was so important to her 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.640 for those kids to finish their degrees. She wasn't asking 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:56.959 anybody to come in and stay with her. She wanted 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.840 them out. She wanted them prospering. And uh, you know, 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:02.360 Claudia Marshall is gonna be someone that's definitely gonna stay 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.760 with both of those those kids for a long long time. Yeah, 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.400 Emmanuel Bird will be will be certainly making a strong 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:10.760 push for a roster spot here in his second year 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:12.320 in the NFL. With that, we will go to a 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:33.280 break Back with moren Packers Unscripted. Right after this Welcome 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:36.440 Back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford here, Wes Hodker wits 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.480 there West. If there's a theme to this show, I 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:42.320 guess it's the it's the forgotten guys, the forgotten stories 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:45.120 amongst the Packers. And there's another one here that's worth 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:48.160 talking about because, as we mentioned, the Packers drafted three 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.440 wide receivers on the third day of the draft, but 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.839 there's a fifth round draft pick at wide receiver from 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.480 last year who spent his entire rookie season on the 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:59.240 practice squad, never made an appearance on the active roster 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.040 like Michael Clark did, like Reggie Gilbert did at the 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.520 end of last year. Wasn't one of those guys fifth 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:07.480 round draft pick out of Purdue And I'm talking about 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:10.720 D'Angelo Yancey. And this is this is an interesting story 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:13.840 because the competition at wide receiver for however many spots 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:17.679 are available this summer through training camp in the preset 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:19.600 is going to be pretty intense. It's going to be 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:23.200 really fun to watch. And uh. Talking to D'Angelo yancy 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:26.240 this past weekend as he again participated in in rookie 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:31.600 orientation as a practice squad hold over. He's uh, he 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:33.880 doesn't want to. He's saying, hey, don't count me out. 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:35.880 He's not going to. Uh, He's not going to back 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:37.560 down from anybody. This is a guy who's going to 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.440 throw himself into this fight for for a roster spot, 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:42.680 and he feels like he's way more ready for it 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:45.120 now than he was a year ago. Yeah, and uh, 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:46.680 I mean you and I have said this since the 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:50.080 day that the Packers drafted D'Angelo Yancy. He has a 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:52.480 swagger about him, and he has a really good size 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:54.800 for the position. I mean, he is I think we 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:58.000 use a lot of comparables last year to James Jones, Um. 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.200 You know, Jamon Moore probably fits some of those well, 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:02.200 but he's a bit taller, a bit a bit more 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:05.600 full you know, fuller. But Yancey had some good plays 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:07.840 last year. It was just the consistency side of it 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:10.160 that I think kind of held him back in trying 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:12.920 to make that jump from Purdue UM and being what 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:16.240 was really just a big play possession receiver. A lot 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:18.840 of overtop stuff, I mean, some of that, some of 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:20.160 those things you're not going to get away with in 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:22.600 the NFL, and I think Yancey found that out, especially 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:24.560 during the first three weeks of training camp. I remember 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:27.040 doing a story on him last August, you know, as 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:28.520 he was sort of mounting a little bit of a 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:30.360 push to make the roster near the end of it, 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:33.760 saying like, I don't think I fully you know, understood, 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.000 I think he appreciated the opportunity. I don't think he 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.480 fully understood just how much of a change it was 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:42.160 gonna be. You know, in an NFL camp, playing NFL 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.520 teams and a bunch of guys that are all hungry 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.440 to carve out their spots. He's in a really interesting 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:49.120 spot now. As you pointed out in your story. I 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:50.560 mean last year he was able to get a lot 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:52.280 of work with Aaron Rodgers when he was working with 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:56.400 the scout team. Uh And realistically, it's wide open behind 0:15:56.520 --> 0:16:00.480 Davante Adams, in Randall Cobb, all of these guys. Nobody 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.640 is locked into a roster spot. No, there's a across 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.840 the board competition for those three four you know spots. However, 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.280 many of the packers decided to roll with Yeah, and 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:13.720 he is, as you mentioned, a big moment for him 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:16.040 was last year late in the season when Aaron Rodgers 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.000 was coming back from the broken collar bone. Rodgers took 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.920 a few practices where he was the Scout team quarterback. 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.800 Yancey was a Scout team wide receiver all season long 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:26.920 because he was on the practice squads. He was always 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:30.320 on that look team, you know, being the Scout team 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.800 offense for the number one defense. But getting those practices 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:36.240 with Aaron Rodgers, I sensed in talking to him that 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:39.240 kind of gave him a little boosting his confidence that 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:41.760 that in working with Rogers, he it's sort of reaffirmed 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.600 that he's doing some things right. He's remade his body 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.000 a little bit. He's dropped about fifteen pounds from where 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.240 he was. He says he feels a lot a lot smoother, 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:52.080 a lot a lot faster, getting in and out of 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.640 his brakes better, all that kind of stuff, you know, 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.560 and and everything about the uh, you know, the game 0:16:58.040 --> 0:16:59.880 slowing down for him as well. Now this is the 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.680 I he had. I believe it was around nineteen yards 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:05.840 per catch his his final year at Perdue. He certainly 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:10.080 made some big plays, but he found out last year 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:13.399 a couple of things. One he uh, he said he 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:16.679 didn't really take seriously, that every rep in practice is 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:18.399 like a game rep. That's how you have to go 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.480 about it when you're trying to make an NFL I 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:23.200 think I think he appreciates that a little bit better now. 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:25.560 And the other thing is he's also learned there's no 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:27.960 such thing as status. His comment was, you know, when 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:30.359 the helmet goes on, there are no favorites. He was 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.760 a fifth round draft pick who got cut um, So 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.399 that's the whole you know, there is no status. It 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:38.600 worked against him in a sense last year because his 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:41.320 draft status really didn't matter. Well, he looks at it 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.480 as you know. Now it can work in my favorite 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:46.000 because just because the Packers drafted these other three guys, 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:48.159 that doesn't mean that they're going to keep them over me. 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:50.639 If I go out and perform, I'll get the spot. 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.239 And it's it's the healthy attitude to take. And I'm 0:17:53.280 --> 0:17:54.879 interested to see what he does. Yeah, And and it 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:57.440 just touched really briefly on the Rogers scout team thing. 0:17:57.480 --> 0:17:59.480 You and I. It seems like every year, every summer 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:01.320 we talked about this. When Aaron Rodgers is running the 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:03.440 scout team, there's nothing scout team about it. It's Aaron 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:06.399 Rodgers versus the world. It doesn't matter who else is 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:08.760 on the field with him. He's going out there to win. 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:11.680 So that competitiveness you have to imagine it's going to 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.680 go far now as Yancy goes into uh, probably the 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:17.560 biggest summer of his life trying to show that he's 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:19.720 an NFL receiver. All Right, with that, we will go 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.199 to another break back with more and Packers Unscripted right 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:42.639 after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted Mike Spofford joined 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.160 by Wes Hodkowitz and West. Before we get too far 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.199 away from the NFL Draft, there's one other thing we 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:51.320 should toss out there for discussion. It's something that Mark 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:54.840 Murphy has addressed in his monthly column on Packers dot 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:58.320 Com called Murphy Takes five, and that is the possibility 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.560 of Green Bay hosting the NFL Draft at some point. 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:05.680 And now to clarify where things are in that process. Initially, 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.400 the Packers had applied to host the draft right around 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:13.560 this time in nineteen area. I think there was some 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:16.399 sentiment to maybe try to get it for nineteen with 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:21.640 that coinciding with birthday of the Packers in August often 0:19:21.720 --> 0:19:26.440 coming up. But the Packers decided to delay their application, 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:29.280 and now they have applied to host the Draft in 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:36.239 either or, And one of the big reasons behind that is, UH, 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:39.120 the Brown County Arena just across the street here from 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:42.960 lambeau Field is being replaced by a new exposition center 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:48.639 and that is supposed to be finished by that time frame, 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:51.760 so that would be something that could be incorporated then 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:55.440 a new facility incorporated into However, green Bay would host 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.760 the Draft, so some interesting goings on there. And you know, 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:00.920 we won't know anything obvious see for quite a while. 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:03.480 But I don't know about you. I think if the 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:05.800