Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I am Mike Spofford, sitting alongside the one and only
Speaker 1: Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from our studios
Speaker 1: at lambeau Field and West. Pretty much a one week
Speaker 1: of training camp, I guess you could say is in
Speaker 1: the books from the middle of last week to the
Speaker 1: middle of this week, and unfortunately, uh, a couple of
Speaker 1: fairly significant injuries. To a report from Monday's practice, we
Speaker 1: saw both safety Kentroll Bryce and inside linebacker Jake Ryan
Speaker 1: carted off of Ray nitchky Field. You never like to
Speaker 1: see that. Now, the initial reports are may not be
Speaker 1: as bad with Kentroll Bryce as it might have looked
Speaker 1: at the time, but there are some outside media reports
Speaker 1: that Jake Ryan's knee injury is season ending. So where
Speaker 1: we are is that, regardless of the length of the
Speaker 1: absences of these players, a spotlight is getting brighter, shining
Speaker 1: very brightly on a couple of young players. And I'm
Speaker 1: talking about safety Josh Jones and rookie inside linebacker Warren Burke's. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And it's the reality of this time of the year. Mike,
Speaker 1: I remember Mike McCarthy a few years ago when Packers
Speaker 1: are going through kind of a tough injury stretch, address
Speaker 1: some of these things. And you know, I think he
Speaker 1: said the NFL average was right around you know, two
Speaker 1: kind of significant injuries per training camp for NFL teams
Speaker 1: and and you hate to see it. You hope that
Speaker 1: you can buck that curve. But I'd be lying to
Speaker 1: you if I told you that when the Packers went
Speaker 1: on in the practice field for the first time last Thursday,
Speaker 1: that wasn't That was something that did cross my mind,
Speaker 1: because it is just the nature of the beast that
Speaker 1: sometimes these things happen. It's the reason why you build
Speaker 1: a deep roster, it's the reason why you look for
Speaker 1: as much competition as you can at multiple positions. And
Speaker 1: now you look at those two spots and again we'll
Speaker 1: see where things stand with Bryce. But a young guy
Speaker 1: like Josh Jones, uh. You know, Jermaine Whitehead has had
Speaker 1: a pretty big role in this defense over the last year,
Speaker 1: between what he can do at safety, his special team's acumen,
Speaker 1: and then also playing that slack cornerback position at sub packages.
Speaker 1: Guy like Marwin Evans is also in that equation to
Speaker 1: now going into his third NFL season, But Jones specifically
Speaker 1: was the second round pick, and you know, you look
Speaker 1: at his athleticism just completely off the charts. Packers allowed
Speaker 1: him to focus on that safety spot, and for as
Speaker 1: long as Bryce is out here, it's going to be
Speaker 1: a big opening for him to show what he can
Speaker 1: do in the field. Yeah, no question about it. And
Speaker 1: with regards to Mike Petton and his defensive scheme, I
Speaker 1: think we're going to see as this preseason goes along,
Speaker 1: and certainly in the in the early stages of the
Speaker 1: regular season, just how much how much flexibility there is.
Speaker 1: We may see more packages with only one inside linebacker
Speaker 1: Blake Martinez on the field instead of needing to or
Speaker 1: in Burke's will see exactly what what role he ends
Speaker 1: up filling. And with Josh Jones, we saw him sometimes
Speaker 1: playing a hybrid linebacker position as well as deep safety.
Speaker 1: You don't want to, you know, as we've talked about
Speaker 1: many times, you don't want to put too much on
Speaker 1: the plate of young players in terms of the schematics
Speaker 1: and the xs and os and different things they have
Speaker 1: to learn. But there are times that it becomes necessary
Speaker 1: and we'll just have to see how the Packers coaching
Speaker 1: staff decides to handle this because especially at inside linebacker,
Speaker 1: now you really have Blake Martinez and a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of guys who don't have any NFL experience, So how
Speaker 1: are you going to handle that. I'm glad you brought
Speaker 1: up that point because I had a chance to talk
Speaker 1: with Oren Burke's in the locker room on Tuesday UM
Speaker 1: along with another Beat writer, Jason Wildy, and he was
Speaker 1: he had He's such a He's a big thinker, a
Speaker 1: very intelligent young man, very well spoken. Absolutely, and he said,
Speaker 1: going back to his pre draft interview with the Packers
Speaker 1: and that visit, these are conversations he's had with Patrick Graham,
Speaker 1: the Packers inside linebackers coach and a defensive run game coordinator.
Speaker 1: And the reality is, as he even talked to Blake
Speaker 1: Martinez one of the first times they've ever had a
Speaker 1: chance to meet each other, is the nature of that position.
Speaker 1: You have to be ready to play. You don't want
Speaker 1: to see it under these circumstances with what happened with
Speaker 1: Jake Ryan, But you look back the last three or
Speaker 1: four years, Mike Joe Thomas was a part of that
Speaker 1: inside linebacking crew too, all those guys ended up playing.
Speaker 1: I think Joe Thomas ended up leading them and tackles
Speaker 1: two years ago as a situational player at that position,
Speaker 1: So orn Berks knew regardless if it was going to
Speaker 1: be as a coverage linebacker in the dime or uh,
Speaker 1: you know, specific packages from Mike Petton, he was going
Speaker 1: to get a chance to play. So none of this
Speaker 1: is new to him. And he said the big lesson
Speaker 1: he took away from both Graham and Martinez is you
Speaker 1: have to be ready to play because at some point
Speaker 1: your number is gonna get called. Are you ready to
Speaker 1: step up into that spot? Is it going to be perfect? No,
Speaker 1: we saw that with Blake Martinez during his rookie year.
Speaker 1: As intelligent as he is coming out of Stanford. It's
Speaker 1: a big jump going to the NFL. But the more
Speaker 1: preparation you have both on the field and off of
Speaker 1: it and mental being cuted into everything, this is a
Speaker 1: big opportunity for him. And as Burke said, this is
Speaker 1: my shot. Now, you don't want to see it under
Speaker 1: these circumstances, but that's the reality, and the Packers are
Speaker 1: going to be counting on him in a big way.
Speaker 1: And as he said, he wants to prove that he
Speaker 1: was worth that third round pick right from day one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And Josh Jones is a guy I think who's who's
Speaker 1: out to prove a little something as well. Had a
Speaker 1: decent finish to the season last year with the big
Speaker 1: overtime interception in Cleveland in December, but a lot of
Speaker 1: ups and downs through his rookie season, and we had
Speaker 1: talked about how he was trying to play a lot
Speaker 1: of different positions and they did put a lot on
Speaker 1: his plate. So we'll see how things evolve in the
Speaker 1: second year for him. But another second year guy we
Speaker 1: definitely need to talk about here, and this is a
Speaker 1: guy coming back from an injury as well, but certainly
Speaker 1: looks no worse for wear. And I'm talking about cornerback
Speaker 1: Kevin King. Now he's he's out there on the practice
Speaker 1: field with a small, I guess I would say harness
Speaker 1: type of thing on his left shoulder, which is the
Speaker 1: one that was surgically repaired in the off season. But
Speaker 1: I tell you, wes he uh, he looks like he's
Speaker 1: out there to bring it this year. Yeah. And here's
Speaker 1: the thing about King too, He was back for the
Speaker 1: off season program that was a big plus. I thought
Speaker 1: for him to be back, but the Packers were very
Speaker 1: cautious with them. Yeah, they limited, they limited the snaps.
Speaker 1: They really kept him out of the eleven on eleven
Speaker 1: stuff during O t s, but he was working on
Speaker 1: a lot of other drills and as you well documented,
Speaker 1: he spent most of that those team periods just doing
Speaker 1: push ups on the sideline, trying to strengthen that. That
Speaker 1: shoulder is something that he took from his father many years.
Speaker 1: You'll drop and give me twenty exactly. But when he
Speaker 1: gets back into training camp, he said he'd be silly
Speaker 1: if he went out there without a harness and then
Speaker 1: something happens. He has full confidence in the shoulder. His
Speaker 1: hope talking with the training staff, talking with the team doctors,
Speaker 1: is that once the regular season comes around, he can
Speaker 1: drop that be able to get his full reined of motion.
Speaker 1: But with it being his first contact work, the first
Speaker 1: time really throwing that left hand again, he wants to
Speaker 1: be cautious. They want to take the smart approach with it.
Speaker 1: That's why you're seeing it right now. But as he said,
Speaker 1: he's going to get into some of these preseason games.
Speaker 1: He's actually looking forward to being able to falling on
Speaker 1: it a little bit, being able to get physical. Uh,
Speaker 1: And I think you've seen in very small doses so
Speaker 1: far him doing that with Davante Adams. The kind of
Speaker 1: report those two have that goes back to last season,
Speaker 1: because you remember, during those five starts, during the stretches
Speaker 1: where the Packers were down and kind of hurting at
Speaker 1: the cornerback position. King ended up being the number one
Speaker 1: cornerback against Davante Adams a lot last season. You know,
Speaker 1: that Pro Bowl talent, getting a chance to see a
Speaker 1: j Green, Dez Bryant, Julio Jones, there's a big benefit
Speaker 1: to that. That's something I wrote about this week on
Speaker 1: our website. And now he's trying to take that what
Speaker 1: he learned, the experience of playing through last season with
Speaker 1: that shoulder injury and now being healthy for the first
Speaker 1: time in quite a while, and channel that into being
Speaker 1: the player that he believes he can become in the
Speaker 1: Packers really are counting on him. Yeah, I remember, I
Speaker 1: remember talking to him in the spring about some of
Speaker 1: those matchups where he was lined up across from Julio
Speaker 1: Jones or even Antonio Brown for up being his last
Speaker 1: his last game before the Packers shut him down, and
Speaker 1: he said, yeah, I'm I'm a rookie out there, but
Speaker 1: I'm learning what the gap is between where I am
Speaker 1: and where the best in the league are. And he
Speaker 1: and he says, hey, I never surprised myself. I'm going
Speaker 1: to go out there and compete. This is a This
Speaker 1: is an ultra confident guy. UM a quiet guy in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, but a confident guy who is
Speaker 1: not interested in backing down from anybody. He knows, he
Speaker 1: knows where the gap is. I think he found out
Speaker 1: that maybe the gap isn't as big as a lot
Speaker 1: of others were making it out to be. But he
Speaker 1: still knows that it's going up against the best in
Speaker 1: the league that is going to get him to where
Speaker 1: he wants to be amongst the best in the league. Right,
Speaker 1: And there's a lot to learn at that position. But
Speaker 1: six ft three twounds and running a four or four
Speaker 1: or forty, he's gonna help you close that. It's it's
Speaker 1: a good place to start. Yeah, it's a good place
Speaker 1: to start, no question about it. I do want to
Speaker 1: add him quickly before we close this chapter. One other
Speaker 1: thing that came up and I ended up adding it
Speaker 1: to my story after the fact was this quote he gave,
Speaker 1: and it was about going back to challenging yourself, and
Speaker 1: this time of the year he goes. He mentioned this
Speaker 1: when he was at Washington and a lot of times
Speaker 1: in college, those practices are closed, so you can try stuff,
Speaker 1: you can do things, and nobody sees it. You get
Speaker 1: beat by John Ross, doesn't matter. But in the NFL,
Speaker 1: especially with training camp, so many eyes are on him,
Speaker 1: those reactions are getting posted to social media. Social media's
Speaker 1: drawing those conclusions, and he cautioned everybody against that too.
Speaker 1: I thought this was a really important thing for him
Speaker 1: to say, because it's not like he's been playing poorly
Speaker 1: in the priests. In the training camp got off to
Speaker 1: a really nice start. But as he said, and I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna give the direct quote, there's a time to
Speaker 1: work on your craft. You're with your team, you're out there.
Speaker 1: I might try to do a brand new thing against
Speaker 1: Davanti is one of the top three top five receivers
Speaker 1: in the league. It may not work using his own
Speaker 1: cadence there, but on film it's like Kevin King Kinnock
Speaker 1: guard Davante Adams. But you don't know what I was doing.
Speaker 1: You see the clips. It doesn't tell the whole story.
Speaker 1: It's all about getting better. It's like if you took
Speaker 1: your notes as a writer every day and posted them
Speaker 1: to Twitter. It's not the final draft. I'm not a
Speaker 1: finished product here. Just wait for the finished product. I
Speaker 1: thought that's really important for young players to learn in
Speaker 1: this league because it is about getting better. It's about
Speaker 1: how you look in the Preseason's about what you're where
Speaker 1: you're at your game once you get into week one
Speaker 1: of the regular season. And that's tough for young players
Speaker 1: because I think the tendency is to want to be
Speaker 1: perfect right off the bat. Right You're not going to
Speaker 1: be perfect. You have to learn from those experiences. Trumon
Speaker 1: Williams did it, and Nick Collins did. The list goes
Speaker 1: on and on, and the Packers great cornerbacks, defensive backs
Speaker 1: who have done it. King's trying to be the next one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I would say I'm certainly not as active on
Speaker 1: Twitter as you are. I try to promote some of
Speaker 1: the things on our website and whatnot. But if I
Speaker 1: were a player, if I were a Kevin King, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I would even look at anything on
Speaker 1: social media when I'm trying to work through a training
Speaker 1: camp through even through the entire season. It's it can
Speaker 1: be toxic and and uh, there are certain players who
Speaker 1: do that they handle it, you know, and that's fine.
Speaker 1: There are other players who get caught up in it
Speaker 1: and and it does affect them psychologically mentally. What's going
Speaker 1: on out there in the social media world. If I
Speaker 1: were a player, I just shut it off. We're as
Speaker 1: interconnected is is we've ever been as a society that
Speaker 1: has drawbacks. That has positive elements to it as well.
Speaker 1: You get your message out there, but I think sometimes
Speaker 1: the drawback is is there's a lot of keyboard warriors
Speaker 1: out there that bring some pretty hot takes and sometimes
Speaker 1: don't really know that they're talking to another human being. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: with regards to continuing our discussion about young players, there's
Speaker 1: a position battle going on west between a couple of
Speaker 1: third year offensive linemen and I'm talking about the right
Speaker 1: tackle spot with Jason Spriggs and Kyle Murphy. Now, the
Speaker 1: word at the start of training camp from Mike McCarthy
Speaker 1: was that Brian Bulaga should be ready for week one.
Speaker 1: The start of his season was not in jeopardy. We've
Speaker 1: seen him working with the trainers off to the side,
Speaker 1: continuing his rehab. We'll see at what point Brian Bulaga
Speaker 1: perhaps gets back into practice. How much practice does he
Speaker 1: need to get ready. All of those questions still to
Speaker 1: be answered. But in the meantime, Jason Spriggs and Kyle
Speaker 1: Murphy have been alternating now trading off snaps with the
Speaker 1: number one offensive line at right tackle. You got a
Speaker 1: second round pick a sixth round pick, both from the
Speaker 1: same draft, two guys who certainly looked the part in
Speaker 1: terms of their size and their stature. This is going
Speaker 1: to be an interesting battle through at least the first
Speaker 1: couple of preseason games, when presumably Bulaga still won't be
Speaker 1: full strength. The Packers draw it up how they want.
Speaker 1: You have David Bock tr sixteen starts every snap at
Speaker 1: left Tackley Brian blog of sixteen starts every snap at
Speaker 1: right tackle. That would be nice. Yeah, do you remember?
Speaker 1: I think it was two thousand, twelve or thirteen. You
Speaker 1: have a better memory than I do. Josh sit and
Speaker 1: played every snap during the regular season. Do you remember
Speaker 1: what happened during that playoff game in San Francisco? His
Speaker 1: shoe broke, Her shoelace broke. That's right. He had to
Speaker 1: come out of the game, the only two snaps he
Speaker 1: missed all season. We're in a playoff game because his
Speaker 1: shoelaces broke, and I think it was Don Barkley. Might
Speaker 1: have been Lane Taylor that had to go in there
Speaker 1: and replace him. I think it was Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it was Barkley. It was the playoff game. It was
Speaker 1: playoff games. So the point I'm trying to make with
Speaker 1: this is that even if Bolaga and bok tr are
Speaker 1: healthy the whole slate of games, you never know what
Speaker 1: might happen. So Jason Spriggs, Kyle Murphy, I think they've
Speaker 1: been doing a really good job with them so far,
Speaker 1: educating both of them on the left side right side.
Speaker 1: It's a tough call. They've talked about it numerous times,
Speaker 1: the reflectiveness. They're trying to mirror your moves, and it's
Speaker 1: not always easy to slide those two sides, but it's
Speaker 1: something you have to be ready to do at a
Speaker 1: whim because you never know what's gonna happen with the season.
Speaker 1: The fact that Spriggs was able to shake off the
Speaker 1: knee injury put on the weight that he did. He
Speaker 1: looks a lot more full. We've talked about that several times. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you look at Kyle Murphy coming back off the foot injury.
Speaker 1: A great sign for both of those guys to be back.
Speaker 1: And if Brian blog is not going to be available
Speaker 1: right now in training camp, the fact that those guys
Speaker 1: get to alternate those reps with Number one next to
Speaker 1: Justin to create at that right guard position incredibly valuable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think it was valuable for both of them
Speaker 1: and fortunate with the injuries they were coming off of
Speaker 1: from last season that by the end of O T
Speaker 1: a S both of them were cleared for eleven on eleven.
Speaker 1: They were doing the full teamwork in you know, the
Speaker 1: shorts and helmets, not the pads of O t S.
Speaker 1: But getting back out there for those eleven on eleven
Speaker 1: reps in the spring that helps them get to where
Speaker 1: they are right now, where okay there with the number
Speaker 1: one offensive line, they look like they belong. They don't
Speaker 1: look like a fish shot of water, so to speak.
Speaker 1: And we'll just see how these preseason games go, because
Speaker 1: you know how it is West, there are only gonna
Speaker 1: be especially the first couple of preseason games, only a
Speaker 1: handful of snaps where that number one defensive end or
Speaker 1: outside linebacker is the guy there, So then which of
Speaker 1: those guys is going to get those snaps against that
Speaker 1: top flight player. Not to say that you can't hone
Speaker 1: your craft and work on your game against the guys
Speaker 1: further down the depth chart, but it's going up against
Speaker 1: the starters. That's what the regular season is about. And
Speaker 1: if Jason Spriggs or Kyle Murphy is needed in the
Speaker 1: regular season, that's what they're gonna have to do. Absolutely
Speaker 1: goes back to what you said about mon Trevia's Adams
Speaker 1: earning those reps against the top flight guys, and it's
Speaker 1: an opportunity for both of those guys, especially early in
Speaker 1: camp here, to potentially get that opportunity. Yeah. Well, one
Speaker 1: last thing before we go west, I actually have to
Speaker 1: leave you for a few days. I know you're recovering
Speaker 1: training camp for a couple of days, all by your loan.
Speaker 1: So well, with LA three, you have to decide who
Speaker 1: gets to do two of the three things, because it's
Speaker 1: only going to be two and but that's uh, but
Speaker 1: that's because I'm off to Canton, Ohio for something that
Speaker 1: I've actually really been looking forward to it. I think
Speaker 1: this is going to be quite the weekend Jerry Kramer's
Speaker 1: Pro Football Hall of Fame induction. UM as long overdue.
Speaker 1: I think even longer than that library book you didn't
Speaker 1: return to elementary school. UM. But hey, we've talked about it. UM.
Speaker 1: This is uh, this is the greatest wrong of the
Speaker 1: Pro Football Hall of Fame that is finally being righted.
Speaker 1: And UM, I just like to say that I think
Speaker 1: it's absolutely fantastic and fortunate and all of that that
Speaker 1: Jerry Kramer, fifty years after his retirement, is still here
Speaker 1: to enjoy this and be a part of this, to
Speaker 1: go in, because after everything he went through. Can you
Speaker 1: imagine if the Senior Committee, if it were still another
Speaker 1: fifteen or twenty years from now, and then they finally
Speaker 1: get around to this, and then and then Kramer's not
Speaker 1: here to enjoy it, that would be that would be
Speaker 1: a bigger shame almost than the fact that he didn't
Speaker 1: get in earlier. To be honest with you, and I
Speaker 1: don't know what the Kramer family would have done if
Speaker 1: that situation played out. It's all hypotheticals, but at that
Speaker 1: point you almost wonder, well, what's the point the positive
Speaker 1: side of this? You and I can talk about the fact,
Speaker 1: it's been fifty years since his playing career ended. But
Speaker 1: let's look at the positive side of it. In addition
Speaker 1: to being the hundred seasons for the Packers, it's the
Speaker 1: fiftieth anniversary of Jerry Kramer being retired. And to me,
Speaker 1: and I've said this numerous times, the Pro Football Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame is about people and individuals who changed the
Speaker 1: game of football. Jerry Kramer meets that criteria. He did
Speaker 1: it on the field. He was a part of some
Speaker 1: of the most iconic plays, one of the most iconic
Speaker 1: offenses in NFL history, but he also did it off
Speaker 1: the field. He was really a trailblazer when it comes
Speaker 1: to kind of being able for for players to put
Speaker 1: their identity out there and become more than just somebody
Speaker 1: behind a face mask. You know, whether it was the
Speaker 1: books he wrote or the way he was such a
Speaker 1: big ambassador for the Green Bay Packers, I would argue,
Speaker 1: and I've argued on this before on these shows, is
Speaker 1: that he is the greatest ambassador in Packers history. And
Speaker 1: what he's done consistently throughout the time that he got
Speaker 1: here to this point in time now he's still coming
Speaker 1: to the Lombardi Go the Hall of Fame, Packer's Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame, golf voting. He's a fixture around the stadium.
Speaker 1: He's the godfather of Green Bay Packers football, and it's
Speaker 1: phenomenal to see him get this opportunity. Yeah, the irony
Speaker 1: is when you talk about the books and and the
Speaker 1: way he put himself out there and what he did
Speaker 1: for other players that sort of pull back the curtain.
Speaker 1: Look at the NFL and Instant Replay and other books.
Speaker 1: That's what some people think kept him out because that's
Speaker 1: a shame. But yeah, because the media didn't like it.
Speaker 1: You know, certain players didn't like how all that went down.
Speaker 1: And you know, I don't know that was before my time,
Speaker 1: before your time in terms of when those books were
Speaker 1: in the news and on the bestseller lists and all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. But at least now everything's finally
Speaker 1: getting corrected. Jerry's going to be in Canton. He said
Speaker 1: that he's never actually gone there because I think he
Speaker 1: drives by it. He's always driven by it because he
Speaker 1: didn't want to go there until he invited, and he's
Speaker 1: been saying now it's like, well now I'm invited, so
Speaker 1: we're gonna throw a heck of a party, and you know,
Speaker 1: his whole family is going to be there. It should
Speaker 1: be quite a weekend. It's just amazing to me, Mike,
Speaker 1: that it's been this long of a road for him,
Speaker 1: And I mean, anticipation sometimes can be the best part
Speaker 1: of things, and in that journey, and certainly you look
Speaker 1: at what he's done. Um, Jerry Kramer didn't need this
Speaker 1: to add to his legacy people people already held him
Speaker 1: in such high regard, but it is the perfect capstone
Speaker 1: to a career in football, a career and uh, you
Speaker 1: know the NFL and and being able to finally do this.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be there, You'll be experiencing it. But I
Speaker 1: have to imagine the motions are going to be incredibly
Speaker 1: high for him, his family and everybody that knew him
Speaker 1: and kind of going through this the last fifty years. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll talk about it when I get back on our
Speaker 1: next show with everything that happens in Canton and everything
Speaker 1: that happens on Rainichi Field and at Lambeau Field at
Speaker 1: Family Night over the weekend. But with that we will
Speaker 1: sign off on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure
Speaker 1: to follow all of West's coverage of training camp I
Speaker 1: coverage of the Hall of Fame induction in Canton over
Speaker 1: the next several days. On Twitter, you can find him
Speaker 1: at west hot I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for
Speaker 1: the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, We'll see
Speaker 1: you next time.