Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by my
Speaker 1: partner in crime, Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here
Speaker 1: from our studios at Lambeufield. Wes. We finished our last
Speaker 1: show talking about some of the things we heard from
Speaker 1: the offensive assistant coaches when they met with the media,
Speaker 1: the only time that they will do so during the
Speaker 1: off season program before we get to training camp. So
Speaker 1: let's shift gears a little bit and talk about what
Speaker 1: we heard on the defensive side, and obviously a coach
Speaker 1: that a lot of people are very interested in, defensive
Speaker 1: line coach DeMarcus coving the new hire on the defensive staff.
Speaker 1: He comes from the New England Patriots. He had worked
Speaker 1: his way up from really the bottom position on Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick's defensive staff all the way up to then becoming
Speaker 1: the defensive coordinator the year after Belichick is gone when
Speaker 1: Jared Mayo took over as the head coach there in
Speaker 1: New England. And I thought it was interesting hearing because
Speaker 1: I hadn't really thought of this in when we heard
Speaker 1: about Covington getting hired. The connection there between members of
Speaker 1: the Boston College coaching staff and the New England coaching staff.
Speaker 1: And of course I'm talking about Jeff Halfley when he
Speaker 1: was the head coach at Boston College, where those two
Speaker 1: coaching staffs would invite the other to attend practices and
Speaker 1: just kind of observe and and maybe even sit in
Speaker 1: on meetings and and pick the brains of both sets
Speaker 1: of coaching staffs. And not that there was a super
Speaker 1: close personal relationship or anything developed between Covington and Halflee,
Speaker 1: but there was definitely a respectful professional relationship there about
Speaker 1: how both of them went about their business. And then
Speaker 1: now there's kind of been this match with Covington coming
Speaker 1: to work on Hafley staff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was very interesting listening not only to Halfley,
Speaker 2: but also Matt Laflor's discuss this a little bit too.
Speaker 2: I mean, just how much Covington impressed this coaching staff
Speaker 2: with his background. I mean, this is a guy that
Speaker 2: was a former wide receiver that starts coaching the defensive
Speaker 2: side of the ball when he's with Bill Belichick in
Speaker 2: New England, and next thing you know, he's the defensive
Speaker 2: coordinator for the New England Patriots last season. And again,
Speaker 2: a young man that is still relatively spelt, I would
Speaker 2: say coaching a position of three hundred and ten, three
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty pound behemoths. Yeah, a very unique thing.
Speaker 2: But to your original point, I think it's the relationships
Speaker 2: you take for granted. We see it all the time.
Speaker 2: There'll be members of the Wisconsin coaching staff. Shoot, great
Speaker 2: guard came up last year for a practice that when
Speaker 2: you have those internal relationships where it's Green Bay Packers
Speaker 2: Wisconsin Badgers football, it only makes sense to you know
Speaker 2: occasionally you know, kind of put your heads together on
Speaker 2: some things. And it sounds like that's something Belichick was
Speaker 2: really big on when he was out in New England
Speaker 2: and challenging his coaches to learn and to see different
Speaker 2: ways to do things. And the other thing I thought
Speaker 2: was really interesting from Covington was him mentioning that he
Speaker 2: doesn't think he's ever coached a first round pick before,
Speaker 2: and now he has four of them in the Green
Speaker 2: Bay Packers on the defensive front. So yeah, a very
Speaker 2: unique addition. And as Lafleur also talked about, they interviewed
Speaker 2: a lot of really high caliber, talented defensive line coaches
Speaker 2: and Covington end up being the one that emerged in
Speaker 2: this whole you know, series of interviews, and obviously we're
Speaker 2: getting a small taste for why.
Speaker 1: Yeah, very interesting for a coach to go from being
Speaker 1: a wide receiver as a player to then making his
Speaker 1: way to the defensive side as a coach. Not unheard
Speaker 1: of by any stretch.
Speaker 2: The least surprising thing out of a Belichick coaching stat
Speaker 2: They do that stuff all the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, those kinds of things can happen. Another one I
Speaker 1: thought that was interesting to hear from was a new
Speaker 1: linebackers coach, Sean Duggan, and I realized, not just because
Speaker 1: they share a first name, but Sean Duggan is kind
Speaker 1: of like the sewn many of the defensive side, and
Speaker 1: that he was hired a year ago sort of in
Speaker 1: a more general like assistant type of role, but with
Speaker 1: the idea that he would probably be the next in
Speaker 1: line for that certain position group when the time came,
Speaker 1: and to no one's surprise, Anthony Campanelli got snatched up
Speaker 1: for a coordinator job here in the offseason after just
Speaker 1: one year in Green Bay. So Sean Duggan, after one
Speaker 1: year on Jeff Hafley's staff, now has been promoted to
Speaker 1: a position coach, and so he's already got the familiarity
Speaker 1: with a lot of the players and what's going on.
Speaker 1: He obviously has a longer relationship with Isaiah mcduffin, going
Speaker 1: back to Boston College where he coached McDuffie there too.
Speaker 1: But a couple of things I heard from Dougan that
Speaker 1: were interesting. One is that the word that he used
Speaker 1: to describe by Isaiah Simmons when he was asked about
Speaker 1: him is hungry. So that's something to keep an eye
Speaker 1: on because I've felt that, you know, these two free
Speaker 1: agent signings the Packers made, one on each side of
Speaker 1: the ball, Nicole Hardman at wide receiver and returner special teams,
Speaker 1: and then Isaiah Simmons at linebacker, you know, sort of
Speaker 1: hybrid player on defense also maybe on special teams. No
Speaker 1: guarantee either of those players is going to make the roster.
Speaker 1: But when you hear about when you hear about a
Speaker 1: veteran with the time that Isaiah Simmons has put in
Speaker 1: and here he is in the off season program kind
Speaker 1: of going through some of these these basic days of
Speaker 1: the offseason and his position, coach says, I see a
Speaker 1: hungry player. Yep, that's something that catches my attention. And
Speaker 1: then the other was he talked about quay Walker and
Speaker 1: how he felt towards the end of last season that
Speaker 1: quay Walker was was really just starting to feel fully
Speaker 1: comfortable with Jeff Hafley's scheme and what he was being
Speaker 1: asked to do. And obviously Walker had some injuries, and
Speaker 1: when you're missing time and you're trying to learn a
Speaker 1: new system and you're not not always in the lineup
Speaker 1: weekend and week out, that can certainly have an impact.
Speaker 1: But I think there are a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of arrows pointing up potentially for kway Walker as he
Speaker 1: now moves into year two in this defensive scheme.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to take this in a series kind
Speaker 2: of reacting to the three things you brought up. The
Speaker 2: first and foremost with Dougan as this as the in
Speaker 2: sidelinebackers coach now thirty two years old. I mean, this
Speaker 2: is kind of the era we're entering now where you're
Speaker 2: going to see some of these guys that we're playing
Speaker 2: college football in the twenty tens now becoming position coaches,
Speaker 2: becoming coordinators. And his connection with Halfley goes back six
Speaker 2: seven years. Yeah, this is a guy that played at
Speaker 2: BC was working his way up the coaching tree, then
Speaker 2: goes and takes a grad assistant job with Ohio State,
Speaker 2: and ever since then he's kind of been attached at
Speaker 2: the hip with Halfley throughout this whole thing. And I
Speaker 2: think a lot of us felt like as soon as
Speaker 2: Anthony Campanelli moved on and got that opportunity in Jacksonville,
Speaker 2: this was the natural progression. And honestly, I think this
Speaker 2: is the perfect way to build coaching staffs too, where
Speaker 2: you have these you know, assistants to the assistant so
Speaker 2: to speak, like Dougan was, and now he's sitting in
Speaker 2: the captain's chair and has a very talented room that
Speaker 2: he's going to be working with. Isaiah Simmons. I've loved
Speaker 2: this signing from day one, and there was multiple reasons
Speaker 2: for that. One his intangibles. Man, you just don't get
Speaker 2: very many NFL players, you don't get very many NFL
Speaker 2: defenders with his makeup, and yeah, roll the dice on it,
Speaker 2: see what happens. Also, by the way, could potentially be
Speaker 2: a special teams contributor as well. He was the last
Speaker 2: two years for the Giants. But what I really liked
Speaker 2: about the Simmons signing is it was a very mature
Speaker 2: decision from both sides. Simmons came in and did a
Speaker 2: visit with Packers two weeks before the NFL Draft, then
Speaker 2: the NFL Draft happens, Packers don't draft anybody at that position,
Speaker 2: and then Simmons comes in and they sign them. I
Speaker 2: felt like that made sense for both sides, and he'll
Speaker 2: obviously add a lot to that competition. Kway Walker fifth
Speaker 2: year option not exercise. That was a big point of
Speaker 2: you know, big topic earlier this month. But I think
Speaker 2: we're going to see the best version of him this year.
Speaker 2: I think you're going to see aim motivated Quay not
Speaker 2: that he hasn't already been, but I think you're going
Speaker 2: to see a young man that wants to prove to everybody.
Speaker 2: I am the Mike linebacker of this defense. I can
Speaker 2: be the face of this defense going forward. We've seen
Speaker 2: flashes of it. He has every intangible you want. And
Speaker 2: one of the big things I've been saying, Michael, the
Speaker 2: moment that edgern Cooper proved that he could be an
Speaker 2: every down player for the Packers, the idea of him
Speaker 2: and Quay Walker on the field together it's kind of
Speaker 2: like the the Tucker Craft Luke Muskrave and we want
Speaker 2: to see it it is.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, we have, but we haven't seen it too much.
Speaker 1: And that was I was looking back at last year
Speaker 1: just going over, okay, when Walker was playing, when Cooper
Speaker 1: was playing, because both guys were dealing with injuries and
Speaker 1: they they had their share of time on the field together.
Speaker 1: But there was actually only one game all season last
Speaker 1: year that Kuay Walker and Edrin Cooper were both starters
Speaker 1: on the defense, and it was the playoff game in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: Crazy doesn't happen until the postseason. So that is definitely
Speaker 1: something and I look at when you look at Walker
Speaker 1: a first round pick and Cooper a second round pick,
Speaker 1: and the athletic makeup of those two guys and there
Speaker 1: and what they could do potentially playing side by side.
Speaker 1: You hope it's one of those things where Cooper can
Speaker 1: help make Walker a better player and vice versa. Walker's
Speaker 1: presence can help make Cooper a better player, and that
Speaker 1: could that could really elevate just that, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of what you call the heart of the defense, the
Speaker 1: core of the defense, with those guys for the most
Speaker 1: part lining up in the middle of the field. One
Speaker 1: other comment I want to reflect on from the defensive
Speaker 1: assistant coaches when we heard from them last week. Derek Ainsley,
Speaker 1: the defensive passing game coordinator, he didn't, you know, wax
Speaker 1: eloquently in any way about this, but he did mention
Speaker 1: that he's been impressed so far what he's seen in
Speaker 1: the offseason program in year two from Kaylin King, seventh
Speaker 1: round draft out of Penn State from a year ago.
Speaker 1: And this will be this will just be something that's
Speaker 1: interesting to watch because we saw a seventh round draft
Speaker 1: pick at corner a couple of years ago, and Carrington
Speaker 1: Valentine came into his own pretty quickly. The Packers took
Speaker 1: Kaylan King in the seventh round last year. They took
Speaker 1: Michael Robinson in the seventh round this year. If you
Speaker 1: have if if you get the right guys like that
Speaker 1: late in the draft and they get the right opportunity
Speaker 1: and and everything with the coaching and all that meshes together,
Speaker 1: you really have the opportunity to develop players that can
Speaker 1: help you. And I think I mean Kayle and kayl
Speaker 1: and King couldn't have asked for a better situation. Quite frankly,
Speaker 1: with the Packers. Yes, they brought in Nate Hobbs as
Speaker 1: a as a big free agent in the offseason, but
Speaker 1: the Packers didn't draft a corner back until the seventh round.
Speaker 1: So Kaylan King is going to have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: prove that that maybe there's a there's a place for him,
Speaker 1: there's a role for him in this defense, and we'll
Speaker 1: just have to wait and see.
Speaker 2: And there was three vacated spots, Eric Stokes, Corey Balentine
Speaker 2: and then also Robert Rochelle Hill moving on during free agency,
Speaker 2: so a ton of opportunity. I look at King a
Speaker 2: lot like the next Brenton Cox junior, where I actually
Speaker 2: thought there was a lot to like in his defensive
Speaker 2: performance last year, especially once he moved to the slot.
Speaker 2: He looked natural there. But the problem was is that
Speaker 2: he had a bunch of veteran cornerbacks there that were
Speaker 2: stalwarts on special teams, and he was trying to make
Speaker 2: up that gap because ultimately, you have to be able
Speaker 2: to do it on teams to get your opportunities on defense,
Speaker 2: as Cox had learned last year and a half until
Speaker 2: finally getting that summons mid season last year, where he'd
Speaker 2: been a healthy scratch, then he ends up with four
Speaker 2: sacks on the season. I see a lot of that
Speaker 2: same potential on King. Again. Remember this guy was an
Speaker 2: all Big ten type player early on. It's like a
Speaker 2: Colin Oliver situation, right, Like he hit it really hard
Speaker 2: early on, and then his junior happens and there were
Speaker 2: some question marks there. But the guy's ability to play
Speaker 2: the cornerback position I don't think is ever really bad.
Speaker 2: Question is just trying to find that opportunity. Ainsley's a
Speaker 2: guy much like you know you look at you know,
Speaker 2: Jerry Gray before him, obviously Joe Witt junior. These cornerbacks.
Speaker 2: The Packers have gotten a lot out of these late
Speaker 2: round picks over the last decade, and I think King
Speaker 2: senses that. I know the motivation was there for him
Speaker 2: watching Carrington Valentine, seeing going from a seventh round pick
Speaker 2: to a guy that has now become sort of a
Speaker 2: lynchpin there with this defense, very very curious to learn
Speaker 2: more about him, and certainly for Ainsley to go out
Speaker 2: of his way. I mean he could have answered that
Speaker 2: in a number of different ways, but to mention how
Speaker 2: impressed he's been by him, I think probably says a
Speaker 2: lot to the offseason he's put in up until this point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we'll just have to see. Well. Next week,
Speaker 1: the offseason program moves on to OTA's I want to
Speaker 1: get your thoughts on some things there, but I'll take
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Speaker 1: All right, next week, First, a little housekeeping item. We
Speaker 1: will not have any Packers unscripted shows next week, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: because with the holiday on Monday and just some other
Speaker 1: scheduling things with people involved with the show and what
Speaker 1: notot going on, We're going to take a week off.
Speaker 2: You can tell them I'm going golfing, Mic, It's.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, well, okay, you just told them. So we
Speaker 1: will use the rest of this show to sort of
Speaker 1: preview OTAs and then when we come back after the
Speaker 1: week off, which would be the first week of June
Speaker 1: where OTAs will still be going on, but then we
Speaker 1: will start to recap some of our observations and what
Speaker 1: we've seen. Now that being said, we are only going
Speaker 1: to get access to one OTA practice per week, and
Speaker 1: I feel like I say this every year on the show.
Speaker 1: There will be a lot of coverage of that one
Speaker 1: OTA that the media including us, have access to. But
Speaker 1: you have to remember that the observations are only one
Speaker 1: day during an entire week of OTAs, and so you
Speaker 1: just have to kind of have the right perspective, take
Speaker 1: it with a grain of salt. It doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: you know, these are decisions that have been made and
Speaker 1: this is how everything is going to line up for
Speaker 1: training camp. But we will observe what we can in
Speaker 1: the time that that we have the access. So my
Speaker 1: question for you is what is sort of the first
Speaker 1: thing that comes to your mind in terms of a
Speaker 1: storyline for OTAs that you're going to be keeping an
Speaker 1: eye on when you get a chance to be on
Speaker 1: the sideline.
Speaker 2: Okay, so this is going to be kind of boring
Speaker 2: because this is what everybody does during the off season,
Speaker 2: and it's a cliche, it's a narrative of being bigger, stronger, better, faster,
Speaker 2: all that stuff. I can't wait to see Edrin Cooper.
Speaker 2: I know we just talked about the inside linebackers, but
Speaker 2: the way that Jeff Hafley kind of propped him up
Speaker 2: talking about the changes he's seen in him, I'm curious
Speaker 2: to just see him on the field because at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, You're right, there's only so much
Speaker 2: you can surmise from one ota practice non padded Yeah,
Speaker 2: it'll be in shells, like you're not going to have
Speaker 2: like these huge collisions, but just seeing that and then also,
Speaker 2: let's be honest, a lot of times these non contact,
Speaker 2: non padded practices, you look to see how Matthew Golden
Speaker 2: matches up against whomever he's lined up against, you know,
Speaker 2: in eleven on eleven or seven on seven drills, and
Speaker 2: seeing how the pace of play and how these guys look.
Speaker 2: I think we are always a victim of the moment
Speaker 2: and drawn conclusions way too fast, and not just fans,
Speaker 2: that's media too. I've done it plenty of times, but
Speaker 2: it is always cool when you finally see that first
Speaker 2: practice where all the rookies, all the undrafted free agents,
Speaker 2: it all starts right there. That's where the story begins,
Speaker 2: now meshing in and blending in with all this returning
Speaker 2: talent that Green Bay has.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm the one of the things that I'm definitely
Speaker 1: going to be keeping an eye on. And again, it's
Speaker 1: only going to be one day, so we're not going
Speaker 1: to necessarily know what's happening on the other days. But
Speaker 1: I want to keep an eye on what's going on
Speaker 1: with the offensive line for a couple of reasons. One,
Speaker 1: if Elton Jenkins is still not here as he's trying
Speaker 1: to work out some things with his contract and whatnot,
Speaker 1: then okay, who's going to be playing center? Who's lined
Speaker 1: up at center with the number one offense? Which will
Speaker 1: give us the indication of who's the number two center? Yeah,
Speaker 1: for the Packers when we get to training camp again,
Speaker 1: this work at this time is all voluntary. I have
Speaker 1: to say that Elton Jenkins is not getting fined or
Speaker 1: anything for not being part of the off season program
Speaker 1: right now. But also on the offensive line, I want
Speaker 1: to see, Okay, where is Jordan Morgan taking his reps?
Speaker 1: Is he getting most of his snaps at left tackle
Speaker 1: competing with Rashid Walker, or is he getting most of
Speaker 1: his snaps at right guard, competing with Sean Ryan. And
Speaker 1: then along those same lines, where are the Packers going
Speaker 1: to start Anthony Elton. I shouldn't say start as in
Speaker 1: the starting lineup, but where does he beginin his NFL journey,
Speaker 1: the second round pick, Anthony Belton? Is he going to
Speaker 1: be playing tackle? Is he going to be playing guard?
Speaker 1: Which side of the line is he going to be on?
Speaker 1: You know what? What unit will he be with? So
Speaker 1: those will, those will definitely be things to watch. And again,
Speaker 1: because it's only one day, like the day next week
Speaker 1: that we're out there watching practice, we might see Jordan
Speaker 1: Morgan taking all of his reps at left tackle, and
Speaker 1: that's gonna end up being a big story in the media.
Speaker 1: What we don't know is if the very next day,
Speaker 1: when we're not there, if he's taking all of his
Speaker 1: reps at right guard and they're and they're moving him around,
Speaker 1: and we're not necessarily going to get all of that
Speaker 1: information just in in the one day that that we
Speaker 1: get to observe. But those will, those will be what
Speaker 1: I'm watching for on the offensive side. On the defensive side,
Speaker 1: I'll be curious about a couple of things we just
Speaker 1: talked about Walker and Cooper, you know, side by side.
Speaker 1: So what's going on with the with the third line
Speaker 1: back or in the supposed base defense even though the
Speaker 1: base defense isn't really necessarily a primary position or you know,
Speaker 1: a primary package. But with as Isaiah McDuffie back and
Speaker 1: Tyron Hopper a third round pick from a year ago
Speaker 1: now entering year two, So what does the competition look
Speaker 1: like there? And then with the defensive backfield, with Nate
Speaker 1: Hobbs coming in as a free agent, a guy that
Speaker 1: can line up in the slot or on the boundary,
Speaker 1: where does where does he line up first? And what
Speaker 1: are some of the different alignments that that Jeff Hafley
Speaker 1: and Ryan Downer and Derek Ainsley, all the defensive backs coaches,
Speaker 1: how do they how do they want to do things?
Speaker 1: If you know, are there times that Hobbs is going
Speaker 1: to be in the slot and so then Nixon and Valley,
Speaker 1: Nixon and Valentine are on the outside or is it
Speaker 1: Nixon and Hobbs on the outside and then Bullard is
Speaker 1: in the slot? Is Bullard playing deep safety?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 1: You know, maybe rotating with Evan Williams alongside Xavier McKinney,
Speaker 1: all kinds of possibilities, and it'll just be interesting to
Speaker 1: see how much kind of mixing and matching is going
Speaker 1: on in the limited time that we get to see
Speaker 1: the guys out there.
Speaker 2: Very interested to watch because obviously, you know, we'll see
Speaker 2: what happens with Jaieira, you know, assuming he's not out
Speaker 2: there Karen to Valentine is a perimeter corner, like that's
Speaker 2: where he's hung his hat. But then you also have
Speaker 2: Keishaw Nixon, who's talked about being CB one and showing
Speaker 2: that he can play out there as well. Hobbs played
Speaker 2: inside a lot in Vegas, so maybe you have him
Speaker 2: in that Star Nickel role. All things the Packers coaching
Speaker 2: staff have to figure out. I think his intelligence, his experience,
Speaker 2: he'll be able to flip however Green Bay wants him to.
Speaker 2: But ultimately the end of the day, the first thing
Speaker 2: that popped off in my head when we were talking
Speaker 2: about the offensive line, for example, with Jordan Morgan. We
Speaker 2: were watching Morgan work everywhere last year during training camp.
Speaker 2: It was tackle, it was guard, and ultimately when he
Speaker 2: started the season, it was that six man role that
Speaker 2: he was going to be bouncing around through there could
Speaker 2: be situations. Again, one thing that Green Bay's kind of
Speaker 2: popularized is hey, we'll work you as the number one
Speaker 2: right guard and then when we go to the twos,
Speaker 2: you're going to be the left tackle. Like those are
Speaker 2: options as well, depending on when guys rotate into the
Speaker 2: lineup at the end of a drill and then maybe
Speaker 2: going into the next number two period. Be that as
Speaker 2: it may. When I've said this comment, I've made this
Speaker 2: comment about this being the deepest roster in terms of
Speaker 2: positions in my time covering the team. That's what I'm
Speaker 2: talking about, because there was a time, Mike where you
Speaker 2: just kind of knew that this is what the alignment
Speaker 2: was going to look like. And I don't want to
Speaker 2: throw anybody under the bus and name names and say,
Speaker 2: but it was like, Okay, well, you know the player
Speaker 2: acts is going to be here, and that's just the
Speaker 2: way it's going to be. I remember my first few
Speaker 2: years in the Beat, in the off season program, that's
Speaker 2: a lot of times how it was, well, now, there's
Speaker 2: a lot of different scenarios that could happen next week
Speaker 2: and that mini camp in two weeks after that that
Speaker 2: wouldn't surprise me at all. Depending on how the Packers
Speaker 2: want to allocate these resources. That is probably the part
Speaker 2: of it that is the most interesting to watch. And
Speaker 2: then also it is going to be finding out exactly
Speaker 2: who shines. There is only so much you can learn.
Speaker 2: But Mike and I have had this conversation numerous times.
Speaker 2: It was that training camp, or I should say that
Speaker 2: OTAs in twenty twenty two where Jordan Love had one
Speaker 2: whale of a day. Yeah, And that was the time.
Speaker 1: Around front of everybody.
Speaker 2: It was in front everybody because Aaron Rodgers wasn't here, Yeah,
Speaker 2: and I was like, Holy Kyle, like this kid looks different.
Speaker 2: And then obviously Rogers ended up coming back. But that
Speaker 2: was the first moment where I was watching. I mean,
Speaker 2: he was just dicing up the defense. In eleven on
Speaker 2: eleven's just cutting up guys with the receivers, Juwan Winfrey
Speaker 2: had one of the best practices I think I've ever
Speaker 2: seen from a Packers' receiver, with a lot of the
Speaker 2: other whiteouts not there. So that is where I feel
Speaker 2: like seeing it doesn't absolutely have to be Love. It
Speaker 2: could be anybody seeing guys who really step out and impress.
Speaker 2: It's one practice and there's many that we're missing, but
Speaker 2: it's still noticeable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I like what you said too about about
Speaker 1: the depth of this team at various positions and what
Speaker 1: I want to follow up with on that is and
Speaker 1: maybe we'll be able to figure out when the decisions
Speaker 1: are made at the end of training camp and how
Speaker 1: this fifty three man roster takes shape. And we are
Speaker 1: a long way away from that, and there will certainly
Speaker 1: be some other factors injuries and whatnot that will that
Speaker 1: will contribute to sorting out the fifty three. But I
Speaker 1: feel like with the way this current ninety man roster
Speaker 1: has been built by Brian Gutekunstan the personnel staff, that
Speaker 1: when it comes time to deciding on the fifty three,
Speaker 1: that this year the Packers may be releasing more players
Speaker 1: who have been on fifty threes, whether in Green Bay
Speaker 1: or elsewhere. More guys who who have played in the
Speaker 1: NFL and been on fifty threes are going to be released.
Speaker 1: Because of the depth on this ninety man roster and
Speaker 1: the way this one has been built. There are guys,
Speaker 1: there are guys who are on Green Bay's fifty three
Speaker 1: last year who are not going to make the team
Speaker 1: this year. And I mentioned there are a couple of
Speaker 1: guys who have played for other teams who have been
Speaker 1: brought in as free agents who are not locks to
Speaker 1: make this roster and there will be some decisions to
Speaker 1: be made there. I think the Packers are going to
Speaker 1: be potentially be releasing experienced players, and I'm not talking
Speaker 1: about the long time vets necessarily, but guys that are
Speaker 1: going to probably end up on the practice squad and
Speaker 1: still trying to fight their way back because that spot
Speaker 1: on the fifty three might not be there for them
Speaker 1: this year. And that's a good position to be, and
Speaker 1: you want to be releasing good football players. You don't
Speaker 1: want the final decisions at cut down time to be easy.
Speaker 1: If they're easy, then the personnel department kind of feels
Speaker 1: like they didn't really do their job. They didn't make
Speaker 1: it tough. They didn't make it tough on themselves and
Speaker 1: tough on the coaches to decide who should be on
Speaker 1: the team. We may be headed for something like that
Speaker 1: come early September when we get to the end of
Speaker 1: training camp, but we'll just have to see.
Speaker 2: It has never been a better space to be in
Speaker 2: those positions either, because yes, occasionally you're going to lose
Speaker 2: some guys. Last year, the Packers lost Grant to Bow's
Speaker 2: Christian Welch, who's now back, ended up leaving and Gring
Speaker 2: to Denver. But then you have the sixteen man practice
Speaker 2: squad and the flexibility to bring guys up from that,
Speaker 2: and the flexibility to potentially develop you know, some guys,
Speaker 2: some rookies, some draft picks that maybe you won't be
Speaker 2: ready day one. You're rashid Walker's of the world that
Speaker 2: kind of hold down one of those inactive spots. So
Speaker 2: they're not on the practice squad, but they're not really
Speaker 2: playing in the games either.
Speaker 1: They don't want to expose them to waivers. Well, but
Speaker 1: you're probably going to lose them yet get claimed and
Speaker 1: then off he goes.
Speaker 2: There's so many different ways you can work this thing now,
Speaker 2: and I think for Green Bay being able to be
Speaker 2: in that position when you have let me put it
Speaker 2: this way. You could go young and you could draft
Speaker 2: all these players, you could acquire all this talent, and
Speaker 2: you can miss on a bunch of them, and you're
Speaker 2: still sitting there in the same spot of like, Okay, well,
Speaker 2: how do we build a forty eight? How do we
Speaker 2: build a fifty three? Green Bay being as productive as
Speaker 2: they've been in the twenty two to twenty three, twenty
Speaker 2: four drafts. Is what has set up this position that
Speaker 2: they're in right now and what does that do? Yes,
Speaker 2: it keeps you competitive on the field, that it keeps
Speaker 2: you chasing a championship this year, but it also making
Speaker 2: sure the guys that do get second contracts are going
Speaker 2: to be really, really good football players. So a very
Speaker 2: interesting year awaits scree bit Packers, but certainly on field
Speaker 2: in terms of the analysis, maybe even you want to
Speaker 2: call it the overthinking on the media side of things.
Speaker 2: That all starts next week with organized team activities.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it absolutely does, and with that we will call
Speaker 1: it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be
Speaker 1: sure to follow all of our coverage of the team,
Speaker 1: and even though we won't be here on Packers Unscripted
Speaker 1: next week, we will have coverage of OTAs with that
Speaker 1: day that is open to the media. We will have
Speaker 1: it all for you on Packers dot com for wes
Speaker 1: Im Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody, and we
Speaker 1: will see you next time.