Speaker 1: Hi, everyone. Welcome to Packers Unscripted, or should I say
Speaker 1: welcome back to Packers Unscripted. We are back. I am
Speaker 1: Mike Spofford from Packers dot Com. He is my partner
Speaker 1: in crime, Wes Hodkowits, and we're back west because we
Speaker 1: are headed to the NFL Scouting Combine, the annual gala
Speaker 1: in Indianapolis, Indiana. By the time folks are watching slash
Speaker 1: listening to this, we will be on our way to Indie.
Speaker 1: We recorded this just before we hit the road. So, um,
Speaker 1: are you ready for this? It's it's another week in Indie. Man,
Speaker 1: here we go. Yeah, I'm ready for it. I was
Speaker 1: actually hoping you're gonna say, no, we're live from Indie
Speaker 1: right now. We we moved. We moved the whole set,
Speaker 1: the whole studio. We took it to Indie Mart and
Speaker 1: grabbed a U haul in a Mayflower truck and here
Speaker 1: we are in Indianapolis. No, I'm excited for it. There's
Speaker 1: no week quite like the NFL Scouting Combine. Uh. You
Speaker 1: see everybody in the National Football League and they all
Speaker 1: descend upon not only just a city basically about a
Speaker 1: four or five six block radius. They're all in one
Speaker 1: one position, and uh, seeing getting a chance to talk
Speaker 1: with Brian goodacunst already as you and I will discuss
Speaker 1: right now, and then hearing what Matt Lafleur has to
Speaker 1: say down there. This is the thing where it always
Speaker 1: sets the temperature a little bit of the water. When
Speaker 1: you go into a new season, everything restarts. This is
Speaker 1: always kind of like the first quarter. It feels like
Speaker 1: as you get ready for the next season, it's kind
Speaker 1: of when the page is officially turned to the next season.
Speaker 1: It's not about the nineteen season, the twenty nineteen playoffs
Speaker 1: in January. It's not about that anymore. It's now everything
Speaker 1: is looking ahead to the scouting combine is kind of
Speaker 1: that moment where all eyes and all minds start going forward. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And in addition to all these NFL teams, every agent
Speaker 1: for the most part, the National Football League is also
Speaker 1: in Indianapolis as they begin to go through their meetings
Speaker 1: and obviously the free agency only a few weeks away.
Speaker 1: It's just it's incredible because it's that reset button that
Speaker 1: you press that everything that happened in two thousand nineteen
Speaker 1: for the Green Bay Packers, as cool as that was,
Speaker 1: Brian Goodacun set it himself. I mean, this is a
Speaker 1: new season, a new year, a new opportunity, and the
Speaker 1: Packers are looking to you know, continue upon this path
Speaker 1: that they put themselves on this past year. Well, this
Speaker 1: time of year, as you mentioned, is really the first
Speaker 1: opportunity media wise for us to get a chance to
Speaker 1: talk to head coach Matt Lafleur general manager Brian goodacunst
Speaker 1: as in terms of the pre draft process here and
Speaker 1: normally we hear from them strictly in Indianapolis. It turns
Speaker 1: out this year Brian goodacoun has decided to do sort
Speaker 1: of an off to the side session with writers. You
Speaker 1: and I were included in that session, as well as
Speaker 1: several other beat writers that cover the team on a
Speaker 1: regular base. This that was held on Friday at the
Speaker 1: h at lambeau Field, and some interesting thoughts coming out
Speaker 1: of there because Packers, you know, this isn't just about
Speaker 1: the draft. The Packers have a lot of decisions to
Speaker 1: make in terms of pending free agents, other veteran contracts,
Speaker 1: all these things. Now, Brian Goodaquin's didn't give us too
Speaker 1: much of an insight into where those decisions necessarily are headed,
Speaker 1: but he did say that really when everybody gets back
Speaker 1: from the combine and then you have kind of about
Speaker 1: a two week window there before free agency starts to
Speaker 1: kick off. That's when a lot of the decisions and
Speaker 1: the planning and and the uh, the path so to speak,
Speaker 1: starts to take shape for where this offseason is going
Speaker 1: for green Bay. And that's sort of what he expressed
Speaker 1: to us in that meeting. Yeah, and this will be
Speaker 1: to where a lot of agents will sit down with
Speaker 1: the teams that hold their their players contracts uh and
Speaker 1: start to have some of those really discussions and you know,
Speaker 1: maybe have a chance to get that face to face
Speaker 1: encounter green Bay. It's such an interesting spot that they're
Speaker 1: in right now because, as Brian said, last year, they
Speaker 1: made a a you know, a ton of moves. You know,
Speaker 1: they not only signed those four free agents, they brought
Speaker 1: back Mercedes Louis. They they did some things that they
Speaker 1: felt we're going to set them up to have the
Speaker 1: type of year that they did a real big bounce
Speaker 1: back season. Now, you probably don't have as many available
Speaker 1: resources as you did when you made all those big signings,
Speaker 1: certainly a lot tighter against the cap, and that's really
Speaker 1: what it comes down to there. There's no team in
Speaker 1: the league that's going to have the salary cap space
Speaker 1: to sign four guys on the first day of free
Speaker 1: agency two years in a row. Like that's just not
Speaker 1: gonna happen. So, I mean, it'll be interesting to see
Speaker 1: exactly how that shuffles out. Yeah, Well, as we as
Speaker 1: we look ahead here, Brian Goodkunts gave us a bit
Speaker 1: of a preview of how things are going to go
Speaker 1: at the Combine now, just to give fans a sense
Speaker 1: of of what goes on here. Obviously, what the media
Speaker 1: is doing or are doing at the Combine, it's very
Speaker 1: different from what the coaches and the scouts and and
Speaker 1: the gms and everybody else are doing there the play years.
Speaker 1: The players are there too. They get medical checks, they
Speaker 1: get they have interviews both formal and informal. They do
Speaker 1: all the workouts, which are going to be in prime
Speaker 1: time on TV this year. That's been a big change
Speaker 1: up to the schedule. From a media standpoint, we get
Speaker 1: to hear from some coaches and gms. We also have
Speaker 1: access to the players. They take the podiums at the
Speaker 1: Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis. Reporters from all across the
Speaker 1: country that cover the league. Uh, get a chance to
Speaker 1: be there at two really our first chance to meet
Speaker 1: a lot of these guys because they've obviously only been
Speaker 1: playing in college. So that's always an interesting part of it.
Speaker 1: But a lot of stuff here packed into really what's
Speaker 1: going to come down to four days like Tuesday through
Speaker 1: Friday in Indianapolis. Yeah, it's a whirlwind. And you know,
Speaker 1: you start off that. It's always interesting how those podiums
Speaker 1: at the very beginning, it's the GMS, it's the coaches,
Speaker 1: occasionally it's a it's a president of football operations. They'll
Speaker 1: go up there and they kind of set the table
Speaker 1: for everything. And after that, then the quarterbacks come in
Speaker 1: and the running backs and the receivers in position by position,
Speaker 1: the eight different podiums and then all the different you
Speaker 1: know tables that are around there. Guys get a chance
Speaker 1: to state their case and you know, make some good impressions.
Speaker 1: The one thing that actually leads to some interesting moments.
Speaker 1: As you know, I still remember being at some of
Speaker 1: these players the Packers ended up drafting, you know, ha
Speaker 1: Clinton Dicks. I remember being at his podium back in
Speaker 1: two thousand fourteen. Uh, you know, Josh Jackson Jr. Alexander Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't think I was at Darnell Savages
Speaker 1: last year, but like it's always been something when you
Speaker 1: see a guy at that podium and then two months
Speaker 1: later you end up seeing him in the Packers locker room,
Speaker 1: and those are the decisions they have to make. As
Speaker 1: Brian good Coin said, they have ten draft picks right now,
Speaker 1: and they got a six rounder for Reggie Gilbert, they
Speaker 1: got a six rounder for Trevor Davis. They also have
Speaker 1: their own sixth and two sevenths, So I mean there's
Speaker 1: a lot of flexibility, especially in that third day that
Speaker 1: that they're gonna be able to move around and you know,
Speaker 1: utilize those parts, and that is, you know, what it's
Speaker 1: gonna take to really ake that next step. As we
Speaker 1: were talking about earlier with the free agency side of
Speaker 1: this thing, Brian Bulaga, Mason Crosby, Tremont Williams, Blake Martinez, Kyler, Facral,
Speaker 1: they have a lot of unrestricted free agents they're gonna
Speaker 1: have to make a decision on. And by the time
Speaker 1: that you know, all these measurables and interviews and and
Speaker 1: everything gets brought together to make these picks, the Packers
Speaker 1: will have some resolution to how those free agents played out.
Speaker 1: So it's like kind of like doing your homework for
Speaker 1: a test. But there's that quiz in the middle, right.
Speaker 1: You got to see how that quiz goes and then
Speaker 1: start to figure out, Okay, where are you going to
Speaker 1: emphasize where could the potential strengths be at this draft?
Speaker 1: You and I will get a chance to get into
Speaker 1: that next week a little bit more. But there's just
Speaker 1: that whole week with the convention center of the events
Speaker 1: over at Lucas Oil Stadium. Um, you know the guys downtown.
Speaker 1: I mean, you just get to see these guys in
Speaker 1: so many different ways. Um, if you're an NFL scout
Speaker 1: to start making that decision on not only their medicals
Speaker 1: but character wise personality, could they be a fit for
Speaker 1: your locker room? Yeah? That the interview process. I always
Speaker 1: think it's interesting because you talk to any GM, any
Speaker 1: scout about the combine and they will always say, inevitably,
Speaker 1: the two most important things that happened at the scouting
Speaker 1: combine are the medical checks and the interviews. The chance
Speaker 1: to sit down and talk to these guys and really
Speaker 1: kind of test their football knowledge and all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. Those are the two things that get no
Speaker 1: media coverage because there aren't any cameras, there are und
Speaker 1: any interviews allowed during that part of the process. So
Speaker 1: all the media coverage is on a lot of the
Speaker 1: other stuff, the workouts and this and that, and and
Speaker 1: that's just part of it. That's that's just kind of
Speaker 1: part of the setup. But if you got rid of
Speaker 1: all of the workouts and all that stuff that's on television,
Speaker 1: the combine would still be really important for the because
Speaker 1: of the medicals and the interviews. That's the point I'm trying.
Speaker 1: And that's why it all started, right, I mean, that
Speaker 1: was the thing. It all started because of getting all
Speaker 1: the players together to have medical checks, essentially, like guys
Speaker 1: who have injuries in college, to get an our eye
Speaker 1: on a knee or a CT scan on some injury,
Speaker 1: a shoulder, whatever it might be. That's how the whole
Speaker 1: thing started, so that these players, these draft prospects, weren't
Speaker 1: basically being flown around to twenty or twenty five NFL
Speaker 1: cities to get a medical check in every single city.
Speaker 1: So they combined their efforts and uh, and then here
Speaker 1: we are now with what is what has now become
Speaker 1: a week long extravaganza with prime time television coverage and
Speaker 1: the whole deal. That part of it I thought was
Speaker 1: a little bit quizzical in my mind, because I still
Speaker 1: think you could end up taping the workouts in the
Speaker 1: morning and run them at night and nobody would be
Speaker 1: any worse for wear. But they except except for the
Speaker 1: results getting out that. But I mean, if you're watching
Speaker 1: the thing in prime time, I'm guessing Don Hodkoitz isn't
Speaker 1: like sitting there reading this thing online being like, man,
Speaker 1: I really gotta watch this now at night. Oh, I'm
Speaker 1: not interested anymore. But that's the NFL. Everything is a spectacle.
Speaker 1: It's the reason why it's really difficult to take a
Speaker 1: vacation when you work in this league. But that's a
Speaker 1: discussion for another day. But but that's it's a it's
Speaker 1: a three sixty five day news cycle, goes twelve months
Speaker 1: of the year, fifty two weeks out of the year.
Speaker 1: And the other thing too that was interesting, getting back
Speaker 1: to our conversation with Brian Gudkins, was the fact that
Speaker 1: this is an adjustment in how the coaches, how the
Speaker 1: the scouts have to approach us as well. They cut
Speaker 1: down on the number of formal interviews. But you know,
Speaker 1: Goodkins kind of pointing out the silver lining to that
Speaker 1: is they get a couple more minutes now with each
Speaker 1: of these prospects, whereas before I think it was fifteen.
Speaker 1: Maybe now it's like eighteen. You don't get your sixty anymore,
Speaker 1: but you still get forty five formals. Those are important.
Speaker 1: Taking what you learned at the Senior Bowl, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have your thirty pre draft visits that you'll also have
Speaker 1: with prospects between you know, March and April to kind
Speaker 1: of sift through as well. So to a lot of
Speaker 1: people outside looking in, it was a big challenge. I
Speaker 1: think there were some people that were even kind of
Speaker 1: you know, complaining about it. But Brian had a pretty
Speaker 1: optimistic outlook on it. What he thinks this is gonna
Speaker 1: mean and and basically with his overlying assumption being they're
Speaker 1: still gonna be able to get the job done and
Speaker 1: in some cases maybe they'll even learn a thing or
Speaker 1: two more than they would have under the previous set up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like there's there's been another set of
Speaker 1: what they call the informal interviews that are added where
Speaker 1: where players from a specific position will be gathered in
Speaker 1: a group, and then the corresponding position coaches from around
Speaker 1: the league will be able to get together specifically with
Speaker 1: those players, just in an informal interview setting, but maybe
Speaker 1: not quite as chaotic as the old school one, which
Speaker 1: involved players and scouts and coaches and everybody, uh, kind
Speaker 1: of all together at at what they called the train
Speaker 1: Depot in in Indianapolis. So they're breaking things down a
Speaker 1: little bit more too, and Goodakoon said he thinks that
Speaker 1: will be be beneficial to have some of these extra
Speaker 1: opportunities going forward to point this out too. And maybe
Speaker 1: you're going to mention this, but the Packers actually they
Speaker 1: will be sending their whole coaching staff and their scouting departments.
Speaker 1: That's been kind of a point in can tension this
Speaker 1: offseason with the reports that the Rams are going to
Speaker 1: keep home their assistant coaches. I believe it was Denver
Speaker 1: as well with vic Fers another team we're gonna keep
Speaker 1: their coaches at home. Brian said he feels like that
Speaker 1: still has a lot of value for his guys to
Speaker 1: be down there. Now a position coach doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be there the whole week. An offensive line coach can
Speaker 1: go down there during the couple of days that the
Speaker 1: offensive linemen are available and get the job done that
Speaker 1: they need and get back up to Green Bay. But
Speaker 1: you know, for some people, they're trying to you know,
Speaker 1: maybe get a little cute, I think some would say,
Speaker 1: or trying to reallocate the resources in different ways. Goodacuns
Speaker 1: to his staff, Matt Lafore is still like, feel like
Speaker 1: there's a lot of values still having those guys in Indianapolis. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I do want to get back to the conversation we
Speaker 1: had with the other Beat writers and with general manager
Speaker 1: Brian Goodacoons, because you mentioned the Packers have decisions to
Speaker 1: make on pending free agents like Brian Bulaga, Blake Martinez.
Speaker 1: Those decisions are going to be made at some point.
Speaker 1: He did give. If he gave us insight into anything,
Speaker 1: it's that it really sounds like he wants kicker Mason
Speaker 1: Crosby to be back. Now that's another pending free agent.
Speaker 1: Crosby coming off of maybe probably the best season of
Speaker 1: his career, twenty two out of twenty four on field goals,
Speaker 1: he only missed one extra point, he said, a personal
Speaker 1: best for touchback percentage on kickoffs, and Gouda Kun said
Speaker 1: I think he I think he used I forget exactly
Speaker 1: the phrase he used. I think he said the right ending.
Speaker 1: He he wants Mason Crosby back on this team. In
Speaker 1: obviously there are no guarantees. This is a business. There
Speaker 1: are all kinds of business decisions that have made on
Speaker 1: both sides, the team side and the player's side. But
Speaker 1: it sounds like he wants his veteran kicker still here
Speaker 1: in Green Bay. Yeah. And and Mason has signed two
Speaker 1: contracts already with Green Bay. So that's one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why I've always kind of had that faith in
Speaker 1: it that you can you know, when you come to
Speaker 1: an agreement once, okay, you come to another agreement, all right,
Speaker 1: then he starts to get down the line here, ten
Speaker 1: twelve years into a career, if there's no obvious signs
Speaker 1: of deterioration or drop off, in which I don't feel
Speaker 1: there's been any with Mason Crosby. You've pointed it out too.
Speaker 1: I mean, his touch back percentages as high as it's
Speaker 1: ever been in his career. Uh. And and here's the
Speaker 1: other caveat to this too. And I don't mean to
Speaker 1: keep bringing this up because I did talk about it
Speaker 1: a lot during this past season of unscripted. But if
Speaker 1: you ever need a reminder of how important a kicker is,
Speaker 1: look at what happened in Chicago after they moved down
Speaker 1: from Robbie Gold. They're still not settled there and we're
Speaker 1: now three three and a half years since they've released
Speaker 1: him at the beginning of the season back and there
Speaker 1: one playoff appearance in a decade ended because of a
Speaker 1: missed fundle. So you got to see all the thing.
Speaker 1: You know, he Mason Crosby is gonna have a market.
Speaker 1: There's a dearth of really competent, capable kickers out there.
Speaker 1: But I think history has shown that those two sides
Speaker 1: have always found a way to make these things work out.
Speaker 1: I would think that they're going to put those efforts
Speaker 1: again here together. Crosby still only, I believe, thirty five
Speaker 1: years old for a kicker. Still a lot of tread
Speaker 1: on the tire. Yeah, one of the things I think
Speaker 1: that's interesting here with the Packers, and as we will
Speaker 1: be doing a couple of unscripted episodes from Indianapolis, we
Speaker 1: you know, our annual on location UM episodes, and we'll
Speaker 1: get into, you know, some of the name dropping of
Speaker 1: guys that some different positions that we hear from, and
Speaker 1: you know, those positions that people are talking about as
Speaker 1: as needs for the Packers and and whatnot. So we'll
Speaker 1: get into a lot of those names and who's saying
Speaker 1: what next week. But one thing I think is interesting
Speaker 1: here is that when you talk about these free agent decisions,
Speaker 1: specifically with Brian Bolaga and with Blake Martinez at offensive
Speaker 1: tackle and inside linebackers specifically, I get the feeling west
Speaker 1: that whether or not you bring back Brian Bulaga, whether
Speaker 1: or not you bring back Blake Martinez, I think those
Speaker 1: are two positions the Packers are still going to be
Speaker 1: looking at pretty strongly in this draft. Now, the the
Speaker 1: acuteness of the need, the immediacy of the need, will
Speaker 1: would depend on those decisions on those veteran players. But
Speaker 1: I think in terms of in terms of, you know,
Speaker 1: building the roster the way Brian Goodkins would like to
Speaker 1: build the roster, the are going to be positions of
Speaker 1: need here going into this draft regardless. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: have so much respect for Bolaga because I think, you know,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of doubters when he signed that
Speaker 1: five year deal, you know, back in two thousand sixteen,
Speaker 1: or whenever that was. It was two fifteen, it was
Speaker 1: after the fourteens. There were some people saying, Oh, there's
Speaker 1: no way he's going to see the end of that,
Speaker 1: And here he is. He fought through injuries, he played
Speaker 1: at an exemplary level. I mean, he's in my mind
Speaker 1: he's a Packers Hall of Famer right now. I think
Speaker 1: he's had that type of career and he's had that
Speaker 1: type of longevity, but you never know. And the thing
Speaker 1: I keep going back to was, and this is why
Speaker 1: I feel like it could be important for them to
Speaker 1: bring him back again. I'm not the ones you know,
Speaker 1: signing checks and and picking up the phone, but two
Speaker 1: thousand and ten is such an important year when you
Speaker 1: look at what they did going into the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: season and the ability to bring back Chad Clifton, and
Speaker 1: I think Brian probably has a little bit more left
Speaker 1: than what Chad did at that point, but having Clifton
Speaker 1: as the left tackle that season was imperative for a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl run, and I see a lot of things
Speaker 1: with Bolaga could be very similar. This is a guy
Speaker 1: that has played good football for you. He's still one
Speaker 1: of the best right tackles in the game, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure Brian wants to get paid like one of the
Speaker 1: best right tackles in the game, so that's gonna be
Speaker 1: something to monitor. All that being said, I think it's
Speaker 1: been one draft in the last maybe fifteen years where
Speaker 1: the Packers haven't taken an offensive lineman. Otherwise they've kept
Speaker 1: going down to that well because you need them, you
Speaker 1: need the backups, you need to be able to keep
Speaker 1: guys in the pipeline. Packers have to taken some swings
Speaker 1: at tackle over the last few years. They haven't all
Speaker 1: worked out. So I think that's one reason why, regardless
Speaker 1: of what happens with Bolaga, you maybe think about having
Speaker 1: that guy there that you can develop behind those guys
Speaker 1: or jump in right away if you need them to.
Speaker 1: As far as middle linebacks is concerned, this is really
Speaker 1: going to be a question, I think more for Matt
Speaker 1: Lafleur and seeing what the direction at defense is going
Speaker 1: to be. They played a lot of sub package safety
Speaker 1: this year in the box with Ibraheim Campbell and Raven Green.
Speaker 1: I'm curious if that is really by design or if
Speaker 1: that was mostly by necessity. Um and we're gonna find
Speaker 1: out in twenty But depending what happens with Blake Martinez.
Speaker 1: That's one spot, maybe two spots that you're gonna need
Speaker 1: to address. Yeah, well, and we and we will hear
Speaker 1: from Matt Lafleur on Tuesday in Indianapolis, So when we
Speaker 1: do a couple of shows from India, will certainly be
Speaker 1: talking about a lot of his comments from the podium
Speaker 1: at the convention Center. Goudakunts also had he shared some
Speaker 1: thoughts with regard to the youth on this roster and
Speaker 1: as any GM I mean, and I don't care whether
Speaker 1: you're talking about Ron Wolf or Ted Thompson or Brian Goodakuns.
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy would would say it as well, the biggest
Speaker 1: improvement for this team when when you get to this
Speaker 1: stage the Packers made all their the big free agent
Speaker 1: signings a year ago, you end up making a run
Speaker 1: to the NFC Championship Game. Your biggest improvement is most
Speaker 1: likely going to come from within. It's going to come
Speaker 1: from the young guys who are taking that next step.
Speaker 1: Now you could be talking about you know, Jairo, Alexander,
Speaker 1: Elton Jenkins, you know, guys like that. But Gudakunst also
Speaker 1: is you know, looking at guys that wide receiver and
Speaker 1: tight end and whatnot and and what are they going
Speaker 1: to do? Those are positions I think the Packers will
Speaker 1: be looking at in the draft as well. So some
Speaker 1: interesting thoughts there in terms of just how exactly this
Speaker 1: puzzle is going to fit together when Brian goudacunst arrives
Speaker 1: at the ninety man roster that he's going to take
Speaker 1: into training camp in late July. Yeah, first and foremost,
Speaker 1: and again we'll discuss this next week. But tight end
Speaker 1: isn't nearly as deep as it was last year in
Speaker 1: this draft. Oh yeah, they're there there. I mean you
Speaker 1: look at some of the projections. Now, last year we
Speaker 1: were talking about two tight ends almost certainly going in
Speaker 1: the first round, and they did. They both went in
Speaker 1: the top twenty, if I'm not mistaken, the two tight
Speaker 1: ends from Iowa. This year, there's talk that there may
Speaker 1: not be a single tight end drafted in the first
Speaker 1: round at all. So it's a completely different class at
Speaker 1: that specific position. But regardless of whether or not it
Speaker 1: was deep, j Sternberger has to be a big part
Speaker 1: of this. You know, I said all season, I said
Speaker 1: it even going into this season with the tight end,
Speaker 1: you gotta be patient you gotta let them develop. Year two,
Speaker 1: year three is where you look for them to make
Speaker 1: a premium impact. So I think improvement has to start
Speaker 1: with Sternberger. It has to start with Robert Tanny in
Speaker 1: and then seeing what exactly happens from there with Jimmy
Speaker 1: Graham in, Mercedes Lewis. Beyond that, though, I just think
Speaker 1: there's so many young players on this entire roster that
Speaker 1: whatever draft picks the Packers end up using and bringing in,
Speaker 1: they're gonna have competition already here. If they bring in
Speaker 1: a middle linebacker where you have Oren Burke's you have
Speaker 1: Ty Summers, who Goods was very quickly to to mention
Speaker 1: that he's still very high on those guys and being,
Speaker 1: you know, potentially a part of this this team in
Speaker 1: this role and finding a spot on defense, you have
Speaker 1: you know, Kevin King, Jaire, Alexander Chandler Sullivan, are Chanted Sullivan, Uh,
Speaker 1: Darnell Savage. I mean, there's so many young so much
Speaker 1: young talent there in addition to what they could do
Speaker 1: in the draft, and even if a guy like Trumon
Speaker 1: Williams could come back. But the thing I really looked
Speaker 1: for on the offensive side the ball, though, is the
Speaker 1: young talent that emerged throughout the course of last season.
Speaker 1: You bring up Elton Jenkins, you know, Alan Lazard. I
Speaker 1: mean there are guys and playmakers that. Yeah, undoubtedly the
Speaker 1: Packers could be helped by bringing in another receiver to
Speaker 1: maybe lessen some of that load, whether it be a
Speaker 1: veteran to help Davante Adams or a high draft pick
Speaker 1: those either those guys could help or both or both.
Speaker 1: But Alan Lazard needs to be a player on this
Speaker 1: team next year. E Q. St Brown coming off of
Speaker 1: the high ankle sprain, they want to see him make
Speaker 1: an impact. Yeah, And Goudacots did say all health reports
Speaker 1: at this point on st. Brown are positive, suggested he'd
Speaker 1: probably be eased into some things during the off season
Speaker 1: program with offseason workouts, but everything progressing as they would
Speaker 1: hope for with st Brown coming off of the season
Speaker 1: ending injury. Yeah, So as much as we can sit
Speaker 1: here and we will over the next six eight weeks
Speaker 1: talk about the draft and who you know where where
Speaker 1: they need help and who could step in. A lot
Speaker 1: of times those are conversations for you need need those guys.
Speaker 1: Maybe not necessarily you're Darnell Savages, but I mean some
Speaker 1: of the guys that are those second, third and fourth
Speaker 1: round draft picks to start to carry that baton like
Speaker 1: Blake Martinez did in two thousand seventeen, like Kyler Facral
Speaker 1: did in two thousand eighteen, like Kenny Clark did in
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen. So that's where I really look for
Speaker 1: this team to get better. In addition to finding a
Speaker 1: few players here and there in this draft that could
Speaker 1: potentially help you from year one, you just don't have
Speaker 1: to depend on them right away. Yeah, I mean, and
Speaker 1: and certainly you look back at last year's draft. Uh,
Speaker 1: the Packers ended up picking three players in the first
Speaker 1: two rounds or Shawn Gary, Darnell Savage, Elton Jenkins, and
Speaker 1: two of those three end up making the PFW a
Speaker 1: All rookie team. They were you know, starters for the
Speaker 1: bulk if not the entire season, depending on the case.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, the pack if if Brian Goodakuns
Speaker 1: has another draft like that, Um, you know, it would
Speaker 1: be really interesting to see exactly where this Packers team goes,
Speaker 1: because it looks like, you know, this is headed toward
Speaker 1: or you know, another one of these mixtures between the
Speaker 1: veteran guys and the young guys, and then you want
Speaker 1: to see that chemistry come together in the locker room
Speaker 1: like it did last year. That's not going to be
Speaker 1: an easy thing to repeat. But the veteran guys who
Speaker 1: were here, they know what that felt like last year
Speaker 1: and that they're going to know what it takes to
Speaker 1: to kind of steer things in that direction with whatever
Speaker 1: new faces come in. Yeah, and the young guys that
Speaker 1: were on this roster are going to be a part
Speaker 1: of that too. You know, they're going to feel that energy.
Speaker 1: Look at Rashan Gary, he was there all year last year,
Speaker 1: both on the field with you know, za Darius Smith
Speaker 1: in Preston Smith, but also in the locker room in
Speaker 1: their positional room. That's really important for young guy who's
Speaker 1: twenty one years old to be able to gain that
Speaker 1: kind of experience in that exposure. And and yeah, there's
Speaker 1: a trickle down effect to it too. I just feel
Speaker 1: like the most exciting thing for Green Bay is the
Speaker 1: fact that they are back in the winner circle again. Now,
Speaker 1: certainly the goal is not done. There's still work to
Speaker 1: be done. They want to win a Super Bowl, they
Speaker 1: want to get back to a Super Bowl, they want
Speaker 1: to get over the hump from that end CE Championship game.
Speaker 1: But they also aren't sitting at six nine and one anymore. Um,
Speaker 1: you're a little bit back up in front of the
Speaker 1: pack again. So I think that that's where you're listening to, Brian.
Speaker 1: It's just incredible from where they were at a year ago,
Speaker 1: at this time when they had nobody left from their
Speaker 1: two thousand fifteen draft class. For the most part, they
Speaker 1: needed to restart there. They needed to find improvement. Well,
Speaker 1: now you start to have to answer tough questions again.
Speaker 1: Your sixteen draft was incredibly fruitful. Uh. You know, you
Speaker 1: look at Kenny Clark. I think he's gonna be one
Speaker 1: of the highest paid defensive tackles when the dust settles
Speaker 1: here in the next year or so. You have Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones and Kevin King and Jamal Williams from that two
Speaker 1: thousand seventeen class, and you already touched on the eighteen
Speaker 1: class with Alexander. You're starting to see the tree that
Speaker 1: you know, bear fruit again. And that's a good thing
Speaker 1: because as as as cool as it was to go
Speaker 1: and sign the Smith's and Adrian Amos and and Billy Turner,
Speaker 1: you don't want to always have to go to that. Well,
Speaker 1: it's kind of a get out of you know, purgatory
Speaker 1: free car and you know the Packers were able to
Speaker 1: that last season. Yeah. Absolutely, Well tell you what, my friend,
Speaker 1: it's time to go to Indie. So we are. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we are off to Indianapolis. And that is the next
Speaker 1: time you will see us and hear from us. Will
Speaker 1: be from the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Will do a
Speaker 1: couple of episodes from there. West, Larry and I'll do
Speaker 1: some three Things videos. West and I will be doing
Speaker 1: some stories off of the interviews with Matt Lafleur, the
Speaker 1: interviews with the prospects. We got all kinds of NFL
Speaker 1: Scouting Combine coverage coming to you all week long, so
Speaker 1: be sure to check all of that out. For now,
Speaker 1: He's West, I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in everybody. We
Speaker 1: will see you next time.