Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford. He is the
Speaker 1: one and only Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here
Speaker 1: from our studios at Lambeaufield. Wes three practices in the
Speaker 1: books for the twenty twenty four Packers training Camp all
Speaker 1: non padded practices to this point, basically practices much like
Speaker 1: OTA's and Mini camp and what we saw in the spring.
Speaker 1: But I'll just throw it out to you open ended
Speaker 1: right here through the first three practices. What observation is
Speaker 1: at the top of your list.
Speaker 2: The defensive front of the green Bay Packers is a
Speaker 2: force to be reckoned with right now. And I know
Speaker 2: offensively green Bay is dealing with a lot. They're trying
Speaker 2: to do different rotations. They obviously don't have Jordan Love
Speaker 2: through these first three practices, but I think the way
Speaker 2: that that defensive line, that front four has performed so far,
Speaker 2: I think they'd give any team any offense in the
Speaker 2: league fits right now. I've been so blown away, and
Speaker 2: they talked about it in locker room yesterday. The idea
Speaker 2: of being able to pass rush in waves in different
Speaker 2: different combinations you're gonna be able to throw at people.
Speaker 2: Rashan Gary, as he often does, has just completely shot
Speaker 2: out of the gate in this camp. I mean he
Speaker 2: has been almost unblockable. You look at what the interior
Speaker 2: defensive line, Davante Wyatt, I think has been really disruptive
Speaker 2: so far. Carl Brooks had some good pass rushes in
Speaker 2: practice on Wednesday, Kenny Clark, Preston Smith, Kingsleyanningbari, the list
Speaker 2: goes on and on and on of these defensive linemen
Speaker 2: and so many guys listening to them talk in the
Speaker 2: locker room this week, mentioning just the excitement that they feel.
Speaker 2: And again they're not trying to bury anything that's been
Speaker 2: in the past, but the idea, especially for a guy
Speaker 2: like Wyatt, where he feels like he's getting more back
Speaker 2: to his room as a pass rusher, as a guy
Speaker 2: that is just going to get off the ball, win
Speaker 2: his matchups, and get to the quarterback. This often this defense,
Speaker 2: I should say, in the way it's constructed, in the
Speaker 2: way they've been building this thing. Outside of Kenny Clark,
Speaker 2: Brian Gudokuntz has drafted all of these guys. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: now seeing that this scheme that Jeff Haffley's you know,
Speaker 2: bringing together with what they have up front. I think
Speaker 2: it's one of the most exciting things that we saw
Speaker 2: throughout the spring and now it's carrying over into the summer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a couple of caveats I'll throw into that. I
Speaker 1: agree wholeheartedly with everything that you're saying. A couple of
Speaker 1: caveats I'll throw into it. One is that the Packers
Speaker 1: have been without their starting right tackle, Zach tom He's
Speaker 1: not out there for eleven on eleven yet, and there's
Speaker 1: been some switching going on. It was Andre Dillard at
Speaker 1: right tackle with the Ones. Now it's been Kadeem Telfort
Speaker 1: in the third practice. Will see what happens there going forward.
Speaker 1: There's a first a rookie first round draft pick in
Speaker 1: the mix in Jordan Morgan, who's making an adjustment from
Speaker 1: playing tackle in college to playing guard. He's been all
Speaker 1: of his eleven on eleven snaps, at least that I've seen,
Speaker 1: have been at right guard as he is in that
Speaker 1: competition with h with Sean Ryan, and Sean Ryan has
Speaker 1: also been taking some snaps at left guard when Elton
Speaker 1: Jenkins needs a breather, and that's a bit of a
Speaker 1: switch for him because all of his playing time last
Speaker 1: year was at right guard, and switching sides is not
Speaker 1: exactly easy. So there are those caveats on top of
Speaker 1: the fact that the pads aren't on yet. I always,
Speaker 1: I always take the pass rushing thing with a little
Speaker 1: bit of grain of salt until the pads go on,
Speaker 1: because I think the pads help offensive lineman help in
Speaker 1: terms of the leverage. It's not to say that that
Speaker 1: defensive linemen don't use the pads for for leverage as well,
Speaker 1: but I think it the pads can slow things down
Speaker 1: a little bit, and slowing things down can help the
Speaker 1: offensive linemen. So I throw those caveats out there.
Speaker 2: Elton Jenkins also didn't practice on Wednesday with the veteran resting.
Speaker 1: That's right, he took he took An took a veteran
Speaker 1: rest day. So Sean Ryan actually pretty much played the
Speaker 1: entire Premitta set at left guard on Wednesday. But all
Speaker 1: that being said, you cannot help but be impressed with
Speaker 1: how Rashaan Gary looks right now. And what it's made
Speaker 1: me think about is, you know the old adage that
Speaker 1: gets that gets talked about quite a bit in this
Speaker 1: league that it's the second year back after an ACL
Speaker 1: injury where a guy is really one hundred back to himself.
Speaker 1: And I think in part that's what we're starting to
Speaker 1: see with Rashaun Gary here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I go back to last season and think
Speaker 2: about just how impressive it was that he made it
Speaker 2: back as quickly as he did. But the first five
Speaker 2: six weeks of the season, he was in a pitch count,
Speaker 2: so to speak. He had three sacks against the New
Speaker 2: Orleans Saints on twenty three defensive snatch. Yeah. In week
Speaker 2: week two, Yeah, and he's just he wasn't getting that
Speaker 2: type of work week three, but it was it was
Speaker 2: the home open. So those are the aspects of this
Speaker 2: thing I think you have to consider. But more importantly,
Speaker 2: it goes back to what he said when we talk
Speaker 2: to him in the offseason. He got back here in April.
Speaker 2: He remembers seeing the training staff the first time, Basically
Speaker 2: that fork in the road where you're not going to
Speaker 2: go work with the training staff, You're going to get ready,
Speaker 2: you're going to go practice, you're going to go through
Speaker 2: the three phases. And he's like, I miss that, And
Speaker 2: if in watching any of his videos, the way that
Speaker 2: he goes about his offseason training. The mindset that he takes,
Speaker 2: this guy is all football. Everything that he has, every
Speaker 2: minute in his day is geared towards football. And Mike
Speaker 2: Smith said it, it's almost six years ago now that
Speaker 2: when you have a guy that is that physically talented,
Speaker 2: the former number one recruit in the country when he
Speaker 2: went to Michigan, and he has that type of worth
Speaker 2: work ethic, those guys do not fail. And more and
Speaker 2: more he's been building up towards this thing. We're still
Speaker 2: waiting for that, like big, massive breakout. But when you
Speaker 2: look at his numbers, when you look at the quarterback hits,
Speaker 2: when you look at the pressures, true media at him
Speaker 2: down for sixty three pressures last season, this guy eats
Speaker 2: away at a quarterback's internal clock.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And I think also on the other side of this thing,
Speaker 2: that's valuable work for Rashid Walker, that's valuable work for
Speaker 2: Andre Dillard, and when he gets back out through, that's
Speaker 2: valuable work for Zach Tom because that's about as good
Speaker 2: of a defensive end as you're going to see in
Speaker 2: this league.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I liked what you said about DeVante Wyatt too,
Speaker 1: because it looks to me and again this is just
Speaker 1: a few practices in and whatnot, and you know why,
Speaker 1: it is nowhere close to you know, his ceiling and
Speaker 1: the player that the Packers hope he's going to become.
Speaker 1: But he looks like he is sort of back in
Speaker 1: a system or responsibility, a mode being asked to do
Speaker 1: things like he was asked to at Georgia instead of
Speaker 1: like constantly feeling like he's making this adjustment to doing
Speaker 1: something new. There's a not just because it's now his
Speaker 1: third year in the league, there's a comfort level that
Speaker 1: seems to be emerging with DeVante Wyatt that I think
Speaker 1: is going to serve this Packers defensive front very well
Speaker 1: as we move into twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: And we touched on briefly on Tuesday, but the extension
Speaker 2: with Kenny Clark. Yes, Kenny is an exceptional football player,
Speaker 2: and he's a three time Pro Bowler and he's done
Speaker 2: so much on the field. But I was talking with
Speaker 2: Wyatt about him at his locker on Wednesday, and you
Speaker 2: could just see how excited he was to be able
Speaker 2: to continue to work with him, to play with him,
Speaker 2: because he feels like the growth that he'd made last
Speaker 2: year and certainly You give credit to Jerry Montgomery for
Speaker 2: a lot of that, but a lot of it was
Speaker 2: going back to Kenny Clark and asking him about the scheme,
Speaker 2: asking him about his responsibilities. Those two guys in more
Speaker 2: of that read and react front combined for thirteen sacks
Speaker 2: last season. Again, you don't want to set expectations too high.
Speaker 2: You have to go out there and play the games.
Speaker 2: But when both of these guys are being able to
Speaker 2: sort of pin their ears back a little bit more
Speaker 2: and push those guards and those centers back where you
Speaker 2: just wonder what the possibilities are for both of them. Again,
Speaker 2: there's always going to be a counter to that. There's
Speaker 2: going to be things they're going to have to take into,
Speaker 2: you know, make an adjustments with. But DeVante Wyatt was
Speaker 2: brought here because of what he did, largely that final
Speaker 2: season at Georgia, and it took him a couple of
Speaker 2: years to build up to that. I think where we're
Speaker 2: at right now with him going into year three, it's
Speaker 2: a very similar pattern of his growth and maybe seeing
Speaker 2: if he can take that thing to the next level.
Speaker 2: Either way, him and Kenny Clark together here for the
Speaker 2: foreseeable future, I think that's a really formidable duo to
Speaker 2: round out obviously the rest of that deep rotation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that was what I was going to get
Speaker 1: at too. The Packers feel good about what they have
Speaker 1: depth wise. When you look at a guy like TJ.
Speaker 1: Slayton now in his fourth year in the league as
Speaker 1: a as a run stopper, a guy that can eat
Speaker 1: up blockers, and you know is going to try this,
Speaker 1: you know, get up the field, you know, more attacking mode.
Speaker 1: On the defensive front, He's been a really really solid
Speaker 1: run defender. You don't expect that to change. And in
Speaker 1: the past rush You've got these two second year guys
Speaker 1: and Carl Brooks and Colby Wooden who can also rotate
Speaker 1: in you know the I mean, I've been really impressed
Speaker 1: with Brooks. Certainly, he had a really really strong rookie season.
Speaker 1: I thought as a six round pick out of Bowling Green,
Speaker 1: you know, coming out of a place like Bowling Green,
Speaker 1: you're making a bigger jump to the NFL than that
Speaker 1: in terms of the competition and whatnot. Then the guys
Speaker 1: you know who are coming from those Power five conferences.
Speaker 1: But Carl Brooks looked like he belonged very very early
Speaker 1: on his rookie year and I think he's one of
Speaker 1: those guys that the year two jump is going to
Speaker 1: be noticeable and it's going to make a difference for
Speaker 1: this Packers front.
Speaker 2: We always hear Brian Goodokuntz and these gms and these
Speaker 2: scouts talk about how when you have a guy that
Speaker 2: didn't maybe face the top caliber competition week in and
Speaker 2: week out, you want to see them dominate at that level.
Speaker 2: What stands out to me in particular with Carl it's
Speaker 2: not even just necessarily the production, it's the swagger with him.
Speaker 2: He played at Bowling Green, he had some big game
Speaker 2: performances in non conference action, but it's and he got
Speaker 2: into this stage where it all just seems like football
Speaker 2: for him, Like there's nothing there that makes you think that, Okay,
Speaker 2: he was a really good MAC player. Well we'll see
Speaker 2: what happens the NFL. Now. Man, if you strip away
Speaker 2: the college from the bio, I think you think this
Speaker 2: kid played at any you know, major power five conference
Speaker 2: in this in the country. Yeah. Uh. And then the
Speaker 2: other give credit to Colby Wooden two because again and
Speaker 2: he's you know, it's tough until these pads come on,
Speaker 2: but the offseason program he put on more weight to me,
Speaker 2: looked more like a defensive lineman last year. Last year,
Speaker 2: standing next to Lucas Fanis, they almost both looked like
Speaker 2: edge rushers. This is a guy that has fluctuated in
Speaker 2: his weight a little bit, but now he's back more
Speaker 2: in that two eighty five to ninety range, and it
Speaker 2: seems like that made a difference for him as well.
Speaker 2: In the offseason. I was in the locker room on
Speaker 2: Wednesday and Jonathan Ford was walking through the seventh rounder
Speaker 2: from two years ago. Just a massive human being as well.
Speaker 2: The Packers and Matt Lafleur touched that they're as deep
Speaker 2: as they've probably ever been, at least in this era
Speaker 2: of defensive line play, and especially when you factor in
Speaker 2: the edge rushers and the different combinations they can run.
Speaker 2: There are so many different avenues for this defensive front
Speaker 2: to succeed. You have to do it, you have to
Speaker 2: execute it. Words can only do so much, but my goodness, Michael,
Speaker 2: I think there's that's a group right there that definitely
Speaker 2: could push the pace. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I know, we started this discussion talking about Rashaun Gary
Speaker 1: and we haven't really talked too much about Preston Smith
Speaker 1: and Lucas Fan x Van s and and In Kings Leannigbari.
Speaker 1: But I'll just close with this that taking away the
Speaker 1: defensive ends and the edge rushers, the interior defensive linemen,
Speaker 1: defensive tackles, whatever you want to call them, I think
Speaker 1: this is as strong and deep a group as I've
Speaker 1: seen in Green Bay that I can recall in quite
Speaker 1: some time. Whether you're talking four three or three four base,
Speaker 1: you know, it doesn't matter those into the interior defensive line.
Speaker 1: That group they have right now, I think it's it's
Speaker 1: really impressive. And uh and if you're you know, you're
Speaker 1: not gonna want to take Kenny Clark off the field,
Speaker 1: You're gonna want to get DeVante Wyat, you know, as
Speaker 1: many snaps as he can handle in a lot of respects.
Speaker 1: But that being said, when you have these other guys
Speaker 1: on the interior where the where the game can be
Speaker 1: so physical and so exhausting, and when you when you
Speaker 1: have those opportunities to rotate guys in and not take
Speaker 1: such a you know, such a significant step back, I
Speaker 1: think that really bodes well for these guys.
Speaker 2: And it helps Kenny too, because that has been for
Speaker 2: eight years and definitely six the cat and most game
Speaker 2: of figuring out when to utilize him. Yeah, and I
Speaker 2: think it's been unfair sometimes you know that he either
Speaker 2: the gas tank is a little bit more empty on
Speaker 2: third downs or he just doesn't get as many those
Speaker 2: opportunities because he's been consistently the Packers' best run defending
Speaker 2: defense attack. I mean, you see the statistics, Mike. I
Speaker 2: believe I didn't come up with this paperwork coming into
Speaker 2: this thing, but it was somewhere around I think point
Speaker 2: eight or one yard per carry fewer when Kenny was
Speaker 2: on the field against the run last season.
Speaker 1: Doesn't surprise me in the slightest.
Speaker 2: He has been such a lynchpin there. So Yeah, if
Speaker 2: a TJL Lighton emerges as a guy that can be
Speaker 2: or your nose tackle in those situations, or your your
Speaker 2: one tech that can handle you know, those type of
Speaker 2: double teams, if you can have a guy like Carl
Speaker 2: Brooks help on on third downs, it just makes Kenny
Speaker 2: Clark that much more dangerous. And that's the balance that
Speaker 2: Green Bay has been trying to strike for several years now. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. The other thing, I will say, shifting gears a
Speaker 1: little bit that has really jumped out to me in
Speaker 1: these first three practices, is the competition going on at safety?
Speaker 1: We talked about it was going to be a big
Speaker 1: story from the beginning. Who's the guy who's going to
Speaker 1: be lining up next to Xavier McKinney, lining up alongside
Speaker 1: McKinny when the Packers are playing the Eagles in Brazil
Speaker 1: in Week one and there's a steady rotation going on
Speaker 1: right now between with Javon Bullard, with Evan Williams, Anthony
Speaker 1: Johnson Junior is getting himself in the mix. And now
Speaker 1: these last two practices on Tuesday and Wednesday, Evan Williams
Speaker 1: got an interception in each practice. Anthony Johnson Junior got
Speaker 1: an interception in each practice. Xavier McKinney is the you know,
Speaker 1: he's he's the new he's the new guy. But yet
Speaker 1: he's clearly the leader of that room and the leader
Speaker 1: of that bunch, and those guys are are are following him,
Speaker 1: certainly with all the knowledge and everything that he's able
Speaker 1: to share. But man, this safety competition, this could end up,
Speaker 1: this could end up going all the way through the
Speaker 1: month of August before we know who the starter action is. Well.
Speaker 2: Shoot, Matt Lafleur said it could go into September. I mean,
Speaker 2: he said, you know, there's a possibility that multiple these
Speaker 2: guys could be playing back there, especially with the slot
Speaker 2: versatility of a guy like Bullard or even some of
Speaker 2: the stuff that Evan Williams has done in the past.
Speaker 2: You know, it's not just about Okay, who lines up again,
Speaker 2: Savor m next to Zavier McKinney. It's about, hey, how
Speaker 2: can these defensive backs help us in our sub packages?
Speaker 2: And I think with Bullard and Williams, what you like
Speaker 2: the most about those two together is they offer such
Speaker 2: different ways of sort of succeeding at the safety position.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've said it numerous times now. I watch
Speaker 2: Williams out there here, minds me a lot of Micah Hyde,
Speaker 2: not just his build, not just the fact he's wearing
Speaker 2: thirty three, but just an extremely intelligent player that just
Speaker 2: seems to know where the ball is going to be
Speaker 2: and how he needs to get there. In Bullard, this
Speaker 2: is a guy that, like kway Walker, like Devonte Wyatt,
Speaker 2: like Eric Stokes, played football at the highest level at Georgia,
Speaker 2: won two national championships, played two different positions, started at
Speaker 2: two different positions. And so while these guys are rookies.
Speaker 2: These are guys that played a lot of football next
Speaker 2: to Xavier McKinney, and then McKinney again is sort of
Speaker 2: the thing that is going to bring all of this together.
Speaker 2: I mentioned that story. It was the biggest offseason play
Speaker 2: that the Packers made in the practices that were open
Speaker 2: to the media. Xavier McKinney's out there for the first step,
Speaker 2: he goes trotting off because you're watching your veteran work.
Speaker 2: Bo Melton goes for a seventy five yard touchdown the
Speaker 2: exact play that McKinney leaves the field. I mean, he
Speaker 2: is the and asking Eric Stokes about this on Wednesday.
Speaker 2: He is the guy that is making sure that people
Speaker 2: are where they're supposed to be. He's the guy that's
Speaker 2: communicating the assignments on the back end in his vocal.
Speaker 2: So when the Green Bay Packers went into this offseason,
Speaker 2: more than anything more than offense, defense or special teams,
Speaker 2: they knew they had to make repairs at safety. They've
Speaker 2: done that and now we have to see how it
Speaker 2: all looks come Brazil. But they're in a much better
Speaker 2: spot right now than if you're just wondering, Okay, well,
Speaker 2: let's throw on somebody else and see what happens. Now
Speaker 2: all these guys are earning their playing time.
Speaker 1: I think what's been most impressive about the two rookies
Speaker 1: Javon Bullard, second round pick out of Georgia Evan Williams,
Speaker 1: fourth round pick out of Oregon. I think what's been
Speaker 1: most impressive is that, you know, while they've been rotating
Speaker 1: and each getting there, getting their cracks with the ones,
Speaker 1: and sometimes they're in the box, sometimes they're playing deep.
Speaker 1: And Xavier McKinney is challenging himself in the same way
Speaker 1: where you know, some plays he's deep, some plays he
Speaker 1: you know, moves up into the box depending on the call,
Speaker 1: the personnelity offense. But these two rookie draft picks, they've
Speaker 1: really picked up the system. You're not seeing, you're not
Speaker 1: seeing a lot of confusion out there. You're not seeing
Speaker 1: missed assignments, and you know, guys immediately talking to each
Speaker 1: other after the play because you know this or that,
Speaker 1: and it was interesting. It's been interesting over the course
Speaker 1: of time talking to both of them about about picking
Speaker 1: things up. Williams, I remember telling me back during the
Speaker 1: rookie mini camp when I asked him about you know,
Speaker 1: the playbook and trying to get acclimated to, you know,
Speaker 1: an NFL defense, and he says, well, you know, I
Speaker 1: played for you know, four different defensive coordinators and you
Speaker 1: know my time at Fresno State and then at Oregon.
Speaker 1: So he's used to learning a new system. He's got
Speaker 1: his own process. He knows he's been through this before.
Speaker 1: Then you ask Javon Bullard kind of the same thing
Speaker 1: about how he's picking things up, and his answer, he's
Speaker 1: picking it up much, you know, in the same fashion
Speaker 1: with the same speed that Williams is, but his answer
Speaker 1: is completely different. His answer is, Jeff Hafley's a dB guy.
Speaker 1: So was Kirby Smart at Georgia. They build their defenses
Speaker 1: with the know in some senses, with the DBS in
Speaker 1: mind in terms of how you process things. And he
Speaker 1: said it, the similarities in that regard have made it
Speaker 1: pretty easy for him to make this transition to Halfley's defense,
Speaker 1: because it really is not about the concepts, it's about
Speaker 1: the It's just about the terminology. It's what do you
Speaker 1: call something? And he has to forget the terminology from
Speaker 1: Kirby Smart's defense at Georgia and just apply Halflee's terminology
Speaker 1: here in Green Bay. My point is both of these
Speaker 1: guys have picked things up pretty quickly, and that's that's
Speaker 1: how you get reps with the ones in training camp,
Speaker 1: is because the coaches trust that you know the calls
Speaker 1: and you know the playbook, and now it's just a
Speaker 1: matter of seeing who perform.
Speaker 2: And the motivation that that group feels. I mean, even
Speaker 2: listen to why it talk about it. I mean, they
Speaker 2: know it's Green Bay, Wisconsin, they know it's quarterback capital
Speaker 2: of the United States almost with the way the developed
Speaker 2: guys here in the last thirty years. But defensively, they
Speaker 2: feel like they can be a team that is one
Speaker 2: that sets the tone for their football team and they're
Speaker 2: chasing that right now. And dude, come Week one, come
Speaker 2: that game against the Eagles, there's going to be eleven
Speaker 2: defenders on the field. There's going to be probably be four, five,
Speaker 2: maybe six, probably four or five defensive backs. But at
Speaker 2: the end of the day, it's about what you have,
Speaker 2: how that group is pushing each other, and then when
Speaker 2: the injuries come, when the adversity comes, who can you
Speaker 2: turn to. And you look at last season, especially at safety,
Speaker 2: it got a little precarious at times. Again, we're one
Speaker 2: week into this practice of training camp and a few
Speaker 2: months into what this twenty twenty four season is going
Speaker 2: to look like. But I think the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 2: have to feel good about where they're sitting right now,
Speaker 2: considering all the investment they've made into that position.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Well, I'll take care of a little sponsor
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Speaker 1: plus years of better. All right, Another thing I wanted
Speaker 1: to touch on because actually shortly before we came in
Speaker 1: here and turn the cameras and the microphones on, you
Speaker 1: posted a story on Packers dot Com with regard to
Speaker 1: AJ Dillon. Now on the health end of things. Marshawn Lloyd,
Speaker 1: the third round draft pick at running back, He has
Speaker 1: not practiced yet because of a hip injury. We did
Speaker 1: see Jaden Reed, the second year receiver, back on the
Speaker 1: practice field from his toe injury. Limited at least initially,
Speaker 1: but he's back and there aren't a whole lot of
Speaker 1: major concerns with regard to that toe. But getting back
Speaker 1: to running back, aj Dillon went about this past off
Speaker 1: season not just in terms of, you know, signing a
Speaker 1: contract to come back to Green Bay after his rookie
Speaker 1: deal expired and all that. That was all part of
Speaker 1: his process, but he went about this off season in
Speaker 1: terms of in terms of his body and his preparation
Speaker 1: in a very different way. And you got some of
Speaker 1: the details on that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was really interesting to listen to ag
Speaker 2: and then you know, listen to where he last year
Speaker 2: was a problem for him, Like he went through the
Speaker 2: neck injury, he broke the thumb, not the type of
Speaker 2: season you want heading into unrestricted free agency and listening
Speaker 2: to what his thoughts were and how he approached it
Speaker 2: and the vision he had for what he wanted twenty
Speaker 2: four to be. Again, this is a guy that already
Speaker 2: kept himself in really good shape. He was at two
Speaker 2: fifty at eight nine percent body fat, but he thought
Speaker 2: and He challenged himself, how can I get better? How
Speaker 2: can I make sure that when I look back on
Speaker 2: this thing ten years from now, I know, Okay, whatever happens,
Speaker 2: I gave it my best shot. He cut down on
Speaker 2: the carbs, He intook more grass fed beef. He traded
Speaker 2: in all the soda for water. He started running the
Speaker 2: steps with a weight vest like Jared Bush used to
Speaker 2: do out in the stadium. Boulder, You're at lambeau Field.
Speaker 2: He got a whoop band that showed him how much
Speaker 2: he's sleeping, what his respiratory rate was, all the different
Speaker 2: things that he's doing. And when he came back to
Speaker 2: the Packers during negotiations in March, when he went back
Speaker 2: and visited a couple other teams and talked to some
Speaker 2: other teams, he said, I want to play at a
Speaker 2: Pro Bowl caliber level in twenty twenty four. It's not
Speaker 2: saying he's going to make the Pro Bowl. He just said,
Speaker 2: whatever role you want me in, if you want me
Speaker 2: as a running back, if you want me as a
Speaker 2: special teams player, whatever you want me to do, I'm
Speaker 2: going to give it everything I had. The phrase he
Speaker 2: kept saying over and over again was two yards two
Speaker 2: thousand yards, two million yards, whatever it is that it
Speaker 2: ends up being, he's comfortable with that. So with all
Speaker 2: the work he did physically, as he said, what he
Speaker 2: feels like is he actually chased down the part of
Speaker 2: the game he was trying to master mentally, which was
Speaker 2: taking out the thought process into anything, taking out the worry,
Speaker 2: taking out the pressure. He knows there's pressure. The football
Speaker 2: is pressure. Marshawn Lloyd got drafted, Manuel Wilson is there
Speaker 2: packers have they brought in Josh Jacobs Like it is
Speaker 2: a business where you can never get complacent, But in
Speaker 2: terms of executing what his assignment is, aj Dylon feels
Speaker 2: more at peace right now than he's ever felt in
Speaker 2: his NFL career. In in addition to that, you know, he
Speaker 2: accomplished a lot off the field. Him and his wife Gabrielle,
Speaker 2: they started their own foundation, the Dylan Family Foundation.
Speaker 1: Started their own family, started their.
Speaker 2: Own family, which is Ray A year ago. Two Yeah,
Speaker 2: there's he said, it's been only five years. But the
Speaker 2: growth that he's made as a man, he hopes to
Speaker 2: now channel that into being growth as a player. And
Speaker 2: talking with Josh Jacobs a little bit about it too,
Speaker 2: he said, you know, this is a guy that, even
Speaker 2: for me, a guy that has been a Russian champion,
Speaker 2: a two time All Pro, how helpful AJ has been
Speaker 2: in getting him acclimated to Green Bay. So there's a
Speaker 2: lot of levels to this. But at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, yeah, again, as Matt Lafleur said at the
Speaker 2: podium earlier this week, the best he's ever looked, hands down,
Speaker 2: and certainly mentally, I think he's as clear as he's
Speaker 2: ever been.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because you know, you and I get all
Speaker 1: the questions in insider inbox, and one that's been very
Speaker 1: frequent throughout the spring and early summer since the Packers
Speaker 1: drafted Marshawn Lloyd, which is after Josh Jacobs was signed.
Speaker 1: After AJ Dillon re signed with that special fifth year deal,
Speaker 1: a lot of fans were kind of trying to write
Speaker 1: off AJ Dillon in a sense and just say, well,
Speaker 1: it looks like he's going to be the odd man out,
Speaker 1: like is he going to be the is he going
Speaker 1: to be the surprise veteran cut that everybody seems to
Speaker 1: wanting to try to pinpoint like well in advance, and
Speaker 1: I don't know how this thing is going to shake out,
Speaker 1: But what I tried to emphasize in answering those questions,
Speaker 1: is that, look, you have to look at this from
Speaker 1: a very realistic perspective. Josh Jacobs is new to Green Bay.
Speaker 1: Marshaon Lloyd is new to Green Bay and this offense.
Speaker 1: Emmanuel Wilson was an undrafted rookie last year who missed
Speaker 1: a ton of time. AJ Dillon is a guy who
Speaker 1: has been in this offense for multiple years. He has
Speaker 1: done the two minute stuff. He's done, He's done the
Speaker 1: hurry up stuff. He he knows all of the pass
Speaker 1: protection calls to protect your franchise back there. Even if
Speaker 1: AJ Dillon is only going to play ten to fifteen
Speaker 1: snaps a game, and I have no idea, I'm just
Speaker 1: pulling a number out of a hat, but even if
Speaker 1: AJ Dillon might only be playing ten to fifteen snaps
Speaker 1: a game, I think he can be a really, really
Speaker 1: valuable piece to what's going on here. And I don't
Speaker 1: think that can be dismissed just because there are some
Speaker 1: younger guys who are showing a lot of promise. And
Speaker 1: certainly you may have both both I'm talking about Lloyd
Speaker 1: and Wilson may have futures in Green Bay. But right now,
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, there's a lot of value in
Speaker 1: having AJ Dillon not only in that running back room,
Speaker 1: but on that field.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and just for anybody out there that wants to
Speaker 2: have this conversation with their friends so you don't sound stupid.
Speaker 2: AJ Dillon's the only one that play special teams right now.
Speaker 2: Out of this group with Patrick Taylor now in San Francisco,
Speaker 2: AJ Dillon is the guy that it works on the
Speaker 2: punt coverage unit, the guy that is back as one
Speaker 2: of the guys while he was, however it looks now
Speaker 2: he was historically a guy that could play in the
Speaker 2: posse back on kickoff returns, as a blocker, as a
Speaker 2: blocker right now, just where it's at. I mean, Emmanuel
Speaker 2: Wilson did, I don't think played special teams last year
Speaker 2: in a regular season game. I could be wrong on that,
Speaker 2: but I'm pretty sure I'm right. Marshawn Lloyd is now
Speaker 2: coming into this thing for the first time, has been
Speaker 2: some things have been flowing about maybe him helping out
Speaker 2: kickoff returns. But AJ Dillon is a is a guy
Speaker 2: that can be a four core player for you in
Speaker 2: that phase two, just the way he's built at two
Speaker 2: hundred and forty five pounds. I mean, AJ Dillon brings
Speaker 2: a lot to this football team, and I understand the
Speaker 2: pressures that go along with playing a skill position and
Speaker 2: how everybody looks at the numbers and they look at
Speaker 2: the touches and they look at the touchdowns and that's
Speaker 2: what they equate to what is a good football player.
Speaker 2: But as Matt Lafleur said, I remember sitting at the
Speaker 2: table with him in Orlando weeks after he was signed
Speaker 2: that AJ was re signed, and he made sure to
Speaker 2: mention that was a pivotal signing for them. He came
Speaker 2: back on a very unique contract, which I think was
Speaker 2: somewhat spurred on by his desire to be here in
Speaker 2: Green Bay, to stay in this community. But all that
Speaker 2: being said, Uh, this is a guy that I think,
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, you want to have
Speaker 2: on your roster, and you want to have him for
Speaker 2: a full season. And if he can truly be able
Speaker 2: to put the injury stuff behind him from last year,
Speaker 2: if he can get the body thing tuned in the
Speaker 2: weight it peers that he has. Yeah, there's still a
Speaker 2: lot out there for him too. At twenty six years old.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you. Well, with that, we're going
Speaker 1: to call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
Speaker 1: When we're back for our next show early next week,
Speaker 1: we'll have another three practices in the books because the
Speaker 1: team is going to practice Friday, Saturday, Sunday before the
Speaker 1: next off day from the field on Monday, So we
Speaker 1: will look forward to that and discuss things at that point.
Speaker 1: But for Wes, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in. Everybody.
Speaker 1: We've got all your coverage of training camp on Packers
Speaker 1: dot com. Check it out and we will see you
Speaker 1: next time.