Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my partner in crime, Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to
Speaker 1: you here from our studios at lambeau Field and Wes.
Speaker 1: It is late May. The time has arrived. OTAs are
Speaker 1: underway for the Green Bay Packers, and not long after
Speaker 1: we are done recording this episode, we will be out
Speaker 1: at the practice field to watch the one practice this
Speaker 1: week we get to watch. There will be a media
Speaker 1: day once a week for the next three weeks during OTAs.
Speaker 1: Today is that day, so we will talk about all
Speaker 1: the happenings of today on our next show. But I
Speaker 1: want to sort of preview this whole window of OTAs
Speaker 1: and what you and I are going to be watching for.
Speaker 1: What do we look for at practice? There will be
Speaker 1: some press conferences, locker room interviews, all that kind of
Speaker 1: stuff going on. I've posted a story on our website
Speaker 1: sort of five things to be looking for, just what's
Speaker 1: on the radar of the media, so to speak, as
Speaker 1: we head into these OTAs. What's something that jumps out
Speaker 1: at you in terms of what your eyeballs will be
Speaker 1: glancing toward at the practice field this afternoon.
Speaker 2: Something to look at. I mean, hey, man, I love
Speaker 2: the draft as much as anybody. I love the free agency,
Speaker 2: but my goodness, it feels good to actually have some
Speaker 2: real practices to cover some actual football, veteran football players
Speaker 2: on the field, Guys that we're going to see for
Speaker 2: the very first time in Packers' uniforms like Josh Jacobs,
Speaker 2: Xavier McKinney. Very excited to see what this twenty twenty
Speaker 2: four team looks like. Now again, you and I will
Speaker 2: always say this, this in a lot of ways is
Speaker 2: sort of the underwear Olympics. It won't be the you know,
Speaker 2: full bore practices, you know, colliding thumping. It's gonna be
Speaker 2: a lot of getting the process down, working on fundamentals
Speaker 2: and then doing some team stuff. But I'll tell you what, Mike,
Speaker 2: My biggest takeaway in two thousand and twenty one, I
Speaker 2: think it was June seventh of twenty twenty twenty one
Speaker 2: or June ninth, was that for me was always the
Speaker 2: Jordan Love coming out party. That was the practice when
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers wasn't here, Jordan Love balled out and we
Speaker 2: started to see that those signs at the time right
Speaker 2: that this guy could be a real superstar in this league. Again,
Speaker 2: making no bold proclamations, but this is where you start
Speaker 2: to see the progress that guys are making. I've seen
Speaker 2: some of the videos, we've some of the photos that
Speaker 2: Evan Siegel has taken. You get a feel for how
Speaker 2: certain guys look, how their bodies look right now. That
Speaker 2: for me is just always seeing who's gonna be primed
Speaker 2: to take a jump, not making any bold predictions, but
Speaker 2: seeing who has put themselves in a situation now with
Speaker 2: two months until training camp to really take advantage of
Speaker 2: what is going to be a wide open opportunity on
Speaker 2: this roster.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's a lot of curiosity certainly, and again,
Speaker 1: there aren't gonna be any jobs one or loss like
Speaker 1: the you know the week one starting lineup where there
Speaker 1: are some open spots. You know, it's not going to
Speaker 1: be decided here in May and June. It's going to
Speaker 1: be training camp, it's going to be the preseason games,
Speaker 1: the padded practices. These are obviously non contact practices, so
Speaker 1: you have to understand all that going in. But when
Speaker 1: you look at Jeff Hafley's new defense, here, everybody is
Speaker 1: going to be wondering, Okay, what is the linebacking corps
Speaker 1: going to look like out there? And what is the
Speaker 1: safety position going to look like? You know, Kay Walker
Speaker 1: is going to be a big part of this defense
Speaker 1: somewhere in the middle at the linebacker level. You would
Speaker 1: also expect Edger and Cooper, a second round draft pick,
Speaker 1: a guy the Packers have a lot of high hopes
Speaker 1: for and everything we heard from the defensive coaches, they
Speaker 1: are very, very excited about this young man. You expect
Speaker 1: him to be involved somewhere. But then you know, the
Speaker 1: questions are when there are three linebackers on the field,
Speaker 1: is Isaiah McDuffie. The third one is Tyron Hopper the
Speaker 1: third one When you look at safety, you mentioned McKinney
Speaker 1: prized free agent acquisition, early free agent signing for the Packers,
Speaker 1: but none of them the veteran safeties from last year
Speaker 1: are back. The only one who's back who played any
Speaker 1: significant amount at safety in this defense last year was
Speaker 1: Anthony Johnson Junior, who was a seventh round rookie last season.
Speaker 1: So next to McKinney, Johnson will be in that competition.
Speaker 1: And then you've got the draft picks Javon Bullard and
Speaker 1: Evan Williams. We won't see catano Oladappo. He's still recovering
Speaker 1: from a foot surgery, so we're expecting potentially to see
Speaker 1: him in training camp, so we won't necessarily see him
Speaker 1: at this point. But those are the guys kind of
Speaker 1: involved in these competitions for the open spots, and I
Speaker 1: guess you know we're going to at least get an
Speaker 1: early look at kind of how the depth chart is
Speaker 1: shaping up right now, where the what the coaches feel
Speaker 1: is the starting point for this defense in OTA. Is
Speaker 1: not to say that things won't change. That's not to
Speaker 1: say that there won't be rotations. We might see something
Speaker 1: today on the practice field in terms of how the
Speaker 1: defenses aligned and where the depth chart is, and then tomorrow,
Speaker 1: when the media is not there, they might be doing
Speaker 1: something completely different with the personnel that we won't know about.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of how things go during OTAs. But
Speaker 1: those are the kinds of things that we'll have our
Speaker 1: eyes on, specifically on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is a real interesting thing because there
Speaker 2: was a time where I always use the example. I'm
Speaker 2: sure I've used it on unscripted before when we talk
Speaker 2: about OTAs of twenty thirteen where they drafted Eddie Lacy,
Speaker 2: but it was still Alex Green was the one taking
Speaker 2: number one reps at running back. Sure with the makeup
Speaker 2: of this roster, though, and I saw the stats somewhere
Speaker 2: and I wish I knew how I could attribute to
Speaker 2: Maybe it was Packers wire, but I'm not sure. Seventy
Speaker 2: four of the ninety guys on the Packers roster right
Speaker 2: now are on first time controllable contracts otherwise known as
Speaker 2: rookie contracts, though they aren't all rookies, but that aspect
Speaker 2: of it makes it so that with that, when you
Speaker 2: don't have a ton of veterans that are kind of
Speaker 2: locked in for a specific spot, you are going to
Speaker 2: probably see Edrinko we're out there, much like in twenty
Speaker 2: nineteen when you think about how we saw Darnell Savage
Speaker 2: out there from day one, right next to Adrian Amos.
Speaker 1: That's what I was going to say. I think in
Speaker 1: some ways, you know, the way the Packers handle things
Speaker 1: with the draft picks at this stage of the season.
Speaker 1: I think in the Brian Gudukunst era, it's a little
Speaker 1: different from the Ted Thompson era because we've seen since
Speaker 1: Gudak Kunst has taken over as GM, Darnell Savage stepping
Speaker 1: in day one, Josh Myers at center stepping in as
Speaker 1: a starter day one. We're expecting to see that from
Speaker 1: a guy like Cooper, maybe a guy like Bullard at safety.
Speaker 1: But you mentioned in the Ted Thompson era there was
Speaker 1: a little bit of hesitancy there was. It was more
Speaker 1: of you know, okay, let the veterans still lead from
Speaker 1: the front, and then you know, see what happens as
Speaker 1: time goes on. So I think that's been a little
Speaker 1: bit different approach in recent years compared to say, a
Speaker 1: decade ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and not to say that what work then doesn't
Speaker 2: work now or vice. But I think the interesting aspect
Speaker 2: of that is when you have somebody like Edgrin Cooper,
Speaker 2: who by all intensive purposes, when you draft somebody in
Speaker 2: the second round like they did when you draft Javon Bullard,
Speaker 2: not saying they're gonna be Week one starters, but when
Speaker 2: you take guys that high and you invest those type
Speaker 2: of resources into the first off ball linebacker taken, the
Speaker 2: second safety taken, you are expecting a return sooner rather
Speaker 2: than later. I think everybody's expectation follows that.
Speaker 1: So absolutely, it's a.
Speaker 2: Huge thing for you know, Edgern Cooper to be able
Speaker 2: to take some snaps with kuay Walker, much like it
Speaker 2: was a big deal for two years ago kuay Walker
Speaker 2: to work alongside DeAndre Campbell right out of the gate.
Speaker 2: Those reps is you're starting to build that chemistry, you're
Speaker 2: starting to build that rapport with one another. You can't
Speaker 2: take those for granted because this thing. Maybe a lot
Speaker 2: of fans might know this at this point, but in general,
Speaker 2: those who do not. The OTAs and then the final
Speaker 2: mini camp, that's your first round of installs. That's the
Speaker 2: first rough draft of your offense and your defense. Then
Speaker 2: they'll start recycling it and going back through things once
Speaker 2: you get to training camp. So for Edgerrin Cooper, there's
Speaker 2: a lot of value in working alongside Quay Walker or
Speaker 2: Isaiah McDuffie. There's a lot of value for whether it's
Speaker 2: Javon Bullard, whether it's Evan Williams, whoever it is, being
Speaker 2: on the back end with Zavier McKinney, a veteran of
Speaker 2: four years who's also learning this defense. Yeah, it's exciting.
Speaker 2: And I think when you look at the reps and
Speaker 2: the mental stuff and understanding exactly what your assignments are
Speaker 2: going to be, being alongside those veterans can go a
Speaker 2: long way for these rookies right out of the gate.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And I think on the offensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: the two things that are going to be watched the
Speaker 1: most by us by the media that are out there
Speaker 1: Josh Jacobs taking over as the number one running back
Speaker 1: in this offenses. And as I wrote in the story
Speaker 1: that's on our website, I think the curious thing with
Speaker 1: Jacobs is that we heard both from Jacobs and from
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur in the off season this idea of Jacob's
Speaker 1: being used a little bit more as a pass catcher
Speaker 1: out of the backfield than he was with the Raiders.
Speaker 1: And when you look at the numbers in his five
Speaker 1: seasons with the Raiders, Jacobs averaged about forty receptions per season.
Speaker 1: You look at in the you know, the Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: era here in Matt Lafleur's offense, Jones's single season high
Speaker 1: four receptions with Matt Lafleur is fifty nine. So you
Speaker 1: just wonder how this how this is going to evolve
Speaker 1: and how Josh Jacobs is going to be used. We're
Speaker 1: not going to really get much of an idea as
Speaker 1: far as you know the running game goes, because I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, Josh jacobs game is breaking tackles and things.
Speaker 1: You know that that we're not going to see that
Speaker 1: out there on the practice field, right, So that's all
Speaker 1: really going to have to wait, quite honestly, probably until
Speaker 1: the regular season before we really get a sense of
Speaker 1: how he's going to look in the running game in
Speaker 1: this offense. But his usage in the passing game is
Speaker 1: something to be watched very closely.
Speaker 2: I like the trend that this happened with this league too,
Speaker 2: because I remember, and you were a little bit older
Speaker 2: than me, a little bit more mature than I was.
Speaker 2: I was watching the two thousand and three, two thousand
Speaker 2: and two, two thousand and four Packers as as basically
Speaker 2: a kid. I was a teenager at that time, and
Speaker 2: I remember when Green had all those catches for the
Speaker 2: Packers back in that twenty years ago. I remember thinking
Speaker 2: to myself, I'm like, man, what's wrong with this offense
Speaker 2: that they have to continually keep going to the running back?
Speaker 2: There always was that sort of faux paw. It felt
Speaker 2: like that if you're using your running back as a receiver,
Speaker 2: that's probably an indictment on your receivers. But what's been cool,
Speaker 2: and I don't know if it's David Johnson recently retired,
Speaker 2: or just some of the ways that the league has
Speaker 2: gone Austin Eckler where I feel like it's really the
Speaker 2: Pandora's box now. If you can get the ball in
Speaker 2: your running back's hands, and for the running backs, I
Speaker 2: think that's the future of the position now, because if
Speaker 2: you want to last in this league, you have to
Speaker 2: be a pass catcher. And I think Josh Jacobs is
Speaker 2: really excited about that. I feel like Matt Lafleur, one
Speaker 2: of the things that really expanded Aaron Jones's ability and
Speaker 2: what made him a Pro Bowl running back instead of
Speaker 2: just a really intriguing youngster, was how he developed as
Speaker 2: a three down back, and that included his pass catching ability.
Speaker 2: So I'm excited to see that aspect of Jacob's games.
Speaker 2: There were signs of it in Oakland and in Las Vegas,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't a big It was almost more like
Speaker 2: it was a an auxiliary part of their offense. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Whereas for Green Bay, as we've seen with Aaron Jones
Speaker 2: and to some extent aj Dillon. I mean, that's a
Speaker 2: core principle there that that Green Bay is going to
Speaker 2: take advantage of it if they can well.
Speaker 1: And I think across the league, when you talk about
Speaker 1: using running backs out of the backfield in the passing game,
Speaker 1: it's it's a way to keep that, you know, to
Speaker 1: boost the completion percentage of the quarterback. And I don't
Speaker 1: mean that just from a statistical standpoint, but it's about
Speaker 1: the efficiency of the offense. You know, you go back
Speaker 1: twenty years ago, if a quarterback completed sixty percent of
Speaker 1: his passes, I was considered pretty good. Well, now the
Speaker 1: benchmark is more like sixty six sixty seven, pushing seventy
Speaker 1: percent because of the way the game is played now,
Speaker 1: and part of that is using running backs out of
Speaker 1: the backfield in the passing game where the completion percentage
Speaker 1: is higher. You try to get the guy the ball
Speaker 1: in space and you know, let him go to work.
Speaker 1: And it's a big part of a lot of teams
Speaker 1: offenses across the league. So definitely curious to see what
Speaker 1: the Packers end up doing with Jacobs there as I
Speaker 1: shifted gears a while ago to the offense, I said
Speaker 1: two things. I think the second thing that we're all
Speaker 1: going to be watching is where is first round pick
Speaker 1: Jordan Morgan lining up. The word was he will be
Speaker 1: starting things at left tackle, but there's all the all
Speaker 1: the talk about how he's certainly capable of playing guard,
Speaker 1: and we may not really find out that much about
Speaker 1: where things are with this during OTAs, but we're certainly
Speaker 1: going to be watching as to where he's lining up
Speaker 1: and where he currently is on the depth chart at
Speaker 1: this stage of the off season.
Speaker 2: There is one thing that I'm going to be able
Speaker 2: to draw from when you and I walk out there
Speaker 2: and I look at the team periods, I look at
Speaker 2: just some of the offensive line drills. The number one
Speaker 2: thing I'm gonna look at is whoever the starting five is,
Speaker 2: that first five or whatever you want to call him.
Speaker 2: That says a lot about those five players. Yep, Because
Speaker 2: this year, more than any other, and last year was
Speaker 2: tight too, there was a reason why the Packers didn't
Speaker 2: draft any offensive lineman. They had a bevy of them,
Speaker 2: but this year, with the draft capital that they invested
Speaker 2: in the position, the amount of veterans that they had
Speaker 2: coming back. If you're in that five, I think that
Speaker 2: says a lot about you as a player. You know,
Speaker 2: Elton Jenkins will be there, you know, obviously, Josh Myers
Speaker 2: and Zach tom The list goes on and on in
Speaker 2: terms of who the core guys are gonna be, probably
Speaker 2: for this offensive line. But Rashid Walker put together such
Speaker 2: a solid resume last year. I thought Sean Ryan, what
Speaker 2: he did to rebuild his body, the dedication he showed
Speaker 2: to learning that guard position, it speaks volumes that he
Speaker 2: was able to work himself into the lineup by the
Speaker 2: end of last season and show, hey, I'm a third
Speaker 2: round pick. There's a lot of potential here. I got
Speaker 2: something for people to look at. I'm excited about that
Speaker 2: aspect of it. To get back to your original question,
Speaker 2: Jordan Morgan, this is where it all gets put to
Speaker 2: the test, right Because he talked about being a left tackle.
Speaker 2: We all wrote about him being a left tackle. Where
Speaker 2: do you put him from day one? Yeah, the Packers
Speaker 2: haven't been in this position in a long time. You
Speaker 2: were here in twenty ten covering the Packers. I was not.
Speaker 2: I couldn't tell you how they allotted Brian Blaga what
Speaker 2: his plan was, or Derek Sharrod for that matter. A
Speaker 2: lot of times in my era of covering Packers football,
Speaker 2: it's been all right, well, we really like David, We're
Speaker 2: going to give him a opportunity to compete at right
Speaker 2: tackle with Don Barclay. And then something happens with Brian Bloga,
Speaker 2: and then Bachtiari's at left tackle. Same thing with j C. Tretder.
Speaker 2: He was going to be the center, then he gets hurt.
Speaker 2: Next thing, you know, Corey Lindsley's the guy. Yeah, there's
Speaker 2: so many different butterfly effects to this thing, but overall,
Speaker 2: I think the exciting thing for Packer fans is Packers
Speaker 2: had a pressing need on the offensive line given all
Speaker 2: of their departures this offseason, and I feel like they
Speaker 2: did a good job in helping restock those reserves.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's it's a completely different as far as
Speaker 1: going back to the last time the Packers drafted an
Speaker 1: offensive lineman in the first round, and you're talking about
Speaker 1: Derek Shrod twenty eleven, Brian Beloga in twenty ten. It's
Speaker 1: a completely different situation right now because when you go
Speaker 1: back to twenty ten, you had and Brian belogas brought
Speaker 1: in as a first round draft pick from Iowa. You
Speaker 1: had two established veteran tackles in Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher. Now,
Speaker 1: as that season went along, Mark Tauscher ended up blowing
Speaker 1: out his knee. Brian Beloga takes over and up being
Speaker 1: the starting right tackle in the Super Bowl. And at
Speaker 1: the time he was the youngest player in terms of years,
Speaker 1: months and days on you know, on the calendar to
Speaker 1: start the to start a Super Bowl, So you never
Speaker 1: know how these things are going to uh are going
Speaker 1: to sort themselves out, of course, and UH and the
Speaker 1: other thing that quite frankly, right now, we don't know
Speaker 1: how it's going to sort itself out, and we don't
Speaker 1: know how much of a look we're going to get
Speaker 1: at this over the next few weeks with just being
Speaker 1: out at the practice field one day a week. But
Speaker 1: the Packers have three kickers here, Wes yea. There's there's
Speaker 1: Andres Carlson, the incumbent six around draft pick from Auburn
Speaker 1: last year. We all know about his his ups and downs.
Speaker 1: There's the veteran Greg Joseph, who has been kicking for
Speaker 1: the last few years with the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings
Speaker 1: decided to move on, the Packers swooped in and signed
Speaker 1: him and figured, this is this is a this is
Speaker 1: an established veteran player that we can have compete with Carlson.
Speaker 1: And then there's an undrafted prospect in Jack put Lesni
Speaker 1: who is also here. I don't know if if the
Speaker 1: Packers are going to use OTAs and the mini camp
Speaker 1: in June to whittle this kicker competition from three down
Speaker 1: to two. I suspect that that might be how this goes,
Speaker 1: because I've never been around a team that had three
Speaker 1: kickers in training camp before. But we've also only been
Speaker 1: around rich Pasacia for a couple of years, so who
Speaker 1: knows how exactly he wants to go about this, and
Speaker 1: this is going to be his show to run in
Speaker 1: terms of the kicking competition. But if we get a
Speaker 1: chance to see these guys kick live, you know, have
Speaker 1: a field goal period while the bedia is out there,
Speaker 1: we'll certainly have our eyes peel.
Speaker 2: Well, if you think about it, Mike, this is I
Speaker 2: actually think it's a pretty savvy move on the Packers part,
Speaker 2: because if there's any position that you can actually I mean,
Speaker 2: I guess you could do a punter two. But if
Speaker 2: there's any position where you could legitimately have a competition
Speaker 2: in OTA's in mini camp, it is kickers. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean the Packers run their special teams periods. We
Speaker 2: may see it today, we may not. We'll see how
Speaker 2: they do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah they But yeah, the open as it is. As
Speaker 1: I was talking about before, with what we might see
Speaker 1: or might not see, there will definitely be field goal
Speaker 1: kicking periods as part of this competition during OTAs. The
Speaker 1: question is will they have those on the day that
Speaker 1: the days that the media is out there or were
Speaker 1: those beyond the days that are where the practices are closed.
Speaker 1: We don't control that, and and we just have to
Speaker 1: rely on what we get a chance to see.
Speaker 2: But I think it will be interesting to see. You know,
Speaker 2: Greg Joseph, as Rich Pisacci talked about, this is actually
Speaker 2: really I mean, he's he's you know, from South Africa,
Speaker 2: Johannesburg kicked it, you know, in Florida, grew up there.
Speaker 2: But he's been a minute since he's been playing in outdoors.
Speaker 2: He's been in domes for for a while now. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you look, I mean obviously had that time in Cleveland,
Speaker 2: I think probably five or six years ago, but then
Speaker 2: you look at it from you know, andres Carlson's perspective.
Speaker 2: Bisacci talked about him coming back stronger and seeing where
Speaker 2: he's at now in the second year. And I commend
Speaker 2: the Packers for given Jack pazzle Lesni pud Lesnie p
Speaker 2: Lesnie boy, the guy with the hod quits. Last thing.
Speaker 2: He really needs to get the pronunciations down, doesn'ty. I
Speaker 2: give the Packers credit for letting him have an opportunity
Speaker 2: because he was signed as a street free agent at
Speaker 2: the end of the season, we're seen as the initial competition.
Speaker 2: And then if I remember correctly, well maybe Dillard would
Speaker 2: qualify as an unrestricted free agent. I can't remember if
Speaker 2: he was in that window or not, but I'll put
Speaker 2: to that point, Joseph was really the only UDFA that
Speaker 2: they had signed or UFA that they signed. So giving
Speaker 2: Jack still an opportunity to be part of this thing
Speaker 2: and show what he can do. A lot of times, Mike,
Speaker 2: we saw it with Ryan Longwell, you know, we see
Speaker 2: it with these kickers over time and time again. They
Speaker 2: just need that opportunity. Justin Tucker was an undrafted free
Speaker 2: agent twelve years ago, believe it or not. So, I mean,
Speaker 2: isn't that guys just need a shot?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you know there's always the discussion about,
Speaker 1: well do you spend a draft pick on a kicker?
Speaker 1: And you know, in every team, situation is different and
Speaker 1: it can depend on how many draft picks you have
Speaker 1: in a given year and all that. But the guy
Speaker 1: who is who is currently the best kicker in the
Speaker 1: NFL and is probably going to go down as the
Speaker 1: greatest one of all time, wasn't even drafted and he's
Speaker 1: still going strong. That's the way this thing door and
Speaker 1: an outdoor, an outdoor kicker who you know, though it's
Speaker 1: not Green Bay or Chicago, but he certainly played in
Speaker 1: his share of some tough weather game and I.
Speaker 2: Would consider I would I would offer an evidence. I
Speaker 2: think he's proven he has the strongest leg in NFL history,
Speaker 2: at least with the degree actors.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what he's done and the way he's reinvented the position.
Speaker 2: I mean, like when they did that seventy yarder, they
Speaker 2: tried where he did like the hop, hop, skip and
Speaker 2: a jump to try to kick it.
Speaker 1: Well, he made the one. Uh, he made the one
Speaker 1: sixty six yard or with that little hop you know
Speaker 1: in the timing of the run up where I think
Speaker 1: that was when he hit the I think that was
Speaker 1: when he hit the crossbar in Detroit and it went
Speaker 1: over like for sixty six yards for a game winneror
Speaker 1: something like that.
Speaker 2: Anyway, But I mean, that's but that's the weird thing
Speaker 2: about this sport is you have to the only way
Speaker 2: to know is to give these guys opportunities. There's a
Speaker 2: reason why the guys that end up playing fifteen years
Speaker 2: at long snapper end up coming from Stony Brook or
Speaker 2: Delaware or Old Dominion or something like that. It's just
Speaker 2: it's a difficult position to be able to isolate on
Speaker 2: and to mention that too. That's one other thing. Rick
Speaker 2: Livado's back, excuse me, not Rick Lovado. Matt Orzick is back.
Speaker 2: Ricklevado is still in Philadelphia. Yeah, matt Orzick is back.
Speaker 2: And then they added you know, Peter Bowden from Wisconsin
Speaker 2: into that competition as well.
Speaker 1: So yeah, a lot of special stuff. Right. Another another
Speaker 1: specialist competition that'll be going on, and that's one that
Speaker 1: you could see going certainly going all the way through
Speaker 1: training season.
Speaker 2: It went last year, I believe would be our hatcher
Speaker 2: pretty much down with the stretch.
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Speaker 1: want to give my partner and crime here a shout
Speaker 1: out for another great story on packers dot com. If
Speaker 1: you haven't checked it out yet, please do so. Wes
Speaker 1: wrote a really interesting, compelling piece on Packer's third round
Speaker 1: draft pick, Marshawn Lloyd, the running back out of usc
Speaker 1: You talk to some of his old high school coaches,
Speaker 1: you talk to his mom. The interview with his mom
Speaker 1: sounds like based on the comments that were in the story,
Speaker 1: the interview with his mom sounded pretty special. And yeah,
Speaker 1: if you want to, you want to learn about everything
Speaker 1: that Marshawn Lloyd has gone through to get to this
Speaker 1: point and to h and to try to make the
Speaker 1: most of his opportunity as a as a professional football player.
Speaker 1: Be sure to check out Wes's story. It's on the website.
Speaker 2: Now. The thing that's cool about this job, I wish
Speaker 2: we could do it more, but it's just there's too
Speaker 2: many players and not enough time. But it is neat
Speaker 2: when you can dig your teeth into a player, a
Speaker 2: person's back story. Yeah, and in understanding, Okay, you see
Speaker 2: the person in the uniform, you see him with the
Speaker 2: helmet on, you see him in their locker. What led
Speaker 2: to them getting to this point? And when you look
Speaker 2: at Marshawn Lloyd born in two thousand and one, Michael,
Speaker 2: this thing is you and I were getting up there now.
Speaker 2: But you know his mom, Nashan, I mean, who was
Speaker 2: incredible for the interview, provided so much incredible anecdotes in
Speaker 2: history and photos and did everything to bring life to
Speaker 2: the story. You know, she drove, she made the decision.
Speaker 2: You know they where they were in Middletown, Delaware. They
Speaker 2: didn't have a lot of exposure. They were on travel teams.
Speaker 2: They understood how that game works out there. You got
Speaker 2: to find a high school that's going to get you
Speaker 2: some looks. So what she did is she enrolled them
Speaker 2: at Damatha down in Hyattsville, Maryland. So every morning two
Speaker 2: hours they would drive down to Maryland and then drive
Speaker 2: two hours back at night so that he could have
Speaker 2: that opportunity to go to school there play for their
Speaker 2: football team. Ended up becoming a five star recruit. There's
Speaker 2: so much more that goes into his story, the bonds
Speaker 2: that he forged. I mean, over time, you know, he
Speaker 2: was able to At times he would stay with his coaches,
Speaker 2: he would stay with his friends, you know, things to
Speaker 2: help her schedule out a little bit. But at all times,
Speaker 2: the thing I thought was the coolest was she made
Speaker 2: that decision. He wanted to stay home, he wanted to
Speaker 2: play with his friends. She made a decision, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: do this for you because this is what's gonna be
Speaker 2: the best interest in your future. When the time comes
Speaker 2: and you're a big if you get to a college situation,
Speaker 2: you can make that decision. She let him make that decision.
Speaker 2: There was an acl injury, there was a transfer involved
Speaker 2: in that, but ultimately a little over a few weeks
Speaker 2: ago last month, that entire family in Delaware altogether heard
Speaker 2: his name get called by the Green Bay Packers an emotional,
Speaker 2: emotional time for them, and now he has an opportunity
Speaker 2: here in Green Bay that he's been honestly working his
Speaker 2: entire life for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's a brief it's a brief snapshot too
Speaker 1: in in sort of how things increasingly work these days
Speaker 1: with regard to you know, young kids and what you
Speaker 1: can be talking about football or basketball or other sports.
Speaker 1: But you and I both covered at the Green Bay
Speaker 1: Presca's that you and I both covered high school sports
Speaker 1: for a number years. I did it at the Wallsaw
Speaker 1: Daily Herald as well. And the way things work in
Speaker 1: high school sports these days is just so different. You mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know, his mom enrolling him at Damatha big you know,
Speaker 1: powerhouse football program, well known and everything. Well, he had
Speaker 1: to he had to catch some eyes at Damatha to
Speaker 1: get that opportunity. It's not like his mom could just
Speaker 1: walk up to the football coach and say, hey, I
Speaker 1: got a I got a kid here. He's a pretty
Speaker 1: good running back. I think he should be on your team.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, these these kids have to have to,
Speaker 1: you know, show something to get the opportunities they're looking for.
Speaker 1: When they're twelve and thirteen years old in order to
Speaker 1: you know, get to the places that you know, where
Speaker 1: they're going to have the larger exposure. Now, it doesn't
Speaker 1: work that way for everybody. We've seen plenty of plenty
Speaker 1: of high school athletes in the state of Wisconsin. I
Speaker 1: mean one from from nearby Kiwani here, Tanner Bordolini. You
Speaker 1: know Kiwani High School, big star, went, played for the Badgers,
Speaker 1: got drafted, you know, the whole thing. It still works
Speaker 1: that way as well, but increasingly you hear more and
Speaker 1: more stories about guys like Marshawn Lloyd and what they
Speaker 1: did to to sort of, you know, come out of
Speaker 1: the shadows and come out of the woodwork, so to speak,
Speaker 1: to get some attention because otherwise they didn't really know
Speaker 1: if anybody was ever going to find them or be
Speaker 1: able to look at them. And and credit to Marshawn's
Speaker 1: mom for having the dedication that she had, I mean
Speaker 1: essentially a four hour commute, two hours each way every
Speaker 1: day to get her son to that high school and
Speaker 1: to be involved in that program, to get the exposure,
Speaker 1: and ultimately he chooses South Carolina, finishes his college career
Speaker 1: at USC again. Another part of the changing landscape of
Speaker 1: that level of athletics these days. But but yeah, it
Speaker 1: was just it was really it was really interesting just
Speaker 1: to just to read about the whole journey kind of through,
Speaker 1: like you know, from the junior high years and then
Speaker 1: all the way through and and and as you said,
Speaker 1: it's not like he had some smooth road in college either.
Speaker 1: He tore in ACL. He's you know, trying to work
Speaker 1: his way back and get playing time, and then he's
Speaker 1: looking for maybe a better opportunity than South Carolina. He goes,
Speaker 1: you know, goes to USC and then lo and behold,
Speaker 1: he's on the same team as a childhood friend and
Speaker 1: competitor in Caleb Williams, who ends up the number one
Speaker 1: overall picking them.
Speaker 2: And I think one part of the story I tried
Speaker 2: to illustrate too. I mean, it was a minor upset
Speaker 2: that he picked South Carolina. He went to play for
Speaker 2: will must champ at South Carolina. I really liked the coaches.
Speaker 1: Really like, yeah, it was his mom thought it was
Speaker 1: going to be Georgia.
Speaker 2: He had offers to Ohio State, he had offered a Texas,
Speaker 2: he had offers basically everywhere he could. It was the
Speaker 2: pick of the litter. In terms of where he wanted
Speaker 2: to play, but he likes South Carolina and his mom
Speaker 2: let him make that choice. Unfortunately, so he gets hurt.
Speaker 2: In August of twenty twenty, South Carolina ends up only
Speaker 2: having two wins. Will must Champ is fired after seven games,
Speaker 2: and there were some changes there and he was looking
Speaker 2: for that opportunity, not necessarily to be the premiere back.
Speaker 2: You understand, you got to share these roles. In most cases,
Speaker 2: you're not just going to get three hundred touches, and
Speaker 2: I think in a lot of time now people don't
Speaker 2: even want that many touches because of what it can
Speaker 2: put on a young running back's body. But he found
Speaker 2: an opportunity with USC and credit to Nashwan as well
Speaker 2: as mom, she signs off on it. She takes the
Speaker 2: five and a half hour across country flights, goes to
Speaker 2: every single game that he plays with the Trojans, gets
Speaker 2: her schedule to work. Zoom is a remarkable tool with
Speaker 2: the field that she's in to be able to still
Speaker 2: do her job. He has two extremely loving older sisters
Speaker 2: that understood what had to be done. They both went
Speaker 2: to school locally. One of them, Devinay, is actually two
Speaker 2: years older than him. She was going to school right
Speaker 2: in town while he was going to school in Maryland.
Speaker 2: She was two years older. Like, everybody had to make
Speaker 2: a sacrifice. And that's why I kind of when I
Speaker 2: pubbed the story the first time, I think we're gonna
Speaker 2: be doing more of it on Wednesday. The quote I
Speaker 2: use from Nashan was, Marshawn played the games, and everybody
Speaker 2: understood Marshan played the games, but everybody made sacrifices for
Speaker 2: him to get there. And if I can just close
Speaker 2: with this really quickly, his nephew, his sister Shenise's son,
Speaker 2: come On, is like his biggest fan. He's six years old.
Speaker 2: They bought him a little Packers hat right after he
Speaker 2: got drafted. He's an Eagles fan Philadelphia. They're all were
Speaker 2: away from Philadelphia or whatever. He's an Eagles fan. Okay,
Speaker 2: still likes Eagles, but now he's a Packers fan because
Speaker 2: that's where his uncle is playing. And he wears that
Speaker 2: thing everywhere. Doesn't matter what the wardrobe is, he can
Speaker 2: be wearing blue, orange whatever. He has that green Packers
Speaker 2: hat on because it means that much to him and
Speaker 2: he looks up to his uncle that much. So it's
Speaker 2: a cool deal man, and I hope it works out
Speaker 2: for him. And certainly when you listen to Daniel Jeremiah,
Speaker 2: the hype that is behind him, the opportunity that people
Speaker 2: feel like he has in Green Bay, especially working with
Speaker 2: Josh Jacobs and AJ Dillon, whom he's already kind of
Speaker 2: formed a friendship with. I think it's gonna be a
Speaker 2: really good opportunity for him to not only realize a dream,
Speaker 2: but now fulfill his true potential. Yeah.
Speaker 1: An intriguing young man and one that we're excited to
Speaker 1: see just where his pro career goes from here and
Speaker 1: now that he's now that he's here, and he certainly
Speaker 1: has an opportunity. Yes, the Packers signed a new number
Speaker 1: one running, but after that, there are a lot of
Speaker 1: things to sort out here, and I think opportunity is
Speaker 1: available for Marshawn Lloyd.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And you think it seems like yesterday, Man, it's
Speaker 2: seven years ago now. But Aaron Jones comes in and
Speaker 2: I will tell that story one hundred times. He's a
Speaker 2: healthy scratch in week one, it's not one of the
Speaker 2: three active for game day, and then he ends up
Speaker 2: being the third all time rusher in team history. You
Speaker 2: never know when you're gonna need a running back. The
Speaker 2: Packers found somebody I think that compliments Jacobs and dealing
Speaker 2: really well. And now you hope, like Brian Goodcunz always
Speaker 2: talks about, you build that competition. You hope that grows
Speaker 2: the room.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Well with that, we'll call it a rap
Speaker 1: on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow
Speaker 1: all of our coverage of OTAs this week. We'll have
Speaker 1: it all for you on packers dot com and we'll
Speaker 1: discuss our observations. What we see, what we hear from
Speaker 1: Tuesday's practice will be on Thursday's show. So for Wes,
Speaker 1: I am Mike, thank you for tuning in. Everybody, We
Speaker 1: will see you next time.