Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spoffer, joined as always
Speaker 1: by my trusted colleague West and Hodkitz, who actually has
Speaker 1: Vince Lombardi behind him just like I do. As we
Speaker 1: come to you from different locations here at Lanmbelfield and Wes.
Speaker 1: We are told, and we've been being allowed to say
Speaker 1: this on the show, that this is the last zoom
Speaker 1: episode of Unscripted. We will be back in the studio
Speaker 1: with new cameras and a whole new setup and everything
Speaker 1: for our next show. But for now here we are.
Speaker 1: But yeah, Vince is in your background as well as mine.
Speaker 1: That's actually kind of cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is. And the Lombardi Show you can
Speaker 2: call this one. No, I mean, the thing about it is,
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously we're in a big transition right now
Speaker 2: with our control room, and as much as I want
Speaker 2: to be back in your physical presence and be able
Speaker 2: to work off of each other and have that real
Speaker 2: inner per dialogue, this past like four or five months
Speaker 2: kind of brought me back to COVID a little bit.
Speaker 2: When I'm sitting in my attic and you're sitting in
Speaker 2: your living room or your office, whatever it was, and
Speaker 2: kind of just making this whole thing work. But you know,
Speaker 2: the beautiful thing about.
Speaker 1: It, we figure it out as we go, right.
Speaker 2: The beautiful thing about is we have some incredible microphones.
Speaker 2: So for the people that actually just listen to this
Speaker 2: as a podcast probably have never actually seen anything different.
Speaker 2: But I certainly am looking forward to being back and
Speaker 2: doing these things up close and personal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, for this episode we posted, we recorded and
Speaker 1: posted a little bit early because we needed to get
Speaker 1: this done prior to all of the news that is
Speaker 1: going to happen on Tuesday, Tuesday afternoon with regard to
Speaker 1: the roster reductions, and we will get to some thoughts
Speaker 1: outlining that in a minute, but first to recap the
Speaker 1: Packers pre season finale against the Seattle Seahawks wes the
Speaker 1: final tune up for the starters, and of course, in
Speaker 1: that regard, most of the attention all month long has
Speaker 1: been on Jordan Love and the offense. That's where so
Speaker 1: much youth on the Green Bay Packers resides. And for
Speaker 1: the third straight game, Jordan Love and the number one
Speaker 1: offense produced a touchdown in their brief cameo, and yeah,
Speaker 1: some things could have gone a little bit better, a
Speaker 1: little bit smoother. But to score a touchdown in each
Speaker 1: of the three preseason games with your new starting quarterback,
Speaker 1: that's not a bad way to go into the regular season.
Speaker 2: And to end, you know, and all those games feeling
Speaker 2: pretty good about yourself. I mean, it went from Cincinnati
Speaker 2: to New England to you know, that finale against the
Speaker 2: the Seahawks, you know, all three times I think it
Speaker 2: was like, oh, the offense got better today. I felt like,
Speaker 2: you know, one of the arguments I made for playing
Speaker 2: love and the starters in these games was the ability
Speaker 2: to maximize the reps afforded to you during training camp,
Speaker 2: and we said from day one, Mike, the Packers needed
Speaker 2: every single one of them they can get, whether it's
Speaker 2: the public practices, the private practices, any of them. This
Speaker 2: is one of the big things that you have to
Speaker 2: go about doing. So I really look at it, as
Speaker 2: you know, fifteen plays, eighty yards, talking to Christian Watson
Speaker 2: about it afterwards, it was all the things that happened
Speaker 2: on that series that make me feel really confident about
Speaker 2: where the Packers are heading. Offensively, it's vanilla defenses, Mike,
Speaker 2: But as we talk about, if you don't move the
Speaker 2: ball against vanilla defenses. That's also a cause for concern.
Speaker 2: The Packers were able to do that. They did it
Speaker 2: with a left tackle and Rashid Walker, who had played
Speaker 2: four special team snaps a year earlier. Now he's blocking
Speaker 2: the blind side of Jordan Love. Well, David Baktiari sits
Speaker 2: out of the preseason game. You did it with Patrick
Speaker 2: Taylor in Emmanuel Wilson cycling in the background. You did
Speaker 2: it with Malik Heath, an undrafted free agent, catching a
Speaker 2: big slant route for fifteen yards. Oh and then, by
Speaker 2: the way, when it came time for paydert sixty yard
Speaker 2: touchdown to Christian Watson. And as Watson told us afterwards,
Speaker 2: that's a one on one play that he expects to
Speaker 2: make and the Packers hope to continue making this season.
Speaker 2: I thought, for Jordan Love's final audition here before we
Speaker 2: get in regular season, it was an absolutely outstanding performance.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think the Packers offense feels pretty
Speaker 1: good about itself heading into the regular season. Obviously, they
Speaker 1: know they didn't necessarily face everybody's number ones on the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball. Nobody's you know, nobody's saying
Speaker 1: they've got this all figured out or anything like that.
Speaker 1: They got the reps they needed, they put points on
Speaker 1: the board on a fairly regular basis. They started to
Speaker 1: smooth smooth some things out, and now things will shift
Speaker 1: into the whole game planning phase. This isn't you know,
Speaker 1: it's not just practicing the playbook anymore. It's going to
Speaker 1: be starting to game plan for the Chicago Bears in
Speaker 1: Week one. But in your last comment you mentioned two
Speaker 1: players that I think are worth talking about here within
Speaker 1: the context of guys who made a you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's a it's a cliche meteoric rise, but I'll say
Speaker 1: it anyway, A rise of that type up the depth
Speaker 1: chart in this training camp and preseason. And I'm talking
Speaker 1: about Rashid Walker on the offensive line and maliek Heath
Speaker 1: in the receiving corps. Rashid Walker, as you mentioned, a
Speaker 1: seventh round pick a year ago, took in some senses,
Speaker 1: took a red shirt year as a rookie here in
Speaker 1: Green Bay, and now by the end of his second
Speaker 1: training camp he is the number two left tackle. He
Speaker 1: was the guy filling in the back half of training
Speaker 1: camp for David Baktiari when he was not lined up
Speaker 1: with the first unit. And then maliek Heath, an undrafted receiver.
Speaker 1: We know this is a young receiving corps. There were
Speaker 1: three draft picks that were brought in, but by the
Speaker 1: end of training camp in the final preseason game, Malik
Speaker 1: Heath is out there running with the ones, catching passes
Speaker 1: from Jordan love In in that final preseason game. Those
Speaker 1: are two guys that at the beginning of training camp
Speaker 1: we wouldn't have said that we're gonna be, you know,
Speaker 1: spending a whole lot of time talking about them, but
Speaker 1: their rise individually up the depth chart at their respective
Speaker 1: positions very impressive.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and it's starting off with Walker. I asked, you know,
Speaker 2: Sean Clifford after the game on Saturday. You know Clifford
Speaker 2: that was his left tackle at Penn State. Yeah, for
Speaker 2: I believe two years. And you know he even said
Speaker 2: he's like, you watch his film from a year ago
Speaker 2: to watching it now, not even just looking at the
Speaker 2: Penn State stuff, just in Green Bay, just seeing the
Speaker 2: quantum leap that Walker made and the story I keep
Speaker 2: telling people, Mike, if you go back to the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one NFL Draft and you have those immediate like, hey,
Speaker 2: what you know, way too early predictions for the draft
Speaker 2: for the following year. There are a lot of pundits
Speaker 2: out there that thought that Rashid Walker was going to
Speaker 2: be a first round pick the next year, and unfortunately,
Speaker 2: some injuries and things happened. He ends up falling to
Speaker 2: the Packers in the seventh and the actual twenty twenty
Speaker 2: two NFL Draft virtually red shirts. It comes back this
Speaker 2: year looking to be at a completely stacked position with
Speaker 2: yosh Naiman coming back on the tender. Certainly you had,
Speaker 2: you know, Zach Tom looking like he's going to start somewhere,
Speaker 2: and here comes Rashid Walker. And not just the fact that, okay,
Speaker 2: he made this big improvement, the fact that the Packers
Speaker 2: trusted him enough to block the blind side of Jordan
Speaker 2: Love in two preseason games in which they're going to
Speaker 2: be under the microscope, wanting to make sure that he
Speaker 2: stays healthy. I think that showed a lot of faith
Speaker 2: in him. And then from a Leak Heath standpoint, now
Speaker 2: again we're gonna post this, We're gonna see how everything
Speaker 2: shakes out. But guys who I thought made a great
Speaker 2: account of themselves as undrafted rookies as college free agents.
Speaker 2: I don't think, really, Milie Heath could have done much
Speaker 2: more to impress this team, and precious coaching staff led
Speaker 2: the Packers with receiving in the preseason and in every
Speaker 2: opportunity he was given, I thought absolutely capitalized on it.
Speaker 2: For a guy that came in as a backdoor college
Speaker 2: free agent to be starting with the number one offense
Speaker 2: in that preseason finale and even getting those work those
Speaker 2: reps in practice the week leading up to it, I
Speaker 2: think really speaks volumes about what the coaching staff thought
Speaker 2: of him and the camp that Heath really put together
Speaker 2: in Green Bay. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Well, another question I want to throw your way
Speaker 1: with this training camp in pre season now in the books,
Speaker 1: and we talk a lot about the rookies, of course,
Speaker 1: and where they are and how they're going to fit in.
Speaker 1: So the twenty twenty three draft class for the Packers,
Speaker 1: which draft pick impressed you the most over the past month.
Speaker 2: Luke Musgrave, just because I thought the strides he made
Speaker 2: from day one to where it ended, I mean, he's
Speaker 2: going to be asked to fill a really pivotal role
Speaker 2: in this offense now, especially with Tyler Davis out for
Speaker 2: the year. You know, Joside Deguar has a lot of experience,
Speaker 2: but he's used more as an h back. When they
Speaker 2: go to eleven personnel packages in the middle of the field,
Speaker 2: you're going to see number eighty eight quite a bit.
Speaker 2: And I felt like the Packers that you know, they
Speaker 2: made an investment towards the future, the highest they've drafted
Speaker 2: a tight end in twenty three years since Bubba Franks,
Speaker 2: when they took Musgrave at number forty two, and you
Speaker 2: saw the speed, you saw the length, you saw the legs,
Speaker 2: you saw all the things that fit with him. But
Speaker 2: I like the grind that he kind of was on
Speaker 2: throughout camp. He didn't rest on his athleticism. He wants
Speaker 2: to do the nitty gritty parts of the tight end
Speaker 2: position as well. A lot of these guys, I think
Speaker 2: on paper, we had a really good idea of what
Speaker 2: these prospects are going to look like. Loose Luke Musgrave,
Speaker 2: especially coming off of that injury, was the guy that
Speaker 2: I thought impressed me the most in terms of what
Speaker 2: he offered to this football team that went beyond the
Speaker 2: resume and the draft grades that ultimately got him selected
Speaker 2: in the second round.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and my selection with regard to this is actually
Speaker 1: going to be from the same round of the draft,
Speaker 1: the second round, and it's it's Jayden Reid, the wide
Speaker 1: receiver from Michigan State. He from almost the moment he
Speaker 1: began taking reps with the number one offense, he just
Speaker 1: has looked like he fits this offense, that he's he
Speaker 1: is what the Packers have been looking for in that role.
Speaker 1: They tried Amari Rodgers as a draft pick, they tried
Speaker 1: a veteran like Taevon Austin a couple of years back.
Speaker 1: They've tried different guys in that slot role. Obviously Randall
Speaker 1: Cobb was here, and no offense to Randall Cobb. Jayden
Speaker 1: Reid looks like he fits this offense better than Randall
Speaker 1: Cobb ever did. And what he's done as a rookie
Speaker 1: and what appears to be his very extensive knowledge of
Speaker 1: the playbook and the connection that he's developed with Jordan
Speaker 1: Love in a very short time. You said it, Musgrave
Speaker 1: is going to play a big role in this offense.
Speaker 1: I think Jaden Reid is going to play just as
Speaker 1: big a role in this offense as a rookie, and
Speaker 1: Packers are going to They're going to have some growing
Speaker 1: pains on offense because they're going to be counting on
Speaker 1: young guys like this who have so much to learn
Speaker 1: and so much to figure out. And it is such
Speaker 1: a long season. It is such a grind, especially for
Speaker 1: rookies who have gone through all of that pre draft
Speaker 1: stuff and then and then after you get drafted, then
Speaker 1: you get thrown into a rookie mini camp, and then
Speaker 1: you're thrown into OTAs with the veterans and mandatory mini camp.
Speaker 1: You get about a month of a break and then
Speaker 1: you've got to be, you know, in training camp full
Speaker 1: speed ahead, and you're the one. You're the guys who
Speaker 1: are taking a bunch of snaps in the preseason games
Speaker 1: because the coaches want to get you ready because they're
Speaker 1: going to be counting on you. This is going to
Speaker 1: be a long haul for these rookie draft picks that
Speaker 1: the Packers are going to be counting on. But both
Speaker 1: Jade and Reid and Luke Musgrave sure look like they're
Speaker 1: ready to play those big roles.
Speaker 2: And kids, if you ever wanted to have that testimonial
Speaker 2: or that decision of whether or not to play football,
Speaker 2: or what it's going to take to accept the excel
Speaker 2: at the NFL level. Just run back that Mike Spofford's
Speaker 2: speech right there, because I'll tell you what, I don't
Speaker 2: think I would have been tough enough to handle it myself.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have been the other thing I love.
Speaker 2: About Reid too. So many years I said this to
Speaker 2: you during the game on Saturday. But so many years.
Speaker 2: You know, people want to protect looks and all you
Speaker 2: want to get to. But packers are running end a
Speaker 2: rounds of Jayden Reid. They don't care if they put
Speaker 2: it on film, They'll do it in practice whatever. Because
Speaker 2: again I think it's not some trick play. This is
Speaker 2: going to be this young man's role in the offense
Speaker 2: and they want to get those reps down. An explosive
Speaker 2: young player. And as we've talked about time and time again,
Speaker 2: Matt Arvin, our beloved Matt Arvin here in the game
Speaker 2: presentation department. He loves Jayden Reid from the beginning. A
Speaker 2: Michigan State alumnus, always took a liking to this kid
Speaker 2: coming out of you know, that part of the country.
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you what, he lived up to the hype.
Speaker 2: And I just think there's fast twitch, muscle fiber there.
Speaker 2: I love the way he catches the football. I just
Speaker 2: feel like he's going to be a difference maker and
Speaker 2: a needle mover and a guy that's going to help
Speaker 2: you move the chains in might. The more you talk
Speaker 2: about this football team, if they stay healthy, they have
Speaker 2: so many of these guys, right, Musgrave falls in that
Speaker 2: category obviously, as we just talked about with Heath. With Reed,
Speaker 2: you have Heath potentially in that equation. Samori two Rays
Speaker 2: could potentially be coming back. And then, by the way,
Speaker 2: we're not even talking about Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And when you're talking about a ceiling for a football
Speaker 2: team and being on the younger side of things and
Speaker 2: wanting to see where youth can take you, I mean,
Speaker 2: there's so many guys to be excited about on this ride.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you talk about youth potentially putting points on
Speaker 1: the board. You got six round draft pick Onders Carlson,
Speaker 1: a kicker who made a fifty seven yard field goal
Speaker 1: at Lambo. The interesting thing to me, because we've talked
Speaker 1: about a lot of his ups and downs and everything
Speaker 1: that he went through when Anders Carlson was kicking in
Speaker 1: lambeau Field.
Speaker 2: This summer time.
Speaker 1: He was smarting Odden with every exactly I mean, his
Speaker 1: his his downs in terms of the ups and downs
Speaker 1: they took. That took place on the practice field over
Speaker 1: at Nichki, you know a little bit in Cincinnati and in
Speaker 1: that first preseason game when he's been kicking in lambeau
Speaker 1: Field Family Knight. The preseason games he's been, uh, he's
Speaker 1: been as good as anyone. And the Packers are are
Speaker 1: ready to ready to roll. There there is one and
Speaker 1: this is relates to Anders Carlson. There is one roster
Speaker 1: move that the Packers did make before we turned on
Speaker 1: the cameras to tape this, and that is they have
Speaker 1: decided to go young at punter with Daniel Wheeland. The
Speaker 1: veteran pad O'Donnell has been released, and of course that
Speaker 1: impacts Carlson because Daniel Wheelan will be his holder on
Speaker 1: place kicks. An interesting decision here for the Packers. But
Speaker 1: but you know, Brian gudakuns to he He's dropped all
Speaker 1: kinds of hints every time he has spoken with the
Speaker 1: media over the last several months. He's dropped all kinds
Speaker 1: of hints that he is not afraid to go young.
Speaker 1: He is not afraid to put together a young team
Speaker 1: that he sees potentially growing together. And this initial roster
Speaker 1: move on Monday that was made at punter certainly speaks
Speaker 1: to that.
Speaker 2: It does, Mike, because Pat o'donald is one of the
Speaker 2: three guys the Packers have that was actually over thirty
Speaker 2: years old, you know, a very young football team. He
Speaker 2: was one of the guys that you know, tended to
Speaker 2: lean a little bit more towards that veterans side first
Speaker 2: and foremost. You know, we're taping this. We got to
Speaker 2: get to see what the initial fifty three looks like.
Speaker 2: But if this does work out this way, that Wheeland
Speaker 2: did in fact make the team, I saw a couple
Speaker 2: of things online. I believe he'll be the first Irish
Speaker 2: born NFL player in thirty eight years. Certainly, you've got to,
Speaker 2: you know, can't overstate the importance of the international part
Speaker 2: of this, for the for the league and where he
Speaker 2: comes from, and you know, his development and going to
Speaker 2: UC Davis and you know, finding a way through the
Speaker 2: XFL to get into the NFL. I mean, this kid's
Speaker 2: story is pretty remarkable. And you know, you tip your
Speaker 2: cat to him because I think so many times Mike,
Speaker 2: you and I have covered these training camp battles, especially
Speaker 2: at the specialist positions, when you know Tim Mastay and
Speaker 2: Mason Crosby were here a lot of times. It was
Speaker 2: they bring in some guys, but at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, you got you got your two. You don't
Speaker 2: really think too much about who that next guy is
Speaker 2: going to be. And in Wheeland's case, he made himself undeniable,
Speaker 2: I felt, I mean, he showed a world class foot
Speaker 2: Both him and Pat o'donald are really tall, very well
Speaker 2: built guys. I mean no disrespect to Jacob Schump, but
Speaker 2: you know, you go back to shum and sixteen and
Speaker 2: Jacob's just a little bit taller than I am. I
Speaker 2: mean it was a smaller type of smaller type of punter.
Speaker 2: And now you get these like really long lever guys
Speaker 2: that could just put the ball, you know, miles down
Speaker 2: the field. That's going to be the big thing. But
Speaker 2: also the rapport in the development that's going to have
Speaker 2: to happen with Whalan Wheelan and Andres Carlson because that's
Speaker 2: a big part of the relationship too. I know, there
Speaker 2: was so much trust that got built between Mason and
Speaker 2: Pat last year I think that was a big calming
Speaker 2: influence on Mason and being able to kind of get
Speaker 2: back on track after the knee injury after some you know,
Speaker 2: we saw in twenty twenty one how difficult things can
Speaker 2: be at times if the wholer situation isn't quite figured
Speaker 2: out so that they're going to grow together is the
Speaker 2: biggest thing. But certainly the Green Bit Packers appreciated of
Speaker 2: what padd O Donald brought and now going to see
Speaker 2: what lies behind this next door.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well we'll take a further look at where things
Speaker 1: stand with these roster cuts and the deadline and everything
Speaker 1: in just a minute, West but some sponsor business First
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Speaker 1: subs fifty years of better. All right, The deadline is
Speaker 1: three pm Central Time on Tuesday. The Packers will have
Speaker 1: to have their roster reduced to the NFL mandated fifty
Speaker 1: three plays. Then the waiver period goes until I believe
Speaker 1: it's noon on Wednesday, and then once the waiver period
Speaker 1: has passed and players have cleared waivers, then teams can
Speaker 1: start signing players back to their practice squad. And of
Speaker 1: course there are now sixteen spots on the practice squad,
Speaker 1: so there's a lot there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: interest obviously in how this works out, because because honestly
Speaker 1: wes going into this, we don't really know are the
Speaker 1: how many how many running backs are the Packers going
Speaker 1: to have on the fifty three? How many wide receivers
Speaker 1: is going to be six? Is it going to be seven?
Speaker 1: What are they going to do at tight end? Tyler
Speaker 1: Davis who's out for the season, He was never really replaced.
Speaker 1: So is that a spot where Brian Gutukunstan company will
Speaker 1: be looking at the waiver wire to possibly claim somebody
Speaker 1: or sign a veteran, you know, who gets released maybe unexpectedly.
Speaker 1: There are all kinds of possibilities out there and we
Speaker 1: just have to we just have to wait and see
Speaker 1: what happens. Because, for as much as you can you
Speaker 1: try to get a handle on it, and there's certain
Speaker 1: things that you think you know, and this is how
Speaker 1: this puzzle piece is going to fit here and there.
Speaker 1: There is always something that happens at the roster cut
Speaker 1: down deadline that surprises us that none of us really
Speaker 1: saw coming. There's a decision made that the personal department's
Speaker 1: been thinking about it, but they kept it under wraps
Speaker 1: and and suddenly it's a it's a surprise to everyone.
Speaker 1: So we'll just have to see what that might be
Speaker 1: come Tuesday afternoon.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very difficult. It's a tough situation, and obviously
Speaker 2: your heart goes out to a lot of these guys
Speaker 2: because these are their hopes and dreams. Mike. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's so many guys I talked to and listen to
Speaker 2: in the locker room after the game. I mean talking
Speaker 2: about how you know, you got to keep a levelhead,
Speaker 2: you have to stay focused. I know Emmanuel Wilson, I thought,
Speaker 2: had a really interesting point about how he planned to
Speaker 2: spend the day. And you know, he likes a journal.
Speaker 2: He journals everything that he does. And you know there's
Speaker 2: a by the Rookie Hotel, there's a late you a
Speaker 2: little bit of body water down there. He was just
Speaker 2: going to go down there and pray and just try
Speaker 2: to stay as steady as you can be, because ultimately
Speaker 2: the work is done. I mean now you just got
Speaker 2: to kind of wait for the final results to show
Speaker 2: themselves and then figure out, hey, is it fifty three,
Speaker 2: is it practice squad? Is it somewhere else the NFL.
Speaker 2: I think the hardest thing for me this time of
Speaker 2: the year isn't even necessarily the guys that are just
Speaker 2: on the bubble. It's the guys that you know that
Speaker 2: are out there that maybe aren't going to get another
Speaker 2: opportunity that they actually did play their last NFL football
Speaker 2: or their last football game, and that Saturday night at
Speaker 2: Lambeufield against the Seahawks. Because the story eventually for everybody
Speaker 2: ends at some point. For me it was fifth grade,
Speaker 2: but I mean for everybody, you know, there is that
Speaker 2: turning of the page. So seeing the dreams come true
Speaker 2: too is always fun. As I you know, I've been
Speaker 2: well documented the eighteen year consecutive streak of the Packers
Speaker 2: having at least one undrafted rookie make the week one
Speaker 2: roster that had to get a little modified a couple
Speaker 2: of years ago because of Chris Barnes not actually making
Speaker 2: the initial fifty three, but then being brought on after
Speaker 2: Kamal Martin is put on IRS, So I had to
Speaker 2: make that slight modification. But when it comes to an
Speaker 2: undrafted rookie making this team, it has been eighteen straight
Speaker 2: years dating back to Ted Thompson's first year as general manager,
Speaker 2: so that is probably always the underlying story of this,
Speaker 2: seeing who potentially could be that guy, but also just
Speaker 2: seeing how these positions, you know, ultimately sort out, right,
Speaker 2: because depending on who you keep where has ramifications for
Speaker 2: Rich Pasacia's special teams as well, and as we've seen
Speaker 2: the last few years, a lot more emphasis being placed
Speaker 2: on that with how the Packers build out their fifty three.
Speaker 2: So it's a nerve wracking time, but it also is
Speaker 2: an exciting time because now after months of conversation and
Speaker 2: you know, reporting back for the offseason program four months ago,
Speaker 2: now we finally get to see the twenty twenty three
Speaker 2: off twenty twenty three Packers take form. Here as the
Speaker 2: offense switches over to Jordan.
Speaker 1: Love Yeah, and the other interesting piece to watch too. Now,
Speaker 1: sometimes things happen, sometimes they don't, But this year the
Speaker 1: Packers are the highest They've been in the waiver claim
Speaker 1: order at this time of year since twenty nineteen, which
Speaker 1: was the last time the Packers were coming off of
Speaker 1: a non playoff season. So that's how you get that's
Speaker 1: how you end up higher in the waiver claim order. Now,
Speaker 1: back in twenty nineteen, the Packers didn't actually claim anybody
Speaker 1: during this period of the roster cutdowns when they were
Speaker 1: higher up in the order. We will see if that
Speaker 1: potentially happens this time around or not. But when you're
Speaker 1: sitting at I'm trying to remember now, is it fifteenth,
Speaker 1: I believe the Packers are. That's you know, that's a
Speaker 1: very different spot than when you're you know, twenty sixth
Speaker 1: or twenty eight or you know, something like that when
Speaker 1: certain players become available. So another thing to watch, and
Speaker 1: there will be a lot of both with the waiver process,
Speaker 1: the practice squad signings. There will be a lot of
Speaker 1: roster machinations between now and Wednesday afternoon, and then, as
Speaker 1: you just alluded to with Chris Barnes and situations like that,
Speaker 1: maybe somebody gets activated to the fifty three, you know,
Speaker 1: before the first game against the Chicago Bears. So it's
Speaker 1: a constantly fluid situation. As Brian Gudokun says, roster building,
Speaker 1: roster management is a twenty four to seven, three sixty
Speaker 1: five thing. Just so happens that these next couple of
Speaker 1: days are probably the busiest with the most activity in
Speaker 1: the shortest period of time that you're gonna find on
Speaker 1: the NFL calendar.
Speaker 2: Two things, Michael quickly. One, will the Chicago Bears claim
Speaker 2: six players again this year? We'll wait and see. There
Speaker 2: the world stands in suspense. But two, Chris Barnes will
Speaker 2: forever go down to me as the cheekiest move the
Speaker 2: Packers have made here in the last twenty five years,
Speaker 2: because not only did they cut him, they kept Kamal
Speaker 2: Martin so that Martin could be designated to return because
Speaker 2: he was gonna be help with basically the first half
Speaker 2: of the season. They re signed Chris Barnes then, and
Speaker 2: then he was the mike linebacker in that game starts
Speaker 2: that next Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. Things that were
Speaker 2: only made possible thanks to the COVID pandemic. I doubt
Speaker 2: there's any way that would have ever worked out otherwise.
Speaker 2: There had been too much, too much of Chris Barnes
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. If Chris Barnes plays preseason games as an
Speaker 1: undrafted rookie in twins starting, yeah, he he probably does
Speaker 1: not clear waivers. But the Packers were the only ones
Speaker 1: who had any film on him. They had him in practice,
Speaker 1: they knew what they had. There were no preseason games
Speaker 1: in the COVID year. So when Chris Barnes' name is
Speaker 1: out there on the waiver where he was just a name,
Speaker 1: you know, there was names, nobody, nobody knew anything about him.
Speaker 1: And but you're right, that was a that was a
Speaker 1: clever little move the Packers pulled a few years back.
Speaker 1: So we'll see what We'll see what Brian Gudukunst has
Speaker 1: in his back pocket this time around.
Speaker 2: And I'm cheering for Chris. He's down in Arizona. It
Speaker 2: sounded like he had a pretty productive preseason, so hopefully
Speaker 2: things work out for him down there. Packers got really
Speaker 2: deep at inside back in the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: But I definitely believe that Chris Barnes is still an
Speaker 2: NFL player.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would. I would certainly agree with that. So
Speaker 1: with that, we will call it a rap on the
Speaker 1: sedition of Packers Unscript it'd be sure to follow all
Speaker 1: of our coverage of the team. By the time we
Speaker 1: do the next show, we will know what the roster is,
Speaker 1: we should know what the practice squad is, and we'll
Speaker 1: be looking ahead to where things are headed in week
Speaker 1: one and hopefully Wes and I will be you know,
Speaker 1: in closer proximity. So thank you for tuning in everybody.
Speaker 1: We will see you next time.