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 trusted colleague West and Hodkoitz. We're coming to
Speaker 1: you here from our studios at lambeau Field, Wes our
Speaker 1: second draft recap show. And uh, you put together an
Speaker 1: interesting little piece for Packers dot Com the other day
Speaker 1: where you sort of dug out through whether it was
Speaker 1: through the interviews over draft weekend or the the bio
Speaker 1: information that we got on the players. But one extra
Speaker 1: interesting little thing about each of the Packers eleven draft
Speaker 1: picks that didn't quite work into our coverage over the weekend.
Speaker 1: So if if you want to learn a little bit
Speaker 1: more about these guys, check that out on Packers dot com.
Speaker 1: But yeah, of those of those various of the those
Speaker 1: various items, what one or ones stood out to you?
Speaker 2: So first off, the my main idea for doing this,
Speaker 2: we're always just looking for stuff to get us through
Speaker 2: the week before the rookie orientation camp. And my biggest
Speaker 2: problemt for this was I thought the scouts last week
Speaker 2: and were phenomenal. Yeah, everybody that talked had something interesting
Speaker 2: to say. But because of the calamity and chaos of
Speaker 2: the draft. You and I only get to write so
Speaker 2: much about it. You did an excellent job of incorporating
Speaker 2: John Eric Sullivan's voice and your final recap story. I
Speaker 2: thought John Eric had probably one of the best press
Speaker 2: conferences of the entire weekend.
Speaker 1: That was, as I mentioned in Insider Inbox, actually that
Speaker 1: was my favorite press conference, no offense to anybody else.
Speaker 1: That was my favorite press conference of the entire weekend
Speaker 1: was listening to John Eric kind of dig into the
Speaker 1: packers process a little bit and really talk about what
Speaker 1: they're looking for and with regard to these prospects. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I tried to incorporate those comments in my wrap up story.
Speaker 1: And if you want to check out the video of
Speaker 1: that press conference, by all means, it's on the website
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 2: And for me, I'm not John Eric's agent, but I
Speaker 2: would take that fourteen minute press conference and I would
Speaker 2: show it to every NFL team that is looking for
Speaker 2: a general manager one year from now. I thought it
Speaker 2: was very presidential in that way, or general manor jural
Speaker 2: isheal in that way.
Speaker 3: Be that as it may.
Speaker 2: You're asking me about the top eleven things to know
Speaker 2: about these eleven prospects the two things that I enjoyed
Speaker 2: the most. This wasn't anything like an epiphany, but the
Speaker 2: Packers drafted yet another Georgia Bulldog. Digging into that a
Speaker 2: little bit with Javon Ballard coming in. That's a fourth
Speaker 2: time in four drafts the Packers have drafted for Georgia Bulldogs,
Speaker 2: obviously doubling up two years ago with DeVante White and
Speaker 2: kway Walker prior to selecting Eric Stokes, So the Packers
Speaker 2: had actually selected the last time they had four Bulldogs
Speaker 2: that they got through the draft, it had been I
Speaker 2: believe fifty eight years. It had taken as far as
Speaker 2: how many times they drafted, including jerryus Wynn in two
Speaker 2: thousand and nine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, one, I think.
Speaker 2: That show is just where Kirby Smart has taken this
Speaker 2: program and the level that he's put it on. You know,
Speaker 2: Mark Rick was there. They've obviously had success in the past,
Speaker 2: but I mean this, we are talking about one of
Speaker 2: the top programs in the country now and they're getting
Speaker 2: some of the top recruits and they're developing them. Ballard,
Speaker 2: you know, is hopefully going to be the next one
Speaker 2: of that. In the fourth round, Evan Williams. I had
Speaker 2: to laugh. There was nowhere to put it in our coverage. Yeah,
Speaker 2: on Saturday. But ten years after the Green Bay Packers
Speaker 2: draft Richard Rodgers, whose father and namesake was involved in
Speaker 2: the play the cal Stanford game. They go and take
Speaker 2: Evan Williams on the field, the band is on the field.
Speaker 2: They take Evan Williams, whose father was also on the field.
Speaker 1: For ket It's incredible, It's it's amazing. I and we
Speaker 1: were talking about this before before we turn the cameras on.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, nineteen eighty two cal versus Stanford,
Speaker 1: the game that is the big rivalry in the Bay
Speaker 1: Area in northern California. And I mean in this day
Speaker 1: and age of instant replay, that that play would have
Speaker 1: that play would have meant absolutely nothing for the I'm
Speaker 1: sure many of you have seen it, if not all
Speaker 1: of you, there are there's you know, the one guy's
Speaker 1: knees hit the ground before he laterals the ball, and then.
Speaker 3: This is this is the this is this is the part.
Speaker 1: I love though when you look back at it, because
Speaker 1: because these are the things, these are the things that
Speaker 1: are now that are now caught by instant replay, that
Speaker 1: our eyes don't necessarily catch in the moment, and it's
Speaker 1: it's when when somebody is running, somebody is running full
Speaker 1: speed and they lateral the ball. It's an optical illusion
Speaker 1: to us that the ball is not moving forward, but
Speaker 1: it actually is because if you look at you know,
Speaker 1: if somebody is running forward and then they lateral the ball,
Speaker 1: the ball is going to end up further down the
Speaker 1: field than where the player released it. So technically that's
Speaker 1: a forward lateral and it would be illegal on a
Speaker 1: on a kickoff return, right, But in the moment, in
Speaker 1: the moment, it looks legit, right, It looked it looks like,
Speaker 1: oh no, he didn't throw it, he didn't throw it forward.
Speaker 1: So but there there are a couple of those, like
Speaker 1: in the cal Stanford play and everything. But uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I I I about fell out of my chair when
Speaker 1: Evan Williams said, you know when when he was asked,
Speaker 1: was it Matt Schneidman from the Athletic who asked him
Speaker 1: about about his dad being being involved in the play
Speaker 1: the the kickoff return in the cal Stanford game with
Speaker 1: the trombone player getting run over.
Speaker 2: This is the quote I love too once or twice
Speaker 2: a month where we're pulling it up, or it's on
Speaker 2: TV somewhere. Yeah, like you can't even escape it either.
Speaker 2: It's yeah, it's omnipresent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, it's it's there, it's there forever. Well, another
Speaker 1: thing I wanted to I wanted to get your thoughts
Speaker 1: on because obviously on our on our last show, we
Speaker 1: talked about all these all these packer picks and all
Speaker 1: the implications and how the packers went about putting together
Speaker 1: this collection of rookies, but we didn't talk much at
Speaker 1: all about what was going on in the rest of
Speaker 1: the NFC North. And uh, and this is this is
Speaker 1: a draft that, for one reason or another, is going
Speaker 1: to be remembered as far as the NFC North is concerned,
Speaker 1: because two of the four teams, the Bears and the Vikings,
Speaker 1: both drafted their quarterbacks of the future, with the Bears
Speaker 1: taking Caleb Williams again the on.
Speaker 3: The worst kept Secret.
Speaker 1: No, we'll I'll let you talk about you, Bears punter,
Speaker 1: if you want to later, the Bears taking Caleb Williams
Speaker 1: number one overall, and then the Vikings sweating things out
Speaker 1: at the eleventh pick and then ultimately moving up one
Speaker 1: spot to into the number ten spot to get JJ
Speaker 1: McCarthy because they were they weren't sure. There was obviously
Speaker 1: the possibility that the Broncos or the Raiders might trade
Speaker 1: up into the number ten spot with was it the Jets? Yep,
Speaker 1: the Jets had the tenth spot.
Speaker 2: Well, according to Sean Payton, he was involved in like
Speaker 2: eighteen trades that day.
Speaker 1: But yeah, absolutely, there's all kinds of things like they
Speaker 1: want to bone X. But it was interesting because a
Speaker 1: lot of people ask the question, well, what like, why
Speaker 1: would they the Jets aren't going to take a quarterback.
Speaker 1: Why are the Vikings trading up one spot that the
Speaker 1: Jets have Aaron Rodgers they're not going to take a quarterback. Well,
Speaker 1: it's because they don't know if somebody else might jump
Speaker 1: in front of them and trade for that number ten
Speaker 1: pick and get who many thought was really the last
Speaker 1: of the first round quarterbacks in JJ McCarthy or certainly
Speaker 1: the guy that the Vikings wanted, I think after Drake
Speaker 1: May was taken by the Patriots, when the Patriots wouldn't
Speaker 1: trade out of the number three spot, Elliott Wolf sticking
Speaker 1: at three and taking May from North Carolina. Just your
Speaker 1: thoughts on kind of how the top of that first
Speaker 1: round unfolded with all the quarterbacks, and then not no
Speaker 1: trade was made until the tenth spot when we were
Speaker 1: discussing the previous week. You know, are the Pagers going
Speaker 1: to trade at three, the Cardinal's going to trade at four,
Speaker 1: the Charger's going to trade at five. Everybody sat and
Speaker 1: picked and then the other interesting part of that is
Speaker 1: the Giants sitting at number six did not take a quarterback.
Speaker 1: They ended up going with a wide receiver.
Speaker 3: They did.
Speaker 2: And first and foremost, I don't do this just because
Speaker 2: of the Packer connections. I do this because I thought
Speaker 2: he did a wail of a job in his first
Speaker 2: NFL draft in the cap Birds seat there and Elliott
Speaker 2: wolf dode New England need to switch up their offense.
Speaker 2: They go their first five picks, they go on the
Speaker 2: offensive side of the ball. It starts with Drake May.
Speaker 2: Not that you want stuff leaking out. I know how
Speaker 2: NFL franchisees feel about that, but I actually was really
Speaker 2: I thought that made the Patriots look great in terms
Speaker 2: of what Minnesota was trying to give up to move there.
Speaker 2: And it's showing just how dedicated Elliott was to Drake May.
Speaker 2: And this being the next guy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he absolutely had. He absolutely was. Kings Ray is
Speaker 1: convinced that that Drake May has got to be their guy,
Speaker 1: because if the reports that were out there are true,
Speaker 1: Elliott Wolf passed up some very very attractive trades to
Speaker 1: trade out of the number three spot and he did
Speaker 1: not want to do it, which shows you how he
Speaker 1: feels about Drake May.
Speaker 2: As the Patriots, So the Chicago Bears obviously go with
Speaker 2: Caleb Williams. They go with the receiver at nine. And
Speaker 2: now you wait and see, I don't really like twitter
Speaker 2: go figure. I know Bear fans are talking about the
Speaker 2: New Era and everything like that. We've heard that a
Speaker 2: lot over the last ten years. Maybe Williams is the
Speaker 2: guy everybody thought he was, but there's gonna be that
Speaker 2: pressure on him now and seeing how he handles that,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be very interesting. The Packers just so happened
Speaker 2: to draft his running back in Marshawn Lloyd com into
Speaker 2: Green Bay. He had very complimentary things to say about
Speaker 2: him as well. But I don't think there's been a
Speaker 2: more celebrated, decorated number one overall pick. I mean, this
Speaker 2: guy put him up there against Trevor Lawrence and Andrew
Speaker 2: luck in terms of guys that are just expected to
Speaker 2: come in and be MVP type players. The Bears have
Speaker 2: everything stake to him. They did not pick very much
Speaker 2: in this draft. They you know, everyone talks about all
Speaker 2: the additions they made free agency and through trades. In
Speaker 2: that well, they had to they didn't have the equity
Speaker 2: to be able to do that through the drafts.
Speaker 1: So and they even gave up a future draft pick
Speaker 1: to get back into this draft to take an additional player.
Speaker 1: Because after the first round when they took Williams at
Speaker 1: number one, they took their wide receiver rome a Doonzy
Speaker 1: from Washington at number nine. The Bears only had two
Speaker 1: other picks in the entire draft, and they sacrificed to
Speaker 1: pick next year to get another player for this year.
Speaker 2: If the cupboards bear, you got to put some groceries
Speaker 2: in it, right too. So, I mean that's what they
Speaker 2: did Minnesota there. I mean, I don't want to say
Speaker 2: you're all in, but this is it. This is the move.
Speaker 2: This was the draft where they made some big moves.
Speaker 2: And and certainly when you look at I know Dallas
Speaker 2: Turner is I think he's already the favorite for defensive Player.
Speaker 1: Of the year, defensive rookie Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 2: Excuse me, yes, defensive rookie of the Year. So they
Speaker 2: still felt like they helped their defense. But the JJ
Speaker 2: McCarthy move was one I told you going into the draft.
Speaker 2: I mean not that I knew this, everybody knew this.
Speaker 2: The Vikings had to draft a quarterback. Yeah, you had
Speaker 2: to get one. And with where they were sitting, you
Speaker 2: were in that that you know, is Pennex going to
Speaker 2: be there?
Speaker 3: Is it McCarthy? Is McCarthy going to go higher? Bo Nix?
Speaker 2: I think everybody kind of assumed would be in that range.
Speaker 2: But is he the guy? And if you're taking six
Speaker 2: quarterbacks in the top twelve, how good do you feel
Speaker 2: about the six guy actually being the best of the bunch?
Speaker 2: Maybe not great? Yeah, JJ McCarthy ends up being the guy.
Speaker 2: They have Sam Darnold. That doesn't mean he has to
Speaker 2: play right away, but so much is stake to this
Speaker 2: change at quarterback. And I'm not trying to put together
Speaker 2: an ad campaign for how the Packers develop quarterbacks in
Speaker 2: contrast to what has been the situation in Minnesota now
Speaker 2: for many years.
Speaker 3: But when you.
Speaker 2: Don't have a quarterback, it makes the job a lot
Speaker 2: more difficult, and they finally made the decision. You know what,
Speaker 2: we paid Kirk Cousins a lot of money for a
Speaker 2: lot of years. He got them to a certain point,
Speaker 2: but they couldn't get past that point. So now we're
Speaker 2: going to kind of try to rebuild while still competing.
Speaker 2: And the one danger I feel is there for the
Speaker 2: Vikings is the number one overall pick. The guy that
Speaker 2: was just talking about how celebrated he's been in Kaeleb
Speaker 2: Williams goes to a division team, another division team was
Speaker 2: in the NFC Championship game, and then you have the
Speaker 2: Green Bay Packers, who were the hottest team in football
Speaker 2: during the final month of the season. Yeah, the Vikings
Speaker 2: don't have a lot of room there to pace themselves.
Speaker 2: They kind of have to catch up if they're going
Speaker 2: to stay in this thing. And this was their move.
Speaker 1: Well, and what's interesting to me, and I mean, who
Speaker 1: knows whether JJ McCarthy is ultimately going to be the
Speaker 1: guy or not. But what's interesting to me is how
Speaker 1: we keep hearing out of Minnesota that that they're going
Speaker 1: to be patient, they're going to you know, they're going
Speaker 1: to bring JJ McCarthy along slowly, et cetera, et cetera. Well,
Speaker 1: that's all fine and good to say right now. But
Speaker 1: the guy you have starting at quarterback presumably week one,
Speaker 1: will be Sam Donald, who has I believe it's like
Speaker 1: a twenty something and thirty seven record as a starting
Speaker 1: quarterback in the NFL. If you do start out with
Speaker 1: Sam Donald, because you're gonna bring JJ McCarthy along slowly
Speaker 1: and not put all this pressure on him, well, then
Speaker 1: what happens when you lose a few games?
Speaker 3: It's twenty one and thirty five, by the way.
Speaker 1: Twenty one and thirty five, Thank you, twenty one and
Speaker 1: thirty five as a starting quarterback. You start losing some games,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean the fans pay good money to
Speaker 1: pay to buy the tickets and to come out and
Speaker 1: support the team. And you know, if the Vikings do
Speaker 1: start out losing some games, there's going to be a
Speaker 1: lot of pressure to put JJ McCarthy in there and
Speaker 1: for the Vikings to for the Vikings to show their
Speaker 1: fans what they have. Are they going to resist that?
Speaker 1: I mean, what is what will be the decision making
Speaker 1: process down the line? Now, maybe Sam Darnold, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe this is the reclamation of his career. We saw
Speaker 1: it with Gino Smith in Seattle. You can't rule it out.
Speaker 1: Not going to rule it out, but the Vikings are
Speaker 1: the Vikings are potentially going to be in a really
Speaker 1: tough spot here.
Speaker 2: The pressure for the fans is I'm with you on that.
Speaker 2: That is one hundred percent correct. But you've also the
Speaker 2: strength of your football team right now as your receiving corps.
Speaker 3: Yep, you have arguably the best.
Speaker 2: Receiver in the game right now, and justin Jefferson Jordan
Speaker 2: Addison showed a lot of nice things last year as well.
Speaker 2: You need a guy that's gonna be able to feed
Speaker 2: those players Kirk Cousins. People can talk about primetime Kirk,
Speaker 2: you know, or are you want to talk about the
Speaker 2: playoff Kirk. But he got the ball out into those
Speaker 2: guys hands.
Speaker 3: He allowed them to make plays.
Speaker 2: That's the biggest switch they're going with because when I
Speaker 2: was talking about this, Minnesota's almost kind of been I mean,
Speaker 2: you heard that stat about how few first round quarterbacks
Speaker 2: they've ever drafted. You know, they hit on Dante Culpepper,
Speaker 2: but then injuries became an issue for him, and then
Speaker 2: after that it was just sort of plug and play
Speaker 2: guys other than Christian Ponder.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they drafted. They drafted Christian Ponder with a first
Speaker 1: round pick. I believe he was twelfth overall. But quite frankly,
Speaker 1: the only year they did anything with Christian Ponder was
Speaker 1: when Adrian Peterson was the league MVP with a two
Speaker 1: thousand yard rushing season in twenty and twelve. Yep, that
Speaker 1: was the only year with Christian Ponder that they went anywhere.
Speaker 1: So you're right, there's been there. There's been this interesting
Speaker 1: history with Minnesota and how they've gone about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this where it's going to get really interesting
Speaker 2: this division. I love what Detroit did again. I thought
Speaker 2: they had some really savvy picks in this thing. They
Speaker 2: moved around, they helped their defense some again, Brad Holmes,
Speaker 2: John Dorsey, I tipped my cap to them. I felt
Speaker 2: like as soon as John came on board there too.
Speaker 2: And obviously Brad's track record speaks for itself. They've done it.
Speaker 2: It's not a mystery why they were in the NFC
Speaker 2: Championship game. They drafted really, really well these last few years,
Speaker 2: beginning in twenty twenty one with am and Ross Saint
Speaker 2: Brown in the fourth round. Brian Branch gets involved it
Speaker 2: looks like Aiden Hutchinson, it's going to be a player.
Speaker 2: So the competition in the North I think is going
Speaker 2: to be really strong this year.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: Fortunately for everybody, there's seven playoff spots now in the NFC.
Speaker 2: If you want to get down this party, there are
Speaker 2: tickets to go. But certainly for the Packers, for Minnesota,
Speaker 2: for all these teams, you have to put yourself in
Speaker 2: a position to compete, neutralize the other team's strengths and
Speaker 2: see where it takes you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what'd you think of what'd you think of Detroit's
Speaker 1: move essentially using two because they traded up to get
Speaker 1: the cornerback from Alabama Terian Arnold?
Speaker 3: Yeah, good.
Speaker 2: The one thing that you knew and I talked about
Speaker 2: it afterwards, between him and and Rakestraw. They got two
Speaker 2: of the top corners in the draft, but also two
Speaker 2: of the guys that tested.
Speaker 3: Slower when you're looking at more of those forty times.
Speaker 2: So if that's the identity of their defense, if they're
Speaker 2: going to go press man and play physical, which I
Speaker 2: mean to a certain extent, that is what you're expecting.
Speaker 1: That that's Dan Campbell, that's.
Speaker 2: Dan Campbell, that you know, that's you know, why is
Speaker 2: his name escaping right now?
Speaker 1: The defensive coordinator over there, Aaron Glenn.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Aaron Glenn, Right, yes, Aaron gle defensive backs
Speaker 2: smash mouth in your face. When they've turned this corner
Speaker 2: with their personnel, that's the identity they've tried to kept
Speaker 2: for really the last two and a half years now.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think it in a lot of ways,
Speaker 2: it made sense for them. I felt like offensively, they've
Speaker 2: built out that offensive line so well, they've hit on
Speaker 2: their draft picks at the skill positions. I mean, you
Speaker 2: would not if you bring back if Justin wants to
Speaker 2: bring up the old clips of you know, our pre
Speaker 2: draft stuff las year. I wos not sold on Sam Laporta.
Speaker 2: I thought he was a little too small. I knew
Speaker 2: the history there with Iowa tight ends, but you had
Speaker 2: all these really big, you know, the six foot six,
Speaker 2: six foot five guys. I was saying, Sam Laporta was
Speaker 2: as good as anyone in that draft last year and
Speaker 2: made a huge difference from there in that offense.
Speaker 3: So it'll be.
Speaker 2: Fascinating to watch all this develops for Detroit. But this
Speaker 2: was as much as we talk about this being an
Speaker 2: important draft for the Packers because you've had two really
Speaker 2: good ones back to back and you're trying to put
Speaker 2: that third one together to make a Super Bowl run.
Speaker 2: The Lions are sitting in the same seat.
Speaker 1: Yeah. One last thought I want to get from you
Speaker 1: with regard to the first round of the draft, because
Speaker 1: a lot of people are talking about it.
Speaker 2: As I remember, wasn't a cute by the way, when
Speaker 2: I said that Michael Pennix would go in the first
Speaker 2: round or not they went at eight.
Speaker 3: Sorry to interrupt, No.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what I was going to bring up,
Speaker 1: because that is that is the move where people are
Speaker 1: talking about. Okay, you know the sort of the Packers
Speaker 1: blueprint for quarterback succession. Right. The Falcons went out. Things
Speaker 1: didn't work out with Desmond Ritter, who they drafted a
Speaker 1: couple of years back in the third round. They the
Speaker 1: Falcons had been using their first round picks. They had
Speaker 1: three consecutive years of top ten picks, and they took
Speaker 1: a tight end, a wide receiver, on a running back.
Speaker 1: They did not draft a quarterback. They did not draft
Speaker 1: a premium position. They didn't go left tackle or edge
Speaker 1: rusher or or corner. They went with the They went
Speaker 1: with the flashy offensive players. But then with a third
Speaker 1: round quarterback, it didn't happen. It didn't get done. So
Speaker 1: they went out spent a bunch of money to get
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins. Perhaps broke some rules along the way, but
Speaker 1: we'll find out. We'll find out about that with when
Speaker 1: the league's tampering investigation is complete, which apparently it's not yet.
Speaker 1: But they go out and sign Kirk Cousins to a
Speaker 1: whole bunch of money. They guarantee him somewhere in the
Speaker 1: neighborhood of one hundred million dollars. But then they have
Speaker 1: another top ten pick this year and they use it
Speaker 1: on a quarterback in Michael Penis Junior from Washington, with
Speaker 1: the idea that he will sit I think for a
Speaker 1: minimum of three years, but at least a minimum of
Speaker 1: two years. He will sit behind Kirk Cousins, watch and learn,
Speaker 1: and then eventually get the keys to the car. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Falcons have a reasonable out cap wise on cousins
Speaker 1: contract after three years. They sign him to a four
Speaker 1: year deal. They have a reasonable out after three years.
Speaker 1: But I think I think that it's gonna have to
Speaker 1: go those three years before you turn it over to Pennix.
Speaker 1: Otherwise you're putting yourself in salary cap jail when you're
Speaker 1: trying to turn things over to a new quarterback, and
Speaker 1: that just doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.
Speaker 2: And my answers in several different ways. The first one
Speaker 2: is to all the haters out there that were talking about, well,
Speaker 2: why didn't they go defense, because the Falcons need to
Speaker 2: figure out their offense first before we can even Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: their defense isn't great. Fine, their offense wasn't great.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And the only part that I laugh at that I
Speaker 2: actually giggled when I saw, you know, Pennix come off
Speaker 2: the board at eight, was for all that time they
Speaker 2: didn't give Arthur Smith a single quarterback.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they fire.
Speaker 2: Him, and then they spend all this money on Kirk
Speaker 2: and they used the eighth overall pick on Pennix. That
Speaker 2: was pretty humorous to me. Not to say that they
Speaker 2: would have drafted another one and it would have worked out,
Speaker 2: but it was just funny that they never actually had
Speaker 2: that guy. They were trying to roll with a third
Speaker 2: round you know, third or former third round pick. So
Speaker 2: that being said, I actually really like the pick. I
Speaker 2: think that this is the if you have an administration
Speaker 2: and you have an owner that can be understanding and
Speaker 2: see a little bit past just what's directly in front
Speaker 2: of them and what you could potentially do. This was
Speaker 2: the move for the Falcons because, with all due respect
Speaker 2: to Kirk Cousins, he has only gotten to a certain
Speaker 2: point in his NFL career as a starting quarterback. He's
Speaker 2: not any younger, and he's coming off an Achilles tear.
Speaker 2: Made total sense that they did whatever they had to
Speaker 2: do to sign him. But Pennix is a guy that
Speaker 2: you've heard so many people talk about his arm strength,
Speaker 2: being generational, talking like you know, this is a guy
Speaker 2: that you know, maybe Matthew Stafford esque type strength and
Speaker 2: his ability to deliver a football if you can give
Speaker 2: that coaching staff time to bring him along and not
Speaker 2: throw him into the fire like we've done so often.
Speaker 3: Mike Yes, c J.
Speaker 2: Stroud last year was an exciting football player, and he
Speaker 2: looks like he's going to be a real playmaker for
Speaker 2: years to come. I can't see any scenario in which
Speaker 2: Bryce Young benefited from what happened last year.
Speaker 3: Net Line exactly.
Speaker 1: That's the thing. It's it's you throw, you throw these
Speaker 1: young guys into the fire right away. Sometimes you get
Speaker 1: you know, a Joe Burrow or a C. J. Stroud,
Speaker 1: and sometimes you get Bryce Young. I mean, and it's
Speaker 1: not it's not necessarily about the guy. It's about it's
Speaker 1: about the environment. It's about the situation. It's about the
Speaker 1: status of the rest of the team as a whole.
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy always used to say, it's not about whether
Speaker 1: a young quarterback is ready to play, it's about whether
Speaker 1: the team is ready for the young quarterback to play.
Speaker 1: And so some of these guys just get thrown into
Speaker 1: situations that that that are really really difficult, and the
Speaker 1: Falcons are going to do their best. The Vikings, it
Speaker 1: sounds like, are going to try that as well. The
Speaker 1: Falcons are going to do their best to avoid that.
Speaker 1: And the difference between the two situations is the Falcons
Speaker 1: spent a lot of money on a veteran quarterback who
Speaker 1: has taken teams to the playoffs before, as opposed to
Speaker 1: the Vikings, who, you know, their guy right now is
Speaker 1: a guy who hasn't won in the NFL.
Speaker 2: I mean, you're absolutely right, but I really thought you're
Speaker 2: gonna go with the difference is is the Falcons paid
Speaker 2: kirk Cousins and the Vikings did not pay kirk Cousins.
Speaker 3: Yeah, after all that, I mean.
Speaker 1: That's certainly that's certainly true as well.
Speaker 2: But here's the thing, and this is where this would
Speaker 2: be my last point on this, and this is the
Speaker 2: thing I wanted to hit on the most. Where the
Speaker 2: Green Bay Packers have outdone the rest of the National
Speaker 2: Football League is they've caught the league sleeping on quarterbacks
Speaker 2: at the right time. They caught the NFL sleeping on
Speaker 2: Aaron Rodgers in two thousand and five, they caught the
Speaker 2: league sleeping on Jordan Love in twenty twenty. You are
Speaker 2: not going to be able to find franchise quarterbacks every
Speaker 2: year past that number ten fifteen spot. There's just teams
Speaker 2: are moving up, they're trying to make things happen. The Packers'
Speaker 2: ability to do that, I don't when people try to
Speaker 2: make this comparison, Well, they spent so high to get Pennix, Yeah,
Speaker 2: because that's normally what teams.
Speaker 3: Happen exactly, that is what you have to do.
Speaker 1: And that was part of when the Falcons head coach
Speaker 1: and general manager were answering questions about the Pennix pick.
Speaker 1: They were saying, hey, we spent a bunch of money
Speaker 1: on Kirk Cousins, but we know we're going to need
Speaker 1: a quarterback down the line. We're not expecting to end
Speaker 1: up with a top ten pick with Kirk Cousins as
Speaker 1: our quarterback going to be back, so right, you're going
Speaker 1: to be further back in the first round. So if
Speaker 1: we're looking at the quarterback of the future, we have
Speaker 1: to get him now while we have the high pick,
Speaker 1: because we're planning to be picking in the twenties or
Speaker 1: later because of what we're paying Kirk Cousins to do
Speaker 1: for the franchise.
Speaker 2: And at the last point I'll make about that twenty
Speaker 2: twenty draft, people always say, well, you know T Higgins
Speaker 2: was still available, Patrick Queen was still available, but Denzel
Speaker 2: Mims was also still available. I took Ross Blacklock in
Speaker 2: one of my mock drafts that year. He ended up
Speaker 2: going at forty and he's out of the league at
Speaker 2: twenty five. Right, You never know. The Packers knew they
Speaker 2: had some thing there with Jordan Love. There was a
Speaker 2: good scouting report on him. We listened to Sam Seal
Speaker 2: last weekend talking about, you know, he had a hand
Speaker 2: and looking at a love as well when you feel
Speaker 2: good about guys, when we talk about best player available
Speaker 2: and all that stuff, and it's not always true in
Speaker 2: terms of, you know, if you're not gonna Packers were
Speaker 2: not going to draft a quarterback this year. They didn't
Speaker 2: need to in the first round or second round. But
Speaker 2: the truth is when you build that board, as you
Speaker 2: talked about our last show, you bake it into the
Speaker 2: cake and you see what's all available to you. I
Speaker 2: think that's the most exciting thing. And if I'm an
Speaker 2: Atlanta Falcons fan, I don't care about the fact that
Speaker 2: Cousins was signed and Pennix was drafted at number eight.
Speaker 2: I care about the fact that finally I feel like
Speaker 2: I have a quarterback.
Speaker 3: I have multiple quarterbacks, and.
Speaker 2: There's a reason to believe again because Mike. I think
Speaker 2: Atlanta was the number one example of if you don't
Speaker 2: have a guy, whether it was trying to bring in
Speaker 2: Marcus Mariota or doing the Desmond Ritter experiment or all
Speaker 2: this thing, all these different things they've done since Matthew,
Speaker 2: since Matt Ryan left, right, you're gonna fall into that
Speaker 2: kind of purgatory in the league, and you're not gonna
Speaker 2: be high enough to get a top guy, you're also
Speaker 2: not gonna.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't And if you don't have that guy,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what you put around it. They were
Speaker 1: trying to do it by putting the best possible playmakers
Speaker 1: around that guy. But if but if that guy is
Speaker 1: not the guy, it's it's not it's not gonna work.
Speaker 2: You can give me Kobe Steak, Mike, I'm not gonna
Speaker 2: be able to do much with it, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. Like if you can have the best ingredients possible,
Speaker 2: but you have to you have to have somebod that's
Speaker 2: gonna cook with it.
Speaker 1: I'll just say quickly too. With regard to the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty draft, Patrick Queen was the guy that I really
Speaker 1: liked and I was disappointed the Packers did not take him.
Speaker 1: But and Patrick Queen's a solid NFL player, but the
Speaker 1: Ravens didn't even bring him back on a second contract.
Speaker 1: He's he became a free agent, went and signed somewhere else.
Speaker 2: And I bet you got pretty excited when an ESPN
Speaker 2: threw up that comparison graphic for Edrian Cooper too.
Speaker 3: Patrick Queen, there we go whom the Packers were able
Speaker 3: to get at forty five overall.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there we go.
Speaker 3: That's the game.
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Speaker 1: Subs fifty plus years of better. Last thing before we
Speaker 1: go West Rookie Mini Camp is this weekend. The players
Speaker 1: are actually arriving in Green Bay today going through all
Speaker 1: sorts of orientation stuff physicals, get their equipment, get you know,
Speaker 1: their shoes, their helmet, the all kinds of stuff, figure
Speaker 1: out where they get food, you know, learn the building
Speaker 1: a little bit. We will get a chance to talk
Speaker 1: to players in the locker room on Friday. We'll also
Speaker 1: get a chance to watch some of the first practice
Speaker 1: on Friday. Just quickly your your approach, your thoughts on
Speaker 1: kind of what you like to keep your eye on
Speaker 1: during this Rookie Mini camp.
Speaker 2: Two things I always enjoy watching is one seeing who
Speaker 2: the tryout players end up being there, always ends up
Speaker 2: being a name or two that you don't expect that
Speaker 2: ends up being involved with it. And then occasionally you
Speaker 2: find a Lucas Patrick out of this bunch that ends
Speaker 2: up being a player for you. The undrafted process does
Speaker 2: not just begin and end immediately after the draft. It'll
Speaker 2: keep going on. Another guy that speaks that is Emmanuel
Speaker 2: Wilson last year, starting with Denver getting cut ending up
Speaker 2: with Green Bay makes a fifty three man roster that's
Speaker 2: always neat to see. But the other thing I enjoy
Speaker 2: about it, it's not gonna be overly competitive. You're not
Speaker 2: gonna see guys you know, there's gonna be no scuffles,
Speaker 2: will be nothing like that. Everyone will be on their
Speaker 2: best behavior, and the packers are mostly just gonna want
Speaker 2: to get these guys growing accustomed to what they're gonna
Speaker 2: expect when they come back for OTAs in the format
Speaker 2: of those practices. But it's always neat when you can
Speaker 2: see the athleticism of these guys, and that's really all
Speaker 2: you're gonna be able to see. You're gonna be able
Speaker 2: to see the speed, You're gonna be able to see
Speaker 2: the way they catch the ball or in Michael Pratt's case,
Speaker 2: the way he throws the ball. That to me is
Speaker 2: where it's the first time you get eyes on these
Speaker 2: guys because you can look at their highlights, you can
Speaker 2: you can see their bios and all the things that
Speaker 2: they accomplished in college. But this is the first time
Speaker 2: you actually get to see the players in the semi
Speaker 2: unit and kind of going about their process. And it's
Speaker 2: a weird thing because you know, we do like a
Speaker 2: bunch of interviews and then we watch the practice, then
Speaker 2: mattle talk, and then we'll watch another practice. So you
Speaker 2: only learn so much, but I think it gives you
Speaker 2: a definite feel. Like, for example, the first time we
Speaker 2: saw Lucas fantast you're like, oh, okay, well this is
Speaker 2: why this guy was drafted thirteenth overall.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this looks like a.
Speaker 1: Greek god, right right, Yeah, looking at it, it's it's
Speaker 1: always interesting to me looking at just getting a chance
Speaker 1: to see what they look like physically on the field
Speaker 1: with their helmet on, even though they're not in pads.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's it's just you know, shorts and helmets,
Speaker 1: but seeing what they look like physically when when Okay,
Speaker 1: this isn't This isn't your college team anymore. This is
Speaker 1: more the cream of the crop of the college guys.
Speaker 1: Even when you're talking the tryout guys who don't have
Speaker 1: a contract, those are still the guys who were, you know,
Speaker 1: the cream of the crop in college. Not it's not
Speaker 1: just you know, eighty five scholarship players on one sideline.
Speaker 1: But then the other thing that always that always strikes
Speaker 1: me is is just watching some of the fundamental stuff,
Speaker 1: like how do guys catch the ball? I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I'll never forget. It's always stood out to me. The
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen rookie Mini camp one of the things. And
Speaker 1: for whatever reason that day, I don't know exactly why,
Speaker 1: but the Packers were doing were doing all kinds of
Speaker 1: punt and punt return drills in that rookie Mini camp practice,
Speaker 1: and Micah Hyde is back there fielding punts, yep. And
Speaker 1: you know he looked he looked as natural and as
Speaker 1: smooth and easy catching all, you know, these wobbly punts
Speaker 1: and everything else, as anybody had ever seen as a rookie.
Speaker 1: It's just you look at that guy and you go, ah,
Speaker 1: that's the that's a baller. You know, like there was
Speaker 1: nothing that was going to phase that guy. And and
Speaker 1: sure enough, he was just a rookie fifth round pick
Speaker 1: out of Iowa who ran too slow at the time,
Speaker 1: and we all know what he became for both the
Speaker 1: Packers and the Buffalo Bills. So those are the kinds
Speaker 1: of things that that are always interestable, and it's just
Speaker 1: it's such a brief introduction. You know, they get they
Speaker 1: get the playbook and they get you know, I don't know,
Speaker 1: half a dozen or a dozen plays just to you know,
Speaker 1: they they get a quarterback like Michael Pratt to just
Speaker 1: learn how to spit out a couple of different plays
Speaker 1: in the huddle and uh, and to get everybody on
Speaker 1: the same page and whatnot. Because as you said, the
Speaker 1: next the next step then is toward the end of
Speaker 1: this month, when the OTAs begin. They're thrown in there
Speaker 1: with all the veterans. Then it's like, okay, this is
Speaker 1: a this is gonna be a real, non padded but
Speaker 1: a real NFL practice that these guys are going to
Speaker 1: be in and uh, and they get you know, three
Speaker 1: four weeks of that, including the mini camp in the
Speaker 1: middle of June.
Speaker 2: And one other thing to mention too, just very quickly
Speaker 2: with Michael Pratt, because yeah, OTAs are going to come
Speaker 2: around and it'll be just like training camp where it's
Speaker 2: predominantly Jordan Love and Sean Clifford will get some snaps
Speaker 2: as well. But you know, as we learned, uh you know,
Speaker 2: I think it was yesterday. You know, Alex McGoo is
Speaker 2: gonna be making the switch over to receiver now. So
Speaker 2: Michael Pratt is sitting in that umber three spot. That
Speaker 2: means that you're not going to be the fourth guy up,
Speaker 2: You're going to be the third guy out. Yeah, So
Speaker 2: if you know, if trickle things coming down and trickle
Speaker 2: to your OTAs, you have to be ready for that moment.
Speaker 2: It sounds like the young man has that disposition about him.
Speaker 2: But it again one of the reasons why when you
Speaker 2: think of like Sean Clifford jumping in the way he did,
Speaker 2: or even Tim Boyle back in twenty eighteen. Yeah, they
Speaker 2: set that tone right from the beginning of OTAs to
Speaker 2: make their case for making a roster right being the
Speaker 2: number two quarterback and all the every opportunity matters. So
Speaker 2: even if it is you know, if you don't really
Speaker 2: recognize anybody right away, you trying to just figure things
Speaker 2: out while you're out there.
Speaker 3: It's all it's all reviewed, it's all graded.
Speaker 2: And ultimately that's how you start setting a depth charties
Speaker 2: you get into training camp.
Speaker 1: Yeah, nobody wins or loses any jobs, any jobs during
Speaker 1: the rookie mini camp, except maybe the tryout guys. Of course,
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the draft picks and the undrafted guys
Speaker 1: who have already signed. Nobody wins or loses any jobs
Speaker 1: during the rookie minicamp. But first impressions do matter and
Speaker 1: that and these guys know that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's exciting too, because there's very few times
Speaker 2: where you and I will go out there and it's
Speaker 2: just you're looking at a completely new football team. You know,
Speaker 2: there will usually be like, what maybe forty between thirty
Speaker 2: five fifty guys that are out there on the field,
Speaker 2: depending on how big the UFA classes and how many
Speaker 2: returning veterans are eligible to play participate in it. But
Speaker 2: it's again, it's setting out the books and pens and
Speaker 2: papers for the first day of school. It's another step
Speaker 2: towards getting back towards the season and ultimately figuring out
Speaker 2: if any of these eleven guys can make the impact
Speaker 2: that you know that draft class did a year.
Speaker 1: Ago absolutely well. On our next show, we will share
Speaker 1: some of our first impressions with regard to the Rookie
Speaker 1: Mini Camp, but for now 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 the team. Everything with regard
Speaker 1: to Rookie Mini Camp that we have access to, we
Speaker 1: will cover it to the best of our ability on
Speaker 1: packers dot com or wes. I Am Mike. Thank you
Speaker 1: for tuning in, everybody who will see you next time.