Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spoffer, joint as always
Speaker 1: by my partner at Crime, Wes Hodcoats. We're coming to
Speaker 1: you here from our brand new studio within the walls
Speaker 1: of lambeau Field to review the twenty twenty six NFL
Speaker 1: Draft and Wes when it comes to this draft for
Speaker 1: the Packers, we have to start with this last week
Speaker 1: in these chairs.
Speaker 2: But the fact we got nothing right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you said you said the Packers were gonna turn
Speaker 1: eight picks into ten. I said it would be nine.
Speaker 1: Neither one of us even said seven, let alone six,
Speaker 1: which is what Brian Gudokunz ended up with when he
Speaker 1: traded up two different times in the draft, once on Friday,
Speaker 1: once on Saturday, came away with U with six picks.
Speaker 1: So that definitely caught us off, I think from an
Speaker 1: overview standpoint. But aside from that, or including that, what
Speaker 1: were your general impressions of this draft?
Speaker 2: The most surprising draft I've covered out of the seventeen
Speaker 2: that I've been a part of over the last well
Speaker 2: seventeen drafts. Listen first and foremost, the only thing predictable
Speaker 2: about this thing was just how quiet Thursday night was. Right.
Speaker 2: It was you and me, our colleagues sitting up in
Speaker 2: the President's boardroom and most of the time just kind
Speaker 2: of staring at each other, occasionally eating some food, drinking
Speaker 2: some coffee, and kind of just waiting for the end.
Speaker 2: Because we sort of knew Packers were not going to
Speaker 2: move in any of their future assets. We're pretty confident
Speaker 2: about that, so there was really no chance they were
Speaker 2: going to get back in the first round. But once
Speaker 2: Friday hit Man, everything shifted. Yeah, yes, they stayed put
Speaker 2: at fifty two. But the one thing I sort of
Speaker 2: was right about. They did make a trade, but it
Speaker 2: was to move up to get Chris McClellan out of Missoo.
Speaker 2: It wasn't to move back. When I made the prediction
Speaker 2: that they would end up with ten picks, I was thinking, hey,
Speaker 2: if they if they do pick at fifty two, maybe
Speaker 2: they trade that third and try to get some more
Speaker 2: Day three picks. But one thing that I said it
Speaker 2: four times now, but I'm gonna say one more time
Speaker 2: for people that might not have caught it was Brian
Speaker 2: Gudokunz was extremely transparent about this draft and what the
Speaker 2: Packers wanted what they thought of the later rounds and
Speaker 2: ultimately what they did to end up with six picks. Yes,
Speaker 2: I think that was partially a product of Micaeh Parsons
Speaker 2: in that trade, but it also was the Packers very
Speaker 2: much knew what they wanted and where they wanted to
Speaker 2: get it, and they weren't just gonna sit around and
Speaker 2: draft players for the sake of drafting players. This draft
Speaker 2: wasn't deep enough for that. They found what they prioritized
Speaker 2: and they captured it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Brian Gudokuntz told us he was going to add
Speaker 1: numbers at cornerback, and he did that both at pick
Speaker 1: fifty two and then added the Alabama corner Demanti Jackson
Speaker 1: in the sixth round. He said he was very interested
Speaker 1: in a nose tackle. He found one in Chris mccollin,
Speaker 1: traded up for him in the third round and got
Speaker 1: a guy who play the nose but also an interior
Speaker 1: d lineman who has a track record of rushing the passer,
Speaker 1: getting six sacks last season for Missouri. He said if
Speaker 1: he was gonna make trades, if he was going to
Speaker 1: move up, he was more inclined to use this year's
Speaker 1: picks and not next year's picks when he has a
Speaker 1: whole boatload of him, right, And that's exactly what he did.
Speaker 1: Both of the trades up. He used this year's picks.
Speaker 1: He did not dip into that well of selections for
Speaker 1: next year. But the only thing he didn't really clue
Speaker 1: us in on was the interest in the kicker. But
Speaker 1: I also wonder nobody really asked, So if somebody had asked,
Speaker 1: maybe we would have gotten a clue that he was
Speaker 1: interested in a kicker. And everybody pretty much had Tray
Speaker 1: Smack of Florida as the top kicker in this draft.
Speaker 1: If there was one who was going to get drafted,
Speaker 1: it was probably it was probably Smack. But you're right,
Speaker 1: Goody was as transparent as it gets as far as
Speaker 1: a GM at the podium talking with the what he
Speaker 1: said on Tuesday, what he said after the first round
Speaker 1: on when the Packers didn't have any selections, those comments,
Speaker 1: you know, there wasn't he wasn't really trying to trying
Speaker 1: to hide anything. When you look at when you look
Speaker 1: at this now that I mean six picks, it's the
Speaker 1: smallest draft class, tied for the smallest new franchise history,
Speaker 1: the smallest the Packers have had since two thousand and four,
Speaker 1: which was the year before Ted Thompson arrived. What do
Speaker 1: you feel is the most important thing? And this can
Speaker 1: either be a specific or a general comment. What do
Speaker 1: you feel is the most important thing the Packers accomplished
Speaker 1: in this draft?
Speaker 2: Okay, I want to do this like three things for
Speaker 2: a second. Okay, I'm gonna give you my first answer.
Speaker 1: One guy with three things.
Speaker 2: One guy with well, you'll you'll, you'll get one of
Speaker 2: the things, right, all right, But I want to I
Speaker 2: want to give you the first answer. I want to
Speaker 2: see what you say for the second answer, and if
Speaker 2: it doesn't touch on my other point, I'm gonna have
Speaker 2: a third answer. Does that make sense? Yeah? The most
Speaker 2: important thing they did was the cornerback thing. I can't
Speaker 2: honestly sit here and have the podcast that we had
Speaker 2: last week, in the preview that we had last week
Speaker 2: and not talk about the fact that the Packers did
Speaker 2: not only what Brian Goodiekin said, but what they needed
Speaker 2: to do. You and I discussed it. They hadn't drafted
Speaker 2: anybody at the cornerback position outside of the seventh round
Speaker 2: since twenty twenty one. This was the draft. This was
Speaker 2: the time to be able to stack that position up again.
Speaker 2: You hope that Keishawn Nixon, Carrington Valentine and also Benjamin
Speaker 2: Saint Jude that those guys stay healthy, they compete, and
Speaker 2: that's gonna be the top of your depth chart this year.
Speaker 2: But if something does go awry, if somebody does go down,
Speaker 2: who was that next man gonna be that steps up?
Speaker 2: You and I didn't know. We didn't know if bou
Speaker 2: Melton's even gonna be playing cornerback next year, honestly, or
Speaker 2: if he's gonna be going back to receiver. Those are
Speaker 2: questions we have to ask her in OTAs they needed
Speaker 2: to find depth. And what I liked about this was
Speaker 2: with Brandon Cisa in the second round. This is the
Speaker 2: blue Trip day two type pick. You're looking for, right, durable, physical,
Speaker 2: the ball production. That's something I think the packers are
Speaker 2: hoping that long term will improve. But he's twenty years old, Mike,
Speaker 2: And when you're looking at it, you check all the boxes.
Speaker 2: You look for, the those intangibles, you look for, the health,
Speaker 2: you look for that CSA fits all of that, Okay,
Speaker 2: So you get past all that, what are you looking for? Then?
Speaker 2: On day three, if they were going to go for
Speaker 2: a second cornerback. Demani Jackson is exactly what you want
Speaker 2: in a developmental six round pick. A guy with a
Speaker 2: five star pedigree, a dude that went to USC played well,
Speaker 2: got an opportunity to go to Alabama, played well as
Speaker 2: junior year. This past year kind of took a step back.
Speaker 2: There's so many things about him with his speed, his
Speaker 2: playmaking ability, his ball skills that if you get him
Speaker 2: in there with the right folks, you get him in
Speaker 2: there with the right coaches, and a guy that is
Speaker 2: not asked to go in day one and play right away.
Speaker 2: I really like what I see and in the interim
Speaker 2: also can be a really intriguing player for you on
Speaker 2: special teams.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm really interested to see just how this whole
Speaker 1: competition at cornerback is going to roll. And we're me
Speaker 1: talking about this throughout the spring and throughout the summer.
Speaker 1: But you know, really, the way I see it, other
Speaker 1: than Keishawn Nixon being your CB one, yep, you know
Speaker 1: you've got Valentine and Saint Jus. Now you've got Cisa
Speaker 1: and Demani Jackson thrown thrown into the mix here. I mean,
Speaker 1: how this is going to sort out two three, four five.
Speaker 1: You know at the cornerback position is very much up
Speaker 1: in the air. With both Cisay and Jackson, you're talking
Speaker 1: about two guys who can run. They both clocked in
Speaker 1: the low four fours in the forty the There's no
Speaker 1: question about the physical tools, size, speed, all of that
Speaker 1: with with either of these players. It's about the refinement,
Speaker 1: right as you said, get him in with the right
Speaker 1: guys and work on the development. As you said, CSA
Speaker 1: is only twenty years old. Both of these guys transferred
Speaker 1: during their college careers. Cse went from North Carolina State
Speaker 1: to South Carolina. Jackson went from USC to Alabama. And Jackson's,
Speaker 1: you know a guy, as Brian Gudacunz said, you know,
Speaker 1: he's been through some adversity. He went into his college
Speaker 1: career with a knee injury coming out of high that
Speaker 1: kind of slowed his ability to get on the field,
Speaker 1: and then he kind of lost his starting job a
Speaker 1: little bit last year for Alabama and then won it
Speaker 1: back when they got to the SEC championship game. So
Speaker 1: there were a lot of things that they studied about
Speaker 1: these players and brought them in for good reason. The
Speaker 1: other one, I think you know, to flip this to
Speaker 1: point number two is what the Packers did to reinforce
Speaker 1: things on the defensive line. Getting an interior guy in
Speaker 1: Chris McClellin, getting an edge guy in Deny Dennis Sutton
Speaker 1: from Penn State. Both of those positions, for different reasons,
Speaker 1: needed to be reinforced. Right you look at the edge,
Speaker 1: you don't have a Shan Gary or kings Leannigbari anymore,
Speaker 1: and you don't know exactly when Micaeh Parsons is going
Speaker 1: to be back from his injury, so things are kind
Speaker 1: of wide open there. You've now thrown into the mix
Speaker 1: with Lucas Faness. You've thrown into the mix another draft
Speaker 1: pick in Dennis Sutton to go with two draft picks
Speaker 1: from last year in Baron Currell and Colin Oliver. And
Speaker 1: then you also have Brenton Cox Junior coming back. And
Speaker 1: he was a guy that the Packers really were hoping
Speaker 1: they were going to get to see what he could
Speaker 1: do in a regular role last year, but then his
Speaker 1: whole season kind of became a wash because of because
Speaker 1: of injuries. So he's he's kind of back, you know
Speaker 1: where he was a year ago, and the Packers are
Speaker 1: still waiting to see. But you've got all these guys
Speaker 1: in the mix at at edge rusher with with opportunity
Speaker 1: knocking there given given the decision, the the what the
Speaker 1: process that has unfolded in the off season, and then
Speaker 1: on the interior, you've got DeVante Wyatt coming back from
Speaker 1: the injury, you signed Javon Hargrave, and now you drafted
Speaker 1: on Day two a guy who can play a true nose,
Speaker 1: can also play some three technique and as I said,
Speaker 1: mixes in the ability to get after the quarterback with
Speaker 1: the stopping the reinforcements. They got here without having a
Speaker 1: first round pick. I think I think Brian Goodcuns is
Speaker 1: pretty happy with what he got there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. And McClellan is the guy that
Speaker 2: I was going to kind of bring up as this
Speaker 2: third option because listen, the Packers wanted this dude bad
Speaker 2: Brian even touched on. I mean, this is a guy
Speaker 2: that was in the conversation for the second round pick,
Speaker 2: and when the third round came around, they were not
Speaker 2: willing to wait for him anymore. And I've said it
Speaker 2: again and some of the other content we've made, but
Speaker 2: it seemed like a prudent salient move by Brian goodecunts
Speaker 2: because if you look what happened immediately after they took him,
Speaker 2: two other defensive tackles came off the board, including orange.
Speaker 2: So this is going to be the type of tone
Speaker 2: setter I feel like, not only just with what they're
Speaker 2: hoping that McClelland can be as a playmaker, but I
Speaker 2: also think where this defensive front is headed. We aren't
Speaker 2: living in the era anymore of really the three hundred
Speaker 2: and forty pound Ryan Pickett's bj Raji's Johnny Jill. He's
Speaker 2: just lining up and having a thousand pound defensive front
Speaker 2: that doesn't really happen as much anymore. But this shift
Speaker 2: that you've seen if you've been paying close attention, the
Speaker 2: Packers are really putting a premium on length. When you
Speaker 2: look at the end of last season, they signed Jordan
Speaker 2: Riley from the Giants, and unfortunately Jordan ended up having
Speaker 2: the achilles injury that took him out. But we saw
Speaker 2: what we were looking at with a one technique tackle
Speaker 2: that's in like that three hundred and fifteen pound range
Speaker 2: but has incredibly long arms in some intriguing traits. In
Speaker 2: that regard, McClellan is that and then some this is
Speaker 2: a dude with eleven inch hands. It was a topic
Speaker 2: that I felt kind of sheepish. I didn't want to
Speaker 2: bring it up on the conference call because 'z acer,
Speaker 2: But I'm interested to talk to him about it this
Speaker 2: week because to give you a perspective on that, his
Speaker 2: hands are almost two inches larger than TJ. Slayton's when
Speaker 2: Slayton was playing nose tackle and Slayton was like nine
Speaker 2: in an eighth, I believe McClellan's hands are eleven inches.
Speaker 2: And when you look at all this, you watch him
Speaker 2: play on film, but then you look at all the
Speaker 2: scouting reports on him, everybody mentions just his physicality and
Speaker 2: how he can manipulate offensive linemen. That's what the Packers
Speaker 2: are looking for with a guy that can play that
Speaker 2: one three technique. Because realistically, yes, we're gonna have conversations.
Speaker 2: I'm sure Jonathan Gannon is just going to get pelted
Speaker 2: with questions about three to four when he an inevitably
Speaker 2: talks to the media. But the reality is the Packers
Speaker 2: are looking at this from a nickel position too, and
Speaker 2: when you look at the nickel, you're basically looking at
Speaker 2: two three tech nose tackles with some variants in there,
Speaker 2: but that's what you're looking for. Guys that can defend
Speaker 2: the run but also rush the passer. The Kenny Clarks,
Speaker 2: the DeVante Wyatts, and McClellan is just a really intriguing
Speaker 2: guy to add in that mix. Is there going to
Speaker 2: be room for still a Jonathan Ford if he earns
Speaker 2: the job. Absolutely. I don't think anybody's arguing with the
Speaker 2: three hundred and thirty pound defensive tackle and being able
Speaker 2: to have that specifically in short yardage situations or third
Speaker 2: and short. But you need guys that can do it
Speaker 2: on all three downs, especially when you're drafting early, and
Speaker 2: McClellan is that dude. So I'm very intrigued meet him.
Speaker 2: I loved all of his content that he put out.
Speaker 2: Seems like a very gracious, appreciative young man that when
Speaker 2: you look at terms of packer people. The more I
Speaker 2: learn about him, the more I hear stories about him
Speaker 2: at MISSOO, Uh, this is definitely a guy that's gonna
Speaker 2: fit into the culture.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like the focus on the hand size
Speaker 1: and the length, I mean, the thing that scouts like
Speaker 1: about that, and they like it both as far as
Speaker 1: offensive linement and defensive defensive linement because it's about being
Speaker 1: able to use those physical tools to separate from the
Speaker 1: person that you're engaging with, right, It's it's about it's
Speaker 1: about being able to separate and control the other body.
Speaker 1: And uh, and that's what that's what all the combat
Speaker 1: is down there in the trenches. Right, So you're always
Speaker 1: looking for guys who maybe have a little bit of
Speaker 1: an edge there, you know, from uh, from a physical standpoint.
Speaker 1: All right, so we've touched on the cornerback and the
Speaker 1: defensive line side of things. Point three, I'll turn it
Speaker 1: back to you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so let's just talk really quickly here about Jagger
Speaker 2: Burton because in the fifth n again kind of like
Speaker 2: Jackson in some ways, the Packers phone a guy that
Speaker 2: came with really big credentials coming out of high school.
Speaker 2: Burton was the first ever mister Kentucky Football that was
Speaker 2: an offensive lineman in the whatever it ended up being
Speaker 2: now thirty eight years that they've had that award in Kentucky.
Speaker 2: Normally you always think about quarterbacks, receivers, maybe a pass rusher.
Speaker 2: This dude was that physical, that dominant that he got
Speaker 2: that type of recognition. So he's from Lexington. He decides
Speaker 2: to stay at Lexington. He liked what they were building
Speaker 2: there and wants to see it through. What I love
Speaker 2: about his story is there's a lot of adversity involved
Speaker 2: in that. This is a guy that came in and
Speaker 2: made an all freshman team right away, but didn't really
Speaker 2: lock down a starting, full time position until his final year. Yes,
Speaker 2: he started at various spots, but it was at left guard,
Speaker 2: it was at center, it was at right guard, and
Speaker 2: then finally this past year was at center. He talked
Speaker 2: about the pressure. I really appreciate his honesty and transparency
Speaker 2: about the pressure of being a four or five star
Speaker 2: recruit who stayed home and played for his home state team.
Speaker 2: This isn't a guy that flew across the country and
Speaker 2: went to Washington or Oregon or USC or was over
Speaker 2: down at Florida State. He stayed at Kentucky and wanted
Speaker 2: to play in the SEC and accept that challenge. And
Speaker 2: he mentioned being able to lean on his family and
Speaker 2: the people that supported him throughout that. In addition to
Speaker 2: the fact he's a six foot four guy at three
Speaker 2: hundred and twelve pounds, he runs a sub four forty.
Speaker 2: He has the athletic intangible sub five sub five A see,
Speaker 2: I got too much in.
Speaker 1: Himself fast just wanted to correct you there.
Speaker 2: He actually he was given John Ross a run for
Speaker 2: his money.
Speaker 1: In the forty.
Speaker 2: That'd be like somebody that you'd create it like Matt
Speaker 2: and you just want again like you break the whole system.
Speaker 2: I have a mod on there, but no runs a
Speaker 2: sub five forty for a man that size. Packers. When
Speaker 2: you look at how they draft offensive lineman, this is
Speaker 2: typically the traits they look for. I talked years ago
Speaker 2: about Sean Ryan and Zach tom both were like the
Speaker 2: top vertical among offensive linemen. They look for those sort
Speaker 2: of things. They pay attention to those sort of things
Speaker 2: because it talks to them and speaks to them in
Speaker 2: terms of a player's explosiveness. And that's gonna be something
Speaker 2: that Burton's going to try to bring here again. Another
Speaker 2: guy man that will get added into the mix. We've
Speaker 2: seen a fifth round pick like Corey Linsley come in
Speaker 2: and get a starting opportunity right away and own it.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it takes a couple of years, like it did
Speaker 2: with Sean Ryan, but either way, the Packers needed to
Speaker 2: add a body at that position and Burton definitely fills
Speaker 2: that well.
Speaker 1: It seems like the way it shook out, and I
Speaker 1: don't want to speak for the personnel department or the
Speaker 1: coaching staff here, but just trying to read the tea
Speaker 1: leaves a little bit the way this shook out, the
Speaker 1: Packers ended up taking just one offensive lineman in this
Speaker 1: draft to fortify things, and he's an interior guy. His
Speaker 1: starts throughout his college career at Kentucky, Burton started games
Speaker 1: at both guard spots as well as at center. He's
Speaker 1: an interior guy who can play all three spots, very
Speaker 1: much like Jacob Monk, who the Packers drafted a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago. You've also got John Williams, an interior
Speaker 1: guy who's rookie season was you know, kind of a
Speaker 1: wash or a red shirt, whatever you want to say,
Speaker 1: because of because medical rich. So the way the way
Speaker 1: things are shaping up, it seems to me that with
Speaker 1: other guys who have shown some versatility Darien Kennard, Travis Glover,
Speaker 1: that those are the guys who those are going to
Speaker 1: be your backup tackles now, you know, because you've now
Speaker 1: sort of fortified the inside with this extra draft pick
Speaker 1: and the other guys that go along there. That's sort
Speaker 1: of the way I read it. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely? And you know, and to the reporter's credit,
Speaker 2: you know, Brian Goodcuinz was asked after the work game
Speaker 2: or after the draft too. Okay, so what happens at
Speaker 2: left tackle now? Because you did not draft to tackle
Speaker 2: like that much is known. I mean, this is a
Speaker 2: guy that has played exclusively into your offensive line. It's
Speaker 2: not a an Anthony Belton type where it's like, okay,
Speaker 2: well you got a really good body here played tackle.
Speaker 2: Could he going inside questions to figure out there? Burton's
Speaker 2: going to be in that conversation. So if you're looking
Speaker 2: at how to replace Rashid Walker at left tackle, obviously
Speaker 2: it starts with Jordan Morgan, and the Packers made that
Speaker 2: investment two years ago. They're gonna see that through. But
Speaker 2: the question was asking, good concept, what else are your
Speaker 2: options there? And he mentioned whether it's Zach Tom, whether
Speaker 2: it's it is a Darien Canard, whether it is maybe
Speaker 2: even an Anthony Belton. The Packers still feel good about
Speaker 2: their options. I think where Green Bay needs to get
Speaker 2: to this training camp and this season is they have
Speaker 2: had all these young dudes. This has been an infusion
Speaker 2: of talent on the offensive line the last few seasons,
Speaker 2: but I remember, I'll never forget this. A very well
Speaker 2: accomplished NFL coach once told me. He's like, you don't
Speaker 2: see offensive linemen coming to their own until they're twenty
Speaker 2: seven years old. That's when they hit their prime. And
Speaker 2: then after that you're gonna hopefully keep them healthy, and
Speaker 2: then you're gonna see where they take off to. And
Speaker 2: sometimes you end up with Andrew Whitworth, who does the
Speaker 2: darn thing until he's forty right so, or Trent Williams
Speaker 2: as he's doing right now making all of us thirty
Speaker 2: eight year olds look good. But the fact is is
Speaker 2: that I think Green Bay needs to find a way
Speaker 2: to settle into a lineup. Now they have the bodies,
Speaker 2: they have the guys who's going to be the one
Speaker 2: to own those positions and if they can get to
Speaker 2: that point, obviously we have to deal with the injuries.
Speaker 2: I understand that, But in terms of having a week
Speaker 2: one starting lineup where you feel good about the five guys,
Speaker 2: where they're at, not just the people but the positions
Speaker 2: they're playing, I think that's one of the main objectives
Speaker 2: here going in this upcoming season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree with you. A couple other things
Speaker 1: we need to get to with regard to this draft,
Speaker 1: but we do need to take a quick break, So
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Speaker 1: to seven, three sixty five, Welcome back to Packers unscripted
Speaker 1: talking about the twenty twenty six NFL Draft and Wes,
Speaker 1: I got all kinds of other questions I want to
Speaker 1: ask you about this draft, but I'm going to pass
Speaker 1: them off actually to our next show, because we do
Speaker 1: have another show this week.
Speaker 2: Gotta pay the bills multiple days this week. Why not?
Speaker 1: Why not? But before we go today, we need to
Speaker 1: talk about how this draft ended.
Speaker 2: Yes for the Green Day Packers.
Speaker 1: Because Demani Jackson was selected in the sixth round, the
Speaker 1: second cornerback of the first five picks that the Packer took,
Speaker 1: and they were looking at having two seventh round picks.
Speaker 1: Then all of a sudden, Guta Kunz decided and he
Speaker 1: found a trading partner in John Schneider, the GM of
Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks traded both of those seventh round picks
Speaker 1: for the last pick in the sixth round, and he
Speaker 1: drafted Trey Smack, the kicker out of Florida. And so
Speaker 1: he handed us and everyone in Packers media world a
Speaker 1: story that is going to last all the way up
Speaker 1: until probably Week one of the regular season as to
Speaker 1: who is going to be the kicker for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers in twenty twenty six, because as of this moment, Man,
Speaker 1: the competition is on Brandon McManus, Lucas Haversik, Trey Smack,
Speaker 1: They're all here. Who's gonna win it?
Speaker 2: Yeah? And this was the one too that Okay, So
Speaker 2: I gotta give you a little bit of background here.
Speaker 2: We obviously the way we split up the draft, you're
Speaker 2: doing the Bolton stories, I'm doing the instant reacts with
Speaker 2: Larry in the studio right next to us here. So
Speaker 2: I had to do the instant reacts on you know, Demani,
Speaker 2: And then I decided, I'm like, well, you're doing that story.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go get a slice of pizza quick, and
Speaker 2: then I'm gonna come back down because it's gonna be
Speaker 2: go time. We're gonna have two seventh round picks. I'm
Speaker 2: handling both of those for one story. You know, all
Speaker 2: heck is gonna break loose. It always does in the
Speaker 2: seventh round, especially the years of the Packers draft four
Speaker 2: in the seventh round. This was not one of those years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the and the timing shortens up to because
Speaker 1: it's four minutes four minutes per pick instead of five.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, the seventh round can kind of be
Speaker 1: can be pretty hectic and fast paced.
Speaker 2: So I'm pretty much almost to the invisi line gate
Speaker 2: justin wolfill appreciate that reference. And then I get a
Speaker 2: text from our boss that where hey, the Packers traded.
Speaker 1: Packers are on the clock.
Speaker 2: And then I had to use every bit of my
Speaker 2: limited athletic ability to run my butt back to our
Speaker 2: offices so we could cover this draft pick. And what
Speaker 2: struck me the most and what I thought about immediately
Speaker 2: was you go back to the twenty twenty three draft,
Speaker 2: because some people are gonna say, well, you remember when
Speaker 2: they took Anders Carlson, And this is no disrespect to Anders,
Speaker 2: but that year Jake Moody was clearly the top kicker
Speaker 2: in that draft out of Michigan. San Francisco ended up
Speaker 2: using a third round pick on him to select him.
Speaker 2: I actually kind of liked him in that sixth round
Speaker 2: range if you'd have been there for Green Bay. I
Speaker 2: was like, that could be a potential answer there. What
Speaker 2: I love about this with Smack is this guy was
Speaker 2: undeniably the best kicker in the draft. As a turnout,
Speaker 2: he was the only kicker that ended up getting picked
Speaker 2: at all. But pretty much every scouting syndicate, including Glancer
Speaker 2: Line on NFL dot com, had a grade on him,
Speaker 2: had a round on him, a six grade on him.
Speaker 2: This was the move for Green Bay, is what we
Speaker 2: found out. Brian looked at the seventh round, didn't see
Speaker 2: a whole lot there that he was liking in terms
Speaker 2: of what they could potentially add. And again, I just
Speaker 2: wish I could have been in on that phone call
Speaker 2: because I'm still struggling to understand how we took the
Speaker 2: third to last pick of the draft, partnered with the
Speaker 2: twentieth pick in the seventh round, and somehow got into
Speaker 2: the sixth round even if it was the last pick.
Speaker 2: Like that was Yeoman's work. There By Brian goodikuins to
Speaker 2: get John Schneider to agree to that. In addition to
Speaker 2: the fact that John very much also a man of
Speaker 2: his word, just wanted to acquire some draft picks. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and in evidently and did so in that case. So
Speaker 2: let's talk about the player now. Trace mac is a
Speaker 2: draftable athlete, draftable talent. Everyone will talk about the fact
Speaker 2: that he made ten kicks from beyond fifty yards at
Speaker 2: Florida on only thirteen tries, and that's an impressive stat
Speaker 2: school record, school record. But what I like the most
Speaker 2: is in three years he never had lower than an
Speaker 2: eighty percent field goal make percentage at Florida, and that
Speaker 2: includes a really disastrous start to this past year where
Speaker 2: he missed three field goals in one game and then
Speaker 2: only won the rest of the entire season and made
Speaker 2: that correction. If you and I have been around long enough,
Speaker 2: you see statistics on kickers every year. Typically most of
Speaker 2: them are in the seventies, sometimes even in the sixties.
Speaker 2: It's a difficult thing to do to kick in these stadiums,
Speaker 2: the hashes are wider all that type of stuff. For
Speaker 2: Smack to be able to be that consistent, that speaks
Speaker 2: to a level headedness kicking in the sec that I
Speaker 2: think goes beyond just what you scout and tangibly. I mean,
Speaker 2: this guy has what it takes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean in that conference, those stadiums, the noise,
Speaker 1: the environments that you're in on a weekly basis there
Speaker 1: that definitely, hopefully that will that will translates as I
Speaker 1: think it did early on for Anders Carlson and where
Speaker 1: he came from. But then he kind of got into
Speaker 1: a rut. You know, he started out so strong, then
Speaker 1: got into a rut, kind of couldn't get out of it,
Speaker 1: and you know, the packers just didn't have time to
Speaker 1: wait around. Right. A couple of things that I'll say
Speaker 1: about about Smack. One is that in looking at some
Speaker 1: of the video when our video department put together like
Speaker 1: he was part of the Prospect primer on kickers. By
Speaker 1: the way, I did okay on primers this year, Arry Goodsise, McClellan,
Speaker 1: and Smack we're all in the primer list.
Speaker 2: Impressive.
Speaker 1: But what stood out to me is that is when
Speaker 1: you're watching his highlights, when he's kicking these fifty four
Speaker 1: fifty five to fifty six yard field goals, the trajectory
Speaker 1: on the kicks, he doesn't have to hit some low
Speaker 1: line drive in order to get a fifty five yard
Speaker 1: field goal over the crossbar. He's got a trajectory on
Speaker 1: his kicks even from the long distances. That's really really
Speaker 1: impressive and not surprisingly to go along with that, he
Speaker 1: only had one kick blocked his entire career at Florida,
Speaker 1: and it was back in twenty twenty three, his first
Speaker 1: year as the full time kicker there. So I'm really
Speaker 1: interested to see. I mean, you know how this is.
Speaker 1: We've seen this over the years, different times, different kickers
Speaker 1: come in. I love just standing on the sidelines and
Speaker 1: listening for when the ball comes off his foot, what
Speaker 1: does it sound like, because that's the first clue to me,
Speaker 1: the non scout, just the layman. If I close my
Speaker 1: eyes and I listened to it, that's what tells me
Speaker 1: if the guy has a chance or not. So I'm
Speaker 1: really interested to hear and see that from Smack. The
Speaker 1: other thing I'll say is a move like this to
Speaker 1: me is what is so fascinating about the NFL draft. Yep, right,
Speaker 1: Because obviously Brian Gudukuntz does not trade two seventh round
Speaker 1: picks to move back up into the end of the
Speaker 1: sixth round to take Trey Smack unless he's really interested
Speaker 1: in him. But by the same token, if somebody had
Speaker 1: been interested enough enough in Tray Smack to take him
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the sixth round or even in
Speaker 1: the fifth round, he's gone question and the Packers are
Speaker 1: not going to make this move. And so we're heading
Speaker 1: into twenty twenty six now we don't know is Brandon
Speaker 1: McMahon still going to be the kicker or did the
Speaker 1: Packers find their next Mason Crosby and a kicker that
Speaker 1: could be here for another fifteen years. We have no idea,
Speaker 1: But it was just the circumstances and the way the
Speaker 1: draft fell. This happened because the Packers had fifteen picks
Speaker 1: before Trey Smack they took Demani Jackson. I mean, they
Speaker 1: had a chance to take him then without having to
Speaker 1: make a trade, but they didn't because of where he
Speaker 1: was on the board, you know. So it's yes, the
Speaker 1: interest level was clearly there, but if some other team
Speaker 1: had been that much more interested in Trey Smack, then
Speaker 1: we're not having this conversation. And that's the thing to
Speaker 1: me that it's absolutely fascinating about the NFL Draft.
Speaker 2: It is the most fascinating thing because it's not even
Speaker 2: just about Smack. I remember sitting in the auditorium as
Speaker 2: the draft started on Thursday. I'm kind of getting a
Speaker 2: lay of the land, and I'm sitting there looking at
Speaker 2: the podium and I'm literally thinking about the fact that
Speaker 2: somewhere in this building right now, Brian Gudekunst is going
Speaker 2: to be making decisions. Ultimately, he has a team, but
Speaker 2: it's his pick. He's going to be making decisions that
Speaker 2: is going to affect everybody's life. There's a domino effect,
Speaker 2: in a butterfly effect that will change the course of
Speaker 2: history tonight, the night, the night after, and then obviously
Speaker 2: the last night, and this is one of those instances.
Speaker 2: So you just never know. And you also don't know too.
Speaker 2: I mean, from the standpoint of the kicking competition, it's
Speaker 2: going to be a red hot battle this offseason. And
Speaker 2: you also see too, when competitions go down to the
Speaker 2: wires sometimes there's other things that can happen. You think
Speaker 2: about how Corey Bihorke has got here back in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one. I believe that was that was because LA
Speaker 2: didn't have a spot for him because of Johnny Hecker,
Speaker 2: so they traded him for a seventh round pick. In
Speaker 2: Green Bay. So there's always different ways that this thing
Speaker 2: can go. But I think what I like about Smack though,
Speaker 2: and he talked about it, he enjoys pressure. It's fun
Speaker 2: to him. I think that is a crazy mentality to have.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I've ever really looked forward to pressure.
Speaker 2: But that's also what separates these guys at this level
Speaker 2: and it is one of the no talking to Mason
Speaker 2: Crosby over the years, that is one of the biggest
Speaker 2: things you have to look for. And kickers. You can
Speaker 2: be long levered, you can have a big lay, you
Speaker 2: can have all the things you want and a kicker,
Speaker 2: but ultimately, in those seconds when people are bearing down
Speaker 2: on you, the crowd is speaking up. Being able to
Speaker 2: zone all that out and just look directly those uprights
Speaker 2: and put that ball between them. There is no job
Speaker 2: quite like that in professional sports.
Speaker 1: And the Packers have quite frankly, they've left too many
Speaker 1: points out there in the last three playoff games. You know,
Speaker 1: different kickers, different situations, but left too many points out
Speaker 1: there that have contributed to the end of the last
Speaker 1: three seasons. So finding that kicker who's going to get
Speaker 1: it done in the playoffs and give you that extra
Speaker 1: push to possibly, you know, make a runout of championship.
Speaker 1: That's what Green Bay is after.
Speaker 2: In the game change too, because people were asking an
Speaker 2: inbox about you know, practice squad and kickers. I mean
Speaker 2: everything's on the table now because you have the seventeen
Speaker 2: player practice squads. You're seeing it now where multiple kickers
Speaker 2: sometimes end up on a roster. I mean, shoot, it
Speaker 2: happened with Green Bay last year with Haversick, right, they
Speaker 2: did that for a month with both him and McManus
Speaker 2: being on the fifty three. You see now guys all
Speaker 2: the time. Basically every team carries some form of a
Speaker 2: kicker or a punter on their practice squad. Now to
Speaker 2: have that insurance policy because they've expanded to that level.
Speaker 2: The way that teams are building their squads now sixty
Speaker 2: nine seventy players with the international exemption is probably one
Speaker 2: of the more since since COVID and not how they've
Speaker 2: changed all these rules. That's sort of the game within
Speaker 2: the game because you never know come January which one
Speaker 2: of those guys is gonna be playing a big role
Speaker 2: for you in a big game.
Speaker 1: No doubt about it. Well, we got a lot more
Speaker 1: to talk about with the Draft. We'll do it on
Speaker 1: our next show in a couple of days, but for
Speaker 1: now we'll call it a rap on this edition of
Speaker 1: Packers Unscript. It'd be sure to follow all of our
Speaker 1: coverage of the team, and if you haven't checked it out,
Speaker 1: please take a look at the draft coverage. We got
Speaker 1: bulletin stories, feature stories on every pick. There's a wrap
Speaker 1: up story there, there's video highlights. There's Wes's in, Larry's
Speaker 1: instant reacts videos. There's three things videos from apparently the
Speaker 1: couch in my living room.
Speaker 2: Yes, nice couch by the way.
Speaker 1: All kinds of stuff on the website from the weekend
Speaker 1: from the draft, so be sure to check it out.
Speaker 1: I got kids for Wes. I am Mike. Thank you
Speaker 1: for tuning in everybody, and we will see you next time.