Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of Packers Unscripted
Speaker 1: from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as
Speaker 1: always by my trusted colleague Weston hod Kuitz. We are
Speaker 1: back from a a summer hiatus and uh, training camp
Speaker 1: is upon us west So I'll throw the opening line
Speaker 1: of that hype song at you. Are you ready for this? No? No, no,
Speaker 1: uh no no, it's exciting and uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: got a chance to be at the shareholders meeting on
Speaker 1: Monday and I was talking with Aaron Nageler from Cheese
Speaker 1: Said TV about this. I mean, there is a certain
Speaker 1: amount of change that you've almost feel the week that
Speaker 1: training camp starts. And I would like to joke with
Speaker 1: some of my family members that it's like there's five
Speaker 1: seasons in Wisconsin where you know, there's spring, summer, training camp, fall, winter.
Speaker 1: Like it's just the air taste a little bit different,
Speaker 1: the sun hits you a little bit from a different angle.
Speaker 1: It's an exciting time around lambau Field. And one of
Speaker 1: the questions that I had from Mark Murphy was, you know,
Speaker 1: just not just the return to normalcy, but just the
Speaker 1: idea of being able to get the bikes out there again,
Speaker 1: being able to to get fans really truly into this,
Speaker 1: people not having to ask the question anymore about hey,
Speaker 1: are we allowed? Are we not allowed? It's gonna, i think,
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways, feel a lot more like
Speaker 1: a traditional training camp, and for me, that's something I'm
Speaker 1: very grateful for. Yeah, absolutely, the return to normal as
Speaker 1: best we can under the current circumstances. Well, the first
Speaker 1: practice of training camp is scheduled for Wednesday morning, that
Speaker 1: is when camp for the Packers kicks off. So we'll
Speaker 1: try to set the stage here a little bit with
Speaker 1: regard to some of the news that has come out
Speaker 1: been reported in the last few days with regard to
Speaker 1: players who are going to begin training camp on the
Speaker 1: PUP list, which is which stands for physically unable to perform.
Speaker 1: It's players who will not be practicing at the start
Speaker 1: of training camp, and it's routine for anybody who doesn't
Speaker 1: pass a physical, doesn't pass a conditioning test, whatever. There
Speaker 1: could be any number of reasons they aren't going to
Speaker 1: be out there the first day of practice. They will
Speaker 1: be on the PUP list. Two players in particular, because
Speaker 1: of position groups that we've spent a lot of time
Speaker 1: talking about two players who are going to be on
Speaker 1: the pup list to start camp, David Baktier and rookie
Speaker 1: wide receiver Christian Watson. Starting on the offensive line, this
Speaker 1: throws a little bit of a wrinkle into maybe where
Speaker 1: we thought training camp was going to go with regard
Speaker 1: to the offensive line, because in my mind, I was picturing, Okay,
Speaker 1: you get your five time All Pro back at left tackle,
Speaker 1: and then you see how it shakes out at right tackle,
Speaker 1: right yosh Naiman, maybe Sean Ryan's and the mixed Royce Newman.
Speaker 1: There could be some different guys fighting for that right
Speaker 1: tackle spot. Well, if bok tr is not going to
Speaker 1: be practicing, I'm assuming most likely yosh Naiman is going
Speaker 1: to be the left tackle with the number one offense here.
Speaker 1: As training camp gets going, you still got to have that,
Speaker 1: you know, an experience against guy there on on Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers blindside, even when it's just a training camp practice.
Speaker 1: So then we'll see what happens with regard then to
Speaker 1: the competition at right tackle and how it begins. That
Speaker 1: being said, they're not going to be in pads for
Speaker 1: a handful of days here yet with regard to uh
Speaker 1: to the all the players and alignment and the contact
Speaker 1: in particular. But what's your sense of just kind of
Speaker 1: where things are going here on the offensive line right now? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was when when you go back to the off
Speaker 1: season program, you know, Yash ended up playing quite a
Speaker 1: bit at left tackle, probably more than I was anticipating,
Speaker 1: regardless of whether or not box tr he was out there.
Speaker 1: I just was wondering if they would give him more
Speaker 1: reps at the right side. My guess is knowing the
Speaker 1: way that Adam Sanovich looks at this thing, obviously, Luke
Speaker 1: buck has being a disciple of that is, let's let's
Speaker 1: get our guys out there, let's put them in positions
Speaker 1: to be comfortable, and then once you you know, if
Speaker 1: you've got to do some positional versatility there, if you
Speaker 1: gotta do some cross training there. They've obviously been really
Speaker 1: ept at doing that as well. So, but Nieman is
Speaker 1: the guy I guess, to me I've always sort of
Speaker 1: had penciled in is the right tackle. Um, the real
Speaker 1: big quite sh mark in this entire equation is Royce Newman,
Speaker 1: because you you almost I look at Newman the same
Speaker 1: way I looked at Billy Turner coming out of his
Speaker 1: second or his first year in Green Bay in two
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen. He played guard last year, but you know,
Speaker 1: he also has a tackle frame, And there's been an
Speaker 1: idea in the background mind too that Okay, maybe that
Speaker 1: right tackle competition comes down to a Nieman and a Newman.
Speaker 1: But then are you are you doing a disservice to
Speaker 1: Newman by not letting him retain his starting position at
Speaker 1: right guard. That's the number one question I think the
Speaker 1: Packers are gonna have to answer this spring this summer's
Speaker 1: where is Royce Newman playing? Where do you want to
Speaker 1: see him line up? He started at tackle last year
Speaker 1: and then they ended up moving him to right guard
Speaker 1: when there were some issues there early in camp at
Speaker 1: that position. Once the Newman kind of question gets answered,
Speaker 1: I think that's where the rest falls in line with Nieman,
Speaker 1: with these rookies that came in, you know, because that's
Speaker 1: the thing and I wrote about in our position by
Speaker 1: position series. There are nine draft picks I think on
Speaker 1: this team. I mean, they have invested so many resources
Speaker 1: into that position. Not to mention a guy like Cole
Speaker 1: Van Landing from Bayport that was taking some reps with
Speaker 1: the first team unit at tackle this this past spring.
Speaker 1: So that is really to me going to be the
Speaker 1: number one question is because I feel like you can
Speaker 1: look at eight different versions of this offensive line and honestly,
Speaker 1: I believe all of them is potentially be in the
Speaker 1: week one line up. Yeah, I agree with you on
Speaker 1: that point, and also with regard to sort of where
Speaker 1: is Newman going to fit best in this equation now?
Speaker 1: And granted we don't know how much of training camp
Speaker 1: David Bactieri is gonna miss, hopefully it's not a lot.
Speaker 1: But Newman when he was drafted in the fourth round
Speaker 1: out of Old Miss, he was brought in as a
Speaker 1: guy who played plenty of tackle and plenty of guard
Speaker 1: in college. This is a guy the Packers felt, like
Speaker 1: you said with Billy Turner, who could play both spots,
Speaker 1: and they're going to find maybe where he fits best.
Speaker 1: Now you have that third round rookie and Sean Ryan
Speaker 1: in the mix here. Now, this is a guy who
Speaker 1: played a lot of tackle in college at U c.
Speaker 1: L A. But yet you look at you talked about
Speaker 1: Newman maybe having that build of a tackle, Ryan almost
Speaker 1: looks like he has more the build of a guard
Speaker 1: as opposed to a tackle. Now, that's not to say
Speaker 1: that that's absolutely a hundred percent where he's going to go.
Speaker 1: But if Royce Newman is taking more reps at right tackle,
Speaker 1: that potentially opens the door for Sean Ryan to get
Speaker 1: some more reps with the upper units in in practice
Speaker 1: UM at a guard spot. And then and then we
Speaker 1: see what happens here at this time last year. Neither
Speaker 1: you nor i, as we had talked about on our
Speaker 1: last show before we took our break, we weren't talking
Speaker 1: about Royce Newman being in the starting line up here
Speaker 1: for the Green Bay Packers. So we just don't know
Speaker 1: exactly how this is going to shake out. And then obviously,
Speaker 1: when David Bati gets back um on the practice field
Speaker 1: on a full time basis, that's going to you know,
Speaker 1: set off a string at Domino, so to speak. As
Speaker 1: far as how this is going to fall into play. Yeah,
Speaker 1: getting a chance to talk with Sean Ryan this offseason,
Speaker 1: I mean you get an idea how big this guy is.
Speaker 1: I mean I almost equate him almost. He's a large
Speaker 1: aversion of Lane Taylor where he has that's a good
Speaker 1: way to put big, well proportioned body. But he's also
Speaker 1: six five, I mean, so It's funny just the transition
Speaker 1: that you've seen with offensive lineman over the years. The
Speaker 1: Packers now have a center that's six five, they have
Speaker 1: a guard that's that's six five. You know, they have
Speaker 1: these guys that can The reason we talked about the
Speaker 1: position and where these guys could fit because their bodies
Speaker 1: almost are more like your traditional tackles. But yet now
Speaker 1: you're seeing more of those guys push inside. This isn't
Speaker 1: the six ft two center game anymore. It's it's kind
Speaker 1: of changed a little bit in that regard. But again,
Speaker 1: major things the Packers are gonna have to shift out,
Speaker 1: and I promise you the way that that offensive line
Speaker 1: looks this first week of practice is undoubtedly not going
Speaker 1: to be the way it looks at the end of camp. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely Well. With regard to the wide receiver competition, we
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time talking about it through the spring.
Speaker 1: Christian Watson, the rookie second round pick out of North
Speaker 1: Dakota State, will not be on the practice field at
Speaker 1: the start of training camp. Going to be interesting to
Speaker 1: see what this means then for Romeo Dobbs, the fourth
Speaker 1: round pick out of Nevada, for Samari too A the
Speaker 1: seventh round pick out of Nebraska. Also what it means
Speaker 1: for the what I what I call sort of the
Speaker 1: holdover group, These guys who have been on the roster,
Speaker 1: they've gotten their feet wet in the NFL, but they're
Speaker 1: still trying to establish themselves. And of course I'm talking
Speaker 1: about guys like Juwann Winfree, Malik Taylor. And there's another
Speaker 1: one that whose name is escaping me at the moment. Yes,
Speaker 1: Amari Rodgers. Well actually there was another one too, but
Speaker 1: Amari Rodgers third round pick last year, didn't have the
Speaker 1: rookie season that he was hoping for a lot of
Speaker 1: positive signs um here in the spring. So with Christian
Speaker 1: Watson not on the field early on, again, it's you know,
Speaker 1: one one man's misfortune can be another man's opportunity in
Speaker 1: this league. So we'll just have to see. We'll just
Speaker 1: have to see what happens. Did you see Jowan Winfree, Yes?
Speaker 1: I did, Jan Winfree, Yeah, Milik Taylor, Amari Rodgers, and
Speaker 1: then uh Danny Davis from Wisconsin. Maybe maybe maybe I
Speaker 1: was in Randall Cobb. Yeah, that's not quite the same. Um.
Speaker 1: I I don't know if you saw the tweet I
Speaker 1: found it very interesting because again I wrote one of
Speaker 1: the stories on him in the spring, you know, Amari
Speaker 1: Rogers saying that he's reported a camp a two hund
Speaker 1: two pounds. Uh. That was his goal. He wanted to
Speaker 1: get lighter. He said he played as heavy I think
Speaker 1: is maybe to sixteen to seventeen last year. He wanted
Speaker 1: to get back to being himself. He is the number
Speaker 1: one player I think on this offense that nobody's talking
Speaker 1: about in terms of that could potentially make a big
Speaker 1: impact this year. And the reason I say that is
Speaker 1: because since day one, when you look at how they
Speaker 1: build that jet motion receiver, that guy that can kind
Speaker 1: of do it all in this offense, Mari Marie Rogers,
Speaker 1: he checks all those boxes. This is gonna be a
Speaker 1: huge camp for him because I think the opportunity is
Speaker 1: going to be there. But more than anything else, Mike,
Speaker 1: I think the guy that we're going to be seeing
Speaker 1: the most is Alan Lazard because Alan Lazard is the
Speaker 1: guy that I think when you look at how this
Speaker 1: roster has configured, Yes, he brought in Sammy Watkins, Yes,
Speaker 1: you saw guy like Randall Cob really turned it up
Speaker 1: last season and get back into the fold and show
Speaker 1: that he still can be a real asset to this offense.
Speaker 1: But Lazard is in the prime of his career. He's
Speaker 1: coming off an eight touchdown season, and he's now going
Speaker 1: to get a chance to be one of the first
Speaker 1: guys that Aaron Rodgers is gonna be looking towards. He's
Speaker 1: gonna be one of the at the guys that are
Speaker 1: going to be one of the focal points of this offense.
Speaker 1: And I'm really excited for him in that regard. You saw,
Speaker 1: I know you're big on Instagram, you know some of
Speaker 1: these photos that Lazard has put up. I mean, he
Speaker 1: looks to be in incredible physical shape right now, and
Speaker 1: I just to me, that's the guy that I think
Speaker 1: is really going to be the catalyst in someone that
Speaker 1: if he stays healthy, this is his chance to prove
Speaker 1: that he can be a number one receiver. Well, we
Speaker 1: heard we heard Aaron Rodgers in the spring when he
Speaker 1: was here for Mini camp, and he talked about it
Speaker 1: how excited he was to see what Alan Lazard is
Speaker 1: going to do when he's given the opportunity to compete
Speaker 1: to be a true number one receiver in this offense.
Speaker 1: He knows the offense it's not a matter of learning
Speaker 1: the playbook or having to having to study things any differently.
Speaker 1: But it's going to be where he lines up, where
Speaker 1: he is in the progression. Obviously, we're going to see
Speaker 1: what happens with Sammy Watkins with him getting thrown into
Speaker 1: the mix here as a veteran wide receiver who's accomplished
Speaker 1: a lot in the NFL UM trying to revive rejuvenate
Speaker 1: his career a little bit. You mentioned Randall Cobb. He's,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of the old stand by, the old
Speaker 1: reliable for Aaron Rodgers. Right, Rogers knows exactly where Cobb
Speaker 1: is going to be and when at at certain times.
Speaker 1: But how all this fits together If training camp does
Speaker 1: indeed start as Rogers was projecting that the top three
Speaker 1: guys at wide receiver are Lazard, Cobb, and Watkins, whatever
Speaker 1: order you want to put him in, then it's just
Speaker 1: going to be a matter of all these other young guys,
Speaker 1: first and second year guys, the rookies all in that
Speaker 1: mix competing with each other to see, like, Okay, who's
Speaker 1: going to who's gonna be the guy that gets that
Speaker 1: one day somewhere in August to get all his reps
Speaker 1: with the number one offense as opposed to being with
Speaker 1: the twos or with the threes, Right, Like, that's what
Speaker 1: these guy as you're going to be are going to
Speaker 1: be fighting for because we know when it comes to
Speaker 1: the preseason games, there are certain guys who are probably
Speaker 1: not going to play. Um, those guys are going to
Speaker 1: get their The younger guys are going to get their
Speaker 1: opportunities in the preseason games. But what do they do
Speaker 1: in practice to give themselves those opportunities? With Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: taking the snaps, right, that's what we'll be watching. Samari
Speaker 1: to Ray is a name that I'm going to have
Speaker 1: on my clipboard on my notebook throughout this camp, throughout
Speaker 1: the preseason because I'm gonna tell you this, in offseason
Speaker 1: program does not make a career. It does not make
Speaker 1: you a fifty three man roster. To Ray did every
Speaker 1: single thing he could do is a seventh round pick
Speaker 1: to get noticed in the spring. Because you're not given
Speaker 1: much benefit of the doubt, You're not going to be
Speaker 1: given a lot of time in a lot of cases.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying this is Green Bay, but there's a
Speaker 1: lot of places in the NFL they're looking for a
Speaker 1: reason to keep their seventh round pick on a practice
Speaker 1: squad to Ray the way he played the fact that
Speaker 1: he caught everything that was thrown to him. Maybe he
Speaker 1: had one drop on a maybe a route on air,
Speaker 1: I think, but otherwise in terms of the team periods,
Speaker 1: the kid performed in Romeo Dobbs, same thing. This guy
Speaker 1: coming out in Nevada tons of production in college, was
Speaker 1: a complete ball hawk and playmaker in these training the
Speaker 1: offseason practices. Now let me also add the condition here
Speaker 1: that Alexander was not out there. Rasul Douglas often wasn't
Speaker 1: out there. They didn't have their top to the line
Speaker 1: of cornerbacks and safeties. You've got to be able to,
Speaker 1: you know, cushion that a little bit. But these guys
Speaker 1: need to be able to show that they can make plays.
Speaker 1: And they did it against their peers. And that's one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why this year, this training camp, these receivers,
Speaker 1: it is going to be fun to watch. Yeah, certainly
Speaker 1: won't be the last time over the next month that
Speaker 1: we're talking about the wide receiver position. I'll take care
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Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball here, not as much in
Speaker 1: UH as far as the off season news or I
Speaker 1: should say recent news with regard to UH, the pup
Speaker 1: list and whatnot. So I'll just ask you straight out,
Speaker 1: what is the number one storyline that you're going into
Speaker 1: camp paying attention to with regard to Joe Berry's defensive unit. Really,
Speaker 1: to me, it's Quay Walker. Yeah, I think so too,
Speaker 1: in the fact of where is this guy gonna be,
Speaker 1: how are they going to utilize him, and how quickly
Speaker 1: are they going to look for him to be a
Speaker 1: starter in this unit. We saw him rotating with the
Speaker 1: starters in the off season program. Again, that doesn't tell
Speaker 1: you everything, but it does say something because historically that's
Speaker 1: not been a thing that has happened a lot in
Speaker 1: Green Bay, especially with Devondre Campbell and Chris Barnes both
Speaker 1: being here. For the offseason program. It's not like there
Speaker 1: was not enough options there, So hey, let's throw a Walker.
Speaker 1: All the Packers have some expectations for this young man
Speaker 1: six ft four pounds. You and I got the visual
Speaker 1: of what it looks like he's lining up next to
Speaker 1: Campbell behind the defensive line. It's imposing the biggest thing here.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk a lot about. Okay, how is the
Speaker 1: offense gonna, you know, do without Davante Adams. So what
Speaker 1: is rich Bisacci gonna do on special teams? How can
Speaker 1: they improve in those facets? The defense has been the
Speaker 1: story since the day the season ended, and especially after
Speaker 1: Wessel Douglas and Devandre Campbell signed, the defense has been
Speaker 1: the story. These are the most weapons, These are the
Speaker 1: most draft picks. This is the most investment green Bay
Speaker 1: has made it at that side of the ball. Into
Speaker 1: Joe Barry's credit, they made the most of it last year.
Speaker 1: Can you see them take that jump and if they do,
Speaker 1: Kway Walker is the type of player that they didn't
Speaker 1: have in this defense last year. That's not a dig
Speaker 1: against Chris Barnes. I'm saying in terms of just a player, linebacker, athlete.
Speaker 1: This guy's a difference maker, and that that's the part
Speaker 1: of it I'm excited to see, especially being able to
Speaker 1: work under the learning tree of Deavandre Campbell, which has
Speaker 1: already kind of integrated himself to into you know, in
Speaker 1: the off season. Well, certainly with the way last season
Speaker 1: ended and is disappointing as it was. The season ends
Speaker 1: with that big thud of a loss against the San
Speaker 1: Francisco forty Niners and the playoffs. The reason we've been
Speaker 1: talking about the defense all off season not just because
Speaker 1: the two first round picks were both spent on defense
Speaker 1: and on two guys from that Georgia Bulldocks National championship team,
Speaker 1: you know, Kay Walker and Davonte Wyatt on the defensive line.
Speaker 1: It's because that defense reached a peak last season right
Speaker 1: at the time you wanted to reach a peak. Now,
Speaker 1: is it going to be able to just pick up
Speaker 1: where it left off in Week one? I mean, that's
Speaker 1: not how this league works, right, But everything about the
Speaker 1: everything about the progression and the trajectory of the defense,
Speaker 1: even in dealing with Jaye Alexander's injury and other guys
Speaker 1: being in and out of the lineup, the defense got
Speaker 1: exactly where it needed to be last January um for
Speaker 1: the Packers to to get where they wanted to go,
Speaker 1: and other the other phases of things didn't fall into place.
Speaker 1: But that's why so much attention has been on the defense,
Speaker 1: and everybody's really really excited. Then you throw in Kway
Speaker 1: Walker and Devontae Wyatt on a defensive line where you
Speaker 1: not only spend a late first round pick, you spent
Speaker 1: a first round pick on that position group for the
Speaker 1: first time since Kenny Clark, but you also brought in
Speaker 1: a free agent in Jaren Reid who spent five seasons
Speaker 1: in Seattle, spent a season in Kansas City. This is
Speaker 1: a this is a productive guy. I like to call
Speaker 1: him the been there, done that guys, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's he's been, He's been in playoff games, He's produced.
Speaker 1: The track record is there, he's been healthy, hasn't had
Speaker 1: you know, an injury, pockmark career, anything like that. This
Speaker 1: is a This is a defensive line. This is a
Speaker 1: defensive line that's as deep as I've seen it in
Speaker 1: a long time. And then you talk about that imposing
Speaker 1: look of Campbell and Walker to six ft four guys
Speaker 1: um as those two inside linebackers there's a there's a
Speaker 1: lot of excitement about this defense, and for good reason.
Speaker 1: All that being said, we may not really see what
Speaker 1: this defense looks like for a while because a lot
Speaker 1: guys aren't gonna play in the preseason games. They're gonna
Speaker 1: go through camp. We're going to see him in the
Speaker 1: eleven on elevens. We're gonna we're gonna try to glean
Speaker 1: what we can from it. But Week one in some
Speaker 1: in some respects can't get here soon enough as far
Speaker 1: as just where is this Packers defense considering where it
Speaker 1: left off last January. And that's where it's going to
Speaker 1: be exciting too, because I do think for a first
Speaker 1: round pick, I think you are going to see Davonte
Speaker 1: Wyatt play in a lot in preseason. I think you're
Speaker 1: gonna see I mean t J. Slayton and Jonathan Ford.
Speaker 1: I mean they might need to work on their their
Speaker 1: cardio a little bit. Those those those guys might those
Speaker 1: guys might get might get a lot of snaps in
Speaker 1: these three games in August, that's for sure. And and
Speaker 1: that's the exciting part of it because Kenny Clark, you're
Speaker 1: not going to see out there, you know, Dean Lawry,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't imagine, especially with Dean I think he's he's
Speaker 1: on PUP two. Yeah, Lowry is one of the defensive starters.
Speaker 1: Who who is going to begin camp on pup and
Speaker 1: Jaren Reed I wouldn't imagine. Maybe you get some work,
Speaker 1: but it's gonna be allowed those young guys, and that's
Speaker 1: gonna be their time to shine. Because as much as
Speaker 1: we talk about rotation, as much as we talk about
Speaker 1: being able to keep guys fresh, what is is really about?
Speaker 1: To me? It's about how are we going to be
Speaker 1: able to make Kenny Clark's life even easier to allow
Speaker 1: him to be the playmaker I think everybody knows he
Speaker 1: can be. Clarke has worn so many hats for this
Speaker 1: defense over the years. He's been their top run stuffer
Speaker 1: and their top interior pass rusher. Can you can you
Speaker 1: start to pick and choose? Can you start to figure
Speaker 1: out where other guys might be able to step up
Speaker 1: so you get more out of Kenny in this fast
Speaker 1: Can you take some double teams off of him? That's
Speaker 1: the really exciting part, especially seeing how Dean Lawry developed
Speaker 1: last year and with him having the best year of
Speaker 1: his career, that again, the sky is the limit for
Speaker 1: for so many different facets of that defense. Well, before
Speaker 1: we go, want to touch a little bit on the
Speaker 1: third phase of things as well with regard to uh
Speaker 1: special teams, because right at the beginning of this week,
Speaker 1: the Packers made another addition there and a very similar
Speaker 1: addition to one they made much earlier in the off season.
Speaker 1: And I'm talking about signing a reserve defensive back from
Speaker 1: the Raiders who has a lot of experience on special
Speaker 1: teams and a lot of familiarity with Rich Bisaccio, the
Speaker 1: new Packers special teams coordinator. Interesting how the Packers have
Speaker 1: have gone about, you know, not only looking to to
Speaker 1: revamp the special teams, but then but then also finding
Speaker 1: guys that they believe they can that that if all
Speaker 1: goes well, they'll be able to slot in as some
Speaker 1: of these depth pieces in the defensive backfield. And uh,
Speaker 1: these are two guys from everything that we know, and
Speaker 1: I'm talking about case Keishan Nixon and Dallen Levitt, Levitt
Speaker 1: being the new signing this week that, um, these are
Speaker 1: guys that have have almost the same what do you
Speaker 1: call it track record in the NFL in terms of
Speaker 1: in terms of they haven't been starters, but they've been
Speaker 1: very active reserve players in the defensive backfield for the Raiders,
Speaker 1: and they've done a heck of a lot of work
Speaker 1: on special teams working under Bessaccio. Yeah, and it's not
Speaker 1: like Levitt was just sitting out there either. I mean
Speaker 1: the Raiders just let them go last weeks. So obviously
Speaker 1: the Packers jumped on that quickly. We haven't a chance
Speaker 1: to talk to rich Bisacci, but you have to imagine
Speaker 1: he plays to call there being like, hey, this is
Speaker 1: a guy that could really help us. And the part
Speaker 1: of it that's exciting is you look at Keishaw Nixon.
Speaker 1: Let's start there from day one when he got nontendered
Speaker 1: by the Raiders and they made the Packers made such
Speaker 1: a point to sign him. It would have been one
Speaker 1: thing if you just brought him in. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is a rich Bisacci guy. This is the guy
Speaker 1: that's gonna help us on the core four units. No,
Speaker 1: I mean Joe Barry was using him as his dime
Speaker 1: cornerback to it shows you that they feel like there's
Speaker 1: more to this guy than just the past history with Pisacci,
Speaker 1: that this is a young man twenty five years old,
Speaker 1: good size for the position. You know, maybe not the
Speaker 1: typical hype, but you know, really good frame for the
Speaker 1: safety spot that he could potentially help them up near
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. And then you look at Levitt,
Speaker 1: guy had his career high special teams tackles last year
Speaker 1: had twelve. Another Eggie. The Packers have had tons of those,
Speaker 1: you know, Utah State guys over the years. I believe
Speaker 1: he might have been a teammate of Kyler Facker. I
Speaker 1: gotta go back and look at that. But this guy
Speaker 1: same to typical kind of frame. I mentioned the offseason program.
Speaker 1: Mike and I wrote about this an inbox too, and
Speaker 1: you and I discussed it that that Sean Richardsinson type
Speaker 1: safety where it's a guy that has a good frame
Speaker 1: for the position. You can see how he could fit
Speaker 1: into all these different special teams units. That's without knowing
Speaker 1: a lot about Lovett. That's one of the things that
Speaker 1: really spoke to me. And his addition comes at a
Speaker 1: position where the Packers didn't really have anybody with NFL experience,
Speaker 1: extensive NFL experience behind the starters and Adrian Amos and
Speaker 1: Darnell Savage. They're adding pieces where they needed obviously special
Speaker 1: teams helped to improve those units, but also guys that
Speaker 1: could potentially factor into the defense as well. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: And and here I want to close on I guess
Speaker 1: what I'll call the my my grain assault moments of
Speaker 1: the week, all right, because there are a lot of
Speaker 1: fans obviously there's there's there's angst and and nervousness and
Speaker 1: everything with regard to what's happening on special teams and
Speaker 1: how is Rich Pasacci going to fix all of this?
Speaker 1: And Packers fans are gonna want to turn and on
Speaker 1: that first preseason game and see that the special teams
Speaker 1: are all fixed. Right, So my, my, my sort of
Speaker 1: take this. You know, all of this, uh, this hype
Speaker 1: with regard to the special teams, the grain assault part
Speaker 1: of it is Rich Pisacci has been doing this for
Speaker 1: a long time. My the sense that I get, and
Speaker 1: I could be way off base here, but the sense
Speaker 1: that I get with how the ninety man roster has
Speaker 1: been built, with what we saw in the spring, with
Speaker 1: how he was trying out all different different guys, all
Speaker 1: kinds of different guys that returner and gunner and all
Speaker 1: of these different things that they were working on. Rich
Speaker 1: Pisacci knows what he wants it to look like and
Speaker 1: how he's going to coach this team through the season.
Speaker 1: I think he's going to use training camp and the
Speaker 1: preseason games to find the guys that he wants. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not going to be about the finished product on
Speaker 1: the field in the preseason to get ready for the
Speaker 1: regular season. Getting ready for the regular season for Rich
Speaker 1: Pisacci is I want to find the right guys. And
Speaker 1: then when I have all the right guys and we've
Speaker 1: made the decis visions on who they're gonna be, now
Speaker 1: I'm gonna now I'm going to coach them and and
Speaker 1: we're gonna get this thing to where we want to
Speaker 1: look like. So I just want to say that with
Speaker 1: regard to um, you know, the preseason, because there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot of talk out there on the first
Speaker 1: punt coverage, the first kickoff coverage, everything in that first
Speaker 1: preseason game. We just have to take a step back
Speaker 1: for a moment. And the other thing I have to
Speaker 1: say to another grain assault moment of the week is
Speaker 1: as excited as we are for training camp, it's here.
Speaker 1: The season's gonna get rolling. The first handful of days
Speaker 1: are gonna be without pads. These are really gonna be
Speaker 1: just glorified O t A practices with like bigger crowds
Speaker 1: and fans cheering and all that. And that's all gonna
Speaker 1: be great. But we still have to wait several days
Speaker 1: before before the pads go on, before the one on
Speaker 1: one pass rush, pass protection drill, you know, we see
Speaker 1: that kind of hitting and and uh um. So it's
Speaker 1: it's just yes, there's a lot of excitement right now,
Speaker 1: but the real work hasn't quite It will start as
Speaker 1: soon as I had to Canton, and then they'll be
Speaker 1: good to go. Then it's all good to go. I
Speaker 1: do want to say this though, will close on this.
Speaker 1: With the special teams, You're absolutely hundher percent right. It
Speaker 1: is going to be a process. You do have to build.
Speaker 1: The one thing though, if you're a Packer fan you
Speaker 1: have to be excited about, is the fact that Packers
Speaker 1: fan wanted changes on special teams. They got it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a new coordinator, Brian, you know Byron Storer, his assistant,
Speaker 1: Besach's assistant, a new assistant to him. They had their
Speaker 1: top four guys I think in playing time were all
Speaker 1: they've moved on or they departed. This is going to
Speaker 1: be a different unit and it's going to look differently now.
Speaker 1: It's can you build a different and re established that
Speaker 1: identity that that's going to be the challenge. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: Well with that, we'll call it a wrap on this
Speaker 1: edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of
Speaker 1: our coverage of the team training camp kicks off on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: We will be there for every practice, all kinds of stories, videos,
Speaker 1: Packers dot com is going to be full of content, folks,
Speaker 1: you won't want to miss it. So for Wes, I
Speaker 1: am Mike. Thank you for tuning in. Everybody, We will
Speaker 1: see you next time.