Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford. He is my
Speaker 1: trusted colleague, Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from
Speaker 1: disparate locations at lambeau Field and west There's more of
Speaker 1: the draft class, the thirteen player twenty twenty three draft
Speaker 1: class to review, and we will get to that in
Speaker 1: a moment. But before that, there was a pretty significant
Speaker 1: bit of news just the other day. The Packers have
Speaker 1: extended Jordan Love's contract. Now, he was in a situation
Speaker 1: where he was in the final year of his rookie deal,
Speaker 1: but there was a deadline to exercise or not exercise
Speaker 1: the fifty year option, which is part of a first
Speaker 1: round draft picks contract. And a lot of times the
Speaker 1: business of football is something that can be acrimonious, it
Speaker 1: can be kind of ugly at times. In this case,
Speaker 1: the business of football generated something that really makes a
Speaker 1: heck of a lot of sense for both sides as
Speaker 1: the Packers make this transition to Jordan Love and see
Speaker 1: what the future holds.
Speaker 2: Do you know why I'm sitting here in this spot
Speaker 2: and not up on three right now? Like Russ Ball
Speaker 2: that contract that the Packers did with Jordan Love. Because
Speaker 2: I'll be honest with you, Mike, until we actually saw
Speaker 2: the report, until we saw the release come across her desk,
Speaker 2: I hadn't even considered the possibility of the Packers end
Speaker 2: up just coming to terms with him on a two
Speaker 2: year deal as opposed to picking up the fifty year option, because,
Speaker 2: as you said, it works out well for both parties.
Speaker 2: Some people might say, well, for Jordan Love, why do this.
Speaker 2: You're gonna get twenty million guaranteed if they pick it up.
Speaker 2: But the thing is you're gonna get that money next year.
Speaker 2: By doing it now, he gets the signing bonus, He's
Speaker 2: able to get a little bit more cash pushed into
Speaker 2: this season that benefits him rather than playing on the
Speaker 2: fourth year of his rookie contract. In addition, it also
Speaker 2: avoids the awkwardness of the Packers saying, hey, we're not
Speaker 2: going to exercise you're our guy, but we're not going
Speaker 2: to exercise a fifty year option. Because, as I was
Speaker 2: told yesterday by Packers' Hall of Fame curator Brent Henzel
Speaker 2: when I was working out down in the staff fitness area,
Speaker 2: I think there was only something like eleven or twelve
Speaker 2: of the thirty two teams actually exercise the fifty year
Speaker 2: option on their first round picks from twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: Right, only twelve had the fifth year option exercise as
Speaker 1: it turned out.
Speaker 2: And it's just incredible when you look at there's different
Speaker 2: scales to what those contracts could be, and Mike, they're
Speaker 2: getting pretty pricey.
Speaker 3: To be able to exercise that option.
Speaker 2: So for the Packers' perspective, not only does it allow
Speaker 2: you now to have Jordan under control team control for
Speaker 2: two seasons. If Jordan plays really well this year, it
Speaker 2: allows them to work an extension to use next season
Speaker 2: as a way to leverage that signing bonus with the proration.
Speaker 2: And from Jordan's perspective, for a young man that got
Speaker 2: a big signing bonus three years ago as a first
Speaker 2: round pick, it allows him to get a little bit
Speaker 2: more of a boost now as he enters your four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And from a cap perspective, the Packers are taking
Speaker 1: on a little bit more money on Jordan Love's contract
Speaker 1: on this year's cap, and they restructured Darnell Savage to
Speaker 1: kind of make room for that and to spread some
Speaker 1: things out. But then it also takes off the table,
Speaker 1: at least for now for twenty twenty four, having that
Speaker 1: entire fifth year option be that you know, single one
Speaker 1: year like you know, big cap hits. So it's about
Speaker 1: for the Packers, it's also about managing managing the cap
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, and then the contract is structured
Speaker 1: as such where quite frankly, Jordan Love can end up
Speaker 1: making more money than he would have on the fifth
Speaker 1: year option if he plays well and you know, and
Speaker 1: gets the playing time and hits various incentives and whatnot.
Speaker 1: So there were incentives built in for Jordan Love to
Speaker 1: sign this because over twenty twenty three and twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four he has a chance to actually make more money
Speaker 1: than he would have just playing out his contract and
Speaker 1: then getting the option picked up. So like like, like
Speaker 1: I said, it's something that just makes a heck of
Speaker 1: a lot of sense for both sides. A very unique
Speaker 1: situation obviously where the Packers had to make this decision
Speaker 1: on the fifth year option on the new quarterback when
Speaker 1: he hasn't been you know, QB one, He hasn't been
Speaker 1: the starting quarterback in Green Bay yet to where you
Speaker 1: you really have that full evaluation. So something that makes
Speaker 1: sense for both sides and also just kind of puts
Speaker 1: things at ease a little bit in terms of, Okay,
Speaker 1: Jordan Loves under contract for two more years. This is
Speaker 1: how it's structured, and if he plays well, I'm sure
Speaker 1: they will start talking about an extension before this particular
Speaker 1: extension runs out at the end of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: And if things don't go well, which obviously nobody wants,
Speaker 1: but if things don't go well, the Packers have mitigated
Speaker 1: their financial risk a little bit and set things up,
Speaker 1: then you know, to move forward in another direction.
Speaker 2: Yeah, while paying him to be the starting quarterback because
Speaker 2: there's no this season, there's no questions, there's no equivocation.
Speaker 2: Jordan Love is the guy, and he gets paid like
Speaker 2: that now rather than being a young man playing on
Speaker 2: a fifth year contract. The other thing I just want
Speaker 2: to touch on quickly that I think was really smart
Speaker 2: from Green Bay's perspective is, with all due respect to
Speaker 2: Daniel Jones, he had a nice season last year, but
Speaker 2: you look at what happened with that purgatory that him
Speaker 2: and the Giants fell into where they declined his fifty
Speaker 2: year option. He actually makes some improvements, but probably doesn't
Speaker 2: reach like quite a Pro Bowl type level this year
Speaker 2: with Brian Dobbel. Well, then they had to end up
Speaker 2: paying him four years, one hundred and sixty million dollars,
Speaker 2: and now you're hoping that he can carry that over
Speaker 2: for the Packers. Now again, it gives him two years
Speaker 2: to learn a lot about Jordan Love here and determine
Speaker 2: if this is going to be the guy for the future.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, Daniel Jones, hats off to him. I mean,
Speaker 1: he he ended up not getting the option picked up.
Speaker 1: He played well enough to get the Giants to the playoffs,
Speaker 1: they won a road game in the playoffs at Minnesota,
Speaker 1: and he ended up getting paid big time quarterback dollars,
Speaker 1: you know, really off of that that one playoff victory,
Speaker 1: which was a tremendous performance by him. Kind of you know,
Speaker 1: you go back to you know, when Joe Flacco was
Speaker 1: playing out his contract and ended up winning the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Cashed in big time off of that Super Bowl win,
Speaker 1: and you know, that was a tough spot for the
Speaker 1: Ravens to be and so the Packers trying to avoid that,
Speaker 1: trying to be fair to the player, and it makes
Speaker 1: sense for Jordan Love as we talked about in terms
Speaker 1: of the financial incentives for him and to get to
Speaker 1: get more money in his pocket. Now, So with regard
Speaker 1: to the draft class, I know we kind of rehashed
Speaker 1: a lot of it on our last show. I want
Speaker 1: to throw some different questions at you, and this show
Speaker 1: truly is unscripted. Wes doesn't know what I'm going to
Speaker 1: ask him, but the advantage that he gets is he
Speaker 1: gets to answer the questions before I get to answer,
Speaker 1: and I don't get to repeat his answers. So thirteen
Speaker 1: player draft class obviously lots of guys that we talked
Speaker 1: about and their potential heading into twenty twenty three and
Speaker 1: the few cure. My first question for you, Wes, is
Speaker 1: which of the offensive draft picks do you believe will
Speaker 1: make the biggest impact on this team as a rookie.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the clear answer here, I think is Jaden Reid.
Speaker 2: I'm going to be stealing the top pick right off
Speaker 2: of the board there, and for two big reasons. One,
Speaker 2: before Jaden got to Michigan State, he was actually at
Speaker 2: Western Michigan playing for Tim Lester, who's now on the Packers'
Speaker 2: staff as a senior analyst. Right, if you remember going
Speaker 2: back fifteen sixteen, seventeen years ago, Mike, the Green Bay
Speaker 2: Packers drafted a young man in the second round out
Speaker 2: of Western Michigan and Greg Jennings. Greg was an absolute
Speaker 2: natural talent in this league, So I don't want to
Speaker 2: draw comparisons between Reed and Jennings. The one thing, though,
Speaker 2: that I think is indisputable is the fact that I
Speaker 2: think Jaden is going to get a similar opportunity that
Speaker 2: Greg got in two thousand and six when he came
Speaker 2: in here to play right now off the bat and
Speaker 2: show what his skill set is the Green Bay Packers, Mike,
Speaker 2: if you look at how these free agent why don'ts
Speaker 2: look right now now with Randall Cobbs signing with the
Speaker 2: New York Jets, there isn't a lot out there, to
Speaker 2: be honest with you, and I think it really would
Speaker 2: behoove the Packers at this point, at least through the
Speaker 2: offseason program scene, if maybe somebody gets comes unattached later
Speaker 2: this summer, to just let these young guys play it out,
Speaker 2: Let them get these reps with Jordan Love, let them
Speaker 2: get comfortable in this offense and see who shines. And
Speaker 2: I feel like Jayden Reid with his skill set, being
Speaker 2: able to do the Jets sweep stuff, being able to
Speaker 2: gain separation across the middle, being able to make contested catches.
Speaker 2: This young man, with how physical he plays the game,
Speaker 2: don't look just at the height and the weight with him,
Speaker 2: look at the overall football player. I think there is
Speaker 2: a golden opportunity for this kid as a second round
Speaker 2: pick to make a contribution his rookie year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I totally agree with you in that regard.
Speaker 1: My selection in this category is, and I'm going to
Speaker 1: hedge a little bit here, I'm gonna say it's going
Speaker 1: to be one of the two tight ends. It's either
Speaker 1: going to be Luke Musgrave or Tucker Craft. And I'm
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm not sure which one because both of
Speaker 1: these both of these young men have have an obstacle
Speaker 1: for lack of a better word, to overcome to make
Speaker 1: an impact as a rookie, but very different obstacles. From
Speaker 1: Musgrave's point of view, it's the fact that he only
Speaker 1: played two games his final year in college before getting injured.
Speaker 1: It's been a long time since he's really been in
Speaker 1: you know, full speed preparation playing football mode, so we
Speaker 1: don't really know how that's going to go with Tucker Craft.
Speaker 1: It's making that jump from the FCS all the way
Speaker 1: to the NFL. Having played at a smaller school, now
Speaker 1: played in a lot of big games, won a national
Speaker 1: championship at South Dakota State and all that. But there
Speaker 1: is a big jump in the competition from FCS to
Speaker 1: the NFL, even more so than say most FBS programs.
Speaker 1: So so they each have that to overcome. But the
Speaker 1: reason I'm pointing to the type ends is just because
Speaker 1: of the opportunity that I think will be there when
Speaker 1: Josiah Deguara and Tyler Davis are the tight ends who
Speaker 1: are coming back. Neither one of them established themselves as
Speaker 1: a featured tight end in this offense during their time here,
Speaker 1: yet now that potentially could still happen. They have the
Speaker 1: experience they played in the NFL, they know this offense,
Speaker 1: and the Packers are going to be looking to them
Speaker 1: to be leaders. So I don't want to discount them entirely,
Speaker 1: but the opportunity at tight end is tremendous for these
Speaker 1: two young guys in Musgrave and Craft to come in.
Speaker 1: So that's where I lean in terms of the offensive
Speaker 1: impact as a rookie Yeah.
Speaker 2: And the interesting thing about both Musgrave and Kraft is
Speaker 2: that they're probably going to get a chance to play
Speaker 2: right away. When you look at the tight end position,
Speaker 2: especially in Green Bay, that hasn't always been a given.
Speaker 2: Richard Rodgers when they drafted him in twenty fourteen, Andrew Corlis,
Speaker 2: you know, was the starter at that point. When they
Speaker 2: drafted Jermichael Finley in twenty oh nine, it was Donald
Speaker 2: Lee who had been kind of entrench there for a
Speaker 2: few seasons. There's always been this transition point, and right now,
Speaker 2: depending on what happens with Mercedes Lewis if he doesn't return,
Speaker 2: the Greeman Packers are very easily going to be rolling
Speaker 2: with these two guys as inline options right from day one.
Speaker 3: There'll be lumps that go along.
Speaker 2: With that, but if you look at the overall skill
Speaker 2: sets there, these guys are in that six foot five,
Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty to two hundred and sixty pound range,
Speaker 2: there's no confusion there. These are legitimate, big bodied, full
Speaker 2: tight ends that can also run pretty well. Especially in
Speaker 2: Musgrave's case, I mean, he's going to be a guy
Speaker 2: that's going to stretch defenses vertically. Very exciting to see
Speaker 2: where those guys are going to take this thing because again,
Speaker 2: much like with Red, they are going to have an
Speaker 2: opportunity off the bat right out.
Speaker 3: Of Jump Street to contribute out of the gate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and to go back to your selection too. What
Speaker 1: I'm most excited about with Reed, and we talked about
Speaker 1: it on our last show, is just seeing a very
Speaker 1: different physical profile, a different a different body type, a
Speaker 1: different skill set being incorporated into this offense as the
Speaker 1: you know, quote unquote slot receiver or jet sweep option
Speaker 1: type of guy, that type of physical profile. We haven't
Speaker 1: seen it yet in this role in Matt Lafer's offense.
Speaker 1: So I think I think there's potentially a lot of
Speaker 1: excitement and interest there. Same question for you on the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball, except you're not allowed to
Speaker 1: pick Kyle van Ness because, as we talked about on
Speaker 1: our last show, he very well could be starting Week one,
Speaker 1: first snap of the season on the opposite side from
Speaker 1: Preston Smith if for Sean Gary is not all the
Speaker 1: way back from from his knee injury yet, so Lucas
Speaker 1: van Ness would be too obvious a pick in terms
Speaker 1: of defensive impact from a rookie. So aside from him,
Speaker 1: is there somebody that that you think the fans should
Speaker 1: have their eye on.
Speaker 2: I love the Carl Brooks pick Mike, even from the
Speaker 2: moment that I started working on his bulletin. When you
Speaker 2: and I are sitting in the media auditorium on last Saturday,
Speaker 2: this guy is Mike. Mike Daniels junior to me. I mean,
Speaker 2: and I think, for whatever reason, the NFL still hasn't
Speaker 2: caught on to six foot two, six foot three, three
Speaker 2: hundred pound three technique defensive tackles. I've been covering this
Speaker 2: league for ten years, and it still seems like that
Speaker 2: position just doesn't get enough respect. We've seen, as I
Speaker 2: mentioned Daniels, We've seen Aaron Donald, the Gino Adkins. I mean,
Speaker 2: the number of these guys that have been not just
Speaker 2: rotational third down rushers, but three down players has skyrocketed.
Speaker 2: Now Brooks is gonna make a big transition. Bowling Green
Speaker 2: played him off the edge quite a bit. He's gonna
Speaker 2: have to show he can play inside. But based on
Speaker 2: the Senior Bowl, the Packers saw a lot of attributes
Speaker 2: they like, and Michael, I don't care who you're playing
Speaker 2: when you can consistently perform at the level that Brooks
Speaker 2: did from true freshman year to his senior year at
Speaker 2: Bowling Green, this young man put up incredible numbers his pressures.
Speaker 3: Last year.
Speaker 2: I think Pro Football Focus had him down with sixty
Speaker 2: two pressures, the third most in FBS. As Lance Zerline
Speaker 2: said when you and I did one of our recap shows,
Speaker 2: don't just look at the mac and discount what this
Speaker 2: kid did. This kid was a ball player from day
Speaker 2: one at that school. So just very excited to see
Speaker 2: what he could potentially add because I feel like since
Speaker 2: the Kingsley Kiky thing didn't really work out, since they
Speaker 2: lost Daniels, they haven't had that type of guy that
Speaker 2: can come in and take some of that interior rush away,
Speaker 2: some of those responsibilities away from from Kenny Clark. This
Speaker 2: could be the dude if he shows that he can
Speaker 2: have the type of skill set that translates to the
Speaker 2: pro game. Yeah, and I'm going to go a little
Speaker 2: bit different direction on this one. I'm actually going to
Speaker 2: go with Carrington Valentine, the cornerback out of Kentucky, and
Speaker 2: the reason I pick him a couple of different reasons.
Speaker 2: With you look at the Packers' secondary right now. At cornerback,
Speaker 2: the Packers really like what they have. Obviously, you have
Speaker 2: veterans like Jay Or Alexander and Rasul Douglas. You're going
Speaker 2: to give Keshawn Nixon every opera ortunity to be that
Speaker 2: nickel corner. You have Eric Stokes coming back from the injury.
Speaker 2: But I'll say this with regard to Valentine's you know,
Speaker 2: potential impact and opportunity, we don't necessarily know how things
Speaker 2: are gonna go with Keishawn Nixon at the nickel. He's
Speaker 2: not been a full time defensive player in a role
Speaker 2: like that yet in the NFL. The Packers have a
Speaker 2: ton of confidence in him. Everybody wants it to go well,
Speaker 2: but you just never know. You also don't know with
Speaker 2: regard to stokes injury, pretty serious injury that he had
Speaker 2: last year's same game as Gary, the game in Detroit,
Speaker 2: and all signs, at least from what we've heard so far,
Speaker 2: things looking pretty good. But again, you just don't know
Speaker 2: when Eric Stokes will be back and at one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: And on top of that, even if you take out
Speaker 2: all those caveats and those are your top four cornerbacks,
Speaker 2: the Packers are gonna play plenty of dime defense. You know,
Speaker 2: with four cornerbacks on the field. If any one of
Speaker 2: those four, you know, tweaks a hamstring, tweaks an ankle, whatever,
Speaker 2: Carrington Valentine might be the next guy. I'm not saying
Speaker 2: he will be. He might be the next guy up
Speaker 2: who's going to be playing snaps in the dime. It's
Speaker 2: entirely possible. Obviously, the Packers also sometimes use a third
Speaker 2: safety in the dime instead of another corner. There will
Speaker 2: be other options there. But if he balls out in
Speaker 2: training camp and puts himself in that spot on the
Speaker 2: depth chart, then suddenly he's one snap away from being
Speaker 2: a key guy in the dime. So a lot of
Speaker 2: you know, if sands and butts in that type of answer,
Speaker 2: But I do think he's a young man to keep
Speaker 2: an eye on and then also a potential special teams
Speaker 2: impact player as well, just based on his position and
Speaker 2: his profile coming out of college. Yeah, I honestly don't
Speaker 2: think there's any way you can go wrong with Valentine
Speaker 2: this year. If it ends up working out that he
Speaker 2: plays out of the gate, as you kind of outlined,
Speaker 2: that's a win. I mean, the young man getting those
Speaker 2: type of reps early on could be really beneficial for
Speaker 2: his long term prospects given what you know guys like
Speaker 2: Mel Kuiper have said about him. I also think with
Speaker 2: him being as young as he is, the fact that
Speaker 2: he was a junior entrant into this year's draft, if
Speaker 2: he sits the entire season, that also could be really
Speaker 2: helpful for him down the line. He is, by the
Speaker 2: definition of his own word, a pressman corner, a guy
Speaker 2: that likes to play physical, guy that likes the challenge
Speaker 2: of lining up against somebody and trying to shut them
Speaker 2: down on an island outside.
Speaker 3: That's the one.
Speaker 2: Area where I felt like Green Bay was kind of
Speaker 2: needing some bodies this offseason because with the situation with
Speaker 2: Stokes not knowing what that was, with the fact that
Speaker 2: Rasul Douglas is out there for now but is really
Speaker 2: maybe their most versatile option in terms of needing to
Speaker 2: plug in place somewhere else based on injuries, they haven't
Speaker 2: necessarily had the guy that can be the next perimeter
Speaker 2: man up. I just think that Valentine that's going to
Speaker 2: be an awesome opportunity for him coming in And also,
Speaker 2: seeing as you said, Mike, who emerges in the nickel,
Speaker 2: who emerges in the dime, What happens if you move
Speaker 2: guys around at safety, if somebody moves down into the
Speaker 2: box at times, then who's filling in in the back end.
Speaker 2: It's not just going to be Valentine competing with his
Speaker 2: position group in those corners. It's going to be competing
Speaker 2: with Inness Gains. It's going to be competing, you know,
Speaker 2: with some of those returning start you know, trends from
Speaker 2: last year, like Rudy Ford and Dallan Lovett. So many
Speaker 2: different ways this thing can go. But for Green Bay,
Speaker 2: a team that is kind of in a transition right
Speaker 2: now with Adrian Amos not being re signed at the moment,
Speaker 2: that could very well mean one of these young guys
Speaker 2: that we don't necessarily are going to be talking a
Speaker 2: lot about this summer could end up being an entrenched
Speaker 2: player on this defense come September. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I've got a couple more questions for you, Wes,
Speaker 1: but I want to get to some sponsor business. Here
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Speaker 1: next question for you. The Packers drafted four players in
Speaker 1: the seventh round of this draft, and over the last
Speaker 1: twenty five years here in Green Bay, we have seen
Speaker 1: seventh rounders like Donald Driver, Mark Touscher, Scott Wells, Sam Barrington,
Speaker 1: Brad Jones. Guys who have you know taken that seventh
Speaker 1: round selection and created a career careers of different degrees
Speaker 1: for themselves. So my question to you is, with regard
Speaker 1: to the four seventh round picks, don't sleep on.
Speaker 3: Who Anthony Johnson Jr.
Speaker 2: I was surprised he was still there as I was
Speaker 2: talking to you about Mike. Our general knowledge of prospects dwindles. Right,
Speaker 2: we are not going to know the Carrington Valentines as
Speaker 2: well Valentine's as well as the scouts will come those
Speaker 2: final you know, fifty picks, right, But Anthony Johnson Junior
Speaker 2: was actually one I did notice in the pre draft
Speaker 2: process as you're kind of looking at who can be
Speaker 2: safety options. Certainly Brian Branch was there earlier the Penn
Speaker 2: State kid, but Johnson once he was on the board
Speaker 2: still in the seventh round. I thought this guy made
Speaker 2: a lot of sense for green Bay because he checks
Speaker 2: one of the major boxes for green Bay in that
Speaker 2: there is a lot of value, there's a lot of
Speaker 2: you know, potential with a guy that's making a transition
Speaker 2: from cornerback to safety, it's basically playing a new position.
Speaker 2: Thought it was very mature of him to go back
Speaker 2: to Iowa State this past year working with Matt Campbell,
Speaker 2: understanding that hey, if I want to be a pro
Speaker 2: and my position is going to be safety, I need
Speaker 2: to learn that position at the college level as opposed
Speaker 2: to being an undrafted for AID and trying to make
Speaker 2: a transition in a tr NFL training camp. He put
Speaker 2: in those hours. I think the upside is there. But
Speaker 2: the fact of the matter is the kid played sixty
Speaker 2: two college games. Mike, he had fifty four starts at
Speaker 2: Iowa State. Hearing him talk on the on the radio
Speaker 2: on the conference call again, I kept hearing Micah Hyde
Speaker 2: in my ear He is mature, he is posed, and
Speaker 2: he is really confident in what he can do on
Speaker 2: the field, not in an arrogant way just to nay, hey,
Speaker 2: I just need an opportunity and I'll show you kind
Speaker 2: of way of doing things. And the fact that he
Speaker 2: ended up being a second team All Big Twelve safety
Speaker 2: last year he finally got his first two college interceptions.
Speaker 2: I think their packers are only scratching the surface with
Speaker 2: this kid, and even better, in his perspective, it's a
Speaker 2: position a need for Green Bay. We don't know who's
Speaker 2: going to be lining up next to Darnell Savage. Yet
Speaker 2: now you have a young guy that you can put
Speaker 2: into the system and see what you have.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I really like that. I like that pick as
Speaker 1: well in terms of, you know, not sleeping on a
Speaker 1: seventh round pick. I'll just also throw out there, Grant
Speaker 1: Dubo's the wide receiver from Charlotte, and you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not saying, you know, it's like, obviously everybody knows Donald
Speaker 1: Driver's seventh round story and he's the you know, leading
Speaker 1: receiver in franchise history. I'm not going to go there
Speaker 1: with with Grant Duba's by any means, but his story
Speaker 1: is very interesting in terms of, you know, playing at
Speaker 1: a school that then essentially canceled its football program. During COVID,
Speaker 1: he's not even really sure, you know, where to go.
Speaker 1: He ends up at a program like Charlotte, and you know,
Speaker 1: having taken a chunk of time off from football, and
Speaker 1: he plays really really well and plays himself onto draft
Speaker 1: boards and and and get some notice. He's a he's
Speaker 1: a he's a wide receiver. You know. You throw around
Speaker 1: the term raw prospect, you know, and that gets tossed
Speaker 1: around a lot, but he really is kind of the
Speaker 1: definition of that. Like nobody knows just how good he
Speaker 1: might be because quite frankly, he hasn't played a lot
Speaker 1: of high level football yet. But what he what he
Speaker 1: has done, and when he has played, he's produced. So
Speaker 1: there are a lot there's there's a lot of potential,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of upside. There a lot of unknown
Speaker 1: as to as to just how good he can be.
Speaker 1: And he's coming into he's coming into a receiver room
Speaker 1: that is awfully young as well, as we've talked about
Speaker 1: on our previous shows, that a lot of these young
Speaker 1: guys are going to be taking their lumps and learning
Speaker 1: things together and all that, and you just never know
Speaker 1: if maybe a seventh round pick, you know, who is
Speaker 1: actually the last of the Packers thirteen selections, you know,
Speaker 1: ends up being a guy who starts to uh, who
Speaker 1: starts to rise up when when the pads go on
Speaker 1: in training camp and with those preseason games. We'll just
Speaker 1: have to so very intriguing prospect for a guy that
Speaker 1: the Packers selected thirteenth out of their thirteen picks.
Speaker 2: There so so many things like to about to Bo's too.
Speaker 2: If I can just add this in, Mike, in addition
Speaker 2: to the fact that I don't know if you've got
Speaker 2: a chance to see his video of him getting selected,
Speaker 2: it's probably up there with Tucker Craft as far as
Speaker 2: the most emotional and also probably the most entertaining. I
Speaker 2: mean that young man could not get his family to
Speaker 2: be quiet to talk on the phone.
Speaker 3: He must have.
Speaker 2: Had forty five people in his house and everybody was
Speaker 2: just going absolutely crazy. And if you look at his story,
Speaker 2: the fact that he got one scholarship offer coming out
Speaker 2: out of Montgomery, he ends up, as you said, the
Speaker 2: program suspended. He had a kid he knew from Montgomery
Speaker 2: that he kind of got in a circle with practicing,
Speaker 2: and he's the one that encouraged him to go try
Speaker 2: out at Charlotte. The kid his first target at the school.
Speaker 2: His junior season is a fifty six yard touchdown against
Speaker 2: Duke and for to have one hundred and twenty six
Speaker 2: catches in two seasons to put himself on.
Speaker 3: The radar the way he has.
Speaker 2: These are the type of stories you root for as
Speaker 2: fans but also from scouts that you really salivate about
Speaker 2: because you don't even know what this kid could could
Speaker 2: potentially do. And when you're taking flyers on guys in
Speaker 2: the seventeenth you know, the seventh round, thirteenth pick, you
Speaker 2: want to find attributes, You want to find things that
Speaker 2: jump off the film, and Dubo's definitely checks all of
Speaker 2: those boxes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's funny just to go back to one
Speaker 1: of your other selections when you talk about, you know,
Speaker 1: stories and maybe guys you want to dig into a
Speaker 1: little bit more and just find out their story. Carl
Speaker 1: Brooks from Bowling Green is that guy for me, just
Speaker 1: because Bowling Green is he is the only the third
Speaker 1: draft pick from that school in the last fifteen years.
Speaker 1: All three of those draft picks in a fifteen year
Speaker 1: span have all been sixth rounders. So a football factory
Speaker 1: Bowling Green is not right. And this is a young
Speaker 1: man who had would have had every op opportunity to
Speaker 1: go somewhere, you know, a higher profile school, to raise
Speaker 1: his own personal profile, potentially getting out of a program
Speaker 1: that that was really struggling, and yet he ends up
Speaker 1: staying there five years, you know, starting forty plus close
Speaker 1: to fifty games or or whatever. And you know, to
Speaker 1: me his story, it's like, why did you stay? Like
Speaker 1: why did you stay at Bowling Green? How you know,
Speaker 1: how attractive might it have been to go somewhere else?
Speaker 1: Do you think you were taking a risk with your
Speaker 1: own future by staying there as opposed to trying to
Speaker 1: raise your profile like that kind of thing. So his
Speaker 1: his story to me is very interesting as well, and.
Speaker 2: It was so funny how humble he was about it too,
Speaker 2: because he just says, off the cuff, oh, yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: after my junior year, I could have transferred somewhere else.
Speaker 2: There were some opportunities. He doesn't mention that Bowling Green
Speaker 2: was zero to five.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they didn't.
Speaker 1: They didn't even win a game during their shortened COVID season.
Speaker 1: They would win a single game, and he and he
Speaker 1: was injured for a good portion of that of the
Speaker 1: COVID season. In twenty twenty as well. So it was
Speaker 1: an interesting story there real quickly. And I'm going to
Speaker 1: put you on the spot here before we get to
Speaker 1: some of our closing thoughts. But Packers signed about a
Speaker 1: dozen undrafted free agents that will be part of the
Speaker 1: rookie mini camp and and the offseason roster here moving
Speaker 1: forward into training camp. Anybody on that list of the
Speaker 1: of the undrafted free agents that kind of that kind
Speaker 1: of caught your eye and that that you know, you
Speaker 1: want to want to get them on the fans radar
Speaker 1: right from the get go here.
Speaker 3: Well, Brenton Cox is the biggest one.
Speaker 2: He's the biggest name when you look at the kid,
Speaker 2: you know, a former five star recruit at Georgia. He
Speaker 2: leaves Georgia, he goes to Florida. He doesn't finish last
Speaker 2: year with Georgia or with Florida, but was incredibly productive
Speaker 2: his his junior season. A lot to like from an
Speaker 2: intangible standpoint. And again, even though they did draft Lucas Fanness,
Speaker 2: still a lot of opportunity there at edge rusher if
Speaker 2: that's for Green Bay ultimately decides to play him. But
Speaker 2: the other one, if I can just really quickly touch
Speaker 2: on it, Henry Pearson is the name. I have an
Speaker 2: eye on Mike because for the first time in four years,
Speaker 2: the Packers have a full back on their roster. That's
Speaker 2: just he's from app State. I believe he played with
Speaker 2: Shamar John Charles there.
Speaker 3: This kid.
Speaker 2: He's a pass catching fullback, Mike, and if you're going
Speaker 2: to survive as a full back in twenty twenty three
Speaker 2: in the National Football League, you have to be able
Speaker 2: to catch the football. He did that seventy four career
Speaker 2: catches during his college career. The only year the Packers
Speaker 2: kept a full back on the roster was Danny Vitally,
Speaker 2: I should say during Matt Lafleur's four years as head coach.
Speaker 3: Danny Vitally in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2: And I remember having this conversation with Aaron Jones back then.
Speaker 2: You give a lot of credit to Joside, to Gwara,
Speaker 2: how he's filled that Swiss Army knife role, the h
Speaker 2: back role, how prevalent that is for the Packers in
Speaker 2: Green Bay. But I remember Aaron Jones telling me there's
Speaker 2: just something about running behind a full back that is different,
Speaker 2: and it has become kind of a luxury position with
Speaker 2: fifty three man rosters but I'll tell you what, Mike,
Speaker 2: if Pearson comes in and shows that he can catch
Speaker 2: the football on block and do all those little on tangibles,
Speaker 2: I still think there's always going to be a plays
Speaker 2: for a full back in Green Bay if they show
Speaker 2: that they can play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm with you on uh certainly on Brenton Cox
Speaker 1: being the biggest name amongst those undrafted free agents. Obviously,
Speaker 1: he's had the off field issues, got dismissed from a
Speaker 1: couple of SEC programs, both Georgia and Florida. This is
Speaker 1: a young man who was going to be drafted. He
Speaker 1: would have had his name called if not for the
Speaker 1: off field stuff. So the Packers are taking a chance here.
Speaker 1: Obviously it's one of those players that you know you
Speaker 1: give a very short leash. He knows that he he
Speaker 1: has an opportunity to put all that stuff behind him,
Speaker 1: and and I'll be interested to see if he can,
Speaker 1: if he can seize that opportunity in a place like
Speaker 1: Green Bay. And I'll just throw out one other name
Speaker 1: just because again of the the opportunity at tight end
Speaker 1: in this offense. Cameron McDonald from Florida State is here
Speaker 1: as a as an undrafted rookie and he's he's got
Speaker 1: he's got the physical profile of of you know, a
Speaker 1: move tight end and a guy who can potentially get
Speaker 1: down the field. And and you know this that that's
Speaker 1: the kind of undrafted rookie that I could see playing
Speaker 1: quite a bit in the preseason games in August and
Speaker 1: maybe getting a chance to getting a chance to do
Speaker 1: something with with Sean Clifford or Dannyetling throwing passes in August,
Speaker 1: when when those preseason games get into the second half,
Speaker 1: maybe has a chance to catch somebody's eye. So have
Speaker 1: a couple other thoughts for you. One with Rookie Mini
Speaker 1: Camp this weekend, the players are actually arriving on Thursday,
Speaker 1: as as we're taping the show as many you might
Speaker 1: be watching or listening to it, they're arriving for the
Speaker 1: for the two days of Rookie Mini Camp on Friday
Speaker 1: and Saturday. What are you most interested in in terms
Speaker 1: of this this Rookie Mini Camp? What are you going
Speaker 1: to have your eye on the most?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wrote this in our Insider Inbox column. For me,
Speaker 2: it's always just seeing the early draft picks in the
Speaker 2: uniform for the first time, just kind of getting those
Speaker 2: first impressions, just kind of tracking them throughout the practice. Also,
Speaker 2: on Friday, we'll be chatting potentially with all thirteen guys
Speaker 2: from that rookie draft class, getting to know their personalities
Speaker 2: a little bit, getting to kind of everyone's on their
Speaker 2: best behavior, obviously, but it is fun sort of being
Speaker 2: able to kind of mix it up a little bit.
Speaker 2: I try not to draw too many conclusions from these
Speaker 2: practices because I will never forget. I think it was
Speaker 2: in twenty thirteen or fourteen Mike McCarthy was asked for
Speaker 2: the MVP of the practice or the weekend, and it
Speaker 2: would ended up being a Kansas City, a Kansas state
Speaker 2: running back who did sign as a UFA but got
Speaker 2: exactly zero dollars and zero census a signing bonus, And
Speaker 2: I think I don't even know if he ended up
Speaker 2: making it to training camp. So I don't know how
Speaker 2: much you can draw from these practices in terms of
Speaker 2: the actual like, hey, is this a good pick or not?
Speaker 2: But I am excited to see Vans in uniform for
Speaker 2: the first time, and honestly just seeing how Jaden Reid
Speaker 2: moves and potentially what these guys offer at their respective
Speaker 2: positions and hearing Rich Pisaci probably yelled at some rookies.
Speaker 3: I remember last year.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh wow, that's that was my biggest
Speaker 2: takeaway last year was oh, rich Masati, this guy's not
Speaker 2: messing around.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, that'll that'll be that'll be fun to see
Speaker 1: that interaction. And sticking with that theme of special teams,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have my eye on the kicker from Auburn
Speaker 1: Anders Carlson, just because we've heard so much about his
Speaker 1: injuries and that now he has supposedly has the brace
Speaker 1: off of his non kicking leg. And I'm always just
Speaker 1: interested any anytime a new kicker comes along and you know,
Speaker 1: they line up for they line up for some field
Speaker 1: goal attempts. You know they're working on you know, the
Speaker 1: protection and and different things like that, but they kicked
Speaker 1: the ball for real, and it's always just interesting, how
Speaker 1: does the ball come off the guy's foot, what does
Speaker 1: it sound like? What does it look like? And uh,
Speaker 1: because having watched Mason Crosby, having covered his entire career
Speaker 1: since he arrived in two thousand and seven, you know
Speaker 1: what it's supposed to look like and sound like for
Speaker 1: an NFL kicker, and and always that that first impression
Speaker 1: when a new when a new kicker comes in, you
Speaker 1: see him kicking in the Hudson Center. That's always something
Speaker 1: that that I make a mental note of. Last thing
Speaker 1: for you, West, it was a long weekend, as we
Speaker 1: talked about Thursday, Friday, Saturday of the draft. The Packers
Speaker 1: took thirteen players, nine of them on Saturday. My last
Speaker 1: thing for you is we wrap up kind of our
Speaker 1: draft review. Is what was your most And this can
Speaker 1: be anything. I'll let you go wherever you want with this.
Speaker 1: What was your most memorable moment of covering the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three NFL Draft of the Green Bay Packers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. It was probably Patrick Moore walking out after
Speaker 2: they took Colby Wooden, who might be the only great
Speaker 2: draft pick we didn't actually talk about today in the
Speaker 2: fourth round, and he had that nice little that one
Speaker 2: liner that zinger. As he was leaving, He's like, all right,
Speaker 2: thanks guys, I'll see here eight more times more times. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And at that moment I was like I was because
Speaker 2: I was thinking when they drafted wood and I'm like, Oh,
Speaker 2: this won't be so bad. And then I'm like, oh, wait,
Speaker 2: we got eight more of these guys to go through
Speaker 2: and then just the seventh round. I joked with you
Speaker 2: before the draft about how I don't retain my rhythm,
Speaker 2: my plans, my schedule for the draft.
Speaker 3: All this was number fourteen for me.
Speaker 2: Now every one of them feels like the first time
Speaker 2: because it's just survival mode and trying to get content
Speaker 2: up in stories up and names out there and making
Speaker 2: sure that we spelled the names right. Like it's just
Speaker 2: a tornado of activity. So yeah, I enjoyed Patrick Moore's
Speaker 2: line there that gave me a good chuckle. You probably
Speaker 2: heard it on the live stream if people were watching.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm with you, I have a different line
Speaker 1: that struck me and it didn't give me a chuckle.
Speaker 1: But in relation to your describing the tornado of activity,
Speaker 1: especially on Saturday, where we're going crazy with trying to
Speaker 1: keep the website updated, getting information up on the picks
Speaker 1: as soon as the Packers make them, and all of that,
Speaker 1: and then we're absolutely exhausted at the end of Saturday,
Speaker 1: and the last person we're going to hear from at
Speaker 1: the podium is general manager Brian Gudukunt, and then he
Speaker 1: makes a comment after the Packers selected thirteen guys and
Speaker 1: we are completely wiped out.
Speaker 3: He makes a.
Speaker 1: Comment that it already looks like the Packers will have
Speaker 1: eleven draft picks next year in twenty twenty four. Like
Speaker 1: that was like I just paused. I sort of stared
Speaker 1: at the ceiling for a second, like are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: But he's obviously talking about there's the extra pick from
Speaker 1: the New York Jets, the Aaron Rodgers trade, that'll be
Speaker 1: either a second or a first rounder. And then he's
Speaker 1: already calculating the Packers potentially getting three compensatory draft picks
Speaker 1: based on the free agenc they lost led by Alan
Speaker 1: Lazard and that contract that he got from the New
Speaker 1: York Jets. So if you add the extra pick from Rogers,
Speaker 1: and if the Packers do get three compensatories, yeah, you're
Speaker 1: already at eleven picks for the twenty twenty four draft
Speaker 1: before anything else happens here. And that sort of you know,
Speaker 1: I had to pause and sigh and go like, okay,
Speaker 1: but we can worry about that twelve months from now.
Speaker 1: But hats off to you, my friend. It was It
Speaker 1: was a great It was a great weekend to coverage.
Speaker 1: We were knocking it out on the website doing the
Speaker 1: best we could for the fans, and yeah, it wiped
Speaker 1: us out, but it was a heck of a lot
Speaker 1: of fun too.
Speaker 2: Yeah it was, And we just got to be thankful
Speaker 2: that the undrafted the unrestricted free agency windows finally ended,
Speaker 2: so the compensatory formula is pretty much set.
Speaker 3: Yeah, over the cap does have.
Speaker 2: Robert Tunyan right on the fringe of a seventh rounder though, too,
Speaker 2: so that'll be the one we'll have to keep an
Speaker 2: eye on next year.
Speaker 3: But yeah, all being said, it was a good weekend.
Speaker 2: We I think you and I we we navigated it
Speaker 2: pretty well considering it was the most picks the packers
Speaker 2: have made in twenty three years and now we get
Speaker 2: a chance to see what they're gonna look like in
Speaker 2: a packer's uniform.
Speaker 1: Well, in a shout out to all the fans out
Speaker 1: there too, we had a tremendous weekend in terms of
Speaker 1: traffic on our website, the stories, the photo galleries, the videos,
Speaker 1: everything like that. We appreciate y'all following us and keeping
Speaker 1: up with everything and enjoying the content that we're doing.
Speaker 1: When we get to see those numbers, it helps us
Speaker 1: feel pretty good about all the work that we're putting
Speaker 1: in because we're not just putting it out there in
Speaker 1: the ether for you know, for nobody. There people who
Speaker 1: are actually consuming the content, and we definitely appreciate the fans'
Speaker 1: dedication to a long weekend as well.
Speaker 2: Imagine how that would have felt like if we would
Speaker 2: have gotten the report on Monday and it's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: one hundred and forty eight people read the van Atte
Speaker 2: story and then thankfully we cover the Green Bay Packers.
Speaker 3: People naturally care about stuff, so we appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we definitely appreciate all of all of the
Speaker 1: attention that they pay to our content and to our website.
Speaker 1: So with that, we will call it a wrap on
Speaker 1: this edition of Packers Unscripted. We'll be back next week
Speaker 1: to talk about Rookie Mini Camp some of the impressions
Speaker 1: without drawing too many conclusions, as Wes warned us earlier
Speaker 1: in the show, But we'll be back next week with that.
Speaker 1: So for Wes, I am Mike, thank you for tuning
Speaker 1: in everybody, and we will see you next time.