Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, Welcome back to Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com.
Speaker 1: I and Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted
Speaker 1: colleague Weston Hodkoitz and Wes. We are back about three
Speaker 1: months ago I think was our last show, and with
Speaker 1: this one we will kick off season number nine, season
Speaker 1: number nine.
Speaker 2: Putting up with me for eight years. Can you believe.
Speaker 1: That season number nine of Packers Unscripted as twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four gets rolling here, we have a lot to catch
Speaker 1: up on as far as a very very busy off
Speaker 1: season for the Green Bay Packers. But I'm not going
Speaker 1: to go in chronological order here because where I want
Speaker 1: to start is with what turned out to be a
Speaker 1: wild and crazy and frenetic first forty eight hours or
Speaker 1: so of free agency in the middle of March, during
Speaker 1: which time Aaron Jones, David Baktiari, and Devondre Campbell were
Speaker 1: no longer Green Bay Packers, but two of the top
Speaker 1: prizes on the free agent market at their respective positions
Speaker 1: became Green Bay Packers. And of course I'm talking about
Speaker 1: running back Josh Jacobs and safety Xavier McKinney. What were
Speaker 1: your thoughts on how those first couple days of free
Speaker 1: agency unfolded.
Speaker 3: Well, the interesting thing about the NFL, Michael, and the
Speaker 3: free agency time in particular, is that you can never
Speaker 3: plan for anything. What you expect to happen isn't always
Speaker 3: what happens, and honestly, very rarely does. You were the
Speaker 3: one in Indianapolis listening to Brian Godkuz him talking about
Speaker 3: you know, we're expecting Aaron Jones back, trying to make
Speaker 3: something work. But even though you know Aaron is such
Speaker 3: a beloved player here, you can tell them how to
Speaker 3: respect the coaches, the front office, everybody has for him.
Speaker 3: It's a game of finances, and it's a game of
Speaker 3: money and Aaron doing what's best for himself and his
Speaker 3: family in the Packer trying to do what's best for
Speaker 3: them moving forward. So if you would have ever told
Speaker 3: me a scenario in which not only is Aaron Jones
Speaker 3: not going to be a Green Bay Packer in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four, but Josh Jacobs, one year removed from being
Speaker 3: the NFL's rushing champion, Yeah, an all pro, a two
Speaker 3: time Pro bowler, he ends up being the one that
Speaker 3: emerges out of free agency, I would have told you
Speaker 3: you're crazy.
Speaker 2: I mean when you.
Speaker 3: Look at it, Michael, the fact that it had been
Speaker 3: over fifteen years since the last time, actually over almost
Speaker 3: twenty five years since the last time the Packers had
Speaker 3: signed a running back as an unrestricted free agent. There
Speaker 3: has been a homegrown aspect to this thing. The Packers
Speaker 3: went out, they found a guy three years younger than Aaron,
Speaker 3: coming off a down season with the Raiders, but a
Speaker 3: lot of things that were working against him, a lot
Speaker 3: of inconsistency in that offense, that offensive line, the change
Speaker 3: with Josh McDaniel's mid season, and now he's here in
Speaker 3: Green Bay hoping that the stability really kind of propels
Speaker 3: him back towards being that all Pro running back that
Speaker 3: he was in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you were down just a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: after the Josh Jacobs signing. You were down in Florida
Speaker 1: at the owners meeting, and you heard from Matt Lafleur.
Speaker 1: And as much as Matt Lafleur is sad that Aaron
Speaker 1: Jones is no longer a part of the Packers offense,
Speaker 1: he's awfully excited about getting Josh Jacobs in this offense.
Speaker 1: And both Jacobs when he spoke to the media for
Speaker 1: the first time after signing his contract and Lafleur speaking
Speaker 1: with the media down in Florida. They both talked about
Speaker 1: being more involved in the passing game, not just being
Speaker 1: that you know, that bellcow running back, the workhorse that's
Speaker 1: going to get you know, the twenty to twenty five
Speaker 1: carries a game, but it's about utilizing him even more
Speaker 1: in the passing game. Now. It's not that Jacobs hasn't
Speaker 1: been He averaged I believe, forty receptions or so per
Speaker 1: season during his years with the Raiders, But that's an aspect.
Speaker 1: I think that that Jacob's welcomes and Lafleur welcomes as
Speaker 1: far as you know, getting him the ball in different ways, that.
Speaker 3: In different ways, and you've seen the last few years
Speaker 3: the way the Packers use those running backs in Matt
Speaker 3: Leafloor when you get the multiple options. Certainly, we've talked
Speaker 3: numerous times about the pony package and being able to
Speaker 3: get two backs on the field and how being able
Speaker 3: to manipulate a defense with multiple looks. But the thing
Speaker 3: that's the most incredible thing to me about Jacobs is
Speaker 3: he has forty six rushing touchdowns and not a single
Speaker 3: receiving touchdown during his career, I mean everything. As much
Speaker 3: as he's been a belcow type back, a guy that
Speaker 3: averages three hundred touches a season throughout his five seasons
Speaker 3: with Las Vegas, he hasn't had any of those receiving touchdowns.
Speaker 2: I think that's going to change in this offense.
Speaker 3: And as I wrote about in the pre draft picture
Speaker 3: series that we're currently running on our website, it's not
Speaker 3: just going to be him. They were able to bring
Speaker 3: back A J. Dylan. They also have Emmanuel Wilson coming back.
Speaker 3: There is a sense of familiarity with this backfield, despite
Speaker 3: the fact there's a new guy that's on the top
Speaker 3: of the depth chart.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you look at the other big free agent
Speaker 1: signing for the Packers, this dovetails very nicely into the
Speaker 1: the other really really big piece of news in the offseason,
Speaker 1: which is that Jeff Hafley has been hired from his
Speaker 1: job as the head coach at Boston College to be
Speaker 1: Matt Laffer's new defensive coordinator. Some other assistant coaches on
Speaker 1: the defensive side, some new faces are coming in to
Speaker 1: Green Bay as well.
Speaker 2: But when you.
Speaker 1: Look at you Halflee and what he has said about
Speaker 1: his defense and the types of players that he's looking for,
Speaker 1: and specifically when it comes to how he wants to
Speaker 1: utilize safeties in the back end of the defense and
Speaker 1: what he wants what he's going to demand as the
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator out of that position. Xavier McKinney, to use
Speaker 1: an overused phrase, checks all the boxes. And it was
Speaker 1: not a surprise at all really, even though the Packers
Speaker 1: aren't normally this involved on the opening days of free agency.
Speaker 1: You have to go back to kind of twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: for the last time that these sort of signings occurred.
Speaker 1: But Xavier McKinney is a guy that the Packers feel
Speaker 1: not only fits this defense that Hafley's going to run
Speaker 1: very very well, but also as a player that I
Speaker 1: think Halfley is expecting to showcase from a playmaking standpoint
Speaker 1: and give him opportunities to make some game changing plays.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And as Brian Gudikuin's told us in Orlando, I
Speaker 3: mean it was kind of a question there whether or
Speaker 3: not either him or Josh Jacobs would even make it
Speaker 3: to the.
Speaker 2: Free agent market.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the option with the franchise tag when McKinney was there,
Speaker 3: He's you know, Brian said, it himself. I mean, that
Speaker 3: is an unusual player to be available. I almost liken
Speaker 3: it to the Shaquille O'Neill effect. Not to put those
Speaker 3: that lofty of expectations on McKinney, but it's very rare
Speaker 3: that you see a guy that hass been as productive
Speaker 3: as he's been and is only twenty four years old
Speaker 3: when he reaches unrestricted free agency. I mean, as Brian said,
Speaker 3: right from the get go, they feel like his next
Speaker 3: three years are going to be his best seasons in
Speaker 3: the National Football League. We haven't even seen the best
Speaker 3: version of this guy yet. So when you're paying top
Speaker 3: dollar for a safety, it's one thing. Packers did it
Speaker 3: back in twenty nineteen with Adrian Amos when they were
Speaker 3: really switching things up with that defense the first time. Well,
Speaker 3: now you not only get McKinney, who I think buy
Speaker 3: and large everybody would agree was the top target for
Speaker 3: safeties on the market, you're getting him before he's even
Speaker 3: reached his prime. And I feel like for the Green
Speaker 3: Bay Packers, what they need from that safety position, all
Speaker 3: the ebbs and flows that they went through last year, injuries, inconsistency,
Speaker 3: if they're going to switch to this type of scheme
Speaker 3: where maybe you're gonna see a little bit more of
Speaker 3: the single high. Look again, you need a guy that
Speaker 3: is going to be able to handle that patrolling of
Speaker 3: center field. You're gonna need a guy that's gonna be
Speaker 3: able to close quickly to the football. Jeff Hafley said
Speaker 3: it in his opening news conference. He wants a guy
Speaker 3: that's going to race things on defense, and Xavier McKinney
Speaker 3: definitely does that.
Speaker 1: I think the thing that stuck out to me the
Speaker 1: most and continues to stick out to me the most
Speaker 1: with regard to McKinney is that last season he had
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixteen tackles, and the various know pro
Speaker 1: football focused metrics and whatnot, the analyzes that are out
Speaker 1: there said that he only missed seven tackles. One hundred
Speaker 1: and sixteen tackles and only seven misses. And then when
Speaker 1: McKinney spoke to reporters for the first time after signing
Speaker 1: his contract, I actually I tried to ask him in
Speaker 1: a kind of roundabout way, well, what makes a good tackler? Like,
Speaker 1: how did you get so good at this when you
Speaker 1: can get one hundred and sixteen and only miss seven
Speaker 1: over the course of an entire season, and his immediate
Speaker 1: response was, the seven is too many. I've got to
Speaker 1: get that number down. This is a guy who's one
Speaker 1: of the better tacklers in the league, and yet he
Speaker 1: doesn't look at himself that way. He looks at it
Speaker 1: as I still have to get better. If I'm in
Speaker 1: a position to make a tackle, I've got to make it.
Speaker 1: And miss tackles they're going to happen in the NFL.
Speaker 1: They happen to everybody. I think we've seen over the
Speaker 1: last couple of years that the Packers have had a
Speaker 1: few too many of them, and not just one person
Speaker 1: or one position, but it's been kind of an across
Speaker 1: the board thing. Things go have gone a little sour
Speaker 1: on defense, and I think having a guy like McKinney
Speaker 1: as as a leader, as a veteran guy who's who's
Speaker 1: been there and done that, and then with this transition
Speaker 1: to the new defense, it seems like the right fit
Speaker 1: for everything that halfway in the floor looking for.
Speaker 3: And it's a high wire act back there. Even if
Speaker 3: you're playing too high safety, it's not just that if
Speaker 3: you miss a tackle, it's what are the replication the
Speaker 3: ramifications of that mistackle? And that's where I think when
Speaker 3: you mentioned a couple times, green Bay got kind of
Speaker 3: burned by that last year. It's not an easy position
Speaker 3: to play. For whatever reason, the NFL is kind of
Speaker 3: downgraded a little bit. People aren't willing to spend the
Speaker 3: money on safety like maybe they were ten years ago.
Speaker 3: But you see the value in it when you look
Speaker 3: at a player like Xavier McKinney. He's versatile and he's
Speaker 3: sort of that five tool player that you really need
Speaker 3: back there. He can, he can hit, he can hit
Speaker 3: the you know, the running back. He can be able
Speaker 3: to cover downfield by himself if he needs to. You
Speaker 3: saw those interceptions he had towards the end of last
Speaker 3: seasons against Philly. There's some instinctual things that he does
Speaker 3: along with that speed that he carries that's gonna keep
Speaker 3: him in this thing for a long time. And I
Speaker 3: don't know what exactly is gonna happen alongside of him.
Speaker 3: The Packers still have a big hole there as the
Speaker 3: safety two spot. Anthony Johnson Junior is gonna come back,
Speaker 3: maybe the addresses through the draft, maybe there's a free
Speaker 3: agent out there that they like. But whoever that is,
Speaker 3: you have a pretty good feeling that McKinney's gonna be
Speaker 3: able to work with that individual and help bring them along,
Speaker 3: much like what Adriannamus did with Darnell Savage in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and to dive a little bit deeper into the
Speaker 1: switch at defensive coordinator with Halfley coming from Boston College. Numerically,
Speaker 1: it's about going from a three to four to a
Speaker 1: four to three, right. We don't want to overplay that necessarily.
Speaker 1: It does turn guys like Rashan, Gary Preston Smith, Lucas
Speaker 1: Fans into more traditional defensive ends. We will see if
Speaker 1: they play with their hand on the ground or whether
Speaker 1: they still stand or yeah, yeah, or maybe or maybe
Speaker 1: it's a you know, it's a combination of things based
Speaker 1: on what package you know, down in distance, situation, all
Speaker 1: of that. The what I am most curious about. I'll
Speaker 1: ask you what you're most curious about to see develop
Speaker 1: in this first year of Jeff Haffley's defense. For me,
Speaker 1: it's how is how does Jeff Hafley go about utilizing
Speaker 1: an athlete and a talent like Quay Walker. Because we
Speaker 1: saw Walker make some pretty good strides from his rookie
Speaker 1: year to his second year. We saw him in Week
Speaker 1: one of his second season get a pick six that
Speaker 1: Soldier field. But then, you know, not that I'm not
Speaker 1: saying he had a bad season. He was better in
Speaker 1: year two than I thought than in year one. But
Speaker 1: we didn't see a whole lot of the splash plays,
Speaker 1: the flashy stuff, you know, the game changing type of plays.
Speaker 1: But kuay Walker is the kind of athlete in the
Speaker 1: middle of a defense who can make those kind of plays.
Speaker 1: And I am very curious to see just how Halflee
Speaker 1: in his defensive assistance go about trying to showcase quay
Speaker 1: Walker at the linebacker level, as we had talked about
Speaker 1: with McKinney at the safety level.
Speaker 3: I just felt like it was one of the questions
Speaker 3: I asked Matt Lafleur after the season about when he
Speaker 3: was making this change where Joe Berry is out as
Speaker 3: defensive coordinator is looking for somebody else. Was he specifically
Speaker 3: looking to go to a four to three or was
Speaker 3: that a byproduct of the coordinator that you're picking. And
Speaker 3: it was a byproduct, is what he said. He wasn't
Speaker 3: necessarily looking to make a change. But when I look
Speaker 3: at where Green Bay was last year, I look at
Speaker 3: their personnel there wasn't a lot there where I said, Man,
Speaker 3: they really got to fix this. They have to do
Speaker 3: this differently. I just think sometimes when you're not getting
Speaker 3: the results, you need to switch things up. And I
Speaker 3: feel like this switch and again, I'm a guy that
Speaker 3: you can read. You've read all my stuff for eight years. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I love the three four. That's where I I've always thought.
Speaker 3: But with some of the gap issues they had last year,
Speaker 3: some of the times where they got gashed with the run,
Speaker 3: I think sometimes you do need to try something different.
Speaker 3: So when I look at kway Walker bringing it back
Speaker 3: to your original point, I just think that this is
Speaker 3: something that's going to compliment him. Well, he's going to
Speaker 3: be able to read those defenses. He's going to be
Speaker 3: able to act instinctually. He has a rapport there already
Speaker 3: with Isaiah McDuffie, who in some form or fashion is
Speaker 3: going to be incorporated into this defense depending on what
Speaker 3: they do with that other inside backer spot.
Speaker 1: I agree.
Speaker 3: But overall, I feel like the construct is there. I
Speaker 3: feel like the bodies are there. I feel like the
Speaker 3: defensive line they got a lot of production from that
Speaker 3: last year. The defensive line had almost half their sacks
Speaker 3: of those forty five, with Kenny Clark having a career high,
Speaker 3: Davonte Wyatt having five and a half, and when you
Speaker 3: have somebody like kway Walker who also can contribute in
Speaker 3: that fashion, I just feel like there's going to be
Speaker 3: a lot for Halfway to utilize there. And he was
Speaker 3: even asked about it during his original press conference and
Speaker 3: he said, I mean, one of the first things you
Speaker 3: do is a defensive coordinator come into Green Bay, you
Speaker 3: look at kway Walker and you like what you see.
Speaker 3: And I think the scheme overall is something that's definitely
Speaker 3: going to benefit him in the long run.
Speaker 1: Yeah. When I look at these young guys on the
Speaker 1: Packers defense, obviously Kenny Clark is going to do his thing,
Speaker 1: Preston Smith is doing his thing. Rareshaun Gary has certainly
Speaker 1: come into his own, even though he missed half a season,
Speaker 1: you know, with a torn acl When I look at
Speaker 1: the young guys on this defense, the quay Walker, quay
Speaker 1: Walker and Devonte Wyatt and Isaiah McDuffie, I think if
Speaker 1: Hafley wants to have these young defenders in attack mode,
Speaker 1: not react mode. He wants he wants to get something
Speaker 1: established where the defense, the defense is attacking more often
Speaker 1: than it's reacting. You're going to have to play some
Speaker 1: situations reactionally on defense. That's the nature of the sport.
Speaker 1: It's the nature of the game. But the more times
Speaker 1: you can create situations and create opportunities to be on
Speaker 1: the attack and with as much young blood, so to speak,
Speaker 1: as the Packers are going to have on the defensive
Speaker 1: side of the ball. That's kind of in a general
Speaker 1: sense where I see this.
Speaker 3: Going, yeah, and I agree with you, and I think
Speaker 3: that's going to be exciting because we'll preview the draft
Speaker 3: a little bit later and we'll get going on how
Speaker 3: these things are going to shape up and the twenty
Speaker 3: four landscape is going to be. But Michael, with how
Speaker 3: many guys stepped up last season, with how many rookies
Speaker 3: contributed right away, I didn't go into this offseason thinking, man,
Speaker 3: green Bay has a lot of holes to fill, and
Speaker 3: they don't have a lot of draft picks. They don't
Speaker 3: have a lot of money. No, they have more money,
Speaker 3: they have more draft picks. Now, they still got to
Speaker 3: build depth. They still have to find guys that can
Speaker 3: challenge for position right away. They need to find that safety.
Speaker 3: But my goodness, Michael when you compare what this conversation
Speaker 3: was like when you and I came back for the
Speaker 3: first episode of Unscripted last year as opposed to where
Speaker 3: Green Bay is seating today, It's a night and day difference.
Speaker 3: There's been a lot of guys that have contributed to that.
Speaker 3: But I just feel like for Jeff Hafley coming in
Speaker 3: trying to implement his program, there are so many young
Speaker 3: stallions here for him to work with to hopefully build
Speaker 3: something that can become what everybody's expected this defense to be.
Speaker 1: Well, I want to go through other players that the
Speaker 1: Packers brought back, guys who left, will sort of analyze
Speaker 1: a little bit where that is. But for some sponsor
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Speaker 1: fifty plus years of better all right elsewhere in free agency,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna rattle off kind of the names as
Speaker 1: far as who's gone and who's been brought back, as
Speaker 1: far as who has departed. The Green Bay Packers safeties
Speaker 1: Darnell Savage and Jonathan Owens, offensive lineman John Runyon and
Speaker 1: yosh Nyman, tight end Josiah Dguara, and running back Patrick
Speaker 1: Taylor re signed by the Green Bay Packers Keishawn Nixon,
Speaker 1: AJ Dillon, Eric Wilson, Corey Ballantine, Christian Welch, and Robert Rochelle.
Speaker 1: Two things that jump out at me. One is that,
Speaker 1: as we get asked a lot in insider inbox, almost inevitably,
Speaker 1: as soon as a season ends and the free agent
Speaker 1: lists get out there, who's the top priority for the
Speaker 1: Packers to re sign in free agency to make sure
Speaker 1: this guy doesn't get away. I think you and I
Speaker 1: both answered the question exactly the same way. It was
Speaker 1: Keishawn Nixon, not only because of what he did in
Speaker 1: a full season as the nickel cornerback and really him
Speaker 1: playing that position full time for the first time in
Speaker 1: his career. I think the Packers feel like there's still
Speaker 1: some more growth and some more progress there, even though
Speaker 1: Keishaw Nixon is not necessarily a young player anymore with
Speaker 1: his experience in the league. But then you throw in,
Speaker 1: obviously what he brings to the return game, and then
Speaker 1: what the owners passed at the owners meetings as far
Speaker 1: as the whole new setup and the rules and regulations
Speaker 1: with regard to kickoffs that are going to promote kickoff
Speaker 1: return opportunities and instead of as many touchbacks as we've
Speaker 1: seen in recent years. I thought the re signing of
Speaker 1: Keishawn Nixon was a big move for the Packers in
Speaker 1: two phases, both defensively and on special.
Speaker 3: It was the biggest move Green Bay made. And because
Speaker 3: let's just start with defense, because Jeff Halfley. This was
Speaker 3: another question that came up throughout the offseason with Matt Lafleure.
Speaker 3: You know, they were the ones. Jeff Hafley comes in
Speaker 3: as he talked about his family still in Boston. You know,
Speaker 3: he's sitting over here at Lodge Coal or just basically
Speaker 3: breathing and eating football every single day, and he had
Speaker 3: a lot of time to crunch film and a big
Speaker 3: part of that was watching the nine hundred sum snaps
Speaker 3: that Kishaw Nixon played last year and projecting whether or
Speaker 3: not this would be a good fit, because if it
Speaker 3: isn't this is the breaking point. This is where the
Speaker 3: Packers can let him walk and they can move forward
Speaker 3: in a new direction. Jeff Hafley looked at that film
Speaker 3: and said, this is promising for a guy that finally
Speaker 3: as a full time player, full time starter, is in
Speaker 3: that role. He liked what he saw, and Brian Goodikin's
Speaker 3: kind of expounded upon that when we were in Orlando, saying,
Speaker 3: you gotta remember, it's not just about how you cover,
Speaker 3: it's about how you tackle, and you need a guy
Speaker 3: that's built for that contact. You need a guy that's
Speaker 3: sort of like this hybrid pseudo safety type position, and
Speaker 3: Kishawn Nixon in a lot of ways fits that bill,
Speaker 3: especially with his explosiveness. I think the Packers saw what
Speaker 3: he did last year. It wasn't error free, but they
Speaker 3: felt like there's something to build off there now. And
Speaker 3: obviously the fact his durability is such a pivotal piece
Speaker 3: in Green Bay and he was the guy that ended
Speaker 3: up being out there more than anybody with those cornerbacks.
Speaker 3: And if I may just quickly with this kickoff return business,
Speaker 3: we'll have to see what this all is. Are gonna
Speaker 3: have plenty of opportunities to discuss this this summer. Will
Speaker 3: it look different, Will it result in more explosive plays?
Speaker 3: Will it results result in fewer everybody's got a theory.
Speaker 2: On this thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But all I'm gonna say is with the moves
Speaker 3: that Green Bay made, and Kishaw Nixon is a part
Speaker 3: of that, but he's not all of it. It's some
Speaker 3: of these Eric Wilson signings too. It is if the
Speaker 3: Green Bay Packers are going to make this transition into
Speaker 3: this new season with this new format for the kickoff,
Speaker 3: you are as well positioned as you're going to be
Speaker 3: right now with having Kishawn Nixon back there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so too, And it's going to be
Speaker 1: the big curiosity as far as special teams across the
Speaker 1: league in twenty twenty four with the implementation of this
Speaker 1: new kickoff, this modified version, but special teams in general,
Speaker 1: I thought, I thought the Packers really helped themselves by
Speaker 1: bringing back these guys like Wilson and Ballantine and Welch
Speaker 1: and Rochelle. And also as far as that spotlight on
Speaker 1: special teams, there's a kicking competition right now. Anders Carlson,
Speaker 1: Jack put Lesnie was signed right after the season ended,
Speaker 1: and then the veteran Greg Joseph has been brought in.
Speaker 1: He's been the kicker for the Vikings for the past
Speaker 1: three seasons. So right now there are three kickers on
Speaker 1: the roster. I don't know how long that necessarily will continue,
Speaker 1: but one way or another, there is going to be
Speaker 1: a competition for the kicker position in Green Bay. So
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of eyes on special teams
Speaker 1: and how some of this stuff is going to sort
Speaker 1: itself out as the Packers make their way towards Week one.
Speaker 2: Well, and then this is something you got to keep
Speaker 2: in mind too.
Speaker 3: I mean, kickers are going to have a role to
Speaker 3: play in this kickoff return business now as well, because
Speaker 3: if you're doing touchbacks and those sort of things, now
Speaker 3: it's coming out to the thirty. If the opposing team
Speaker 3: wants to kneel it down or let it go through
Speaker 3: the end zone, you have to make sure you hit
Speaker 3: it within the landing zone or otherwise it's going to
Speaker 3: be going to the forty. It's a difficult situation, I
Speaker 3: really felt when you and I were breaking down at
Speaker 3: the end of the season, we were talking about some
Speaker 3: of the issues that Anders had and that NFC Divisional
Speaker 3: playoff game I just felt like he's at a point
Speaker 3: right now where he can benefit for some competition.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: They didn't go out and pay Matt Gay all that
Speaker 3: money like the Colts did last year. Greg Joseph is
Speaker 3: more of that moderate type, signing a guy that's going
Speaker 3: to get an honest opportunity at winning that job, but
Speaker 3: you're not tied to him financially it doesn't work out.
Speaker 3: That's the thing I think is going to be very
Speaker 3: important for them because you look, even like O'Daniel Wheeland
Speaker 3: last year, how much he grew throughout camp when he's
Speaker 3: competing with Pad O'Donnell for that job and the only
Speaker 3: one person can win it. So I just feel like
Speaker 3: we're going to see the best version of Honors through
Speaker 3: this thing too. And the green Bait Packers talked about
Speaker 3: it the day that Rich Bisacci got hired. They were
Speaker 3: going to make a commitment they were going to be
Speaker 3: more veteran lated on special teams and they've been a
Speaker 3: man of their word.
Speaker 1: A couple other topics to hit on before we go
Speaker 1: and sign off on our first show. A lot of
Speaker 1: discussion both with both at the Scouting Combine in Indian
Speaker 1: February and then at the owner's meetings at the end
Speaker 1: of March in Orlando with Brian Gudokountz. With regard to
Speaker 1: Jordan Love and a new contract, it sounds like something's
Speaker 1: in the works. The Packers are going Packers and Jordan
Speaker 1: Love's folks are going to work towards something here. It
Speaker 1: can't be nothing can be finalized, signed, whatever until after
Speaker 1: the first few days of May because of the twelve
Speaker 1: month rule with regard to contracts, because the Packers signed
Speaker 1: Jordan Love to a contract extension in the first week
Speaker 1: of May last year, so there's no there's no rush here.
Speaker 1: And certainly the draft is coming up, so a lot
Speaker 1: of attention is on that, and I think very quickly
Speaker 1: after the draft, my guess is that attention will turn
Speaker 1: to this Jordan Love contract and that's going to get done.
Speaker 1: But you know, the Packers obviously are going to are
Speaker 1: making the long term commitment to Jordan Love for obvious reasons,
Speaker 1: and you know it could be could be a fun
Speaker 1: few years around here with with that young man continuing
Speaker 1: to grow and develop as he's done.
Speaker 3: You want to win a championship and and Jordan there
Speaker 3: are things that he's going to want back from that
Speaker 3: first year as a starter, and it goes back to
Speaker 3: even that game against the forty nine ers.
Speaker 2: But I think if you're looking outside of just the.
Speaker 3: Super Bowl and the Lombardi, it was having confidence that
Speaker 3: you found your guy, and I felt like the twenty
Speaker 3: twenty three campaign gave us that confidence. I felt like
Speaker 3: that final stretch of the season, Mike, I would challenge
Speaker 3: you to find me a better quarterback those last six
Speaker 3: seven weeks of the regular season than Jordan Love. He
Speaker 3: was exceptional in every facet of the game and a
Speaker 3: big reason why the Green bit Packers were able to
Speaker 3: mount that rally and a big reason why they were
Speaker 3: able to get in the playoffs and ultimately have this
Speaker 3: sort of excitement now heading into this year two with
Speaker 3: him as QB one. I don't know how the dollars
Speaker 3: and cents work out. It's actually been a minute since
Speaker 3: we've had to do like a true quarterback extension. Aaron
Speaker 3: Rodgers had a few of them there down the end,
Speaker 3: but I mean, ultimately it was mostly just kind of
Speaker 3: reworking a few things.
Speaker 2: This reminds me.
Speaker 3: A lot of what Aaron got when we got into
Speaker 3: twenty thirteen, when he did that first deal with Green Bay.
Speaker 2: I think what was at the end of the eight season.
Speaker 1: Is, yeah, they extend Aaron Rodgers in the middle of
Speaker 1: the two thousand and eight season, his first year as
Speaker 1: the starters, eight or nine games in, and then he
Speaker 1: got his first you know, it was sort of his
Speaker 1: official second contract.
Speaker 3: And I don't know if you remember that, but that
Speaker 3: twenty twelve season, it just seemed like that was something
Speaker 3: where he was constantly being asked about it, Hey, are
Speaker 3: you playing undervalue your contract or whatever? And then ultimately
Speaker 3: after the Joe flacco'dell, the Packers made him the highest
Speaker 3: paid quarterback in the NFL. I don't know how that's
Speaker 3: all going to work out with Jordan Love, but you
Speaker 3: just feel so happy for him from a personal perspective
Speaker 3: because this is a guy that, in addition to putting
Speaker 3: in the time, in addition to developing and putting this
Speaker 3: all to good use, he led that locker room with
Speaker 3: a very even keel temperament. He's never blinked, he's never
Speaker 3: talked out a line. He's been the consummate professional leader.
Speaker 3: I feel like this locker room needs him to be
Speaker 3: in the one thing that Matt Lafleur mentioned that he
Speaker 3: wants him to work on. That's the big point of
Speaker 3: emphasis going into year two. Now there is no Aaron Jones.
Speaker 3: They there is still a young offense, but there's fewer
Speaker 3: of those leaders on that side of the ball. More
Speaker 3: is going to be asked of Jordan in that and
Speaker 3: I think that's exciting. I think that's an opportunity he's
Speaker 3: gonna relish in understanding that this is my football team
Speaker 3: and you are not on Instagram. You could care less
Speaker 3: about Instagram. But Jordan had a post a couple days
Speaker 3: ago and I don't even know how many likes it
Speaker 3: ended up getting. I oun't know how many views it
Speaker 3: ended up getting. It's a lot, though, And all it
Speaker 3: was was Jordan looking with his back to the camera,
Speaker 3: looking out to the Lambeufield fans and just saying missing this. Yeah,
Speaker 3: these fans are excited for the season. Jordan's excited for
Speaker 3: the season, and number ten is going to be here
Speaker 3: for a long time.
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of the season, the full schedule for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four has not been released, and that will happen
Speaker 1: presumably a couple weeks after the draft, so roughly about
Speaker 1: a month from now, four weeks from now, something like that,
Speaker 1: but the Packers know Game one they do Week one.
Speaker 1: It will be on the Friday night after the Thursday
Speaker 1: night kickoff opener, which presumably will be in Kansas City
Speaker 1: with the Chiefs hosting the Super Bowl champion Chiefs hosting
Speaker 1: a game at Air Arrowhead. But on the next night,
Speaker 1: on Friday night, the Packers will be in Sal Paulo,
Speaker 1: Brazil to face the Philadelphia Eagles. This is technically a
Speaker 1: home game for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Packers are
Speaker 1: the road team. We just found out about this last week, Wes,
Speaker 1: and I am not exactly looking forward to a twelve
Speaker 1: hour flight to go cover a football game. That will
Speaker 1: definitely be a first for me. But your thoughts on
Speaker 1: this whole Brazil thing, this is just this is kind
Speaker 1: of it kind of came out of nowhere. Yeah, a
Speaker 1: lot of respect.
Speaker 3: And that's why I laugh. I don't laugh for any
Speaker 3: other reason other than for so long, even going back
Speaker 3: to my days at the Press, because that it was like,
Speaker 3: why what are the Packers going to go to London?
Speaker 3: And it's like, okay, well they finally went. Now we're
Speaker 3: going to South America. I could play the first ever
Speaker 3: game in less than America less than two.
Speaker 1: I guess it'd be twenty three months after the trip
Speaker 1: to London. Right here, go go to Brazil, fly fly
Speaker 1: twice as far away.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you were talking about what's going to happen.
Speaker 3: That is probably the closest you and I are going
Speaker 3: to come to having throwing blows, throwing down coming to blows.
Speaker 3: But no, here, here's the thing, Mike. You know my
Speaker 3: stance on this. I was really against it, only from
Speaker 3: the standpoint of what the travel is and the fact
Speaker 3: that you open the season with such a taxing trip.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 3: But I have to give credit to the Brazilian fans
Speaker 3: and honestly South American Packers fans, because we've gotten things
Speaker 3: an insider inbox with people from Argentina, from Uruguay, people
Speaker 3: that are gonna make this trip just because they're in
Speaker 3: the region.
Speaker 2: Absolutely I get.
Speaker 3: I have so much respect for them because you can
Speaker 3: feel their fandom. This isn't just oh, some novelty the
Speaker 3: Packers are going to go down there and yayaya, let's
Speaker 3: go check it out. No, these are people that live
Speaker 3: and breathe football, just like John Olton Wasau does, and
Speaker 3: this is for them potentially a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Speaker 2: I don't think we're going to be going to.
Speaker 3: Brazil every other year, so for us to be able
Speaker 3: to make that trip, you appreciate what it means culturally,
Speaker 3: you appreciate what it means for the National Football League
Speaker 3: to put Jordan love in this football team on display.
Speaker 2: Like they are.
Speaker 3: But more importantly, it is about expanding this game. And
Speaker 3: I don't know how many more years you're going to
Speaker 3: do this. I said, I always have about nineteen left,
Speaker 3: give or take. I'm going to see a lot of
Speaker 3: different parts of this country, but parts of this globe.
Speaker 3: If I stick around, and if the Packers don't want
Speaker 3: to let me go and hand me a pink slip,
Speaker 3: I don't know if I'll ever be in Brazil again
Speaker 3: from a vacation standpoint or a work standpoint. So from
Speaker 3: that aspect, I'm really embracing it. But it is going
Speaker 3: to be very interesting to see how both of these
Speaker 3: teams come out of it, because it is something unlike
Speaker 3: anything else I think the NFL has really tried so far.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and logistically, the only reason you know this really
Speaker 1: is even a possibility to do in week one is
Speaker 1: because of the change of a few years ago of
Speaker 1: going to just the three preseason games where there's essentially
Speaker 1: a you know, kind of an off week in terms
Speaker 1: of playing games, there's no longer that fourth preseason game
Speaker 1: before week one. So because that gap is in there,
Speaker 1: the NFL sort of looks at the calendar and goes, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: well let's let's send a couple of teams on along
Speaker 1: road trip because it's because it's certainly more doable now
Speaker 1: than it would have been a f You know what.
Speaker 2: This feels like.
Speaker 3: It feels like when you get the call from like, uh,
Speaker 3: I don't know, a pick your cable company or you know,
Speaker 3: sometime telemarketing thing where they offer you like the first
Speaker 3: three months and then you end up getting hit with
Speaker 3: something on the other end of it.
Speaker 2: A couple of years ago, the NFL is like.
Speaker 3: Hey, we're gonna take we're gonna get rid of that
Speaker 3: last preseason game.
Speaker 2: Everything's cool. We'll add the other regular season game, but
Speaker 2: everything's cool.
Speaker 3: And now we're already chipping back into right that off
Speaker 3: time before week one again.
Speaker 1: Exactly, it's like you got again, you know that is
Speaker 1: that is exactly what this feels like. Well, Hey, I
Speaker 1: know a lot of people are fired up about the draft.
Speaker 1: There's plenty to discuss with regard to the draft, and
Speaker 1: now that we have reviewed the off season, we will
Speaker 1: shift into draft mode. We have another show later this week.
Speaker 1: We will have another one next week, also prior to
Speaker 1: the draft, and we'll try to look at this twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four NFL Draft from all angles, so be sure
Speaker 1: to tune in for that. But till then, for WES,
Speaker 1: I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We
Speaker 1: will see you next time.
Speaker 3: M