Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of Packers Unscripted
Speaker 1: from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spoffer, joined once
Speaker 1: again by my trusted colleague Weston Hodquitz. We're coming to
Speaker 1: you hear from our studios at Lambeufield and Wes Packers
Speaker 1: Training camp is underway. There is one practice in the books.
Speaker 1: As soon as we get this show recorded, we're headed
Speaker 1: out for the second practice of training camp. But I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna start with how you doing, my friend.
Speaker 2: I'm doing all right. It's funny to me that we
Speaker 2: blink and we're always back.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It just it doesn't seem like it was already over
Speaker 2: a month ago that you and I kind of signed
Speaker 2: off for the summer to go about our vacations.
Speaker 1: At the end of Mini caamp.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we just find our way back here. But
Speaker 2: the thing that also was hilarious about that how things
Speaker 2: can change macro level, micro level, the small dominoes that
Speaker 2: fall in a fifty three to ninety man roster, and
Speaker 2: certainly probably one of the more newsier days I think
Speaker 2: that I've ever experienced in terms of the first day
Speaker 2: of training camp for the Green Bay Packers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, two things I want to try to accomplish
Speaker 1: with this show before we shuffle off for practice number two.
Speaker 1: One is to review what happened in practice one, but
Speaker 1: also then to look at things a little bit bigger picture,
Speaker 1: kind of the overview, a training camp preview, if you will.
Speaker 1: But in terms of day one, the biggest news, without question,
Speaker 1: is that the Packers have not finalized a new contract
Speaker 1: for quarterback Jordan Love. Yet everybody seems optimistic that the
Speaker 1: finish line is in sight, that it's there, it could
Speaker 1: happen perhaps any day now. But until that happens, until
Speaker 1: it is signed, sealed, and delivered, Jordan Love will not
Speaker 1: be practicing. He has reported for training camp he is
Speaker 1: going through the meetings and all the other camp activities
Speaker 1: except for practicing. He's basically eliminating his injury risk until
Speaker 1: the new contract is finished. So that meant on day one,
Speaker 1: Seawan Clifford and Michael Pratt were running the offense and
Speaker 1: Sean Clifford was the guy with the first team unit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was fun watching Sean work out there. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is a guy that I thought put together a
Speaker 2: really strong preseason last year. Now again everybody was sort
Speaker 2: of deferring to Love. Throughout that process because they wanted
Speaker 2: him to get as many first team reps, They wanted
Speaker 2: him to get as much preseason work as he could
Speaker 2: going into his first year as a starter. But Clifford
Speaker 2: ended up taking and really running with that number two
Speaker 2: job to the point it wasn't even very much a competition.
Speaker 2: This year, he's gonna get pushed more with Michael Pratt
Speaker 2: coming in. Both of these guys, you look at their
Speaker 2: backgrounds very similar in terms of playing a lot of
Speaker 2: college football at different levels. Obviously Penn State for Clifford
Speaker 2: and Tulane for Pratt. But I thought, you know, for
Speaker 2: how things ended for Clifford, I'm sure that wasn't a
Speaker 2: great taste to have the three interceptions by Zane Anderson
Speaker 2: at the end of the mini camp. You have to
Speaker 2: go into the summer kind of, you know, marinating on
Speaker 2: that a little bit. But he came back, he took charge.
Speaker 2: He's a natural born leader. I love the way he
Speaker 2: started the red zone period. As Matt Lafleur said, with
Speaker 2: the tighter constraints with the practice schedule this ramp up period,
Speaker 2: they have to be very careful with what they do
Speaker 2: to get everything in, so they focused a lot on
Speaker 2: the red zone. He opens it up a nice pass
Speaker 2: right to don Tavian Wicks near the pylon. Keyshawn Nixon
Speaker 2: didn't even have a shot at it, just based on
Speaker 2: where the ball was placed.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't bad coverage news. It was good coverage,
Speaker 1: just a good play.
Speaker 2: But when you run a goal line fade and you
Speaker 2: put it literally, you know, inches from the ground where
Speaker 2: Wicks was able to nab it, that those are the
Speaker 2: type of plays that happened. But I thought the way
Speaker 2: he led things they kept pretty much. There was you know,
Speaker 2: some little things here and there that the offense had
Speaker 2: to work through, but by and large, when you don't
Speaker 2: have QB one out there, I think it was commendable
Speaker 2: what Clifford did to keep the train on the tracks. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, Clifford admitted to reporters that during the spring and
Speaker 1: as that mini camp rolled around, he was kind of
Speaker 1: testing himself in a way to figure out what he
Speaker 1: can do and what he can't do. He was he
Speaker 1: was pushing the limits a little bit in terms of
Speaker 1: maybe the aggressiveness and whatnot, and that's why we saw
Speaker 1: some of the interceptions. What I like about Clifford is
Speaker 1: that you know, it's it's not like it rattles him.
Speaker 1: It's not like it completely changes his approach. He knows,
Speaker 1: he knows what he was trying to do. He's he's
Speaker 1: learning from that and and the opportunity to run the
Speaker 1: number one offense is important for him. And as he said,
Speaker 1: you know, this is a you never know business. Nobody
Speaker 1: is gonna want, you know, or expect Jordan Love to
Speaker 1: get hurt during the regular season, but obviously it could
Speaker 1: happen and Sean Clifford might need to step in and
Speaker 1: try to win a game or two for the Packers.
Speaker 1: As for Love's contract, as I said at the top
Speaker 1: of the show, it doesn't seem to be something that
Speaker 1: people are overly concerned about.
Speaker 2: The goal.
Speaker 1: The hope was that it would be done before training camp.
Speaker 1: These things are complicated, These things take time. All of
Speaker 1: the salary cap ramifications, you know about how things are structured, financial,
Speaker 1: you know, the timeline, all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: So what I got from Brian Gudakunz does that while
Speaker 1: of course they wanted to have the contract done, they
Speaker 1: want to have Jordan Love out there. They understand where
Speaker 1: he's coming from, and quite frankly, if you're Jordan Love
Speaker 1: you were here all spring, you were here for Mini camp,
Speaker 1: all during this, during OTAs and everything when he didn't
Speaker 1: have to be here, he was exercising patients at that point.
Speaker 1: With regard to the contract, now training camp is here,
Speaker 1: his only leverage to spur them to get to the
Speaker 1: finish line is to just say, hey, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to practice until this thing is done. It's part of
Speaker 1: the business. It's not ideal, it's not what anybody wants.
Speaker 1: But I think both sides understand what's going on here,
Speaker 1: and hopefully, whether it's twenty four or forty eight or
Speaker 1: seventy two hours from now, this whole contract thing will
Speaker 1: be done on over with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe even by the time the show goes out.
Speaker 2: You never know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is certainly true, because that's the thing with
Speaker 1: the way the packers do business, and obviously with now
Speaker 1: what we're learning the way loves Camp does buses and
Speaker 1: this is not being negotiated in the media. No, there
Speaker 1: is nothing out there, you know as far as how
Speaker 1: this is working or how close they actually are. There
Speaker 1: no specifics. So yes, it could happen as soon as
Speaker 1: we turn off the cameras here or it could happen
Speaker 1: a day or two.
Speaker 2: I was telling a friend of mine the other day too,
Speaker 2: because I've been making a lot of inferences in inbox
Speaker 2: about how, you know, don't confuse silence with stillness. There's
Speaker 2: things happening you're just not hearing about it. Absolutely. Another
Speaker 2: line I used on my friend is there's no Dominoes
Speaker 2: tracker on contracts. It isn't just like okay, it's ready now. No,
Speaker 2: it doesn't work like that in this business.
Speaker 1: Nobody's got the egg time or running.
Speaker 2: No. But seriously, like think about it. Like Kenny Clark,
Speaker 2: that's the perfect example that he gets the extension. Yeah,
Speaker 2: on Sunday, I'm in the middle of driving actually to
Speaker 2: Title Town to grab dinner with some friends, and it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: Kenny Clark is now extended for you know, three more years.
Speaker 2: And that was a conversation that Kenny said. They'd actually
Speaker 2: been negotiating going all the way back to February at
Speaker 2: the Combine. They were a little few things there, obviously,
Speaker 2: Brian Gudecuin said they want to get something done, but
Speaker 2: until it was finally done, that's when we heard about it.
Speaker 2: Same thing with love and while you and I don't
Speaker 2: always talk dollars and cents on the show. Jordan Love
Speaker 2: is making eleven million dollars this year. That's what this
Speaker 2: two year contract he did, you know, is worth. He
Speaker 2: had thirty two touchdowns at forty one hundred yards last
Speaker 2: season passing. I would say he's worth a little bit
Speaker 2: more than that. I think everybody appreciates that. And really,
Speaker 2: when you look at the way quarterback values have gone,
Speaker 2: and Gudacun's touched on this a little bit. They're aware
Speaker 2: of the Jared Goff deal, They're aware of the Trevor
Speaker 2: Lawrence deal. They know in the pantheon of quarterbacks where
Speaker 2: their guy, who they see is a franchise quarterback probably fits.
Speaker 1: It's all part of the picture.
Speaker 2: And you want to take care of it. They've allocated
Speaker 2: the funds for it, thirty million or whatever it is
Speaker 2: and salary cap room despite the fact there's fifty million
Speaker 2: in dead cap. But they were moving forward. The Packers
Speaker 2: aren't a very healthy place financially. It's just making sure
Speaker 2: that you can find that contracts that makes sense for
Speaker 2: both Love and the Packers. And my hope is Mike
Speaker 2: by that time, maybe by the time we get through
Speaker 2: this week, maybe by the family night, whatever it may be.
Speaker 2: Love gets the deal done. He's back on the practice
Speaker 2: field and the Packers get looking at twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we're going to be there sooner than later.
Speaker 1: As far as other day one news on the practice field.
Speaker 1: On the health front, Zach Tom cleared or at least
Speaker 1: partially cleared from the torn pectoral muscle that kept him
Speaker 1: all out during the spring. He's back on the practice
Speaker 1: field on a limited basis. He's not taking eleven on
Speaker 1: eleven snaps yet, but he was out there for the drills,
Speaker 1: so that was really good to see. The other torn pectoral,
Speaker 1: of course, was tight End Tucker Craft from the spring.
Speaker 1: He is not quite back yet, but it sounds like
Speaker 1: it might not be too longer, too much longer for him,
Speaker 1: at least according to Brian Gudakunz, a couple new injuries
Speaker 1: to some prominent names that popped up that we weren't
Speaker 1: necessarily aware of. Jaden Reid is currently not practicing because
Speaker 1: of a toe injury. He called it kind of a
Speaker 1: freak out accident while he was coaching at like a
Speaker 1: youth football camp, not something that he's concerned about. Doesn't
Speaker 1: sound like that.
Speaker 2: Really was it?
Speaker 1: Huh, what's that?
Speaker 2: That was it? That's how that happened. Yeah, that's what
Speaker 2: Brian Brian Goodcuinz made a joke about, like, yeah, it
Speaker 2: might have been he's running round.
Speaker 1: Jayden said something about that. He that he didn't really
Speaker 1: have like the right footwork or i'm sorry, footwear on,
Speaker 1: and so that might have contributed to this little problem
Speaker 1: with his toe. So it doesn't sound like anything folks
Speaker 1: are overly concerned about there. And then rookie, a third
Speaker 1: round draft pick, running back Marshawn Lloyd Is was not
Speaker 1: on the practice field for Day one, listed as having
Speaker 1: a hip injury. So we'll see what happens there. So
Speaker 1: so that was a bit of news on the health
Speaker 1: front for the Packers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think Lloyd actually talked with reporters in
Speaker 2: the locker room afterwards too and mentioned, you know, just
Speaker 2: something you go through those initial practices or whatever you
Speaker 2: want to call them, like when the rookies first report
Speaker 2: back that walkthroughs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, those early workouts.
Speaker 2: Feeling a little bit of tightness there again, and hopefully
Speaker 2: everything can clear up with that. It is what happens, Mike,
Speaker 2: there's gonna be guys. There's gonna be injuries that happened
Speaker 2: during the offseason training. Certainly a couple of things that
Speaker 2: flared up with the offseason program. It's why you have
Speaker 2: a ninety man roster, It's why you build for these
Speaker 2: sort of things. But I thought what kind of stood
Speaker 2: out to me was the opportunities it's afforded other guys
Speaker 2: on this roster. When you look at you know, outside
Speaker 2: looking in, the packers are stacked at receiver. You know,
Speaker 2: how are they gonna allocate all these reps? Well, if
Speaker 2: there's a day where Jayden Reed is an out there,
Speaker 2: that means a little bit more bow meltin, that means
Speaker 2: a little bit more you know, don Davian Wicks being
Speaker 2: able to incorporate some of those guys into things. Aj Dillon,
Speaker 2: whom I think I'm gonna write a story on later
Speaker 2: this week. He was the guy taking a bulk of
Speaker 2: that work behind Josh Jacobs, and then a guy like
Speaker 2: Ellis Merriweather, who was on the practice squad last year,
Speaker 2: got a lot of work without Marshaon Lloyd being out there.
Speaker 1: So Emmanuel Wilson got his Emmanuel snaps on the first
Speaker 1: practice as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's that's always the thing and one of
Speaker 2: the biggest aspects of this whole thing when you look
Speaker 2: at Ben Simms, the amount of work that he got
Speaker 2: this spring and now into the summer as number two
Speaker 2: tight end and a lot of those first team offensive
Speaker 2: you know, multiple tight end packages. You have to make
Speaker 2: sure you take advantage of those opportunities mean to get them.
Speaker 2: But the best news of all to bring this thing
Speaker 2: full circle Zach tom being back, being limited, but on
Speaker 2: that road back to the football field, the fact that
Speaker 2: he could have an entire training camp here to rebuild
Speaker 2: the strength and rebuild the confidence. Because I'll tell you what, Mike,
Speaker 2: what that young man has done in the first two
Speaker 2: seasons of his NFL career and how dynamic he's been
Speaker 2: at multiple positions. I think the arrow keeps pointing up
Speaker 2: for him and the Packers. He proved last year and
Speaker 2: a lot of people wrong that he couldn't play right tackle.
Speaker 2: He showed he could he could do an extremely high level.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would think that he's he's going to be
Speaker 1: back at his right tackle post sooner than later. And
Speaker 1: however much the Packers want to talk about, you know,
Speaker 1: finding the best five on the offensive line. Zach Tom
Speaker 1: is one of the best five that the Packers have
Speaker 1: and as long as he is healthy, he's going to
Speaker 1: be a big part of things on this offense. With
Speaker 1: with regard to Tom not taking the eleven on eleven
Speaker 1: snaps and Andre Dillard, the former first round pick who
Speaker 1: was brought in as a free agent, he is currently
Speaker 1: working or at least in the first practice, he was
Speaker 1: the guy at right tackle with the first team offense.
Speaker 1: A couple other things with regard to the depth chart,
Speaker 1: we saw Jordan Morgan, the rookie first round pick out
Speaker 1: of Arizona. He was rotating at right guard with Sean
Speaker 1: Ryan with the number one offense. So it would appear,
Speaker 1: at least based on day one, that Jordan Morgan's best
Speaker 1: opportunity to win a starting job as a rookie first
Speaker 1: round pick it will be in that competition with Sean
Speaker 1: Ryan at right guard, So that will definitely be one
Speaker 1: to keep an eye on. And the other thing that
Speaker 1: jumps off the jumps off the practice field when you
Speaker 1: first see it is the guy who has lined up
Speaker 1: next to Xavier McKinney at safety with the number one
Speaker 1: defense in the first practice was the rookie second round pick,
Speaker 1: Javon Bullard from Georgia.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that remember talking to you in the offseason program, thinking, man,
Speaker 2: will they go that Darnell Sayage route of just having
Speaker 2: Buller be the guy out there with them all spring?
Speaker 2: They didn't go that direction. He got some reps with
Speaker 2: Xavier McKinney, but it was Anthony Johnson Junior that really
Speaker 2: took a bulk of those first team defensive snaps. You
Speaker 2: had five six weeks to develop these plans. I think
Speaker 2: that speaks volumes that they gave Buller that first opportunity
Speaker 2: on day one of training camp. When you look at
Speaker 2: what his makeup is, what his athletic ceiling is, I
Speaker 2: think he's a perfect compliment to McKinney. And while McKinney
Speaker 2: is only twenty four years old, he's the type of
Speaker 2: guy that I think you want to have someone like
Speaker 2: him handling a young rookie in this league, with his
Speaker 2: experience of being a day one starter, a guy that
Speaker 2: had to be wise beyond his years when he went
Speaker 2: to New York. Sure, and I think also with that
Speaker 2: second round background, I mean, he knows what it means
Speaker 2: to be a high safety pick that teams are going
Speaker 2: to want to build the secondary around, but they're so
Speaker 2: dang versatile there. I mean, Evan Williams getting a lot
Speaker 2: of work. Katana Laedeppo is still on the NFI list
Speaker 2: because of that toe injury he sustained at the combine,
Speaker 2: but they oversee the lawn. That's been my big thing
Speaker 2: all off season when I talk about that position and
Speaker 2: to have that many options, I think it not only
Speaker 2: enhances the competition, but it gives you a lot to
Speaker 2: think about in terms of where you want certain guys
Speaker 2: lined up, Because even if it ends up being Bullard
Speaker 2: at safety, there's still a lot of flexibility that they
Speaker 2: can do in terms of how they handle the slot
Speaker 2: in both the nickel and the dime.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think Bullard's experience in the in the
Speaker 1: slot at Georgia obviously it's what led to him perhaps
Speaker 1: being drafted as high as he was, but I think
Speaker 1: it's going to serve him well as he makes the
Speaker 1: transition to the NFL as a rookie. I want to
Speaker 1: get to some other topics that you and I will
Speaker 1: be watching for and whatnot is training camp unfolds. But
Speaker 1: first a little bit of sponsor business serious XM NFL
Speaker 1: Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute
Speaker 1: NFL news that true football fanatics need twenty four to seven,
Speaker 1: three sixty five, and at Cousin Subs, we have something
Speaker 1: for everyone like our Wisconsin cheese curds, mac and cheese,
Speaker 1: golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite
Speaker 1: sub or sub and a bowl Cousin Subs fifty plus
Speaker 1: years of better. All right, we're just gonna go back
Speaker 1: and forth here a little bit. Wes. I'm gonna let
Speaker 1: you take the first one, then I'm gonna come back
Speaker 1: with another one, and we'll go back and forth until
Speaker 1: we run out of topics. But under the umbrella of
Speaker 1: what are you watching for, whether that be position battles,
Speaker 1: whether that be certain details, whether that be specific players,
Speaker 1: what's at the top of your list other than some
Speaker 1: of the things we've already talked about.
Speaker 2: It's an excellent question. I mean, one of the things
Speaker 2: that I think yesterday in particular, that I was looking
Speaker 2: at was the defensive line, and Brian talked about it
Speaker 2: at the podium, and he feels like it's not just
Speaker 2: about Okay, well, these are our defensive tackles, these are
Speaker 2: defensive ends. It's about how that group expanded now under
Speaker 2: Jason Rebervich can really round itself out to whether any
Speaker 2: injuries that could happen, any type of issues that flare up.
Speaker 2: They have the type of depth there that it's as
Speaker 2: he said, it's the it's the deepest they've been in
Speaker 2: a long time. But it's as versatile as they've ever been.
Speaker 2: And to be able to have guys like Colby Wooden,
Speaker 2: you know, Lucas vanass Rashawn Gary, players that can play
Speaker 2: multiple positions in that front, I think is going to
Speaker 2: be so key and and honestly, like once, we're a
Speaker 2: week away from the pads going on, so we still
Speaker 2: got to get through some of this ramp up period,
Speaker 2: this acclamation period to really see what these guys look like.
Speaker 2: But my goodness, Mike, just watching how the defensive line,
Speaker 2: the defensive front was getting off the ball in the
Speaker 2: offseason program, in some of the team periods, I mean,
Speaker 2: it just you can tell the swagger that has been
Speaker 2: infused into that group because they're.
Speaker 1: And they're being trained in a different way they are,
Speaker 1: frankly in terms of as you say, the you know,
Speaker 1: getting off the ball, because this is this is an
Speaker 1: an up the field, attacking front as opposed to a
Speaker 1: read and react, So they're being trained to play a
Speaker 1: different way.
Speaker 2: And I did like what Brian said. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: probably the first person that's acknowledged like, Okay, there are
Speaker 2: some drawbacks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. It's it's like if there weren't, everybody would
Speaker 1: play it this way, right, So, I mean you have
Speaker 1: to learn how to play. You have to learn how
Speaker 1: to play that aggressive style without making yourself too vulnerable
Speaker 1: in other places. That's where the transition really comes in.
Speaker 2: But it is it's about turning up the heat on
Speaker 2: the quarterback. It's about reducing the amount of time that
Speaker 2: he's back there to make decisions. And ultimately that could
Speaker 2: the hope is is that type of pressure is what
Speaker 2: also helps you generate more takeaways. And that was the
Speaker 2: number one thing that had to change from last year.
Speaker 2: You can boil it down, you can blame this, that
Speaker 2: and the other thing, but the Packers did not have
Speaker 2: enough interceptions last year. They did not take the football
Speaker 2: away enough last year. And the way that that defense
Speaker 2: was playing, the way it was set up, the philosophy
Speaker 2: behind it, it just wasn't conducive to having success This
Speaker 2: Jeff Hafley defense, especially with his background as a secondary coach.
Speaker 2: I think that's gonna be the real true litmus test
Speaker 2: of this thing. I've said it once, I'll say it
Speaker 2: a thousand times. I don't care about top one, top five,
Speaker 2: top ten, wherever you finish ranking. It's about how you
Speaker 2: feel when your defense is on the field. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: you could be I've said this year before. Twenty fourteen
Speaker 2: ring fifteenth in total defense by the end of the year,
Speaker 2: but the second half of that season was a much
Speaker 2: different picture than they painted in the first half.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you talk about turnovers, all you have to
Speaker 1: do is look at the two playoff games last January. Right,
Speaker 1: the Packers get the interception from Alexander, the pick six
Speaker 1: from Savage, Yes, and they you know, they go on
Speaker 1: to a blowout in Dallas. What do they do in
Speaker 1: San Francisco? They drop multiple interception opportunities and the game
Speaker 1: gets away in the final minutes and your season is over.
Speaker 1: So there is no overstating the value of generating those
Speaker 1: turnovers and what this new defensive staff is after.
Speaker 2: So what I'm looking for in these practices, what I
Speaker 2: look for yesterday, especially once those pads go on watching
Speaker 2: these balls go to work, watching them go up against
Speaker 2: this offensive line, because that approach too, I think is
Speaker 2: only going to make the Packers O line better.
Speaker 1: And I think that's going to I think that's going
Speaker 1: to get much much more interesting when the pads go
Speaker 1: on in a few days. Certainly, two of the things
Speaker 1: that all throw out right now that I'm definitely watching
Speaker 1: for and this is these are This is going to
Speaker 1: be ongoing throughout all of training camp. It's that battle
Speaker 1: between Eric Stokes and Carrington Valentine for who is going
Speaker 1: to be the starting corner in the base defense opposite
Speaker 1: Jay r Alexander. Were already seeing them rotating. They were
Speaker 1: rotating during the spring. This is a This is a
Speaker 1: competition that is far from over. Somebody's going to win
Speaker 1: that job, somebody is, somebody's not. But the Packers feel
Speaker 1: good obviously about their depth at cornerback. And then the
Speaker 1: other ongoing competition, of course, is going to be at kicker.
Speaker 1: There are three still in the competition, with James Turner
Speaker 1: being claimed off waivers at the end of mini camp.
Speaker 1: So Anders, Carlson, Greg Joseph James Turner. All in the mix.
Speaker 1: We saw Turner, he went four out of six on
Speaker 1: field goals as the you know, day one kicker in
Speaker 1: training camp. I'm sure we're going to see the other guys,
Speaker 1: if not as soon as today, certainly in the coming days.
Speaker 1: So those are those are two competitions that quite frankly,
Speaker 1: could go all the way up until you know the
Speaker 1: passports and checked for Brazil. Quite frankly, you know that
Speaker 1: those competitions might not be decided for quite a while.
Speaker 2: And the fact, looking specifically at those cornerbacks, they're gonna
Speaker 2: need both of those guys. And Brian Goodkin said, as
Speaker 2: much as it relates to Eric Stokes and making sure
Speaker 2: he can put those hamstring issues behind him, we've seen it, Mike,
Speaker 2: we know. And I think when you look at in
Speaker 2: terms of the proven depth, cornerback is not one of
Speaker 2: the Packers deeper ones right now. I mean they have
Speaker 2: Corey Valentine, although he's currently out right now with the
Speaker 2: hamstring injury. He's sort of the backup right now to
Speaker 2: Keishawn Nixon in the slot. But you know they need
Speaker 2: Gyr Alexander, they need Carrington Valentine, they need Eric Stokes.
Speaker 2: There was a reason why they waited until the seventh
Speaker 2: round of draft Kayln King. They felt good about what
Speaker 2: they had, but also sometimes is how this board falls.
Speaker 2: So whether it is Valentine or Stokes that prevails, or
Speaker 2: however they go about handling it, I think those two guys,
Speaker 2: throughout the course of a seventeen game season are going
Speaker 2: to be pivotal to what Green Bay wants to accomplish.
Speaker 1: Yeah, anything else near the top of your list.
Speaker 2: I think when the position battles all shuffle out, I
Speaker 2: think what really surprised me the most, I think, and
Speaker 2: I feel like I've said this in the past, but
Speaker 2: it really truly feels more than any other year. The
Speaker 2: difference between being on the roster and potentially starting at
Speaker 2: a lot of these positions is so thin. Uh And
Speaker 2: and I think about it. Obviously, receivers the one that
Speaker 2: will jump off to the page to a lot of people,
Speaker 2: but Packers have multiple offensive linemen. I mean guys like
Speaker 2: Royce Newman, Guys that that have that have been in
Speaker 2: this thing for a long time, that are competing for spots.
Speaker 2: Uh And, and that's gonna be something I think that
Speaker 2: really drives them going forward. Uh. Inside linebacker, I mean
Speaker 2: Eric Wilson and Isaiah McDuffie. They're holding their own trying
Speaker 2: to stay in that base defense, Edger and Cooper trying
Speaker 2: to weave his way into that as well.
Speaker 1: That that was That was The next thing on my
Speaker 1: list was was if and when are we going to
Speaker 1: see Edger and Cooper make his way into the first
Speaker 1: team defense or are Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, gonna hold him off. I think it's it's
Speaker 1: I know that, I know it's the four to three.
Speaker 1: It's really more about the first two inside linebackers because
Speaker 1: I don't know how often that third one is going
Speaker 1: to be on the field. But we'll see what happens
Speaker 1: with Cooper, Isaiah McDuffie's knowledge of Halfley scheme and having
Speaker 1: you know, the connection there obviously in their past at
Speaker 1: Boston College. That seems to be going a long way
Speaker 1: right now for Isaiah McDuffie. So it's going to be
Speaker 1: interesting to see just when, where and how Edger and
Speaker 1: Cooper kind of breaks through. Because the Packers drafted him
Speaker 1: in the second round to be a big part of it.
Speaker 1: Everybody knows that.
Speaker 2: And athletically he's just different from everybody. But you have
Speaker 2: to weigh that out where you have a guy like
Speaker 2: Edgrian Cooper that's played as much college football as he's played.
Speaker 2: You have someone like Eric Wilson who has been in
Speaker 2: the league now for seven years, right and while it's
Speaker 2: been predominantly on special teams in Green Bay, he's a
Speaker 2: guy that's had one hundred and thirty tackles in this league.
Speaker 2: So that's where it gets really interesting to me, and
Speaker 2: where these position battles could potentially shuffle out. And seeing that,
Speaker 2: you know, every guy the Packers resigned, there was a
Speaker 2: reason behind it. It wasn't just Richard Stachi's special teams. They
Speaker 2: wanted to give them a chance to compete on defense
Speaker 2: and right now they're doing that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Well, we got to get rolling because there's
Speaker 1: another practice waiting for us. So with that, we're going
Speaker 1: to sign off on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be
Speaker 1: sure to follow all of our coverage of training camp.
Speaker 1: We will have new fresh stuff on the site on
Speaker 1: Packers dot Com for you every single day, and we
Speaker 1: will be continuing with two shows of Packers Unscripted per week,
Speaker 1: most of the time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, unless something
Speaker 1: gets in the way. But we're going to try to
Speaker 1: stick to that as best we can. So for Wes,
Speaker 1: I am Mike, thank you for tuning in everybody, and
Speaker 1: we will see you next time.