#275 Packers Unscripted: Thoughts from the leaders

the NFL Scouting Combine and guys. Yesterday we heard from Packers GM Brian Goodacunstan head coach Mike McCarthy, and one of the big topics of conversation was the new contract extension that the Packers are working on with quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Goudacon has made it pretty clear that this is something

they would like to get done this offseason. West We talked about it in a previous show that the Packers want to do this with two years left done Aaron Rodgers contract, the same time frame in which they executed his last extension. In what are your thoughts on where this is headed? It makes total sense for the Packers from that perspective. Obviously, is Good said, this is the best player in the NFL. It's not going to be inexpensive.

It's something that you have to get done. The The interesting part of it though, is that you do have the two years left on the deal. So what does that allow you to do. It allows you to spread out the signing bonus, It allows you to be more manageable with the cap hit. We all saw what Jimmy Garoppolo's cap hit ended up being with the San Francisco forty Niners when a player is going into unrestricted free agency.

Then you also saw what the Jacksonville Jaguars did in extending Blake Bordles and how they were able to reduce it. So having that under control, but also taking care of Aaron Rodgers, the franchise quarterback, is really the penultimate thing I think on this offseason, in addition to trying to figure out, you know, what direction the team's going to take in two thousand eighteen. Yeah, and now, Larry you said yesterday, this is obviously a no brainer. The Packers

are going to extend Aaron Rodgers. He is going to stay. Yeah, of course, right, So, but this is kind of a tricky thing because you want to get this done, but you also want to leave at least some financial flexibility to continue to upgrade the team and make another run of the Super Bowl. Oh absolutely. And there's a couple of points about the whole thing. Number one, the markets changed. They have to do this. I mean Aaron Rodgers, believe

it or not. At one time when he signed his deals, highest payer player in the league, and now he's under page So they got to do something to keep the big guy happy, which they are doing. The other thing is it's all as Brian Gudun said yesterday very appropriately, it's all part of the puzzle. They got to know how this piece fits before they can make a lot of other decisions as far as people they asked to take pay cuts, people they may not be able to afford.

All those types of issues can be determined to some extent when they find out how big a piece of the salary cap pie he's going to go to one Aaron Rodgers, and he certainly deserves it. Yeah, and it's on russ Ball to structure this contract in the way that's going to work for the packers, as he has

done over the years many times. And good Kun said they're looking at all kinds of different scenarios in terms of how this could play out and what the immediate cap hit is going to be on this new deal and what sort of flexibility would give them in order to make other moves. You don't know exactly how this is going to play out and when the contract is

going to be signed. As I talked about last week, West, it's hard to believe that for me anyway, that Aaron Rodgers would sign this deal before Kirk Cousins, who's the top quarterback in free agency heading into free agent? Hey, I mean exactly, I'm just being real here. I mean, if i'm if I'm Aaron Rodgers, if Kirk Cousins is gonna calculate if he's going to become the top guy and and surpassed Jimmy Garoppolo's deal, and Garoppolo's deals surpassed

Matthew Stafford. Can you believe those two names are in the same sentence? Yeah, crazy quarterback. I'm sorry, No, No, that's okay. But you're right. But as the salary cap goes up and the importance of the quarterback position certainly doesn't diminish in this league, you've got to take care of your guy when you have your guy, absolutely, and you look at how the cap has swelled, you know, in the last five years. I always tell that story

over and over again. The day I started on the Packers, be two thousand and twelve, it was a hundred and twenty million dollars in the cap. The way it's going right now, hundred and seventy eight million is what it's looking like going into two thousand and eighteen. What does that mean? It means the price of pokers going up for quarterbacks and you have to be in lockstep with that.

And because of that, with all these teams we saw going back to the Joe Flacco deal with the Baltimore Ravens, with all these teams trying to find the guy, and then when you feel like you have a guy that can be the guy, you're gonna get paid. So what the measures are not only just for the Cousins contract, but you have Drew Brees out there yet. Agi McCarron's a name that you're not hearing talked about here at

all because nobody wants to get in trouble. But that's gonna be a very interesting one to follow in March fourteenth, and much like in two thousand thirteen when the Packers took Carrion Rodgers, that extension in the lead up to the two thousand thirteen NFL Draft days before, hours before it. I think you're gonna see all those pieces fall and then everything go from there. Yeah. And the other thing that the Packers will certainly be watching Packers fans is

what Minnesota is going to do at quarterback. They decided not to franchise Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Bradford. At this point, they're all headed to free agency. There's word that the Vikings are going to get in on the Kirk Cousins thing. You got any feeling, Larry as to what the Vikings are gonna ultimately do at quarterback zero, And to be honest, don't care. All I know we're not m financially. The world is coming to it alright.

With that, we're going to toss it to a break back with more on Packers Unscripted from the NFL Scouting Combine right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford, along with Wes Hodkowitz and Larry McCarron, coming to you

from downtown Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine. Now, as we talk about the Packers salary cap situation heading into teen West, one of the other topics that came up and talking with general manager Brian Goodacunts yesterday was Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb and their cap numbers, along with obviously the extension to given to Davante Adams at the end of the regular season. Packers have a lot of

money in invested right now at wide receiver. Gouda Kuntz wasn't making any proclamations as to what's going to happen, but he sounded to me like a GM who is very determined to make this work because he likes what the Packers have in Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson, and he said he doesn't want to see really good football

players walk out the door. Yeah, And I think Mike McCarthy echoed those comments as well in terms of just being able to look at the situation, the landscape of the NFL receiver and keeping in mind what a lot of these guys are making now on the market. Jarvis Landry being the newest of that group with the Miami Dolphins. They knocked out the biggest thing they had to right at the end of the season with Davante Adams and

getting that extension done. Jordy Nelson was up front right from the beginning, saying that he's going to make more money than Elson ever did on a contract. Jordi did a lot of contracts underneath value. If you go back to his first extension back in two thousand eleven, I believe it was, and then the next one he did

and believe it was two thousand and fourteen. By doing that, it allowed the Packers to get ahead of those things, and that's one reason why they're in the position they've been in where the cap hasn't really come into question a lot. Randall cob toughier for him, another injury kind of riddled season, but they know what he can do, and he's still only gonna be twenty eight years old

going into two thousand eighteen. That unit, the chemistry that they have with Aaron Rodgers, you can't produce that overnight. And I think that's something that both Good Cuts McCarthy really value. Yeah, and we'll see what happens financially, Larry, as you talked about, maybe there will be some pay cuts with some guys and whatnot. But I don't like to put words in the quarterback's mouth, but I gotta leave he wants this receiving Corps, Davante Adams, Jorty Nelson,

Randall Cobb and others. He wants to keep it intact here coming back from that colibone injury. Yeah, well I found it interesting. I was reading an article just by chance the other day and one of the Cowboy executives,

I see enough he's related to Jerry Jones. I don't know how that was talking about Tony Romo and when you have and not that Tony Romo is even in Aaron Rodgers Lee's but when you have the guy at quarterback, you kind of get it's a collaboration and go and work together, and you sit down and say how far do you want to go? And you know what that does for those around you? How much can you work with us? And I think Aaron Rodgers will always go

down as a team player. He wants quality around him, and I think he'll do what every candid his end to make it a camp friendly deal so they packers can address other people. And certainly they got a situation rising in the wide receiver group, as you guys have detailed, where they're paying everybody at the top three guys, they're paying them top receiver money. So what's gonna happen there.

We don't know. I thought yesterday the comments from Brian and Mike said one thing, they like these guys, but they're still leaving their options open and seeing what develops. Yeah,

the Packers definitely want to improve as well. They're here at the draft to maybe find the next Jordy Nelson or the next Davante Adams, who three or four down the year, three or four years down the road, we might be talking about as the as the guy getting the next contract and for the future, maybe from the second round of the from the second that that's that's been a pretty good one. We'll we'll see what happens there.

But um, but I think I think the Packers are going to try to do whatever they can to keep this group together because when you look at the first five games of West, the Packers are four and one. Jordy Nelson had six touchdown catches in those five games. I mean, there was nothing wrong with the offense at that stage. No, there wasn't, and Aaron Rodgers was looking like a legitimate m VP candidate at that point in time.

There were four and one going into that game against the Minnesota Vikings, The thing that stands out to me the most when you look at that, really that partnership between Nelson and Rodgers is the fact that that is the longest tenured quarterback receiver duo in the league and it's not even close. So for him, and he said it at the end of the season two, he still thinks there's a lot of Jews left with Jordy Nelson.

Randall Cobb, I thought really did come on at the end of last season was really an important piece against the Carolina Panthers. So to see what they can get and obviously it's a big caveat, and there's always hypotheticals with injuries, but to see what they have with those three guys giving it one more shot, I think it might be worth it. But again, those are all decisions that Brian Goody Clints is probably gonna have to make here in the next two weeks figuring out that vision

for two thousand eighteen. Yeah, and you mentioned the Carolina game and Larry. If anybody is wondering about Randall Cobb and where he is, all you have to do is look at that touchdown catch on that little scramble play with Aaron Rodgers down and Arolina. Randall Cops still brings a lot to the table. Yeah, he does. And the

thing he brings his suddenness. And ironically enough, since we're here at the scouting combine, that's one of the things they think they can measure, but they really can't because there's a difference in that because you think about it when you can pre plan it and you see where the cones are at and you're they're measuring change in direction. But mentally you can pre program yourself to get around

him and things like that. But in the heat of battle, when we've seen it's like Randall Cops got eyes in the back of his head. He just makes moves. You don't know where those moves come from. And it's like he's got terrific vision and he can translate it to the quickness of his feet. But you can't plan that. That's a reaction type suddenness. And while they've tried to measure it today, they're not converted. The next few days they're not going to be able to not like Randall

Cop dosn't. Yeah, and you mentioned it West. The second round has been really that that was where Ted Thompson found all of his wide receivers. You go back to Greg Jennings. James Jones obviously was the third rounder, but Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Davante Adams all second round picks. Do you see the Packers maybe making a move Brian Gudakunsta, you know, going along those same lines. Not this year, but I think it's still in the cards for them

potentially look at that position again. They have had success in the middle rounds too. When you look at a guy like James Jones, but right now and I think you look at some of the other needs they have depending on what they do at fourteen, I'd be surprised if it's this year, but I guess you never really quite know. Yeah, and Larry just quickly your thoughts. We've been talking about the guys at the top, but the Packers have some other receivers who are still looking to

grow in their careers. Trevor Davis, Geronimo Allison, guys like that. What did you see from them in as you look ahead? Young guys trying to go n Morrells and Michael Clark, I mean, guys with some interesting raw tools, but then you got to get out there and do it and you got the thing. We watched so consistently with young guys regardless of position, but especially a wide receiver living and learning on the job. So many times guys that were drafted the Packers even drafted in the second round,

it took him a year. Now, those guys come with a lot of bona fides and a pedigree and all that stuff. And some of the guys we we're talking about, we're undrafted free agents, and so living and learning on the job and how quickly you can do that basically determinant what kind of career you're gonna had in the NFL because of the patients level is only so much. Yeah, we'll give you a couple of scholarship years so you can live and learn on the job, but man, we

gotta see performance at some point. That's what I saw. Yeah. With that, we'll toss it to a breakback with more from the NFL Scouting Combine on Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers unscripted from downtown Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine, Mike Spofford with Wes Hodkowitz and Larry McCarron. Guys, we've been talking all about offense for the first couple

of segments of the show. Here let's switch gears to the defensive side west Mike McCarthy said that we were all in a lunch downtown here with some other reporters that cover the Packers with Brian Goodacunsten, Mike McCarthy, and one of the really interesting lines that Mike McCarthy used with regards to the defense, he says, Hey, I'm sick and tired of the defense on this team being like

the step child, and uh, upgrading the defense. That's one of the biggest reasons, one of the biggest things the Packers are looking for here in India. It's a two sided approach. Mentally, it's telling the players that are coming back, you're not the step child. You're in this thing too. And two, it's finding the tools and the resources to pair with those guys to get the most out of them. So I think you look at a lot of the bright spots that defense last year that didn't exactly translate

to a statue or to production. I mean the year that Kenny Clark had Blake Martinez was number two in the league and tackles, I mean, you did have a relati Si the productive season out of Clay Matthews, but overall it just wasn't enough. So now telling them and having that challenge, it was there since January four. He went out there. He said, we need the defense to be just as good as the offense. That's the mentality. They're not in the back seat. We don't want them

to be in the back seat. And if you go back and look at it, I think there's been five times since two thous I should say since the Green Bay Packers have finished in the top ten and total offense and total defense. Three of those times they ended up in the Super Bowl. The odds are really in their favorite thing. Get that accomplished. Yeah, and Larry, I'm not sure if you heard it the same way I did.

But one of the other comments that I thought was really poignant from Mike McCarthy was when he talked about the defense being like the thermostat of the team. And what I heard from that is that as a head coach, he's looking for some consistency and some reliability on the defensive side, because the offensive side is where things maybe are going to swing a little more wildly. You can have your big, huge offensive days and then other days

where things just don't go right. The defense is the one that needs to kind of be the steady hand. That's what the head coach is looking for. Actually, I think I would disagree on this. I don't look at that comment as a steady hand. When he talked about thermostat, I mean, he's talking about aggression and things like that goes back to defense has got to be better than

the offense. That's what he said a couple of months ago or whenever at the season under okay to me, Okay, the locker room, who's the kings of the barnyard On a lot of teams, when you talk about physical, tough, that's on the defensive side. Those guys kind of strut around the locker room and they look at the offense like, hey, you know what, anytime we want, we can line you up and kick your button. I mean. And then on a lot of teams, guys, a lot of teams, that's

the way it is. The rough and tumble guys are on defense now, fortunately for the Packers, and it's helped them. They got some rough and tumble dudes on offense. And plus, leadership starts with performance and the offense is performing at a higher level than the defense. And you know, and

that's when you get this step child there. You need defensive guys like mc daniels, got that chest out, bring it on, And I think that's what and when you talk about it's kind of like where a special teams are an indicator of a team's attitude because how had they cover, how had they play? Things like that? That was the sense I got when you look at a thermostat of football team, Hey, are we a rough and tough outfit? I mean, are we gonna out hit people?

We're gonna do things like that, you know, the the core of the game. Usually your defense can be an indicator that I might be wrong. But that's where I told him, Yeah, and Wes, you brought up guys like Kenny Clark and Blake Martinez. We talked with Mike McCarthy about you know, those are the types of guys who are making that next step in their careers. They did

the second year jump that we've always talked about. But now the next step is for them to become the core players on this team, the next Mike Daniels, the next Clay Matthews or Nick Perry, guys like that and Clark and Martinez. There's gonna be a lot on those two guys in team based on what he did last season. And let's be honest, Mike, the Green Bay Packers in two months time could take Marcus Davenport, they could take

some of these top guys at number fourteen in the draft. Ultimately, where they're gonna go in two thousand eighteen is gonna be driven by those second and third year players. History has proven that. You go back and look at the success Mike Petton had with the New York Jets. A lot of it, especially in those early years, was making do with what he already had in creating stars out

of that the Darrell rivas Is of the world. I'm not saying that they need to Marius Randall to become that player, but the more you get out of those guys, the more you can harness that ability is ultimately I think, going to take this defense to where they wanted to be. Yeah, and Larry, do you subscribe to the theory as well? Obviously, the Packers are here, the free agency's coming up there here for the draft, They're going to make player acquisitions

to improve the team. But do you also subscribe to that theory that the greatest improvement is going to come from the guys who are already in the locker room. That's usually been the case. History says as much. And to expect a draft class, even one, if it winds up numbering twelve two weeks fact, it's gonna totally change everything about the team for the better. Well, those are awfully big expectations. Now, can you hit on a few?

You hit on a few, you know, the difference between winning and losing and good and not so good, not a great deal. And you get started on the right foot, and you get guys kind of rallying and believing, and suddenly a guy or two that can make a player two can make a big difference. Yeah. Absolutely, With that, we will throw it to a break back with more on Packers Unscripted from the NFL Scouting Combine right after this.

Welcome back to Packers Unscripted from the NFL Scouting Combine in downtown Indy, Larry McCarron, Mike Spofford, and Wes Hodkowits and West before we go, Ted Thompson, former Packers general manager, actually not here at the NFL scouting combine. I can't even imagine. Maybe one was the last time he wasn't

at a scouting comment. Probably not, but um, but Brian, Yeah, maybe Brian Goodacoon is telling us that that Ted Thompson is is, you know, getting back to his roots, doing some scouting projects, still very involved in what's going on here with both pro and college side. It's almost like the kind of you know, kind of tailored a position to himself. I've kind of looked at it as almost like a special projects type role that he's taken on

in the lessons. You've heard it so many times when Goodacus was talking with us, the lessons that he took from Thompson are really something that guides him. He's going to be his own GM. But having Thompson still there, I think it's gonna be a big benefit. And he also doubled down on that too, saying that this isn't gonna be a one year arrangement. It's for the foreseeable future.

He sees Ted Thompson being a part of that personnel department. Yeah, and in terms of in terms of getting back to his roots, you gotta believe that that Ted Thompson, he didn't always like going to the podium and all that kind of stuff. Larrea, I think he likes even more being in the background, in the shadows right now being

here I am listen to me. I mean, that wasn't right, but I thought it was really interesting when Brian Bruticans is up there and we all there's an unwritten rule or a written rule fromwhere don't ask ted about any player because he's not going to tell you, And don't even ask him about a position because he ain't gonna tell you that either, certainly, and I thought it was interesting. Yesterday Brian Grudgin's right away was asked about the strength

of the draft and he actually said something. He actually said, I think it looks pretty good in the secondary, in the interior, offensive line. He said those things, and I thought, well, we can tell there's a new guy of the polity. And now that we actually heard two positions that we're probably ball faced live he's just throwing us off, but we actually heard positions mentioned. He's giving me something, yeah, for sure. But with that we're going to call it

a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the Packers and the Scouting Combine on packers dot com. We will be or the rest of the week and through the weekend for Larry and Mike and Wes. Will see you next time. M MHM