#277 Packers Unscripted: Last one on location

the moment. Richard Rogers is a pending free agent. Will see what happens there. What are your thoughts on maybe where this is headed for Green Bay? Well, I thought it was really telling. Mike McCarthy when he was meeting with the media back on now Wednesday, he mentioned that they need to increase the competition at that position. Obviously when when you go through the amunt of injuries that

they did last season. Uh, give all the credit in the world Emmanuel Birds stepping up against the Detroit Lions, but that wasn't the way you drew it up when you were at this thing at the beginning of Week one. So the best Packer teams historically have had four or five options at tight end because with that body type, it lends itself to special teams even if they aren't getting the reps on offense. I think they got to

get back to that. Richard Rodgers is a guy that we have to make a determination on in free agency. But I've been saying all along here, regardless of his situation, I think they still need to draft somebody at that position. And I know one guy that jumped off the pages, Troy ful mcgalley. He said he'd love to stay in Wisconsin. I know Packer fans, Badger fans would love to see him stay in Wisconsin. But a lot of good prospects

overall for the Packers have possibly consider. Yeah, Larry, what are your thoughts on just what's going on here at the tight end position for Green Bay. You know what I've stood out to me most of this off season is when I read comments an expert opinions on Lance Kendricks, I get the sense of people I think he is a willing blocker, but not a very capable blocker. And

I know this may be boring to people. That's a slight touchdowns of stuff, but I I could pull up some tape and show you that guy really kicking some rear end. When it comes to the blocking game, he is willing, but he's also very technically sound. Now he's a chiseled guy, but body type, he's not a big guy. He's not a mask. He can't can't lay that kind

of weight on people. But because of technique, I could just show you some outstanding blocking both against down people full grown defensive ends and downfield against linebackers at the second level. So I just think Lance Kendricks in that regard and that specific area of his game has not gotten his just do. And I know a lot of

you don't care, but I care. It's a good point, it really is, because I think sometimes people just look at the numbers, They just look at the stats, and that is the end of the ball game for them. But it doesn't really tell you the whole tale of things. And I think you look at some of the guys that have been successful in Green Bay, the Bubba Franks is in the world that Donald Lee's guys that were more well rounded, that they can do those multiple things.

And we've talked about a time and time again, Mike, with the way that this college game has played now, the spread offense. Richard Rodgers talked about it with what he was asked to do at Cal it isn't There isn't as much inline stuff anymore. So little things like that go a long way. I think yeah, And I think, as we've talked about West, that's one thing that makes a guy like Troy fu mcgalley full Misconsin a very interesting prospect because coming from Wisconsin's pro style offense, he

is a guy who's had to block. He is a guy who's gone downfield to catch passes. Now, he's not the most explosive athlete in the world, So you're talking about a mid to late round pick here, You're not talking about a first round draft pick. But then on the other side of things, also in the Big Ten from Penn State, Mike get Sicking is you know, also like fu mcgalley, six ft six, around two and fifty pounds. But this is a guy who's at another level athletically.

He's a basketball player in his background, really loves to go up and get the ball. But a guy who doesn't maybe have the blocking resume that a guy like fu mcgalley does, he's a little bit higher rated because of those statistics and what he might be able to do downfield. But but two guys from the Big ten who are getting a lot of attention here. Well, Mike, when you mentioned a multi sport athlete playing the position, it reminded me of somebody we talked about Rosier this week.

Hayden Hurst, tight end out of South Carolina, and he is right at the top of the list, the top couple three, maybe fifth at the worst. He's going to be a high draft choice fifties, running the four sixes. But the thing I saw fascinating about him is that he came up as a drafted player in baseball out of high school, signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates for four

hundred thousand dollars. He's a picture six fifty, of course, and he signs for four d thousand dollars, and he gets to the rookie camp and slowly but surely, he starts losing it. He gets the what he called the yips, and he no longer has control his hand to be shaken. He got to the point, and this is what he said, he got to the point where he couldn't play catch on the sideline. They'd have to go somewhere else, and and he still couldn't play catch. He just developed, like

I said, the yips. And he stuck with it for two and a half three years, still in rookie camp all that time, and finally he said, hey, I could play a pretty good game of football when I was in high school. So he enrolls of South Carolina and three years later he's one of the top tight ends in the draft. And what a resilience story. And another part of it he had Tommy John surgery as an

eighth grade. I mean, just a remarkable story. He has nothing to do with Troy f mcg but yeah, well, and you never you just never know what stories necessarily are behind these guys. Even get Sicky from Penn State. He was a quarterback initially in high school, got beat out for the job, was gonna quit football, thought he'd be the next Vince Carter on the basketball court. But then I had a coach say, hey, why don't you

try receiver. So he becomes a receiver and said, hey, I kind of like catching touchdown and now here he is one of the top rated tight ends coming out of college football, coming out of the Big Tent. Yeah, I thought I was gonna be the next fense young too. That didn't quite work out for me. The height wasn't there. But yeah, really impressed enough scouts though for that. But one little last day, I want to tell Dallas Goddard

tight end coming out of South Dakota State. There's been some good ones that have come out of that program over the years, even though it isn't one of those big power conferences, uh you know, FBS, whatever you want to call it. He had an interesting story too. He's a guy that could go in the first two days of the draft. He's actually named Dallas because his father is a Cowboys fan, but his mother ended up remarrying

when he was eight years old. His stepfather, a Packers fan, ended up turning him over the Packers, so he said he wouldn't be too disappointed either if green Bay came coming. He should for green Bay. That sounds like a good idea. With that, we're going to go to a break back with more from the NFL Scouting Combine right after this Welcome Back to Packers unscripted from the NFL Scouting Combine. Larry and Mike and West here with you and uh West. Inevitably,

when we come here every year. There are connections between these prospects who are entering the draft and players who are on the Packers roster. One of those connections that's really pretty interesting. For those out there who really know the Packers roster top to bottom, you'll know there's a six ft six wide receiver who made a little bit

of a splash towards the end of seen. I'm talking about Michael Clark and his college quarterback from Marshall is here at the combine trying to make his pitch to get drafted, Chase Litton West. Would you find out about Chase? Well, here's what's interesting about this whole story. These two guys actually played AU basketball together from fifth grade through ninth grade, both Floridians and and you know, really good basketball players

on the court. Well, ninth grade comes around multi sport athletes, and you know you had that first year Michael Clarke decides to play high school football and then decides, you know what, I'm gonna focus on basketball, ends up point

of St. Francis, Pa. Plays for a year. Meanwhile, you have Litton ends up becoming a pretty accomplished quarterback, gets a scholarship, goes to Marshall, starts there for a number of years, and as time goes on, Michael Clark decides, you know what, I want to go back to football again. So he places a text message to Lytton saying, Hey, what do you think can we make this happen? He talks to his coach named Doc Holiday at Marshall Holiday three days later is that this is almost too much

to dot Holiday Hoday is the mom name? Miss kiddy? What's going on? You know? That's that's definitely the same show. I don't even know regardless of the check out TV. Okay, I'm sorry, but anyway you have Clark to three days later, makes the trip down to West Virginia, starts as a walk on semester, later gets a scholarship, ends up leading

them and receiving in his only year at Marshall. Now, the interesting part of this is you go for ord now is the fact that Linton is actually the one leaning on Clark for advice, because Clark ended up having those two games with the Packers last season. All the intangible six ft six He says, that size that you cannot coach and also just strictly unfair. His first three catches at Marshall. We're all touchdowns. I mean, that's just

the kind of ashy. Yeah, throw up the ball and let him go get it, Larry, Michael Clark is such an interesting story, and I'm curious of your view on this because you've seen plenty of guys come and go in Green Bay. This is a guy. He doesn't go to a major college program. He starts as a basketball player, decides to enter the NFL draft after one year of college football, doesn't hire an Agent's gonna represent himself. He

doesn't get drafted, he goes the undrafted route. By the end of his rookie year, he's on the active roster and playing football for the Green Bay Packers. Have you ever seen anything like this? Well, the thing of it is that whole process that you detailed right there. It says a couple of things. Number One, Michael Clark, a guy with his background, came to the right place. Now he will give free agents a chance to grow and develop.

You need that. I mean a guy like Michael Clark, as unique as he is and what he brings to the party physically, you need time. You're talking about going from a little a little college football to the NFL to Aaron Rodgers to Green Bay Packers and Mike McCarthy's playbook. I mean, you're talking a heck of a transition. So you need a team with personnel people and coaches that have patients. The other thing I think it says is that Michael Clark is a special guy. He's got that

that the right stuff. You know. There's there's so many times like when you're a player and they bring in the young kids and you watch and the guys, the veterans they watched in a lot of times they will recognize a player that's got the right stuff to mystical it shall always say. And I'm sure they were looking at Michael Clark this past summer and said that kid is going to be a keeper. And sometimes the players actually get that sense before the coaches, before the scouts.

It's just something about it. And you see a kid how he goes about his business. And number one, you have to have ability wanting to do it. I I don't want to burst any bubbles, but wanting to do it is not enough. That's a big start. But God had to be nice to you in the delivery room. He had to give you some athletic ability. It's just the way it. As you go up the athletic ladder, you need that, you need at least a baseline of ability, especially as you move up to the higher levels. And

so he's got that. But then there's also, like I said, that mystical it when it comes to attitude. Is is he that guy that after a couple of days of camp and people get sore and tired? Is he the guy's starting to make more mistakes? Is he the guy kind of you know, lack of days ago and his walk to the practice field and stuff like that. I mean, you start looking for little signs, and you also look for signs the other ways. He's the guy that's first in line. Is he the guy that doesn't drop past us?

Is he the guys that, when it comes to being physical can stick his nose in there? Is not afraid of that kind of stuff. That's what you saw, Michael Clark. And and as you mentioned, Mike, you know, you sit there and fight the good fight all season long, and the practice squad nobody knows you even exist anymore. But every day you're earning your spot on the roster, and every day you're being evaluated and the kids like Michael Clark who realized that they're the ones that end up

getting that chance. Yeah, and where I think we're all very anxious and interested to see just what Michael Clark does in his second season. With that, we'll go to a break back with more on Packers unscripted from the NFL Scouting Combine right after this. Welcome Back to Packers unscripted from the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis, the NFL Scouting Combine, Larry and Mike and West and gentlemen,

we know the NFL is a cutthroat business. There's not a whole lot of room for sentiment around here, and these teams are going to be going at it in the draft, trying to figure out who these prospects are ranking him, trying to grab him before the other guys do all of that in a couple of months. But there was a little bit of a sentimental moment West the other day when Seattle General Manager John Schneider was at the podium, long time personnel executive for the Packers,

friend and confident of former Packers GM Ted Thompson. He was asked by you about Ted Thompson's legacy in Green Bay. Now that he has he has stepped aside and made way for Brian Gouda Kunts and uh, the thoughts from Schneider we were very poignant, very interesting. Give me your thoughts. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing that you have to understand is John Schneider is a ron Wolf guy. He's he wrote in that letter, you know, asking for an opportunity.

Wolf's a guy that gave it to him. But during their time together, he got incredibly close with Ted Thompson in terms of just the day in, day out riggers of the job, but also just from a personal perspective. And you know, I've talked to him a number of times over the years and he always says the one thing he learned the most from Ted was just how to handle the job with class, you know, whether it's cutting a player, whether it's the way you run your operation.

Something that he really tried to take with him. Even if you know philosophically his he differs in terms of some of the free agent acquisition stuff, he really took a lot of that from Ted. So given that Ted Thompson's tenure now as GM has come to an end after thirteen years now and that senior advisor role. I wanted to ask John about that. And the first thing he said when I asked him about what Ted's legacy is, he just said enormous and immediately started breaking up right

after that and closed it. You know, I had a couple of nice words from the close it by saying we do miss him down here. Um. And and the big thing I think, you know, because Ted stayed back is Brian Goodkin said watching film and Green Bay right now. He's obviously still around here. But for these guys, the John Dorsey's, the Elliot Wolves, the Reggie Mackenzie's, all of them kind of sprout from the Ron Wolf tree, but all of them were, you know, have a had a

pretty big impact made on them by Ted Thompson. Yeah. And when you look at the fact that the Packers have made this big change at the top of their football operation, Larry for the first time in thirteen years, the fact that this transition has gone as smoothly and seamlessly as possible. I've said it before, I think Brian Goodacus just looks like he belongs in the job. I think that's a credit to Ted Thompson, how he set

the table and how he ran things. It's also a credit to Mark Murphy and and Mike McCarthy and everybody involved at the top of football that really, as much as as big a change as this is, this is still very much business as usual in Green Bay here at the combine. You know, when you talk about Ted Thompson and his legacy, and I've seen this happen before, it's gonna do nothing now. Those in the inner circle who really know the business, like you said a moment ago, West,

his legacy is enormous. But to the Packer nation and the football the NFL nation beyond that, of course, anybody in Ted's role takes more than his fair share of criticism. I mean, he didn't draft the right guy, he didn't sign enough free agent. That's just the way it is. And I can go back, because I watched it up close and personal. I can go back to Ron Wolf, the Hall of Famer Ron Wolf, that Ron Okay, when he was actually on the job, and keep this in mind,

just him goes on. When he was actually on the job, he got criticized all the time, all the time. I mean, people picked apart his decisions, his moves, all that good stuff, and and he was a Hall of Fame caliber GM He officially became one a couple of summers ago, but he was always operating that caliber, and yet he got more than his fair share of criticism. Now we've seen

the same thing with Ted Thompson. And we've seen despite the fact that the Packers went to the playoffs eight years in a row, that they went to several ENFCY championship games in the NFL that is the Final four, and that they've won a Super Bowl championship. Despite all those things the Green Bay Packers accomplished under Ted Thompson's leadership,

he still got his share of criticism. However, as time goes on, there will there will come a time when people, and it won't be in the two distant future, talk about Ted Thompson in a golden era of Green Bay Packer football. I mean, you can see it coming, and they're gonna talk about whenever a situation and it will happen that a decision will go south. I mean, when

you're betting on people, it's a tough bat. There will be a situation and people will start quoting Chapter in verse, something Ted Thompson did in a similar situation that worked out just fine, and a very good point about a seamless transition. And I thought something that spoke volumes in that regard was the Packers hosted a little lunch for the local writers, uh and part of that lunch was being able to talk in an informal setting with head

coach Mike McCarthy and Packers GM Brian Goodacunst. And those two guys were sitting there. And it's not that Ted and Mike didn't have a comfort level. Of course they did. This thing worked and worked real well for a long time. But I had never seen the GM and the head coaches in that kind of setting, sitting side by side fielding questions, and you talk about the transition. There was just a a comfort level that you couldn't pretend. I mean that that couldn't be faked. There was just a

real solid comfort level. And as you said, Mike, god goes back to Mark Murphy's called Ted Thompson, the whole culture, Brian Goodacunst, Mike McCarthy, the whole culture is in the right place, because that's when those things happen. Yeah, it's definitely genuine. I agree with you, Larry, with that we've got to get to a breakback with more on Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted from the NFL scouting combine Larry and Mike and West and guys.

A lot of prospects have come through here over this last week and through the weekend while we've been here, Packers related or not. Is there any one guy that just really jumps out of you, that intrigues you for any one reason or another. Well, I really like these lengthy edge rushers because they give you that elephant type look, and that's something I think is still gonna be really prevalent in this defense under Mike Petton, and for that reason.

Sam Hubbard is the guy that I've kind of pinpointed so far. Comes from a good program at Ohio State. I love his size at six five. That just seems to be the prototype for being able to do a lot of different things with these guys. But you look at Art and Key two, he's six six. I mean, obviously, the one that jumps off the page for everybody is Marcus Davenport. You know on the height that he brings

to the table. Uh, so many different things you can do with him, whether you rushed him off the edge, three point stands, you know, going off the two point stands. So many different you know, options with those guys. But Hubbard is a guy I think with his pedigree, how productive he was I think it was seven sacks. Is his last season with Ohio State. You know, potentially you know where he's gonna be in Day two or maybe day three. Could be a middle round option if they

don't take one right off the bat. Yeah, one guy I'm really interested in, and it really has nothing to do with the Packers necessarily, but it's a Shack Griffin, the linebacker from Central Florida. Now, his twin brother, Shakill, was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks last year. And Shack has uh he's missing basically the lower part of one of his arms, and you wonder, okay, how in the world are you supposed to tackle that way? Then you look at his college tape at Central Florida. It's amazing

what the guy does. He he can make every play, he doesn't stop. He's got a motor, motor that doesn't quit. Then you just try to figure out, okay, well this translate to the NFL. A guy like say Kwon Barkley, who's running a four four forty and doing almost thirty reps on the bench and a forty plus inch vertical jump. How is a guy like Griffin's supposed to tackle a guy like Barkley in the NFL. I don't know how it's gonna work. But his story, to me is absolutely amazing.

I'm really intrigued to see where his career goes from here. Yeah, and I think you could sum it up this way. Not just a good story, he's a good football peace and he's proven it, as you mentioned, against the top notch competition. Yeah. And one other thing to consider too, He's he's been missing that that hand since fourth grade or four four years old, excuse me, So, I mean he's been doing this his entire life. That builds up a lot of different things that you know, that help

him as well. Yeah. And we'll see here as the as the Packers now get prepared for the draft, Wes, you mentioned a bunch of the uh, the pass rushers, will see what they maybe try to find in terms of cornerbacks, tight ends. Twelve draft picks is a lot, isn't Hilary? Yeah? It is, and I think Brian Gudakums made a very good point when talking about those twelve picks.

Compensatory picks can be traded, gives you a lot of flexibility, a lot of ammunition, and with that we're going to call it a rap on Packers unscripted and from her on location coverage from the Scouting Combine. Thanks to Larry and West. I'm Mike. We'll see you next time.