#287 Packers Unscripted: More on Day 3

had a chance to discuss yet. And I want to start on the offensive line because we had talked about if there's one thing that's a guarantee, because Ted Thompson did it in twelve out of his thirteen drafts, it's that the Packers are going to take at least one offensive lineman, and they did in selecting Cole Madison from Washington State in the fifth Round's actually a three and a half year starter at right tackle, but the Packers are projecting him as a hard at least that's where

they want to start him out. What do you know about Madison? And certainly the Packers track record here with taking tackles and making them guards is pretty good. Yeah, And it sounded like this wasn't a secret. Everyone in the NFL was kind of looking at him as a guard I think he said the St. Louis Rams, excuse me, Los Angeles Rams were the only team that really we're talking to Hi about tackle now. The one thing he gives you, though, with that background, is some line versatility

if you need to use them in a pinch. But I think it appears interial be his concentration. What do we know about him? He has a luscious mane of hair. And it was funny he mentioned it that he actually got a trim the week before the draft, before that he hadn't had it cut since before prom in high school. The guy was at Washington stayed for a long time. I mean, pretty big beard, just a big character. And if you look at it, though, Michael, whether it's the hair,

whether it's the beard. Packers have had some success finding really good offensive lineman in the draft through the middle rounds with those credentials, and now Cole Madison hopes to be the next one. Yeah, and this conversion from college offensive tackle to NFL guard or I should just say NFL interior player. The Packers have done it with multiple guys, Josh Sitting and T. J. Lang also j C. Treader. He was a He was a tackle at Cornell, and

became more of an interior guy in the NFL. Although all those guys you know still actually I think all three of them have not mistaken filled in at tackle in a pinch during during their NFL career with the Packers. So um with Madison here, So as we talked about before the draft, a lot of uncertainty, a lot of open competition, you might say, for where the Packers are at right guard and right tackle for team Brian Balaga's injury. Week one is ten months away from his injury. He's

obviously gonna do everything he can to get back. You have no guarantees there. Um. At right guard, Jarry Evans remains unsigned. He was the starting right guard for the majority of last year. I don't know how you see it, West. When I look at where things are right now, I kind of see Cole Madison and Lucas Patrick competing at right guard. I see Jason Spriggs and Kyle Murphy competing at right tackle. I'm just not sure which one Justin McCray is going to be competing for. You have any

read or any sense on that. Well, here's the first thing, Mike, the fact that Packers didn't address the tackle situation then obviously, Brian Goodkin said afterwards they figured that Brian Balagan is going to be in the team's plans. A lot to figure out, but but they're obviously very hopeful to have him back and play, and certainly a guy that's played

an extemplary level when he has been healthy. But in the interim here, especially during the offseason program, I think that's where these things are gonna start to sort themselves out. Who's that next guy up, Who's going to be the guy that really grabs that opportunity? Uh, you look at

the right guard position. To me, I I still feel like justin mccraige's best position as guard, I thought he did a phenomenal job given what you had to work with the play right tackle last year and having to move around the line the way he did, that's really valuable. But Lucas Patrick is there as well. How are Jason Spriggs and Kyle Murphy gonna come back after their injuries. I thought Murphy did a great job those first three weeks of the season, especially having to play a little

bit of left tackle. Spriggs has had his moments as well. I just think it's gonna be a really good competition, Mike, and I think the best battles when you look at him, regardless of position during training camp, are the ones where you get a bunch of guys with different types of skill sets, different makeups, different body types, but yet the skill levels pretty much all on par Who's going to be the guy that steps out in front of that?

You know, James camp and has not spoken to the media yet since these moves were made, but I have to imagine he's pretty happy because he has a bunch of guys that are talented with some versatility there to figure out how exactly they want to play things out on the right side. Yeah, and bolaga situation is going to play into that considerably. Mike McCarthy after the draft

was asked, you know, what's the update on Bulaga? No specifics given other than that in his recovery from another a c L injury here he is ahead of schedule. All the reports have been positive. McCarthy made it very clear though that where he is at the beginning of training camp will be the telltale sign, and I took that to mean obviously at the getting a training camp is when you have to decide with injured players whether

they go on PUP or whether they stay active. And if that decision is made to put him on PUP, then that keeps him out a minimum of the first six weeks of the regular season. If they feel like he's going to be ready in the early stages of the regular season, then they won't put him on pup, even if he's not necessarily practicing right away. So that start of training camp is really going to be potentially

decision time on blog. Yeah, blog is shown too. I mean, he can jump back in there and doesn't really show much ring rust at all. He's done. He's done it before the worst times he played at a high level in spite of, you know, having to deal with some stuff in the past. I just think, you know, he is you know, he's twenty nine years old, so I'm sure he really does want to be a part of

the off season program. But he's been through this before. Yeah, I think for young guys like a Cole Madison, even these these tackles Spriggs and Murphy now, but in the league for two years, those reps are gonna be so valuable, you know, throughout o t a s, throughout mini camp, throughout training camp. To be able to get that workload in. Even you know, a guy like Justin mccraie, who was a street free agent last year, really at the bottom rung of the depth chart when training camp started a

year ago in working his way up. So for me personally, I think that's the most exciting part of this is now you add another guy into that reserve of offensive lineman. I don't think it was a position you need a draft during the first two days, and it looks like they found another really good guy to you know, kind of harvest and cultivate and develop from those later rounds. Yeah, going to be some competitions to keep an eye on

for sure. With that, we'll go to a break back with more on Packers Unscripted right after this Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford in this chair. West Hodkin wits in that one, Okay, West. The Packers went into the two thousand and eight teen draft with a few

positions that were very low priority. I guess you would say one was quarterback because of the trade for Deshaun Kaiser, one was running back because you drafted three running backs a year earlier, and another being defensive line because you would signed Mohammed Wilkerson, and you were going to get Montravius Adams, a third round pick from a year ago, back from essentially essentially an injury type of red shirt season.

But the Packers did draft one defensive lineman in the seventh round and it's James excuse me, James Looney from cal A guy. I don't know a heck of a lot about him. You had a chance to to write a little bit about him. Um, what what did you learn? What type of prospect do you think he is? You know,

I go back to something I thought. Elliott Wolf, the Packers former personnel executive who's now with the Cleveland Browns, he had such a great point last year during the draft because he was asked about what you're looking for day three of the draft, and he said, you're looking

for trades. You're looking for a certain area that a guy really stands out above the rest, whether it's a play time, ben s, reps, vertical, whatever, something that they do exemplary rather than being, you know, kind of pedestrian across the board because hang your hat on something. Yeah, Because you're dealing with guys that have obvious flaws in their game. The thing that stands out to me about Looney, and I'm not trying to make any comparisons to Mike

Daniels here. It's a different type of football player. But he said it himself. He sees himself in terms of where his upside is, where his ceiling is, as being one of those new modern type of defensive tackles. Guys that aren't pushing three twenty, aren't the tallest guys in the world, but find ways to win those battles in the trenches and to get leverage. He was a really consistent football player during his time at Cal and he was a transfer from Wake Forest, where his brother was

a standout. His brother now an offensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys. And he said it himself. In the pre draft process, the advice his brother Joe gave him was just get in the league. Doesn't matter where your draft. It doesn't matter if you're drafted. It matters that you come in and show what you have to offer. It's very loaded defensive line right now for the Green Bay Packers, especially when you consider that Montrevious Adams is coming back

off of that foot injury last year. But Looney is going to be in a good spot here. And the other thing that's interesting as well, consecutive years of the Packers have drafted a defensive lineman I think is Ted Thompson. To steal his old phrase, God only created so much thought so many of those big guys, especially guys with athleticism. I think Looney's a guy that touches on that. Yeah, I think when you look at you look at his athletic ability, they're certainly worth uh, you know, worth a

draft pick. There. One of these guys that I think his measurable was what to to eighty five somewhere around there, and it's one of he's one of these guys that, yeah, if if, if he's got the potential, you know, to get to say three hundred or three hundred five pounds, you have suddenly you have a different type of player than the one who was in college. And you know, and obviously adding that weight, maybe you lose some athleticism

and whatnot. But this is a guy who was projected as a late round pick and coming from the Pack twelve. I mean, they throw the ball a heck of a lot in that conference. So this is a guy who who certainly did did his share of rushing the passers and one thing it was fun too. This is more of an off the field thing. But you know, he was praised throughout the pre draft process for his personality. Has an infectious personality. You really got a feel for

that during his interview with the media. I mean it was kind of the end of the day. I know a lot of beat writers retired, but I mean, Looney is he is. He's such a gregarious type of you know, individual and to be honest with you, I thought, out of all the draft picks, he probably had one of the most engaging news conferences. It's just that at that point of the day, I don't know how many people

had questions a lot for these guys. You know, they just wanted to get write their stories and get home. But it was interesting listen to him talk about the relationship with his brother and how competitive they were as kids. He mentioned broken controllers, you know, with the PlayStation, and you know, kind of getting into a little bit of scraps with the kids in the neighborhood. There's there's an edge to this guy. Probably not an accident that he

became as the younger brother became the defensive lineman. The older brother was the off ffensive lineman there, there's not necessarily just coincidence. No absolutely iron sharpening iron. But you know, the one thing that stands out to me though, he has some interesting traits and I think as NFL dot Com and they're scouting report, they praised him for it. You know, he has kind of a cool spin move for an interior type rusher. Uh. You know, he he just s he's a little he's a little unique in

terms of how he approaches things. He's not just this bull rushing guy that's gonna try to overpower you. He understands and he even said this, the NFL is a tough league. You have to be savvy. You have to be able to have your technique where it needs to be to win these battles in the trenches. I'm just you know, he's a seventh round pick. Wait and see. You know they had success in the past. I think

a Lawrence guy in two thousand eleven. Even though it didn't happen in Green Bay, he became a player in this league. They know defensive lineman, and this guy obviously showed him something they really like. Yeah, Dave Tollison from about a decade ago, another seventh round pick, who was a defensive lineman went on to to play for a couple of other teams for a few years. But with that, we're gonna go to a break back with moreen Packers unscripted.

Right after this, Welcome back to Packers, unscripted. Mike Spofford right here, West, Hodko, it's all the way over there West. The Packers. Obviously, they addressed a lot of positions in this eleven pick draft that they had, but some areas that they actually were not able to address, and one that a lot of people are talking about is the pass rush. I'll be the first to admit I expected the Packers to draft a pass rusher earlier than the fourth round last year. I expected them to draft an

edge rusher earlier than the seventh round this year. We all know how things go as far as how the board falls, in the philosophy and all of that. They're not going to reach for a player and this was a very thin draft in terms of edge rushers. They did select one though, with their final pick, Southeast Missouri State Kendall Donerson. And um, again, you talked about what Elliott Will said about, you know, finding traits in the seventh round. This is a guy with with a heck

of a lot of measurables, especially the speed. Be interesting to see maybe what he can do coming off the edge. Yeah, four point eight forty forty vertical guy has a lot of athleticism and just a big enough to be an edge rusher in a three or four defense. You know he's gonna be slightly undersized. But again, getting back to what you said about Looney, you wonder if the Packers can put on some weight with him. Yeah, Kyler Facra wasn't the biggest outside linebacker either when he came to

Green Bay. I want to touch on them before we touch on Donnerdson. I just want to mention Mike. I was a little surprised too. I expected the Packers to address outside Russia earlier on. But as I got thinking about it, as we began Day three, and as the picks started coming off the board and the Packers started taking receivers, it made sense to me that they didn't look at outside linebacker edge rushier early on day three.

My thinking is, if you could have if it lined up and you wanted to take an edge rusher on day one, you take one. You look at the history. That's where you're gonna find your biggest playmakers. But the Packers have been down this road in the middle rounds, taking edge rushers in recent years, Kyler Facral, Vince Bagel who had his you know, rookie season basically wiped out by those two foot surgeries. They've been there before. So

I have a hard time believing. And maybe there's a big gem waiting out there, but I have a hard time believing they were going to draft a guy on in the fourth, late in the fourth or early in the fifth that was gonna come in and push to be that top guy in the rotation. It takes time to develop that position. And secondly, just want to mention

this too. We got spoiled a little bit from fourteen to sixteen with Julius Peppers and Matthews and Perry and Nick Mike Neil and Dayton Jones when he had some success there. It was really deep and outside Russia. But I've been covering this team long enough to remember when Dom Capers was making do with Desmond Moses and and Frank Zombo and mar Latimore, undrafted guys that didn't have any accolades whatsoever, and we're starting games for the Packers.

So yes, comparatively, is this group as deep as it wasn't from fourteen sixteen? It's not. But I get kind of worn out by the narrative that the Packers don't have an outside Russian, you know, contingent. If you could find a guy early and you want to take them

and develop them, go for it. But otherwise I think finding a guy like Donnerdson late in the draft is kind of the way to go because he has some really unique traits that you can develop and adam into that mix with the four guys that are returning at that position that all had regular game experience last season. Yeah, I hear what you're saying. As far as the Packers, my expectations the last couple of years were in terms of taking an edge rusher much higher. Have to do

with more the long term future. Because Clay Matthews was drafted in two thousand nine, Nick Perry was drafted in two thousand and twelve. Those are your two guys on the front lines right now, and both of them you would probably have to say, are are in the back half of the Yeah, exactly, and that that's that's where That's where my point was, and and as far as the teen packers are packers are concerned, I don't think

Brian Goudakuntz is necessarily done at outside Russia. We saw what happened last year when suddenly a Mod Brooks, a veteran from the San Francisco forty Niners and their old three four scheme became available. Now, unfortunately he had some injuries and and probably didn't contribute as much as everybody was hoping. But there's possibly a veteran move like that out there as well for the Packers to provide a

little bit of boost to this position. Yeah, you definitely think that that could be in the cards again, just because of guys who end up getting cut for salary cap reasons, or you bring in another prospect that you really like and you don't want to move on somewhere else. And then also as we get these undrafted free agents later in this week, Mike, let's remember that, you know, there's been a lot of guys that have pushed for

playing time in the past. I think a guy like Chris odom is also one to watch in addition to Reggie Gilbert, based on what he did last season. Of the year. But Odom also basically took a red shirt season after having to come to Green Bay with no off season, with no training camp, learning how to be an outside linebacker slash defensive end in Atlanta, and then

having to play the position in Green Bay. So those four young guys, Gilbert Beagle, factrol and and Uh and Odom, really want to see them push and then see again if if someone else, another veteran or somebody might come in along the line. Yeah. Also, no tight end selected, which was a little surprising to me. In the eleven picks, and the word was that, you know, there was there was some depth that tight end to find some guys in the middle rounds. The Packers ended up not taking one.

And you know, you've got Jimmy Graham and Lance Kendricks on the top of that depth chart. You have two really really young, unproven guys, and Emmanuel Bird and Robert tonyan Um below them. I thought the Packers were going to going to fill something in there with the draft, but but they didn't. And um, you know, we'll see. I was really thinking they would because everything I was reading was that there were a lot of tight end

prospects that we're going to get picked. The same reason you mentioned about wanting to draft an outside linebacker applies the tight end. It takes time to develop that position, which is why I was saying it going into this thing. It makes sense to potentially look at a guy Packers feel comfortable where they are though, and you know, taking Graham and Kendricks and seeing what happens as far as

that third spot. All right, Well, with that, we will go to another break back with more on Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford alongside West hodkowits West. Quickly, before we go, I want to step away from the draft talk for a minute and just address the annual NFL Network Top one hundred series Top one hundred players in the league for the coming year, voted on at the end of last year

by the players themselves. The first twenty and what I mean by that is from number one hundred up to number eighty one, were revealed Monday night on NFL Network. The Packers actually had four guys in that mix. Um. The one, uh, you know who stands out the most is that David Botr came in at number first time he has made the top one hundred list. Should have made it sooner, but he's in there now. He has and you give credit to box Tr joked on Twitter afterwards that now he has to get up twenty two

more spots. I believe it is to get to number sixty nine, which is what he ultimately once out of this thing. Obviously his number, but Jimmy Graham also included in that Mike Daniels once again makes it for the third straight year. I would argue you on one point. Obviously, kudos to bak Tr for making it. I think the biggest one, though, was ha ha. Clinton Dicks, based on what he said on social media afterwards, goes he's comes in at number one hundred. He was seventy seven last

year and acknowledged afterwards. He tweeted about it that it wasn't his best year, and you know he's gonna take that. He's gonna accept it. He's thankful that he's considered among those top upper echelon of players in this league, but he wants to prove that he can be a perennial All Pro and a guy that's a true difference maker in this league. And I think out to everything Mike that happened in two thousand seventeen. Unrelated to Aaron Rodgers.

The motivation for ha Ha Clinton Dicks, I think is gonna be one of the biggest storylines to follow. Certainly you can talk about him being an upcoming free agent, but I think more than that, this is a really prideful guy and he wants to show everybody what he can bring on a year weekend, day out basis. And I think haa Clinton dis internally is a guy who feels like he has a lot to prove in two thousand eighteen, Yeah, and he wants to be a leader on this defense. He wants to be a leader on

this team. And certainly no disrespect to Morgan Burnett and those two got along quite well, both of them, you know, in leadership positions. But with Burnett now gone, Clinton Dick sees this and he mentioned it when he spoke with the media on the first day of the offseason program,

this is my spot to step into, you know. He he's it's not just it's not just the on field play that he wants to ratchet up a little bit, but it's it's also, uh, it's also the leadership aspect in the locker room, in the meeting room, all that he wants to be a guy that that everybody on this defense looks to as an example. Yeah, and Mike, it's interesting and you've covered this team for a long time as well. But sometimes you get guys like Clay Matthews who just walk in, They come in the room

from day one their rookie season. Sometimes you though, you have these guys like ha ha, Clinton Dix. He reminds me a lot of Casey Hayward. Remember Hayward in two thousand twelve was really sure of himself in front of the media, was always kind of nervous when the cameras came on. If you turn on that tape from his last year in two thousand fifteen. The role that he stepped into both in that meeting room but in the locker room as well. Clinton Dix really reminds me a

lot of that. This is a guy that has stepped out. He understands his role, He understands that young players look to him for leadership, and that his words, what he says publicly, it really brings it can send home a message to the people around you, and I think that's something that watching him grow over the last four years, it's been a really intriguing thing to watch in addition

to his maturity on the field. Yeah, we'll see what other Packers players here over the next several weeks potentially crack the top one. Obviously, Aaron Rodgers will be in there somewhere, who knows where, coming off of the injury. H Clay Matthews might be in there as well, and Davante Adams I think has a good chance to crack it for the first time. But with that, we are going to sign off on Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers

dot com on Twitter. He's at west Hot, I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, Everybody'll you next time. M HM.