#299 Packers Unscripted: Early impressions

in in a media setting until training camp begins. One thing that that really stood out to me from that conversation with Rogers with reporters is, uh, he seems very very excited and we've talked a little bit about this before, but very very excited about what is rowing at the tight end position here with the experience that Jimmy Graham and Marcedes Lewis and Lance Kendricks bring at the top

of the depth chart at that position. Yeah, Mike, And the thing is, and you've been around this to the last couple of weeks, being around the team, being in the locker room at some of these events, if you really can't appreciate how big. Jimmy Graham and Marcedes Lewis are until you stand in their presence. I was interviewing Louis last week after he got signed, and I mean

there is a full foot and a half. It seems like between him and I am being somewhat facetious, but I mean it is just looking directly up and and Jimmy Graham is very similar. Six ft six six, six ft seven in Graham's case, that's just amazing catch, Radiers.

It's a huge catch, Radis. You can see why A. Lewis was a first round pick back in two thousand and six, and b why even though he was taken in the middle rounds, Jimmy Graham was such an intriguing prospect after converting from basketball at the University of Miami, Florida. So this one to combo along with Lance Kendricks being

back after a year in the system. If by no means, I mean this is the most experienced the Packers have had in this group since Mike McCarthy has been the head coach, and probably going back to late nineties, as I said in a previous episode, So for Aaron Rodgers now to have those kind of targets you can see why a quarterback really appreciates that and exactly what that does not only for him, but this entire offense now, whether it's the running game, the receivers opens up a

lot of different options. Yeah, and it really stood out at Monday's practice as well. Which as far as the eleven on eleven work. In Monday's open practice, which was the last open o t A prior to the minicamp next week, they were doing red red zone goal line work and when they first kind of blew the horn for that eleven on eleven to start, they put the ball at the twenty yard line, you know, right there at the edge of the red zone. Very first play

Aaron Rodgers, Jimmy Graham touchdowns. I mean it looked like, you know, it looked like these guys have been have been playing together for three or four or five years or something like that. And Rogers made the comment when you bring in veteran players like a Graham and like a Lewis, yes there's an adjustment period, but boy, that adjustment period is so much shorter than it is for a veteran quarterback like Rogers. With receivers who are just

getting into the league. And just getting their feet wet. It seems the Packers that you know, really there's a lot of young talent at receiver that Rogers is gonna have to work with to get up to speed. That's not as much the case at tight end. Mike McCarthy said the same exact thing when they signed Lewis, when they signed Byron Bell, when it asked about what is

the process of getting them caught up? Out of all the transitions for anybody, it's the easiest bringing in a veteran that has experienced in the NFL, knows how a system is run, what is expected out of them, even if he is a minor transition to a new scheme. But the other thing that stands out to me too, when you go back and think about it, is that play. Now you've heard us say in the past with different players, Jared Cook among them, you know that first practice you

really could see him make an impact. You could see him make the throws, and that's all well and good. What was intriguing about that past to Graham though, is it was almost an undefendable play where Rogers put the ball, getting it over the top of the shoulder, almost on and actually it ended up happening very similar to to Lewis from a pass from to Shaun Kaiser later in practice. There's not a whole lot of defensive back can do if there's no help over the top. Now, again it's

one practice, one day, and it's organized team activities. They're basically you know, running around with without pads on. But it does show you the element that Jimmy Graham brings. And again getting back to that catch radius, it allows Rogers, who's so pinpoint precise and accurate, to really get creative with how he wants to be able to build those connections with those tight ends. Yeah, and getting back to what you said initially just about the sheer size of

these guys. You know, there are things that that you talk about when coaches sit down to try to game plan on one side of the ball or the other. There are things that make them nervous. There are things that scare them. If there's one thing, aside from a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers, but if there's one thing schematically that can really scare a defensive coordinator, it's really big

targets with speed running down the middle of the field. Now, Marcedes Lewis doesn't have the speed that he used to have. He's a little bit older. Um, he's more accomplished as a blocker and all that. But Jimmy Graham is a guy who's going to make teams have to figure out

a different way to defend Aaron Rodgers. And I think that's the most exciting thing about this as we head into Yeah and then the thing is too is Lewis said he had an interesting little quip about how, yeah, you know, I might not be the as fast as I used to be. But he's also says don't sleep on him either, because if you want perfect film, As it was brought up in his first introductory news conference with the Green Bay media, go back and look at

that London game last year against the Ravens. He had three touchdown passes in that game. Uh, just the remarkable performance because he was sneaking behind linebackers and they had no way to defend him. So that's the chess match there is. Now. Defense is trying to figure out how they're going to defend that, and the Packers trying to figure out how they can use all those different pieces to best exploit it. Something I think we're gonna be

talking about a lot as unfolds. But with that, we're going to go to a breakback with more on Packers unscripted right after this Welcome back to Packers unscripted. Mike Spofford in this chair, Wes Hodkowitz in that one, and West continuing our discussion of what we heard from Aaron Rodgers at his locker after Monday's practice. Made a few comments with regards to the defensive side of the ball,

and one of them that was very interesting is unprompted. Essentially, not nobody asked him about this particular player, but he said, the guy that he sees right now as the best player on the defensive side of the ball when he's been going through these these O t A sessions in practice is number thirty eight. It's the veterans, Herron Williams that the Packers have brought back. Aaron Rodgers certainly sees him, and the coaches have talked about it in the same way.

He's an invaluable piece here to what the Packers are trying to accomplish on defense. Not only the connection to Mike Petton his veteran experience, all the young cornerbacks that have somebody who is a model pro to look up to. All of that is embodied in Tremont Williams. He's a big part of this team, for he is Mike and we are now in this day and age. I mean, obviously there was the Darryl Greens of the world, but it is a young man's game and it's a young

man's position. But you've seen a few guys, you know, Terence Newman being one of them, with the Minnesota Vikings now at forty years old, coming back once again, although he has said this will be his last year. I see Tremon Williams is one of those guys. Yeah. I think a lot of people look at the age, look at thirty five and think, you know, it's a cornerback

near the tail end of his career. As I wrote about an insider Inbox on Tuesday, if there's one player that you can see making a jump in year twelve is Tremont Williams. And there's two things that go behind that one. And I've talked about it before or in the show. Is the fact that there is a certain number of people that they take care of their body and they do the right things to keep themselves springy, to keep themselves athletic to keep themselves limber, and Tremont

has checked all those boxes throughout his career. He's been doing that for five, six, seven years now. And then the other one too is the experience factor. Um cornerback. We only half of it is athleticism. The other half is knowing what you're doing out there and the best way to be able to defeat the receiver or defeat whatever your you know your assignment is going to be.

Williams has done that. And the thing I like the most about Traumont is last year the league tried to push him out, they tried to get rid of him. He got cut by Cleveland, he was out of work for a few months. The Arizona Cardinals, looking for help, sign him on the fringe of you know, the right before the eve of training camp, and then in really two months, two and a half months, he ends up being a starting cornerback for them and played at a

really high level opposite Patrick Peterson Truman. Williams still has a lot left in the tank. Yeah, he absolutely does. And it's amazing when you look at it watching him in these O t A practices. He's still back there, returning punts and stuff like that. Now, I don't think the Packers are gonna necessarily have him as the punt returner in teen, but you know, he's a guy. He talked about this too. He's never going to forget where he came from and what what do you mean by that?

Not only you know his his upbringing and the fact that he went to a small school, Louisiana Tech and was and was undrafted and all that, but he got his break in the NFL as a punt returner starting as a special teams guy. Asked him about, you know, the basically the first big play he ever made in an NFL game in two thousand and seven, the Carolina Panthers are lining up for a long field goal. They decided to snap it directly to the kicker. He pooch

punts it down inside the ten yard line. Truman Williams runs back there, picks up the ball inside the ten and goes ninety four yards for a touchdown as part of a thirteen and three Packers season. You know Brett Farves last year in two thousand and seven, that's the play that put the guy on the map. It was a punt return and then everything has gone on from there. Obviously the big play in playoff run to the Super Bowl, all of that. He uh um, He's never going to

forget where he came from. And that's a message that you know can resonate, whether it's with the first round draft pick in Jairo Alexander or the Donna Tello Browns on the roster who you know have been on the practice squad and they're trying to fight for a spot on the active roster. This is a guy that everybody's looking up to there. In my opinion, Mike, there are

three different types of undrafted free agents. One is the guys that performed at a high level, but either because of the level of which they played or just the fact they didn't get enough respect, they didn't get drafted. Lane Taylor is one of them, for your starter at Oklahoma State. There's also a certain amount of undrafted freegents that go undrafted because of something that happened off the field.

But the third type is the guys that just were kind of raw prospects, the Sam Shields of the world, the guys that maybe make a late transition, or in Tremont Williams case, a guy that was a wasn't even really intending to play football right away, ends up being a walk on and then gradually work his way up and impresses. He is the quintessential story of an undrafted

success story. Yeah, and he brings that experience back, and he also brings experience in Mike Petton's system, and the fact that he continues to play this at this level at this stage of his career tells you how badly he still wants it and how much he's still chasing another super Bowl ring. Yeah. In a really interesting comment he made as well, getting back to your earlier point about the smarts and the savvy that now he has after a dozen years in the league to go along

with keeping that body limber and staying athletic. He was talking about the Packers young cornerbacks and he's like, Yeah, it's great to see them making plays out there. And they're making plays out there right now in practice because they have the athletic ability to do it. They're not making plays because they really know what's going on. He says, I'm at the point where I kind of know what's

going on, and that makes things easier. I don't have to be quite as athletic as a Jayra Alexander, you know, a rookie first round draft pick coming in to be able to do my job and to do it well. And that's the the problem in a sense, for lack of a better term, is that most guys don't get smart enough in this league until the athleticism has left them, and then they have to retire guys who were thirty five years old. They know everything about the game, but

physically they can't keep up and play it anymore. Truman Williams long ago got those smarts and now he's he's keeping it going. Heck, you see that. Guys that are thirty one, you know, ninety awesome wa like those type of players that were the best of their ability, when

things start to go down, they can't keep up. Truman Williams at every stage of his career, he's made sure he's doing the right things to keep himself physically, mentally, emotionally in this game and obviously invested towards winning a championship no doubt. With that, we're going to go to another break back with more on Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford here, Wes hodkoits

over there. West. We spent a lot of time talking about the Packers offensive line and everything it went through Inen Justin McCrae as the super sub filling in wherever was needed. David Baktiar he earns another All Pro nod at left tackle, Lane Taylor really coming into his own as an undrafted guy and now a multi year starter

at left guard. One guy in that group played every offensive snap for the Packers in seen for all the injuries the offensive line was dealing with, and that center Corey Linsley he heading into is in a very different

position than where he was a year ago. He was and you know why it was so important he played every single offensive snap for the Packers last year because his backup was playing right tackle for most of the second half of last year, and then Lucas Patrick, who was the other backup at center, ended up finishing the year with a club. So it was pretty important that

Corey Linsley played all one thousand whatever snapps. But as you said, Mike, going back to last year, he was entering a contract year, he was coming off an ankle surgery, and he said throughout the offseason program which he was not able to participate in mentally. As much as it it really stunk not to be able to be out there, he felt like he was in a better place because he finally had answers. The year before he had that

hamstring injury that he couldn't really get a grip on. Well, it was all kind of stemming from this ankle injury. He finally got that cleaned up, and he was really putting a lot into being back for training camp and being able to go wire to wire. Now he didn't, he says he doesn't. He didn't have it on his board.

You know, I want to play every single snap. But the fact that he did and then in the last week of the season got that big contract extension, I think showed him that he was still the player he always thought he was and he just needed to get that ankle fixed to be able to play at that level again. Because you go back to two thousand and fourteen, there were a lot of mirrors between those two seasons as far as what his role was. He had to be the guy because J. C. Truter was out in

two thousand and fourteen, he got thrown in there. He end up making all those starts very similar situation last year and he stepped up to the plate. Yeah. Absolutely, And Lindsley has always struck me as a very interesting guy because you look at you know, he's been with the Packers now since fifth round draft pick out of Ohio State. He's seen a lot of transition on the offensive line. He was kind of brought up, so to speak, by the t. J. Langs and the Josh Sittons of

the world. Now, David baktr Brian Bulaga very much leaders in that offensive line room. Those are a lot of pretty distinct personalities. And Corey Lindsley is a very reserved and quiet guy, but yet he's always kind of got a smile on his face. He's always always willing to tell a little bit of a story about what's going on behind the scenes. And um, no matter what, the personality is a very very respected member of that offensive line. Yeah, and in a dry, you know, dry sense of humor too.

That shall sometimes see pop up when he's retweeting, retweeting onion articles. But here's here's the thing. I go back to, Mike, You've been covering this team for a long time and I've been doing it now for five, six seven years. I remember sitting down with Aaron Rodgers. It was a two thousand thirteen and the topic of conversation was the center position and the fact that he was then at that point on to his fourth different starting center in

four years. He had Scott Wells, he had Jason Spitz, he had Jeff Saturday, and then it eventually became Evans Smith. And he said repeatedly in the two thousand twelve and two thousand and thirteen season, he wanted to be able to get on a run with a guy. Now, everybody thought that guy was gonna be J. C. Treader, but

the injuries ended up popping up. When you talk about him being a respective member of the offensive line, in a respective member of that roster, the fact that he ended up becoming that guy to get on a run with Rogers and now is you know, in place here the next few seasons to stay there. That tells you not only how much Rogers thinks of him, but how much the organization thinks of the job he did. Because as a fifth rown pick, he was very specialized. Mike,

you always talk about reserves being versatile. Corey Linsley is a center through and through that's the position he played. That's not to say he couldn't play elsewhere pure bread, but he's a pure Bread And the fact that he ended up getting that call in two thousand and fourteen and playing the way he did shows you how much of an expert, how much he's mastered that position, and you've just seen him grow now over the last five years. I just had this thought occurred to me as you

were talking about Lindsley. What is it about the number sixty three in this franchise? Larry McCarron, if I'm not mistaken, James Camping, Scott Wells, now Corey Linsley. A lot of really really good centers that have played played for this team, and a lot of them have warned that same number. And if I know CAMPI he would probably say that it's Larry, Scott Wells, Corey Linsley and then James Camping down there. But he was pretty good, darn good in his own right as well. Yeah, he was with that.

We're going to go to another breakback with moreen Packers unscripted. Right after this Welcome Back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford sitting next to West Hodko. It's West before we go, we definitely have to touch on what was a scary moment over this past weekend, but hopefully one that that everybody can kind of chuckle about when it's all said and done. And talking about that line drive in the charity softball game that Clay Matthews took right in the face,

broke his nose. Sounds like he's having surgery sometime this week to get that squared away. UM, certainly glad that that Clay Matthews is okay. But one of those things that just falls under the category if you never know what the heck is going to happen. Sometimes no, and it's gonna happen in any walk of life, and and it's just one of those deals. And this could have easily been a you know, Packers dot Com Digital Department softball game and and something like that could always happen.

And yeah, it's unfortunate, but I think Mike McCarthy had really good perspective on it. You go back to what they were doing. Um, you know, it's in the name of a good cause, a charitable cause, and and Clay this year, along with Davante Adams, were actually the headliners

of this event. For the first time with with Jordie Nelson now in Oakland, and you could tell this was something that Nelson took a lot of I'm sorry, Matthews took a lot of pride and the other thing to keep in mind into I guess it's just a lot of averages. They've been doing this for twenty five years. If you've covered any or if you've been to any of these softball games the last few years, Clay Matthews always pitches. He constantly does it. I think you know

it's been doing it is probably since his rookie year. Yeah, he's been the guy for a long time. So it just happened to be that. You know, it was an incident, an incident, but the fact that well one is in toughness is off the charts. That's what I was That's what I was going to say. How do you take a shot like that to the face? And I don't mean to make light of it at all, but how does that happen? He doesn't even buckle his knees, let alone,

you know, go to the ground or anything. He just he puts his glove up over his face, which I talked to some people who were there and who saw it. I actually wasn't there at the time, but that you know, there was a lot of blood obviously coming anytime you have a face facial injury like that, you know, the blood kind of comes in pretty heavy doses. He just put his glove up over his face and walked right off the field. And I mean I couldn't. I couldn't imagine.

There's there's no way I'd be able to even stay on my feet or think about going or doing anything if I took a took a shot like that. Yeah, And I think sometimes fans will confuse, you know, injuries and durability and think they're one and the same. Um, they're totally different things because what these guys played through

and the toughness that they show. An example of that being I know Nick Perry has had a couple of injuries here in the past few years, but Nick Perry might be the toughest guy on the entire team with what he's played through. Um, and not even bad it. And I claim Matthews has played through a lot. You know, you think of two thousand thirteen breaking his thumb once and but but end up being twice. Uh, you know, and the fact that he was able to get up

and get off the field. They did stop the game for about a half an hour, but there was a pretty quick update saying that he's fine. Um that's the thing you go back to. As much as it sucks, you don't want to break your nose. It could have been a lot worse, you know, orbital injuries and things of that nature. So he's gonna have time here. That's the one silver lining to all this. As it is

the beginning of June. They don't come back now until the end of July, so there'll be some time for him to recuperate and hopefully be good to go once training camp rolls around. Yeah, and as you mentioned Mike McCarthy's perspective, you know certainly wasn't going to step in and say, okay, you know, we need to stop this charity softball game. I mean, hey, it is for a good cause. It's been going on for a long time. This was a freak accident. After Matthew's injury, they put

a protective screen up there for the picture. There are some things you can do here to protect these guys from a freak accident like that, or at least try your best to protect them from it. And I would think the charity softball game will will continue in Appleton, and I'm guessing that screen will probably be out there now from now on. That's my takeaway in prediction. Not so bold there, but I think I think you're onto something with that. We're going to sign off on this

edition of Packers Unscripted. We should have follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com on Twitter. He's at west Hod I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We'll see you next time. H m hm