#3 Packers Unscripted: Emerging potential

inside lambeau Field and West. It's that time of year, within the last couple of weeks before training camp begins, you start to think about who are some of the young players, the guys who aren't really the household names yet amongst the fan base who might start to emerge might start to make a name for themselves as we get into training camp in the preseason, maybe grab a little bit larger role on offense or defense. Let's start

with the offense. Is there a guy that stands out to you as maybe one you're going to keep your eye on as training camp begins? You got a risk. He has the name, he has the look, and more importantly, I thought he showed a lot of bright spots during

that rookie season. Now we didn't get to see him a whole lot on offense, you know, he had John Kuhen there, but the times that we did see him, I think I go back to Carolina and seeing him in that nineteen yard reception he had completely bowling over one of the defensive backs help to forget that play from Carolina. Yeah, and it's those type of plays I think can really show you the power that he has, what he brings um, you know, as a potential run

blocker and and even in a situation like that. I mean, that's what for so many years made John Kuon so versatile and important, was what he could bring in so many different areas of the offense. Now he's not currently on the roster, Rakowski is the only established fullback that the Packers have UM and you tie in his contributions on special teams, I thought he did a lot of

good things there last year. Basically when you look at a six round pick, it was think it was the first time since maybe five or six years of the Packers that drafted a fullback. It seemed like he did everything you look for in year one. Yeah, I would I would say so. And looking at some of his film on special teams from last season, not only in coverage does he get down the field, you know, get in there on tackles and and things like that, but

in the return game he's a good blocker. He threw a lot of key blocks for some of these returns that you know, Jeff Janis and Micah Hyde and guys like that had for the Packers. And you know, you really like the the buy in that he's had on special teams. And I think a lot of that comes from, you know, playing a position like fullback. He comes from Oklahoma. Yeah, yeah, I had to earn everything, everything that he got in

college there for the Sooners. And when you talk about a position like fullback, it almost lends itself to a cult following. In Green Bay, you had William Henderson for those ys. You know, then John Coon. We'll see if there's any kind of a chant the fans can come up with for for Aaron Ripkowski. But uh um, But yeah, a sixth round pick, you know, developmental guy who I

think could very well take on a bigger role this year. Absolutely, And as you said to when you have a guy that's a eight round pick or maybe not, as you know, he's gonna have to really get what he earns, you're gonna need to play on special teams. And I thought one of the things too about him that that really stood out was just how eager he was to take

on that role. Another guy that I think that was eager to do that was time Montgomery, and I know that's that's something that you've kind of pointed out is someone that could potentially be maybe moving into that household role this season. Yeah, provided he comes back from you know, the ankle surgery. We didn't see him at all during O t A S and mini camp. He was still sidelined from the injury that cut his rookie season short after six games. But you know, Montgomery stepped right in

last year as the kickoff return guy. Had a couple of big returns in Chicago in Week one. He was off to a great start as a rookie fifteen catches, two touchdowns in the first six games before he got hurt. And I think I kind of felt like as the season went along last year without Jordy Nelson in the offense started to struggle. Fans were talking about all the Packers need to rebuild that receiver, they need to draft some new receivers. It's almost like they forgot that time Montgomery.

You a third round draft pick out of Stanford, is a guy who presumably will be back this year, and I think he can make a big difference in this offense. Yeah, And how many times have we talked about I know I've I've mentioned this quite a bit that that sort of backfield dual role that we saw with Randall Cobb time Montgomery was doing that, I thought pretty well in terms of it gave them another option for if they wanted to bring somebody back to to kind of look

for a mismatch of the defense. Um, if you can get both of those guys going now, they really didn't have both healthy at the same time, and they did test drive it a little bit, I'll be very interesting if he can come back and play at a high level this year and obviously put all that behind him, what he could potentially add to the offense in that

sort of dual threat hybrid role. Yeah, there will be the question with as much time as Montgomery has missed with the injury, when he does get cleared, you know, how soon will he reacclimate himself to the offense to Aaron Rodgers. But you go back to the start of training camp last year, there aren't a whole lot of rookies, especially at receiver in this offense, who look like they belong right away and look like they know what they're doing.

When I saw Time Montgomery the first few training camp practices last summer. I was like, Wow, this kid gets it. You know, obviously comes from Stanford. He's smart. The playbook is not a problem for him. But he reminded me in a lot of ways in terms of that that quick early impression. He reminded me of Greg Jennings when Jennings showed up on the scene in two thousand and six and just looked like he belonged right away, and

that can be rare in an offense this complex. Yeah, and keep in mind too time Montgomery missed a large majority of the off season program as a rookie because I think he was still finishing up at Stanford's right. So for him, I believe this is I think it was just mini camps he was here for last year and to be able to sort of hit the ground running like that move. I think he was pretty much cemented in that number four role within the first week

or week and a half a camp. That that boat as well, I think for what he can bring the table both now and what he has to build off now moving forward, Yeah, definitely. Well, a couple of two thousand fifteen draft picks Ripkowski in Montgomery to keep our eyes on and we'll switch gears to the defense. After the break. We'll be back with more on Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford

alongside Wes Hodkowitz. Let's shift gears and talk about some players to emerge potentially on the defensive side of the ball. A lot of young guys, a lot of young prospects of the Packers always have in training camp. Who's the one that jumps out at you. Darius Gunter is the one for me. And here's the thing. There's a lot of cornerbacks for the Packers right now. They have a lot of depth at position. So it's not a given that he's gonna be able to get on the field,

even if he has a great training camp. Again, it's gonna be a lot of factors that will play into that. But the thing I liked about what Gunter did last year. In my time covering the Packers so far, I don't know if I've had anybody that has been I don't want to say is is highly touted, But I mean, I think the Packers felt pretty good about this guy coming in. They thought there was some unfinished business he had there from Miami and maybe hadn't reached his full potential.

Now a lot of people locked onto that forty time, but the reality was is that he's a pretty good cover cornerback and fitting into the Packer system, the press coverage, you know, kind of tendencies that they have. He's a strong guy, he's a lengthy guy, and I think he's somebody that the Packers field fits pretty well into the secondary. Yeah, undrafted cornerback from Miami. That's uh, that's worked. That's worked

here before with number thirty seven Sam Shields. But before we we were not putting Gunter in that category just yet obviously. But I remember last year in training camp when he was making an early impression as an undrafted rookie. You know, we start wondering, Hey, is this an undrafted guy who could make the roster, And you know, we start going around and asking the wide receivers like, hey,

you know, can this kid covers? He legit? And the wide receivers on this team said, hey, in press cover or a jaman to man, He's physical the line of scrimmage, he's got long arms, you know, strong guy. Um, he has he has the tools to make it in this league, he does, and and the Packers kind of expanded his

repertoire a little bit this offseason. He learned that inside cornerback position, which he's picked up really well, which could really help him, I think, get on the field more because typically when he was only playing on the boundary, that's a tough spot to get on the field because you usually have your top two cornerbacks in those positions. So for him, learning that inside spot, I think will increase those opportunities, give him a chance to compete for more,

you know, a bigger role in this defense. But as Joe went talked about too, and when I mentioned it with him, Yeah, there were concerns about his speed and if he could stand up to like high you know, top receivers in the league. Really doesn't have a concern with that right now. That there might be a few exceptions that I think everybody struggles within this league, But for the most part, he believes he's smart enough that will put himself in positions to really be able to

hang in there with the best of the best. Yeah, and Joe Wit has certainly proven himself as a coach in terms of developing young cornerbacks and guys coming in with maybe not a whole lot of pedigree, you might say. I remember in the playoff game, I believe it was at Washington in the wild card round last year, Gunter got thrown in there, uh, thrown into the mix, and to his credit, it was almost unnoticed. And you know, it's almost like an offensive lineman. You know, if you

don't hear their name, that's probably a good thing. And that was the way it was in a sense with Gunter against the Redskins. I believe he was matched up a few times with Pierre Garsona. Yeah, yeah, and uh, you know, really held his own pretty well. Another defensive guy that I'm going to watch as as training camp unfolds as j Rhne Elliott, now not quite as young third year guy um but was undrafted out of Toledo, made the roster with a big preseason two years ago.

We saw him last year early in the season against Seattle in Week two, has the interception in the fourth quarter when the Packers are protecting the lead, gets a forced fumble that creates another turnover on the very next Seahawks possession to seal the game. Then he has back to back sacks in consecutive games, against the Chiefs and the forty nine is the next two weeks and then you know, kind of fell off the radar a little bit.

Do you think jay Ron Elliott is a guy who maybe can build on those things he did last year, even though they were early in the season. I certainly do. I Mean, there's that old adage that if you contribute on special teams you've become a you know, a factor on special teams. That usually is a good precursor you're having a bigger roll down the line and defense defensively. I mean, you look at Desmond Bishops and the other guys have done that in the past in Green Day,

although it wasn't at j R. Owen's position. But the thing I like about him is he's been a natural leader. He's been a guy that stepped up and fit well into ron Zooks units. And you can see that playmaking ability. We saw it his first year. You know, the five sacks in the preseason that got him onto the roster. This past season, three sacks the game against Seattle where

he made such a big impact. What kind of hampered him and I know you talked about it was that quad injury, and you know that was something that sort of lingered down a stretch and sort of inhibited him a little bit. Yeah, he never never quite came all the way back from that, I don't think, at least not until at the very end. But he also talked in the offseason not only about trying to stay healthy, keep keep his body healthier, but two on the defensive side,

not to chase plays. He almost he almost confessed that when he made those big plays early in the season, then he started to chase those big plays instead of just staying within the scheme and doing his job. And if you chase plays and get out of position, that's a quick ticket to the bench because because a good offense is going to exploit that. And I think he

learned something last season. And depending on how much the Packers use Clay Matthews an outside linebacker, you can make a case at that position, the edge rusher, elephant, whatever you want to call it, is the most deep spot they have right now. So it's gonna be something where j is going to have to obviously earn those reps and when he does get them, make the most of them because you're dealing with, you know, Matthews and Peppers and Nick Perry and all these other guys at that

position as well. Yeah, but it's I think it's a nice luxury, you might say, for Dom Caper's to have a guy like that who hasn't necessarily reached his full potential, but he already knows the system because he's been here a couple of years, and so maybe there is that greater opportunity for him to jump in and do something. Yeah, well, with that, we'll throw it to a break and we'll be back with more to talk about a couple of

other young guys on defense here on Packers Unscripted. Right after this, Welcome back to Packers Unscripted Mike Spofford alongside Wes Hodkwitz and Wes. You mentioned Ladarius Gunter in the last segment. I want to go back to the cornerback position and the top two draft picks from last season, Damarius Randall Quentin Rollins in the first and second rounds. And they were brought along very quickly by Joe Witt, but brought along quickly because they showed right away that

they belonged in the NFL. And the thing that really stood out to me the most about both Rollins and Randall is the fact that you have two guys that were pretty raw to the NFL cornerback position. You know, Rollins only played quarterback one year at Miami of Ohio, four year starter otherwise in basketball, and then you had Randall, who, in addition to playing baseball at one point in his college career, played safety the past two years at Arizona State.

How quickly both of those guys jumped in and contributed to this defense, I thought went a long way to what the Packers were able to do. Considering you lose Hermont Williams, you lose Devon House, there's a lot of questions in that secondary. In those two guys, especially Randall, being able to contribute almost from day one, I think they went a long way to what the Packers were able to accomplish. What was I think the NFL six ranked past defense, Yeah, no doubt about it. And they

both had their really big playmaking moments. Rollins was the first one. He had the pick six against St. Louis. Then Randall matched him with a pick six later in the season against Oakland. The Packers had not had a rookie return an interception for a touchdown since two thousand and two. Safety Marcus Anderson, and then suddenly they have two rookies who do it in the same season. Pretty remarkable.

Then Randall against the Chargers in Week six, breaks up the fourth down pass to save a seven point victory down there on the goal line. And and uh, what those guys did. And the fact that really you talked to Joe Wit about them, they're just scratching the surface perhaps as to what they can do and and their ability to perhaps move around play inside and outside in the defense. A lot of possibilities here. Yeah, and and wait, evens mentioned you know Randall actually talked to him last

year about wanting to play inside a little bit. I mean that traditionally has been a big playmaking position. When you look at what Charles Woodson's did their Casey Hayward in his rookie season the six interceptions, that's been a spot for young guys to make a pretty big impact right away in this defense. The thing for the Packers is they didn't have anybody established outside when they lost Williams, so Randall kind of ended up falling in that spot,

right Heyward's best position being the nickel as well. So this offseason has allowed them to sort of expand his horizons. Now we saw Rollins play both inside and outside last year. Um so working under Joe Wit and really taking in all of those positions, that's something that I think is really exciting for the secondary as far as where they

could all fall in two thousand six. Yeah, and talking to Randall and I think this goes along with that potential playmaking opportunity in the slot that you're talking about. Talking to him during the off season, he said what he wants to do in year two is get to the point where he knows the defense so well that he can start to show the quarterback one thing when he's doing another, you know, disguising what he's doing. And

that's what creates those potential opportunities for big places. And you saw last year that's what ha ha Clinton Dicks. He started moving more into that realm. And he mentioned this offseason plays where maybe you know, somebody else is supposed to blitz out of the slot. I think he said, Mike go was it against Minnesota and he ended up switching the call because Bridgewater could see that was coming.

Those are the things that when you can start to play the game within the game, can really help a cornerback or defensive back in general take their game to another level. Yeah. Now, we didn't see Rollins really during the off season through O t S and minicamp. Had a nasty little dislocated finger injury that kept him sideline, nothing that I guess has been ruled as anything serious. Well,

we expect him back for training camp. But aside from maybe that, you know, disguising and playing tricks on the quarterback, what do you see as maybe the next step for these two in their games? Yeah, it probably is going to come down to maybe the more regular playing time because you lose Casey Hayward, who actually led the secondary and snaps at the cornerbacks and snaps last season. That's defensive plays that they're gonna have to find guys for.

And more and more we're seeing defense has moved to these spread offenses. They're playing nickel and dime packages of the time. At least you need to be able to expand that. You need to have to be able to go pretty deep into that depth chart. How will Rowlins respond when he's actually a week to week contributor, You know, he even you go to the Washington game and in the playoffs, he really wasn't still uh consistent guy. I mean he there were opportunities for him, but you know

there was also Micah Hyde and and Casey Hayward. Well where did those guys fit now when you take away Heyward snaps and how will they respond to that extra playing time? I know Randall even talked about working on his conditioning to to put himself in a better spot. Yeah, and it's really interesting with these two as well. They're good friends, and not just because they were drafted one two by the Packers. They actually met at the Senior

Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. They were roommates at the Senior Bowl and Randall actually joked at the time, you know, telling Rollins, Hey, we're gonna end up on the same team, and Rollins was like, Oh, you're crazy, that will never happen. And then sure enough it happens. The Packers take them in the first and second rounds and a lot of promise, a lot to watch in the future from those two guys.

So with that, we'll throw it to a break and we'll be back with more on Packers Unscripted right after this. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. Mike Spofford alongside Wes hod Kowitz and Wes. Let's wrap up the show with a quick look back at a big moment from the Rogers to Rogers Hail Mary in Detroit. It wins the sp for Play of the Year. You and I were both in the press box at Ford Field when this happened.

So what do you remember most about that moment? Well, I remember my laptop just completely, you know, incinerated in front of me. It's on fire. We were doing a running games story that night, so I had to send as soon as the game ended, and obviously with how things turned out, there was even an overtime, it was like the game was over. I had to reconstruct my entire at least the first two words of my game story.

And I went and took a picture down at the spot that Richard Rogers caught the ball afterwards, with the photo that said, this is where my game story died. Just an iconic moment, one that I'll never forget. And I know everybody associated with the Packers. For everything to fall the way it did in the game, to end in that fashion, it's gonna be one for the history books for sure. Yeah, and I remember processing everything that had happened because you talk about deadlines and getting your

work done and getting your story written right away. As I'm flying back on the plane from Detroit late that night, I started thinking about all the things that had to happen in order for the play to even take place. I go back to when the Packers are down one, after Rogers had scrambled and scored the touchdown by the pylon there. Detroit had third and twelve on their own eighteen yard line with about three minutes left to go, and I'm thinking, Packers stop him here and make them

punt from inside the twenty. Rogers is going to drive the Packers down. Crosby's gonna kick a field goal, and the Packers are gonna and come back from this twenty to nothing deficit. Matthew Stafford threads an absolutely perfect throw against great coverage by Quentin Rollins over the It'll for a big game. That picks up a first down, and you're thinking, that's it. The game is over. Detroit's Detroit's got it now, and the Packers fortunately got the ball back.

But then even when they got it back, it takes a face mask call on a whole botched lateral goofy play for the Packers to get the untimed down for Rogers to even be able to make the throw. It's incredible. And the throw I've never seen anything like. It's sixty yards. I mean, however high it went in the air. You know, it almost took out a rafter light up there. What you would have thought. So few human beings on this

planet can throw a football like that. And afterwards, if there's any question about how much that game meant to the Packers, how important it was that turning the season, just remember all the players converging on Richard Rodgers on the field, who ended a career day eight catches, five yards. It was just one of the most joyous moments I think you're ever going to see on a football field. Yeah, that was That was really you know, as you say,

unbridled joy, just spontaneous celebration. You know, Mike McCarthy even talked about he was is wrapped up in the moment, but he's also looking around the field to make sure there are no flags down and make sure that it to make sure that it counted, you know, because because if it didn't, the Packers weren't going to get another chance with with no time on the clock, so just just a remarkable moment to remember. So that's a wrap

on today's edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to 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 watching, everybody, and we'll see you next time.