#303 Packers Unscripted: It has arrived

end of last season. This is maybe for the first time a lot of people seeing us for the first time now that we're on Packers dot Com and giving a chance to provide this content a little bit faster for some people, and also being able to uh see our faith says. So for that we apologize in advance and uh so here we are. Podcast listeners. You can still obviously continue to consume the show that way, but also check us out on video if you want to

see what the studio looks like. Maybe you've never seen it before, but West Training Camp for the Green Bay Packers is upon us. First practice on Thursday at Ray Nichky Field just across the street here from Lambeau. Let's just get right into it. Offensive side of the ball. The key storylines in this training camp. What are you watching for? Well, first and foremost, Mike, I can't believe we're already at this point again, how quickly that offseason

goes by. Are are six months removed from last season. But I think the stuff on offense that I'm looking most forward to seeing is really how these young guys that are going to be given some opportunities react. Jordy Nelson is no longer here. We know the situation that's unfolding at the quarterback position with Deshaun Kaiser coming in through a trade, the three headed monster in the backfield

with Aaron Jones, Jamal Williams in Time Montgomery. But more than anything, I guess what I'm looking for is that offensive line. And last year, at this time, you look at guys like Justin McCrae, Lucas Patrick Uh To a lot of people the casual fan, they were just writing those guys off right from the beginning that they camp, body type players, and both of them end up having a pretty big impact over the course of the season.

Stepping up. Justin McCraw having one of the best seasons I think of anyone on the offensive side of the ball. Now he's gonna have a chance to compete for a starting job at right guards. So for me going in, I think I look for the next Justin mccraig, not just on the offensive line, a guy that maybe is that towards the bottom of that depth chart, but through either whether it's injuries, opportunities, what have you, having an opportunity to really show their skill set and end up

making this fifty three man roster. Yeah, the competition on the offensive side of the ball a number of positions here, not just the offensive line obviously, will find out whatever the latest update is on Brian Blogg at right tackle, will he be possibly be ready for Week one if not, Jason Spriggs, Kyle Murphy, guys like that competing to start in week one at right tackle. You mentioned Justin McCrae at right guard, Lucas Patrick, the draft pick, Cole Madison

from Washington State will be in that mix. Then you look at wide receiver when you're talking about draft picks too. We know at the top of it, Davante Adams, Randall Cobb. You've got Jimmy Graham and Marcedes Lewis as your top two tight ends free agent acquisitions in the off season, but after that, as far as catching passes from Aaron Rodgers,

it's pretty wide open, isn't it. It really is. And one of the stories, you know, once the season or once the off season programs over, you and I end up doing a number of stories, kind of saving some content, writing them throughout the end of June and into July. And one of the stories that I thought was most interesting was Jeronimo Allison. Yeah, at the receiver position. This

is a young man now with two years under his belt. Uh, you know, in the meeting rooms every time sat in front of Jordy Nelson really had that osmosis learning process, just constantly listening to what he had to say, Uh, take pointers from him. And now he's in the driver's seat. The Packers drafted three young, promising, big and quick receivers this past year, but Jeronomoy Allison is a guy that I think, when you go into this camp, is right

now slated at that number three position. And and while they have had this whole influx of receivers the last few seasons young that they've gotten through the draft. Allison's out there to prove that, you know what I can be, that guy can be counted on. He feels like he's

developed a trust and a report with Aaron Rodgers. So when again, when you line up those names on the offensive side of the ball, I think he's one of the ones that I'm most excited to watch and seeing if he can make that number, you know, the third

year jump. Now. Yeah. One of the things that really struck me about that story you wrote on Allison, I believe it were it was a couple of comments you had from Davante as showed that really showed that for a young guy whose production has been somewhat limited, he stepped up in certain situations, but he's been a rather

quiet guy his first couple of years. He's earned a certain level of respect in that receiver's room already, even though he doesn't have the hundred and fifty yard game or the or the two three touchdown game on his resume. Early in his career, he's earned a certain level of respect from guys like Adams and Cobb in that receiver room, and something like that can go a long way because

this competition is going to be rather fierce. When you're talking Jamon Moore, e q st Brown, Marquez Valdes, Scantling, the three rookie draft picks, all of these guys, they bring a lot of different skills to the table. These three guys are not three p's in a pot in

my opinion, They're very different receivers. So the way the Packers coaching staff is gonna mix and match and try to figure out matchups and who does who does what best and where they line up, it's really going to be interesting to watch, absolutely, and especially from Allison's point of view, him really trying to take that next step. We've seen receivers come in undrafted and make an impact. Jared Boykin had a good year, obviously, Brett sway the

number of years that he was here, Ruvel Martin. But the thing that I like about what Allison has done is he's kind of each year taking that step not only to special teams, but trying to make an impact on offense. The table set for him. And and this is a team that's definitely looking for that number three. And even though I would imagine, you know, Jimmy Graham of those two tight end sets will be pretty prevalent in this offense as well, and on the offensive side

of the ball. I don't want to dismiss the backup quarterback battle between Deshaun Kayser Brett Hunley. I think we're gonna be talking about that a lot as we get into the preseason games and seeing how they perform against other opponents. But I do want to shift gears to the defensive side in terms of the storylines that are developing here. If there's one maybe defensive storyline that you have your eye on the most, what is it? It's a secondary obviously, and just because of all of the

adjustments the Packers made this offset offseason. This is the biggest overhaul they've had in nine years with the secondary and it you know, they bring in Mike Petton as the defensive coordinea, but you could tell early on how important it was to both Mike McCarthy and Petton to retain Joe Witt and have him still leading that group.

Truman Williams comes back, Devon House has resigned. They draft two new cornerbacks and Jaire Alexander and Josh Jackson, and seeing how those young players and some of these returning players all match up secondary was that was that was a hard position for the Packers last year. I think everybody's agreement there. They took a lot of hits, Scott banged up, and they need to improve going into two

thousand eighteen. But there's so many guys with returning experience now, Kevin King coming back off the shoulder injury, Quinton Rollins coming back off the Achilles injury, meshing with these young players coming in that cornerback position specifically, nothing is settled there right now. You don't know who's lining up where. Into me, that's one of the more exciting things about this They have options, and there's also gonna be a

lot of competition that's going to come out of those options. Yeah, I agree with you in terms of watching how sort of the new players, so to speak, mesh with some of the veterans, and and what I mean by that when you look at how the seventeen season ended and then you look at what this defense now appears to be going into You mentioned Kevin King's back from the shoulder injury, Quentin Rollins from the Achilles injury. You drafted or In Burke's an inside linebacker, You drafted those two

cornerbacks and Alexander and Jackson. You signed Mohammed Wilkerson as free agent. On the defensive line, you're getting Montravius Adams back from essentially a red shirt year with his as a third round draft pick out of Auburn, not much of a rookie season because of injuries. Same with Vince

Bagel at outside linebacker coming out of Wisconsin. A lot of new players, young and old in a sense when you talk about Wilkerson and guys like Traumont Williams coming into the mix, new and old mixing in with the guys who were here and the guys who finished. A new coordinator, some new scheme ideas, all that kind of stuff. This is this is going to be the ongoing story really through not only the beginning of the season, but perhaps the entire the entire four months of the regular season.

And one of the reasons why I think there is a lot of hope and I've seen the insider inbox when you and I have answering questions with this defense as a whole. As zest, They've brought in some veterans, but there's familiarity there with Wilkerson and his ties to Petton in their first two seasons together, having those two seasons when Petton was the head coach of the Brown So there isn't gonna be this quantum leap that these guys are gonna have to make into his scheme. And

then you also to mention that back end. I mean you have ha ha, Clinton Dix. You know, obviously he's talked about it all offseason, looking to return to form, believes that this scheme will bring out the best in him. Josh Jones being able to focus strictly on the safety position the Packers believing that will behoove him. And then also Kentroll, Bryce comes back off of the ankling. That was the guy. When I was rattling off all those

guys coming back, I forgot about Bryce. That was another one who his name was on the tip of my tongue. But yeah, you talk about a guy who was looking like he could make an impact on this defense last year. Then he goes down with the injury. We didn't hear from him again. He's back and seems to be ready

to go. Yeah, and I thought that was so important for him to actually be able to participate in all the off season program and he got a lot of reps to uh, you know between some of the practices that Clinton Dix wasn't here for Josh Jones at times they were kind of you know, they took caution with him. He got a lot of work and you know, you talked to him during the offseason program. Mike McCarthy really praised him for for the off season he put together

coming off of injury. He's a hungry guy and a big hitter and those two things together when you look historically with the Packers secondary, that's where you've seen guys have successes undrafted free agents and and I think Bryce has all the intangibles to fit into that. Yeah, I would agree. Another topic I want to hit on here West, what do you see what's out there as a potential

surprise maybe in this training camp. Now, it's kind of a misnomer because if we're talking about potential surprises, then is it really a surprise when it happens. But just wondering what what out there to you is kind of under the radar, maybe something people aren't necessarily paying attention to, or it's not a top of mind thing, but but that maybe is a developing story here through camp. What Mike Petton's grand plan is going to be for this defense.

We've been reading Tea Leaves all off season, the transactions that they made, the emphasis on the defensive line, drafting the cornerbacks, drafting a hybrid type player like Orn Burke's to to settle into that inside backer situation with Blake Martinez and Jake Ryan. Uh. This again, as I mentioned in the intro, this is the biggest overhaul the Packers have had on defense in almost a decade. So what is Mike Petton's plan going to be for this unit?

And I think one thing that was interesting Insider in Box somebody had asked this week, what are the telltale signs of whether or not Petton's defense, when you look statistically, is going to accomplish what it wants to accomplish. And I think the thing that's unique about his scheme is he's had success in a number of ways. He's done it with a guy like Durrell Revas playing defensive player of the year type season. There's been years where the Jets didn't have a ton of sacks but still were

incredibly effective. Uh with with their overall scheme, I just think there's so many different ways he can win in seeing what his mental approach is going to be, to the pieces that he has in place in both also the incoming UH players the Packers have added this offseason. Seeing how he marries those two ideas. To me, I think whatever it ends up being is going to be

the biggest surprise. Yeah. I want to touch on one thing with regards to special teams, and that's what really is going to be a developing competition at long snapper because I think when the Packers drafted Hunter Bradley seventh round out of Mississippi State to be the long snapper, I think a lot of people just said, Okay, there's your new long snapper. They used to draft pick on the guy Zach Trainer. He's not just gonna go away here. I mean, this is going to be a legitimate competition

between Zach Tchiner and Hunter Bradley. Two guys, uh. You know, both got to the specialist route in very different ways. You had chronicled with Hunter Bradley, the multiple A c L surgeries kind of took him out of the potential of being a tight end in college, so then he relegated himself to specialists. But um, but these two guys, we saw them alternate snaps um during O t s and whatnot. So this is something that I think is

going to continue into the preseason games. But then another issue on offense that I think is worth watching is this whole chemistry issue between not only Aaron Rodgers and some of these young receivers if they make their way up the depth chart and get those opportunities for snaps with the number one quarterback, but Aaron Rodgers with Jimmy Graham, we saw a couple of years ago how quickly the chemistry developed with Jared Cook when he was brought in.

It didn't really come to fruition in the regular season because of the injuries to Cook where he had to miss a chunk of time. We even saw it last year. Frankly with Martellis Bennett. It didn't take long for Bennett and Rodgers to get on the same page. I think Bennett just dropped too many passes. He just wasn't reliable enough, and then obviously things you know, kind of went south

from there. But Aaron Rodgers, I've said it several times, he sounds so genuinely excited to me for what Jimmy Graham can bring to this offense and the fact that this guy is a part of this offense, now do you get the same sense? Absolutely? And and to me personally, I think it even goes one step deeper than that.

It isn't just Rogers. It's a guy like Randall Cobb and and guys that can play multiple positions inside outside, and what exactly the thought process is going to be there with Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers and obviously Joe Philbin coming back trying to really lay out this new offense and in how it's going to be utilized. I really think that the best friend for Cobb this season and be Graham because both of those guys can be

effective in the middle of the field. We've seen what they can do with the big plays over the years and seeing how they can kind of line up and how much fun the Packers could have with those matchups. Here's the thing about Graham and someone again getting back to inbox, somebody had asked this week to the Packers, you know, do you see him having a season like he had, you know, those thousand yard touchdown seasons with

the Saints all those years ago. It's possible you know, if a guy ends up playing the entire year and gets those snaps. We've seen the chemistry that Aaron Rodgers can develop with the tight end if he's there week in and week out. I don't think that's the prerequisite for this to be a successful signing, though. If Graham creates that matchup nightmare, if he makes defenses make a decision on how they're going to defend him, and also to that to that extreme, you know Marcedes Lewis coming

into this offense as well. All those things together, I think are ultimately what are going to help this offense get to where it needs to be, because we've seen when the tight end position makes an impact exactly the domino effect it can have for the rest of the players. Yeah, I've been in our Insider inbox column. You just have to look at the stretch run in two sixteen when Jared Cook came back, how different the offense looked and

how suddenly explosive it was. The Packers could that stretch run, you know, the run, the table, whatever you want to call it. At the end of the Packers were scoring a bunch of points. And as rough as that game against Washington was, that year. I think there was sort of this feeling that, you know what, we found something that was kind of the coming out party in a sense of what this offense was going to be down

the stretch. And I think Aaron Rodgers senses that Jimmy Graham can can be that that missing piece that uh that Jared Cook was Now granted, you still have to make up for the loss of Jordy Nelson because Jordy Nelson was a big player in absolutely and that's where it's It's on everybody. I think. You know, Randall cob reiterated again last week during one of his appearances, I mean,

it isn't one player that's going to replace Nelson. It's going to be the whole, and you know, Graham is a big part of that, but it's gonna be those young receivers as well. Yeah. Alright, well, one last topic I want to hit on West before we go here on our inaugural eighteen Packers unscripted. Okay, we're all, you know, we cross our fingers. We want guys to stay healthy. We want the Packers obviously to be ready healthy for

Week one Chicago Bears. But aside from that, what is something that you want to be able to say about this Packers team at the end of training camp. It's kind of cliche, but they're ready. Uh. You know, I think one of the things that last year, for as many things obviously has went wrong through the stretch run, by the end of the training camp, you had a pretty good idea that, hey, Justin mccraig could be a guy that you could kind of lean on here if

you need him. He played really well during the preseason. I think you saw the young running backs really step up and get a hint of what they can offer. Uh. If this team, and I don't Randall Cobbs is gonna be ready. You look at Davante Adams, Aaron Rodgers, those guys there, they are what they are and you know, and they have, you know, the season in front of them. They know what it's like. But you want to see, you know, a guy like Warren Burke's, you know, maybe

make his presence felt a little bit. You want to see some of these second year players coming back um and showing what they have to offer. I look at a guy like Vin Spiegel too, who didn't have a training camp last year, who played sparling during the season after he had to play catch up for three months. Uh, what can he do now that you give him some snaps? Can can a guy like Reggie Gilbert build on what

he did last year? So I I look at that starting lineup as the starting lineup and and you know your catalysts, and we're gonna get you where you're gonna go over the season. But do you start to see some of those young players pushing some of those starting spots. I think that's the number one thing all my eye on. Yeah, that's what I want to be able to say. Two is at that edge rusher position. I know Mike Petton

has talked about the importance of the inside rush. It's why the Packers have kind of loaded up, so to speak, on the defensive line. He's looking to generate the inside pressure. There was there weren't a whole lot of additions to the outside linebacker position. But when you talk about that group behind Clay Matthews and Nick Perry, you're talking Chris Odom, Vince Biegel, Kyler, Facral Kendall, Donnerson, the seventh round draft pick,

Reggie Gilbert. Those guys I want to be able to say at the end of training camp, that a couple of those guys have really up to the forefront and when they need to step in for Clay Matthews and Nick Perry, it's not going to be suddenly this big drop off on the defense, or that there are worries about what's going to happen at those edge positions. This is a huge opportunity at edge rusher for all of

these young guys. Somebody, and hopefully it's more than one guy, takes the bull by the horns and says I'm gonna be that next guy up behind Matthews and Perry, and then somebody else is like, I'm the next guy behind him. I want to see some separation here. I'm not saying I want, you know, certain guys to not make the team, but I want to see some separation that a couple of these young guys, you know, sort of state their case and say and say we're the ones you can

count out. And I know it's fun for a lot of fans out there to do the maddened thing and be like, Okay, sign this free agent corner bar when you should have gone after him. But I think last year with almad Brooks kind of showed you that it's not easy even for veterans to come in and make a meaningful impact, you know, midway through camp or at the end of camp. A lot of times it is building up those young guys to step into those roles. Julius Peppers was lightning in a bottle. You can't count

on that every single year. You need other guys to emerge and and I think this camp is going to go a long way and really identifying who those players could be. Yeah, well, we've got a lot to talk about over the next month. Here first practices on Thursday. But with that we will call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. You should have follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com. On Twitter, you can find him at west hod I am At, Mike Spofford at Packers of course for the

team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, We'll see you next time.