#313 Packers Unscripted: Winding down

Where do you want to start? Well, I think the biggest thing is going to be some of these guys who are going to potentially have a chance to play in this game. When you look at Trevor Davis, uh, certainly a guy that I think you his resume as a special team er speaks for itself. I think that has sort of been one of the underlying sort of things that's been talked about this week. Yes, he's missed most of if not all, of training camp here with this hamstring injury, but he's put on two years of

film now. At this point, he was third in the NFL in punt return average. So you know, you and I we both neither of us know how this whole thing is going to shake out on Saturday afternoon. But I just think when you look at Davis in particular, well, we'll see how much he does. You know, it sounded like the emphasis for him might be special teams over offense coming back from the hamstring, but uh, you know what he offers as a returner, as a gunner, and

the different things he can do with his speed. And then also, you know, a guy like Devonte Mays too, who was on the active roster last season, but you know he had a couple fumble issues there, comes back this year. It looked like with how this training camp was gonna work out, was in line to get a lot of opportunities. He ends up injuring his hamstring in the first week of camp and then he ends up spending the next three and a half, you know, injured.

So I think you look at those two young guys, you know, potentially being able to get some work in this game could be really big for them as they make that final roster push. Yeah, you never know, as you said, how it's going to shake out when it comes to the final roster decisions on Saturday. But boy, anytime you're a young player and you only get one preseason game because of injury or whatever other circumstance to

make that impression before those decisions and may that. That's a tough spot to be in, and it's a tough spot for both Davis and for me Is. I'll say this about Davis. We were reminded this week, um by the coaching staff, don't forget that Trevor Davis was also a pretty darn good gunner. I know a lot of attention went to Jeff Janis as far as that role of gunner on the punt coverage team, but Trevor Davis had four tackles uh as a as a coverage man

at gunner. So that's another element of special teams that comes into play. And then, you know, let's be honest West Throughout the preseason, there have been ball security issues on returns for the Packers, both punts and kickoffs. We've seen the ball on the ground here and there. Nobody has stepped up to, you know, really give the coaches any reason to to not give Trevor Davis this opportunity to say, Okay, the job is still yours. So let's

go out in Kansas City and earn it. And then when it comes to DeVante May's, you said it, the opportunity that was missed for him in this training camp when you look at the injury to Aaron Jones that kept him out for a while. Jamal Williams has had, you know, some nix and bruises here and there, other guys being brought in somewhat at the last minute in

training camp to play the running back position. This would have been a huge opportunity to did for DeVante May's to really put that uh um, that rookie season behind him. He had those couple of fumbles when he first got his opportunity. We know about all of that, so but that really is what he has to do now. He has to put it behind him. Whatever chance he gets in Kansas City, he's got to maximize. Yeah, absolutely, Mike, and you touched on this early in camp too, before

he had the hamstring injury. The intriguing thing about him is he does bring something else to the party. As our colleague Larry mccarren likes to say that the other running backs don't. And it's not to say they can't be power running backs, but not everybody's built like May's a you know, five little over five ten to earn thirty pounds, he's a he's a bull when he gets going. I think he said high school by the way, exactly right, and he showed that at Utah State. It's the short

time he had there when he wasn't injured. I think really showed what he could potentially do as a downhole runner. Again, he's coming off that hamstring. You and I both know the most difficult injuries, in my estimation, other than just a pain threshold to come back from our soft muscle injuries, particularly with the lower body, because it's not like a broken bone. You can't just say Okay, it's gonna heal in six weeks and it's healed. Everything is different with

those things. None of none of those injuries are the same. You don't know what the tweak was like, what the tear was like. So it's all about feel and being

on a timetable. So that's the one in particular. I don't know how much we're gonna see him against Kansas City, but if DeVante Mays does suit up and he does get some reps in that game, really important to show what he can do because we do know that Aaron Jones is gonna miss those first two games, and also you had, you know, the other two running backs there in Montgomery and Williams, but you really like to have that number three guy available, So could Davante May's solidify

himself as that. We'll see what happens. Yeah, we've got a lot more to talk about with this preseason finale, but I need to take care of some sponsor business because I neglected to do so in our last show. But here we go. Enter the Cousins Subs Best Seats in the House promotion. You and a guest could win a chance to kick back on the fifty yard line in style. Two pairs of lucky Packers fans will be chosen prior to each home game for this v I

P experience. Enter daily now through December six by completing the entry form and submitting. For complete rules and eligibility, go to Packers dot com slash Best Seats Cousin Subs. We believe in Better. Okay, we know there are a lot of roster spots here at stake in this final game West, but the other thing I'm looking at two is it's a combination of roster spot but also depth

chart position. When you're looking at where this roster, where the depth chart is going to be heading into Week one against the Bears, A couple of positions jump out to me. One is wide receiver. Obviously Trevor Day this is in that mix. But you look at wide receiver, you have Adams and Cobb and Allison. We know that's the first three, But who's number four for the game against the Bears. Jake Kumaroles had a heck of a camp, but he's injured right now. We don't know necessarily the

severity of that. How long he's going to be out. Jamon Moore had a nice game against the Raiders. Does he step up and do it again as we've talked about throughout the preseason, maybe he seizes that spot as the number four guy. Valdes Scantling, e q st Brown, those guys obviously have had their moments along the way as well. What do you think right now, any I don't want to say prediction, but any thoughts on just a worth things stand at receiver, Well, it's intriguing to me, Mike,

because of how this shapes up last week. We know that Davante Adams and Randall Cobb didn't play, so it end up being a lot of what you and I talked about going into that game. With Kumarroll also being injured, Trevor Davis not suiting up, that meant a lot of those rookie receivers. And I thought Jamon Moore was a

young man who really took advantage of that. And you know, and I was talking to him about that this week and after the game as well, and and Larry McCarn even mentioned him when we did our three Things video after the final practice on Monday. It just looks like a different guy. And it's amazing because it's only five or six days. And I think with training camp in the preseason, people tend to get so high and low

on guys, and nothing is absolute. You and I have covered this league long enough to know that nothing is absolute in terms of young football players. They're gonna have their good days, they're gonna have their bad days. I'm sure Jamon Moore doesn't want to go into an NFL training camp as a rookie and have what happened happened to him in the first two or three weeks. But if you're a coach, if you're a scout. I want to see what's happened with him. I want to see

this trajectory. I want to see this progression because he's a guy that I think over the last week and a half you've seen him get better. He didn't just have those four catches for sixty one yards or whatever it was against the Raiders. He came back and I felt had a pretty darn good practice on Monday, had press it's so much about stacking success and he mentioned

it too. I mean, he needs to get to a point where he can get the coaches and quarterbacks to truck him in for whatever he did against the Raiders, and he was happy with it for the most part. He knows he has to go and duplicate that again against Kansas City in his bid to make the roster. Well. We heard from Aaron Rodgers last week talking about a guy like Jamon Moore that sometimes all it takes for a young receiver is to make that one big play.

That play he made down the sideline in the fourth quarter where he took a pretty big wallp a hit that was penalized. Questionable call, that's a discussion for another day, but he took a pretty big hit and he hung onto that ball. Maybe that's the play. Maybe that's when you talk about him looking like a different guy. The deep ball he caught in Monday's practice inside the Don Hudson Center from Deshaun Kaiser, throw was throw, was on target, coverage wasn't bad. He he stuck his arms out there,

right in stride. He brought it in. Everything looked smooth. Nothing nothing like a bobble or like, oh that he was nervous about it or anything. Maybe the play down the sideline in Oakland was the one do you as a child, did you ever play that game with your dad or maybe a friend on the playground where it's like, as the quarterback once the receiver and he goes out for maybe five yards, you complete it, then you go out for ten yards in twenty. You keep doing, you

keep going back. Jamond Moore's game kind of reminded me of that against Oakland, where he had two pretty simple crossers across the middle. I thought that was a key building block. Then he had that one play. I don't know if it was kind of a post route. I'm trying to remember exactly off the top of my head, but it was. It was second and fifteen. It was for sixteen yards. You remember that he came across the middle.

He didn't have the thread of the safety over the top of him, but it was a bang bang play that he needs to catch and run to make it happen. He accomplished that. Then he finished it off with that really solid catch along the sidelines. Took a step on every play and you could see that confidence build. He said he just needed to get his mojo back, So

I think going into this game he's done that. I think Marquess Velde Scantling has been fairly consistent, um you know, over the stretch of this camp, and Econemius st Brown also as a slot receiver for he guy his size, I think has been really showcased his talent as well. So all three of those guys going in this game.

It's down to the wires. So I don't know how it's going to shuffle out with the receivers, but for the first time really on my time on the beat, I think it's as wide open as ever with you know, who could potentially be those number four or five, six, maybe even seven receivers on the roster and another position I'll just mention before we do a little bit more sponsored business in the same vein. In terms of the depth chart status is outside linebacker. We have Nick Perry,

Clay Matthews, and Reggie Gilbert. We know that those are the top three. Who's going to be the number four heading into the Bears game? Will Kyler Factral step up and take it? Chris Odom, Kendall, Donnerson one of those guys. We don't know how this is how this is going to shake out, but this preseason finale in Kansas City

will matter in that respect totally. And Mike Petton when he was talking to the media on Tuesday to very complimentary Vince Bagel and something, I'm sorry, yeah, no, I know what he's done in practice, and he said, you know, there's still some things they're waiting to see in games. But there was a particular blitz technique that he said everybody on the outside linebacker crew has been struggling with

and he perfected it. He did it perfectly. So we'll see if those things can transfer over now and do a game setting. Yeah, all right, Well, another round of sponsor business here us at home or here in the stands. We all know that Green Bay fans give it their all, and that takes a lot of energy. So grab a warm bowl of Campbell's Chunky Soup. It's meaty goodness fuels the greatness of Packers. Fans everywhere tried the delicious classic chicken noodle soup. Just visit your local supermarket and ask

for Campbell's Chunky Soup. Official sup partner of the Green Bay Packers. Okay, So the Packers will get back on the plane somewhere in the middle of the night after Thursday night's game, and then it's roster cut time. The deadline is three o'clock Central Time on Saturday. I believe the roster has to be cut down to fifty three. As we've talked about, I've always felt, as much as I kind of get an idea, maybe you know those last few guys who's gonna make it and who's not.

I've learned enough over the years that there's so much that goes into these decisions that they can be very difficult to predict. But let's just in a very general sense, give the fans uh some idea of what these different factors are, these different discussions that go on behind the scenes, because one of them is when you're trying to look at your fifty three plus your ten man practice squad.

It's trying to figure out, well, if we cut this guy because we want him on the practice squad, is is there enough preseason film out there that maybe another team is going to claim him that they're gonna want him because they have a need at that position. I mean, you know they're there are room the personnel rooms, there are boards with all these teams and their depth charts, and they're studying all this stuff to figure it out.

It's not a simple process. It's not at all. And have I mentioned the last five minutes how much I

like listening to Mike pett and talk. I mean, he I thought was exemplary on Tuesday because he was asked about building a roster in what you need an outside linebacker, what you need at safety or defensive back in today's NFL, and he used his experience as a head coach with Cleveland and that you know, as a defensive minded coach, he was always somewhat selfish in terms of well I want this player and that player and this guy, without thinking of the big picture, without thinking, okay, who does

wrongs need? For example, on special teams. Now, how does a guy's skill set not only apply to being a backup maybe outside boundary cornerback, but also as a gunner, or as a jammer on on a punt unit, or and the kickoff coverage. Those are all factors you have to consider during this thing. And it is the least enviable position I think for a coach to be in, because or even you know Brian goodkuns, because you have

a lot of guys. You spend four or five months getting to know these guys, getting to know their tendencies and in defined guys you really like, and sometimes it just works out that one or two of them are going to go play elsewhere. And as much as that hurts, as I wrote on Insider Inbox last week, I think you want to see that too, because, as Mike McCarthy alluded to this week, you don't want those decisions to

be easy. You don't want it to be that it's just Okay, well we got fifty three, and well nobody else wants the other ten. They'll come back on our practice squad. You want to be in a position that these guys have made it competitive. And I think in a lot of these positions mike receiver, tight end, outside back, or defensive back, cornerback. They're gonna have some really tough

calls to make. Yeah, And Brian Goodacun said the other day he believes that there are more than fifty three viable NFL players in this training camp for the Packers. I think the Packers fully expect or at least or at least would not be shocked if a couple of

the guys that they cut get claimed by other teams. Now, the flip side of that, with the Packers being seven and nine a year ago, they are a little higher in the claim order, the waiver claim order if the Packers see somebody else out there that they think would be an upgrade over what they have in house. So to speak. The Packers normally, when you're a playoff team, you know you're you're in the waiver claim order down

there at eight or thirty. If you make it to the conference championship game, as the Packers have done a couple of times this year their fourteen, and so that changes the equation as well in terms of, well, who's going to be available. We're going to have a shot at some of those players before these other teams that made the playoffs last year. So that's another um, you know, variable that that gets thrown into these discussions that they're going to have leading up to three o'clock on Saturday.

And it's the NFL's version of the Rule five draft. Is the way I've always looked at. I have to use a Major League Baseball analogy there and that, Yeah, you can claim a guy, and but if you're claiming a guy, that means he was underneath four years in the NFL and he's gonna have to learn a new defense in addition to being a young player. It's sometimes difficult to do that. But there are gems out there. I think of, you know, Jared Bush back in two

thousand and six. I think John Coon John was another one of them. Pepper was was a waiver claim ended up being a starting safety on a Super Bowl. So you never know which way that that wind is going to blow. But no matter what happens, uh, you know, I think Brian Goodkin is going through this process now is the first time being the guy doing the final check marks on all these papers. It's it's gonna be very interesting and I'm sure gonna be a tough few

days for the Packers trying to make those decisions. Yeah, and just to clarify for the fans as well, you claim a player on waivers, you are putting him on your fifty three. That's part of the rules. You don't get to claim somebody that that another team has cut and then put him on the practice squad. That player

has to clear waivers. Well, it's not really twenty four hours, I guess in this particular instance, it's less than that, but the waiver period, the player has to clear waivers and not be claimed by anybody, including your the players. You cut yourself before you can start building that ten player practice squad. So that's part of the process that will happen into Saturday evening and into Sunday as the

practice squad contracts are signed. But um one roster decision that in essence has already been made west Um at the quarterback position is the Packers traded Brett Huntley to the Seattle Seahawks, So Deshaun Kaiser is the number two quarterback on this team, I guess from a roster perspective. Now, the question is does Tim Boyle make the roster as a number three quarterback or will the Packers release him and perhaps hope he cleared that he clears waivers and

they can sign him with the practice squad. We'll see what happens there. We'll see how Boil plays in Kansas City. Um, but a move here not necessarily a surprising movie. You No, you just never know the timing of when exactly these things are going to happen. But it's a sign the Packers feel comfortable where they are with the Shaun Kaiser and the progress that he's made that he can be their number two quarterback for twenty Yeah. And I mean the thing you gotta remember with Kaiser is one, he's

twenty two years old. Um. Certainly has the pedigree. I think, going back to those comments that Mike McCarthy and Brian Goodkin's maid during the offseason program, that if he would have came out in this year's draft, he would have been right in the conversation with those other five quarterbacks that were all taken in the top ten. They feel that highly about his talent, in his ability, and I

think he's flashed that. I think you've seen him make some of those throws you want to see out of a starting quarterback in the NFL and and you can't coach his size. I think he has really good speed and athleticism for the position, and he has really good arm strength. That's a great building block in terms of developing a young quarterback. And I think it's going to be important too. It is I wrote an insider inbox

here for this upcoming edition. This gives them now an opportunity for Kaiser to get some playing time in this game against Kansas City, get one more shot at it, because you're hoping with everything works out, Aaron Rodgers will take every single snap the rest of the season, but also to get Tim Boil some reps in this game

because he didn't get in there against the Raiders. So I think there's a pretty good chance they'll be able to get some work against Kansas City and and show one, you know, one more time what he has to offer, because I think in in his own way, I think he's in press coming out of you know, Eastern Kentucky and showing his own arm strength, good size, good feel for the pocket, good moxie, and seeing if you can pick up where he left off in those two first

preseason games. All right, Well with that on our next show, We'll be talking about these roster decisions and exactly how everything fell into place, but for now we will call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. You should have follow all of our coverage of the team and the preseason finale in Kansas City 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. We'll see you next time.