#401 Packers Unscripted: Minicamp opens, draft on deck

Don Hudson Center. A couple of practices, the first time for Matt Lafleur his coaching staff to take the players out onto the field. Some real basic installation type of things going on, particularly on offense with the brand new playbook. But I think the interesting thing that we got a sense of yesterday when Matt Lafleur spoke with the media after practice is the the tone, the vibe that he's trying to set with the two thousand nineteen Packers. Because

you know how it is West. You've been here a few years now, I've been here going on thirteen years. You walk around this building, you can't escape the history. The Packers Hall of Fame is right there on the main floor of the atrium you walk around in the team facilities, there's murals on the wall representing all these iconic moments at lambeau Field. You have all of the Hall of Famers and and the championship banners and all of that kind of stuff. So you can't escape the history.

But one thing Matt Lafleur is really trying to stress with his players and some of the changes that he made to the esthetics around the team meeting room and things like that, is there's a respect and a difference for history, but it's time to make your own history. Don't get too caught up in the past. Look forward. And I want to just recite this because as soon as the floor said it during the news and immediately is something that resonated me, like, you know what, I

think that's sort of a landmark statement he made. He said when he comes to the Green Bay Packers. Obviously you respect tradition, the history, but for us in this football team, it's about making history. Will always pick credit and respect to what's been done in the past, but

for us, it's moving forward. So I thought that was a really interesting thing, he said, because it was basically it came after a question about all the changes that have been made around maybe not the building per se, if you're a fan coming here, but around the player facilities, the different lighting, the murals, the sayings that have been put up, and really just an embodiment of what this organization is, not only historically in the past hundred seasons,

but now one on one on one and moving forward. And I think that message has really resonated with the guys. Obviously Aaron Rodgers spoke a little bit about that at his locker on Tuesday, but then even Tremon Williams mentioning just a new energy man and just just a feeling a fresh snus. I think sometimes that's what you need, especially when you come off to back to back losing

seasons like the Packers have done. You need something to give these guys a spark, not only in November, not only on September five, but right now in the heart of April as you're starting to establish your team. I don't want to say culture because that seems like it's almost become an overplayed cliche at this point, but it is about making your own mark, and I think Matt Lafleur, in his own way, first time stepping into a head

coaches chair, has really done that well. And I think he's recognizing the fact that he has an opportunity to capitalize on a significant amount of hunger in that locker room because when you look at it, West, there are only four players in that locker room. We have won a Super Bowl, Aaron Rodgers, Mason Crosby, Brian Bulaga it was his rookie year two thousand and ten, obviously, and

Tremont Williams. The rest of the locker room. And even when you're talking about accomplished veterans like Jimmy Graham and Marcedes Lewis, they haven't won Super Bowls, you know. So you have that dynamic out in in the locker room. It's been there for a couple of years. But now a new coach coming in, new coaching staff, a lot of freshness, a lot of newness to everything. Mike Petton in year two with his defense, there's a there's a mentality to capitalize on. I think that's what Matt Lafleur

is trying to accomplish. Yeah, and and the other thing he said too. Is he really he loves this these guys, he loves that locker room. He's already gotten a really good response in terms of their energy level. This is a place that is accustomed to winning, has gotten used to winning. Even the two thousand and sixteen draft class played in an NFC championship game. They know what it's like to be in the final four, they know what it's like to be in the playoffs, and they want

to get back to that level. So everybody's buying in that regard. This is the vision, this is the plan, this is what's going to take us back to that promised land. And right now, a very unique opportunity for the team this week voluntary mini camps. It seemed like, guys are here dust till dawn right now, an opportunity seems you know, we haven't had a chance to get on the practice field yet. It seems like a tending

This was really good for this week. Veterans, young players alike, and obviously trying to put that next foot forward before they jumped back into phase two of the off season program next week. Yeah. Well, another bit of news that came out of the first day of practice. Um, well, we were aware of the news that Cole Madison, the fifth round draft pick offensive lineman from Washington State, was

back with the team. He showed up for the first day of offseason workouts a couple of weeks ago after taking essentially taking the year off last year, and he spoke to the media for the first time. And you wrote a really nice story on our website. Certainly folks can check that out. I think the uh the primary message that Madison was trying to get across or maybe

two things. One, he had some personal mental health type issues that he needed to take care of and to he really appreciated the Packers giving them time and the space to do that, and now he's going to come back and try to get his NFL career started. Yeah, And you know, it's funny because sometimes I think we get into such regimented schedule right where whether it's your work life, your personal life, school, whatever you're going through,

you just almost get programmed. Right. You wake up in the morning, you got to get the kids to school, you're in here, and you're off with your day. But I thought it was really important one thing Cole Madison really said and that football really didn't matter if he couldn't get his personal life squared away. And obviously there was that quote saying that, you know, if he didn't get all of his you know, chickens in a row, you know, he doesn't know if he'd even be here, right.

I mean, it's just it's that kind of thing, and it's something a lot of people deal with, and there obviously is a negative stigma attached to mental health. It's something I think people are still fighting in two thousand nineteen against. But as he said, you know, for a big, strong guy six ft five pounds like him, it needed to be him going out and getting help, talking with a counselor being able to express some of these things. He mentioned his family was an absolute bedrock for him.

Obviously a lot of things have happened in the last couple of years. Washington State quarterback Tyler Helenski, a guy that was very close with him, he obviously, um you know, committed suicide in January of two thousand and eighteen. Madison said that wasn't actually the thing that sort of led to all this. He said he'd been dealing with this for for a long time before that. But the thing he learned the most from that is that those two

were as close as friends could be. Yeah, Helensky didn't know what Madison was dealing with, and Madison didn't know what his friend was dealing with. So to have that kind of open dialogue and discourse. The organization stood by him a hundred and ten percent. They understood there's something bigger at play here than this game, this profession, and he needed to take that year to do that. He also mentioned it was about the end of last year he started to get that itch again to play football.

He felt he was in a much better place mentally, and as he said, the Packers had his back during that time and now he wants to have theirs. Yeah, and I give him a lot of credit for, you know, walking in first day of practice so to speak. The first day the media is in the locker room and and he walked out kind of dealt with the hoard.

Everybody has these questions they want to ask, they want to try to understand what was going on, and uh, um, you know, he's he's very sharp, he's very well spoken, and uh you know, bottom line is he looks like he's in a good place and regardless of what happens with football, I mean taking a year off and everything. I mean, who knows what that's gonna mean in the

long run here first football career. But but the most important thing is Cole Madison looks like he's back to being the Cole Madison that that we first met when when he was drafted and came in for the rookie minicamp last year. And uh and that's a great thing to see. He mentioned too. I mean, it was the first time recently, it's been the first time a long time. He wakes up, he feels like himself again. He doesn't have those negative dark thoughts kind of creeping up in

his mind. He's able to you know, sort of see the great things in life and in football is something that always really mattered to him. He didn't watch it last year. He basically toned, you know, tuned out from it. But he still loved the sport and he came back in great physical condition. He mentioned, you know, he thinks is obviously there's he has to get back in football shape and get you know, get some you know, contact, But his conditioning is fine. He feels like he's basically

in the same ballpark as far as his weight is concerned. Um, the only thing that looks different is the long hairs go. And as Aaron Rodgers said, that actually was something that he caught him off guard at first. He didn't quite recognize him because you go back and look at the photos from last year when he was here for the offseason program, long, very distinctive. Look. For sure, he's got the slick back sort of deal going on. Um. But

but be that as it made that. The thing I really do like about Madison is once he made the decision last year that he wasn't going to come back for training camp, I don't see at all from the Packers perspective, from his perspective, the need to push it to come back. You know how difficult that can be if you miss camp for injury or whatever reason. Trying, especially as a rookie to jump back in the fray.

It's not easy. And who knows if he would have done that where his own mindset was at for him to be able to sort of just reset come back. And now from the Packers perspective, they got end draft picks, and now they got a fifth rounder from last year coming in. It almost is like having an extra pick in there and some more competition. For that outside or

you should say that offensive line room. He mentioned he played bolths center and I think it was guard actually in practice on Tuesday, kind of stretching his versatility a little bit there too, after he started for a better part of three years, I think at right tackle UM and at Washington State. Yeah, well we'll see how We'll see how things unfold from here. You mentioned obviously the draft is coming up. I do want to get to

a few more thoughts on that. But the powerful noise canceling technology that helps NFL coaches block out eighty thou screaming fans can get you closer to the music you love. Learn more at www dot bows dot com, slash Packers Bows the official headphones of the Green Bay Packers, and at Homer 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 to try 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, West Draft Day is almost upon us. The Packers have two picks in the first round on Thursday as it stands right now, number twelve and number thirty. I'm gonna throw some questions at you, will both sort of throw out our own thoughts on this. First off, Brian Goudacuin is

going into this draft with ten picks. How many players do you think he's coming out with. I'm gonna go with nine. Okay, I'm gonna go with ten, But I think it's because he's gonna make a couple of trades, one up and one back, and he's still gonna end up with with ten guys. But I definitely don't see him sitting and just picking all ten in those spots. My dark horse prediction four picks in the first is that what we have four in the first One of

those picks, somewhere along the line they move up. I don't know if could be the first round, second to the third round pick, but I think they do some flexibility there to go get a player. Okay, number twelve is the first one um theoretically where the Packers will

be on the clock. What do you do you have any anybody in mind in particular that you think there's a good chance will be there and a good chance that Brian Gudacunst will take this player, or what are your thoughts just in general right now on the number twelve pick. It's a great question because I'm sure you'll probably ask you about the thirty pick two. I think the options, I mean, I guess it's somewhat it's it's a no brainer, but the options are going to be

better at twelve than thirty. I think thirty it's to me really really cluttered in terms of who falls to that spot. But at twelve, I mean, I think it's really gonna depend on three frack factors. Is there a run on quarterbacks? Does somebody after Kyler Murray comes off the board wherever that is, Is there people that want to go up and get Dwayne Haskins and get Drew Locker? Do those guys fault? That's question number one? Question number two is how high the skill position players go? T

J Hockinson, where does he go? Um? You know, is there someone else that makes a run on maybe a DK Metcalf or something after we heard, you know, maybe late first round for him. We know how quickly that can change. In the question. It's the biggest one, and we addressed it on our previous show, Montes Sweat. Does he where does he fall? Even a guy now like Rashan Gary out of Michigan with I believe the shoulder issue that he's dealing with, Now, how do people weigh

that out? In my opinion, I think offensive line is probably gonna have the most options there for the Packers. I think there could be a couple of solid defensive line prospects. The rest of them are all basically single positions, right, I mean I don't I can't imagine Devin White's gonna be there, So is Devin Bush there? Um, you know you look at who else? I want to talk Brian Burns with him being at fourteen on a lot of people's boards, probably in that range. Uh, Cleland Ferrell just uh.

I think the bulk of the positions are offensive defensive line. But you would imagine that one of those top players at those other positions will be available too. But who that is I think we're gonna find out on Thursday night. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna go out on a little bit of a limb here because you know me, I'm not big into predictions, but the fans always want to know what do we think? What are we predicting? All right?

So I'm gonna go back my initial thoughts, the first thought, and I said this to you the day that we got all that news of all the free agents that

Brian Goodacunt signed at the start of free agency. My mind in the draft, immediately after signing two outside linebackers for the defense and a starting safety, my might immediately went to Devon White l s U. Now, I don't think he's going to be there at twelve either, and I don't really think that Goodakoots is going to trade up from twelve and spend the draft capital that it would take to move up from there. That's just my

gut feelings. So what I'm gonna say is maybe the guy is Devon Bush at twelve, the other Devon the other inside linebacker before. According to all the experts, there is a huge drop off in terms of the inside linebacker talent. The two Devons are the guys that are

being talked about his first rounders. So I think I just have a gut feeling that's a strong possibility The other thing that I that I really do think is also a strong possibility anybody in that defensive front seven who is there, and as I said the other day

on the show, offensive line as well. And if if say a Jonah Williams from Alabama who is projected as a guy who could play guard or tackle in the NFL, chance to get him in the top half of the first round if he's there, Um, I think that's another strong possibility, just because it's the type of versatile, projected, versatile lineman that the Packers like to have and like

to be able to figure out along the way. Absolutely, And I think whoever ends up getting Williams is getting a really fine football player that you know is going to be able to come along and probably fill a spot when one of you know becomes available, and maybe fill it for the next ten years after that. Just for the sake of you know, being able to make a pick. I'll go with Andre dillard Um out of Washington,

former teammate of Cole Madison with the Cougars. I really like him now he doesn't have as much versatility, at least projected. He seems more like a tackle bill. But I still think you know the packers have some options inside. I think one of the big issues from the last couple of years is how they're going to handle the tackle spot if somebody goes down. Justin mccraiye has done

an amazing job of being able to fill that. But as everybody is sort of talking about for the better part of two years, mccraize is not a prototypical tackle. So I think you get another guy in the developmental system. If Dillard's there, I think he could be really good pick for them. Yeah, alrighty. Then the other thing will close the show on this. At the end of the first round, at number thirty, you said you thought one of the first four picks was a spot that Brian

Goodacoonts might trade up. Um, if I were to if I were to pick, if I were to pick one of those four, that I think is the most likely possibility of a trade up. For some reason, I'm thinking it's thirty where there's there might be somebody sitting there at six and not talking about a huge jump up, but somebody who's sitting there in the mid twenties that goodacun says, I really want that guy, and he's just not gonna last to number thirty if I sit here, so I just and I don't know necess early who

that player is going to be. It would be hard for me to necessarily project that. But um, I think if if one of those four picks, first four picks, like you said, is the is the trade up spot, I think number thirty might be the one that gets that where the trade up happen. I gonna give you four names as far as thirty could be concerned. The first one that jumps out to me is Jeffrey Simmons out of Mississippi State. This is a guy, definitely a guy to keep an eye on. Came out as a

true junior. Uh. He could have easily been a top ten pick if he didn't tear his A c L before the combine, maybe even top five. Said, he's probably not gonna play this year. Packers are pretty deep on the defensive line yet, so you could actually weather not having him this season. But his upside man six four, three oh one, This is a guy that I think could be a really big disruptive force inside. Kenny Clark is going to be a staple in this defense for

years to come. Brian Goodkin said, it's only a matter of time before they pick up his fifth year option. You would imagine this next year is going to be dedicated to trying to extend Clark, who's only twenty three years old and accomplished so much that he already has in this league. Simmons could be a guy that you could really pair with him at that spot. Dalton Reisener, if the Packers don't go offensive line, well, even if

they who knows what they want to do. But Dalton Reisener, and I'll say this again too, I said to you at the Combine. I think I've said it on this show. Dalton Reisener being part of his press conference at the Combine in Indianapolis. There's just something about his demeanor, the way he talks, the way he carries himself that just

speaks Green Bay Packers offensive lineman. To me, I have to think that that he's a good possibility somewhere here in the within the first couple of rounds of the draft. But you never know how it's gonna fall. Don't He kind of remind you of a T. J. Lang type too. I mean he comes from a bigger program than you did, but a bigger taller guy, but probably could play inside if they need him to. It seems like he'd be a good fit for the system that they want to run.

That that there's definitely reminders of a guy like t J when you when you get to know Riisener the other two I want to touch a really quick Marquis Brown is more of a slot type receiver out of Oklahoma, very dynamic, only five nine, So I don't know what we would find, maybe something out about how Brian Goodkins feels about guys that are that small, but but a really dynamic football player I think is going to help

a team at the next level. And then finally, just to close on Nasir Adderly, I did a pick in Jacksonville yesterday for some station in Jacksonville, and ader was actually the one draft draft. Adderly was actually the one I picked at thirty because it was just a ridiculous board before that, like people got overdrafted, there were quarterbacks falling.

It didn't really make any sense. But Adderly, we've talked about him ad nauseum at this point, but a very big playmaker could help them settle down the safety spot. The Packers at this point in time, with the way that Mike Patton wants to use safeties, you probably need to be three or four deep. They're adding another guy like Adderley I think could really help them, and I don't know if he'd be available at forty four, so

it could also be an option at thirty. Alright, well, with that, we will sign off on this edition of Packers Unscripted because we've got three really busy days of work ahead of us. But it is the highlight of the offseason the upcoming NFL Draft, and will go from there. Be sure to like us on iTunes, subscribe to the podcast if you get a chance, and also you can follow him on Twitter at west Hot I am at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thank you

for tuning in everybody. We will see you next time.