#404 Packers Unscripted: Rookie recap

We're all there. We only got to watch about a half hours worth of practice, so there wasn't a whole lot we could glean from there, but we did get to interview players in the locker room after practice. Just curious what you're first impressions were of the Packers twenty nineteen rookie class. Well, this is I always enjoy Rookie Camp because the locker room session, especially this year where there was only one open locker room for the camp.

It always tests our teamwork, probably more so than any other event that we covered throughout the course of the year. It's spafored, it's hot Kowitz, It's the one to punch you're over there, I'm over here. So we basically it's divide and conquered the eight different draft picks the Packers had. So I was over at ra Shawn Gary. You went over to Darnell Savage, and then we just kind of,

you know, pieced it out that way. Being at Gary and listening to him talk for the first time addressing the media in person, it was really impressed with the young man. This is a guy that certainly has all the measurables, has all the skills, has all the times in what you look for out of the top fifteen pick. But it was also really interesting and captivating listen to him talk about his journey and what it meant for him to make it to this level. I know there

are some questions out there. You and I have received those an inbox, and we've seen them on social media, people wondering about his stats and his sacks and his production at Michigan. But somebody else brought it up in the column this week, and I thought it was really astute observation. I mean, this is a very similar situation to what Ted Thompson encountered with Clay Matthews in sum reguard.

Now Gary was a higher touted prospect than Matthews was when he went to USC was just a walk on, but a lot of it was based on projection of them going in the first round. For me, Michael, I would rather I said this a hundred times already. I would rather play or have nine and a half sacks and three years in college and have the type of measurables and times that Gary had over a guy that had thirty but didn't test as well. What you did in college is great, it's gonna set you up for

what you do in the NFL. But ultimately it's about what you can be as a player. How big are your pause, what can you offer a team in the long run. And I think Gary is one of those players that really is enticing when you look at the total package. Yeah, and Gary is the type of player when you talk about the stats from college and all of at this is where the scouts earn their money. This is why they get paid what they get paid, because, yeah,

a lot of people they love the stats. You all the college clips around YouTube these days, you can go out there and find the highlights of any draft prospect, almost any player in college out there. But the scouts know the guy across from who he beats to get that sack. Now, you know, is that really going to be worth it in the NFL? Is that guy going to the NFL as well? Or is that guy the backup right tackle because somebody was injured and he just

got smoked by an NFL prospect. Now those are extreme examples, so to speak, you know, But that's why the scouts look at everything. They parse. They parse over every ounce of the film, so to speak, every frame of the film to get the complete picture of the player and make that projection as to what they will be in the NFL. And and yeah, multiple readers have pointed it out. Clay Matthews is a great example. Five and a half

sacks in college. By the end of his rookie year in the NFL he had more than that, I think, if I'm not mistaken, And obviously went on too multiple double digit sacks seasons and Pro Bowls and everything else. So it's why the scouts do what they do. It's why they're charged with the duties that they're charged with. It's too uh, it's to make those decisions. Now, of course, not all of them work out, but but Rashaan. Gary is a guy that the Packers did their homework on them,

and they really believe in them. I'm glad you brought up the highlight thing because the truth of the matter is is I could take you right now down to the Rainichky Field and I could bring a Super eight camera and I could create a highlight tape of Mike spot For running around the field and you know, throwing footballs and catching footballs and everything. It still wouldn't look very good. If you edited up enough, though, if we get mad Arvan on that, it might not look too bad.

But the reality is is what you see beyond the film, what you see beyond the highlights, and that's where Gary what's what made him a first round draft pick. So and then it was at that, Yeah, it was great to hear him talk about his decision process too. He understands what he was doing when he took number fifty two. He understands the expectations that go along with having that number a year after Clay Matthews slaves, but he wanted it. He even throughout the little bit of an anecdote that

five minus two is three. That was his number at Michigan. But he's not shying away from that. Overall, we only had about seven eight minutes with the young man, but I was impressed with my first interaction with him. Yeah, and I would say in general, the draft picks that that that I was involved in, you know, the group interviews, as we've talked about, just a really well spoken bunch.

You know, whether it was Darnell Savage talking about you know another guy who wore a single digit number in college, he did that, taking up the number of Will Likely, who was a fellow defensive back at his kind of took him under his wing when he first got to Maryland, and then when Likely tore in a c L his senior year and then was moving on, um, Savage took his number four. Now he's back to wearing number twenty six,

which is what he wore his first couple, Gonna wear four. Yeah, Well, I I kind of dropped the hint to him that, you know, he said, well, yeah, defensive backs can't wear four or in the NFL. I said, well, no one can wear number four. Years. I'm not quite sure if he totally heard me when I said that, but anyway, but even talking to j Sternberger, another really well spoken guy, very self aware in terms of his journey going from he made a tremendous transition from junior college to the SEC.

But he also comes across to me as somebody who's not taking anything for granted in terms of just because I did that, that I'm just gonna walk onto an NFL field and own the place, you know, And the self awareness there I think was encouraging. And then talking to the Packers final draft pick, Ty Summers, the linebacker out of TCU. This is a former quarterback in high school. When he talks about football, he talks like a quarterback. He just you know, he's got that He's got that

broad understanding of everything going on. And it was interesting getting his perspective about how having played quarterback really helped him when he made the transition to linebacker and Gary Patterson's defense at TCU. So we've got a bunch of stories going up on the website based on these interviews. You posted one on Rashawn Gary on Monday. There's a Darnell Savage one for me on Tuesday. Sternberger will be Wednesday. We'll hit some of the other draft picks next week

as well. So for all the fans out there keep an eye out. But um, anything else in terms of just your first impression of this group that stood out to you. I also want to just touch on Kadar Holman, who was the sixth round pick that the Packers took

out of Toledo. Toledo. It was really we had heard the stories during his conference call about the odd jobs he worked when he was trying to get you know, basically eligible to be, you know, go to college academically, his S A T scores aren't what they needed to be. He goes to a prep school for a year or you know, a semester. He's hoping that that might be his avenue, his conduit to being able to go and you know, get into college. It actually doesn't work out

that way. Uh scores still weren't what they needed to be. So he took that next semester as all of his friends are going off to college and he had to work common jobs and you know, he mentioned there was one that he worked, you know, unloading trucks around the tri state area. And the way that job worked was you couldn't actually just go home at the end of the night. They put you up in hotels You're doing these road trips and you just got to keep going

and going and going. So it wasn't like a nine to five, you know, you go, you punch he was tying. He only did that for two weeks. Uh, And you know, he also worked a couple other odd jobs, worked at a bread factory at one point. And what he did during that time was it wasn't that he really ever needed to kick in the pants per se. He always was striving to get to college. He wanted to play Division one football, but he just had to overcome some

hurdles academically to do that. But he would look around these places and he'd see people that were in their forties and fifties and say to himself, you know, I don't want to do this for the rest of my life. I want to be able to go get the education that my mother was wanting me to, you know, pursue I want to be able to show that I can play at that level. And then he ends up at Toledo. He starts as a walk on the yearns a scholarship.

You know, you don't hear there's been some options in recent years, but you don't hear a whole lot of you know, major NFL prospects coming out of the MAC and you know, he made it a big point that he wanted to do that. He runs a four three six. He knows his ticket to this team. He's probably going to be on special teams. He wants to show what he can do in that capacity. But the road that he traveled to get to this point is something that

I think ultimately makes him appreciative of this opportunity. But it's something he said to that also makes him a better football player too, because he's seen the other side of this thing. Yeah. The the the competitive drive of these guys, a lot of these guys just to get

to this point. It's why you know, you and I have been around this long enough and there you know, we'll have discussions in O t A s when they start later this month and we start to see these guys out on the field and even early in training camp. Nobody's story is written by one great practice or one

bad practice or anything like that. I mean, the the competitive drive of these guys once they really kind of get settled in to the NFL and kind of figure out what it takes, that's when you really decide, Okay, is this guy to make it in the NFL or not, and that that moment doesn't happen at the same time for all for all these guys, it happens at different times. Absolutely.

And the other thing I want to touch on quickly before I know, You've gotta take care of some sponsorship business here on Packers Unscripted, Jay Sternberger, you mentioned the self awareness that he showed. The thing that impresses me too, is he understands the plight of a lot of tight ends coming in the league. He knows it's difficult for a rookie to come in and just set everything ablaze.

But he has two good veterans to learn from, and Jimmy Graham and Mercedes Lewis, he's gonna take advantage of that. I just I really like his temperament. He understands he's not a he's not a finished product. It's really only been playing major college football for one season in terms of, you know, being out there extensively. And I said it before the draft, Michael, you want to get a tight end prospect in the pipeline because the thing is, if you keep kicking the can down the road, you're still

gonna need to develop that guy. He's still gonna need a season or two to go. If j Sternberger can come in and make a day one impact, fantastic. Nobody's going to complain about that. But if it does take some time, you want to be able to have patients with them, and the Packers have two veterans on this roster along with Robert Tonyan that can allow him to

do that. Yeah, no question about it. All right, Well, that sponsored business you mentioned West, the Green Bay Packers get ready for game day with the powerful noise canceling technology of Bo's Quiet Comfort thirty five headphones. To learn more at www dot bos dot com. Slash Packers Bows the official headphones of the Green Bay Packers, and 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. 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, aside from the draft picks. The Packers did announce eleven undrafted free agent signings last week, and then now that has increased too, is it it would technically be twelve twelve What they did is I mean, it depends on how

you look. And they added a receiver I'm trying to remember his name off the top of my head, Darius Shepherd Shepherd, North Dakota State. I guess technically, um, maybe Curtis Bolton falls into that too, although Bolton I think was in the camp. They added another guy from Philadelphia that was in the league last year, but yeah, not a rookie. Yeah, as it stands, the guy's coming into this thing. I believe the number is twelve. Okay, undrafted

undrafted rookies who have now joined the Fray. One of those Shepherd you mentioned was here on a tryout basis, was the was one of the tryout players who did end up getting a contract. At the end of things, you and I got an opportunity on the day that the rookies arrived, before they had their first meetings and first practices and all that, to talk to a couple of these undrafted rookies. You took the time to chat

with Manny Wilkins, the quarterback from Arizona State. Interesting story with this kid, because boy, you look at the stats, a three year starter in the Pack twelve, and uh suffered a knee injury. Unfortunately was was it his last game, the Bolts last throw in the bowl game, and that may have been the reason that he wasn't drafted. This is a quarterback who probably is going to get drafted if he finishes his college career completely healthy. Yeah, he

he has self awareness as well. We were talking about that. He understood it was gonna be an uphill battle for him to get drafted in the first place. But once he tore his m c L on literally the last throw of that game and of his college career one thousand of them, that was it. So then he ends up tearing his m c L. He actually requires surgery. Sometimes you can get away with not having it. He needed it, and then he ended up getting cleared. I think it was two days before the a s U

Pro day. And that's a much longer recovery if you have surgery on the n c L as opposed to if it doesn't require if you're going invasive, and and he ends up still running. I think it was somewhere

in the four sevens. He runs a forty. A very interesting prospect and one of the reasons why I picked him as sort of the uf A to zone zone in on was you know, I know a lot of people out in Arizona that have covered him, have been associated with that football program, and just they just say wonderful things about this guy at natural born leader, a guy that really was sort of the glue that held that team together during that transition to her Edwards and

just the guy that steps out front of everything. Has an interesting backstory. You know, he lost his father when he was ten years old, um and and he ended up, you know, kind of getting raised by a combination of his mother and his aunt and uncle. He ends up becoming a four star recruit out of California and then you know, blossoms into this really solid starter for them for three seasons. He has a real tall build, you know,

he's six three, but somewhat slender for the position. He only goes about two hundred, but a lot of athleticism and a live arm. So the Packers have had success the last few years with undrafted quarterbacks and and Wilkins was fully aware of that when he decided to sign on here and try to, you know, take his shot

now and make in the NFL. Yeah, and we'll see what happens as things proceed through O, T, A S and toward training camp, because as we all know, when you have four quarterbacks in Matt Fleur even mentioned this, when you have four quarterbacks X, it is difficult to get those third and fourth guys the reps that you need.

And and let's face that the Packers are moving forward here with what I think is going to be a legitimate battle for the number two job between Deshaun Kaiser and Tim Boyle with everything that they learned last year and and moving forward there that the number two job is is not settled. So you definitely want to get both of those guys the reps that they need to see who should be the top back up to h

too Rogers. But but yeah, the athletic ability and the arm strength looking at him for just the half hour we were out there on the field, that's what really stood out to me about Wilkins. Yeah, and it was interesting too. I mean you obviously talked to Eaton from Iowa State, like seeing these guys in that rookie camp. Again you mentioned we only had half an hour, but it's always interesting when you kind of see these quarterbacks arms for the first time, when you see how these

receivers run roads and starting to build that chemistry. So yeah, as far as this process, it's so interesting because you have two days to catch up to everything and then you're gone for a week, and then you're back and now you're in there with Aaron Rodgers and you know Davante Adams. It's it's quite a whirlwind. Yeah. And my my undrafted player interview, as you said, was with Matthew Eaton, a wide receiver from Iowa State, and I chose him

for a couple of different reasons. One, it was a position the Packers did not add a draft pick at wide receiver, obviously the three draft picks from a year ago all heading into their second year here, but a position that a new draft pick was not added. But also a guy who now is coming to Green Bay where he's going to be competing with a former teammate of his and Alan Lazard, who was a late season

pick up by the Packers last year. He had started his rookie year on Jacksonville's practice squad had gone undrafted out of Iowa State now is in the Green Bay locker room. Turns out he was the guy who kind of took eating under his wing in Ames, Iowa when Eaton showed up from junior college. He had gone from originally playing at Temple to then junior college and then

getting an opportunity at Iowa State. He said that the the coaching staff at Toledo is the staff that kind of moved to Iowa State, and they had had their eyes on him when he was at Temple and left to go to junior college. And so then after he got his time in at junior college, that coaching staff then from Toledo was in Ames, Iowa with the Cyclones and they brought him up there and got him into

the program. Now this is a guy he's kind of been, you know, a number two, number three receiver on a pretty explosive offense because you had Lazard a couple of years ago, you had Hakim Butler as a wide receiver who was drafted this past month, and then David Montgomery has been the stud running back in that offense. And he was drafted high in the third round by the

Chicago Bears who traded up to get him. So he just wonder if he's one of these under the radar guys who and he takes nothing away from the teammates that he played with, and he certainly has a great relationship with lazard Um. He said, Hey, you know, the ball should have gone to those guys, like, I'm not

going to take anything away from them. But when a guy puts up some pretty decent numbers in an offense where the ball more often is going to other people, you just wonder if maybe the potential has not been

maximized yet. I guess that's what I'm trying to say. Yeah, and that's ultimately that That was my number one takeaway when I was reading your story about him, is that if you're looking undrafted free agents, these are the type of guys you look for, the guys that you know, maybe they just didn't quite show everything that they had

or they didn't have an opportunity to That's right. I've drawn the comparison a couple of times, and it's it's a high comparison considering the success he's had in the league so far. But I thought I see a lot of Geronimo Allison and Eaton when you look at it, absolutely, to me, he looks he I mean, he's six four two ten. He looks exactly like Allison looked when he showed up as an undrafted rookie from Illinois a few years ago. The similarities in terms of just the physical

body type and the way they move and everything. Definitely very similar in terms of that the first arrival, first impression, absolutely and the fact that you know they also went that Juco wrote before they finally ended, you know, settling on their feet and making an impact. So yeah, it's just it's gonna be a wide open race. I think that the receiver competition right now with Randall Cob moving on, you have Allison back from the core injury, you have

the three young receivers. I think. You know, sometimes people forget about Trevor Davis is still in that mix as well, along with Lazard and all these other guys. It's gonna be a great competition to see how all these guys fit. J. Kumarro in that mix too, of course, right absolutely, and Eaton understands the opportunities that's ahead of him. Yeah, no doubt about it. Um One other guy I wanted to ask you about because I'm still not sure how to say his name, So I'm gonna lay it on you,

but I'm gonna guess you're going with Yash Nichman. Yeah, that guy, big dude, huge, mean, well tell I mean, I know another undrafted guy. Now, not one that we had an opportunity to talk to necessarily, but u um, but man, you certainly notice him when when you're there, just even for a few minutes at practice, a few minutes of practice. You when I were standing in the locker room waiting to talk to these guys, and you

see him walk through it. That's the guy you went off the bus when you get ready for the preseason game. I mean, uh, Nitchman is a is a big dude now a three year starter at vo Tech you were talking about, You know, you look at some of these guys like Wilkins being a three year starter in the PAC twelve. Nichman has a lot of experience in the A c C taking on some high caliber talent. Played tackle left side for two years, played the right side

last year. The big thing for those big guys, once you get above that six five range, you have to be really on top of your pad level, but in terms of just massive human being and a guy that if if you can share up some of the fundamentals, just a world, you know, a ton of talent in his body, and I think the packers looking at him as one of these many guys in this class that you know could potentially be one of those hidden gems and in diamonds in the rough when you're looking in

September and two or three, these guys end up making the roster every year. Yeah, and when that's what I was gonna say to when you you look at the history. Now, obviously you're gonna carry usually nine or ten, sometimes even eleven offensive lineman on your fifty three man rosters, so there is opportunity there for undrafted players to make an impression and to stick. And you're also usually going to have one or two of your practice squad spots are

occupied by offensive linemen as well. So, uh, just first impression, the sheer size of him, and as you said, then the experience coming from a major college conference like the A c C playing at Virginia Tech definitely got to keep an eye on. Yeah, he's one of those guys that I think you know, the spotlight and the stadium is not going to be too big for him. He's gonna understand where he is and now has to show that teams may have passed up on him in the draft,

but you know there's still a lot of ability there. Yeah. Alright, Well, with that, we will call it a wrap on this

edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com and subscribe to our podcast if you prefer to listen to us rather than watch us, which I guess I wouldn't blame you for that, but anyway, um iTunes and other podcast services, subscribe us, subscribe to us, like us all that good stuff On Twitter, follow him 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.