#412 Packers Unscripted: OTAs — Week 3

Matt Lafleur. Apparently a basketball mishap of swords resulted in a blown achilles tendon and the new head coach had surgery on Sunday. And I guess we'll see this means he's going to be cruising around on a golf card on the practice field to see his players and communicate. I don't know, We'll have to see how this unfolds. But um, but the new head coach got a bit by the injury bug this spring. So I obviously was not a collegiate or professional athlete at any point in

my lifetime. I did play in the city league here in Green Bay for basketball for three years though, And I'll be honest with you, Michael, every single time I walked into that gymnasium, whether it was Green Bay Southwest or Franklin Middle School, I always thought to myself, I just want to walk out with all my tendons and tact, all my legaments intact. I succeeded at that, but unfortunately for Matt Lafloor, not so lucky. A knockout game. I don't even know if I ever played knockout. I wasn't

quick enough to play it. Uh, And that that certainly did it. Walking around with a boot throw out throughout the opening pitch at the Soft Charity softball game on Saturday, A real trooper pushing through that. And now for the time being, now post stop surgery is gonna, you know, be a little encumber here for the next couple of weeks and months. Yeah, I guess we'll see, Uh, we'll

see what happens. But a coach who likes to be obviously highly involved in practice A kind of feel like he's almost that the doctors are going to have to have to chain him down like an animal or something, because he's gonna want to do more than he's really allowed to do. And you know he'll be post surgery this week. He needs to let the thing hell and and get himself better. But you know he's going to be eager and want to be up and running around.

So I'm in a much better mood today. At the end of last week, I was really stewing because I was getting these questions and inbox like does this mean the practices are gonna go longer? Yeah? Is this gonna How is this gonna affect the preparation of the football team? And I was getting so annoyed. He might have sensed it in Saturday's inbox where it was just like, you gotta be kidding me. They've been playing this game for a century now. Not every coach has to throw to

the quarterback. They've got plus assistant coaches on the staff. These things can be handled well. And the other thing I wrote an inbox too, I can guarantee you I'm not going to name names. There has been much more important health issues that have happened with the Packers coaching staff over the last ten years. Then a ruptured achilles tended it never bubbled to the surface. So for Matt Lafleur.

It's gonna be a little bit more challenging. It's gonna it's gonna make him have to alter his coaching style a little bit. But I have pretty good confidence he's still gonna be able to lead practices without having to throw a football. Yeah, I think he'll be okay in that respect. Turning our attention to the players and the guys in the locker room. Um story that I posted late last week on the website, just taking a real overview, bird's eye view, so to speak, of this revamped outside

linebacker corps for the Green Bay Packers. A few of them talked last week after the open practice, and it's interesting less I'm trying try to paint a picture here for the fans, those who know something about the Packers locker room. It's in the shape of a football, and so if you picture it, at one end of what would be sort of like one of the semi pointed ends of the football is where the majority of the

outside linebackers are. And it just so happens that the top four outside linebackers right now on this team have their lockers all right next to each other. So you look up at the name plates and it goes Smith, Gary, Smith and fact Girl like right in a row. It's kind of interesting, kind of cool the way it worked out.

But but the other thing I want to point out with regards to this is that it's not an accident that Rashan Gary, the first round draft pick at number twelve overall, that they placed his locker right in between Preston Smith and Zadarius Smith, the two guys who are now, yes they're new to Green Bay, but they are the veterans at the position there in their fifth year in the NFL. They have the most accomplished resumes in this league.

Kyler Facl right behind them. So the rookie is right in between those two guys, and boy, if he's got any questions, he's got plenty of ears that are willing to listen and take in what he has to say. And each of these guys are going to be their

own football players. I don't want to paint it as you know, Rashan Gary is going to be a prototype of Zadarius or anything like that, But I just think about the amount of knowledge in the backs, the background that you know, Smith has in this offense now, in what he's going to be able to relay to Gary because I think when you when you really break it down, Michael Preston Smith is a really important piece. He's gonna be a player that's gonna play a lot for them

this season, a good track record with durability. Kyler Facra came on last year ten and a half sacks, But Sadarius is the guy. Sadarius Smith that is, is the guy that was the first signing right, the one that drew the headlines. And Rashan Gary is the first round pick twelfth overall, that's the future of this defense, not only just in terms of what they bring to the table athletically, but the way that they're going to use these guys. So seeing those two build off each other,

I think it's gonna be really important. It's gonna be important in two thousand nineteen. It's gonna be portant moving forward. And the thing I like the most out of all my years covering this team, there's just so many different facets to that pass rush. Now when you look at Kenny Clark inside, the way Dean Lowry's mon Mike Daniels coming back from injury, and then this plethora of outside backers that brings so many different skill sets in strength

to the table. Jayer Alexander mentioned this a little bit. I believe it was Jayre talking to the media saying, you know, those guys are gonna get after it there. There's a lot of talent up there. It's gonna open up things for us on the back end as well. So seeing how those two areas play off each other, the pass rush, trying to get more takeaways, it's gonna

be fun to watch. Yeah. And one thing I want to clarify a little bit or maybe differentiate uh this year compared to last year and in season's past, we're hearing a lot of the talk about versatility with these outside linebackers, that they can line up on the edge, they can also kick inside and attack as a pass rusher from the interior. We heard a lot about that over the last several years as well. And I don't mean this. I don't want anybody to take me the

wrong way here. This is not a criticism of Clay Matthews, but I'm going to use him as an example here. Clay Matthews was two pounds off the ball, you know, so, but you take a look at this now, Preston Smith is t sixt Zadarius Smith is two seventy two where Shawn Gary is to seventy seven. You kick those guys inside, they're a little bit more equipped physically to take on the guards and the centers when it comes to providing

that interior rush. The Packers like to move Matthews around a lot because they didn't want an offense to just zero in on Okay, Clay Matthews is lining up here every play, and if we want to do a chip with a tight end or a running back or a double team of some kind, like they knew where he was going to be, the Packers wanted to move him around.

But I think the body types the Packers have now at this outside linebacker spot that they brought in lends itself to a little bit more effectiveness with the versatility in terms of if a guy is gonna be one on one with a guard, Yeah, having an extra ten or fifteen or twenty pounds, it's gonna make a difference.

In Kyler factrol for that matter. At two forty five, he doesn't necessarily have to kick inside to to add to this verse utility thing, but he can stay on the edge where he is the best when he rotates in and let those other bigger guys go inside if Mike Petton wants. It's a great point you bring up, because and I don't want to make any comparisons between Kyler Facral and Matthews. Matthews was his own player, but but Facral has more of that skill set in terms

of the athleticism at the position. That's why the Packers drafted him. Yeah, they wanted him to be a really good solid member that rotation as a pass rusher. But you heard Mike Smith talk about as well. He's also their best zone dropping guy. He's a guy that can move around at that second level like Matthews did. The

difference with these guys is it's in the trenches. It's in a three point stance, to be perfectly honest with you, Mike, and all my years covering the team, I felt like they had one guy that did that very well, and it was Julius Peppers. Otherwise, yeah, you had Mike Neil do it a little bit. They tried it with Nick Perry. The only one that I thought was truly like a big difference maker at that spot was Peppers and what he was able to do and I think the stats

bear that out. What's exciting about Perkins and also in this Perkins excuse me, wow, Gary, I don't want to thinking Perkins. And also what Smith is that those guys can move inside and they can still be at home. And I think that's gonna be a big thing for

what Mike Pett wants to do with this defense. Yeah, I think so too, And I'm really interested to see how this shakes out because when you look at the depth of the unit, and we'll see beyond these top four, where you have Reggie Gilbert, you have Kendall Donnerson, you know, you have a couple of undrafted rookies that were brought that were brought in and we'll see how that shakes out. But when you look at these top four, there's a

couple of different ways you can go with it. You can have Smith and Smith and then if your number two set or your number two pair is Gary and Factul, you have a bit of a rotation there. Or you can have three of those guys or maybe even all four of them on the field at once in a certain package. As I said, because the body types lend themselves to a little bit more of the shifting around. So that's where I think all the talk about versatility, it's it's not just a word, it's a word that

we hear a lot. I think the application of it is going to look very different this year and hopefully more effective this year than perhaps what we've seen in the past. Yeah, and you have to cross your you know, your fingers a little bit that you can get through the offseason program and training camp without injuries to actually

see that come to fruition. Yeah, you want to see these guys stay healthy because I mean, how many times and we talk about it, I'd be great to see Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers both rushing from the inside for from the outside. Very rarely didn't end up working out that way over the three years with Matthews moving inside back or for a year and a half of it. So again, there are gonna be so many different things

that play into that. But as I was talking about last week with Brian Goodakin someone the interviews I did with them, if you're able to actually do that, the waves of pass rushers that you can send at teams with the crescendo being third down dime packages and potentially having all four of them on the field. That's that's how it's drawn up right now, with with with what the Packers want to achieve. Yeah, and as I like to say, one sack in the worth quarters worth two

in the first quarter. It really, it really can be in this league. And it sounds like the thing is too, is that it's not even just about what the impact of that play but the position that players have to put themselves in to still be able to bring it that way in the fourth quarter as well late in the game. You've been out. You know, the game has been going on for two and a half, two and three quarter hours, and you got to make a play defensively when the game is online. You want those pass

rushers to have some juice. They need something in their legs for the finishing kick. Yeah, alright, 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 Backers Bows the official headphones of the Green Bay Packers, and ad 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

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. Staying on the defensive side of the ball, here's another player who spoke to the media after last week's open practice. Had some interesting comments to deliver. And I'm talking about second

year cornerback Jaiyear Alexander. And strictly from a demeanor standpoint, you mentioned it. This is a guy who's after practice. Boy, he was all business. All business. Yeah, a very straight laced probably the most serious I've ever seen Jaire Alexander, because usually you know he's he's fun. He still was fun, but I mean he's he's very just just confident and just just sort of like takes everything and relaxed luson relaxed.

It just looked to me like a guy that he knows what he did last year p f W. A all rookie team member, certainly you know, a team later even though he was only two years old, and now he wants to make that next step. He didn't talk for long, but I thought the words that he said were power full. Yeah, you know, he looks at he wants to be a pro bowler. He wants to be an all pro. He looks at last year is a good starting point for him, but as he said, now

he wants to put his stamp on it. He also had a phrase of saying that this is his dog year. I have no idea what that means, but it sounds pretty cool. And the fact that you look at the way that this defense is structured right now, this young man, with the impact he was able to make moving around as much as he had to last year, there's a lot of reasons to be excited about Jarey Alexander. And I think from a mental standpoint, it's only June right now.

There's so many things that have to happen between now in that first game against the Bears on September five. But I just think that this is a guy with that is just primed to achieve those goals. Yeah, I mean, I really like the the attitude, the approach that we're seeing and hearing from a guy like Year. As you said, he makes the All Rookie team, but you know, certainly not satisfied with that by any means he's got. He's got much larger, loftier goals for himself. I think I

mentioned this on the show before. Earlier spring, I did interviews with both Alexander and Kevin King for a feature story I'm working on for the Packers yearbook about them being the two young you know, one to punch at at cornerback and how unfortunately they weren't on the field together all that much last year because both were dealing

with injuries at different times. But one thing that stood out to me in the interview that I had with Jayar I asked him about that game out in Los Angeles against the Rams when he had the five deflecting passes um five broken up passes in that game, which is probably the one game of his rookie year that sticks out in your mind the most as far as a complete and total perform other than that interception that ended up getting called. Well, yeah, the interception that didn't count.

We talked about that one too, and yeah, But the thing that I really liked and that was interesting to me when I asked him about that game is almost the first thing that was out of his mouth is that, hey, if I can get my hands on the ball five times, I gotta get one or two picks out of it.

Like he's looking back at that game and saying, Okay, yeah, great performance, And everybody was talking about it for a long time and everything, but to him, it still wasn't good enough, because, as he said, get your hands on the ball a handful of times, he wants to have one or two turnovers out of that. That's the next

step that he wants to take. Yeah. And as he mentioned too, as I talked about in our last segment, the pass rush and and the amount of bodies that the Packers have right now, if you can keep those healthy, he thinks that's going to help them on the back end, you know, shorten up that play clock, forcing the quarterbacks to make errors, and then if the ball is in the vicinity, going up and getting it. The thing I really like about Alexander though, in terms of his skill set,

we saw it so far in the offseason program. He's been lining up a lot outside, seeing a lot of Davante Adams in practice. I really like the idea of keeping him out there and and having Kevin King on the other side, And then when you get into situations when you want to trail guys, when you want to you know, shadow them, then you start moving Alexander around. He can play the slot. He probably can be an All Pro player in the slot if you want him there.

But I just think there's a real value and having a guy that doesn't appear like there's really a let up at either position, you know what I'm saying. The Mary's Randall had a lot of skill in the slot, and I think but it was it was a better spot for him than when he was on the boundary. In some ways. It was similar with like Micah Hyde, right, but with Alexander, it just feels like, whether he's in the slot or he's outside, he's the best cornerback on

the field. He's the best player, one of the best players on the field. And then with having King and six three and four four you're going to write about in your story, but I asked him to and he gave a really quick answer, but it was truthful, and that what does King give you when he's healthy and on the field to shut down cornerbacks? And if you ask any head coach and he defensive coordinator in the league. That's what you want. Yeah, And I think and I think what I like the best about them as a

pair is the two different physical body types. Kevin King and JayR Alexander can probably you put him in a forty year dash and it's a photo finish. But Kevin King is the sixth at three and Jaire Alexander is is the shorter but quicker and shiftier in the short

area type of thing. From a defensive coordinator's perspective, Mike Petton really likes almost in almost in the way that Matt Lafleur was talking about wide receivers last week and in that discussion about you know, having different areas of expertise so that you can look for certain matchups. Defensive coordinators want to do that too, They want to match

up certain guys on certain guys. And yeah, it'd be great if you can have, if you could have a whole stable of six ft three, six ft four cornerbacks, but they're pretty rare. You're not gonna you're not gonna have three or four of them on the same team. You have to have that coordination, yea. Yeah, So having having those different body types. Again, it just gives Mike Petton more options in terms of looks at the receiving core of the opponent. Okay, how do we want to

match these guys up? I think from my discussion with them, I think Alexander and King are going to argue a little bit over who should get the number one guy

because they both have that competitive mentality. That's really gonna be up to Mike pett and I think it's going to be a matchup issue based on physical characteristics in a lot of ways totally, and it's something will probably get set a little bit in training camp if King is able to stay out there and put you know, some of those soft muscle injuries behind him into some regard. The same thing with King, he I should say, with

Alexander had to battle through some groin injuries. But the thing I that really stood out to me with well, how much we saw Alexander last year. I don't know if you feel differently about this, but maybe Trumon Williams and his prime, But I'm just trying to think of anyone that's played that position that is able to stay step for step, not necessarily with the receiver down the

sideline on a go route, but when they get that break. Uh. Alexander was like glue on receivers last year that if you know, if they do a quick out or they do an out and in, he's able to stay stride for stride and contest those catches. That's special because a lot of times what happens, you gotta play your certain leverage. You've got to know where you're gonna be able to to get to. Alexander actually seems to have the quickness that if there is an error, he's going to be

able to make up for it. Not just going down the sideline to catch up to a football, but when the ball is there, it's on a diamond, it's a seven yard or out route trying to get a first down, that he's going to be able to put himself in the position to get the ball. Yeah, he's got a He's got a unique skill set in that regard because because of that quickness, he plays bigger than the five nine or whatever it is that he that he's listed at.

He doesn't play like a five nine cornerback that teams will look at and say, oh, well that's a matchup we can go after they have to be careful. If you put yourself in the vicinity of the football, it does not matter how big you are, how tall you are, It matters on what you can do in that instance. And I just think that that's the impressive thing about Alexander and hopefully now if you can get if you can get Kevin Kane back on the field and healthy.

We saw some of those traits too, especially during his rookie season. All right, well, it's about time for us to get out to another o T A practice and 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. If you're a podcast listener, subscribe to us, like us on iTunes and other podcast services. On Twitter, He's at west Hot, I'm at Mike Spoff to at Packers for the team Accoal.

Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time. H m hm.