#420 Packers Unscripted: Memories and moving forward

of my boxes and office supplies. But fortunately I still have a desk and obviously I still have a spot. We thank Aaron for joining you, which I thought was a pretty good episode. Yeah, it was fun. It was a good conversation. But we are certainly glad to have you back. A lot to talk about here, West, as the Packers have just finished two joint practices with the Houston Texans. The preseason opener against those same Texans is

coming up Thursday night at lambeau Field. But I want to start this show with some brief recollections on an all time Packers great He was back in the building on Tuesday, Jordy Nelson making his retirement from the NFL official retiring as a member of the Green Bay Packers. He didn't stand at the podium and give a speech. He just said, all right, I'll take some questions and um, but some some interesting little anecdotes that that came out

from his career. Just your your memories, your recollections of

number eighty seven. I want to first off mentioned I actually asked Tremon Williams about that this week, the fact that if it was kind of funny seeing Geordy have retirement pereimony, considering Jordi has never been a guy that really wants to be in the spotlight in Treman as Tremont always does, phund a phenomenal way of conceptualizing everything, where he said, you know, the one thing that he understood, Jordy understood was that even though he didn't want to

be in the spotlight, the way he played on the field put him in the spotlight. And if you were going to be there, you have to be able to carry yourself in a way in which you're not only a top flight Pro Bowl receiver, but you're going to

be a leader on this team. And I think, as you saw as well with guys speaking around the locker room this past week, consistency and leadership or the two you know, kind of buzzwords when it comes to Jordy Nelson from a play style perspective, I haven't covered the NFL for a long time. Mike, uh, you know. I know there's been great receivers that have come before Jordy Nelson.

They'll be create receivers that come after Jordy Nelson. But I don't know if there's anyone that I've covered that's made my jaw drop as much as Nelson did with his play. And when I was asking some players in the locker room this past week, you know, when they think of Jordy Nelson, what did what comes to mind so many of them, as I think even Jordy did

mention that play in San Francisco. The sports science sideline catches the things that he could do that went above and beyond what a receiver should be able to do. Maybe not biologically, but that sort of telekinesis that he had with Aaron Rodgers to be in the right place at the right time, and then, by the way, when you're in the right place at the right time, making an out of this world catch. When I think of Jordy Nelson and ten fifteen years go by, those will

be the memories that come to mind. First. Yeah, absolutely, and to me, it definitely is the connection, the chemistry,

the camaraderie every yeah, with Aaron Rodgers. As I've mentioned, I think before, on the show a couple of years ago, Rogers and Nelson were the cover story for the Packers year Book, and I was fortunate enough to get about a half hour sit down in a room just the three of us, had both of them together, and I've never asked so few questions west in a half hour interview because all I had to do was bring up a play, bring up a moment, and Rogers and Nelson

started talking. I mean, we all know about rogers recall of details and everything like that. Jordy Nelson's not far behind, and that's part of the reason he had that connection

that he had with Rogers, because he remembered everything. And I think in some ways as disappointing as it was obviously that with the great start to seventeen and Jordi had six touchdown catches in the first five games, but then Aaron Rodgers ends up breaking his collar bone and Jordy Nelson's last season doesn't finish the way it started.

It's fitting in some ways that his last touchdown catch as a member of the Packers, which he second all time in touchdowns, and he and Rogers as a tandem have combined for more touchdowns than anyone else in Packer's history. It was in Dallas prior to the dramatic Davante Adams last second touchdown catch, but it was on an adjustment at the line of scrimmage that the two of them had talked about and that they both remembered from a

game in Miami in two thousand and fourteen. That this is three years later than in ten, that they connect on a touchdown in the back of the end zone in Dallas and that ends up being his last touchdown as a Packer. It almost doesn't get more fitting than that. Well, it also is something that perfectly encapsulates their relationship, their

friendship and their partnership over all those years. I remember there was a story I wrote that technically was on Aaron Rodgers for the Game Program, which was in two thousand and seventeen, I believe, and I have mentioned to him, and he was almost kind of taken back by it for a moment that him and Nelson at that point in time, there was no other quarterback and receiver in the NFL that had been together for as long as they had been together. And it wasn't even close. It

was by like two or three years. Because one, you just don't find receivers and quarterbacks that are that good, that are able to stick around that long together kind

of in that same age vicinity. Now you start to see it more where it's the Aaron Rodgers and a younger guy like Davante Adams or you know what Drew Brees has done with the litany of receivers that he's worked with over the years, and that relationship when you can get two guys playing together for ten years, the the amount of knowledge and trust that you developed with that individual. The other thing too, about Jordy Nelson that I've always found to be really insightful into the man

he is. He wasn't the kind of guy that was ever going to stand at his locker and give you this ESPN breaking news first of the broadcast type quote. But he was accountable and he always carried himself in a way in which he reflected the direction you wanted the team to go. I don't think I ever left at Jordy Nelson interview, thinking, man, this team has no shot. This this you know, this thing isn't gonna get worked out.

He was a consummate professional that always stressed going back, learning from your mistakes and being able to make those adjustments and move forward. And I thought the perfect example that was two thousand sixteen, one of his last big years here in Green Bay. The fact that things were going in the direction they were, people started questioning things. Rogers utters the words around the table, and we talked

so much about that moment. But if you go back and look at the locker room stuff and and listen to Geordie's interviews at that time, he was saying all along, He's like, we just gotta work at this thing. We got to get it going and practice and it'll translate to the field. It's not like they just snapped their fingers in the tide of the season change. It was a mental toughness and confidence that they were gonna be

able to find a way. And again with Nelson and Rogers leading that offense for all those years, it doesn't surprise me at all that they end up having the success that they did. Yeah, I mean the number of memories that have flooded back into my head over the last couple of days. I mean, whether you're talking about the nine catches for a hundred and forty yards in the Super Bowl, which could have been twelve catches for two hundred yards. Uh, the way things were going, and

unfortunately Nelson had a couple of drops. But to his credit, Um just kept battling in that game, filling in for Donald Driver, taking on a larger role in the Super Bowl than the third year wide receiver at that time could have ever imagined. But with Driver leaving that game with the broken ankle. I remember two thousand fourteen, he beats derrel Rievas of the Patriots on the slant and then just outruns him all the way across the field

of the pylon for a touchdown. You mentioned the the tiptoe sideline thing in San Francisco, which sort of started a sequence of those throughout the course of that season in the future seasons. With his footwork on the side that an entirely different level not to jump over. Yeah, it's one thing to connect on the back Shuler's another thing to do with him, and Rogers were able to

do it. Yeah, I mean he has his he has his career year in two thousand fourteen, when Rogers wins his second m v P. He Um unfortunately loses the season to an a c L, then wins NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors in and finishes that season playing with a flak jacket with broken ribs in the NFC Championship game against Atlanta. I could go on and on, and like I say, it's just all the memories of

everything that have that have come flooding back. Hopefully I was able to capture his sentiments and some of mine as well. In the piece that's on packers dot Com right now, under the headline of Jordy Nelson reflects on his remarkable career. But um, the memories are just endless. Yeah they are. And and it was a great story. The one thing I'll leave this section on him mentioning about when he told his son they were going to move back down to Kansas. They're gonna move home to Kansas.

He's like, but Green Bay is home. And when you think about it, when he played ten years there, I think Royal now is maybe eight or nine somewhere around there. Maybe his whole life was spending Green Bay, Wisconsin. So yeah, when you think of home, when you think of where you're born, that's home. So it's a special place. And I'm sure we're gonna be seeing a lot more to Jordy Nelson in years to come here. Yeah, hopefully for sure. Um a little bit of sponsor business here. West's select

Cousin Subs locations are now offering delivery. Whether you're ordering catering or your favorite sub, they're delivering right to you when you order online at Cousin Subs dot com. Cousin Subs. We believe in better all right. The team at hand, the two thousand nineteen m Bay Packers a couple of joint practices with the Houston Texans in the book leading up to Thursday Nights preseason opener. What were your general thoughts, just your overall takeaways from the two days of practice

with the Texans. First time the Packers have had joint practices in training camp with another team since two thousand five. Did you get a chance to watch many of the offensive line and defensive line one in one drills only a little bit, actually more more on Monday than on tu Yeah, so I watched both on both days more so the Packers defensive line against the offensive line of the Texans. And this isn't to say they don't always try.

I think those are very competitive drill. When you watch them, you know, good on good, but they're just seemed to be a little extra kick and energy in those when they were going up against the Texans. I sensed that too. It just seemed like the collisions were just a little bit more forceful, and it just seemed like guys were trying a little bit harder and wanting to show them to be the superior side. And the one thing that my biggest takeaway from it was is Rashan Gary can play.

He has the he has it in him. We want to see it in some games now, but it translates. He was going up against Matt Khalil on Monday and he looked great. He won two reps there. He had to really competitive reps on Tuesday. So Darius Smith phenomenal. I think I used him as my thing on three things. Kingsley Keekley, the rookie fifth round pick. I'm not saying he's gonna be a starter this year, but he has some twitch in him that I think is really special

for a fifth round player. So I enjoyed watching that. And then obviously you can't avoid it. I mean there were there were a couple of scuffles there. Jay Sternberger took a pretty heavy hit. It's interesting when you go back and look at it. I saw somebody on Twitter brought up the video. I didn't realize this, but Jay Sternberger had a pretty good stiff arm on Lonnie Johnson last year in a college game that led to a big touchdown. Not saying that that's where that came from,

but people don't forget. You never know. You never know, but that was probably my biggest takeaway was was the one on one drills and then obviously some of the extracurriculars. Yeah, the Unfortunately, Ja Sternberger is being evaluated for concussion now, even though he did actually come back into practice on Monday. Trevor Davis also unfortunately took a took a hit in a special teams drill. The special teams the kickoff cover and kickoff return in particular, they were going full speed

aside from actually tackling the guy with the ball, and uh. Unfortunately, Davis, who as we've talked about, has had a great camp. He had a great family night. Now he's out with a stinger. Hopefully it won't keep him out long because that's a uh, that's a young man who was definitely making a really, really strong bid to be on this team. And it had nothing to do with returns. I mean, we haven't seen much in terms of returns in this camp.

The reason why Trevor Davis is making headlines and get an interview in the locker room is because what he's doing as a receiver. Yeah, this is by far, it's not even close the best camp he's had in Green Bay. He looks comfortable, he's in sync with Rogers, and he's always had game breaking speed. UM, So trying to get him on the same page with Rodgers and get him in tune with this offense. If that happens, and if he can get back from this injuries, so we can

see him in the preseason. I really hope fans who aren't able to get to practice are able to see that Trevor Davis in the preseason setting because he's been exceptional so far. Yeah, hopefully he'll be back sooner than later. UM. With the preseason opener Thursday night at lambeau Field, we all know these preseason games, it's not about wins and losses. It's not necessarily about the number of points that are on the scoreboard. It's about individual player performance, player evaluation.

And this is just the start, obviously, the first of four preseason games, the most important film, frankly, that any of these players who are fighting for roster spots are going to are going to have in terms of making their impression on the coaches, on the personnel staff. Who are Who's the first guy that comes to mind for you that you're going to be watching closely on Thursday, Timo. And the main reason why someone asked an incenter in box, and it was a fair question this past week on

how the backup quarterbacks have looked. My reply was they've had their moments and they've had throws they want back. All three of them have had that. I mean even to some extent. I'm sure Aaron Rodgers has had that, but we all know he'll be the starting quarterback in Week one. But the three guys vying to back up Rogers and then make a case for that number three role on the fifty three man roster, I want to

see it in games now. Deshaun Kaiser has made some exceptional throws so far early on, and he's had some you know, tough moments as well. I actually think Tim Boyle, in the reps he's had with the threes, has looked good. He's making the right reads, he's he's being able to move the ball. Trying to cut down on some of the mental errors is going to be critical for him. But this is the reason I said Boyle is we didn't really get a chance to see him that much

last year in the preseason. If I remember, he barely played at all those last two weeks. So if he can get the chance to get out there and getting comfortable, I really want to see if he can push Kaiser for that number two job. And Manny Wilkins is entirely different than the other two. His skill set and what we've seen in camp so far. He can make throws, he has a live arm, he's athletic, he's a scram ler, but he's just not like anyone else on this roster. So I want to see how that looks in a

game too. So it's probably an easy answer for me to say the quarterbacks, but after talking, you can talk six different ways from Sunday about how guys look and practice when they're throwing the football and days are gonna be good and days are gonna be bad. Let let's see what happens in a game, because with that, there's only four of them and you have to make him calm. Yeah,

and I think this is a big game. Along those same lines, the first guy that comes to mind for me is Deshaun Kaiser because based on what we have seen in practice, Deshaun Kaiser right now, if you had to pick it, he's the number two quarterback on this team. So he has to use these preseason games to solidify that um, solidify his status there and uh and continue to generate the confidence from the coaching staff and the

personnel department that he can be that guy. With what he's done so far in training camp leading up to this first preseason game, you don't want to see a step backward. You don't want to see a step back from from anybody, but certainly from Kaiser, with the way his relief appearances for Aaron Rodgers last season did not go well. As you said, he has definitely made some plays. I think he's flashed the most out of all of the backup quarterbacks in camp so far. Now it's got

to it's got to find another level in the preseason. Absolutely, And for Kaiser, he's still credibly young, but he also is in his third season. Now you want to see those strides. I think I've said before Mechanically, his size, his prototype, he has everything you look for in a quarterback. It's trying to tie it all together and mesh with Matt Lafleur's scheme. And he has some good receivers that are gonna be hungry to compete with him in these games as well. And you're from two to seven, it's

a wide open competition. And heck, Mike, another guy that I'm gonna be looking at two is Darius Shepherd, the former tryout receiver from North Dakota State. Right, here's a guy that's getting reps with the number one. Daris Shepherd now needs to go out there and prove that he's not just Tye Tyrone Walker who's gonna go out and make some pressive catches in the preseason and then just come up short when it comes time to make the roster. He's trying to actually make a bit at this thing too.

So seeing those young hunger receivers trying to make some place for these quarterbacks. Two is going to be a really interesting thing to watch. Yeah, And if there's another guy, and I don't want to get too much more into the receiver's obviously we're gonna be watching them and we'll

certainly talk about them after the game. But if there's another guy on offense that this is a big game and I'm certainly gonna be watching, I think it's worth fans watching for Number seventy Alex Light at offensive tackle because the Packers just waved injured Jason Spriggs, the fourth year backup offensive tackle. Alex Light is now the number three tackle on this roster behind David bok tr and

Brian Bulaga. The coaching staff likes him, They like what they see, and it's about it's him doing it in the games now in you know, under the bright lights and in in the big setting. This is a huge opportunity for him to really cement his status and where he stands on this roster. And uh, he's going to be a guy to watch throughout the entire preseason. He's getting the reps too. I think you're going to see him play a lot this season, because I don't know

how much we're gonna see Brian Bolagh. I mean, they obviously have a plan for Bolaga. They want to keep him healthy. He's in a good spot right now, He's had a full off season. They don't want any setbacks there. So Alex Light's gonna play a lot, and his biggest challenge here these next four weeks is going to be showing that, you know what, I deserve to be that

number three guy, deserved to be the swing tackle. You don't have to start creating strange dominoes where if one of those guys goes out, well, then Billy Turner's kicking out, or you're having to put you know, Justin McCrae out there, or move Lane Taylor around. I'm your guy, and that's gonna be a pivotal thing for him. I like his disposition. This guy came out of nowhere last year, Mike. I mean, one of the reasons I've said this before an inbox

that I don't make predictions on the roster. I honestly didn't have Alex Light making the roster. I didn't. I didn't see him coming on, like I think James Camp and then some of these scouts saw him coming on, and that's because I don't have an eye for talent in that way. It's not anything against alex Light, but he came out at of Richmond. He was an undrafted free agent and he made his presence felt. And now he has a million dollar opportunity here to show that

he belonged. Yeah, well quickly on the defensive side of the ball before we run out of time. The guy I'm gonna be watching is Tony Brown, the young cornerback number twenty eight. Aaron Nageler and I talked about him on our previous show, but with Kevin King out right now with a hamstring injury, Tony Brown has been the guy with the starting nickel defense. As far as the three corners Jr. Alexander, Termont Williams, and Tony Brown is the third guy. He got some reps against DeAndre Hopkins.

These last couple of days with the Houston Texans in town, we'll see how much the Texans play their starters. As we talked about, we're not sure how much the Packers are gonna play there's in this first game. But again, a guy who's done everything in training camp that you want to get to do up to this point, so now you get to where you want to see it at another level in a competitive game setting, you don't want to see any regression. You don't want to see

a setback. Tony Brown, for me, is that guy on defense. And something I want to say about Brown two, I think this is the shift you've seen with the Packers cornerbacks for the last few years. Tony Brown has a lot of potential in him. This is a guy you're talking about here that was one of the top recruits in the country when he committed to Alabama. He ends up being an undrafted free agent. He's an undrafted free agent that is an incredibly intelligent human being, book smart,

great football i Q. And he's really fast too. So it doesn't really line up that he ended up being a college free agent, but the Packers felt very strongly about him that when he came free during cutdowns, they put in that waiver claim. They got him on their roster. They've had a situation in previous years where you'd have guys step in at cornerback and they sort of were maxed out from a physical aspect. They weren't going to get faster. They weren't going to get taller, they weren't

going to get quicker. Maybe they were smart, but there was athletic drawbacks there that just we're going to prevent them from being able to cover the elite receivers in this league. Tony Brown's measurables match up with anybody, So working with Jason Simmons, if he can get that turned around and figured out, this isn't a huge drop off. It isn't that if you don't have Kevin King or Jaire Alexander, there's just gonna be this big hole. Tony Brown has a lot of potential here and it's up

to him to show it. Yeah, definitely. Oh with that, we're going to call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and of the preseason opener against Houston on Packers dot Com. Like us, subscribe to us on iTunes and other podcast services if you would please. On Twitter, He's at west Hot, I'm at Mike Spofford at Packers for the team account. Thanks for tuning in, everybody. We will see you next time.