#517 Packers Unscripted: That's it, that's all (for now)

MS version of the season ending press conference. A lot of similar thoughts in some ways to what we heard a couple of days ago from Matt Lafleur in a lot of pride in what was accomplished, a lot of disappointment and how things ended, and a lot of focus starting away on how to improve. Yeah. Well, first off, congratulations on another season of Packers on scripted. It's kind of like the last day before school. Let's out here, except we got to come back to work on Monday. Yeah,

we have to come back to work on Monday. And then and then you and I will maybe try to start finding h some days that only you'll be here and only I'll be here to try to uh man the store while we get some breaks and and get some of the rest of our lives taken care of. But I thought, you know, Brian Goodacunts with him going up there and given a thirty minute summation of this season, was the perfect ending to this season, because one it really began in a lot of ways. Well, Matt Lafleur's

hiring was the big issue. I mean that was the big topic at the beginning of two thousand nineteen. It was really those four free agents that they ended up signing that kind of kick started this whole thing. And I go back to that press conference right after Matt Lafleur, I should say, Brian Goodacunts and everyone got the deals done with SA Darius Smith and Preston Smith and Adrian name is Billy Earner, and he said, you know, we

we want to this. These moves were made to basically expedite this process to make us better, and ultimately it did. Are there areas where the Packers still need to improve going into Absolutely, Are they a lot closer I think to being a championship caliber team than they thought nine months ago. Absolutely, And listening to goods, just break down different facets of the organization, from you know, the free agents they signed, the draft class, the contributions they got there,

and just the overall performance of the team. I thought it served as a very good summation and wrap up of what was a you know, really unquantifiable, undescribable two thousand nineteen season for the Green Bay Packers. Yeah, I mean it was. It was certainly a successful season by

any measure. I don't think anyone in in Packers nations, so to speak, would have expected with a first year head coach and a second year general manager that you end up one game away from the super Bowl, and as as good a counts at as La Fleur said, there's a lot of pride to be taken that, But by no means is anybody resting on that success, even if it came earlier than expected or or was somewhat

unexpected from outside the building. Nobody's resting on that. I mean, Brian gouda Quinci actually had just gotten back from Mobile, Alabama, from being at the Senior Bowl practices. He's out scouting, He's looking at, you know, what's going to be out there in the draft come April. He actually went right from San Francisco after the NFC title game to Mobile the week of practices down there at the Senior Bowl, and then he now he's back in Green Bay and

he had the had the press conference today. So the work never stops for for these guys. And just as Matt Lafleur was talking about, you know, kind of grinding the tape and reviewing things and looking at you know, how do you want to tweak the offense or you know this or that. You know heading into you know, these guys will get their breaks at some point as well. But um, but you know, the constant churn, the constant grind, the a work ethic and everything, that's what it's all about.

Because the Packers know they gave themselves a shot this year and they want to give themselves another shot again next year. Yeah, and you like we've been talking about all week long, it's about building and taking that next step after what I think a lot of people saw as an unexpected success this year with this roster, this team being able to win a division title, winning thirteen games, getting a first round by winning a game in the playoffs, all those things are great. Okay, So now how can

you build upon that? And as Brian Goodkin's mentioned, you know, this next couple of weeks here one, he's going to break down what happened in San Francisco, try to understand that, get to the bottom of that. Where do they need to get better going into this free agent process? In this draft, they're gonna have to make decisions on these

bevy of unrestricted free agents that they have. You know, the question was asked of him, could you is it is it feasible to go out and have a spending spree like they did last year when they brought in those four unrestricted free agents and and he said, no, not really, especially if they go and you know, bring back a Brian Blagger, a Mason Crosby, these these guys that it could be potentially coming back after what I think last year was mostly I mean it was Mercedes

Lewis was the only player that really resigned. Ibrahim Campbell ended up joining him in in August, but even then it wasn't these big blockbuster contracts, So all that stuff weighs into it. So the more that you sign your own players, the less you're going to seek outside help. But he did say fiscally, they're in a good place right now. They have room to move. If there's a player they feel that can help them, they can go

out and try to get that player. But the other thing he pointed out too, is the backbone of this thing is draft and developed. Unrestricted free agency is one avenue, and there's multiple avenues to improving this team. Yeah, I think there's uh. I think there's no doubt that there can't be any expectation that the Packers are going to make the free agency splash in March that they made last year. You just don't do that two years in

a row. And as we had talked about, what the Packers did last year was in large part because nobody from the draft class got a second contract. The Packers draft picks getting second contracts, where all these guys they brought in from elsewhere who were drafted in. So he did mention as far as speaking specifically about a certain player because he didn't want to get into a lot of specifics on decisions on you know, guys like Brown, Bolaga,

Mason Crosby, Trumant Williams and whatnot. But one guy he did address specifically was Kenny Clark and he did lay out how important it is for the Packers to reach a long term agreement with Kenny Clark. He's entering the fifth year option of his rookie contract after being a first round draft pick. In Goudakun has made you know, no bones about the fact that about how important Kenny Clark is to this defense any expressed optimism that they're going to reach an agreement at some point, but he

also said, Hey, these things usually don't happen quickly. It's not like next week suddenly you know this is all going to be settled with Kenny Clark. So it's it's sit back and wait, let the process take its course. And and he sounds very confident that Kenny Clark is going to be a Green Bay Packer for a long time to come. Absolutely, And this is a guy that's

in the prime of his career. He's played a lot of football for the Packers, and I think you've seen him steadily improved every year he's been in the league. In congratulations to him, he'll be playing in the Pro Bowl this weekend and enjoy the Florida Sun this week exactly a very worthy honor. And as if I was following his Instagram. I think he also spent some time at Harry Potter World as well, so living it up. We've taken the kids there. That's that's a fun spot. Yeah,

living it up in Orlando. But but you know, all kidding aside and jokes aside. Kenny Clark is a big part of this defense. I think sa Darius Smith and Preston Smith, those are two critical additions for Green Bay this year. But I think we're about a year or two away from realizing that Kenny Clark is kind of one of the big contributors to this thing, if not the centerpiece of this unit now. And how he plays the run, the defense goes with him, how he plays

the past, the pass rush goes with him. He's just such a big difference maker. And he's so young yet he's only twenty four years old. Michael, it's incredible, you know that this path that he's been on here the last few seasons, so way that all in consider everything, But they do have a lot of resources that they're there, you know, grasp as well. You do have a potential franchise take down the line if you need to go

that route. The fifth year option gave them this two thousand twenty offseason to potentially work out a long term deal, so while he still under exactly exactly, so all these things kind of their resources for Green Bay and Kenny to to come to a long term agreement because as Kenny was saying to some reporters too, I mean, he wants to be in Green Bay. He doesn't anticipate being a kind of guy that's going to hold out or anything.

He wants to play. He wants to you know, that's just not really in his d n A. But you know, Green Bay wants to take care of him too, because you look statistically, I mean he's right up there with basically everyone, maybe other than Aaron Donald right now in terms of just total dominance at that defensive tackle position. Yeah. Well, a couple other thoughts from goodacounts that that really struck me because we're gonna hear a lot from the talking

heads and other analysts. I'm sure you and I will talk about it at times as well as you go through this offseason. Is okay, you know this gap between the Packers and the forty niners, they were the last two teams standing in the NFC. They played twice in

San Francisco and the forty Niners dominated both games. There's no denying that I thought what Goodakun said though, was interesting, and that maybe not in so many words, and I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but this offseason is not entirely about, Okay, how do we go how do we figure out a way to beat the forty Niners. You know, he's not going about the roster construction, the changes that are made, who comes back, who doesn't, the players they draft. It's

not going to be all about the forty Niners. And I think that's the smart approach because one, you were the number two team in the NFC. You were that you were the last one standing there. You you didn't get to play them at home. Obviously both of those games were on the road. But also west, this is the NFL, you know the Gouda Kun said. Next year, it could be somebody else. Every year is different, Every

year has its new challenges. If everybody in the NFC had geared themselves toward, uh, you know, stopping Sean mcveigh's you know, l A Rams offense, um, you know, well, look at what happened. The Rams were in the Super Bowl last year. They didn't even make the playoffs this year, so you never know how this thing is going to go.

And just as another example in this point I'm trying to make here, and I take I don't want anybody to take this the wrong way because I'm gonna bring up Ron Wolf here and the guys in the Hall of Fame, and he's in the Hall of Fame for a reason. But in the Minnesota Vikings went fifteen and one and Randy Moss took the NFL by storm. Right now,

granted that's a division opponent, I get it. But Ron Wolf then in draft he drafted three cornerbacks with his first three picks, and we're like, we gotta find a way to stop Randy Moss. What did that get the Packers two thousand two straight years not in the playoffs? Okay, it doesn't work. You can't go about an entire offseason focused on one opponent. So I just I thought what Goodakoont said in that regard, very subtly, I thought was

very important. I think it's something for Packers fans to keep in mind as we go through these next several months. It's a great point you raised. I'm also glad you kept your your train of thought going there, because if you would have stopped, I probably would have jumped in and said, ahman Green. But you know that's that was down the line a few years down the line with Fred Vinson. I believe, but you're right. I mean they

you can't plug holes for one opponent. You have to be ready for all sixteen in your conference, you know, fifteen year conference and what else is gonna you're gonna see in the NFL. And a good reason for this, Mike, I want to bring this up is San Francisco had some of the most cap space in the entire league the last couple of seasons, and they made moves to maximize that cap space. You know a team that could do that this offseason, Seattle. So what happens? How do

you defend against Seattle? If they had a couple of marquee free agents on the offensive side of the ball to help out Russell Wilson, Well, then maybe they're the front runner in the NFC West last year. And that's a Seattle team that you look at their record and how close they came to beating the forty niners second time, and how close they came to beating the Packers at lambeau Field in January. That's a team that feels like maybe they're just a couple of pieces away from being

right where the forty Niners are right now. Yeah, and again, the forty Niners won four games last year. I think nobody was under any disillusion They understood that they didn't have Jimmy Garopo last year. Absolutely, but you know this is a team that any given year things can change. This this statistically was the biggest turnaround in franchise history for the Packers in going from six wins to fourteen thirteen if you just count the regular season, so all

those things have to be measured. I think what is exciting for Green Bay at this standpoint is they had if if you looked at how that season ended, and I did. I went and looked at what their offense and defense looked like in that finale that they lost thirty one and nothing to Detroit last season, it was for a thing that I was writing an insider inbox.

The roster looks ad percent different today. There are players who started, especially on the defense side of the ball, some of whom that aren't in the NFL, and many of whom aren't in Green Bay anymore. So that just shows you that when you make the right moves, and this was a a grade off season for Brian Goodkins in his personnel department. They made the right additions in unrestricted free agency, they found draft picks that could help them right away, and then the cherry on top was

the in season moves they made. You're not always going to be able to bat four hundreds, you know, you're gonna have to go with some to seventy five and three hundred years. But I just think that if they can keep that trajectory, if you have another solid draft class, if you find a free agent that makes sense economically for your roster, all those things can help catapult you to the next level. That's how Seattle maximized their window.

That's how you know New England in a lot of ways was able to stay at the top because of the moves they made, the tough decisions to let go of guys, the smart decisions to bring guys in. That's where Brian good Coin is standing right now. He brought it up was one of the first things he said in his news conference. There are tough decisions that have to be made and he's prepared to make them. Yeah,

and I thought, uh. He made a point a couple of times in the press conference to really give credit to the rest of his personnel staff to whether you're talking about all of the work that was done to bring in you know, the Smith's and Amos and Turner, or the work that was done to find Tyler Irvin and Jared val Deer and to capitalize on those opportunities that that bringing those guys in who who ended up playing a pivotal role in the Packers getting as far

as they did. So, you know, he mentions guys like John, Eric Sullivan, Matt Malicepina, Milt Hendrickson, Um, I'm sure you know I'm forgeting Eric Sullivan. Well, Johowsky, that was the other one I wanted to mention too, And there you know, Leguas and Danner. There there are several several guys on that staff that that worked tirelessly at this and he

wanted to give them credit. And it was kind of funny because then he was asked, you know, well, do you think you're gonna lose any of those guys because the Packers of obviously seen the John Schneider's and John Dorsey's and Reggie Mackenzie's get general manager jobs elsewhere. And he says, well, you know, he's obviously hoping he doesn't lose any of them. He says, maybe I should stand up here and say all kinds of bad things about them so that, uh, so that they're not as attractive

to other teams. But he loves the personnel executive group, the scouting group that that he's put together and and that work with him in this seven three sixty five cycle of how to how to make this, uh, this roster, whether it's ninety man in the off season fifty three sixty three man in the regular season, make it as

competitive as possible. And uh and those guys now they're they're hitting there in season, so to speak, with the Senior Bowl, and then the Combine is coming up in a month and a half and and then you're into all of your pre draft meetings getting ready for late April. Yeah, and and it's incredible what what? And And credit to Brian Goods. He still says, you know, Ted Thompson hired a lot of these guys, but if you know anything about the way the scouting department works, and there's quite

a few guys that Brian has hired himself. Now, Milt Hendrickson probably be in the biggest name among them who has joined the front office here in the past year. And as much as you want to give credit to those guys, I think a lot of credit goes to good Counts for how he's built that personnel department, because now it kind of starts to remind you a little bit of where Ted Thompson had things in two thousand nine.

That okay, when John Schneider moved on, when Reggie mackenzie moved on, there was a John Dorsey, there were other guys, there were Elliott Wolf and now I think you're kind of seeing that now. Inevitably, if the Packers end up people went playing winning football, one of those guys can get sought after his being a GM. Oh, There's there's no question about it. There's a lot of cookies in

that jar now for Green Bay. And I know talking to people last year, especially after Hendrickson got hired, there's a lot of people in NFL circles I feel this is one of the if not the strongest personnel department in the National Football League right now. So that's a testament to good Kunst. But the challenge is, as you said, I mean this all ramps up now, there's gonna be differences. Know, we've already seen some of the changes that are gonna

happen with the combine here. You're gonna have fifteen less interviews, you're gonna get a little bit more time with those prospects. But you've got to be smart and how you allocate your time, your pre draft visits, all the things that when you have ten draft picks like Green Bay is going to have in this in this draft class, to be able to be smart and economical with how you approach it. And you can just tell listening to Brian,

he is excited about that process though. They feel like these last two years they've brought in a lot of assets, a lot of tremendous football players that are going to continue to get better. And you're not going to hit on all your picks. You're not going to always hit on your free agents. But the more those that you hit on, the more it's going to be allow you to create depth on your roster, to allow you to be able to weather an entire season, and those are

the things that kind of fortify a Championship group. Yeah, well, in the in the near term. Obviously, I'm not sure exactly what the date is this year. I should have looked it up before we turn the cameras on. But somewhere in the middle of March is when free agency will start. Share so some so between now and then, Gouda Kunts was saying over the over the next few weeks, he and the personnel staff they're going to be reviewing

the season, going over a lot of tape. There are thirteen pending unrestricted free agents that the Packers have that they they'll be making a potential contract decisions on. We've mentioned some of those names, Brian Bulaga, Mason Crosby, Traumont, Williams, Blake Martinez, Kyler, Facral Geronimo Allison. That's about half of them, and you know there are a bunch of others as well. And as of right you know, right now, the Packers sort of have those exclusive negotiating rights with those guys.

Um but you know how this works, Wes. I mean, guys get to this stage and a lot of times, not a hundred percent of the time, but a lot of times they want to get to that what they call the legal tampering period. Those opening days of free agency before a guy can actually sign with another team, they can gauge the market. They can see what's out there.

Sometimes even a player's own team wants to see what the market is for that player, um to you know, get get a get a gauge because you know, maybe within their own circles they're not quite sure what the

market is going to be. So you get to those uh, those forty eight hours there before free agency officially starts, and then that's where a lot of times these decisions are made on Okay, who's coming back and who's ultimately going to sign somewhere else because you know the market is going to go above you know, the value line

the packers that put on a player. All of those types of discussions are going to be going on between now and uh and March thirteenth, and then you know, as soon as free agency gets rolling, then the draft is right around the corner. Yeah, And that's crazy how quickly everything picks up from that point. I got to correct myself. I got a little too cocky. It was March eighteenth. Didn't get the other two I only and

we did here just so, just so fans know. We did hear from Matt Lafleur that the Packers will begin offseason workouts on April uh this year, which usually is they put in like one full week and then the draft is like right after, you know, right after the players, the veteran players will be back, just as the rest of the building, so to speak, is is getting ramped up for the draft at the end of April. Yeah.

And it's interesting you bring up the thing with the free agency, because you're right, a lot of times, once the season gets done, the hay is in the barn, potential free agents will wait until that legal tampering period to see what their true value is and then they resign. I just think back to you know, two thousand and fourteen, the Packers had two great examples in that regard, in both Brian Blaga and Randall Cobb. You know, fans were

just on the edge of their seats for months. You know, while they're they going to bring these guys back, are they're gonna as sign them, It's like, well, just you know, just wait, just let it play out. It got to the legal tampering period and and you know, they got a gauge what the market was out there, the packers gauge that market, and then you know, before you know, just before the opening bell, so to speak, the packers said, okay,

you know here, here's our offer. And then both guys came back and in that case, it it worked out just the way the packers wanted it to. I think both players were happy with their contracts as well. So I bring that up just so that you know, between now and you know, March tenth, eleventh, whenever that tampering period opens up, that you know, the fans don't get two worked up as far as you know, what are

they going to bring these guys back or not? Well, you just you just have to be patient and let this play out. Every once in a while, you'll see like that LaTroy guy on happened, you know, in like February. I think he resigned one year. But you're right, you talk about two thousand and fourteen. It was actually technically, I guess be right it was. It was. It was March of was after season. I should clare cob and blog sign I want to say bolag A signed hours

before the actual Oh yeah, it was. It was. It was right up to the wire absolutely, and then the year after that, it was Mason Crosby signed in that window. Nick Perry resigned in that window twice, once on a one year contract and then on his extension. So those that's just the way the game played. So yeah, there's

not much to read into it from that regard. The one thing that always is interesting though, between now and the start of that is if you start to see some of those restricted free agents maybe potentially agree to a deal, Packers would also have to make a decision on them. There's a handful of them. I don't have the list right now. If you want to offer them a low tender, if you want to try to resign

them to another deal. Sometimes those players are more up to sign a contract because they want to get some guaranteed money, as opposed to if you're on a low tender, it isn't guaranteed until you play. These are the fun things that Brian Goods, rust Ball and everybody else has all this great cb A language and and parameters and

qualifications and everything else that go into the off season discussion. Yeah, and as Brian good consaid, though they they have their own free agent board, they'll have all those names up there. The way those and they'll make those decisions. But for the Packers to be in a position now where they're trying to build towards another Super Bowl, I don't know how many people would have legitimately been saying that eight

months ago. I mean, that just shows you how quickly this team took And I'm writing I'm writing this an insider inbox for what would be the Saturday edition. Now. As much as we talk about Matt Lafleur and the changes that underwent on offense, Mike Petton had to go undergo a lot of changes as well with his defense. That personnel changed significantly. It was a different group of players, same same scheme in essence, but different group of players. So for it was a mixture of year two guys

in year one guys as far as Patton was concerned. Yeah, so that's where this process goes. They'll have months to figure it out. It's going to be exciting, it's going to be thrilling, and we'll see exactly what the NFL

Scouting Combine will bring. Yeah, and that is when we will see you next, most likely will be from Indianapolis and the NFL Scouting Combine, which has like a different schedule and everything this year, So that'll be an adjustment for us, but I think it's an adjustment for the better. I think the work week will be a little bit more manageable for us in Indie compared to years past.

I think we're gonna try talking to our producer Matt Arvin, our wonderful video producer Mike Atkinson, I think we'll probably try to do a preview going into Indianapolis and then knock out a few shows from Indianapolis, give you a real feel for the city, and yeah, it's gonna be exciting. I just I can't never believe how quickly the combine always seems to come around, well, especially when you get into a playoff run like the Packers have had getting

to the conference championship game. Then you know, you sort of do the aftermath and then yeah, before you know what, it's like, oh yeah, we gotta make our travel plans for Indie. Let's get going. But it was an exciting year. It was thrilling. I appreciate you putting up with me all year. I appreciate our wonderful fans checking us out a Packers unscripted It's been blast buddy, all right, with that, we will call it a rap on the season of

Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team throughout the off season on Packers dot com, Subscribed to us, like us on iTunes and other podcast services because we will be back sooner than later, and there's all kinds of great video anton out there on the Packers YouTube channel for WES I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody, and we will see you next time. Ye