#525 Packers Unscripted: What will the Packers do?

we needed to get here too? Right? I mean, the thing that's funny where you you do this intro where you mentioned the social distancing. This is just the way it is right now. I mean, it's not the addition. It's like, um, you ever did you watch You probably were a little too old for Saved by the Bell. I'm guessing right, and I'm aware of it. Saved by the Bell they did like the summer session where they like went off and they were all working at like

a resort. It isn't the traditionals. That's what this kind of feels like right now. It's not our typical season. It's like a special, like an after school special that we've been doing here now for three weeks. Yeah, it's starting to feel a little bit more normal. But I guess we'll just we'll keep on keeping on, as we like to say. Well, with this being our final draft preview edition before, we will actually have some Green Bay

Packers draft picks to talk about. West, I promised you at the end of last show I was going to throw out some of the hypotheticals, the questions we've been getting from fans over the last several weeks, and insider inbox we'll share our opinions on some of them. So I'm just gonna start with this one, pretty straightforward. Packers are sitting at number thirty in the first round. Do you think they sit and pick? Trade up or trade down?

What do you think come Thursday night. So I was talking with my dog about this the other day and I was sort of mentioning, like, okay, Kevin, Kevin, Kevin in here. Yeah. No, But I was I was really thinking long and hard about this, and the way I ended up breaking it down is I think there's a fifty chance they move up, a thirty percent chance they move back in, a chance they stay and pick at thirty. Now,

it depends on which way you look at this thing. Right, certain strain of thought school thought I'm you know, I'm a I'm a historian. I only I know what I know based on what has happened in the past, and Brian Goodacuntz has moved around a lot in the first round these past two years. So that's why I put it. I also wonder, well, are they due to pick at thirty Well, if that's the case, are they due to traff you know, trade out of the first round? So

all these different scenarios around the table. I've said this all along. One of the great things about Brian Goodacuts the general manager. You have no idea what he's doing. I think, do I think the Packers are going to take a quarterback in the first round. No, but he's not gonna go out there and say that to everybody. He wants everyone to think, all right, he will do

what he feels is best. And you can if you're number thirty one, your number thirty two, you're the first pick in the second day, you can be confident that, Okay, well, this is what Brian Goodacuntz is gonna do. I think there's a lot to be said for that. Now that being said, in these mock drafts I've been doing, I haven't been trying to work trades that aren't gonna happen. I have been picking at thirty, and in the three simulations I've done, all three of them had a nice

crop of prospects available there. So that makes it conceivable the packers could pick at thirty. It also makes it conceivable that they could trade back a little bit and try to get some more value. The reason though, Mike that I said the thing, I do wonder if there's a prospect, if there's a Darnell Savage, if there's a JayR Alexander that Brian Goodacounts loves, does he pull the

trigger to go up and get that guy. See that's interesting because your percentages, you put the greatest percentage on Goodakoons trading up from thirty, and out of the three options,

I actually think that that's the least likely. Not because certainly Goodacounts has proven he will move around the board and and I don't I don't discount that at all, but just because the draft capital the packers have, it just seems to me that would be really really costly as far as what they would lose, whether it's a second round pick, a third round pick, in order to move up from that thirty spot that I put trading up as the least likely, I think trading down actually

is the most likely. Um, well, I don't know. I don't, I don't. I'm not gonna put my percentages on I'll leave that too, I'll leave that to you. But no, I if I were to, if I were to say the most likely thing, I think it's going to be

a trade down. I think the packers board might look pretty strong at number thirty, where if he can find a trade partner at thirty four, thirty five, thirty six, something like that, and pick up an extra, say an extra fourth round pick for an early pick on Saturday, and then still be able to get a guy in the mid thirties that he really really likes. That that's something that I see as as as being pretty likely. But as you said, West, we don't know what Brian

Goodakoins is going to do. I mean, heck, before he made his first draft pick as general Andrew, he made two trades. He was at fourteen and he traded back to then he traded up to eighteen and took Alexander. So anything and everything is on the table here for that pick at number thirty, So you're ready, you're ready for question number two? I am. I just want to tell a quick little story. Go back to two years

ago when they took JR. Alexander. I use that if if you the Green Bay, you know, media were allowed to go up when we are at lambeau Field and go get some food as soon as good concentrated out of fourteen. I was going upstairs to grab a taco and then certainly, you know, a couple of minutes later then or whatever it was, ten twenty minutes later, I got the notice, hey, they're moving back up to eighteen.

And for that reason, if you're at home you have tacos on the stove, be careful going and getting them because you don't know whether or not the Packers are going to make a move. Yeah, alrighty, al right, next question, Wes. We've heard a lot about the Packers the need for inside linebacker. It's pretty clear cut that once you get past ice As Simmons, who's going to be drafted in the top ten somewhere, maybe even as high as third overall to the Lions. I wouldn't put that past Detroit

by any stretch there. The next two bested inside linebacker Kenneth Murray and Patrick Queen. Murray from Oklahoma, Queen from l s U. Now, there's a really good chance both of those guys will be gone by number thirty. But the hypothetical is, if both of those guys are there at number thirty, and those are the best guys on your board, if you're Brian Goodakunst, which one do you take? Okay,

So that's a really good question. I would probably take Kenneth Murray just because I think he's a little bit Now trust me here, I understand there's boom er Bus prospects to both of these guys, but with Murray, I just think there's a little bit more Hay in the barn. I think you have a little bit more better of an idea of how he's going to project at the

next level. Patrick Queen could be the best inside linebacker of this group, though, and I include you know Simmons in that, who had an exceptional uh combine, But you just, you know, I don't think there's his many as much information out there as there is with Murray, who has been a day one starter for the Sooners and and made such a huge impact over the years and certainly uh, you know, as a guy that I think probably won't be there at thirty, but if the Packers would want

to trade up, you know, potentially could be there in the twenties. For that reason, I'm saying Murray. But Mike, I've said this all along. I go back to two thousand fourteen. I look at this as Shasy or Mosley. I don't think you can go wrong with either one of those guys. I think both of them are going to be exceptional pros. Yeah, I think so too. It it feels like you can't go wrong with either one. And I will also say that, as I have said an insider inbox, I don't think either one of these

guys is going to be there at thirty. I think they will both be drafted before the Packers are on the clock at thirty. But I'm with you. I think I leaned toward Murray just because of the experience factor. You have more to go on. Queen is a little bit more of a projection in terms of what type of pro he'll be. That's the funny thing, though, West. As much as it feels like you can't go wrong with either one of these guys, there's a pretty good chance based on draft history, that one of these guys

won't work out. So, um, you know, if you if you are faced whatever team, whether it's the Packers or someone else, who is in the market for a player like that, which if you're faced with that decision, it's still kind of a fifty fifty call because there's a there there's a chance that one of these guys, for one reason or another, could be injuries, could be anything else, doesn't end up working out. So yeah, yeah, and I can't I would love to be able to ask Brian

Good this question. I don't think you can because it's just too difficult in terms of getting an honest answer. But there was that report. I wish I could source the correct outlet that had it, but basically made the uh analogy drew the conclusion that for you know, whether you use a first round pick on inside lineback or a middle round pick, there really ends up being basically the same coin flip at that position of what that

player is going to turn into an inside linebacker. It's a very difficult spot to project because yes, it's one thing to have the football i Q, but you have to have the athleticism in two thousand twenty as well to be on the field all three downs. You see that with Murray and Queen, and that's the reason why we are talking about them as being those potential first round picks. Yeah, alright, My next question for you doesn't

involve specific names of picks, but as far as positions. Okay, you're Brian Goodakoons, You're sitting at thirty to pick, and when you are on the clock, the best players on your board are an offensive lineman and a defensive lineman, and you have them pretty much rated the same. Which

direction do you go? Probably gonna go the defensive line route, because I think if you look the way that they're built right now and how they're playing defense with Mike Petton, the front is so important not only to stopping the run, but you know, they look for penetration. They look for guys to get up and and get after the quarterback from those interior one and three technique defensive tackles. So

that's probably the way way I'm leaning. I also think that when you look at what happened with Kenny Clark four years ago, they were able to get a young prospect. They're a hungry prospect, a guy that had a lot of upside but was still only twenty years old at that time, and you've seen the player that Kenny Clark

has become. I want to see them be able as as we talked about in our draft preview of position preview, I want to see them be able to use him more, not situationally because he's an every down player, but be able to kind of pinpoint different areas where you want to have Kenny Clark on the field. I think getting

a defensive tackle does that. I believe as it stands right now, Ryan Wagner or excuse me, Ricky Wagner, is is enough there to be able to hold down the Ford at right tackle as it stands for me, you're asking me that question, same player. I look at defensive line because that's where they put the assets and the

resources in the past. Yeah, I agree with you. I think if that is ultimately the decision, Brian Goodakounts is making it thirty I I think he'd be inclined to go defensive lineman over offensive lineman for a lot of the reasons that you said, and and as I've stressed, this draft is not about figuring out how to beat the San Francisco forty Niners. But the achilles heel of this Packer his team a year ago was the run defense.

And I think, I think, if you have a chance, as I've continued to say all offseason, if you have a chance to get the next Kenny Clark at number thirty, similar to how the Packers got Clark at twenty six four years ago, I just don't think you can pass if you feel that way about that player. I just

don't think you can pass that up. For this defense and the long term potential that you would have, assuming you can resign Kenny Clark, you know, get him signed to an extension for the long term, and then to have uh, you know, a first round draft pick joining him side by side, potentially on that defensive line for several years to come. I think that's something that would

be really really hard to pass up. Yeah, I agree, and and and I just think of being able to get another type of player caliber athlete like Clark, a first round you know, pedigree would be really valuable for them to have two of those guys that could play three tech, uh, you know, get him in the nickel packages, get him in some of the dying packages or rotate them there. That would be really valuable right now, and that's where the money's at right now, Mike. You see

it across the league, Aaron Donald thing. That is for real, teams are no longer just looking for the edge rusher. They're looking for a defensive tackle that can collapse the pocket. They got one of them with Kenny Clark. I think a second one could really do wonders for that defense as well. All right, A lot of talk obviously all offseason about the wide receiver position. Where do you think

in this draft? And Brian Goodacuns, he said it after the NFC Championship game he's looking to add at receiver. He did add Devin Functious. I think he's clearly going to add at wide receiver in this draft, maybe with multiple picks. But my question for you right now is where do you see the Packers picking a wide receiver.

Do you think they'll pick one at thirty Do you think it will be the end of the second round when their pick comes up at the end of the third round, When do you think Brian Goodacuns ends up choosing a wide receiver for the first time in this draft? I think second round, I think they go back to

the well. I think they go back to what has served them in the past, and and that has been finding really legitimate, high level caliber receivers in the second round Randall Cobb, Greg Jennings, and now certainly you look at Jordy Nelson, what he did in two thousand and eight and now the franchise. Davante Adams. I think you need no matter how this shakes out, Mike, I think you need to use one in the first three rounds. The Packers have drafted a lot of receivers the last

few years, a lot of them. On Day three. I would love to see them be able to bring in a guy. And as I've said all along, my whole thing is I'm not expecting them, especially in this climate, to come in and just set the world on fire as rookies. But I want to get a young guy with really high upside and ceiling in that receiver's room with Davante Adams. Davante Adams is the best resource a young receiver can have right now in the National Football League.

He he knows what it's like to come up. He's worked with some tremendous veterans before. He's willing and open with his information and ability to help. And and the other thing is too that's great about it. You can find any franchise All Pro Pro Bowl receiver in this league. I mean this, Davante Adams is about his humble is a guys you're gonna find that is a legitimate superstar now at his position he is. You ask any of these guys not on the record, you can ask any

of them off the record how open he is. That's why I think if you can get a guy in there that's a first or second round talent and have Adams showed them the way and show them how this offense works with Aaron rodgers Man, that would be incredible for that players upside in the future. Yeah, I I will say I agree with you for the most part. I think the most likely is maybe the second round pick.

But I'll throw a couple of caveats in there. If my first prediction comes true that Brian Goodakun's trades back from thirty to somewhere in the mid to late thirties, I could see him you I could see him picking a wide receiver at the top of the second round because that's right where the Packers got Jordy Nelson back in two thousand and eight when Ted Thompson traded back

from thirty to thirty six. So while I don't think the Packers will necessarily use their thirty pick on a wide receiver, if that trade back into the top half of the second round happens, I could see it there.

The other thing I will say is that because of the depth of the receiver position in this draft class, which we've been hearing about a lot in this entire pre draft process from even before the Combine, through the Combine, and all the way up until now, the Packers pick at the end of the third round, it wouldn't surprise me if that becomes the first pick at wide receiver, because you might be able to get a guy there who would be similar to a guy that you would

get at the end of the second round in another year, and maybe the first round pick. The second round pick is the focus on the big guys, an offensive lineman, defensive lineman, for example, if those guys are there, and then the wide receiver becomes the pick at the end of the third round because of the depth at the position. So I think just because this year is such a unique year in terms of wide receiver as far as

what the analysts are saying. That's where as much as Brian Gudkins has talked about since the end of the season in adding at the wide receiver position, he may wait until very very late on Friday night before he actually does so in this draft. Yeah, and I wouldn't have an issue with that whatsoever. The other thing, just to be the devil's advocate here, you could also make a case for that first round pick the first time

in eighteen years using a first round pick. This is an incredibly deep draft or receiver talent, so you're gonna be able to get the pick of the litter in terms of what type of guy you want and taking them at that number thirty spot into One of the reasons why the Packers always went second round and more recently went late rounds with receivers is because of how

deep they were at that position. Not to say that they're not deep right now, but they don't have those proven assets like they did in the past, when you knew every single summer it was gonna be Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Davante Adams or James Jones that that it's

a little bit more wide open now. So if you do want to actually, as you were talking about in our intro here, bring in a guy to add to that room in that competition, the best way to get a top end prospect is to use that first round pick. Could be the first time in eighteen years where the Packers would look for a skill position player to take. Yeah, when you look at the three receivers that were added a couple of years ago, that was still when you had Davante Adams and Randall Cobb as your one to

the Packers don't have that right now. So that that's where again I think the equation is a little bit different at wide receiver in terms of how they're looking at it now versus maybe in some past years. Okay, one more I'm gonna throw at your West will wrap up on this one. The Packers are entering this draft with ten selections, one in each of the first five rounds and then five over the sixth and seventh rounds.

How many selections do you think the Packers will actually make when this is all said and done at the end of the weekend. Yeah, seventeen. Mike I'm gonna go at seventeen. Just just make your life complicated, you know, I'm gonna go with nine. I knew this question. We we did not talk about this. This show is unscripted, but I knew this question was coming. I'm gonna say nine because I think more than any other year, those

six and seventh rounders are going to be valuable. Uh It not necessarily in terms of like, Okay, you want to of it them and get as many as possible, but you're probably not off floading them the way they did in the past and throwing them in different trade packages. So I see them making those five picks in the

final two rounds. So I'm leaving myself on some leeway there for them to move up at some point, whether it's first round or second round, third round, you know, maybe taking one of those either the fourth or the fifth and moving around a little bit. But I'm gonna go with nine. I say they do make some kind of trade over the three days, and they throw a

pick in there to make it happen. Well, I had this question in this Mornings Inside or Inbox, which you probably haven't read yet, because I know you were dealing with your dog and all of his barking before we turned on the cameras today. But I actually said an insider inbox, my guests would be nine, and I said, it's a total guess. I really don't know. But what

I want you don't you're not sure. What I will say about guessing nine is that this isn't going to be just one trade that turns it from ten picks into nine. I think Goodakoots might make three or four or five trades in this draft where you know, you might go back here and then up here and then back again another time. I just think when it's all said and done, out of the ten selections, he's gonna end up with nine players. That's just my guests. But that being said, it wouldn't shock me if he ends

up with twelve players. It wouldn't shock me if he ends up with eight. You know, I mean, this could go, This could go any number of directions. Yes, I know, we're thinking about it for this weekend. Twelve Yeah, twelve

would make for a long weekend. But as I said, actually I wouldn't be surprised if that's uh, if that's how this comes out again, we'll just we'll just have to wait and see all the all the predictions, all the analysis, and everything goes out the window once that clock starts ticking on Thursday night, and then we really find out what these gms and personnel executives think of these players, because, as you know West, they've kept their

opinions to themselves. All the stuff you hear out there, you never know if it's something legitimate or if it's just a smoke screen, because these guys don't like their opinions to be to be out there in advance. We really start to find out come Thursday night. Yeah, and nor should they mike it. It's an incredible business that NFL scouts in general managers working now general manages a little different because it's a three and sixty five day job.

You're always looking at the roster. But in terms of these areas scouts and these college directors, their entire year, their salary, all the money that they've the organization is spent, put him in hotels and going to protas it all boils down to this moment, getting as much information as you can, and certainly there's a benefit to that information in the long run, but in terms of your studying for this test, so yeah, I wouldn't be given away my secrets either if I was, you know, someone that's

investing all my time and energy into these prospects. Now that being said, and as you also mentioned, we don't know who the Packers are gonna take, but it's always fun because, especially in the first round and a little bit into the second, we all have our idea of who's going to be on the board. For example, I mentioned those players that every mock draft I've taken have been there. That's Brandon Iuk, the receiver from a s U. Uh,

that's Nevill Gallimore. That's Ross Blacklock, the TCU defensive tackle that you like so much, Ezra Cleveland out of Boise State, the offensive tackle offensive toime and Zack Bond from Wisconsin, who there's some questions about where he'll play at the next level, but considered a very explosive athlete. So as is that if the Packers sit at thirty, those are all the names that are gonna be in the back of my head. But there's always going to be that

Kenny Clark or uh, you know, even Damarius Randall. Guys that I did not anticipate being that pick end up getting the call. That's the beauty of the draft, that's the mystery of the draft, and it's the reason why we'll all be glued to our seats on Thursday night. Yeah. Absolutely, well, we will wrap up this edition of Packers Unscripted for now. I will just let all the fans know, be sure to stay with our website on Packers dot com all

the way through Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We're gonna have bulletin stories as soon as the pick is made. We're gonna have instant reaction videos, will have more in depth stories when we hear from the Picks and hear from Brian Gudakunston. Conference calls will have three things videos, We'll have photo galleries and highlight packages, all kinds of stuff. Every time

the Packers make a pick. There's going to be a ton of content up there on Packers dot com, So be sure to tune in and between now and then, West and I are gonna get some rest because it's gonna be a busy three days. We are looking forward to it. We're gonna be uh, we're gonna be working our tails off all the way along. So Weston, get your rest, man. It's uh, it's Finally, here, these three days,

it has arrived. I've been waiting for this moment. Mike, give us some content, give us some new prospects to talk about. It's gonna be an exciting weekend, all right. Well, thank you for tuning in. Everybody to Packers Unscripted. We will see you next time.