Hi, everyone, Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted Social Distancing Style from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by the one and only West Hodkowitz. We're coming to you from our humble abodes as we have for the last several weeks. And West, we're now a week a full week essentially after the draft, and you and I have been getting to work here a little bit on the phones. We're trying to track down, you know, college coaches other past connections to the Packers
draft picks. We've got some stories that are coming up on Packers dot com with regards to that. And the first one is today, it's already on the website as a matter of fact, and it's Boston College running back A. J. Dillon. I happened to track down his running backs coach from Boston College who's now at Colorado State. His name is Brian White, and for Wisconsin Badger fans you would certainly
recognize White. He is the running best coach and former offensive coordinator for the Wisconsin Badgers during the Ron Dane era. And uh, he wasn't necessarily going to make any comparisons between Ron Dane and a J. Dillon, But pretty interesting that that the Packers second round pick is was coached
by the same guy who coached a Heisman Trophy winner. Yeah, and and this is the guy that again you're not making comparisons too, but when you look at the way he's built, the way he runs his vertical, his forty uh, there's so many things that Ron Dane did well that I think you see with a J. Dillon. Now, Dylan gonna look to go on above and beyond that here at the next level. But it was really enlightening as
I read this story. Mike listening to White kind of recounts some of his favorite tales what stood out to him during his career, and he did mention something that I've been talking about quite a bit over the last week, and that's you look at this young man two or forty seven pounds, six ft all you might have an image in your mind of what that looks like, and then you see a J. Dillon and it blows it out of the freaking water. I mean, this guy he
even I think he used the word tree trunks. You know, when you look at his legs and the way that he's built in his lower half, an impressive physical specimen who at Boston College had a really incredible run and now obviously getting the chance to come to Green Bay, Wisconsin and hopefully build upon that now is a second round draft choice. Yeah, it was really interesting talking to White because I asked him not knowing a whole lot
about Dylan's background. Before he got to Boston College, he was the top rated player in the state of Massachusetts, and Brian White was involved in recruiting him, and it was interesting just getting his perspective on how he got to know A. J. Dillon. And I asked him just about his size, like, well, when he was coming out of high school, like what, you know, how big was He's like, well, he was actually about two forty two or two forty five, Like he was really that size.
And he told kind of a funny story that during the recruiting process, they were giving, uh, the Dylan family a tour of Fenway Park in Boston, obviously a great sports landmark in in that city. And at the time, Dylan's younger sister was about five years old, and she was getting kind of, you know, tired and cranky, you know, like kindergarteners might do, and whatnot, and um so, Dylan picked her up. She fell asleep in his arms, and he carried her around Fenway Park for forty five minutes
during during the entire tour. So um so, yeah, I guess you need to be a tun and forty pound muscularly strong high school kid to carry a kindergartener around a major league ballpark for nearly an hour. I just I gotta kick out of that story anyway. I encourage everybody to, uh check it out. It's it's it's fun to listen to the memories of some of these coaches who have been involved with these players in their past. Yeah,
it was funny. That was probably one of my favorite parts of the story too, because you just imagine what that's like for ninety minutes or whatever it is. I don't care what kind of drills you're doing in the weight room to get yourself ready for that. That that taxes the muscles. And obviously it was a comfortable enough ride that the young lady was able to fall asleep.
But uh yeah. The other thing too about Dylan in terms of what I took away from the story, the way that he approaches the game, the way he works at it and also how he goes about you know, not just not just putting on film what he's done, but where he wants to grow. I think it's something
that stands out still. A young guy, guy that did leave Boston college year early now getting a chance to you know, potentially, you know, really have a huge impact now with this Green Bay backfield, it is built for him to to make an impact sooner rather than later. Yeah. Well, as I said, over the next week or two, West and I are going to be posting some stories, follow up stories on these draft picks, catching up with some of their past connections. A. J. Dillon is on the
site today, so be sure to check that out. Um. What's the other thing I thought we'd get to here before the week is out is to take a look at the Packers NFC North foes and what they did in the draft, because there's a lot of differences in terms of the draft capital. These teams had their targets, what they went after, how they went about it. Um, I guess we'll just start with the Minnesota Vikings. Fifteen
draft picks. West the largest seven round draft class in the short history of the seven round draft, and they actually could have had even more, but they made some trades and got some extra picks for next year. I think they're actually heading into the one draft with a dozen picks already. So uh. But Minnesota, they lost a lot of guys for they traded their number one wide receiver, they lost guys in free agency, other guys for salary cap reasons. This was a huge rebuild, retool type of
draft for the Minnesota Vikings. They have a big, big rookie class they do. And I just want to tell this quick story. I know there's reveries with Packer fans, Vikings fans, NFC North. We are very friendly though with our with our colleagues on other NFL team websites. Yeah, I had a good laugh with Kim and Polito who used to work with us over at the Packers now she's over at the Vikings. Also Lindsay Young, who's one
of the reporters and writers over at the Vikings. Kind of in Eric Smith as well, just given them a little bit of flak last Saturday night on enjoy that last third day in all of those draft picks that they ended up with, because as you and I well know, Mike, if the Packers would have had fifteen, we would have probably parceled them out a little bit or pushed them together. So we didn't write fifteen stories. But there's still fifteen draft picks, and that's fifteen human beings that you have
to account for in your coverage. A lot of information to process, for sure. I remember two thousand thirteen when the Packers drafted whatever that was twelve guys. That class was a nightmare and I ended up, I am, out of all the drafts I've covered, that is the least proud I've ever been of any coverage I've ever done. I mean, for cripe sakes, I think I ended up saying like Micah Hyde was a character concern or something. It's just the most ridiculous things that I think I
could have ever written in my life. But regardless, that's what happens when you have thirteen picks. That's a little insight into what media is like. But looking at the on field aspect of this, the Vikings defense just went through a massive overhaul, specifically on the defensive side of
the ball. So to get Jeff Gladney at number thirty one, the cornerback on the TCU, I mean, these are the type of moves they need to make, and certainly when you trade a guy of the talent of Stefon Diggs, I know there were a lot of Packer fans that
were upset that they took Justin Jefferson. Listen, folks, the Vikings don't get Justin Jefferson if they don't subtract Stefon Diggs as just arithmetic of the NFL exactly, they essentially swapped the number one receivers they sent, sent their guy to Buffalo, and then they drafted a number one receiver with that pick that they got from Buffalo. Yeah, and that's just the way that you know, the cookie crumbles sometimes in this league. And then you know, as we're
Cleveland was a guy I was really high on. I think Troy dies a good prospect for them in the fourth round once you got to the sixth round. I don't Nate Stanley, I know is from I believe man Nominie, Yes, Manomonie, Wisconsin. Yeah. I got a chance to talk with him a little bit. I know his family is incredibly excited about that. But beyond that, I don't know anything about the rest of these guys, but that the first two rounds, specifically I think there's a lot of talent there that's gonna be
able to help the Vikings. Yeah, I mean it was pretty it was pretty simple to as much as we thought the Packers draft was somewhat unpredictable, it was pretty simple to figure out Minnesota's strategy here. You know, they drafted Justin Jefferson after they you know, traded Stefon Diggs. They've always been for the last several years, they've been
trying to retool that offensive line. So they spend a high pick on a on an offensive tackle in Ezra Cleveland from Boise State, and then losing three of their top four cornerbacks in free agency Trey Wayne, Zavier Rhodes, Mackenzie Alexander all gone. So two of Minnesota's top four picks in this draftwork cornerbacks. They got gladni from TC. You they got Danceler from Mississippi State, So Minnesota has some guys there they could potentially be stepping in to
play right away as rookies and moving on. Then the Detroit Lions, the top of their draft is very similar in that respect because you look at you look at taking Jeff okuda Um at number three overall, the top cornerback, top defensive back in this draft out of Ohio State. Then they also get DeAndre Swift, the running back from Georgia and Julian Okwara and edge rusher from Notre Dame.
He's now the guy that looks like they'll be pairing with Trey Flowers as far as the two guys they will have on opposite edges to get after the quarterback. Those are three guys for the Detroit Lions who could be stepping in right away to play on Day one as well. Yeah, and Jonah Jackson to the guard from Ohio State, another other guy that could potentially be thrown in there. They've been want to play offensive lineman as rookies quite often here the last few years. So it's
another guy. Uh Aqua A great story obviously, Romeo is already on the team. Chance for brothers to reunite their you love that. Obviously, We'll have to see how it plays out for them. Defensively, they had a lot of work to do. Both of those brothers they went. They both went to Notre Dame too right they were. They were both for the fighting Irish. But Romeo was what a sixth round pick I don't think he was definitely right.
He was later in the draft for sure. Yeah, yeah, but but yeah then I mean going with the cornerback from Ohiouse State. I saw a stat out there, Mike, did you notice that too? I think they said he was the highest taken, our highest drafted cornerback. Was that like twenty five years or something like that too? Yeah, the third overall? Um, yeah, that was That's that's going
back to like the Dion Sanders age. Maybe, And if you're talking to five years ago, if we weren't unscripted, I would have done more research and look it up. But but that something, folks, I'm sure in the future here, as we write about him more and more, we'll have that. DeAndre Swift was one of my favorites in this draft. He did not end up going as far as the first running back selected, like I think some people thought, including myself. But still listen, Mike, they've been doing this
for years. It's been a carousel. They're trying to find somebody at that running back position that they can count on. It looked like at points carry On Johnson was that individual. He got hurt, really wasn't able to get that momentum back last season. So DeAndre Swift he's the next guy. I mean, you look at how many resources that the Lions have invested in the first and second round with the running backs over the last fifteen twenty years. It
has been extraordinary in this path through. I mean, I guess in some regards say still replaced Barry Sanders. I don't know the last time that they've had a running back, you know, maybe uh yeah, I'm trying to think the last time they've had a running back just back to back back, you know, consistent year after year. You know, this is the guy. They've been battling that for a number of years, and they hope that, you know, maybe
finally this carousel ends on the Georgia running back. Yeah, they keep trying to they keep trying to find that feature back, and they keep trying different guys. Sometimes it's sometimes it's been injuries. Sometimes it's been more of that that flash in the pan type of thing that then it doesn't work out for the long term. So um Detroit keeps, uh keeps trying to find that a steady,
consistent running game to put behind Matthew Stafford. I thought it was interesting because there was so much talk about the Lions possibly trading back from the number three overall spot that they were they were going to try to, you know, get a king's ransom, so to speak, for that pick when everybody knew Joe Burrow was going number one, Chase Young was going number two, so then you have your pick of everybody else, anybody else starting at number three.
But it sounds like they just they were going to give the number three pick away just to get some extra picks. It sounds like they just never really got an offer that was very interesting to them. Yeah, what probably hurt the Lions here is to uh in the hip injury. You think if he's healthy, there would have been a team that would have potentially moved up there. Heck it might have even been the Dolphins for all
we know. Yeah. Absolutely, But the thing is is with all those question marks and with not having the typical metal medical checks. There were some medical checks they were able to do, but not having your your full resources, that's a big investment teams have to make to be able to move up that spot. So they stick with where they are. What an interesting day this is though, with Akuda coming in now there and then gladly with
the Vikings. For so many years, it was all about you know, Xavier Rhodes and you know and Darius Slay and those were the guys every year, Mike, when the Packers would play the Lions and the Vikings. We do our little scouting reports, we do our little previews on unscripted. We're always talking about them. We're talking about the matchup with Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams and occasionally Randall Cobb.
It's a new day and seeing how both of those defenses, the Lions coming from a place where they need to improve and the Vikings looking to maintain, that's gonna be a big question mark for both of those squads going into Yeah. Well, the team in the NFC North that had the least draft cap a heading any of the heading into this was the Chicago Bears. They were short
on picks. They were still essentially paying for Khalil Mack because of the trade of the first round pick that was included in the mac deal with Oakland, and then they were also down a um a pick i believe from the third round round for the for the David Montgomery pick from last year when they when they got him to add to their backfield. We know, the big story in Chicago from now until whenever the season starts is what's going to happen at quarterback. They brought in
Nick Foles. It's gonna be Nick Foles against Mitchell Travisky and all that. But boy, if there's one thing that head coach Matt Naggi is trying to figure out with his offense, it's he wants tight ends. He wants to build a lot of his offense there. They signed Jimmy Graham as a free as a free agent after the Packers released him, and then their first draft pick in the second round, they used on Cole Commet, who was pretty much considered the top tight end in this draft
out of Notre Dame. And I think I saw that the Bears have something like nine or ten tight ends on their roster right now, so they're they're trying to sort that out. But other than quarterback, their two biggest offseason moves are trying to rebuild that tight end position. Yeah, and let's be honest here, Mike about something. The way that the Chicago Bears have worked. You go back a couple of years ago when when Mitchell Robinski. Everybody was so high on him and they thought that the ceiling
was there. They thought they saw the glimpses in two thousand and eighteen. A lot of it had to do with Trey Burton in the production that they got from the tight end position in the middle of the field. They did not have that outlet last year for one reason or another. Adam Sheheen has not really worked out for them. The big tight end that they got from Ashland that they spent a second round draft pick on a few years ago, that's Uncourt. He's been a bus
to this point. So you have the big injury there with Burton that took away a massive weapon. You don't know what his prognosis is going to be. They obviously released him and we'll see where he falls now. I think he's working through that hip injury, still trying to get cleared from that. So they go and get Jimmy Graham. Fine first step tight end. Whatever Packer fans think, there aren't a whole lot of them out there in terms
of dynamic playmakers at that position. Cole commit, as you said, unanimously, the top tight end of this draft. If we need any further evidence of that look at how far Adam
Troutman ended up falling. This is the guy. Commit was the guy, great size for the position, six ft six two and sixty pounds, a two sport college athlete, and from all intents and purposes, where while there is a transition to be had there for tight ends moving into the National Football League, his transition should be relatively seamless. It appears. I mean, he has an NFL bill to
begin with. He's a solid pass catcher, he can make plays on fifty fifty balls, and he's a good enough in terms of the blocking that I think they're gonna have something to work with their in terms of fundamentals. But this is it, Mike. This is the year that I think that, like the Bears, if they're going to do anything, if they're going to be the team that everybody thought they were going to be a year ago,
they need to of it this season. Yes, they'll be getting some more draft capital coming up here in the next few seasons, but let's be honest, my what happened last year shouldn't have happened. They were expected to be a powerhouse, not only in the NFC North, but in the entire conference, and it didn't happen. There's questions at cornerback, there's questions that receiver, there's questions at tight end, and
obviously the Mitchell Troubinsky question. So many things that they have to answer between now at the beginning of the regular season. Yeah, and they seem to be also, you know, searching the availability right now to add some speed onto the field and with it. Just within the last few days, they've signed Trevor Davis, the former wide receiver for the Packers, and they've signed the the veteran Ted Bean Jr. So you know, they no longer have Taylor Gabriel, they let
him go. You know, they're they're they're trying. They're trying to piece it together and and get Matt Naggy the the offense, the style, the types of players that he wants, but they still haven't quite figured it out at quarterback yet. This whole, this whole fulls Trubisky thing is going to be the story of the off season in Chicago. I don't know what it's gonna look like. I really don't. I don't know what their offense is gonna look like. I don't know what their season is gonna look like.
You could ask me every year, you know, how do I think the division is gonna play out? Not that I'm some kind of soothsayer, far from it, but usually you have a relative idea of how these things are going to play out, what the division is gonna look like in December, the Bears could be anywhere. Honestly, I'm not sure because you know, the Vic Fangio defense, it still was pretty darn good under Chuck Pagano last year,
but you know, you subtracted Prince and Mukamara others. There's so many things that are going to change their ha ha. Clinton dis moved on again, so we'll see. And that was I was gonna say to Just like the Packers other NFC North foes, the Bears took a top pick at cornerback because they had an additional second round pick. They took Jalen Johnson, the cornerback out of Utah. As you said, Prince and Mukamara is gone, so they needed
a replacement there. The defensive backfields across the NFC north West gonna look really really different in compared to even just last year or the year before. As you said a couple of minutes ago, it's a New Day in that regard in this division for the Packers and what Aaron Rodgers is going to be looking at across the
line of scrimmage. Yeah. And if you wanted to know what people still think of Aaron Rodgers the amount of assets and capital that has been put into the cornerback position by the other three NFC North teams, it's uh, it's still a big, big, big emphasis. Yeah, no doubt about it. Well, with that, we will call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and all of these draft pick follow up stories I was talking about.
Those will beyond packers dot Com in the coming days and weeks. Enjoy your weekend everybody. For west I Mike, take care and we will see you next time.