#533 Packers Unscripted: Rodgers' reaction, more on rookies

Late last week we heard from quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He spoke publicly on a conference call with Wisconsin media for the first time since the Packers drafted Jordan's Love and changed the whole dynamic at quarterback, and all of the speculation about Aaron Rodgers future and the Packers future was thrown up in the air. What was your initial reaction to what the quarterback had to say. Well, first and foremost,

I did a radio interview with Jason will They right afterwards. Uh, And the thing I told him was that I felt like Rogers hit it out of the park. I thought he hit all of the notes he needed to hit. Aaron Rodgers obviously knows he has to be accepting of Jordan's Love because, as he said, Jordan's Love didn't ask to come to Green Bay, he didn't ask to be drafted. And as I wrote an insider inbox on Saturday, all the young man is asking for is an opportunity to

learn and he has that now. With Aaron Rodgers. This is an ego game. I get it. There are there are big personalities there. You know, when you're playing at this level and there's this amount of athleticism and elite competition, it only makes sense that there's gonna be chips on shoulders and you know, you feel wrong, do you feel right at whatever? But the thing is is that Aaron

Rodgers is still very much the man. Matt Lafleur, speaking after Aaron Rodgers, talked about how much they need him right now if they're going to be able to win the championships. They feel like this team can still achieve. But at the same time, I thought it was important that Rogers also pointed out that his goals have not changed. He still wants to play into his forties. He still believes as long as his love of playing, his health is where it needs to be, that he can be

one of the top quarterbacks in this league. And he's looking forward to having the opportunity to prove that. What happens in these next four or five years, certainly they're gonna have huge implications for the future of the franchise. Whether it's Rogers Love or anyone else who's going to be quarterback of this team going into the next decade.

But the fact remains that right now it's Aaron Rodgers and it's Jordan's Love, and they need those two pieces to work together if they're gonna be able to get this team in the immediate to where it needs to go. Yeah, like the main things that I took out of what he said, I mean, one, I think he's very excited and very fired up about the two thousand twenty Packers and where this team can go. He knows where he is in Matt Lafleur system coming off of the first year,

moving into the second year. He did mention he has a lot of confidence in the receivers. I'm sure he would have liked to have seen another high draft pick brought in at receiver. I mean a lot of people did, but Okay, it didn't happen. He's gonna work with what he has. He's excited about Devin Functious, the free agent signing in terms of Roger's own long term future playing and simple I thought he was just being a realist.

He understands the situation, and I thought he laid out in in very clear terms that he just feels the main thing is he's lost whatever control he might have had over his desire, his his very long stated desire to start and finish his career with the Green Bay Packers. That's not really entirely in his hands anymore. I think what when unset a little bit is that he, as he has openly said many times, he plans to play into his forties. He'd like to play his entire career

with one team. I think because of what Brett Farve went through and Aaron Rodgers was right in the middle of that, I think Rogers was trying to keep as much control of that narrative as he could by being open about his plans and how long he intends to play and how long he wants to play, because he saw far going back and forth on retirement and that very much played into the Packers decision to draft Rogers in the first place. So, yeah, so he lost some

of that control um in what happened here. But okay, it's it's like, all right, I'll get over it and it's time to move on with the team. And right now the focus iss he's not as much focused on his long term future anymore because that much more of it is out of his hands. Yeah, and I think that was an important point you raised there when you look at the long term outlook and where he's been

he has. It is one of the reasons why I said all along, I thought the Packers would wait, you know, with the quarterback situation, because it is an apples to apples as far as Rogers and far. At the same time, I think the game is changing a little bit. I think you're gonna start seeing more teams being you know, down with the idea that we might take a quarterback in the first round, we might take one in the top ten. But we gotta let this young man develop.

He can't just be a week one starter. We can't expect him to be a week one starter. And it goes back to you look at what's happening with two right now with Miami. I don't think the doll has had any plan. You know, if everything stays healthy with Ryan Fitzpatrick, they want to give him the year to be able to develop. The Green Bay Packers are gonna want to give Jordan's love time to develop because as

much as sometimes that sink or swim mentality. It does pay off, sometimes it doesn't, and then you start looking at guys. You know, obviously the last few years there's been some good examples of it where if you would have just given this young man a little bit more time, could you have gotten a different quarterback in the long run. I think that's something that needs to be considered. And then the other thing too, Uh you mentioned talking about the receivers when I said Rogers hit it out of

the park. It goes along with what he said about this year's roster as well. He still feels like this is a team that can compete for championships in two thousand and twenty. You look at Alan Lazard. He talked about this guy being an up and coming playmaker in this league. He made it a point, Honestly, Mike, I felt like probably the most salient point he made in the entire news conference forty minutes long, was saying that he has all the confidence in the world and Marquisveld

is scantling. The Packers need to get MBS back to where he was playing in two thousand and eighteen when he had that confidence, that swagger, because he's a home run threat that you weren't gonna be able to just find in the draft. I mean, guys that run a four three seven and have that down field ability, they just aren't just sitting out there waiting to be taken. You need to be able to develop that. Those guys need to have those natural traits. E q st. Brown,

you can go on and on. Obviously, Mr consistency. Jake Kumro probably just needing a few more opportunities to show what he can do. And then you throw in the running backs and the tight ends. The Packers do have weapons. I thought there was a point on Twitter I saw a couple of days ago. You know this isn't like this is like the Jake Plumber Cardinals where it's just there's no weapons for Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, Aaron Jones. The list goes on and on of guys that they

can move the football with. But making sure that those young guys on this roster understand that there's a huge opportunity for you guys to be able to not only grab roles, but really become stars in this league. With the quarterback that the Packers have, if you can grab that brass rank yeah, absolutely, and one other point I want to make before we move on, just with regard to Rogers acknowledging he's lost a little bit of maybe

the control of his long term future. He was not looking for any sympathy or anything like that in terms of in terms of those thoughts, He's very well aware that you know, Joe Montana and now Tom Brady and other you know Peyton Manning, other quarterbacks like that Hall of Famers did not play their entire careers with one team.

So he knows that if this does happen down the road and he moves on from the Packers, but he still wants to play, and the Packers have decided to turn the reins over to Jordan's love whenever that might be, he knows he's not going to be the first, So he's not looking for any sympathy in that regard. He's simply acknowledging that it's that much more of a reality now because of the decision the Packers made. Well, and the thing I said, and it was two thousand fourteen,

and I made this point on unscripted. I've certainly made it an inbox before, but it was two thousand and fourteen that proved to me that Aaron Rodgers, barring any type of injury, is going to be able to play into the to his forties because of how he evolved into a pocket pastor when he did have the calf injury and he wasn't able to extend plays the way he did in the past, I thought that was a bright spot for his future in this league and his

ability to play into his late thirties and into his forties. The thing we have to acknowledge and understand because there's some people that pointed out too well, it's no certainty if you take a quarterback in the first round if they're going to develop into a Pro Bowl or an All Pro. But that's every position. It isn't just exclusive to quarterback. Packers could have taken anybody at twenty six.

They could have taken anybody at thirty. It doesn't necessarily mean that that guy was going to become the be all end all in this offense or defense. So for the Packers, what you have to do, if you're Brian Goodin's you have to trust your eye. You have to be like, Okay, I like what I see on film with Jordan's loved this guy is the best prospect for us where we're drafting, We're gonna take that route with the understanding that Aaron Rodgers is our quarterback. Aaron Rodgers

could be the quarterback for the next six years. We don't know. Jordan's Love is an investment in the few, Sure, he's an investment in the present and more than anything else. For the first time in Aaron Rodgers tenure as a starting quarterback, the Packers have a bona fide and credential first round draft pick behind him. Now that's the most decorated backup they've had since a guy named Aaron Rodgers.

All things that you have to consider, Yeah, absolutely and uh and talk about what I think is going to be a great situation for Jordan's Love to be walking into. Well, um, moving on to excuse me. We've been continuing to post some follow up stories on the Packers draft picks, catching up with their college coaches and other contacts in their past. You have a story that is now up on our website on the seventh round selection, the first of the

two seventh round selections. That's TCU safety Vernon Scott. So I will toss you the question that I threw at you last week. What was your favorite little story, little anecdote that you heard when you were looking into Mr Scott's past. So I had a chance to talk with Paul Gonzalez from TCU, the safety's coach, but he also is the guy that recruited Vernon Scott to TCU out of high school. His high school is about a half an hour away from campus, so this was kind of

a no brainer for them. He was mostly a basketball player, that was his first sport. Came to football late. Really, it wasn't until his senior year that he dedicated him not really dedicated himself, but established himself as Okay, I'm going to be a college football player. That's where my future lies. When he was in high school, they used

them strictly as basically a shutdown cornerback. They tried that when he got to TCU, but they did Certaday determined that his best option as far as playing on defense, is going to be if he moves to safety. This guy, first and foremost was a tremendous special teams player. Mike. From a defensive perspective, he probably could have read shirted his first year on campus, but as Gonzalez said, we

needed him on special teams. He played basically the core four units from day one, but the problem was with some of the depth that they had in the in the second area, and also the fact of just his own personal development as a young guy adjusting to playing defensive back. It took time for him to get into the lineup. But the thing you understand with Vernon Scott is how beloved this guy is. He was one of

the most popular guys in TCUs locker room. Just an absolute try hard, put everything into what he did, and he happens to be six ft two and about two five pounds. This is a big safety that can do a lot of things for you. A couple of different moments stepped out jumped out to Gonzalez. Certainly you look at the play sheet, it's that game against Oklahoma, the nine yard interception return for a touchdown. But it was the little things along the way, just seeing those small

victories for him. This is a guy that never complained about playing time. He never tried to transfer because he wasn't on defense. He just followed the process, trusted it, and then it ended up leading to him having a starting, full,

you know, fledged job. His senior year moved a little bit between strong and free safety ended up finishing it strong, and that's the position Gonzalez feels that's really gonna be where his future lies in this league and in what his base starting point will be in addition to his efforts on spec teams. Yeah, I can't even imagine how much fun it would be to intercept a pass and

return at yards for a touchdown, especially against Oklahoma. And you play at when in Norman, when you play at TCU in Fort Worth, so that that had to be quite a thrill for that young man. Well, I've posted a story on the Packers other seventh round pick, edge rusher Jonathan Garvin from Miami six ft four fifty seven pounds. I believe the really interesting thing with him. I talked with Manny Diaz who is now the head coach with the Miami Hurricanes. Um he rose to that position last year.

The previous two years he was Miami's defensive coordinator, so he was there for all and very much involved in Garvin's three year career with Miami. And the thing that Manny Diaz can kept saying, he kept using the word upside, and I know that that's that's an overused word it's a common word that's used with draft picks. But here's the thing. West, Jonathan Garvin arrived at Miami as a seventeen year old. He's now entering the NFL as a

twenty year old. He's still had a year left. This is this is a young man who still has so much in front of him that there's no telling exactly where the ceiling is. And I think that's why the Packers invested the last of their nine draft picks at the end of the seventh round in this young man. Diaz talked specifically about Garvin's freshman year now as a true freshman, you know, seventeen year old, just turned just turning eighteen at the time. He was getting playing time

on defense as a true freshman for Diaz. And there was a three game stretch of that freshman year. And this is in the meat of Miami schedule, not the early season non conference pushovers, but in the meat of their schedule. He had a three game stretch where he had a block punt, he had a strip sack, and then he had a strip sack the following week. And he actually recovered the fumbles on both of the strip sacks himself. He's just started to show up very very

early in his career with this playmaking potential. And that's the that's the kind of thing that the Packers are latching onto here with this late round draft pick, to just see how high does this does this ceiling go. His best year at Miami, his sophomore year two thousand and eight teen, he had seventeen seventeen and a half tackles for lost, five and a half sacks. The sacks state about the same his junior years third season with five.

The tackles for lost dropped in his overall tackle total drop. So another example of how development isn't always linear. Things don't always go in a straight line. But the potential is the potential is there. And yes, he entered the draft early. He waited all the way until the seventh

round to get picked. That would certainly indicate another year in college might have helped his game, but he made the decision that he wanted to make, and uh, and the Packers are gonna see what exactly they can tap into as this young man starts his pro career. Yeah, and into garbage credit to I mean, he didn't want to go into specifics and we did talk about this little bit, but you know, there were family, there are personal considerations in mind when he did make that decision

to go out. The thing that I keep coming back to, though, Mike, is that two thous an eighteen season, because as you said, that was kind of his breakout year, his tackles for loss or through the roof a lot of pressures and certainly trying to develop. Now is is a finisher with the sacks. But he did that at nineteen years old, and this is a guy that won't turn twenty one until July. Uh. We didn't have access to Mike Smithy

at the Packers outside linebackers coach. You know, Frankly, I don't know win that's gonna happen, just based on this whole COVID deal. But I wish I could have been from a socially acceptable distance. I wish I could have been in that room with him when they drafted Garvin because you have to imagine with how excited he was last year when the Packers claimed Tim Williams. He has to turn on the film of Garvin and be really

energized by what he sees with this young man. And the beautiful thing about it much like the whole Jordan Love deal with Aaron Rodgers, although certainly the pedigrees are a little bit different. You're talking about a first rounder versus seventh rounder. But this is a guy that isn't gonna have to come in and just be a stud. He played right off the bat at Miami. He probably is not going to have to do that in Green Bay.

He's going to have time to develop. You have Preston Smith, you have za Darius Smith in Rashaan Gary, who is the twelfth overall pick last year. That is gonna be the meat and potatoes right now. If this packers pass rush, but you put a young man like that in that room. Tim Williams is still here, there's a huge opportunity for someone to grab onto that last you know, fourth spot or fifth spot. However they do it, but typically end up at least having four that spot that Tyler Facral vacated.

You know. Also with Randy Ramsey coming back on the practice squad after a full year. I like that competition that's brewing, and certainly there are a lot of unknowns with Garvin. He needs to be able to show the strides to be able to make that move to be in a stand up outside rusher. But that being said, as a seventh round pick, Mike, this is what you look for. You look for flyers, and Garvin certainly has a lot of upside and ceiling that he looks to

fulfill now in Green Bay. Yeah, no doubt about it. Well, Wes, you told us before we turn the cameras on you've been having some internet trouble and we've gotten this far without any issues. So I think we're gonna call it a Packers unscripted exactly. Let's just let's get out of year and and call it a show. So thank you for tuning in, everybody for Wes. I am Mike. Stay safe and we will see you next time. Yeah,