#542 Packers Unscripted: Promising progress

glorious beard. I can't, and it wasn't gifted with that ability like so many of our colleagues here at Packers dot com. But the thing was, as I was explained to you and some of our other stuff, when you have to wear a mask for two and a half hours, like we did for the last twelve practices, and you have a nose like I have, it is really difficult

to keep that thing on your face. The facial are allowed me to do that, And then the benefit was I think you and I only did like two of these during that whole duration, so people didn't have to see the beer that often. I was kind of protected from it, but I got the extra security, the extra hold that I was looking for to be able to get through those practices with a mask on my face.

All right. Well, since we last spoke in this setting, the uh, the Packers actually skipped today of practice to discuss some social justice issues that was certainly a big topic around the league and around the sports world last week. But then as the Packers resumed getting back to practice Friday, Saturday, Sunday Sunday was a big day. It was uh a close to full contact practice inside lambeau Field. The first unit's offense and defense ran about fifty plays against one another.

It was the most eleven on eleven in a single practice that the Packers have had. They had the ambient crowd noise there in lambeau Field, trying to simulate a game situation as much as possible, and in a training camp with no preseason games. West Sunday afternoon at lambeau Field was was the closest thing to address rehearsal that the Packers are going to have before the upcoming Week one matchup in Minnesota. Yeah, and it really was. It

felt like a game day. I mean, even you and I walk into the building, the security staff was was handling it like it was going to be a game day. Just to give everybody those repetitions before we all get used to something that's gonna be very different this year with these regular season games. The coaches, as you pointed out, with some of them more in the press box, Matt Laflora, is headset down on the field. I believe you have

the play sheet out. They did everything unscripted, no pun intended, Uh, just because they wanted to make sure that they at least get these guys used to it. There's gonna be rookies that are going to be involved in this offense and defense. There's going to be young players that are gonna be getting used to new roles. They need to be able to have some semblance of normalcy before going into US Bank Stadium for that opener against the Minnesota Vikings.

I think that practice accomplished that. The one thing that really hit home with me, Mike. I don't know if you really thought about this too often, but just how different this training camp looked. And it's not just the three practices inside lambeau Field. There were no half line drills like you and I have always become, you know,

grown accustomed to over the years. Uh. They were very deliberate in their seven on seven routes on air periods, they dedicated more time to eleven on eleven and that was never more evident than that practice at lambeau Field. To move the ball periods, I believe both Tim Boyle and also Jordan's love getting three series of piece in addition to all the work that Aaron Rodgers did, they thudded.

They didn't go to the ground like a traditional scrimmage, but being able to actually go through the process, understand what it's like, have the full uniform on. I think there was a lot of benefits to that. And then obviously the most the biggest thing the fact that there's no fans there, and there's going to be no fans

there for the first month of the season. You have to be able to not only get yourself, you know, prepared and energized, but also get used to that ambient noise at the NFL is piping in which to my ear taste was very extreme. Yeah, it was when I know later in the practice they toned it down a little bit, but when it first started it was kind of like, holy cow, like, how can you hear anything out there? I mean, it was it was noisy. It

was definitely loud. I thought it was gonna be the longest two hours of my life, Mike, I'm not lying that first team period, and it was funny. Matt Lafleur even mentioned it, like, it was the same decibel level is what they had it set to in the previous practice, but for whatever reason, it was much louder. And unfortunately they did tone it down a little bit and I was able to hear myself breathe. Yeah. Well, Matt Lafleur did say after Sunday's practice that this week the Packers

are transitioning. Even though roster cuts roster reduction is not until Saturday, there's still one week here, but they're transitioning into more of a regular season mode in terms of what practice is going to be. Like. There's still gonna be some competitive eleven on eleven, but there's also going to be in the practices coming up here Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,

some scout teamwork. What they all going off of cards where you have one side of the ball that is mimicking something that the opponent, in this case the Minnesota Vikings. The Packers will start preparing for them, so practice will take on a little bit different field training camp in the traditional sense of it, in terms of a lot of that competition for roster spots and and all of

that is for all intents and purposes over here. And there are a couple of guys I think that are worth talking about here West because when you look at the training camp as a whole, look some of these main stays for the Packers, Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Jones, Davante Adams, Christian Kirksey j R. Alexander Adrian am Is, all guys in their several I left out. I thought they all did what they needed to do in this training camp.

They look like they're ready to go. They look like the frontline players that they are, despite not having an offseason, despite not having any preseason games. But there are a couple of guys, and we've talked about this throughout the course of of the summer leading up to this, which guys for the Packers are going to need to take their games to another level here in to really help out and to contribute in the way that that the

Packers are hoping they are. And I think there's one guy on each side of the ball who had a very very strong and impressive training camp, and I'm talking about Marquis Velda Scantling on offense and Rashawn Gary on defense. In terms of guys that boy, if they take what they did in training camp onto the game field starting week one in Minnesota, the Packers are going to be better for it on both sides of the ball. Yeah, And I know it was you and I have discussed

that great length of the last two weeks. You know, we do the three things video after all these practices, and legitimately, Mike, for half of them, you could have done MVS and Rashaan Gary. They just stood out every single day and they made plays. And it wasn't just the fact that, Okay, well here's another deep ball to MBS from Rogers. Oh, it would have been a sixty yard touchdown. Now he did that the first day with

that pass from Temple Oil. But for the most part, a lot of it was running and doing your routes precisely to where the sticks are. That that practice inside Lambeau Field, how many situations Mike I would count at least three in either third or fourth downs, MBS had to run a route to get the first down, and he did that, and he was able to break off his route the way he needed to and be where Aaron Rodgers expecting to be. He also made some really

spectacular catches too. I think about that one that he hauled in off of his hip. You weren't there for it. It was the one when we were in the down Hudson Center due to weather, but the ball was slightly behind him and he reached his handback his left hand back, trapped the ball against his hip and was able with his four three seven speed to stay within his stride to turn up field. This is what this young man offers to this offense when he's going in he's right.

I thought Jason Braby Rabel last week when he spoke to us, made a really interesting salient point about MBS and his development. He doesn't question that MBS wasn't that he blacked any confidence. He felt like he was still confident in the receiver that he was, but it was having the confidence in the scheme and being able to match up his natural abilities with what was being asked of him. Now with Matt Lafleur in this offense, they

feel like he's made a major stride there. As far as Rashaan Gary is concerned, Mike, I don't want to get hyperbolic about it. I don't like doing offseason m vps because, honestly, two thousand fifteen, when Mike McCarthy said that Davante Adams was an offseason MVP, he really was. It just didn't translate. He didn't he got hurt, it didn't work out, and then everybody held that against him. So I don't like putting those labels out there on guys.

But for a twenty two year old player that was the twelfth overall pick a year ago, I thought, if you're the Green Bay Packers, you saw every single advancement in Rashaan Gary's game that you wanted to see in this camp. Now we need to see it in games. We need him to be a difference maker. He needs to be a guy that can step up and take some of those reps off of Preston Smith and'sa Arias Smith.

But in terms of just was what was being asked of him in these practices, the one on one periods against the offensive lineman, the way he was able to rush and disrupt plays and team periods when he got reps with you know what would be the starting offense, he did it all Mike in this camp, and as I wrote an insider inbox, I want to see it translate now to games. Not for any personal reasons, but so this whole process makes sense to me because we

saw guys make significant strides and practice. Now can we see in two weeks time and then beyond that that actually translates. Yeah. I think it's been really interesting to watch the evolution of these two players, in particular this summer. You said it with MVS that he showed in this training camp that he's not just the one dimensional deep threat speed guy to take the top off of the defense.

He was used in on possession routes, in those move the chains type of situations, and he came through for Aaron Rodgers. That's rounding out a young players game. And I think in the same respect with for Shawn Gary, his background as a defensive lineman, essentially a down lineman at Michigan. You where Shawn Gary could stop the run, and he whether wherever he lines up defensively, he seems

to be a pretty good run defender. The question is can he consistently get after the quarterback when the whistle blows in In that aspect of the game, and I think we saw we saw a lot more activity in terms of him getting into the backfield and getting after quarterbacks in this training camp. Again an evolution of a young player. And as you said, West, the games are

where it's gonna matter. I mean, these guys have to prove it in the games when it counts, because once you know, the ball is kicked off in Minnesota in week one, whatever happened in training camp almost doesn't even matter anymore. I mean, it's it's it's about what happens when it really matters. And um, both of these guys have set themselves up for for promising and productive seasons.

Now they have to come through well. And that was the thing too regarding Gary, why I was so impressed with him last year, even though there were a lot of people on the outside questioning, you know what, why did they pick him? Is this guy gonna be bust whatever? Well, one, he's twenty one years old too. He's really strong. If you've noticed that in these games and in these practices over the last year and a half, there's just a lot of natural, God given ability in that young man's body.

And I think you saw this offseason him really take it to another level. He's not afraid to work to get it, and he definitely did that. But the last thing is what you touched on there, and it was his run defense. The guy can set an edge and that probably has something to do with the fact that he goes at about two seventy seven to seventy that's a little bit bigger than the traditional outside linebacker that you remember hearing about in Dom Keeper's defense when this

whole thing got implemented. But Gary fits that and I really think that when you talk about the pass rush prussures, those things will come if you have the ability, you have the technique, and a coach like Mike Smith that's gonna be able to get it out of you. But it's are you willing to actually go the extra mile against the run some of those small things, the thing that the things that aren't gonna get you a massive contract but ultimately decide whether or not your defense is

gonna play winning football, and Gary most definitely can do that. Yeah, I think another guy that's worth talking about in terms of you know, this transition from and this is a completely different context, but Lane Taylor on the offensive line for the package you're coming back from a significant bicep injury that knocked him out of the starting lineup and ended his season in Week two, essentially after two games last year, because I believe the injury happened in practice,

correct me if I'm wrong, lest but yeah, But for him to come back from that, and hey, you know, he decides to take a pay cut to come back to Green Bay to compete for a starting job, there's been, you know, essentially a three way competition for two starting spots. You have Taylor at guard, you have Rick Wagner at tackle. You have Billy Turner who could play guard or tackle on the right side. I don't know ultimately what the

coaches are going to decide. If you ask me for my prediction, my prediction is I think Lane Taylor is going to be lining up as the starting right guard in Week one, but it's not my decision to make that. Being said, what Taylor has done, regardless of what the final decision is, I think is really impressive because there are a lot of people who wrote this guy off.

A lot of fans were not even counting him in the equation for the offensive line for the Packers in and he he showed up every day in this training camp, Weston and his steadiness, um, his consistency, his reliability, It showed up on a daily basis, and I think it's something the Packers are are potentially going to be counting on here in Lane Taylor is such a throwback for me, not only in just the way he plays the position,

but just his mentality. Nowadays, if a guy gets hurt or he loses his starting job, the first thing he usually wants to do is is look for a new opportunity to get out of a contract, to move on. Lane. Taylor wanted to be back here, and I asked him that one of his recent conference calls, and he said, you know, it was kind of the roots that his

family had laid down in Green Bay. The fact this is the only place he's ever been, the fact that this is the team that took a chance ants on him when nobody else wanted to draft him back in two thousand thirteen, all those things kind of came to the surface for him and he realized that this is where his best opportunity was going to be to continue his NFL career. And I think one way or another, what this training camp has proven is that lane. Taylor

is still a starting guard in this league. Um, you know these next year, everything that follows will find it out. But he wants to play football for a long time, and I think he's going to be able to do that. The guy he's just you talked about his one on one drills this year. He was going against Kenny Clark pretty much every day, uh, during those padded drills, and he was holding his own. It didn't matter if it was Kenny, didn't matter if his dean lowerry. He just

does his job. And he's so strong, he's so good in terms of being able to to be a really impenetrable and movable force down on the line that it was good to see him be able to come back because he said that bicep was pretty much zero when he got done with practice that day. He had to have surgery on it, and he spent a lot of time thinking, a lot of time, you know, with his family and now being able to continue his NFL career. I keep saying it over and over again, but the

fact is he's the fourth longest tenured player on this team. Now. It's incredible when you think about it that way. But he's not afraid to still be doing that grunt work and those drills that are typically reserved for the young guys on this roster, Lane Taylor is still very much

a part of this. And when you talk about the beauty of training camp, even if it was different this year, even if it was modified, the story that that Taylor told throughout the last three weeks, I think really speaks to him both as a person and as a football player, and that he's not afraid to to get back out there and earn what he's already earned. Yeah, and when you think about it too, this is really the first time you could argue in three years that Lane Taylor

probably feels fully healthy. Because you go back, Okay, so twenty nineteen he had the bicep injury, you go back to he he dealt with a significant offseason ankle injury that that you know, slowing him down. And he's not a guy to make excuses, you know, in the days back when we were talking to these guys at their lockers as opposed to over you know, through a computer screen. He's not a guy who's ever going to make any

any excuses. You know. His his whole approaches. Hey, if I'm healthy enough to play, I'm gonna play, and I've I've got to play to a certain standard. But he would be the first to admit afterwards there were games that he wasn't really playing up to his standard because he wasn't fully healthy, but he was doing what he

had to do to help the team. We could be seeing here in Lane Taylor finally, you know, fully healthy and and back into that mold, in that form that he was back in seventeen when when he first took over the starting job and and was the kind of guy that you didn't really talk about a whole lot on the offensive line because he was just so steady and reliable. Well even think about the beginning half of last year, Mike. So he does win the left guard job.

He maintains that he starts the first two games, but they were still rotating in Alton Jenkins for a couple of series here every now and then. And as we found out throughout the course of season, Alton Jenkins is the real deal. That wasn't just okay, we're trying to find the best fit now. I mean you had two guys that could both play, that could both go, and Lane was a total professional about that didn't raise a stink, just did what was asked about. When he's in there,

he's in there. When he's not, he's not. And again that that's just something I think is becoming increasingly increasingly rare. When you talk about a guy that has started three four seasons in the league now and being able to have that humility to to not make a big fuss about it, just to do what's asked of him, I

think that says a lot. And the fact that he's worked his way back from this injury to put himself in this conversation again, I think is another testament to the player he is and the man that he really has developed into over the last seven years. Yeah, no question about it. Well, roster decisions are going to be made on Saturday. The Packers will have to trim the roster to fifty three players by three o'clock Central time Saturday afternoon. Then on Sunday you start resigning guys to

the practice squad, players that clear waivers and whatnot. And I know on our next show later this week we can get into some some more of those details because it is going to be different this year than it has been in in other years. But um, but that will be a topic for the next show. And if someone want to point out too, because you addressed it earlier, but I wanted to. I wanted to address and answer you're very good and eloquent question about the players that

stood out. But you made a really interesting point about how this week they shifted to an end season schedule. That actually really is interesting because the practice squad has expanded this year. There's now sixteen players that are gonna be eligible to be on the practice squad once the Packers set their fifty three. That means there's gonna be fifty nine players in practice. Uh this season. I thought

I said sixty nine. We'll play back that film. But either way, Mike, there's eighty guys on the roster right now, some of whom aren't playing, aren't participating because of the pup list. Yes, they need to cut the roster on Saturday, but Matt la Floor and his coaches, they also have to be able to go through this process and figure out, Okay, how are we going to make all these pieces fit

in a practice. That's why I think this is really beneficial for them this week to be able to shift to an in season schedule and kind of get used to those new moving parts on the Scout team. Matt Arvin, our wonderful producer, also correcting me, I did say fifty nine. I apologize. That's okay. Well, we will get all the numbers and all of that straightened out on our next show later this week, but for now, we will call

it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team and this final week of training camp on packers dot com. For West, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in. Everybody. We will see you next time.