#595 Packers Unscripted: Minicamp madness

But the biggest happening of the week, and we have a few of them to talk about here on the show, but the biggest one was definitely that performance by Jordan's Love in practice on Wednesday. First, I'll get your thoughts, and of course we can go back and forth on this a little bit because we both we both walked

away pretty impressed. Well, my first thought would be, if this is actually mini camp and it's supposed to be preparing for training camp, I'm in nowhere in the shape I need to be in for training camp right now. I was as wiped out as a think I've ever been by the time I left the office on Wednesday. Well, usually mini camp is not ninety degrees in early to mid June, so we are we are dealing with that, but I know no one has any sympathy for us. That's okay, it is it does feel a little bit

different out there. It does feel a little different out there these days. To your point, Jordan's love, man, I mean again, Matt Lafleur, Jordan's love. Everybody cushioned this and said, okay, it's it's one day. There's gonna be highs and they're gonna be lows. But I mean, Mike, I said it after practice, Larry McCarron said, after we got done shooting three things, that was his best practice as a pro.

It just was at least in the sessions that we're able to attend and see because last year, Mike, we didn't see much. I mean, he did the young guys periods and that was a growing process. But to go and have as he mentioned, it's as Love talked about two to have the practice on Tuesday that wasn't really what he wanted. Um, you know, left leaving some plays out there, kind of struggling to find his accuracy. It seemed like he was in a little bit better rhythm.

Something clicked on Wednesday, though, and whether it was that wheel route to a j Dillon, which I think you could really sense the swagger developed with him after he hit that pass. He comes back and he hits Aaron Jones on a nice pattern down the sideline, and Aaron I saw like my my tweet too. I mean, it was a spectacular catch by Aaron Jones, as good as the chast was. But then it was just running the offense man, I mean Juwan Winfrey coming free and and

him hitting him wide open again. As Darnell Savage said afterwards, they thought it was an offside situation. So the defense isn't really sure what to do. But in those breaking, those broke down situations, the receivers there the quarterback has to hit him. And Love did his job there. His out routes looked good. He just seemed like he had a lot of zip on his ball on it on his passes. I was really impressed with what Jordan's Love

put together in that practice. Yeah, I think the thing that impressed me the most was it wasn't it wasn't just the end routes, or it wasn't just the wheel routes of the running backs you know, out of the backfield. It was the variety of passes he was hitting through the course of different eleven on eleven periods, which also included a two minute drill where he hit a deep corner route to eq St. Brown and a slant to St.

Brown and a screen passed to a J. Dilan. You know, and as you mentioned before, there were there, there were the corner routes. It was the variety of it that really impressed me. It wasn't like, Okay, he's got this one down, so bang bang bang, he keeps hitting the same one the other thing. And this is how I described it in our three Things video and also in the story that I wrote after practice on on packers

dot com. We saw the first two weeks of O T s. We got to see one practice each time, and I think we we saw a young quarterback who he was very methodical, very hesitant in working through his progressions in the eleven on eleven and most of the time taking the checkdown throws to the running backs, the safety valve, whoever it might be. We saw that for

a couple of weeks. Then Tuesday, in the first day of mini camp practice, we saw more timing, and we saw more rhythm, and we saw the ball coming out. We saw some you know, more of the throws down the field, except the accuracy wasn't there. He was missing some guys who were open, you know, the balls a few feet too high, it's a few feet too far outside on the out route, those those kinds of things.

Then on Wednesday, it was another step in the progress where the timing and the rhythm was there, then the accuracy was there. And once that started to click, you could see the confidence just grew. And then he had no problem making those challenges, you know, taking the challenge of the downfield throws, and he wasn't as concerned about the check down or you know, I mean you could just you could see the growth in the progress. And

yes it's only one day now. His biggest challenge with today's mini camp practice which is shortly after this session right here, and then with one more we of o T as next week, does he establish another a level of consistency, like where what is going to be his level that he takes into training camp because Wednesday's practice

will be hard for him to replicate. Quite frankly, but what you don't want to see is suddenly a reversion back to what we were seeing in the O T A S with the hesitancy and the and the you know, the methodic way he was going about his progression. So that's what we're going to be watching now in these last couple of practices that we get to witness. And this is what's exciting for me too, because this is the first time ever watched a quarterback kind of grow

in front of my eyes. Now that's not to say that Tim Boyle didn't and these other guys that have come through, but they did it with very limited reps. Uh, in these team periods. The way it's working out is he's taking, as I wrote an insider inbox, he's basically taking the first and second team reps and then the rest of the quarterbacks are handling like those number three ones. The team run period that it started with, he got the first ten reps and then Blake Bortles came in

for two. He got ten more, and then it was Kurt Ben Kurt, Kurt Ben Kurt, Sorry, Kurt, Uh. But the thing that I impressed me and I'm curious, see what you think about this. They started off very basic with that team run period. You know, it was I think, what was it a quick out? I'm trying to remember what the first pass was to, like Malik Taylor or something like that. The first the first the first pass I remember, which actually I thought was a pretty good throw.

It was MVS on a comes MBS on a comeback route and Boomy hit it and and MBS actually kind of escaped the defense and it turned into a little bit of a big play and then you kind of go okay, and then you know, then it was the the the play action, quick little rollout to the tight end to tune in, which is what we've seen in

this offense. You know, time and time again and the timing and everything that was just right, and you could just you as we talked about, you could see the confidence building with a couple of those on time, you know, rhythm type of plays and uh and the rest of the practice just went off from there. You're right, it was MBS. I didn't have my notes in front of me, but it was those two plays that after that, it just seemed like that's when he started completing pass after

pass and you know, to go. I think it was twenty thirty one and a couple of those were throwaways in the red zone period during two minutes the guy I I really thought showed up. I thought he looked good. And you can't discount this, Mike. I know DeVante Adams isn't out there, but having a guy like Alan Lazard, you know, leaping to make an end zone grab, you know, an eight yard touchdown at the end of two minutes.

I know there was some debate with the defense. The defense wasn't sure about that toe tap in the back of the end zone there. They didn't want to give Love and Lazard that touchdown. But that's a six ft five guy with a massive catch radius in Love put it where Lazard was going to be able to make a play on the ball. Those are the moments that I think are really important here, now that he has some of these receivers back and being able to get a little bit better semblance of what this offense is

going to look like. Yeah, and I don't want to be too misleading here. As I also said in Three Things, I don't want to give the impression that Jordan's Love just you know, owned everybody on the practice field. He did miss a cup of throws. There were a couple of throws that were almost picked off. Darnell Savage almost had to pick Josh Jackson almost had a pick on the ball that he deflected, uh deep down the sideline.

So it wasn't uh, it wasn't perfect by any means, but it was impressive and it was and it was certainly the best that we've that we've seen Jordan's love. Now with regard to the wide receivers, they the top five wide receivers Adams, Functious, Mvs. Lazard and Eq. They were not at the first two weeks of O T A S, but they are here at the mandatory minicamp. Adams is not taking the eleven on eleven reps, but

the other guys have been. And uh, and this is the first time we've gotten to see Devin Funcious in a Packers uniform out there, and um, my first impression, a physically imposing presence on the practice field. This guy's this guy's got some size. I mean, Davante Adams is no small potatoes when it comes to being, you know, a big physical receiver. And and even he said, this guy is big man. He is. And I know we have him listed on Think on the website at six four.

I mean we're talking, we're talking a couple of hair follicles away from six fives. I think so. And I again, I always cushing all this by saying that I make everybody look really big. I mean, you can put me next to Mercedes Lewis and you'd think he was Andre the Giant. I mean it's that kind of deal. But I mean when I watch Funches, I mean I read everything. I've talked to people that have covered him in the league and just seeing his size and the speed of

which he plays. He even mentioned during his media Zoom call on Tuesday, he still feels like he has some of the best feet in the NFL. Uh. This is a guy that you can see why he was a second round pick. You can see why Carolina was as high on him as they were, and you can see why this guy started in Super Bowl fifty. I mean, there there are a lot of intangibles that you can't

coach with Devin Funches. The question is going to be now, when he stepped on the field on Tuesday, that was twenty one months exactly from the last NFL game he played in. He missed most of that year because of a broken collar bone. That was his one year with Indie. The one year with Indie and then last year, to his credits, stepped away from the game. As he said,

he had to make a sacrifice. He had to give up the paycheck because he had to take care of his own situation at home with some family members that were impacted by COVID nineteen. All that being said, he's back now. He's still twenty seven, soon to be twenty eight, but still you know, he feels in the prime of his career and he's excited to compete with these guys. He said it even in a zoom call. He's not here to take anything away from anybody. He's here to

add to an already talented room. Davante Adams mentions he's talked to him six seven times this offseason alone over FaceTime. Packers feel like they know this guy pretty well and now he's finally here. Yeah. Well, the bottom line is, you know, as we know, the Packers had the number one offense, the top scoring offense in the league last year. Yes, there there is still an unresolved issue with the quarterback. We get that. We will be I'm sure talking about

it come the end of July. But you add Devin Funcious and a Marie Rogers a third round draft pick at receiver. You add those two guys to a receiver group that was pretty darn productive despite all of the criticism of the Packers not drafting a wide receiver the previous year. Um, it's going to be there's going to be some interesting competition here in training camp in terms of, you know, maybe what the pecking order exactly is going

to be when the regular season rolls around. When you're adding a veteran like Functious and then um a draft pick whom the Packers traded up to select with a Marie Rogers. Yeah, and you can see the wheels kind of turning in Nathaniel Hacket and Matt Lafleur's head because certainly there's gonna be jobs won and loss. That's what training camp always comes down to. We've got to see

how this depth chart is gonna look like. But once they settle these depth charts at running back, receiver, and tight end, the multitude of packages and personnel groupings that they can come up with is extraordinary. Mike, I don't know if I've ever seen anything like it, because, yeah, they've gone some of these taller receivers before, you know, e q mvs and um Lazard obviously all fit that

and certainly, as we just talked, both punches. But now you've got somebody like a Mari Rodgers, and we saw some of the jet motion concepts with him and where he could fit in there. You got a j Dillon catching wheel routes and those type of things. And you've got all these tight ends, you know, with Josiah Deguire potentially being back here at some point, Robert Touny in coming back off the eleven touchdown season, and obviously the

old war horse in Mercedes Lewis. There are just you think about the five, you know, skill position players you can put on the field at any given time. Obviously Davante Adams is gonna be a big one of those, but those other four man there's just so many different

ways that the Packers could roll with that. Yeah, I want to talk about a couple of guys on defense here, But first West Serious x M NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need seven three sixty five all right on the defensive side of the ball. He was not here during the first couple of weeks of O t S when we were watching practice. But we have now seen JayR Alexander back on the practice field. And I'll

tell you what I mean. If Week one were this Sunday year, Alexander would be ready to play. Yeah, and you look at him like the way he's built. Larry McCarron was the first one that mentioned this. I think you and I could see it, but Larry actually put words to it. Jayer came back in fantastic shape. What you know, he wasn't here during the O t A s. But again, this wasn't a guy sitting on his coach

eating potato chips. And he he looks like you talk about, looks like he's never eating a potato chip life at this point exactly. But he he looks like a year old all pro cornerback. That's and he understands the opportunity in front of him here these next two years to you know, really change his life and his family's life. So I you know, he's one of the hungriest players I've ever met, one of the most motivated players I've

ever met. And just watching some of these plays, man, you talk about Jordan's love, he he may he put some nice passes out there to MVS the last you know, two practices and there's JR. Alexander with a freaking Superman cape on flying out of nowhere to break it up. I mean, Sam Shields had really elite closing speed. That's what allowed him to kind of make up for some deficiencies in his game. He just was incredibly talented and

gifted athletically. Jaire is almost picture perfect from a technique standpoint, and then you add in all those athletic intangibles. Uh, this guy is on the precipice and becoming a really special special quarnerback in this league. Yeah. Absolutely. I think the thing that impressed me the most and you're you're reminded of it, uh in practice when you see him matched up against MVS, for example, is this is this is a cornerback who's you know, five ten, five eleven.

I'm not sure exactly where he is there he's against He's going up against a six three wide receiver. You know, forget about the speed thing too, which MBS is obviously fast, but JR. Alexander is no slow poke. He's giving up multiple inches to plenty of wide receivers that he covers. But yet when you watch it. It's like you wouldn't you wouldn't know that. I mean, it's not just it's not just that he doesn't It's not just that he

doesn't back down from the challenge. It's that you don't even notice the size difference that you know that he has to deal with on the field, um in certain matchups. And and that's a luxury for Joe Berry, for Jerry Gray. When you're talking about going into game planning and whatnot, it's not like, oh, you know, Jayre has to be matched up against like they can put them against whoever they want. And that's what I think we're going to continue to see. I can't wait to see what Joe

Berry comes up with with jyr Alexander. It will be fun. Alexander excelled in Mike Petton system too. But you talk about a new defensive coordinator coming in and having, you know, one of the brightest toys to be able to play with in a defensive scheme. That's Jayre to a t. And the other thing too. You and I were walking back up from practice getting ready for the Zoom calls on Thursday on Wednesday, and I even remarked it to you.

I mean, The thing that impresses me the most about Alexander at this point is in this this point in time and history of the NFL, and referees are just looking for a reason to throw a flag on a cornerback these days, especially if nothing has happened for the previous three and a half quarters and then Kevin King holds onto a jersey for too long and a guy decides, Okay, now is the time to go. But but but I digress. No, but they're they're looking for any reason to to to

blow their whistle. And jay ere the way he plays this game, his technique standpoint, all that stuff. I can't remember the last time he's been flagged for a defensive holding or past interference. Again, it goes back to the fact that he's so technically proficient that his game man just rises to another level. Yeah, I said you have

to practice yesterday. We we've we've talked to countless numbers of players over the course of our careers, and you know, Alexander has a very very distinct personality to him and from plenty of guys, plenty of highly touted players, highly successful players in this league who always talk about wanting wanting to be the best. They want to be the best at what they do. Alexander is one of those one of those guys who actually means it. It's not it's not just some kind of thing to say to

the media, so to speak. He he really means it. He goes he goes about his he goes about his job that way, and it's really really impressed. I'll continue to say this. I mean, he has one of the most inspiring backstories. He doesn't really like talking about it, but he has one of the most inspiring backstories of anyone I've ever covered. And this is a guy that he came from nothing and people told him he was nothing.

And the only time that I think he ever really you know, he never questioned himself and it was like, I know, I'm better than a two or three star recruit wherever he was. I know, I'm better than all these other guys out of Charlotte that the newspaper and in different you know, scouting agencies are putting up over me. I know it. But he just needed to be able to have the opportunity to prove it, and he eventually did that. So there's nothing stopping that guy. He's he's

ready to go. Yeah, one of the thing I want to get to on defense before we wrap up today. We talked on a previous show about the pending competition at inside linebacker that we were seeing the reps being divvied up in the O T A s. When you're looking at Chris Barnes and Kamal Martin and Ty Summers and or In Burkes and you have a rookie sixth

round pick Isaiah McDuffie in that mix. Well, now there's another veteran thrown in there, because the Packers have signed Devandre Campbell, who is entering his sixth year in the NFL, IS first four years with the Atlanta Falcons and then a fifth year last season with the Arizona Cardinals. And um, you know we've been talking about how how that inside linebacker group is so young for Green Bay. Well they moved on from Christian Kirksey. They decided to bring in

another veteran presence here in Campbell. And I'm interested to see what what Joe Barry and his scheme has in store for this guy. I wasn't kidding when I said this, Mike, I didn't know Campbell was still a free agent. Um you know, he he signed a nice little deal last year or the Arizona and by all accounts played well there. I mean, now Arizona has made some big changes with their inside linebacker corpse, so I understand why he wasn't

back there, but started all sixteen games. He's averaged a hundred and thirteen tackles or something like that over the last four years. And he also gives you some flexibility as a as a as a blitzer. As you know, he's a sack artist too. I mean he's basically had I think one and a a half or two and every year that he's been in the NFL, in addition to what he did at Minnesota and and you know before that. And the guy, much like Funches, just doesn't stop when

you look at him, he just keeps going up. I mean, he's just a massive dude six ft four two thirty two pounds. Yeah, you don't see that kind of height at inside linebacker very often. As you said, he has played some outside linebacker, certainly in the NFL. Packers are looking to add him to the inside linebacker group here and you don't see you don't see that height in the middle of the field in this type of defense

very often. I'm interested to see how it plays out. Yeah, I mean, and and being able to bring in a guy that's played overfensive snaps in the NFL to a really young room I think can be really beneficial for that grouping. And and certainly the competition is there Chris Barnes or In Burke's Kamal Martin Tye Summers. The list goes on and on, and the young guys that they have at that position that are all going to be trying to grab roster spots and grab starting roles in

this defense. Campbell, I think, is a guy that can really add a lot to that, not only from an experienced standpoint, from a veteran standpoint, but just to kind of bump up the competition level. I know, we don't get into this type of stuff on our website. I'm very curiously what the contract structure is like, because this doesn't strike me as a guy that would have come in on like a street free agent deal. Um right,

he's credentialed, man. I mean again, when they when that report came out, I think it was Rob Demowsky was the first one I saw. I was like, wow, I mean one I didn't realize he was a free agent in two UM to get a guy like this at twenty seven years old, UM, that has been proficient and a guy that Matt Lafleu was experienced with and played with him in that Super Bowl team in two thousan sixteen. UM,

really really excited to see what he brings. Yeah, it's interesting because a lot of guys in his position, when they're free agents, they don't get signed in sort of that, you know, the primary stages of free agency. A lot of times they end up waiting until training camp. Somebody gets an injury, you know, on their team or whatever, they have some depth chart issues, and then that's when

a veteran like that gets signed and brought. And this is a little unusual, you know, to be right in the middle of June, the middle of mini camp and all of a sudden you're throwing the guy in there. But now he's you know, he's got a week week and a half here too, to get his taste of of Joe Barry's playbook and then and then come to training camp that much more prepared to to fight for a roster spot and and for playing time and for

a role in in the new defensive coordinator system. Yeah, and the game changes once you get past I think this year wasn't May fourteen where the unrestricted free agency window ended, so the Packers signing him that doesn't count towards the compensatory equation for next year. So that's one thing. And again seeing what the considerations were, what kind of contract he was looking for, what kind of opportunity he

was looking for. H to my eye again and I see a guy that is twenty seven, six year in the league, was in that same draft class with you know, Blake Martinez and Kenny Clark and Dean Lawry. Young dudes in this league is sending players so um. And again it's a position where the Packers have had a lot of turnover in recent years and they're trying to find

one or two guys that can really build a scheme around. Yeah. Well, he'll definitely be a guy to watch, and that is a position to watch in a training camp when late July rolls around. But with that, we're going to call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscript. To be sure to follow all of our continuing coverage of minicamp and O T A S and all of it leading up to training camp later this summer on packers dot Com for West, I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in. Everybody.

We will see you next time.