#649 Packers Unscripted: Back in the saddle

here's what we're going to do. We are nine days away from the first round of the NFL Draft at the time that we are taping this show, so we have two episodes this week. I think what we'll do is we'll focus this episode on all of the off season news on the offensive side of the ball for

the Packers, recap all of that. Our next episode will recap all the off season news on the defensive side and on special teams, and then we get into next week we can preview the draft, and then we get into the draft, and then in the month of May will be reviewing the draft and all the pics the Packers making all of that good stuff. So to try to keep things on a certain track the offensive offseason. Here for the Green Bay Packers, the two biggest items.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers, two time reigning m v P four time m v P overall is back with a new contract, signing a contract extension, returning to Green Bay. But All Pro wide receiver Davante Adams is not back. He has

been traded to the Las Vegas Raiders. And of all everything that has swirled around this team for the last year to year and a half, if you had told me going into two that Aaron Rodgers would be a green Bay Packer and Davantae Adams would not be a green Bay Packer, that would have struck me as the least like of the scenarios to play out. But yet

that is exactly what played out. And here we are. Yeah, you never know what what turned you know the NFL is going to take And you know, as much as I was stunned when it all went down with Davante, now we're a month out from this thing. Now of this trade with the Raiders, you start it starts to make more sense, and when you really remove the emotion from it, you start to understand exactly why it played out the way it did. Certainly, Davante wanted to be

the end of game's highest receiver, highest paid receiver. He was that for a week before Tyreek Kille came in, but you know, he wanted to get that accolade rightfully, so with everything he's accomplished. Certainly, there's the connection with Derek Carr, a guy that's one of his best friends. They had so much success together during their time at Fresno State. But also when you start to factor in the family side of things, that there was a big push there as well for Davante with his family on

the West Coast. It makes a lot of sense. But for the Green Packers, you can't sit there and you know, and cry over your tears here. I mean, you have to be able to move on to the next step. They were able to get a first round pick in a second round pick from Las Vegas. They now have four picks in the top sixty, the first time that

has happened for them since nine seven. If they choose to pick in those four spots, you look at how they've been able to build around this offense and kind of start to chart out this next chapter for Aaron Rodgers as talented as Davante is, and he's one of the game's very best. The kingpin here is number twelve, the two time reigning NFL m v P. To have him back in the fold, it's going to be very different this year, Don't get me wrong. This offense will

probably even look a lot different. But it starts with Rogers. He's the straw that stirs this drink. So being able to retain him build for two, two and beyond a lot out there for the Packers. Yeah, well, Aaron Rodgers, obviously he's he's not happy with the act that Davante Adams is no longer here, but by all accounts he was. He was aware of the potential for this trade, that Davante Adams had had asked to get out of Green Bay,

that he wanted to to put himself in a different situation. Um, so the Packers, with Rogers deciding deciding to come back, fully aware of the possibility, if not likelihood, that Davante Adams would not be back with him. So he's he's accepted that challenge. On the Adams side of things, the Packers didn't, you know, throw up a sign and say Davanta Adams is available and make it like this bidding

war across the league. Adams had expressed what he wanted, which was to which was to go to the Raiders and be with Derek Carr. The Packers were able to facilitate trade with that one suitor. So to speak, Um, get the first and second round draft picks, as you said, to give Brian goodakunst what what will be for? For sure? The most active first two days is of a draft in his uh um in his handful of of drafts in in the catbird seat here as as the Packers GM.

But now moving forward the wide receiver room not only will will not have Davante Adams, but Mark was Valdes Scantling assigned a free agent deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. Ecuanamius st Brown has also departed in free agency, and then just last week, with a lot of angst amongst the fan base as to what is going to happen here at wide receiver because all these guys are leaving,

the Packers sign Sammy Watkins. Um former number four overall pick in the draft, played for a few different teams now, most recently with the Baltimore Ravens last year and with the free agent prices for wide receivers kind of going crazy. The Packers get Watkins at a very palatable price and a veteran to join Al Lazard and Randall Cobb as

veteran leaders in a receiver room. Uh. Moving forward here in two in a move that Aaron Rodgers even voiced his approval of, and Pat McAfee, I should say the sources that Pat McAfee talks to saying that they were excited about that edition, and you can see why. I mean, certainly, Sammy Watkins is a different type of receiver. He's not going to be the MBS. He's not going to be the Davante Adams. The Packers aren't going to ask him

to be. But when both of those guys departed, I really felt like they needed to be able to add a veteran there. You just there's gonna be. You're probably gonna add some young guys in this draft, maybe even as early as the first two rounds, maybe multiple guys in those first two rounds, But to ask them to come into training camp and be the guy good to go right away, that's a big ask. So to be able to bring in the Watkins with his experience a guy that really came out of the gates is rookie

year and kind of let the world on fire. Well, now he's going to come into this situation. The past history with Matt Lafleur, being able to actually share that time with him in two thousand seventeen, he knows what this offense looks like. And if you look at some of the reports last year and what some people were saying about him in Baltimore, the bunch formations, the slot concepts, he was really successful in those when he was healthy.

Unfortunately the thigh injury and the knee injury crypt up. But the Packers, it just gives them another option here as they try to build this thing out and being able to find this next step without Davante Adams in that room. Yeah, and and it's as I had mentioned an insider inbox last week, it's a it's a very smart,

sensible move for both sides. I mentioned obviously the palatable price for Sammy Watkins when the wide receiver market is kind of going crazy, and from Watkins point of view, you mentioned his age, he still feels like he has plenty left to offer in this league. He signs a one year deal, gets a chance to catch passes for one season from Aaron Rodgers and hit the free agent market again next year. So from from his point of view,

it makes a lot of sense. And and that's how that's how these type of deals come together, because because both sides feel good about what they're getting in, both sides want to maximize. And I was saying this right after the season ended, Mike, whatever happened with Devondre Campbell was sold Douglass. These guys, the Packers now have a blueprint here where they can point to, Hey, this guy came in and played under this deal. Devandra Cambell played

for two million dollars last year. I mean, that's remarkable. Right. They're gonna be able to say, not only we're going to give you the opportunity to showcase your talent, we believe our scheme is going to fit what you do well. And when you build up that kind of track record, I have to imagine that's something in these agents minds and these players mind that's going to hold value in addition to the fact that you have the ace up to sleeve in Aaron Rodgers, yeah, absolutely. And also from

a pass catching perspective. The Packers have resigned tight end Robert Tonyan. Now the timeline for him for two is very much up in the air because of the Week eight at Arizona last season, the torn a c L that ended Tony in one season. Early. By all accounts, everything is going fine with his rehab and his recovery. We will see, we will see what the timeline is. But that's another guy, another guy that the Packers have

brought back into the fold to go along with. Obviously you have the veteran in Marcedes Lewis, but then these young developing guys Josiah Deguara, Tyler Davis, Dominique Daffney, and we'll see what the Packers do in the draft with regard to the tight end position um, but still there

behind Marcedes Lewis. It's just it feels like the Packers have a lot of developmental pieces that you don't know exactly where this is going to go with some of these guys, but they've all shown they've all shown those flashes, and certainly Tony season was off the charts remarkable. They've shown flashes of being potentially solid contributors, consistent contributors week to week, and that's what the Packers will be looking for at tight end as this as the passing game

adjust to this new you know, without Davante Adams reality. Yeah, and and they need Robert Tony. When the season ended and we saw how things played out, and especially after you saw VS leave in in in Adam's leave, you needed to be able to find a way to keep Tonyan because what they need from Robert Tonyan in two thousand twenty two is what they didn't have last season, him during the second half of the season. And the earlier he gets back, the better for this offense, no

doubt about it. But I really look at this as the type of signing that if it even if it takes to October or November to get him back, that type of playmaker, with the comfortability he has with Aaron Rodgers, that's something that could put you over the top as some of those young receivers get comfortable and so you start to find yourself and your identity a little bit more offensively. And on top of that, they do have a returning nucleus here at tight end to stem the

tight until he is back. Mercedes Lewis is still your traditional in line tight end. He's going into year seventeen. He's going to be thirty eight here in a couple of days. He's he's on the older side of this thing, but he knows the offense and they're gonna be able to run some of the schematic things they want to do with those running backs because of his presence. I thought Josiah Deguire showed things last year. Yes, he is more of that f tight end. Same thing with Dominique Daphne.

They're not the traditional type of, you know, inline guys that you would look for at that position, but there's that ability there. And then certainly I thought Tyler Davis had some moments as well for coming in late. He is a little bit more of that projected traditional tight ends. So a lot of options there for Green Bay in addition to the fact, as you said, undrafted, free agency, the draft, there's a lot of different ways that they

could augment that roster. Still well, there are also some moving parts on the offensive line for the Packers here in two and I will get to those in a minute.

I just don't want to lose track of sponsor business. Yes, Serious x M NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the NFL News that true football fanatics need seven three six and at Cousin Subs, we have something for everyone like our Wisconsin Cheese curds, mac and Cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite sub or sub in a bowl. Cousin Subs, we believe in her all right. On the offensive line, Billy Turner was released in what essentially was a salary cap move

by the Packers. Lucas Patrick signed as a free agent with the Chicago Bears to become their starting center. After his release, Turner Um signed with the Denver Broncos, a team he's played with previously. So the Packers lose two guys that started a bunch of games on the offensive

line over the past couple of years. But as you look now at the offensive line, the Packers are planning to have David Bactieri back at left tackle after all the the the false starts pardon the pun with regard to his return um to the field last year that didn't work out. You have two young guards in John Runyon and Royce Newman, both of whom who started the

bulk of the season last year. Josh Myers to be back as the starting center after a rookie season that started with a lot promise, then got derailed by injuries, and then he was back at the end of the year. The big question mark though with Elton Jenkins on the men from his a c L which happened in November at Minnesota last year, and we don't know the timeline much the same way with Tony and we don't know the timeline exactly for when Elton Jenkins will be back

in the lineup. But the biggest question mark as of right now for the Packers is who's going to play right tackle, which is the position that Billy Turner held down for the most part. Other than being shifted around a few times himself, Turner held that down for the last couple of years. It would seem the top candidate would be Yash Naiman, that the Packers would flip him from left tackle, where he filled in for about half

the season. All told for Box tr that they would flip Niman to right tackle and give him a chance to compete and win that starting job. And then of course we'll see what happens with the draft again with the Packer is having having those four picks in the first two rounds. You could certainly see them selecting an offensive tackle early in the draft who would potentially also compete for a starting job from day one, just as Josh Meyers walked in and started from day one at

center last year. That's how the Packers have built this program. They've had it so many times, Mike, you can talk about it's so many different positions where they had a returning vet competing for a job, but then they brought in sometimes even a high draft pick to compete with them. I think of Micah Hyde and Ha Ha Clinton Dicks in two thousand four at the safety position, and I

think that's a perfect candidate for it here too. And depending on the guy type of guy you get, maybe that's somebody that's also competing for right guard or who knows, you know. I mean last year Royce Newman was a guy that was projected to be able to play both of those positions, and four a time did uh during

the off season program. What I'm curious to see here is not necessarily you know, how this offensive line looks or how the dominoes fall, but really how they rebuild their depth there, because that's been one of the hallmarks of this thing under Adam Stanovich, that room now being passed on to Luke Bucks as as Stenovitch graduates into

the offensive coordinator job. But seeing how they are able to make up for you know, not having a John Runyon just sitting on the bench now, a guy that you know basically played in three or four big situations as a rookie but never started a game. Well, then last year he starts sixteen games and by in my opinion, you're you're the one that pointed out the stat on him that he wasn't penalized last year or I didn't

have an accepted penalty against him. This guy, in so many ways reminds me of Lane Taylor and just a steady, consistent presence there and into my eye, a guy that could potentially hold down that job for seven eight years just because of what he brings in the transition he's been able to achieve there from an all big tent tackle to play in that left guard spot. Royce Newman. Certainly there were the ups and downs there in the rookie year, but a fourth round pedigree, you saw some

of the athleticism there. I'll be interested to see where they want to slot him go on into this camp, David Botr As long as the kn's good, you're good there. And I think Josh Meyers is going to continue on that trajectory that they've had with the center position of just having one solid guy after another. Right tackles the question mark because when you have somebody like Turner who was brought in, he played right guard that first year, but I think everybody kind of saw the way the

contracts looked. You're paying him money to start it right guard, but it also could be placed over at right tackle, and that's how it worked out. Guy played a lot of football, started a lot of games. Can Nineman make the switch? I think he can. Six ft seven three and fourteen pounds. He opened my eyes and I think in a lot of ways we saw throughout the course of those eight spots starts what Adam Stanovich saw in this young man and what they wanted to do there.

You bring him in, you let him compete for that job, maybe you draft somebody. If you don't, you still got Dennis Kelly out there that could potentially come back in this thing as well. A lot of options for what Green Bay wants to do. But to me, it's not about the starting five. It's about those top seven eight guys, and who you have is potentially those next men up. Because we out Turner. Without Patrick, you're losing a lot

of versatility with that group. Yeah, the Packers that the Packers have lost versatility and they've lost some depth with how this offseason has unfolded to this point, and that's where again, Brian Gudukuns has never shied away from drafting offensive lineman. We've seen him draft several of them over his his few years as the GM, and some of them are still here, some of them have not worked out.

But the the refortifying of the depth in that unit I think is going to is going to come from this draft, whether it's with with the high picks, you know, those picks in the first or second round, or whether it's whether it's with with picks in the in the middle rounds, where then you have you have guys who maybe a guy comes in like Roy Snwman a fourth rounder last year, or you have these other guys who are gonna going to compete with Cole van Landon and

other young draft picks who are who yeah, Jake Hansen, those young draft picks from recent years who are making their way and are filling in some of those depth spots as well. The really interesting thing I think, and again this is this is projecting. This is projecting way down the road. But you can humor me for a minute here. If we say, if we say, right now, the Packers offensive line left to right is going to be bak tr Runyon, Myers, Newman and Nyman, Newman and Nyman.

That we'll have to get used to that. But if that say, say that is the Packers starting five on the offensive line for for week one of at some point, maybe it's going to be six weeks into the year, eight weeks, nine weeks into the season, whatever, at some point the Packers are hoping and planning to get Elton Jenkins back. And this is a guy who can play anywhere across the offensive line and basically has I think the one spot maybe that he hasn't played in the

NFL is right guards. He played all of them. He never started it right, he hasn't started it right. But yeah, so the question is then when Jenkins comes back, like what do you do? What do you do? Where do you put him? And and to me, when you're talking about a player like that, of of of his caliber. But yet he's not going to have an entire training camp. He doesn't get an offseason program, a training camp and

all this to get ready. When he's ready to go, he's going to have a couple three weeks of practice and then and when he's ready, then they they'll want to put him into a game. I think very I think what might play out here in a sense is that if everything's good with box Trri at left tackle and there are no more issues with his knee, those other four guys across the front they might be just playing to keep their job until Elton Jenkins come comes back.

And what I mean by that is whichever guy is maybe not playing not quite as well as the other guys of those four spots from left guard all the way over to right tackle, that might be the guy who gets replaced. That maybe where you put in Elton Jenkins, a Pro Bowl guard, but a guy who plays at or near a Pro Bowl level pretty much anywhere across that Yeah, And I mean I go back to two years ago and who could have ever foreseen him having

to make those three starts for Corey Lensley. When Corey had knee injury, the m cl thing, right, and that was that was his position in college for the for the most part, was a center, and he and he stepped right in, but but he hadn't even really practiced there in the NFL, and and he filled in for

Lindsley for three weeks. And then last year, I mean, would you have and when you and I were talking in week one, would you've ever forguessed that it would been Lucas Patrick starting the most games at center, for eleven games at center last season. Right, There's so many different dominoes that happened, and unfortunately all of them happened last year for Green Bay. I mean, there really wasn't any situation. There wasn't any position that wasn't affected by it.

So that's where I think you look at the versatility of this group. You look at the depth of the group, because, hey, as much as that would be the best case scenario for Green Bay is that Elton Jenkins comes back and they got to make a tough decision somewhere on the offensive line, but unfortunately, you go back to last year, a lot of it ended up being, hey, we got

this player back. This is great because these read guys are unavailable right now, right that that's going to be sort of the the thing I think you have to watch this year, and certainly you would hope for the Packer's sake, you give Jenkins back. Um, because the thing is Mike I've never seen anything like him in terms of a guy that the Packers have had, guys who can play multiple positions. I'm now at this point, I'm fully convinced if you start him at any of the

five positions for all sixteen seventeen regular season games. Guy's a pro bowler. Yeah, I mean, it's just his footwork, his power, his athleticism, and he does it in such a mild manner too. I mean he's Yeah, he's like

the most unassuming guy. Pound for palm. People talk about Gire Alexander, they talk about Rashawn Gary rightfully so, but I mean pound for pound, to find that guy in the second round three years ago, I mean, that's to me, that's still Brian Goodkin's best pick, just because you typically can't find those offensive linemen at that spot. Versatile. Yeah.

One other topic on the offensive side of the ball to get to before we go, and that is you touched on it a little bit the changes with the coaching staff because offensive coordinator former offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett

is now the head coach for the Denver Broncos. He took tight ends coach Justin out and with him to be his offensive coordinator out in Denver, and then the Packers quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Luke Getsy has now taken the offensive coordinator job for the NFC North rivals Chicago Bears. We're working for a defensive head coach in Matt Eberflus gets gets He excuse me, will be

uh calling the plays. He will be the offensive play caller for Justin fields and uh and that Chicago Bears offense. So what that means is Adam Stanovich, offensive line coach, has now moved up to offensive coordinator. Luke Butkus. Stenovich is assistant on the offensive line, is now the lead coach at that position. Jason Vrabel, the wide receiver's coach, has has gotten the passing game coordinator title um added

to his duties. John Dunne, who as a senior analyst on the offensive staff, has now been internally promoted to be the tight ends coach to replace justin outon and then Tom Clements, a familiar face and old friend, UM worked on Mike McCarthy staff as quarterbacks coach, as offensive coordinator, as associate head coach from the span of I believe it was two thousand and six through two thousand and sixteen,

so he was on McCarthy staff for eleven years. Tom Clements is back as the quarterbacks coach and UH and obviously Aaron Rodgers UM who has spoken um glowingly over the years and very gratefully about the impact that Tom Clements had on his development and on this road now that has that has included four m v P awards for Aaron Rodgers. Rogers had a lot to do with Tom Clements essentially coming out of a one year retirement to return to the to the coaching ranks and to

his old job as quarterbacks coaching Green Bay. And it was refreshing to hear his perspective on things too write because he was talking about retirement life in California and his glamorous it sounded especially for guys like you and me, who I think our gray hairs are popping up by the day, just based on the way that the business works. Um he's taking it easy and and rightfully. So. The guys played a lot of football, He's coached a lot

of football. He mentioned how difficult those two years were on his family. They were back in California. He's down in Arizona mentoring Kyler Murray right after they drafted him. Um on Cliff Kingsbury staff and ultimately just society know what, I'm good And it sounds like he was good last year. But Rogers is the one that reached out. He kind of wanted to see after gets he had moved down to Chicago. Hey, what are you thinking? Would this be something?

He is interesting? You interesting to you? And I loved Clements's line with what was basically, well what are you thinking? You know? Together? Okay, am I gonna come back? And are you gonna be here? I mean, as much as I'm sure he's he enjoys mentoring young quarterbacks that the draws there with Rodgers and in reuniting with the guy that he was with in his first four years in that specific role as a starting quarterback. So uh, Rogers has talked so many times past present about what the

impact was of Tom Clements. I think Clements has had a mightas touch for his approach to Rogers and his understanding of the game and what his rules are for

that position. And certainly I think it makes a lot of sense for him to come back, if I may, Before I hand the baton back over to you, I do think Matt Lafleur deserves a mighty tip of the cat this offseason because one of the things that coaches, especially when they have success early on, our want to do is to start, you know, not allowing those young guys to maybe necessarily come off of their staff. They

have some system in place, they're scared to change. Matt Lafleur is not afraid of change, and I think that speaks volumes of him as terms of his confidence as a coach and also his ability to identify talent and to bring up talent. You mentioned all those coaches there early on, right. You had Buck Kiss who was an assistant offensive line coach. Adam Stanovich was an assistant offensive line coach with the forty niners. Jason Rabel got here

as an offensive assistant. These guys were basically in just elevated roles from quality control ultimately, and now they are his next the next guy's up, and I'm telling you, Mike, in the coaching world, that goes a long way, because coaches are gonna look around and they're gonna see the ladder that has kind of developed in Green Bay, the

coaching tree that has sprouted. That's going to attract more young talent when it comes to quality control, when it comes to senior analysts, when it comes to guys that are like, you know what that system in Green Bay works. I think that's the ultimate testament to Matt lafloor And also the communication that he had with Nathaniel Hackett. Hackett said they were talking about it a year earlier when

he was interviewing for the Atlanta Falcons job. He didn't want to be a guy that just rated Matt Lafleur's staff, but they wanted to be in communication with each other. If there were opportunities for some of the guys like a justin outon to develop, I think that's the best part of this game him. When you can make things

like that happen. Yeah, when you've when you've had the success, especially early in your head coaching career that Matt la Fleur has had, it's going to create opportunities for guys on your staff who are deserving of those opportunities, but you may not have those openings available on your own staff. You can, you can only have so many coordinators, right.

So Matt, Matt Lafleur has I'm sure, I'm sure mentally, if not on paper in a file somewhere, had been preparing for an off season like this where guys were gonna move on, guys were going to leave. Things we're gonna need to be shifted around, and he had some very very solid ideas as to as to how he wanted to navigate through this situation. And now here we are in two it's a it's it's very much a new look. It's it's a new look coaching staff. But

yet it's not a complete overhaul either. There's a there's a there's a blend there in terms of how Matt Lafleur was able to navigate to navigate the situation. And now pretty soon, well in about a month or so, I guess O t a s when they actually start practicing um full time on the field, than than these guys, these these coaches will get back to doing what they do best, which and what they what they like to do. Best, which is to run practice and to see where this

season is headed. And I'm telling you, Mike, you don't need to be a head coach in the National Football that you can be a manager at a grocery store, you can be a principal at a school, you can work at a tire shop. If you inhibit opportunities of your employees, that is going to build up contempt. And Matt Lafleur gets it. He gets it in a way

that not just NFL coaches typically don't get it. Human beings don't get You have to allow people to spread their wings sometimes and trust that you're going to find more talented people to replace them. And I just I I thought this offseason and how the floor handle it was a masterclass and how you go about doing it

because you can't be afraid of change, adapt or die. Yeah. Absolutely, well with that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition and of Packers Unscripted, you should have follow all of our coverage of the team, lots of draft preview, roster roster position by position examination of the Packers, everything heading into the into this upcoming draft. We've got it all for you on Packers dot Com for West I'm Mike. Thank you for tuning in. Everybody, We'll see you next time.