#657 Packers Unscripted: Camp commences

Said TV about this. I mean, there is a certain amount of change that you've almost feel the week that training camp starts. And I would like to joke with some of my family members that it's like there's five seasons in Wisconsin where you know, there's spring, summer, training camp, fall, winter. Like it's just the air taste a little bit different, the sun hits you a little bit from a different angle.

It's an exciting time around lambau Field. And one of the questions that I had from Mark Murphy was, you know, just not just the return to normalcy, but just the idea of being able to get the bikes out there again, being able to to get fans really truly into this, people not having to ask the question anymore about hey, are we allowed? Are we not allowed? It's gonna, i think, in a lot of ways, feel a lot more like a traditional training camp, and for me, that's something I'm

very grateful for. Yeah, absolutely, the return to normal as best we can under the current circumstances. Well, the first practice of training camp is scheduled for Wednesday morning, that is when camp for the Packers kicks off. So we'll try to set the stage here a little bit with regard to some of the news that has come out been reported in the last few days with regard to players who are going to begin training camp on the PUP list, which is which stands for physically unable to perform.

It's players who will not be practicing at the start of training camp, and it's routine for anybody who doesn't pass a physical, doesn't pass a conditioning test, whatever. There could be any number of reasons they aren't going to be out there the first day of practice. They will be on the PUP list. Two players in particular, because of position groups that we've spent a lot of time talking about two players who are going to be on the pup list to start camp, David Baktier and rookie

wide receiver Christian Watson. Starting on the offensive line, this throws a little bit of a wrinkle into maybe where we thought training camp was going to go with regard to the offensive line, because in my mind, I was picturing, Okay, you get your five time All Pro back at left tackle, and then you see how it shakes out at right tackle, right yosh Naiman, maybe Sean Ryan's and the mixed Royce Newman. There could be some different guys fighting for that right

tackle spot. Well, if bok tr is not going to be practicing, I'm assuming most likely yosh Naiman is going to be the left tackle with the number one offense here. As training camp gets going, you still got to have that, you know, an experience against guy there on on Aaron Rodgers blindside, even when it's just a training camp practice. So then we'll see what happens with regard then to

the competition at right tackle and how it begins. That being said, they're not going to be in pads for a handful of days here yet with regard to uh to the all the players and alignment and the contact in particular. But what's your sense of just kind of

where things are going here on the offensive line right now? Yeah, that was when when you go back to the off season program, you know, Yash ended up playing quite a bit at left tackle, probably more than I was anticipating, regardless of whether or not box tr he was out there. I just was wondering if they would give him more

reps at the right side. My guess is knowing the way that Adam Sanovich looks at this thing, obviously, Luke buck has being a disciple of that is, let's let's get our guys out there, let's put them in positions to be comfortable, and then once you you know, if you've got to do some positional versatility there, if you gotta do some cross training there. They've obviously been really ept at doing that as well. So, but Nieman is the guy I guess, to me I've always sort of

had penciled in is the right tackle. Um, the real big quite sh mark in this entire equation is Royce Newman, because you you almost I look at Newman the same way I looked at Billy Turner coming out of his second or his first year in Green Bay in two thousand nineteen. He played guard last year, but you know, he also has a tackle frame, And there's been an idea in the background mind too that Okay, maybe that right tackle competition comes down to a Nieman and a Newman.

But then are you are you doing a disservice to Newman by not letting him retain his starting position at right guard. That's the number one question I think the Packers are gonna have to answer this spring this summer's where is Royce Newman playing? Where do you want to see him line up? He started at tackle last year and then they ended up moving him to right guard when there were some issues there early in camp at

that position. Once the Newman kind of question gets answered, I think that's where the rest falls in line with Nieman, with these rookies that came in, you know, because that's the thing and I wrote about in our position by position series. There are nine draft picks I think on this team. I mean, they have invested so many resources into that position. Not to mention a guy like Cole Van Landing from Bayport that was taking some reps with the first team unit at tackle this this past spring.

So that is really to me going to be the number one question is because I feel like you can look at eight different versions of this offensive line and honestly, I believe all of them is potentially be in the week one line up. Yeah, I agree with you on that point, and also with regard to sort of where is Newman going to fit best in this equation now? And granted we don't know how much of training camp David Bactieri is gonna miss, hopefully it's not a lot.

But Newman when he was drafted in the fourth round out of Old Miss, he was brought in as a guy who played plenty of tackle and plenty of guard in college. This is a guy the Packers felt, like you said with Billy Turner, who could play both spots, and they're going to find maybe where he fits best. Now you have that third round rookie and Sean Ryan

in the mix here. Now, this is a guy who played a lot of tackle in college at U c. L A. But yet you look at you talked about Newman maybe having that build of a tackle, Ryan almost looks like he has more the build of a guard as opposed to a tackle. Now, that's not to say that that's absolutely a hundred percent where he's going to go. But if Royce Newman is taking more reps at right tackle, that potentially opens the door for Sean Ryan to get some more reps with the upper units in in practice

UM at a guard spot. And then and then we see what happens here at this time last year. Neither you nor i, as we had talked about on our last show before we took our break, we weren't talking about Royce Newman being in the starting line up here for the Green Bay Packers. So we just don't know exactly how this is going to shake out. And then obviously, when David Bati gets back um on the practice field on a full time basis, that's going to you know, set off a string at Domino, so to speak. As

far as how this is going to fall into play. Yeah, getting a chance to talk with Sean Ryan this offseason, I mean you get an idea how big this guy is. I mean I almost equate him almost. He's a large aversion of Lane Taylor where he has that's a good way to put big, well proportioned body. But he's also six five, I mean, so It's funny just the transition that you've seen with offensive lineman over the years. The Packers now have a center that's six five, they have

a guard that's that's six five. You know, they have these guys that can The reason we talked about the position and where these guys could fit because their bodies almost are more like your traditional tackles. But yet now you're seeing more of those guys push inside. This isn't the six ft two center game anymore. It's it's kind

of changed a little bit in that regard. But again, major things the Packers are gonna have to shift out, and I promise you the way that that offensive line looks this first week of practice is undoubtedly not going to be the way it looks at the end of camp. Yeah. Absolutely Well. With regard to the wide receiver competition, we spent a lot of time talking about it through the spring. Christian Watson, the rookie second round pick out of North Dakota State, will not be on the practice field at

the start of training camp. Going to be interesting to see what this means then for Romeo Dobbs, the fourth round pick out of Nevada, for Samari too A the seventh round pick out of Nebraska. Also what it means for the what I what I call sort of the holdover group, These guys who have been on the roster, they've gotten their feet wet in the NFL, but they're still trying to establish themselves. And of course I'm talking about guys like Juwann Winfree, Malik Taylor. And there's another

one that whose name is escaping me at the moment. Yes, Amari Rodgers. Well actually there was another one too, but Amari Rodgers third round pick last year, didn't have the rookie season that he was hoping for a lot of positive signs um here in the spring. So with Christian Watson not on the field early on, again, it's you know, one one man's misfortune can be another man's opportunity in this league. So we'll just have to see. We'll just have to see what happens. Did you see Jowan Winfree, Yes?

I did, Jan Winfree, Yeah, Milik Taylor, Amari Rodgers, and then uh Danny Davis from Wisconsin. Maybe maybe maybe I was in Randall Cobb. Yeah, that's not quite the same. Um. I I don't know if you saw the tweet I found it very interesting because again I wrote one of the stories on him in the spring, you know, Amari Rogers saying that he's reported a camp a two hund two pounds. Uh. That was his goal. He wanted to get lighter. He said he played as heavy I think

is maybe to sixteen to seventeen last year. He wanted to get back to being himself. He is the number one player I think on this offense that nobody's talking about in terms of that could potentially make a big impact this year. And the reason I say that is because since day one, when you look at how they build that jet motion receiver, that guy that can kind of do it all in this offense, Mari Marie Rogers,

he checks all those boxes. This is gonna be a huge camp for him because I think the opportunity is

going to be there. But more than anything else, Mike, I think the guy that we're going to be seeing the most is Alan Lazard because Alan Lazard is the guy that I think when you look at how this roster has configured, Yes, he brought in Sammy Watkins, Yes, you saw guy like Randall Cob really turned it up last season and get back into the fold and show that he still can be a real asset to this offense.

But Lazard is in the prime of his career. He's coming off an eight touchdown season, and he's now going to get a chance to be one of the first guys that Aaron Rodgers is gonna be looking towards. He's gonna be one of the at the guys that are going to be one of the focal points of this offense. And I'm really excited for him in that regard. You saw, I know you're big on Instagram, you know some of

these photos that Lazard has put up. I mean, he looks to be in incredible physical shape right now, and I just to me, that's the guy that I think is really going to be the catalyst in someone that if he stays healthy, this is his chance to prove

that he can be a number one receiver. Well, we heard we heard Aaron Rodgers in the spring when he was here for Mini camp, and he talked about it how excited he was to see what Alan Lazard is going to do when he's given the opportunity to compete to be a true number one receiver in this offense. He knows the offense it's not a matter of learning the playbook or having to having to study things any differently. But it's going to be where he lines up, where

he is in the progression. Obviously, we're going to see what happens with Sammy Watkins with him getting thrown into the mix here as a veteran wide receiver who's accomplished a lot in the NFL UM trying to revive rejuvenate his career a little bit. You mentioned Randall Cobb. He's, you know, kind of the old stand by, the old reliable for Aaron Rodgers. Right, Rogers knows exactly where Cobb is going to be and when at at certain times.

But how all this fits together If training camp does indeed start as Rogers was projecting that the top three guys at wide receiver are Lazard, Cobb, and Watkins, whatever order you want to put him in, then it's just going to be a matter of all these other young guys, first and second year guys, the rookies all in that mix competing with each other to see, like, Okay, who's going to who's gonna be the guy that gets that one day somewhere in August to get all his reps

with the number one offense as opposed to being with the twos or with the threes, Right, Like, that's what these guy as you're going to be are going to be fighting for because we know when it comes to the preseason games, there are certain guys who are probably not going to play. Um, those guys are going to get their The younger guys are going to get their opportunities in the preseason games. But what do they do in practice to give themselves those opportunities? With Aaron Rodgers

taking the snaps, right, that's what we'll be watching. Samari to Ray is a name that I'm going to have on my clipboard on my notebook throughout this camp, throughout the preseason because I'm gonna tell you this, in offseason program does not make a career. It does not make you a fifty three man roster. To Ray did every single thing he could do is a seventh round pick

to get noticed in the spring. Because you're not given much benefit of the doubt, You're not going to be given a lot of time in a lot of cases. I'm not saying this is Green Bay, but there's a lot of places in the NFL they're looking for a reason to keep their seventh round pick on a practice squad to Ray the way he played the fact that he caught everything that was thrown to him. Maybe he had one drop on a maybe a route on air, I think, but otherwise in terms of the team periods,

the kid performed in Romeo Dobbs, same thing. This guy coming out in Nevada tons of production in college, was a complete ball hawk and playmaker in these training the offseason practices. Now let me also add the condition here that Alexander was not out there. Rasul Douglas often wasn't out there. They didn't have their top to the line of cornerbacks and safeties. You've got to be able to, you know, cushion that a little bit. But these guys need to be able to show that they can make plays.

And they did it against their peers. And that's one of the reasons why this year, this training camp, these receivers, it is going to be fun to watch. Yeah, certainly won't be the last time over the next month that we're talking about the wide receiver position. I'll take care of some sponsor business here. 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 and had 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 better alright, defensive side of the ball here, not as much in UH as far as the off season news or I should say recent news with regard to UH, the pup list and whatnot. So I'll just ask you straight out, what is the number one storyline that you're going into

camp paying attention to with regard to Joe Berry's defensive unit. Really, to me, it's Quay Walker. Yeah, I think so too, in the fact of where is this guy gonna be, how are they going to utilize him, and how quickly are they going to look for him to be a starter in this unit. We saw him rotating with the

starters in the off season program. Again, that doesn't tell you everything, but it does say something because historically that's not been a thing that has happened a lot in Green Bay, especially with Devondre Campbell and Chris Barnes both being here. For the offseason program. It's not like there was not enough options there, So hey, let's throw a Walker. All the Packers have some expectations for this young man

six ft four pounds. You and I got the visual of what it looks like he's lining up next to Campbell behind the defensive line. It's imposing the biggest thing here. We're gonna talk a lot about. Okay, how is the offense gonna, you know, do without Davante Adams. So what is rich Bisacci gonna do on special teams? How can they improve in those facets? The defense has been the story since the day the season ended, and especially after Wessel Douglas and Devandre Campbell signed, the defense has been

the story. These are the most weapons, These are the most draft picks. This is the most investment green Bay has made it at that side of the ball. Into Joe Barry's credit, they made the most of it last year. Can you see them take that jump and if they do, Kway Walker is the type of player that they didn't have in this defense last year. That's not a dig against Chris Barnes. I'm saying in terms of just a player, linebacker, athlete.

This guy's a difference maker, and that that's the part of it I'm excited to see, especially being able to work under the learning tree of Deavandre Campbell, which has already kind of integrated himself to into you know, in the off season. Well, certainly with the way last season ended and is disappointing as it was. The season ends with that big thud of a loss against the San

Francisco forty Niners and the playoffs. The reason we've been talking about the defense all off season not just because the two first round picks were both spent on defense and on two guys from that Georgia Bulldocks National championship team, you know, Kay Walker and Davonte Wyatt on the defensive line. It's because that defense reached a peak last season right at the time you wanted to reach a peak. Now, is it going to be able to just pick up

where it left off in Week one? I mean, that's not how this league works, right, But everything about the everything about the progression and the trajectory of the defense, even in dealing with Jaye Alexander's injury and other guys being in and out of the lineup, the defense got exactly where it needed to be last January um for the Packers to to get where they wanted to go, and other the other phases of things didn't fall into place. But that's why so much attention has been on the defense,

and everybody's really really excited. Then you throw in Kway Walker and Devontae Wyatt on a defensive line where you not only spend a late first round pick, you spent a first round pick on that position group for the first time since Kenny Clark, but you also brought in a free agent in Jaren Reid who spent five seasons in Seattle, spent a season in Kansas City. This is a this is a productive guy. I like to call

him the been there, done that guys, right. I mean, he's he's been, He's been in playoff games, He's produced. The track record is there, he's been healthy, hasn't had you know, an injury, pockmark career, anything like that. This is a This is a defensive line. This is a defensive line that's as deep as I've seen it in

a long time. And then you talk about that imposing look of Campbell and Walker to six ft four guys um as those two inside linebackers there's a there's a lot of excitement about this defense, and for good reason. All that being said, we may not really see what this defense looks like for a while because a lot guys aren't gonna play in the preseason games. They're gonna go through camp. We're going to see him in the eleven on elevens. We're gonna we're gonna try to glean

what we can from it. But Week one in some in some respects can't get here soon enough as far as just where is this Packers defense considering where it left off last January. And that's where it's going to be exciting too, because I do think for a first round pick, I think you are going to see Davonte Wyatt play in a lot in preseason. I think you're gonna see I mean t J. Slayton and Jonathan Ford. I mean they might need to work on their their

cardio a little bit. Those those those guys might those guys might get might get a lot of snaps in these three games in August, that's for sure. And and that's the exciting part of it because Kenny Clark, you're not going to see out there, you know, Dean Lawry, I wouldn't imagine, especially with Dean I think he's he's on PUP two. Yeah, Lowry is one of the defensive starters. Who who is going to begin camp on pup and

Jaren Reed I wouldn't imagine. Maybe you get some work, but it's gonna be allowed those young guys, and that's gonna be their time to shine. Because as much as we talk about rotation, as much as we talk about being able to keep guys fresh, what is is really about? To me? It's about how are we going to be able to make Kenny Clark's life even easier to allow him to be the playmaker I think everybody knows he can be. Clarke has worn so many hats for this

defense over the years. He's been their top run stuffer and their top interior pass rusher. Can you can you start to pick and choose? Can you start to figure out where other guys might be able to step up so you get more out of Kenny in this fast Can you take some double teams off of him? That's the really exciting part, especially seeing how Dean Lawry developed last year and with him having the best year of his career, that again, the sky is the limit for

for so many different facets of that defense. Well, before we go, want to touch a little bit on the third phase of things as well with regard to uh special teams, because right at the beginning of this week, the Packers made another addition there and a very similar addition to one they made much earlier in the off season. And I'm talking about signing a reserve defensive back from the Raiders who has a lot of experience on special teams and a lot of familiarity with Rich Bisaccio, the

new Packers special teams coordinator. Interesting how the Packers have have gone about, you know, not only looking to to revamp the special teams, but then but then also finding guys that they believe they can that that if all goes well, they'll be able to slot in as some

of these depth pieces in the defensive backfield. And uh, these are two guys from everything that we know, and I'm talking about case Keishan Nixon and Dallen Levitt, Levitt being the new signing this week that, um, these are guys that have have almost the same what do you call it track record in the NFL in terms of in terms of they haven't been starters, but they've been very active reserve players in the defensive backfield for the Raiders, and they've done a heck of a lot of work

on special teams working under Bessaccio. Yeah, and it's not like Levitt was just sitting out there either. I mean the Raiders just let them go last weeks. So obviously the Packers jumped on that quickly. We haven't a chance to talk to rich Bisacci, but you have to imagine he plays to call there being like, hey, this is a guy that could really help us. And the part of it that's exciting is you look at Keishaw Nixon.

Let's start there from day one when he got nontendered by the Raiders and they made the Packers made such a point to sign him. It would have been one thing if you just brought him in. It's like, Okay, this is a rich Bisacci guy. This is the guy that's gonna help us on the core four units. No, I mean Joe Barry was using him as his dime cornerback to it shows you that they feel like there's more to this guy than just the past history with Pisacci, that this is a young man twenty five years old,

good size for the position. You know, maybe not the typical hype, but you know, really good frame for the safety spot that he could potentially help them up near the line of scrimmage. And then you look at Levitt, guy had his career high special teams tackles last year had twelve. Another Eggie. The Packers have had tons of those, you know, Utah State guys over the years. I believe he might have been a teammate of Kyler Facker. I gotta go back and look at that. But this guy

same to typical kind of frame. I mentioned the offseason program. Mike and I wrote about this an inbox too, and you and I discussed it that that Sean Richardsinson type safety where it's a guy that has a good frame for the position. You can see how he could fit into all these different special teams units. That's without knowing a lot about Lovett. That's one of the things that

really spoke to me. And his addition comes at a position where the Packers didn't really have anybody with NFL experience, extensive NFL experience behind the starters and Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage. They're adding pieces where they needed obviously special teams helped to improve those units, but also guys that

could potentially factor into the defense as well. Yeah. Absolutely, And and here I want to close on I guess what I'll call the my my grain assault moments of the week, all right, because there are a lot of fans obviously there's there's there's angst and and nervousness and everything with regard to what's happening on special teams and how is Rich Pasacci going to fix all of this? And Packers fans are gonna want to turn and on that first preseason game and see that the special teams

are all fixed. Right, So my, my, my sort of take this. You know, all of this, uh, this hype with regard to the special teams, the grain assault part of it is Rich Pisacci has been doing this for a long time. My the sense that I get, and I could be way off base here, but the sense that I get with how the ninety man roster has been built, with what we saw in the spring, with how he was trying out all different different guys, all kinds of different guys that returner and gunner and all

of these different things that they were working on. Rich Pisacci knows what he wants it to look like and how he's going to coach this team through the season. I think he's going to use training camp and the preseason games to find the guys that he wants. You know, it's not going to be about the finished product on the field in the preseason to get ready for the regular season. Getting ready for the regular season for Rich

Pisacci is I want to find the right guys. And then when I have all the right guys and we've made the decis visions on who they're gonna be, now I'm gonna now I'm going to coach them and and we're gonna get this thing to where we want to look like. So I just want to say that with regard to um, you know, the preseason, because there's gonna be a lot of talk out there on the first punt coverage, the first kickoff coverage, everything in that first preseason game. We just have to take a step back

for a moment. And the other thing I have to say to another grain assault moment of the week is as excited as we are for training camp, it's here. The season's gonna get rolling. The first handful of days are gonna be without pads. These are really gonna be just glorified O t A practices with like bigger crowds and fans cheering and all that. And that's all gonna

be great. But we still have to wait several days before before the pads go on, before the one on one pass rush, pass protection drill, you know, we see that kind of hitting and and uh um. So it's it's just yes, there's a lot of excitement right now, but the real work hasn't quite It will start as soon as I had to Canton, and then they'll be good to go. Then it's all good to go. I do want to say this though, will close on this. With the special teams, You're absolutely hundher percent right. It

is going to be a process. You do have to build. The one thing though, if you're a Packer fan you have to be excited about, is the fact that Packers fan wanted changes on special teams. They got it. Yeah, there's a new coordinator, Brian, you know Byron Storer, his assistant, Besach's assistant, a new assistant to him. They had their top four guys I think in playing time were all they've moved on or they departed. This is going to be a different unit and it's going to look differently now.

It's can you build a different and re established that identity that that's going to be the challenge. Yeah. Absolutely, Well with that, we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team training camp kicks off on Wednesday. We will be there for every practice, all kinds of stories, videos, Packers dot com is going to be full of content, folks, you won't want to miss it. So for Wes, I

am Mike. Thank you for tuning in. Everybody, We will see you next time.