Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined by the one and only Weston Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from our studios at lambeau Field and West. Since we last spoke, the Packers conducted their first full pads practice.
Monday was just a shoulder pads practice. Tuesday was full pads And the biggest thing that stood out to me, and I think you would agree with me as well, is we saw one of those days where the progress, the development um of quarterback Jordan's Love was on display. And it wasn't just a couple of really, really good quality, impressive throws that he made, but it was that he did. He executed a couple of those throws in the blitz
period where the defense was coming after him. He had guys in his face, and now, of course he can't get hit, but he stood in there and delivered. And I thought, Tuesday's practice We're gonna see obviously more in the preseason games coming up here in August, but Tuesday's practice was a significant step forward, I think for Jordan's Love.
And Love had such an interesting first week of training camp because you and I were remarking going into what would be Monday, you know, he was pretty like steady, quiet but really steady, yeah, and no issues in that regard. And then he has that two minute period during Monday's practice where three plays in he gets picked up by Vernon Scott to play that. You know, he admits he wanted back not not the way you want to end practice.
I mean that's the kind of thing that that had to stick with Jordan's love, you know, all through the rest of Monday, until he could get back on the field Tuesday, that interception, and yet he responded, he answered the call. He really did. And it was a day in which there was a lot of pressure. It was just the blitz is or just a little bit of you know, you know, breakdowns on the line where he
had some pass rushers in his face. Matt wellfre said, you know, if it was a game situation, he's not sure whether or not he would have been able to get it off or not. But that being said, he stood and delivered the football. He did it with authority.
Love talked to his locker for a long time on Tuesday, but it was really Aaron Rodgers in his session where they were talking about Tom Clements and the kind of the difference he's made the Packers long time quarterbacks coach you returned this offseason, and the stress on fundamentals and how he feels like that's sort of rubbing off on
love now. And he mentioned that it wasn't just if, for example, that that deep over route that he was able to hit Sammy Watkins on the one that basically everybody said was sort of his best play, uh in terms of really being able to make a downfield throw and make it accurately, but it was the way in
which his his footwork was in sync with everything. And as Rogers sort of explained, when you're lining up and there's no waste in motion at all the throw in some ways almost it kind of makes it for you.
And that's what happened on that play with Watkins. Later on in practice, you know that they were able to I think he had the pass also to Dobbs if I remember correctly, that was him that threw that in the end zone, right, Yeah, it was love to Dobbs with with Rico Gafford right on him, and Dobbs was able to snag it and and get both feed in right by the pylon. Offense had a nice celebration after that.
So like and as Matt laf said, in three years now, three camps of working with Love, this is potentially one of his very best. And to me again, we always hold that June nine practice and mini camp up as sort of the gold standard of love, but this wasn't that far off of it. The young man came to play. Yeah, absolutely, and a couple of things that that I really liked
and that were somewhat educational for me as well. One is that you know, Jordan's Love for all of the all the scrutiny he's been under, the criticism that that he has taken the fact that the start against Kansas City last year didn't go all that well, the second half against Detroit in week eighteen didn't really go all that well. So everybody's been been waiting to see and as I say, we're gonna have these preseason games coming
up here in August. But after a really really good practice on Tuesday, Jordan's Love didn't stand at his locker and and talk to reporters in any sort of like you know, well I've arrived moment, And yeah, this was this was a great day. He was like, yeah, I made some good throws, but you know, I want to be better. I want to be more consistent. He's after a practice like that and he's answering questions from reporters about these really good throws he made in some tough situations.
He's still thinking about the ones that you know, kind of got away from him, or maybe he didn't quite hit the right hot read against the blitz, and those are the things he's thinking about. Is he's about to take his iPad after he's done, you know, talking to reporters. He's going to take that tablet and go eat lunch and watch the film of practice before he even goes into the meeting room um with Aaron Rodgers and Tom
Clements to then review the practice again. So just getting a little bit of insight into into the psyche as
well as as the routine there. And the other thing you mentioned what Rogers was talking about it his locker after Wednesday's practice and in saying that, I mean, you know, and Aaron Rodgers has been doing this for so long as as one of the best, if not the best, in the league, and he talked about, you know, if if your footwork is right, the fundamentals are right, if your eyes are in the right place, if the timing of everything with regard to the to the protection, the rollout,
what you know, whatever else goes into the play, the play action fake. If all of that timing and everything is right and all those fundamentals are right, the throw, whether it's a ten yard hitch or whether it's a forty five yards shot down the scene, the throw is the easiest part when you get all of that other stuff together and in sync. And those are the kinds of things I think when you know, we watch football, we see the highlights, you look at the great throws
and all of this. We talked about how Aaron Rodgers can make that stuff look so easy. He makes it look easy because in those instances sometimes the throw is the easiest part for him because everything else plays such a big part in getting that play to work and
be executed properly. Absolutely, and it's ultimately really what has separated him at the top of this game for so long when you look at how his fundamentals, you know, from day one, I mean, he mentions, even talking with Clement said, what he's enjoyed is is he knew what it looked like when Aaron wasn't refined. He knew what it didn't look like when the footwork wasn't maybe necessarily
right to be. And being able to have that voice back in the room this year, he thinks, not only does it help love, it's it's going to help him in the long run and being able to actually, you know, find his own way again and and try to put
together a third consecutive m v P season. But it's just such a complicated position, Like there's so many times where I almost kind of get almost a little bit of a anxiety attack when when you listen to all of them and new usha that's involved with playing that position. It just isn't going out there, dropping back and throwing a football as hard as you can. There's so much that plays into it. Because he said, it's not just love,
it's also Danny Etling. It's these young guys that when you come in understanding what's going to be asked of you in that position and ultimately being able to improve your yourself to get yourself in the best position possible. So Aaron Rodgers was not making any predictions on the preseason, did not go there when he was asked about the preseason. But we know we're going to see a lot of Jordan's love and a lot of Danny Etling and for love.
This was the perfect way and my estimation going into Family Night trying to build some momentum up into that game against San Francisco. Yeah. Absolutely, Well, next up for the Packers a padded practice, full pads practice on Thursday, Family Night on Friday, and then heading into the following week, the preparation for the preseason opener at San Francisco. I want to shift gears here to a completely different topic
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in a bowl. Cousin Subs we believe in better. Alright, the rest of the show West we need to talk about Well, first off, I'm gonna say bond Voyage because you are off to Canton, Ohio for an extended weekend to cover Leroy Butler's long awaited but i'll say better late than never long awaited Hall of Fame induction. And
I've been to Canton a couple of times. I covered Brett Fire's induction as well as Jerry Kramer's UM in my time here before that, you know Vic Catchman, your predecessor here as as you know the two man writing team. Vick covered Ron Wolf and Dave Robinson being inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame. So a lot of Canton trips over the last decade here, which is a good thing um for the franchise. But anyway, I wish you
save travels and uh. And with regard to Butler's induction UM, the Kramer induction a few years ago was one thing right because of how long he had to wait. But with with Butler, it's almost With Kramer, there was a sense of relief because it seemed like it was a fifty year like wrong that finally had to be righted. With Butler, I just I've never been around a Packers player where the Hall of Fame induction And I should
mention Charles Woodson as well last year. Because of COVID restrictions and all that, we weren't known any cover it. We didn't cover it in the same way that we've covered other inductions. Although I would have loved to have been there for Charles le roi'son induction. There is a there is a true celebration and joy and everything that that is going into this for for him, for his family because they've had to wait a little bit longer
than you would have liked. But I think in a lot of ways it's made it even that much sweeter for Leroy to get to this point. It has and I think everybody involved with this process. I mean, Leroy is going in and he said this time and time again, and you know the conversations he had with his mom, who's since passed about the Hall of Fame, and you know, it's not the headline is not Leroy, Butler's going to
the Hall of Fame. It's everybody around him. And while he certainly was built by, you know, a village of of contributors, coaches, teammates, loved ones that helped him get to this point, I also think about all the people that have been around him that are kind of going on this journey to UM. I can't and I and I no longer do I have to act like I'm impartial. I'm not um. But I did radio for four years with Leroy, and that was the first time I really
got a chance to meet him. I knew him a little bit beforehand from Rob Dmowski and some of my colleagues at the Press Gazette, but it was when I started doing radio with him in thirteen I got to know him better as a human being. And the thing that stands out the most to me was what he meant to this fan base and what that fan base
means to him. It is a popular cliche for people to talk about the Packers having the best fans of football, you know, and some guys, you know, I'm not saying they don't mean it, but I'm just saying it's always something easy to go back to Leroy. Butler it's a different deal and it always has been that way, going back to when he invented the leap, which is now
almost thirty years ago. That he lives for his fans and to see this celebration when he finally does get in because there were guys like me that were obviously really discontent with Steve Attwater getting in first and John Lynch getting in first, and obviously, you know, trolly Paula
Maller was a first ballot Hall of Famer. I don't think anyone was arguing that but Leroy was waiting and waiting and waiting, and it's like, this is the guy that was the first one with twenty sacks and twenty interceptions. This is a guy that I think the people that could have stumped the hardest for him aren't here. You know, Reggie White passed away in two thousand four, Fritz Shermer passed away. They the people that knew what he could do and had the voices to tell it. A lot
of those voices weren't available for him. And for a time I grew frustrated. But then when he did make semifinalist and you start to talk to him more about this and his vantage point on things and how his mom affected him in that way, this is a guy that was content, and he kind of had this sort of empowerment, like almost manifesting that I'm going to be in the Hall of Fame someday. I don't need to worry about it. I don't worry about the order that
I think it. It made it even sweeter when he finally did get that knock on the door, when Charles Woodson did show up at his house and was able to actually tell him, you're going to be welcoming to the greatest fraternity and professional football. So it's an extremely long answer for you, Mike, But I guess the way I think as we go days out from this event is just the emotions involved with it, in the fact that this isn't just a guy, This isn't just a
safety with stats that revitalized the revolutionize the position. Leroy Butler is a tried and true Green Bay Packer. He's from Jacksonville, Florida, but you might as well just put hometown of title Town on there. That's the way he approached this thing, and he still makes his home in Wisconsin. I could not be more thrilled for him. Yeah, I tell you it's it's interesting. And I don't know Leroy as well as you do. And this is not a story that he would remember by any stretch. And I'm
not even sure if I've told you this story. But back in my early newspaper days, I was at the wasa daily Herald, as you know, and one of the first times I came over to Green Bay to provide some coverage of the Packers for the daily paperback in Wassa. It was training camp of n and of course we all know what happened in the Packers were coming off of reaching the NFC Championship Game UM and losing to
Dallas the previous year. So I came over in training camp was doing was working on a set of stories for a special you know, football tab section for the paper that was going to include all the high schools, but then also some some exclusive Packer coverage. And I was able to get UM through Aaron Popkey, who's still one of our colleagues here. Popkey, Aaron was working UM in football communications then he's more in all of the involved in all the non daily football communications here with
the organization now. But I was able to get after practice in training camp, was able to get a one on one interview with Butler just in a little side room, you know. And this is way before you know the renovation and everything, a little side room off to the side of of the locker room and everything. And uh, and he didn't he didn't know me from Adam. I mean I literally it was the first time I had been around lambeau Field and around the locker room at all,
and uh um. And he sat down and talked with me for like fifteen minutes about the defense. You know, about Fritz and about Reggie and Santana Dots and and all, and you know, all the plans and what the you know, how confident they were in the unit they had, which ended up being the number one scoring defense in the league that year. And I was what would that have been, summer of ninety six. I was twenty three years old,
pretty young cub reporter as they used to say. And he he gave he gave me such an amazing interview that helped me with these training camp stories that I was working. And he didn't he didn't know me, He had no he had no reason to give me that type of interview, give me that time of day. And I've always I've always remembered that, and I've and and the longer you're in this business, the more you realize
that they aren't all made like le Roy Ball. So I just wanted to share that because because that's one for my very early days in this business, in in getting connected to the Packers and professional football, um right at the very very beginning stages. And he was a part of it for me and uh and I have a lot to thank for him, thank him for that um because of because of that particular day, I loved
one of the stories. I was talking with Gilbert Brown, who's one of the presenters for Leroy, and he mentioned, you know, he gets basically signed from the Vikings. He was a third round pick, but he got cut right that first year. So what do the Green Bay Packers do? Well, they put him in a locker right next to Leewright Butler.
So when I was asking about it, like just his first impressions where he's like, I thought he ran his mouth too much because and he's like everybody and their mothers sitting there trying to get an interview with him. I can never get into my locker, like he basically saying, it's a little annoyed by this guy. But then there has a time, you know, turned out they end up
becoming best friends almost mostly like brothers. And I think anybody that's met Leroy, whether it's whether you're meetinga or whether or not, it could have been a guy, you know, someone going to an event. He has a gift of gab unlike any other. And it was funny listening to his wife, Genesis talked about this because she said, what's really interesting about Leroy is one like he he understands
he's never going to meet every Packer fan. There's too many of them, too many different states but in countries. But he in that moment when he talks to people, it maybe three minutes, five minutes, ten minutes, whatever he gets. He's like, you know, there's a lot of times where he's at things and you know he has a line
and he always steadily works through it. He has like the perfect process for wanting to actually show people the appreciation of being able to have that interaction and their support um and also being able to you know, try
to get to as many people as possible. And that's something again that his mother instilled in him, and just the idea that you know, you're gonna have the leap, you're gonna have the interceptions, you're gonna be one of the highest paid safeties in the National Football League at one point in time, but at some point you won't be an NFL football player. Anymore. But if you if you care for and you appreciate your fans, they're still going to be there for you. So that's what has
really stood out to me the most. One of the big reasons why I think Jerry Kramer, in addition to being a five time All Pro guard and all the things that he did in his career, one of the reasons that that that fire never died trying to get him into Canton is because of the fact he was, in my opinion, the greatest ambassador of Packers football there's ever been. The guy's done it all, see in it all,
and he did it ten years fifteen years before anybody else. Right. Leroy, in my mind, is like a modern day Jerry Kramer. I think he's a guy that will continue to carry that green and gold torch for this organization. He's a guy that you can go and talk to and feel like you've known him for ten years. Oh and by the way, he's an incredibly deserving football player. The ways in which Fritz Shermer utilized him were unprecedented at the time.
And you know, you had your Ronnie Lotts, you know you had your your you know you're Darren Woodson's You had guys that were making this transition at that time when defenses were starting to evolve a little bit and understanding you could just always live in your base unit. You're gonna have to have sub packages, and guys like Leroy were worth their weight in gold just based on what they could do and how really dependable they could be. The credit has to go first and foremost to Ray Rhodes.
He was the one that started that switch in, but once Shermer got in and where they took that thing. I wrote this in my profile on him, fifteen and a half of his twenty and a half SAX came when he was operating those five seasons in Friz Shermer's defense. Yeah, he used him almost like another pass rusher to the point, like Gilbert was saying, some of the guys on the front were like, this guy's taking our set, you know.
But that's just the type of playmaker he was, and they entrusted him in a way in which few GET people have have really been trusted. You look at Leroy, butler you look at Charles Woodson in two thousand and ten, those type of defensive backs really had a huge contribution to Super Bowl Championships and ultimately keeping the title in
Title Town. Yeah. Absolutely, When when you think of Leroy Butler, Uh, the words dependable and impactful are the ones that that come to mind for me and Um, Well, I certainly congratulate Leroy. I wish him the best. I hope he has the greatest celebration weekend ever um in Canton, Ohio. I'm excited for you to be able to be able to be a part of that one last thing before we go, because this is what always comes up already referenced the past decade, right, There's been Dave Robinson, Ron Wolf,
Brett Farve, Jerry Kramer, Charles Woodson, now Leroy Butler. So who's the next Green Bay Packers individual icon? Who who may eventually enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame? And there are three legitimate possibilities here for the Class of three, because both for the Senior Committee and the Coach Contributor category, those groups have been whittled down to uh finalists and Sterling Sharp and cecil Isbell are both finalists in the Senior category, and then former head coach Mike Holmgren is
one of the finalists in the in the Coach Contributor category. Now, to explain sort of how this works is with these separate categories from from what's sort of the the regular modern era induction process, which is how Leroy got in Charles Woodson, Brett farve Um. The Senior Committee looks at players who um who did not make it in through the normal modern error process and sort of re revisits uh certain candidates and then is able to nominate individuals to then get a full vote in front of the
full selection committee. The coach Contributor category is a fairly recent one that's been that's been created. They get to do the same thing. Fore, the Senior Committee is going to get to put forward three players. Usually it's only one or two. They'll get to put forward three players for a full vote in front of the committee. They have a list of twelve finalists right now, it will be whittled to three the coach Contributor category as a dozen final if that'll be whittled down to just one.
So Sharp and Isabel are in the senior category, Homegrown is in the coach contributor category. Going to be interesting to see how this falls. I think the best chance at this point because the Senior Committee is actually going to have three nominees for the next three years each of the next three years that that they can put forward for a vote to the full committee. I think the door is open for Sterling Sharp. If it's not this next year, maybe within the next couple of years.
I think the door is open for Sterling Sharp to to maybe get the nod here. What do you think? Yeah, I agree. I mean the momentum is certainly there, and its momentum that we haven't felt for a number of
years with Sharp in his candidacy. And you know, I keep going back to what his brother said, you know, and it's one of probably the most impassioned lines I can ever recall from Hall of Fame speeches when he's talking about going in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but you know, probably not even being the best football player in his own family. Yeah, it was was something that really hit home. And I know how close those two are as brothers. I never covered, you know, Sterling.
I just caught the tail end of it in terms of when I remember as a child. But that the story I always tell people is that if you would tell me that in this guy's last NFL game, he had nine catches for a hundred and thirty two yards and two in three touchdowns. I mean, I don't know about you. When you look at the rest of the resume, that's a Hall of Famer. And I think when you look at Megatron getting in when he did, I really
honestly feel like Terrell. I understand the playoff implications of it, but I really felt like Terrell Davis getting in with something where it's like, Okay, we're starting to break down the wall here a little bit of guys that maybe didn't play ten twelve years, And I thought that helped him. And then also from the standpoint of you look at you really do take a look at the numbers he was putting up with the players that he was putting those and he didn't play seven years with Brett Farve.
I mean, he he went through different quarterbacks and yet he always was an impact player. Yeah, I agree with you. And we've talked about this, you know, amongst ourselves, even on this show. We've written about an insider inbox with regard to this idea of the you know, the players with the shorter careers, as you say, not the guys who played ten, twelve or fourteen years. The guys with the shorter careers getting into the Hall of Fame, Terrell
Davis broke down a bit of a barrier there. But with him, you know, there was the caveat that he was he not only was you know, did what he did in a shortened career, but in the postseason with the Super Bowls with the Broncos, I mean and what Terrell davis Is postseason numbers were were like off the charts. That that that that was always something extra that was
carried along with his shorter career. But then as you said, Megatron, Megatron got in, Calvin Johnson from the Lions didn't have the longest career, and now we've also seen Tony BASSELLI considered, you know, the premier left tackle in this game for a handful of years, but didn't have a very long
career because of health concerns and injuries. And now Stirling Sharp here coming along as a as a very strong senior committee candidate, not having um not having even gotten to the finalist stage in in the modern era process at all. The thing the thing that I'll always remember about Sterling, and partly because partly because I was actually
at the game. Um. I was at the game at the Metrodome against the Vikings when when Sterling broke Art Monks single season receptions record when he got a hundred and eight receptions in one season, and that I don't remember exactly when Monks at that record, but I want to say it had stood for about ten years give or take. Then Sterling broke that record with a hundred and eight receptions in one year, and then the following year he broke it again and got a hundred and
twelve UM. And I mean he he was the best at his position for even though what he didn't play as long as Jerry Rice, he didn't play as long
as Terrell Owens who came later. And so I I commend I commend the Senior Committee and the full Hall of Fame Selection Committee that has looked harder at the Tony Basselli's of the world that these guys who were the best of the best, even if they didn't have the super long career, they're starting to get their due and I hope, I hope it comes due for sharp here with the with the Senior Committee opportunity over the
next few years. The other thing I'll say too, with regard to Mike Holmgren, UM, I think Mike Holmgren belongs in the Hall of Fame. You and I have talked about it before that if Bill Kauer and nothing against Bill Kauer, but if Bill Kauer with UH with one Super Bowl win and one Super Bowl loss as head coach of the Steelers, if Mike Bill cowers in the Hall of Fame, Mike Holmegren should be in the Hall of Fame, having been to three Super Bowls with two
different franchises. I even though Homegron only has the one Super Bowl title, I think he's definitely deserving. That. Being said, with the coach contributor category right now, only being able to push forward one candidate this upcoming year, UM, I'm
kind of pulling for Don coore Yell. UM. I think I think Don coore Yell, the former San Diego Chargers head coach, has been overlooked in this process for way too long with what his passing offenses with Dan Fouts and West Chandler and John Jefferson and Kellen Winzel and all those guys like what they did. So I'm kind of hoping that Corey Yell gets in and then maybe once he's out of the way then, Mike Holmgren, you know, starts to starts to rise closer to the top a
little bit. That's just sort of how I see it from a personal stand. Yeah, I'm definitely with you on the Korey All front. It was interesting talking to Leroy a little bit about Homegren and his candidacy and and something else maybe put together later for a story because he sort of touched on what you just did there. In terms of the three Super Bowl appearances, Mike Holmegren basically covers all the all the different variations of what you look for in the Hall of Fame type coach.
A guy that came into a situation where this was a downtrodden franchise for twenty nine years and was a part of the rebuilding plan of that was a part of them getting back to prominence within three four years.
The other thing, too, is that, Okay, if you want to maybe right off some of his successes because of Brett Farve and Reggie White and everything and how prolific some of that talent was, well, then you also need to acknowledge what he did with Seattle and with all with no disrespect intended to Mann, Hasselbeck, who was a
fine NFL starting quarterback. It was a different type of quarterback and they had to do things differently with Sean Alexander and a lot of those teams of that era, he established two basic turnarounds and in shepherded both of them in that regard. I think we all need to be, you know, need to take stock of that, and in my opinion, that's what put his resume higher than Bill Kers,
especially considering car was coming after Chuck Noll. The other thing I just want to touch on very briefly before we go is Cecil as Abel because you know, I'm a huge Cecil as a Bell fan. It's well documented how much I feel about his his candidacy, and I'm putting it out there for for Cliff Crystal next year, next spring when we end the season, you know, and
you're getting fitted for a Super Bowl ring. I want to be able to actually sit down with Cliff and go through Isabel Vern Llewellen in in Lavie Dilwig because those are kind of the three that everybody's talking about that we're sort of left behind in that pre Canton Hall of fame and and I honestly believe It is an oversight not not to have Llewllen on this list, but he's not there. Isabel is. So that's what we
have to talk about. If Isabel would get into the Pro Football of Fame, would be tied for the second fewest games played by a guy in the Hall of Fame. But we also need to respect the fact that this was a different time in National Football League history. When Isabel hung it up, it wasn't because he couldn't play. He was at the peak of his power. He had just fashioned almost a ninety passer rating in like through for yards, had twenty four touchdowns, a record that stood
for forty years until Lynn Dicky broke it. You just have to be able to appreciate that money was different, time was different in World War Two. This is a guy that then went out of the coaching side of things because that's where you could actually make a true living. And you go back, just read Don Hudson's book, read some of these things on Cecil Isabel, this guy. If you're talking about a Pro Football Hall of Fame, it is about guys who changed the National Football League and
in terms of the forward pass. Along with Curly Lambeo Isabel was a huge part of that. After the Arnie Herbert era, I was gonna say he followed a Hall of Famer in Arnie Herbert as a as a offensive back slash quarterback, the way they were the way they were used back then, and obviously Don Hudson was was a big part of of that era as well. Um, well, we've gone a little bit over time today, but you're heading off for a few days, so so have a safe trip, friend. I hope it all goes well for you.
Say hi to Leroy for me and all of that, all right, and with that we'll call it a wrap on this edition of Packers Unscript. To be sure to follow all of our coverage on Packers dot com. West will have everything from Canton. I will have everything from training camp and Family Night and all that coming up here in the next few days. So for West, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We'll see you next time.