Hi, everybody.
Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford. He is my partner in crime, Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from different locations ATLINO will Field to review the twenty twenty three draft for the Packers weston thirteen selections over a span of three days, including nine on the third and final day on Saturday. I don't know about you, but only having Sunday off before coming back to work on Monday was
not enough of a break. But that being said, it was quite the eventful weekend in packerland.
You know what the weekend reminded me of, Mike. It's where I don't know how many like ten k's or half marathons you've run, but it's where you know you're prepared for it. Zero. Okay, well I've run a couple now, but if you're not properly conditioned to pacing, you can kind of hit that wall at the end. That's what the seventh round was for me. On Saturday night, it was like, Hey, I knew we were getting thirteen picks.
I knew it was going to be a long couple days, but when we got to that seventh round and it was one, two, three, four picks right in a row. That was sort of that last push over the hump, the most picks the Packers have had in the modern draft era, seventh round era, uh tying that with two thousand. When you know, you look at Ron Wolf uh drafting thirteen players and on that what would now be the third day, he got Nile Diggs, Kabir Baja Biamila, and
Mark Tauschman. Oh sure, yeah, three pretty good football players. And certainly there was one big line. It came from Milt Hendrickson, uh, Packers director of player Operations, when he came out to talk about some of the picks and he said, you know, if you're batting three hundred, it always it's better to have, you know, thirteen at bats
than ten. And it's true, I mean it does. Having those extra picks gives you a couple more swings at the play and the Packers hope that they hit a home run here.
Yeah.
Well, it was a busy three days.
And as we review the draft class here, we'll break it down by phase offense, defense, special teams.
And when you look at you look at what the Packers.
Did on offense West This was about This was about an influx of young talent at the perimeter positions. The Packers drafted three wide receivers, two tight ends, and a running back. All of them are going to have a tremendous opportunity to make their mark on the depth chart here in Green Bay as things currently stand. The offensive picks started on Friday night with the two tight ends, one in the second round, one in the third round, Luke Musgrave from Oregon State and Tucker Craft from South
Dakota State. In between those two in the second round was wide receiver Jaden Reid from Michigan State. And then two wide receivers added on Saturday, Dante Wicks from Virginia. I believe he goes by Tay, so I'm just gonna call him Ta Wicks and Grant Dubo's from Charlotte. So at tight end and wide receiver, not unexpected. What the Packers did loading up, so to speak, at those at those two positions, at a combination there of early round
picks and some late round picks. To see what these young men have.
Well, and as you said too, Mike, you and I we haven't had necessarily the opportunity to dive right into this draft. Yet we kind of slept a little bit on Sunday and then we came into the office today one of the little type of you know, little research projects. I want to do. It won't take too long, I'm sure. On drafthistory dot com was the last time the Packers out of a draft drafted a quarterback, a running back, a receiver, at least one receiver, and at least one
tight end. Uh, they addressed everything, and I think when you look at what the Packers needs were, they lost a lot of their depth in free agency. Right, So many people focus on the Aaron Rodgers transition to Jordan Love, but you lose Allen Lazard, you lose Robert Tunyan. At this time, Mercedes Lewis has not been resigned. The Packers needed not only to find some potential playmakers, they needed to be able to build out the depth of their
skill positions. Brian Gudikunz did that, starting really quickly, just mentioning Musgrave and Craft. You know, there's a lot of people in inbox asking, well, if you like one, why did you have to take two? Well, the fact of the matter is Mike last year, Robert Tunyan and Mercedes Lewis. They ate up almost fifteen hundred snaps together. They started
twenty combined games over the course of the seasons. The Packers love their twelve personnel package and they would just be completely thrilled if both Musgrave and Craft end up being solid NFL contributors. They have different type of skill sets, but yet they're both incredibly versatile and what they do. It's not like one is just strictly an inline blocker and one is a perimeter Jermichael Finley type type receiving tight end. A lot of flexibility with how the Packers
want to use that position. When you only had Josiah Deguara and Tyler Davis coming back from last season, you had to make a move and the Packers did that.
Yeah, Musgrave is that is that, you know, big target, but with the speed down the field, He's that. He's that kind of prospect coming off of obviously a really rough knee injury from last season. But he talked in his conference called the Zoom Call that he had with the media after he was picked. He talked about how he he really pushed himself to be able to get
back on the field for the Senior Bowl. He knew he could be one of these one of the top guys in a very deep tight end class as long as he would have a chance to show what he's got. And and even though he really didn't have much of a season, just two games at Oregon State last year before the injury, he was back on the field for
the Senior Bowl. He did everything at the combine and he and he did become one of the top prospects that was being talked to about very much so as a as a second round target for a lot of teams, and the Packers swooped in there. Then in the third round they add another tight end in Tucker Craft. Now this is a you know, an FCS All American from
South Dakota State. He even talked about how he had he he had nil offers, you know, a chance to transfer from the smaller school, go big time, you know, make some money as a college kid in this new
landscape of college football. He's from Timberlake, South Dakota, population of five hundred and thirteen people, and he wanted to stick to you know, stick to his roots, stick to the to the small town, the small town roots that he has, and now he's going to He's going to take all that background to the big time, so to speak, in the NFL. Sounds like a very very confident young man.
I had asked Brian gudakunst okay, So if the if the vertical speed, which is what John Eric Sullivan had had pegged Luke Musgrave as sort of the standout trait in a very deep class of tight ends. If vertical speed is is Luke Musgrave's thing, what is what is Tucker Craft's thing?
And uh?
And Brian Guducum said, it's probably the run after the catch, the the ability to stay balanced, to break tackles and and you know, turn shorter passes into uh into some longer gains. Both of these guys can run, but it's it's a it's an interesting compliment to talk about the two of them, one of them being the downfield threat, the other one being a guy who can maybe uh, you know, break some tackles and and turn shorter passes into more productive plays.
Yeah, you never want to have injuries, but when you look at Muskrave. The mcl I wrote about this, I think in our Insider Inbox column that is probably the best case scenario in terms of when you talk about knee injuries, because he did his did require surgery. You know, many times sprains can actually heal themselves when it's in you know, a medial collateral ligament. But the thing that's cool about it from his perspective is he was able
to get healthy again. He was able to go through the offseason program, the pre draft process in show teams that, hey, this is the type of player I am. Because Mike, you mentioned the two games before he got hurt, he was already halfway towards his entire output from the previous season. He was in the midst of a breakout season with the way that he started his twenty twenty two campaign. And from Craft's perspective, so much respect for the kid.
We'll talk about Carl Brooks at some point too. These guys that look at for the programs that really invested in them, and they stayed true to them. And I think if anything has been proven here the last few years, when you look at what South Dakota State has done obviously last year, North Dakota State and Christian Watson, not only is are they producing NFL talent and NFL ready talent. The amount of opportunities these kids get is pretty incredible.
I mean, I believe Kraft played in like fifteen games or something close to that last year. I mean, these kids get such a huge opportunity to be the guy in these offenses. And another big thing that mil Hendrickson talked about, you look for it. You look for these young guys that maybe don't play against Alabama every week to dominate their competition. And Craft is one of those kids that has done that.
Yeah, and by sticking around to South Dakota State, he won a national championship and he had he kept you talk about playing the fifteen games. You know, they make the whole big playoff run, they win the FCS national title, and then he's moving on to the NFL and ends up, you know, still getting picked in the third round despite not being you know, from one of those big schools, a wide receiver. You know, it's it's it's hard to contain the excitement in some ways for Jaden Reid. The
selection out of Michigan State. Brian Gudakunz took Luke Musgrave at picked number forty two in the second round. He also had pick number forty five, he had Jaden Reid on his radar. He actually traded back twice, picked up a couple of extra Day three draft picks, ended up moving back five spots as a result of those two trades,
and then still got read. And I think what's really interesting, what's interesting about re and this is what I said in our Insider Inbox column for Monday morning, the Packers haven't had a receiver with with this type of profile in Matt Lafleur's offense. They you know, they gave it a try, I guess, so to speak with with Amari Rodgers, you know, trying to find that slot receiver who could run the jet sweeps and some of those things. But a Mari Rodgers doesn't run like Jayden Reed does in
terms of the speed. Amari Rodgers was not, didn't didn't have, you know, all these highlights of contested catches, going up and fighting for footballs and doing the kinds of things that that Jayden Reid did at Michigan State. So there's there's a very different profile here. While Tay Wix and Grant Dubo's are those you know, six one six two and two hundred pound more of those classic. Uh, you know Green Bay receivers in terms of the physical profile,
Jayden Reed is not. And this is going to be a very interesting addition in in addition to what he did as a return specialist at Michigan State as well. This is a very very interesting addition to Matt Lafleur's system.
As I've said numerous times now, it's always interesting to see what the Packers' off season emphasis is and how that ultimately correlates to the team that they build for the upcoming season. With looking just strictly at Reid for a second last year, Christian Watson, he did some of the jet sweep stuff, he did some of the backfield stuff. But right away at the end of the year and especially getting reiterated at the NFL scouting combine, Matt Lafuer said,
you know, they want to get him going downfield. They want to get Romeo Dobbs the vertical routes going, expanding their road trees, making them top perimeter receivers in this league. You expected that there would be a slot type receiver, a jet sweep type option that might come out of this year's draft in Boyle Boy. Does Reid fit that? I mean This is a kid that did and wore a lot of those different hats at Michigan State. He
offers you some punt returning flexibility. He's a guy that is willing to play on coverage teams, although if if he shines the way he did at Michigan State, he probably won't have to very often. I'm just so excited to see him, you know, come into the picture here. I made no bones about it, Mike. When you and I talked last week, I was really big on Jackson Smith and Jigba still really big on that kid. I
can't wait to see what he does in Seattle. Seattle has such a great track record for developing, you know, that young talent right away and getting him on the field, whether it's a you know, a you know, a Metcalf or you know the slot receiver there that they had.
I almost said the Randall Cobb, you know kind of look alike, but no, I mean, the fact of the matter is, I just feel like Jiden Reid is going to come in here four four five speed, being able to make an impact right away, that the possibility is there for all these young guys to play right off the bat. And uh, I just see Reid as a guy that's going to really flourish in this scheme.
Yeah, Elsewhere on the offensive side, you mentioned how the Packers kind of hit on all of the all the perimeter positions. Loun Nichols drafted in the seventh round running back out of Central Michigan, and then also in the fifth round, Sean Clifford, the quarterback from Penn State. I'll start with the running back first. Nichols really interesting guy here, much like much like Tay Wicks from Virginia. Twenty twenty
one was really his big college season. Nichols had eighteen hundred rushing yard sixteen touchdowns for Central Michigan in twenty twenty one. Then in twenty twenty two, he dealt with some injuries, was limited a little bit, sounded like he was trying to play through, you know, playing in some games where he wasn't close to one hundred percent. Central Michigan also had two offensive linemen from the twenty twenty one from their twenty twenty one group that were drafted.
That doesn't happen every year at a school like Central Michigan, where two offensive linemen are are drafted in the NFL the same year so there was a lot of transition going on there. But Nichols, I mean right away, Packers, No, obviously it's the Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon show at running back. But yeah, have Patrick Taylor, you have Tyler Goodson, and now you'll have Lou Nichols in that mix. As in that mix to see who the number three running back is going to be.
It's funny listening to Nichols to talk about it. You know, Mike so many times, the small NFL circles, just you know, the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, if you will, how these things go. Nichols his college coach at Central Michigan. His position coach is actually the same one that Aaron Jones had throughout his time at Texas El Paso. Just funny how those dominoes work. So he's very familiar with Jones,
He's very familiar with AJ Dillon. And when you look at it on paper, Mike, the way he matches up from a measurable standpoint in the fact that he's five to eleven, two hundred and twenty pounds. This has been a recurring story for the Packers over the last ten years. These are the type of backs they like as awesome as Aaron Jones is and as incredible future Packers Hall
of Famer the career he's had here. They like those two hundred and twenty pound kind of bellcow you know backs, and and Nichols has done it at a really high level. Eighteen hundred rushing yards and sixteen touchdowns is awesome. You need a good offensive line to do it, but it says something about the talent of the kid as well.
And then just to close really quickly on Sean Clifford, I don't know if I ever recall maybe Graham Harrell would be the last time someone's come in that's had as decorated of a college career as Clifford had over ten thousand passing yards eighty six touchdowns. This kid beat out Will Levis for the for Penn State's quarterback job three years ago. He knows what it's like to be in the fire and definitely carries himself with, you know, a leadership and sort of a confidence that I think
you really need from that position. And just to mention this too, because people asking, well fifth round, why fifth round? Well, you listened to Brian Goodigun's talk about it, where the Packers got him. Not only did they feel like that was the best value in the best fit, there wasn't necessarily a lot of guys underneath him that they valued in that same way, and certainly they wanted to bring in another their quarterback. And now they got a pretty good prospect here in Clifford.
Yeah, Clifford one. I believe it's thirty two wins during his you know, he started forty six games I think at the college level at Penn State, which is which is pretty remarkable. There are actually a few guys in this draft class that that really were four year starters, in some cases five year starters, and Clifford will be thrown thrown right in there. It's it's Sean Clifford or Danny Eettling right now for the number two job behind behind Jordan Love. So the so the Packers are going
to see, you know, see how that shakes out. Brian Gudakunz did not close the door necessarily on signing a veteran quarterback, but I think he's gonna he wants to see what how Ettling and Clifford do with the reps that they will be given during OTAs. As you know, as the backup competition gets going behind love there, so before we shift gears to the defensive side, take care of the sponsor business. Here West Sirius XM NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL
news that true football fanatics need. Twenty four to seven, three sixty five and I had Cousin Subs. We have something for everyone, like our Wisconsin Cheese cards, mac and cheese, golden fries, and creamy shakes, all paired with your favorite sub or sub in a bowl. Cousin Subs fifty years of better. All right, on the defensive side, That's where the Packers began this draft, sitting at number thirteen overall in the first round, and things, you know, went fairly predictably.
Maybe there were a couple of surprises in there. But you and I both talked about it quite a bit in our preview shows leading up to the draft that Lucas van Ness, the edge rusher from Iowa, was was a potential, a very strong candidate for the Packers to select in the middle of the first round. And sure enough he was there and the Packers took him. And this is this is a young man. I'll say this. It he's twenty one years old. He's going to turn twenty two just before the start of training camp. He
really only played two years at Iowa. I don't want to hear all this stuff about how he didn't start any games or whatever. It's like, Come on, the kid played a ton of football, all right. The whole starting thing was just because of Iowa's you know, procedure with their fifty year seniors and their veteran players and all that. Lucas van Ness was a star on a really good Iowa defense. Okay, So I don't want to hear this
about the not starting games. But this pick feels a lot to me like the Rashaan Gary pick from a few years ago. A young guy who the Packers believe has not reached his potential at all, who has lined up both inside and outside, as far as along the defensive front and getting after the passer. The biggest difference here, in my opinion, with the van s pick versus the Gary pick, is Gary was chosen right after the Packers had just signed Zadarius and Preston Smith to be the
starting out linebackers. Lucas van Ness is coming in at a time that the Packers don't know when Rashawon Gary is going to be back. You have Preston Smith on the one edge. This is a young man who could come in and start right away. That was not the expectation for Rashaon Gary. It very well could end up being the expectation for van Ness.
Yeah. I've never really seen a situation like this before, Mike, where you have a rookie that's coming in that could potentially be playing right off the bat, I mean at the edge rushing position. I mean, even to go back and think about Clay Matthews, I mean Aaron Campman was also kind of you know peer, you know, earmarked for that outside rusher position. Clay was not a guy that they even necessarily thought about that Nick Perry, you had Mike Neil and certainly as you talked about with the
Smith bros. In Rashaan Gary.
Yeah, Clay Matthews, I don't think. I don't think he started until like his fourth or fifth NFL game. He was not a starter the first month of the season his rookie year.
Yeah, so it's it. It is a process. But in this case with Vaness, it makes so much sense. And I talked a lot about you know my head going with my heart with that first round pick. Certainly, as I've talked about numerous times, JSN was my heart. But in my head it's always about tackles and edge rushers for the Packers. In the first round, you just don't find that type of talent that separates itself from the rest of its position, quite like outside rusher and quite
like tackle. Why because they're the ones that are most directly tied to the quarterback, pressuring the quarterback and protecting them. And Lucas Vaness where he really benefited last year mic as everybody's so tied up on this starting business, is the fact that he was able to put tape out there against Paris Johnson, he was able to put tape
out there against Peter Skronsky, and it is impressive. This isn't some kid that just got a bunch of TFLs and pressures and sacks against you know so and so from.
The directional states of the world.
Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't like it was just the fill in non conference games. This guy did it the big ten level six five, two seventy two at twenty one years old. That is a kid with big pause man and I'm excited to see him grow into the spot. You can play him early on if you need to, in that rotation with Kingsley Andigbari and Justin Hollins. Later on, if Rashan Gary comes back, you can maybe push him inside. A lot of flexibility in how Lucas Vansu could affect this defense.
Yeah, and you mentioned, you know, as the with the Packers sitting in the middle of the first round, and we had talked last week about you know, it's probably as much as there's been all to talk about the receivers and the tight ends, it's probably going to be you know, a bigger guy in edge rusher or an offensive tackle. And I have to give you credit because we didn't mention this in the review of the offense.
You had said on our one of our draft preview shows that if the Packers are going to get an offensive tackle, you probably get one right away in the first round. But if you don't get one of those guys right away in the first round, then maybe you don't even bother Because the Packers are bringing back thirteen offensive lineman from last year's roster and practice squad, which is an unprecedented number of guys coming back, and sure enough what happened. The one position the Packers did not
address was offensive line. The top tackles. You know, I believe three of the top four tackles were gone by the time the Packers were ready to pick. They decided to go with edge rusher and van Ness and then the offensive tackles they just let it go from there.
It made sense from a strategic standpoint. That being said, I will also say that I think one of the things I said on one of our draft preview shows with regard to the defensive line is this felt like a draft where the Packers were going to have to find some potential prospects on the third day on the defensive line because of the edge rusher, the receiver, the tight end, and the spots that you were probably going to address on the first two days in terms of
the guys at the top of those positions. And sure enough, Colby wooden't from Auburn is drafted in the fourth round, and then Carl Brooks from Bowling Green in the sixth round, a couple of Day three defensive line prospects that frankly West are really really intriguing because Colby Wooden he he dropped down into the two seventies weight wise for the combine and he was able to actually crack four. I think he cracked four eight. He was in the four
to sevens in the forty. But he basically plays, you know, he plays in like the mid two eighties and and sounds like he has the he has the frame to uh to carry that and possibly a little bit more and it got uh. You know, Carl Brooks from Bowling Green three hundred pounds and his last year at Bowling Green eighteen tackles for loss, ten ten sacks among that bunch. As as an interior defensive lineman. Those are those are
some numbers that are that are pretty impressive. Now, obviously doing that in the MAC is not the same as doing that and maybe the big ten of the SEC because of the offensive lineman across from you. And that's why a guy like Carl Books with those numbers, you know, lasts until the sixth round. Both of those guys for a Packers defensive line that lost Dean Lowry and Jaron Reid in free agency and you're trying to rebuild some depth there. I think those are two really really interesting prospects.
Yeah, because they don't do what the guys that are coming back do. You know you had TJ. Slayton as your run stuffer from two years ago. You need him to play that one tech role you had DeVante Why coming in sort of filling the shoes there having that prototype. Much like Kenny Clark, you need to add some more versatility, a little bit more different looks, I think to that defensive front. They very much did that with these two prospects.
If I can really quickly just diving into Brooks for a second, one thing that I want to give lance Erline a shout out from NFL dot com on this because I really enjoyed his write up on Brooks. You know, he said, there's going to be a lot of people might because you just alluded to that, are gonna kind of knock him a little bit for a while. He went up against the Mac. He said that would be a mistake if you look at this kid's film, and mil Hendrickson also touched on this and many times he
was a man amongst boys. He dominated at that level and he did it for five years. Mike, this is the guy that led Bowling Green four times in sacks, including his true freshman year. The only year he didn't was his junior season when they only played five games because of COVID and he heard his foot and was out for two of them, and he still had two sacks and three games. This is a really intriguing guy.
And to correct myself earlier, when I was talking about edge rushers in twenty twelve, it was Nick Perry and Eric Walden, not Mike Neil. I want to bring up Neil though, because Neil's kind of reminds me a little bit of what they're doing with wood and two. These guys that are probably a little bit more athlete than your traditional stereotypical linemen. These guys, I mean, you've seen some of these videos of Wooden and even just kind
of looking at him, he's a grown man. I mean, this guy is an athlete, and I'm very excited to see, you know, Jerry Montgomery getting two talented players that have very contrasting skill sets, but yet could both still be factors in the middle of that defensive line. Just the type of moves you need to make again, like tight end. They graduated a lot of snaps off this team with Lowery and Reid leaving in free agency, they got two guys that could potentially step in and help fill those roles.
Yeah.
I mean anytime anytime you see solid sack numbers from an interior rushing position, it's got to catch your eye. And as I said with Brooks, it was in the MAC at Bowling Green, but he had ten of them. And you're talking Wooden at Auburn that's in the SEC and he had six, I mean a half a dozen
sacks in a league like that. When when you're rushing from an interior position and not off the edge, that's that says you're you're a disruptor, you know, on the inside, And that's what that's what the Packers are hoping that these two young men can become for their defensive line as well.
Yeah, and I'll just mention really quickly on Brooks if people want to talk about that at Bowling Breen's. But this kid was he was the focal point. Everybody's attention was on him. It's not like Bowling Green had this huge dominant defense. He was the guy you had to stop. And yet most teams in the MAC could not do that.
Yeah, for sure.
In the seventh round on the defensive side, a couple of picks in the secondary, Carrington Valentine from Kentucky Anthony Johnson Junior from Iowa State. Valentine a cornerback, Johnson Junior a safety, but a converted cornerback who in his fifth year for the Cyclones in Ames Iowa, converted to safety.
These these are seventh round picks that that qualify as as value selections WES because there are a lot of analysts, not saying everybody, but a lot of analysts had both of these guys rated as going much much earlier in the draft than they did, and the Packers picked up both of them in the seventh round. Obviously, the Packers have quite a bit more depth in terms of in terms of proven players who have starred to you know, log the snaps and all that at cornerback than they
do at safety. So Johnson Junior maybe will have, you know, a larger chance to compete for a bigger role on defense right away. But then you also see both of these prospects potentially helping out on special teams because they you know, they play that position and have the body type and the speed and all that to help in that phase.
First off, just starting quickly on Valentine because I'll tell you this, Mike, you had to use a pick on him, because if he was going to be an undrafted free agent, I'm pretty sure mel Kuiper would have just given him money and signed him himself. I mean, he was that high on the kid. I get it, he had one interception in college. But as he said, he's a pressman corner. I mean that's his style. He watched JayR Alexander a lot. I mean that he is the type of guy that
he wants to take away aside of the field. He doesn't just want to have get thrown at every single time and get all these picks. That's the type of style he plays. He came out at twenty one years old because he feels like he's still He was ready for it, and I'm excited to see the young man come in here because I think if the Packers did have a need at cornerback, it was as perimeter base.
They have a lot of guys who can play the slot, but with Eric Stokes still coming back from that knee and ankle injury, they needed some young prospects on the perimeter. I'll tell you this, Mike, you didn't get a chance to jump on the call. You were working on a wrap up story. But Anthony Johnson Junior, when I heard him, I closed my eyes. I heard Micah Hyde in his voice,
and I don't know how he's going to play. I'm not comparing him to a two time All Pro safety, but he has a confidence in a leadership about him that it grabs you through the conference call. Sixty two games, a school record, fifty four starts. He was ready last year to turn pro three and a half years as a starting cornerback, but he didn't have a pick. And the thing was as Matt Campbell, Iowa States coach, went to him and they are as tight as tight can
be in terms of coach and player relationships. And he said to him, listen, I'm talking to scouts around the league. There are a lot of people in the National Football League that think you are as safety. I want you to come back. I want you to lead our defense. I want you to play that position. And Johnson agreed,
and it was the right move for him. And as he said, instead of going to the NFL, maybe forcing your hand and having to learn a new position at that level, he wanted the opportunity to actually do that at the college level and develop his skills. His pay for that was a second team All Big Twelve selection. He got his first two interceptions of his career, a career high sixty tackles, and this guy now is coming
too the league. He said he always wanted to play quarterback. Well, when he went and played safety, he started to finally give taste of what that feels like.
Yeah, And I want to mention the kicker Andrews Carlson, the Packers drafted out of Auburn in the sixth round. I mentioned him right now because I kind of want to make an overarching point about a few competitions that we're going to see evolve here. I already mentioned with
regard to Sean Clifford and Danny Ettling. At quarterback, Brian Gudakutz not necessarily shutting the door on bringing in a veteran quarterback at some point, but he wants to see how those guys do through you know, through OTAs and and and how that competition develops. It's very much the same scenario, so to speak. I think at safety, Anthony Johnson Junior comes in the only new addition to the safety competition for who's going to start next to Darnell Savage.
Rudy Ford would probably be the favorite in the clubhouse right now. The Packers also signed to various more from San Francisco as a free agent. You also have Innis Gains and down Levitt there now Johnson gets thrown into the mix. Adrian Amos is still out there as an unsigned free agent. Brian Goudakun said, not necessarily going to you know, going to slam that door shut, but the Packers are going to see how the competition evolves. The third one in sort of that group is the is kicker.
You now have Anders Carlson from Auburn, a six round draft pick to compete with Parker White, who is undrafted out of South Carolina a year ago, and the Packers added him to the roster right after the regular season
ended last year. Mason Crosby is still out there again it you know, Brian Gudokun says, hey, we're not We're not completely closing the door, but the Packers are going to see how these competitions develop and evolve through the spring, through OTA's mandatory mini camp in June, all of that,
and then assess the situations. Now obviously there's a risk that Mason Crosby could sign somewhere else in the meantime, that Adrian Amos could sign somewhere else in the meantime, that the veteran quarterbacks that maybe fit, you know, the salary cap situation the Packers are in, they might sign
somewhere else in the meantime. So there's risk in taking this approach, But at the same time, it does speak to the confidence that Brian Gudokunz and his personnel staff have in these moves that they've made and the players that they brought in. They think they think they've got what they need here without having to bring back those veteran guys that that they know exactly what they're going to get when they walk in the door.
Yeah, and they'll get a taste of it right away, Mike, between rookie orientation camp, between OTAs, they'll get a feel for where these players are at and where they potentially may need to add down the line. The thing I like about Andres Carlson and also you're talking about Tynan
in the competition. Also Tynan, guys that had really stand out seasons during college but maybe didn't quite end their college careers on a high note when you talk about Nichols, when you talk about Wis and in Carl's situated, Carlson situation too. This young man had a fantastic junior season, but then it goes and tears the ACL last year he has the shoulder injury. He actually kicked on his
plant foot with a brace last season. That's not ideal for a kicker, but it's you know, everyone takes that pretty seriously at the college level. But six foot five, two hundred and nineteen pounds. We know what his brother has done in the league now, a two time All Pro. He has the digit genetics for this. And as much as I love Jake Moody and I am a huge fan of his, I think he's going to have a
great career. Taking a third round kicker in the third round, like the forty nine ers did, is a dangerous proposition, not because even the pressure you put on the kid, it's also the pressure you put on yourself as an organization. You can't cut a third round pick. He has to
be the guy. And if you do have to bring in another kicker, are you necessarily going to also cut the guy that you just spent that type of draft pick on it's tough to do same thing with New England going and getting the Maryland kid in the fourth round. The sixth round has been a sweet spot for the Packers. A kicker the eleventh time they've taken one. Very interested
to see how this young man does. And certainly the competition now that we'll see probably throughout OTA's and is the Packers try to figure out this next step at what has been an iconic for position for them. When you look at Mason Crosby, Ryan Longwell, Chris Jackie, I mean to have that type of stretch. We talk about quarterbacks so often, but the remarkable players the Packers have had a kicker, considering the elements here in Green Bay, it really cannot go overstated.
Yeah, it's it was interesting seeing the selection of Carlson, you know, immediately looking up the information on him, it's like, oh, yeah, of course he is the younger brother of Daniel Carlson, who I hadn't remembered this but had also kicked at Auburn.
So Auburn's had.
Basically like nineteen years ten and I was gonna say ten, but nine years with with with A Carlson as the kicker. But was what was interesting to me is hearing Brian gudukuns you know really, you know, essentially hand this pick off. So to speak to the influence of Rich Bassacia, the
Packers special teams coordinator and now assistant head coach. We saw, we saw the influence that Basaci had in how the Packers rebuilt the special teams last year with the acquisitions, with bringing guys in like dal Levitt, like Keishawn Nixon and guys that he guys that he had worked with, and obviously that there was a solid turnaround in the
special team's phase. And then Rich Bassaccia gets, you know, the additional title in the offseason, and now here the faith that the Packers are showing where it's like, hey, the statistics of this, you know, this Carlson kicker is
last couple of years in college. They're not that great whatever, and Bisacia believes in them from what we heard from Brian Gudacuntz, and that's what gave Gutakunz the courage to make this pick when a lot of people are just going to look at the numbers and go, you know, why would you take a college kicker who missed you know ten twelve kicks his last two seasons when he had the one really really good year before he got hurt.
And all that.
So we're continue My point is we're continuing to see the influence of Rich Bisacia on special teams here, and the Packers are going to see what these kickers, Carlson and White, what they have and see if it truly is time to move on from Mason Crosby. The franchise is all time leading scorer.
One thing that is very important to illustrate is I think when you look at both scouting and coaching, I don't know if there's a more difficult position. People put so many eyes on quarterback, and for good reason, it's the money position. There are no certain things with kickers. We saw it a number of years ago with the second round pick that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers used. These guys, it's gonna be an EBB and flow league. And I think Carlson's a perfect example that the older Carlson. You know,
Daniel Carlson's a fifth round pick. He goes to Minnesota. He has a couple of bad games, including one against the Packers.
Yeah, the one here at Lamba was when he lost his job with the Vikings, and then that's what obviously leads to him landing in Oakland and he works with Rich Bisaccia and become becomes an All Pro kicker, and then Bisachi gets to know the younger brother and now that younger brother is is with Bisaci here in Green Bay.
Yeah, and it's one thing to be an all Pro, I should say, an All American. But and you give credit to Daniel Carlson for picking himself up and making him into the player that he is today. But it takes someone like Rich Bissaci to have some faith in him, and obviously the Raiders to bring a kid like that in and give him a shot after things didn't end
so well in Minnesota. So there is so much projection involved because unless you are you know, a Justin Tucker or Mason Crosby where you just have this prodigious run in college, guys are going to miss field goals. It just happens. I mean, it is a tough thing to kick in college, let alone the National Football League. So I just I like the pick up in terms of being able to finally make that investment the first time in sixteen years. The Green Bay Packers have drafted a kicker. Again.
We'll see how things go. It's much different kicking in Green Bay than it is in Auburn or it is in South Carolina. So you know, you take these things as they come, but certainly they got a real nice prospect in that position for Rich Basaci to start his work with.
Yeah, no question about it.
Well, we've gone a little bit beyond our normal length.
Of show, so this is becoming the new normal.
Mic.
Yeah, well, I know now that now that we're not in the same room together, and you know, we're trying to we're trying to figure out the new rhythm here while while we have.
The technical issues. But that being said, we will call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted.
We'll talk more about the draft, view more things with the draft on our second show later this week, so be sure to tune in for that. But for now, for Wes, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody, and we will see you next time.