#725 Packers Unscripted: Waiting game

for our next show. But for now here we are. But yeah, Vince is in your background as well as mine. That's actually kind of cool.

kind of just making this whole thing work. But you know, the beautiful thing about.

been on Jordan Love and the offense. That's where so much youth on the Green Bay Packers resides. And for the third straight game, Jordan Love and the number one offense produced a touchdown in their brief cameo, and yeah, some things could have gone a little bit better, a little bit smoother. But to score a touchdown in each of the three preseason games with your new starting quarterback, that's not a bad way to go into the regular season.

was like, oh, the offense got better today. I felt like, you know, one of the arguments I made for playing love and the starters in these games was the ability to maximize the reps afforded to you during training camp, and we said from day one, Mike, the Packers needed every single one of them they can get, whether it's the public practices, the private practices, any of them. This is one of the big things that you have to

go about doing. So I really look at it, as you know, fifteen plays, eighty yards, talking to Christian Watson about it afterwards, it was all the things that happened on that series that make me feel really confident about where the Packers are heading. Offensively, it's vanilla defenses, Mike, But as we talk about, if you don't move the ball against vanilla defenses. That's also a cause for concern.

The Packers were able to do that. They did it with a left tackle and Rashid Walker, who had played four special team snaps a year earlier. Now he's blocking the blind side of Jordan Love. Well, David Baktiari sits out of the preseason game. You did it with Patrick Taylor in Emmanuel Wilson cycling in the background. You did it with Malik Heath, an undrafted free agent, catching a big slant route for fifteen yards. Oh and then, by the way, when it came time for paydert sixty yard

touchdown to Christian Watson. And as Watson told us afterwards, that's a one on one play that he expects to make and the Packers hope to continue making this season. I thought, for Jordan Love's final audition here before we get in regular season, it was an absolutely outstanding performance.

into the whole game planning phase. This isn't you know, it's not just practicing the playbook anymore. It's going to be starting to game plan for the Chicago Bears in Week one. But in your last comment you mentioned two players that I think are worth talking about here within the context of guys who made a you know, it's it's a it's a cliche meteoric rise, but I'll say it anyway, A rise of that type up the depth

chart in this training camp and preseason. And I'm talking about Rashid Walker on the offensive line and maliek Heath in the receiving corps. Rashid Walker, as you mentioned, a seventh round pick a year ago, took in some senses, took a red shirt year as a rookie here in Green Bay, and now by the end of his second training camp he is the number two left tackle. He was the guy filling in the back half of training camp for David Baktiari when he was not lined up

with the first unit. And then maliek Heath, an undrafted receiver. We know this is a young receiving corps. There were three draft picks that were brought in, but by the end of training camp in the final preseason game, Malik Heath is out there running with the ones, catching passes

from Jordan love In in that final preseason game. Those are two guys that at the beginning of training camp we wouldn't have said that we're gonna be, you know, spending a whole lot of time talking about them, but their rise individually up the depth chart at their respective positions very impressive.

I believe two years. And you know he even said he's like, you watch his film from a year ago to watching it now, not even just looking at the Penn State stuff, just in Green Bay, just seeing the quantum leap that Walker made and the story I keep telling people, Mike, if you go back to the twenty twenty one NFL Draft and you have those immediate like, hey, what you know, way too early predictions for the draft

for the following year. There are a lot of pundits out there that thought that Rashid Walker was going to be a first round pick the next year, and unfortunately, some injuries and things happened. He ends up falling to the Packers in the seventh and the actual twenty twenty two NFL Draft virtually red shirts. It comes back this year looking to be at a completely stacked position with

yosh Naiman coming back on the tender. Certainly you had, you know, Zach Tom looking like he's going to start somewhere, and here comes Rashid Walker. And not just the fact that, okay, he made this big improvement, the fact that the Packers trusted him enough to block the blind side of Jordan Love in two preseason games in which they're going to be under the microscope, wanting to make sure that he stays healthy. I think that showed a lot of faith

in him. And then from a Leak Heath standpoint, now again we're gonna post this, We're gonna see how everything shakes out. But guys who I thought made a great account of themselves as undrafted rookies as college free agents. I don't think, really, Milie Heath could have done much more to impress this team, and precious coaching staff led the Packers with receiving in the preseason and in every opportunity he was given, I thought absolutely capitalized on it.

For a guy that came in as a backdoor college free agent to be starting with the number one offense in that preseason finale and even getting those work those reps in practice the week leading up to it, I think really speaks volumes about what the coaching staff thought of him and the camp that Heath really put together in Green Bay. Yeah.

And I felt like the Packers that you know, they made an investment towards the future, the highest they've drafted a tight end in twenty three years since Bubba Franks, when they took Musgrave at number forty two, and you saw the speed, you saw the length, you saw the legs, you saw all the things that fit with him. But I like the grind that he kind of was on throughout camp. He didn't rest on his athleticism. He wants to do the nitty gritty parts of the tight end

position as well. A lot of these guys, I think on paper, we had a really good idea of what these prospects are going to look like. Loose Luke Musgrave, especially coming off of that injury, was the guy that I thought impressed me the most in terms of what he offered to this football team that went beyond the resume and the draft grades that ultimately got him selected in the second round.

They've tried different guys in that slot role. Obviously Randall Cobb was here, and no offense to Randall Cobb. Jayden Reid looks like he fits this offense better than Randall Cobb ever did. And what he's done as a rookie and what appears to be his very extensive knowledge of the playbook and the connection that he's developed with Jordan Love in a very short time. You said it, Musgrave is going to play a big role in this offense.

I think Jaden Reid is going to play just as big a role in this offense as a rookie, and Packers are going to They're going to have some growing pains on offense because they're going to be counting on young guys like this who have so much to learn and so much to figure out. And it is such

a long season. It is such a grind, especially for rookies who have gone through all of that pre draft stuff and then and then after you get drafted, then you get thrown into a rookie mini camp, and then you're thrown into OTAs with the veterans and mandatory mini camp. You get about a month of a break and then you've got to be, you know, in training camp full

speed ahead, and you're the one. You're the guys who are taking a bunch of snaps in the preseason games because the coaches want to get you ready because they're going to be counting on you. This is going to be a long haul for these rookie draft picks that the Packers are going to be counting on. But both Jade and Reid and Luke Musgrave sure look like they're ready to play those big roles.

young player. And as we've talked about time and time again, Matt Arvin, our beloved Matt Arvin here in the game presentation department. He loves Jayden Reid from the beginning. A Michigan State alumnus, always took a liking to this kid coming out of you know, that part of the country. But I'll tell you what, he lived up to the hype. And I just think there's fast twitch, muscle fiber there.

I love the way he catches the football. I just feel like he's going to be a difference maker and a needle mover and a guy that's going to help you move the chains in might. The more you talk about this football team, if they stay healthy, they have so many of these guys, right, Musgrave falls in that category obviously, as we just talked about with Heath. With Reed, you have Heath potentially in that equation. Samori two Rays could potentially be coming back. And then, by the way,

we're not even talking about Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs. Yeah. And when you're talking about a ceiling for a football team and being on the younger side of things and wanting to see where youth can take you, I mean, there's so many guys to be excited about on this ride.

this is relates to Anders Carlson. There is one roster move that the Packers did make before we turned on the cameras to tape this, and that is they have decided to go young at punter with Daniel Wheeland. The veteran pad O'Donnell has been released, and of course that impacts Carlson because Daniel Wheelan will be his holder on place kicks. An interesting decision here for the Packers. But but you know, Brian gudakuns to he He's dropped all kinds of hints every time he has spoken with the

media over the last several months. He's dropped all kinds of hints that he is not afraid to go young. He is not afraid to put together a young team that he sees potentially growing together. And this initial roster move on Monday that was made at punter certainly speaks to that.

of things online. I believe he'll be the first Irish born NFL player in thirty eight years. Certainly, you've got to, you know, can't overstate the importance of the international part of this, for the for the league and where he comes from, and you know, his development and going to UC Davis and you know, finding a way through the XFL to get into the NFL. I mean, this kid's

story is pretty remarkable. And you know, you tip your cat to him because I think so many times Mike, you and I have covered these training camp battles, especially at the specialist positions, when you know Tim Mastay and Mason Crosby were here a lot of times. It was they bring in some guys, but at the end of the day, you got you got your two. You don't really think too much about who that next guy is

going to be. And in Wheeland's case, he made himself undeniable, I felt, I mean, he showed a world class foot Both him and Pat o'donald are really tall, very well built guys. I mean no disrespect to Jacob Schump, but you know, you go back to shum and sixteen and Jacob's just a little bit taller than I am. I mean it was a smaller type of smaller type of punter. And now you get these like really long lever guys that could just put the ball, you know, miles down

the field. That's going to be the big thing. But also the rapport in the development that's going to have to happen with Whalan Wheelan and Andres Carlson because that's

a big part of the relationship too. I know, there was so much trust that got built between Mason and Pat last year I think that was a big calming influence on Mason and being able to kind of get back on track after the knee injury after some you know, we saw in twenty twenty one how difficult things can be at times if the wholer situation isn't quite figured out so that they're going to grow together is the

biggest thing. But certainly the Green Bit Packers appreciated of what padd O Donald brought and now going to see what lies behind this next door.

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 and a bowl Cousin subs fifty years of better. All right, The deadline is three pm Central Time on Tuesday. The Packers will have to have their roster reduced to the NFL mandated fifty

three plays. Then the waiver period goes until I believe it's noon on Wednesday, and then once the waiver period has passed and players have cleared waivers, then teams can

start signing players back to their practice squad. And of course there are now sixteen spots on the practice squad, so there's a lot there's gonna be a lot of interest obviously in how this works out, because because honestly wes going into this, we don't really know are the how many how many running backs are the Packers going to have on the fifty three? How many wide receivers is going to be six? Is it going to be seven?

What are they going to do at tight end? Tyler Davis who's out for the season, He was never really replaced. So is that a spot where Brian Gutukunstan company will be looking at the waiver wire to possibly claim somebody or sign a veteran, you know, who gets released maybe unexpectedly. There are all kinds of possibilities out there and we just have to we just have to wait and see

what happens. Because, for as much as you can you try to get a handle on it, and there's certain things that you think you know, and this is how this puzzle piece is going to fit here and there. There is always something that happens at the roster cut down deadline that surprises us that none of us really saw coming. There's a decision made that the personal department's been thinking about it, but they kept it under wraps and and suddenly it's a it's a surprise to everyone.

So we'll just have to see what that might be come Tuesday afternoon.

He journals everything that he does. And you know there's a by the Rookie Hotel, there's a late you a little bit of body water down there. He was just going to go down there and pray and just try to stay as steady as you can be, because ultimately the work is done. I mean now you just got to kind of wait for the final results to show themselves and then figure out, hey, is it fifty three, is it practice squad? Is it somewhere else the NFL.

I think the hardest thing for me this time of the year isn't even necessarily the guys that are just on the bubble. It's the guys that you know that are out there that maybe aren't going to get another opportunity that they actually did play their last NFL football or their last football game, and that Saturday night at Lambeufield against the Seahawks. Because the story eventually for everybody ends at some point. For me it was fifth grade, but I mean for everybody, you know, there is that

turning of the page. So seeing the dreams come true too is always fun. As I you know, I've been well documented the eighteen year consecutive streak of the Packers having at least one undrafted rookie make the week one roster that had to get a little modified a couple of years ago because of Chris Barnes not actually making the initial fifty three, but then being brought on after Kamal Martin is put on IRS, So I had to

make that slight modification. But when it comes to an undrafted rookie making this team, it has been eighteen straight years dating back to Ted Thompson's first year as general manager, so that is probably always the underlying story of this, seeing who potentially could be that guy, but also just seeing how these positions, you know, ultimately sort out, right, because depending on who you keep where has ramifications for Rich Pasacia's special teams as well, and as we've seen

the last few years, a lot more emphasis being placed on that with how the Packers build out their fifty three. So it's a nerve wracking time, but it also is an exciting time because now after months of conversation and you know, reporting back for the offseason program four months ago, now we finally get to see the twenty twenty three off twenty twenty three Packers take form. Here as the offense switches over to Jordan.

how you end up higher in the waiver claim order. Now, back in twenty nineteen, the Packers didn't actually claim anybody during this period of the roster cutdowns when they were higher up in the order. We will see if that potentially happens this time around or not. But when you're sitting at I'm trying to remember now, is it fifteenth,

I believe the Packers are. That's you know, that's a very different spot than when you're you know, twenty sixth or twenty eight or you know, something like that when certain players become available. So another thing to watch, and there will be a lot of both with the waiver process,

the practice squad signings. There will be a lot of roster machinations between now and Wednesday afternoon, and then, as you just alluded to with Chris Barnes and situations like that, maybe somebody gets activated to the fifty three, you know, before the first game against the Chicago Bears. So it's a constantly fluid situation. As Brian Gudokun says, roster building, roster management is a twenty four to seven, three sixty

five thing. Just so happens that these next couple of days are probably the busiest with the most activity in the shortest period of time that you're gonna find on the NFL calendar.

of the season. They re signed Chris Barnes then, and then he was the mike linebacker in that game starts that next Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. Things that were only made possible thanks to the COVID pandemic. I doubt there's any way that would have ever worked out otherwise. There had been too much, too much of Chris Barnes out there.

And but you're right, that was a that was a clever little move the Packers pulled a few years back. So we'll see what We'll see what Brian Gudukunst has in his back pocket this time around.