Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted colleague Weston Hodquitz, and he's right here in the studio.
Hi, Wes, Hey Michael.
It's been a while.
It's been a minute since we've been in this setup. But I'll tell you what kind of like hopping on a bike going back to your grandparents hose, you just feel right back at home. That's happy to be back in the study, always right.
It's like we never left in some ways. But we do have a lot to talk about on this show. First and foremost the fifty three man roster for the Green Bay Packers, which is still undergoing some adjustments here and there. But the biggest thing that stands out about this Packers roster heading into the twenty twenty three season west is it is awfully young.
It is now we won't be able to get the actual NFL superlatives on where the Packers rank and how they do all that kind of data management will pump that out after week one, but at this point in time, I know Jason Wilde was crunching some of the numbers some other people on Twitter were doing it and average aged right around twenty five for green Bay, which is
incredibly low compared to obviously the most recent years. But then when you look at the NFL and the way things are structured, usually it's more in that twenty six to twenty seven range. But the green Bay Packers right now with only one player I think over thirty, and that's David Baktiari after the decision to let go of pad O'Donnell's, So it gives you an idea of where they're heading. One of the things I really did enjoy, Mike.
We're gonna touch on a lot of topics here, but Brian Gudocun's press conference one of the first things we heard after the final cuts were announced him mentioning, yes, we are young, but the expectations don't change. The green Bay Packers still have very high expectations for this season. It just so happens that it's going to be with a roster that is a little bit younger than the norm.
Yeah, and Gudakun's talked about how and he's mentioned this many times before that this roster is built with a lot of young players that he's expecting are going to grow together and mature together and whatnot. But that is it's not as though everybody's just supposed to wait for an entire season to be in the books before that happens. Seventeen games is a long time. It's a long season.
This team is expected to look and play much differently in November and December, when all these young players have you know, eight, nine, ten games under their belts than
perhaps they do in the beginning. And this is going to be, I think, more so than any other that we've seen in Green Bay in our time here, a season of evolution with regard to what this team is going to look like and how it's going to play, and how the coaching staff is going to figure out, most specifically on the offensive side of the ball, what this team does best and what it can hang its hat on, because I you know, and we'll see the
roster change throughout the course of the season, it always does, but in terms of the actual play on the field, we may be looking at a very different team in the second half of the season than the one in the first half of the season as everybody figures things out.
More so than any other year I've covered Now you were here during some of the very early years of the Mike McCarthy era, those teams also trended very young as well. But to me, I look at it as also a huge opportunity because more than any other year, I think where I cut, whether it was covering final cuts and the roster construction of the practice squad, there's
so much young talent at all these positions. Right when you look at receiver, how deep Green Bay goes with a guy like Malik Heath making this roster Grant du Bose comes back on the practice squad. But then you also have you know, Jaden Reid coming in and as you know, Brian goodkinsin and said looking a lot more polished than I think a lot of people thought he
was going to as a rookie second round pick. The tight end situation with Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft, you know, defensively, this plethora of defensive linemen that are going to be stepping in with Kenny Clark into this starting lineup. I think that is where the Packers really can separate themselves this year. Because I give Matt Leafluor a lot of credit. I give Mike McCarthy a lot of credit. Their teams did typically get better throughout the course of the year.
They always seem to play their best ball in December's the reason why Matt Lafluur's record is what it is during the final month of the season. But that being said, the ceiling, the upside, the limitless potential of this group, I think is going to be what you are going to make the biggest difference. I made a joke, not a joke, it was serious, but kind of a funny equip if you will, an insider inbox about people asking about the opener against Chicago and the importance of it.
It's huge, It's a really important game, but it pales into comparison to what the Week eighteen game against the Chicago Bears, Yeah, should be and what the Packers want that game to be. And I think throughout the course this year, you're gonna see this team take its lumps at times, but I think you're gonna see tremendous growth as well.
Yeah, And for all the anticipation and excitement about Week one against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, it just feels like win or lose, whatever the score is. There's there's almost nothing about that game that's going to define the twenty twenty three Packers in Week one never really defines any team, but even more so this year, it seems that it's that's going to be this team just getting out of the starting blocks, and but you don't know what. You don't know what the rest of that
race is going to look like. Well, one of the reasons that this team is as young as it is statistically is because not one, not two, but three undrafted rookies made this fifty three man roster. You wrote about them on our website. There's a story on packers dot com to check out. And of course I'm talking about receiver Malik Heath. You already mentioned running back Emmanuel Wilson, who won the number three running back job, and then
outside linebacker Brenton Cox Junior. It keeps a street going now of nineteen years in which the Packers will have an undrafted rookie on their Week one roster. But more so than just the streak, three guys in a year in which the Packers had thirteen draft picks, you know, three undrafted guys ended up busting through and making the
fifty three. It's a credit to them. Also a credit to the scouting department that, you know, the building of the team, the building the acquisition of new players doesn't end when the draft ends. There are a lot of guys that are brought in here to get a look, and the ones that take advantage of that opportunity sometimes they stick around well.
And it's funny to me because college free agency it's such a free for all, right. I mean, now, certainly you build some relationships, you make some phone calls, but it literally is just teams being able to just grab whatever players they can get. Afterwards, I mean, it's like a you know, it's like college recruiting on like just a complete tripe where it's like you're just trying to
get as many people as possible. But I think Brian Goodokunz and his scouts, in my opinion, this was the strongest UFA class they've had so far, because I think there's guys on this practice squad too that can play in this league. It's just the way that numbers work out. But those three guys I think all stood out for very different reasons. When you look at Malik Heath, I think there are a lot of parallels there with him and Romeo Dobbs. This is a guy that won. Did
not look like an undrafted free agent. But at times, I'll be honest with you, Mike, there was times in the ots I'm like, is this guy even a rookie? I mean, he just he was wise beyond his years. And you know, and as you know Brian Goodekin said when he addressed the media on Wednesday, this is a guy that had some stuff happened in college, you would have probably gotten drafted had it not been for that. But he you know, the Packers, they do their background checks.
They feel good about these players, the same thing with Brenton Cox junior, and they bring them in and give an opportunity in a clean slate. I thought Heath completely maximized. That led the Packers in receiving twelve catches for one hundred and forty six yards in the preseason. He was
able to be a starter with the offense. With Romeo Dobbs dealing with a hamstring in the preseason finale, kind of a precautionary thing, but the Packers wanted to, you know, give Heath that opportunity, and you know, made a big catch on the fifteen play eight r drive everything you wanted to see from Heath in this gate, in this preseason, you saw it, whether it was the hast catching or even him blocking a guy into a field goal net on the sidelines. And then quickly just to touch on
with Emmanuel Wilson. Here's a guy that spent three days in Denver after the draft, got cut, ends up in Green Bay. He had taken a top thirty visit here. There was interest from Green Bay. But is looking at a pretty tall depth chart where you have Patrick Taylor coming back special teamer, fourth year veteran, You had Tyler Goodson looking really good after working out this offseason with Aaron Jones, and then Lou Nichols who was the seventh
round pick out of Central Michigan as a rookie. Injuries happened, Wilson gets his opportunity, and as I wrote in art that story, he just made himself undeniable.
Yeah, and it's funny. I admit I was steered wrong in some respects on the number three running back competition because when Wilson's star was starting to rise, we heard from Matt Lafleur. I believe it was after the New England preseason game, and he was talking about, well, he's got a long ways to go and pass protection. He hasn't done too much on special teams. We really need him to work on his conditioning, you know, you know, to be able to carry the ball fifteen sixteen times
in a game. I thought, Okay, they're just you know, they're downplaying this and they're going to try to slip him through to the practice squad. This is not a guy who's going to make the roster and lo and behold. When push came to shove and the decision had to be made, they're like, no, this is this is our number three running back. This is the guy that we want on the fifty three. I think with Breton Cox, it's a very interesting case. As as most folks know,
he had some off the field issues. He was dismissed from two programs in the Southeastern Conference. Packers give him a chance as an undrafted guy. They say, Hey, same thing with Malie Heath. In a lot of ways, it's like, hey, it's a clean slate here, you get to start over, so make the most of it. And he does. And what you have now for the Packers that outside linebacker, you've got Preston Smith, and Rashaun Gary right behind them.
You have a first round draft pick in Lucas Fans, a second year guy in kings Leannigbari who showed some real potential as a rookie. You got Justin Hollins, a veteran who came in last year, played a half a dozen games and made an impact in Joe Berry's defense. And then you're adding Breton Cox as a sixth guy
to that group. It's almost like adding another draft pick because from a talent perspective, Breton Cox would have been drafted and who knows maybe, I mean, you know, I don't want to make a prediction necessarily, but probably anywhere from like the third to the fifth round maybe is where his talents all without anything else, you know, in the equation. So it's as though the Packers took the
outside linebacker group they ended last season with. You're bringing back with Shaan Gary, and you added two draft picks in Lucas Fanis and Breton Cox Junior. This group as far as the edge rusher group to get after quarterbacks, this is as deep as Matt Lafleur has had since he's been here. I think that's going to be a boom for Joe Barry as he devises what to do defensive.
And I think that's the most impressive thing, Mike, is you look at running backs, outside linebackers, and receivers. Those are three of the deepest positions the Packers had in their roster, and these guys it isn't like they just Okay, we needed a fourth guy to fill at a depth chart. All these guys competed to earn those spots and now the possibilities of this group. I look at that defensive front too, Mike. The ways you can mix and match guys were Shaun Gary it sounds like he's gonna be
on a pitch count earlier this season. According to Matt lafleor a is they try to work him back, but you got a guy like kings Leyanningbari to eat some of those snaps you have justin Hollins. You're bringing along two rookies along with them. It's an intriguing, intriguing group, and I think that's again getting back to that upside and this sky's a limit for this group. That is going to be what carries them, I think throughout the course of this season.
Yeah, I want to get to some other thoughts on the roster, but we'll take care of some sponsor business here. First. Serious XM NFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need twenty four to seven five. And at Cousin Subs, we have something for everyone like our Wisconsin cheese kurts, 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. A couple other thoughts with regard to the roster. One is that we we saw with the decisions with this fifty three how much the not just the size of the practice squad being sixteen players now over the last couple of years, but the flexibility that the league allows with regard to game day elevations. Now there are limitations on certain you know players. Once you elevate a guy three times, then you have to make a more definitive decision on his roster status.
But that kind of flexibility, being able to elevate players from the practice squad to the active roster for game day, I think is why the Packers were able to to send in their fifty three with only four cornerbacks. Yeah, you know, because in this in this day and age, I've got four cornerbacks on the field in a game like quite a bit. I mean, you need to have more than that. But do you need to have more than that on your fifty three? Not necessarily because of
the practice squad game day elevations. The other thing that stood out to me, and you touched on a little bit with the defensive line, but also just the number of big guys that the Packers kept ended up being eleven offensive linemen, although the expectation is that Luke Tannuda will most likely be moved to injured reserve and it will be down to ten on the active roster, but even that says something because they wanted to carry Luke Tanuda through to the fifty three because he's a big
guy that they believe can play in this league. And just because he got hurt, they didn't want to They didn't want to lose him and let him go. We had talked all off season about how deep this offensive line was, how many guys the Packers were bringing back who were either on the active roster or the practice
squad from last year. And this is a group. This offensive line, I think is really the group that forms the foundation of this team, particularly on offense, when everybody else, you know, the wide receivers, the titands, and the quarterback are also young and inexperienced.
Yeah, I mean, the Packers have some real skyscrapers, you know, at the tackle position. I always say that same story. When yosh Nyman got here in nineteen, I'm like, Wow, that is a really big tackle, and then Caleb Jones got here last year and I'm like, he's bigger than you. Yeah, bigger Luke Tanuda, I mean, you know, Tanuda and Yash
actually played together at Virginia Tech. And it's like, these are just monstrous, you know types of tackles, and the Packers want to see what's there, they want to try
to develop it. It is funny to me that it's that they have all these tackles and then you got a guy like Zach Tom who's not the biggest offensive line in the world, and he ends up, you know, basically winning that right tackle job, finesse, footwork, technique, intelligence, and is probably going to be the backup at potentially every spot now on the Packers' offensive line, depending on
if injury should happen. I really like the way that the offensive line competent played out in camp because I thought you saw strides from a lot of those draft picks the Packers had last year. Rashid Walker might have been the most improved player in camp from where he was at pound for pound to where he got to this year blocking for Jordan Love and the two preseason finales on the left tackle side. You know, Sean Ryan,
I thought put a better effort forward this year. He talked about cleaning up his diet, getting better sleep, just being smarter about how he handled everything. I think that's very important right now in trying to see exactly where that could all potentially fit. Lastly, just to quickly touch on this, two preseason games might the last two preseason
games no quarterback hits allowed. It's preseason, I get it. Yeah, But the fact that that group went that deep, everybody earned their spot there, as much as that probably caught some people by surprise. With eleven offensive linemen, I thought that group, by and large, you know, they earn their keyp Yeah.
And when we I mean we've seen it before. When you don't have that kind of depth on the offensive line. You get into the twos and the threes in the preseason games, and the offense just becomes a mess and it can't even function because you just you don't have enough enough continuity and enough execution up front to be able to make anything work and to be able to get a look at these other players and you know,
see what they can do. Packers didn't have that problem in this preseason because because the offensive lines through the multiple units held up and allowed the offense to function. And we saw, we saw what Sean Clifford to do. We saw what Alex Magoo did on the final You know that that what turned out to be the game winning drive against Seattle in the finale. The guys up front in on this Packers roster, as you said, they got the job done there in their spots.
And they gave a guy like Emmanuel Wilson the opportunity to end up leading the NFL in preseason rushing yards. Mike, you and I have covered a lot of preseason football, not just talking about the Green Bay Packers, just NFL in general, seeing different teams come in a guy having two hundred and twenty three rushing yards in the preseason does not happen a lot, especially on thirty eight carries or whatever it was that he ended up having, I.
Mean, well, and then only three preseason games as opposed to four the way it used.
To be exactly. I mean, I was so impressed by the young man. But it's also the partnership, the synergy that goes with the offensive line. Again is a very impressive preseason. And now the Packers hope that being able to plant all these you know, pieces for this offense, defense and special teams that that can ultimately be what you know, is going to be the thing that kind of catapults him into the season, the season of transition here at Jordan Love at quarterback.
Yeah, one last thing I want to touch on. I guess we'll call it a tease because I'm going to be writing a story on this very shortly on Packers dot com. So when you have a chance, look for it. Not sure exactly when it's going to get posted. We talked on our last show about the decision at punter. Because pad O'Donnell had already been released, the Packers had decided that Daniel Wheelan would be their punter and his story, his story is something else, Wes. I mean, it's not
just that he you know, was born in Ireland. He moved to the United States when he was thirteen years old. He first played football as a seventeen year old high school junior. Was just talked into it by the coach to come out to be the kicker and punter, be the specialist on the team. Goes to a small college in California, gets a chance with the Saints as a
as a as an undrafted rookie. It doesn't doesn't work out there, He's released, and then you know, he goes to the XFL and then ends up coming to Green Bay. But there's so there's there's so much else that's in between there, including from the time that he was released by the Saints until he stepped onto the field in the XFL, he was folding towels for eight hours a day in a hotel spa, like that was his job out in California, just trying to figure out, like, Okay,
what's next, Like what am I going to do? Then the XFL comes along, and then not only does he get a shot with the Packers, but he's got to beat out a ten year veteran, a guy who has absolutely been there, done that. The you know, the holding for field goals, the cold weather, you know, all of it. And he he gave a big thanks to Pad O'Donnell for not only the way O'Donnell handled the situation, but the way he helped him, particularly with regard to holding
on field goals. He said, he said, just watching it wasn't even so much what O'Donnell said, but just watching the way he did things, the way he went through the drills and all that, he learned a lot himself, and so much so that he tried to He said, he tried to do between two hundred and fifty and three hundred holds per day while he was here in Green Bay. And whether that was Matt Orzik or brought a hatcher, the two long snappers the Packers had on
the offseason roster snapping to him. Sometimes it was the special teams coaches would you know, would would fire simulated
snaps back through the holding. And when he was back home in California with his mother between mandatory mini camp and the start of training camp, she was lobbing snaps to him in the kitchen and he and he was working practicing, doing the holding on the on the linoleum floor in the kitchen, and he said, yeah, my mom's my mom's simulated snaps weren't the best, but you know, it's kind of like a bad ball drill you gotta
work on. I had a workout of touch and the bad ones too, So it was really fun, really fun to talk to him. And uh, and I'll be putting putting that story together soon, but but a heck of a story. And he's going to be the first Irish born player in how many years?
A thirty eight years? Nineteen eighty five Neil mcdona Hughes last year in the NFL at the Saint Louis Cardinals, last time.
Yeah, and he actually somebody had somebody had tweeted something that O'donahue had said, I think in a media interview or something, and then tweeted it at Wheelan because of Donahue like wished him well and all that kind of stuff. So he hasn't like directly connected with him, but through social media and whatnot, he's gotten a message from him. So a fun story. And uh, and the Packers are as young as you get at both kicker and punter. Now heading into twenty twenty three.
Yeah, somebody asked an inbox, I did my best to figure this out. Maybe's cliff for you will do a better job of meet. It seemed like the first time since nineteen eighty three since the Packers have not had a guy that has actually played in the NFL on their roster. But even then that comes with the asterisk because Johan Stenerud was still here there with Eddie Garcia,
so it's gonna be unprecedently young at that spot. But I mean Daniel Wheeland, man, the one thing you and I saw from the beginning of OTAs on the kid has a huge, huge foot. Yeah, he boomed some complete moonballs throughout the this camp.
Yeah, it's gonna be uh, it's gonna be exciting to watch his career grow and develop as well. But with that we will call it a rap on this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team on Packers dot com for Wes I and Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody. We will see you next time.