Hi, everybody, Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted colleague West and Hodkoitz. We're coming to you here from our studios at lambeau Field, Wes our second draft recap show. And uh, you put together an interesting little piece for Packers dot Com the other day where you sort of dug out through whether it was through the interviews over draft weekend or the the bio
information that we got on the players. But one extra interesting little thing about each of the Packers eleven draft picks that didn't quite work into our coverage over the weekend. So if if you want to learn a little bit more about these guys, check that out on Packers dot com. But yeah, of those of those various of the those various items, what one or ones stood out to you?
So first off, the my main idea for doing this, we're always just looking for stuff to get us through the week before the rookie orientation camp. And my biggest problemt for this was I thought the scouts last week and were phenomenal. Yeah, everybody that talked had something interesting to say. But because of the calamity and chaos of the draft. You and I only get to write so much about it. You did an excellent job of incorporating
John Eric Sullivan's voice and your final recap story. I thought John Eric had probably one of the best press conferences of the entire weekend.
That was, as I mentioned in Insider Inbox, actually that was my favorite press conference, no offense to anybody else. That was my favorite press conference of the entire weekend was listening to John Eric kind of dig into the packers process a little bit and really talk about what they're looking for and with regard to these prospects. So yeah, I tried to incorporate those comments in my wrap up story.
And if you want to check out the video of that press conference, by all means, it's on the website as well.
And for me, I'm not John Eric's agent, but I would take that fourteen minute press conference and I would show it to every NFL team that is looking for a general manager one year from now. I thought it was very presidential in that way, or general manor jural isheal in that way.
Be that as it may.
You're asking me about the top eleven things to know about these eleven prospects the two things that I enjoyed the most. This wasn't anything like an epiphany, but the Packers drafted yet another Georgia Bulldog. Digging into that a
little bit with Javon Ballard coming in. That's a fourth time in four drafts the Packers have drafted for Georgia Bulldogs, obviously doubling up two years ago with DeVante White and kway Walker prior to selecting Eric Stokes, So the Packers had actually selected the last time they had four Bulldogs that they got through the draft, it had been I believe fifty eight years. It had taken as far as how many times they drafted, including jerryus Wynn in two thousand and nine.
Yeah, one, I think.
That show is just where Kirby Smart has taken this program and the level that he's put it on. You know, Mark Rick was there. They've obviously had success in the past, but I mean this, we are talking about one of the top programs in the country now and they're getting some of the top recruits and they're developing them. Ballard, you know, is hopefully going to be the next one of that. In the fourth round, Evan Williams. I had to laugh. There was nowhere to put it in our coverage. Yeah,
on Saturday. But ten years after the Green Bay Packers draft Richard Rodgers, whose father and namesake was involved in the play the cal Stanford game. They go and take Evan Williams on the field, the band is on the field. They take Evan Williams, whose father was also on the field.
For ket It's incredible, It's it's amazing. I and we were talking about this before before we turn the cameras on. I mean, you know, nineteen eighty two cal versus Stanford, the game that is the big rivalry in the Bay
Area in northern California. And I mean in this day and age of instant replay, that that play would have that play would have meant absolutely nothing for the I'm sure many of you have seen it, if not all of you, there are there's you know, the one guy's knees hit the ground before he laterals the ball, and then.
This is this is the this is this is the part.
I love though when you look back at it, because because these are the things, these are the things that are now that are now caught by instant replay, that our eyes don't necessarily catch in the moment, and it's it's when when somebody is running, somebody is running full
speed and they lateral the ball. It's an optical illusion to us that the ball is not moving forward, but it actually is because if you look at you know, if somebody is running forward and then they lateral the ball, the ball is going to end up further down the
field than where the player released it. So technically that's a forward lateral and it would be illegal on a on a kickoff return, right, But in the moment, in the moment, it looks legit, right, It looked it looks like, oh no, he didn't throw it, he didn't throw it forward. So but there there are a couple of those, like
in the cal Stanford play and everything. But uh yeah, I I I about fell out of my chair when Evan Williams said, you know when when he was asked, was it Matt Schneidman from the Athletic who asked him about about his dad being being involved in the play the the kickoff return in the cal Stanford game with the trombone player getting run over.
This is the quote I love too once or twice a month where we're pulling it up, or it's on TV somewhere. Yeah, like you can't even escape it either. It's yeah, it's omnipresent.
Yeah, absolutely, it's it's there, it's there forever. Well, another thing I wanted to I wanted to get your thoughts on because obviously on our on our last show, we talked about all these all these packer picks and all the implications and how the packers went about putting together this collection of rookies, but we didn't talk much at all about what was going on in the rest of
the NFC North. And uh, and this is this is a draft that, for one reason or another, is going to be remembered as far as the NFC North is concerned, because two of the four teams, the Bears and the Vikings, both drafted their quarterbacks of the future, with the Bears taking Caleb Williams again the on.
The worst kept Secret.
No, we'll I'll let you talk about you, Bears punter, if you want to later, the Bears taking Caleb Williams number one overall, and then the Vikings sweating things out at the eleventh pick and then ultimately moving up one spot to into the number ten spot to get JJ McCarthy because they were they weren't sure. There was obviously the possibility that the Broncos or the Raiders might trade up into the number ten spot with was it the Jets? Yep, the Jets had the tenth spot.
Well, according to Sean Payton, he was involved in like eighteen trades that day.
But yeah, absolutely, there's all kinds of things like they want to bone X. But it was interesting because a lot of people ask the question, well, what like, why would they the Jets aren't going to take a quarterback. Why are the Vikings trading up one spot that the
Jets have Aaron Rodgers they're not going to take a quarterback. Well, it's because they don't know if somebody else might jump in front of them and trade for that number ten pick and get who many thought was really the last of the first round quarterbacks in JJ McCarthy or certainly the guy that the Vikings wanted, I think after Drake May was taken by the Patriots, when the Patriots wouldn't trade out of the number three spot, Elliott Wolf sticking
at three and taking May from North Carolina. Just your thoughts on kind of how the top of that first round unfolded with all the quarterbacks, and then not no trade was made until the tenth spot when we were discussing the previous week. You know, are the Pagers going to trade at three, the Cardinal's going to trade at four, the Charger's going to trade at five. Everybody sat and picked and then the other interesting part of that is the Giants sitting at number six did not take a quarterback.
They ended up going with a wide receiver.
They did.
And first and foremost, I don't do this just because of the Packer connections. I do this because I thought he did a wail of a job in his first NFL draft in the cap Birds seat there and Elliott wolf dode New England need to switch up their offense. They go their first five picks, they go on the offensive side of the ball. It starts with Drake May.
Not that you want stuff leaking out. I know how NFL franchisees feel about that, but I actually was really I thought that made the Patriots look great in terms of what Minnesota was trying to give up to move there. And it's showing just how dedicated Elliott was to Drake May. And this being the next guy.
Yeah, he absolutely had. He absolutely was. Kings Ray is convinced that that Drake May has got to be their guy, because if the reports that were out there are true, Elliott Wolf passed up some very very attractive trades to trade out of the number three spot and he did not want to do it, which shows you how he feels about Drake May.
As the Patriots, So the Chicago Bears obviously go with Caleb Williams. They go with the receiver at nine. And now you wait and see, I don't really like twitter go figure. I know Bear fans are talking about the New Era and everything like that. We've heard that a lot over the last ten years. Maybe Williams is the guy everybody thought he was, but there's gonna be that pressure on him now and seeing how he handles that,
it's gonna be very interesting. The Packers just so happened to draft his running back in Marshawn Lloyd com into Green Bay. He had very complimentary things to say about him as well. But I don't think there's been a more celebrated, decorated number one overall pick. I mean, this guy put him up there against Trevor Lawrence and Andrew luck in terms of guys that are just expected to come in and be MVP type players. The Bears have everything stake to him. They did not pick very much
in this draft. They you know, everyone talks about all the additions they made free agency and through trades. In that well, they had to they didn't have the equity to be able to do that through the drafts.
So and they even gave up a future draft pick to get back into this draft to take an additional player. Because after the first round when they took Williams at number one, they took their wide receiver rome a Doonzy from Washington at number nine. The Bears only had two other picks in the entire draft, and they sacrificed to pick next year to get another player for this year.
If the cupboards bear, you got to put some groceries in it, right too. So, I mean that's what they did Minnesota there. I mean, I don't want to say you're all in, but this is it. This is the move. This was the draft where they made some big moves. And and certainly when you look at I know Dallas Turner is I think he's already the favorite for defensive Player.
Of the year, defensive rookie Rookie of the Year.
Excuse me, yes, defensive rookie of the Year. So they still felt like they helped their defense. But the JJ McCarthy move was one I told you going into the draft. I mean not that I knew this, everybody knew this. The Vikings had to draft a quarterback. Yeah, you had to get one. And with where they were sitting, you were in that that you know, is Pennex going to be there?
Is it McCarthy? Is McCarthy going to go higher? Bo Nix?
I think everybody kind of assumed would be in that range. But is he the guy? And if you're taking six quarterbacks in the top twelve, how good do you feel about the six guy actually being the best of the bunch? Maybe not great? Yeah, JJ McCarthy ends up being the guy. They have Sam Darnold. That doesn't mean he has to play right away, but so much is stake to this
change at quarterback. And I'm not trying to put together an ad campaign for how the Packers develop quarterbacks in contrast to what has been the situation in Minnesota now for many years.
But when you.
Don't have a quarterback, it makes the job a lot more difficult, and they finally made the decision. You know what, we paid Kirk Cousins a lot of money for a lot of years. He got them to a certain point, but they couldn't get past that point. So now we're going to kind of try to rebuild while still competing. And the one danger I feel is there for the
Vikings is the number one overall pick. The guy that was just talking about how celebrated he's been in Kaeleb Williams goes to a division team, another division team was in the NFC Championship game, and then you have the Green Bay Packers, who were the hottest team in football during the final month of the season. Yeah, the Vikings don't have a lot of room there to pace themselves. They kind of have to catch up if they're going to stay in this thing. And this was their move.
Well, and what's interesting to me, and I mean, who knows whether JJ McCarthy is ultimately going to be the guy or not. But what's interesting to me is how we keep hearing out of Minnesota that that they're going to be patient, they're going to you know, they're going to bring JJ McCarthy along slowly, et cetera, et cetera. Well,
that's all fine and good to say right now. But the guy you have starting at quarterback presumably week one, will be Sam Donald, who has I believe it's like a twenty something and thirty seven record as a starting quarterback in the NFL. If you do start out with Sam Donald, because you're gonna bring JJ McCarthy along slowly and not put all this pressure on him, well, then what happens when you lose a few games?
It's twenty one and thirty five, by the way.
Twenty one and thirty five, Thank you, twenty one and thirty five as a starting quarterback. You start losing some games, you know, I mean the fans pay good money to pay to buy the tickets and to come out and support the team. And you know, if the Vikings do start out losing some games, there's going to be a lot of pressure to put JJ McCarthy in there and for the Vikings to for the Vikings to show their fans what they have. Are they going to resist that?
I mean, what is what will be the decision making process down the line? Now, maybe Sam Darnold, you know, maybe this is the reclamation of his career. We saw it with Gino Smith in Seattle. You can't rule it out. Not going to rule it out, but the Vikings are the Vikings are potentially going to be in a really tough spot here.
The pressure for the fans is I'm with you on that. That is one hundred percent correct. But you've also the strength of your football team right now as your receiving corps.
Yep, you have arguably the best.
Receiver in the game right now, and justin Jefferson Jordan Addison showed a lot of nice things last year as well. You need a guy that's gonna be able to feed those players Kirk Cousins. People can talk about primetime Kirk, you know, or are you want to talk about the playoff Kirk. But he got the ball out into those guys hands.
He allowed them to make plays.
That's the biggest switch they're going with because when I was talking about this, Minnesota's almost kind of been I mean, you heard that stat about how few first round quarterbacks they've ever drafted. You know, they hit on Dante Culpepper, but then injuries became an issue for him, and then after that it was just sort of plug and play guys other than Christian Ponder.
Yeah, they drafted. They drafted Christian Ponder with a first round pick. I believe he was twelfth overall. But quite frankly, the only year they did anything with Christian Ponder was when Adrian Peterson was the league MVP with a two thousand yard rushing season in twenty and twelve. Yep, that was the only year with Christian Ponder that they went anywhere. So you're right, there's been there. There's been this interesting history with Minnesota and how they've gone about it.
Yeah, so this where it's going to get really interesting this division. I love what Detroit did again. I thought they had some really savvy picks in this thing. They moved around, they helped their defense some again, Brad Holmes, John Dorsey, I tipped my cap to them. I felt like as soon as John came on board there too. And obviously Brad's track record speaks for itself. They've done it. It's not a mystery why they were in the NFC
Championship game. They drafted really, really well these last few years, beginning in twenty twenty one with am and Ross Saint Brown in the fourth round. Brian Branch gets involved it looks like Aiden Hutchinson, it's going to be a player. So the competition in the North I think is going to be really strong this year.
Now.
Fortunately for everybody, there's seven playoff spots now in the NFC. If you want to get down this party, there are tickets to go. But certainly for the Packers, for Minnesota, for all these teams, you have to put yourself in a position to compete, neutralize the other team's strengths and see where it takes you.
Yeah, what'd you think of what'd you think of Detroit's move essentially using two because they traded up to get the cornerback from Alabama Terian Arnold?
Yeah, good.
The one thing that you knew and I talked about it afterwards, between him and and Rakestraw. They got two of the top corners in the draft, but also two of the guys that tested.
Slower when you're looking at more of those forty times.
So if that's the identity of their defense, if they're going to go press man and play physical, which I mean to a certain extent, that is what you're expecting.
That that's Dan Campbell, that's.
Dan Campbell, that you know, that's you know, why is his name escaping right now?
The defensive coordinator over there, Aaron Glenn.
Thank you, Aaron Glenn, Right, yes, Aaron gle defensive backs smash mouth in your face. When they've turned this corner with their personnel, that's the identity they've tried to kept for really the last two and a half years now. So yeah, I think it in a lot of ways, it made sense for them. I felt like offensively, they've built out that offensive line so well, they've hit on
their draft picks at the skill positions. I mean, you would not if you bring back if Justin wants to bring up the old clips of you know, our pre draft stuff las year. I wos not sold on Sam Laporta. I thought he was a little too small. I knew the history there with Iowa tight ends, but you had all these really big, you know, the six foot six, six foot five guys. I was saying, Sam Laporta was as good as anyone in that draft last year and made a huge difference from there in that offense.
So it'll be.
Fascinating to watch all this develops for Detroit. But this was as much as we talk about this being an important draft for the Packers because you've had two really good ones back to back and you're trying to put that third one together to make a Super Bowl run. The Lions are sitting in the same seat.
Yeah. One last thought I want to get from you with regard to the first round of the draft, because a lot of people are talking about it.
As I remember, wasn't a cute by the way, when I said that Michael Pennix would go in the first round or not they went at eight.
Sorry to interrupt, No.
And that's exactly what I was going to bring up, because that is that is the move where people are talking about. Okay, you know the sort of the Packers blueprint for quarterback succession. Right. The Falcons went out. Things didn't work out with Desmond Ritter, who they drafted a couple of years back in the third round. They the Falcons had been using their first round picks. They had three consecutive years of top ten picks, and they took a tight end, a wide receiver, on a running back.
They did not draft a quarterback. They did not draft a premium position. They didn't go left tackle or edge rusher or or corner. They went with the They went with the flashy offensive players. But then with a third round quarterback, it didn't happen. It didn't get done. So they went out spent a bunch of money to get Kirk Cousins. Perhaps broke some rules along the way, but
we'll find out. We'll find out about that with when the league's tampering investigation is complete, which apparently it's not yet. But they go out and sign Kirk Cousins to a whole bunch of money. They guarantee him somewhere in the neighborhood of one hundred million dollars. But then they have another top ten pick this year and they use it on a quarterback in Michael Penis Junior from Washington, with the idea that he will sit I think for a minimum of three years, but at least a minimum of
two years. He will sit behind Kirk Cousins, watch and learn, and then eventually get the keys to the car. I mean, the Falcons have a reasonable out cap wise on cousins contract after three years. They sign him to a four year deal. They have a reasonable out after three years. But I think I think that it's gonna have to go those three years before you turn it over to Pennix.
Otherwise you're putting yourself in salary cap jail when you're trying to turn things over to a new quarterback, and that just doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.
And my answers in several different ways. The first one is to all the haters out there that were talking about, well, why didn't they go defense, because the Falcons need to figure out their offense first before we can even Yeah, okay, their defense isn't great. Fine, their offense wasn't great.
Yeah.
And the only part that I laugh at that I actually giggled when I saw, you know, Pennix come off the board at eight, was for all that time they didn't give Arthur Smith a single quarterback.
Yeah, they fire.
Him, and then they spend all this money on Kirk and they used the eighth overall pick on Pennix. That was pretty humorous to me. Not to say that they would have drafted another one and it would have worked out, but it was just funny that they never actually had that guy. They were trying to roll with a third round you know, third or former third round pick. So
that being said, I actually really like the pick. I think that this is the if you have an administration and you have an owner that can be understanding and see a little bit past just what's directly in front of them and what you could potentially do. This was the move for the Falcons because, with all due respect to Kirk Cousins, he has only gotten to a certain point in his NFL career as a starting quarterback. He's not any younger, and he's coming off an Achilles tear.
Made total sense that they did whatever they had to do to sign him. But Pennix is a guy that you've heard so many people talk about his arm strength, being generational, talking like you know, this is a guy that you know, maybe Matthew Stafford esque type strength and his ability to deliver a football if you can give that coaching staff time to bring him along and not throw him into the fire like we've done so often.
Mike Yes, c J.
Stroud last year was an exciting football player, and he looks like he's going to be a real playmaker for years to come. I can't see any scenario in which Bryce Young benefited from what happened last year.
Net Line exactly.
That's the thing. It's it's you throw, you throw these young guys into the fire right away. Sometimes you get you know, a Joe Burrow or a C. J. Stroud, and sometimes you get Bryce Young. I mean, and it's not it's not necessarily about the guy. It's about it's about the environment. It's about the situation. It's about the status of the rest of the team as a whole.
Mike McCarthy always used to say, it's not about whether a young quarterback is ready to play, it's about whether the team is ready for the young quarterback to play. And so some of these guys just get thrown into situations that that that are really really difficult, and the Falcons are going to do their best. The Vikings, it sounds like, are going to try that as well. The Falcons are going to do their best to avoid that.
And the difference between the two situations is the Falcons spent a lot of money on a veteran quarterback who has taken teams to the playoffs before, as opposed to the Vikings, who, you know, their guy right now is a guy who hasn't won in the NFL.
I mean, you're absolutely right, but I really thought you're gonna go with the difference is is the Falcons paid kirk Cousins and the Vikings did not pay kirk Cousins.
Yeah, after all that, I mean.
That's certainly that's certainly true as well.
But here's the thing, and this is where this would be my last point on this, and this is the thing I wanted to hit on the most. Where the Green Bay Packers have outdone the rest of the National Football League is they've caught the league sleeping on quarterbacks at the right time. They caught the NFL sleeping on Aaron Rodgers in two thousand and five, they caught the league sleeping on Jordan Love in twenty twenty. You are not going to be able to find franchise quarterbacks every
year past that number ten fifteen spot. There's just teams are moving up, they're trying to make things happen. The Packers' ability to do that, I don't when people try to make this comparison, Well, they spent so high to get Pennix, Yeah, because that's normally what teams.
Happen exactly, that is what you have to do.
And that was part of when the Falcons head coach and general manager were answering questions about the Pennix pick. They were saying, hey, we spent a bunch of money on Kirk Cousins, but we know we're going to need a quarterback down the line. We're not expecting to end up with a top ten pick with Kirk Cousins as our quarterback going to be back, so right, you're going
to be further back in the first round. So if we're looking at the quarterback of the future, we have to get him now while we have the high pick, because we're planning to be picking in the twenties or later because of what we're paying Kirk Cousins to do for the franchise.
And at the last point I'll make about that twenty twenty draft, people always say, well, you know T Higgins was still available, Patrick Queen was still available, but Denzel Mims was also still available. I took Ross Blacklock in one of my mock drafts that year. He ended up going at forty and he's out of the league at twenty five. Right, You never know. The Packers knew they had some thing there with Jordan Love. There was a
good scouting report on him. We listened to Sam Seal last weekend talking about, you know, he had a hand and looking at a love as well when you feel good about guys, when we talk about best player available and all that stuff, and it's not always true in terms of, you know, if you're not gonna Packers were not going to draft a quarterback this year. They didn't
need to in the first round or second round. But the truth is when you build that board, as you talked about our last show, you bake it into the cake and you see what's all available to you. I think that's the most exciting thing. And if I'm an Atlanta Falcons fan, I don't care about the fact that Cousins was signed and Pennix was drafted at number eight. I care about the fact that finally I feel like I have a quarterback.
I have multiple quarterbacks, and.
There's a reason to believe again because Mike. I think Atlanta was the number one example of if you don't have a guy, whether it was trying to bring in Marcus Mariota or doing the Desmond Ritter experiment or all this thing, all these different things they've done since Matthew, since Matt Ryan left, right, you're gonna fall into that kind of purgatory in the league, and you're not gonna be high enough to get a top guy, you're also not gonna.
And it doesn't And if you don't have that guy, it doesn't matter what you put around it. They were trying to do it by putting the best possible playmakers around that guy. But if but if that guy is not the guy, it's it's not it's not gonna work.
You can give me Kobe Steak, Mike, I'm not gonna be able to do much with it, you know what I mean. Like if you can have the best ingredients possible, but you have to you have to have somebod that's gonna cook with it.
I'll just say quickly too. With regard to the twenty twenty draft, Patrick Queen was the guy that I really liked and I was disappointed the Packers did not take him. But and Patrick Queen's a solid NFL player, but the Ravens didn't even bring him back on a second contract. He's he became a free agent, went and signed somewhere else.
And I bet you got pretty excited when an ESPN threw up that comparison graphic for Edrian Cooper too.
Patrick Queen, there we go whom the Packers were able to get at forty five overall.
Yeah, there we go.
That's the game.
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go West Rookie Mini Camp is this weekend. The players are actually arriving in Green Bay today going through all sorts of orientation stuff physicals, get their equipment, get you know, their shoes, their helmet, the all kinds of stuff, figure out where they get food, you know, learn the building a little bit. We will get a chance to talk to players in the locker room on Friday. We'll also get a chance to watch some of the first practice
on Friday. Just quickly your your approach, your thoughts on kind of what you like to keep your eye on during this Rookie Mini camp.
Two things I always enjoy watching is one seeing who the tryout players end up being there, always ends up being a name or two that you don't expect that ends up being involved with it. And then occasionally you find a Lucas Patrick out of this bunch that ends up being a player for you. The undrafted process does not just begin and end immediately after the draft. It'll
keep going on. Another guy that speaks that is Emmanuel Wilson last year, starting with Denver getting cut ending up with Green Bay makes a fifty three man roster that's always neat to see. But the other thing I enjoy about it, it's not gonna be overly competitive. You're not gonna see guys you know, there's gonna be no scuffles,
will be nothing like that. Everyone will be on their best behavior, and the packers are mostly just gonna want to get these guys growing accustomed to what they're gonna expect when they come back for OTAs in the format of those practices. But it's always neat when you can see the athleticism of these guys, and that's really all you're gonna be able to see. You're gonna be able to see the speed, You're gonna be able to see the way they catch the ball or in Michael Pratt's case,
the way he throws the ball. That to me is where it's the first time you get eyes on these guys because you can look at their highlights, you can you can see their bios and all the things that they accomplished in college. But this is the first time you actually get to see the players in the semi unit and kind of going about their process. And it's a weird thing because you know, we do like a bunch of interviews and then we watch the practice, then
mattle talk, and then we'll watch another practice. So you only learn so much, but I think it gives you a definite feel. Like, for example, the first time we saw Lucas fantast you're like, oh, okay, well this is why this guy was drafted thirteenth overall.
Yeah, this looks like a.
Greek god, right right, Yeah, looking at it, it's it's always interesting to me looking at just getting a chance to see what they look like physically on the field with their helmet on, even though they're not in pads. You know, it's it's it's just you know, shorts and helmets, but seeing what they look like physically when when Okay, this isn't This isn't your college team anymore. This is more the cream of the crop of the college guys.
Even when you're talking the tryout guys who don't have a contract, those are still the guys who were, you know, the cream of the crop in college. Not it's not just you know, eighty five scholarship players on one sideline. But then the other thing that always that always strikes me is is just watching some of the fundamental stuff, like how do guys catch the ball? I mean, you know, I'll never forget. It's always stood out to me. The
twenty thirteen rookie Mini camp one of the things. And for whatever reason that day, I don't know exactly why, but the Packers were doing were doing all kinds of punt and punt return drills in that rookie Mini camp practice, and Micah Hyde is back there fielding punts, yep. And you know he looked he looked as natural and as smooth and easy catching all, you know, these wobbly punts and everything else, as anybody had ever seen as a rookie. It's just you look at that guy and you go, ah,
that's the that's a baller. You know, like there was nothing that was going to phase that guy. And and sure enough, he was just a rookie fifth round pick out of Iowa who ran too slow at the time, and we all know what he became for both the Packers and the Buffalo Bills. So those are the kinds of things that that are always interestable, and it's just
it's such a brief introduction. You know, they get they get the playbook and they get you know, I don't know, half a dozen or a dozen plays just to you know, they they get a quarterback like Michael Pratt to just learn how to spit out a couple of different plays in the huddle and uh, and to get everybody on the same page and whatnot. Because as you said, the next the next step then is toward the end of this month, when the OTAs begin. They're thrown in there
with all the veterans. Then it's like, okay, this is a this is gonna be a real, non padded but a real NFL practice that these guys are going to be in and uh, and they get you know, three four weeks of that, including the mini camp in the middle of June.
And one other thing to mention too, just very quickly with Michael Pratt, because yeah, OTAs are going to come around and it'll be just like training camp where it's predominantly Jordan Love and Sean Clifford will get some snaps as well. But you know, as we learned, uh you know, I think it was yesterday. You know, Alex McGoo is gonna be making the switch over to receiver now. So Michael Pratt is sitting in that umber three spot. That means that you're not going to be the fourth guy up,
You're going to be the third guy out. Yeah, So if you know, if trickle things coming down and trickle to your OTAs, you have to be ready for that moment. It sounds like the young man has that disposition about him. But it again one of the reasons why when you think of like Sean Clifford jumping in the way he did, or even Tim Boyle back in twenty eighteen. Yeah, they set that tone right from the beginning of OTAs to make their case for making a roster right being the
number two quarterback and all the every opportunity matters. So even if it is you know, if you don't really recognize anybody right away, you trying to just figure things out while you're out there.
It's all it's all reviewed, it's all graded.
And ultimately that's how you start setting a depth charties you get into training camp.
Yeah, nobody wins or loses any jobs, any jobs during the rookie mini camp, except maybe the tryout guys. Of course, I'm talking about the draft picks and the undrafted guys who have already signed. Nobody wins or loses any jobs during the rookie minicamp. But first impressions do matter and that and these guys know that.
Yeah, and it's exciting too, because there's very few times where you and I will go out there and it's just you're looking at a completely new football team. You know, there will usually be like, what maybe forty between thirty five fifty guys that are out there on the field, depending on how big the UFA classes and how many returning veterans are eligible to play participate in it. But it's again, it's setting out the books and pens and
papers for the first day of school. It's another step towards getting back towards the season and ultimately figuring out if any of these eleven guys can make the impact that you know that draft class did a year.
Ago absolutely well. On our next show, we will share some of our first impressions with regard to the Rookie Mini Camp, but for now we'll call it a rap. On this edition of Packers Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team. Everything with regard to Rookie Mini Camp that we have access to, we will cover it to the best of our ability on packers dot com or wes. I Am Mike. Thank you for tuning in, everybody who will see you next time.