#782 Packers Unscripted: Rolling along

about quarterback Jordan Love signed his finalized contract extension. He was back out there for Saturday's practice, the first padded practice, so he's been involved in two practices so far. With the pads going on, it's nice to see sing this sort of getting back to normal, right QB one is out there, he's running the show and here we go.

and o's and all that stuff. I just want to pull it back for two seconds and just appreciate what this moment represents. The Green Bay Packers made Jordan Love one of, if not at the if not the most compensated quarterback NFL player in this league's great illustrious history. Four years ago. He was the first round pick that Brian Goodikuns drafted up, traded up to draft, had to come in and follow in the shadows of Aaron Rights

last summer. The amount of pressure that was on this young man to succeed Aaron Rodgers, the fact that Brian Goudikuns had pushed his chips in on this player, the fact that Matt Lafleur, his QB school acumen, was invested into this young man. Tom Clements had come back and had coached this young man, and to see it work out for him, to see it work out for the organization.

I just can't help but feel somewhat sentimental about this whole thing, because, as I told you before, Mike, this is the first quarterback, the first prospect, the first real investment that I've seen groomed. In my current occupation, Aaron Rodgers was an MVP, a Super Bowl champion. When I started covering this team on a full time basis in twenty twelve, I got to watch brick by brick, piece by piece in practices that were visible to no one.

In twenty twenty, Jordan Love go from the guy that the Green Bit Packers were developing to the face of the franchise, and to see him rewarded knowing what he's been through on a personal level, knowing what he's done on a professional level, and the fact that in four and a half years, Mike, this guy has not sidestepped once. He has done everything right from the very beginning. I feel somewhat emotional about that whole thing because there are

people behind those face masks. There are families that are impacted by it, and for the Packers and Jordan Love to reach this resolution, I just felt like this is one of those type of things that ten, fifteen, twenty years down the line, you and I will be talking to grandchildren and other people about this because it's pretty special.

which were years two and three for Rogers. And you know we've we've gotten the question in insider inbox, Well are the you know, the Packers are making this investment in Jordan Love after just half a season of like good football. Well, let me remind everybody that Ted Thompson, the former general manager, rest his soul. He made the commitment to Aaron Rodgers after seven games as the starting quarterback in two thousand and eight, the Packers were four

and three. Aaron Rodgers, in essence, hadn't won anything yet. You know, Jordan Love earned a playoff spot, won a playoff game, like his accomplishments in year one as a starter surpassed those of Rogers. But Ted Thompson had the courage of his convictions the same as when he drafted him.

Had the courage of his convictions when it came time to make the decision to move forward with this guy as your franchise quarterback and now Brian Gudokunst and Russ Ball and everybody in the Packers' front office has done the same thing with Jordan Love, and I think it's a reminder. I've seen a few comments related to this an inbox. Perhaps you're posting one or I will post one here soon for those who keep bringing up the well, it's just half a season. Well, on the field, yes

it's half a season. But everybody who's involved in this decision has seen Jordan Love for the last four plus years that he's been here. They know what they're getting, they know what they're investing in in terms of the player, the person, the work ethic, you know, the the talent, whether it is always shown up on the field or not, all of those things. I mean that that's what this

is all about. And you know, as things go, I mean you mentioned, you know, being up there as you know, one of the highest paid, you know, the next quarterback to sign the next big deal, which might be Dak Prescott, is probably going to surpass everybody else. I mean that, you know, being the highest paid doesn't last long in this league. That's just the nature of things. But the similarities, once again, in terms of the transition from Far to

Rogers now from Rogers to Love. Nothing is exact, it's not the same blueprint, but the similarities and how the Packers have gone about this and the timeline of, you know, how they've made their decisions, it's it's been interesting to follow and I think everybody is excited about what's to come here with Jordan Love as the face of the franchise.

he played really well. And that's where in my mind it went off of yeah, this guy, he's he's a different type of customer. So yep. To bring it all back around, and just to answer your original question to me, to hear Matt Lafuer talk about this is the guy that knows our offense inside and out. Now he's the one that is the general out there on the field. You could see it on the practice field on Saturday, how different everything looked with Jordan Love out there. And yeah,

it started a little slow. He didn't practice the first five days of camp. And there was gonna be some rush to walk to knock off. But by the end of the camp, by the end of the practice, excuse me, him and Christian Watson, they were looking at what Jeff Hafley and the defense were doing. They draw up, They drew up their own deep shot play. They connect on it for forty seven yards. It leads to a four play, seventy yard drive and two minute to score a touchdown

and he's off and running once again. So in the National Football League when people ask about these contracts and what guys are making now, if you have a quarterback, you have hope, and the Packers have hope, and because of that, there's a price tag attached to that. But what's good for the Green Bay Packers is they aren't

just looking at as well, we're paying our quarterback. They're looking at as we're paying one of the top young players in this league right now, and they feel like there's still a lot more for him to uncover.

a crossing route. Then he scoops up a low snap, a low shotgun snap by his ankles and then fires a little side arm flick to Romeo Dobbs right, and and then there's Carl Brooks coming unblocked on a on a pass rush. And Love's Love's reaction was you know this, you know, it wasn't a first day of training camp

for him reaction. This was a this was a mid season all systems go reaction where he got away from the free rusher, you know, throws a throws a quick pass, gets the check down to Josh Jacobs to the make to make something out of nothing kind of thing. Yeah, we're you know, you're seeing that already from Jordan Love in the first practice after he you know, knocks off some of that rust early on, and I think he's

got the two practices under his belt. The Packers are still dealing with, you know, some shuffling on the offensive line. Zach Tom is not in there at right tackle. Yet Elton Jenkins has had some days off, Josh Myers was out for a couple of days for a personal issue. It doesn't sound like we're going to see Zach tom in the eleven on eleven until after Family Night as

he continues the recovery. But I think with Jordan Love getting a couple of practices under his belt, and now the day off on Monday heading into Tuesday and the week of practices that is going to culminate with Family Night, I think we're going to start to see this offense hit its stride, find itself a little bit and I'm excited to see what it looks like.

watching Luke Muskrave. You know, run some seam routes. I'm just blown away by the amount of talent, you know, particularly they'll skill positions on this football team, because it's not just like, Okay, well they signed Josh Jacobs and a bunch of guys. It's like, this is a lot of homegrown talent the Packers have unearthed. That's how you open up a championship window. The questions definitely to answer. On the offensive line, Jordan Morgan has been repping inside

at right guard. We'll have to see exactly what the future holds for him there. They're giving him a chance to compete for a starting job right out of the gate. You know, Rashid Walker's been over there at left tackle. Kadeem Telford has been getting reps with the number one offensive line at right tackle. They've been trying to put this all together to line themselves up for these joint practices obviously for some of these preseason games, to start

identifying what their unit is going to be. But Michael, there's a lot of teams in the National pot Ball League that would look at the Packers situation as a very advantageous one and a luxury for Green Bay to be able to actually have this many questions to answer, not about hey, who's making the fifty three, but ultimately who's gonna be those eleven guys on the football field, because it's a tight competition.

it's kind of unknown. Well, when you look at Christian Watson, Romeo Dobbs, Jaden Reed, Dantavian Wicks, Luke Musgrave, you're sort of feeling and saying the same thing about all those guys.

You know that you know when you look back, you know, at a certain point, Greg Jennings became Greg Jennings, and Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb became who they were, and DeVante Adams and you go into a certain season, you know, exactly who those guys are going to be and what they're going to give you right there are still there. There's there's this unknown in terms of the ceiling with

these perimeter players that are around around Jordan Love. And then there's there's sort of the question of how does Josh Jacobs fit into this right taking over as the as the the first string running back for Aaron Jones. It's really really an intriguing place to be. It's a

very it's a very exciting place to be. And uh and the packers have a good you know, a handful of weeks here of practices working together, you know, the joint practices coming up, all that kind of stuff to to get things figured out and see where this is going to go.

you want Christian Watson explosive plays, game breaking opportunities. Do you want Romeo Dobbs, who, as Adam Stenovitch told us on Monday, I mean the way he's running his routes right now, what he's done to have that marry up with his pass catching ability. I mean, you and I have seen it. We might not be able to break it down like a scout, but it doesn't take a lot to understand just how crisp he's been so far in this camp. Dontavian Wicks last year was among the

league leaders and yards per catch. Jayden Reid was the Packers' leading receivers, a guy that can be used on end rounds and as sort of a gadget player in addition to doing the slot. The aspect of it isn't necessarily okay, who's going to separate themselves? Is just going to be a matter of, okay, how do they tailor this offense

and who gets emphasized. And I think one thing that Matt Lafuer proved he could do last year and these offensive coaches showed they could do, is they can open this thing up and present a lot of different options. So whether or not you want cheesecake or Tara Massou in the Green Bay Packers. There's no shortage of different ways they can go about this thing, and I think that's what makes it exciting for the Packers and for opposition, could make it really tricky if everybody can stay healthy.

and ed cousin subs. 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 submona bowl, cousin subs. Fifty plus years of better competition wise, Wes, the years all start to run together for me after a while. I have to admit, you've had a lot of them.

He comes from that Kirby Smart George defense, you know, and Packers obviously have liked those kind of players over the years. But Bullard, Evan Williams from Oregon, Anthony Johnson Junior, the seventh rounder from Iowa State last year, these guys have all been rotating. Yeah, with the number one reps next to Xavier McKinney. Not just that, it's not just it's not just the you know, sort of the flatline of where the depth chart is right now, where they're

all kind of on the same line. But they're all making plays out there. Yeah, you know, the interception. Every single guy's had at least one interception. A couple of

those guys have had multiple interceptions. The play, the plays that they are making, you know, it's the old adage of you know, taking advantage of your opportunities when you're given those and when these guys have been given those opportunities with the number one defense, they're cashing in and it's it's making this thing, really, it's I think it's going to make this safety competition perhaps last all the way through camp and all the way through the preseason.

just he's been accountable. He's picked up that position so fast, and he's shown some playmaking ability, which when he was making that transition at Iowa State when he didn't have a lot of interceptions in college. The way he came out last year and got a pick right away when he was playing on the back end.

It's not because Javon Bullard doesn't look like that wasn't the right pick for them, right. Jean Bullard's had some big moments too. Both of those guys have interceptions, no doubt. Williams just has for three in the first five six practices. I mean, the guy in so many ways to use that Mica Hyde analogy again, he reminds me of it just from his headiness as smart's, his intelligence, his balls, scills,

his instincts. I was asking him at his locker on Sunday about that play where he intercepted the first play of the two minute series with the number two is against Sean Clifford. He picks off Clifford on the very first snap and it ends the drill. They just moved on to the number three's right after that, And I had asked him about that in the way that he broke it down was I'm sure it's the way everybody thinks about the safety position, but I never heard it

articulated this way. He's like, you know, my number one thing is you know he's in his zone cover read there, but he's looking to see how the routes develop, because if he feels like if he figures out that aspect of it that helps him with his peripherals, then he can zero in on where the core and by the time he processes all that information, he has feels like he had the body awareness and the field awareness that when he saw the ball come out from Clifford, it

wasn't that he just was going to be able to jump it or be able to catch it. I mean, he felt like it was like Neo and the Matrix. I mean, everything slowed down for him to the point that he just had to execute the assignment. That's the intriguing thing about this, Mike, and I can think of so many times in my twelve years covering this football team when the Packers have overloaded, whether it be through free agency or the draft, at certain positions, they get results.

Twenty seventeen, they needed to change things at running back. They did it with both Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams. Countless times, the Packers have tripled down on receivers and they've been able to get NFL talent, and particularly these draft two years ago, elite talent and Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs out of it. So I think that's the

most exciting thing. And yeah, who will prevail I don't know, but I have watched enough Packers football and I've seen enough NFL games to know at some point you're going

to need all of them. And as much as we will zero in on who's starting and who's going to be out there week one in Brazil, the course of a season being what it is, whether it's the slot, whether it's the back end, whether it's special teams, all those guys are going to have an integral role in this thing from day one, and if you're going to make a Super Bowl push, you need those type of contributions from rookies right off the bat. Yeah. Absolutely.

interception by Williams you were talking about. It was on the first play of the number two units two minute drive, and I think that's that says something about the mentality of these guys who are competing for the safety position because they've all been rotating with the ones. Well, when they're not when it's not their turn with the ones, they're not taking a breather. They're not like letting down.

Evan Williams is out there with the twos and he's on the attack, right, I mean, And that's how that's how you compete. That's how you make an impression. It's not just oh, I have to give I have to give it my all when I'm out there with Xavier McKinney. These guys are out there trying to do their thing and make the impression and make this a really difficult decision on the coaches. They're doing that no matter what unit they're lining up with, and I think that I think that's worth mentioning.

potentially his running mate could be. But the byproduct of that is how many different combinations they've been running with the two defense, Yes, how many times Evan Williams and you know he is able to line up with an Anthony Johnson Junr or with you know Bullard, or with Zane Anderson. And that's important too, that that all those guys are being able to get that work together.

we will definitely be keeping an eye on that. At kicker, the three kickers, I would say, I think it's fair to say that Greg Joseph and Andras Carlson are very much neck and neck at the front of that kicking competition, and James Turner is kind of trying to make up a little ground right now after one week of camp.

On the offensive line, as I mentioned before, some moving parts, some shuffling going on, but it still appears to be shaping up that Jordan Morgan and Sean Ryan are going to be competing for the starting job at right guard, and we'll just have to see. It's extremely early in that regard, and certainly with Morgan making the transition from from tackle to guard and the pads having now just gone on for a couple of days, you know, that's

another one to watch as things go along. Not really a whole lot to update there other than it does look like it's it's pretty open in terms of just may the best man win yeah.

Jones being back Telford, excuse me? And then you know Andre Dillard is in this thing a number of different ways. This thing can go for the Green Bay Packers and trying to figure out, you know who those guys are going to because on game day you'll have those eight offensive linemen, you'll have your starting five, But who are those next three guys up that could be summoned And that's what they're looking to identify right now.

in those moments as well. And for me seeing how you know dominant, you know some of these guys have been okay, how does that translate now that these guys have these pads on? And in the first day I watched it, I thought Jordan Morgan was one of the all stars of it. He had a really tough task taking on DeVante Wyatt. Wyatt hit him with two very different techniques, a bull rush the second time, a little bit more finesse the first time, and he stood up

to that. Colby Wooden I thought had some really good rushes. Carl Brooks looks sensational. But then you even have you know, Sean Ryan being able to match up with a Kenny Clark, a Kadeem Telford being able to match up with the Rashawn Gary. Those are very important reps because yeah, Telford's probably seen him in some of these You know, practice

squad reps and scout team reps, but it's different. Man, when you got that bull looking you in the eyes and one of the most intense physical players on this football team and.