#833 Packers Unscripted: More OTA chatter

But I think first and foremost, having heard from multiple defensive linemen who spoke to the media on Tuesday after practice, it sounds like not only do these guys on the defensive line get together to catch some NBA playoffs and maybe watch or consume some pizza and wings, but it sounds like they also bring their iPads. There's been some study sessions at Kenny Clark's house as part of kind of a little off season bonding and improvement.

trying to build that camaraderie among the defensive lines. So basically how the story goes is, you know him and Rashan Gary both have talked about this in the past. They've done a lot of stuff during the season. Thursday night football guys get together, they spend time. Kenny usually opens up his house to you know, the younger guys

on the roster come over, hangout, talk whatever. Well, this offseason, if you know how voluntary off season program works is whether here Monday through Thursday, Tuesday through Friday, depending on how the week orientates itself, guys are free to go when that four day week is over, Yeah, then get on a plane. These gift come back on money and do whatever they want a lot of guys are choosing to stick around this year. And as Kenny said, and

actually was Rashaun that mentioned, he's been here. This is a seventh season now, he's not done anything like this before where guys have been going over to Kenny and yeah, they still do the wings, they still do the pizza. But now it's been going through the individual periods of practice, watching their film, as Kenny said, trying to show the guys, the younger guys on the roster, how to set up locks, what the formations look like this defense, understanding your role

in it. I think that's an important piece right now for them because the defensive front is at an interesting little crossroads here. What they did well last year, you know, seventh ranked run defense, best performance against the run in the last fifteen years. Well, now you're losing TJ. Slayton, who was a big, you know, run stuffer in the middle of that, and you're going to try to, you know,

maintain what you did. At the same time, one of the big points of contention that guys have been discussing is wanting to improve the PA rush, the four man pressures, not have to rely so much on exotic looks, you know, blitz packages, simulated pressures, but to actually be able to get home with four And what Rashan was saying is he feels like that right now has them set up as with off to a fast start and believing that that's me something that's going to propel them for now into the summer.

in practice. And I think what I took from that is that that speaks to me to some of the new methods and techniques they're being taught by DeMarcus Covington, the new defensive line coach, that they want to watch those individual drills and how those things are coming along and get a chance to see, you know, how their teammates are executing those techniques and how different guys are coming along. Because you and I have been there at practice, we see, you know, the players line up for the

certain drills and everybody kind of takes their turn. But when you're just standing there kind of waiting in line or catching your breath for the next rep or whatever, you're not necessarily watching the details of how your teammate

is doing something. But if you watch the individual individual drills on film, you can you can look at every single guy and a leader leaders of the group like Kenny Clark and Rashaan Gary, they can take a look at how the younger guys are doing and and and maybe point some things out to help them out before the next practice, so that so that they maybe don't necessarily have to hear it from the coaches or have the coaches in their ear about stuff all the time.

So it's a it's an interesting it's an interesting process that that the group is going through in the off season. As you said, there's a lot of focus on improving the pass rush, but they stop the run pretty darn well last year. It's it's not and there has been a change in position coaches, but it's not like you're just throwing everything out and starting over. There's a lot to work with here with what the Packers defensive line

accomplished in the offseason. But the bottom line, as Kenny Clark said when he answered one of the questions about the pass rush, is it wasn't good enough. It wasn't good enough to win a championship. And these guys know that they can do better, that they can produce more, and that's what they're.

But that's September, what was it, fourth, Yeah, and then the.

this game. But I think where is in the back of the Packers' minds is Okay, if we can get some of the things to go our way on the health front, if you bank on this young talent we have on this roster, we're gonna get to where we want to go. And I think particularly on the defensive interior, we talk so much about the receiving cores and how

young they went there. Now, certainly having Kenny kind of skews the numbers, but they did the same exact thing on the defensive line, and we saw it with you know, DeVante Wyatt. Now going into year four, you have Carl Brooks, Kolbe Wooden. This is a very young group still that now also has a lot of experience.

wait until you really know all the facts. Because because Clark Clark injured that foot, the toe, whatever the major issue was, it happened in that in the opener in Brazil, he was on the injury report essentially for three months, but he never missed a game and Kenny Clark and Kenny Clark is interviewed as much, if not more than anybody else in that Packers locker room, and not once last year did he say anything about his injury. He was, you know, and he knows he had one sack and

five quarterback hits last year. That is like career lows for Kenny Clark. He knows statistically it was probably his worst season when you just look at the numbers. But now that everybody knows more of the facts, hopefully it's like, hey, yeah, Kenny Clark is just going to turn thirty years old this year. He's not necessarily done. And when it comes to Lucas van Ness, he's trying to play with a broken thumb, you know, different raps and whatever else, and

those things diminish over time as things get healthier. But he's a young player trying to find his way with a lot of pressure on him, and that comes with the territory. I get it. But when you're not fully healthy and you don't you don't have the full use of all of your physical capabilities, you're not going to be able to maximize on what you've got, what you

can show as a player. It's just so I just I always try to caution everybody, and I think what we heard about these two guys in particular in the off season, it's just you got to take a step back and wait until you really understand everything that goes on. Because we're not going to hear it from the coaches, We're not going to hear it from the general manager.

They're not going to reveal all these details. But when the players are willing after the fact to talk about it, we start to learn more and things that happened to your ago start to make a little bit more sense.

that I want to go fifteen years or whatever. I'm gonna play into my forties and Kenny's like, until my film is regressing, Yeah, that's when I don't want to do this anymore. When I can't go out there and give what I've given for the last ten years, nine years,

I don't want to be here anymore. I think his line was they need to get rid of me, Yeah, something like that, and that it shows you his maturity, It shows you his perspective, and it also shows you that Kenny Clark doesn't think he's anywhere near that point. He still thinks he has some good football in front of him. And he doesn't turn thirty until October fourth.

better all right. A couple other guys that we heard from and I touched on some of these in a five Things Learned at OTA's story that was posted late

in the day on Tuesday on Packers dot Com. Keishaan Nixon, we sort of heard during the offseason from both general manager Brian Gudakunst and head coach Matt Lafleur that Nixon's comments right after the season was over about not wanting to do kickoff returns anymore, that those might have been just delivered out of frustration a little bit too much emotion as it related to the loss in the playoff

game in Philadelphia. Well, Nixon essentially confirmed that that, yes, he admitted he was a little emotional that day after the playoff loss. Obviously, he had taken that nasty shot to the head on the opening kickoff, which wasn't called and it led to the fumble, and then the replay still didn't give the Packers the ball back. All that a big play, right, off the bat in the game and the Eagles end up taking a seven to nothing lead.

But Nixon is he is up for what the coaches want him to do if they want him back there on kickoffs. With now that change in the rule that touchbacks will be at the thirty five instead of at the thirty Now Nixon isn't convinced that's going to give him more opportunities. But if it does give him more opportunities, I think Nixon wants to be the guy with the ball.

came in. Kishaw Nixon didn't come in as a number one corner or a perimeter starting cornerback. He came in as a guy that was kind of a dime and then contributing on special teams, and then if you remember he wasn't even the returner at the beginning, that kind of manifested itself midway through the twenty twenty one season where it's like, okay, now he's in the cards for that, right, So I should say twenty two season. But be that as it may. Here we are going into another season.

I think the Packers and watching these practices, they have a multitude of different options they can do, if with kickoffs, with punts. Mkole Hardman is in that conversation. Matthew Golden is in that conversation. But like Kishawn said, he's like, at the end of the day, when the game's on the line, I want the ball in my hand. So I think he will ultimately end up being a part of this kickoff consternation whatever you want to call it,

that the Packers are working through. What I'm curious to see is with the role that he has now on defense, how much of that do you need to take off his plate? Maybe none. I mean, Jayden Reid's still returning punts and is you know, the leading receiver for greing to by the past two seasons, So maybe Kishan will

take the full compliment. But whatever the case may be, this is a guy that's been an All Pro in this league returning kickoffs and he understands the value that presents for his football team.

those plays. Now go return the kickoff. That might be a little bit too much, and that's where you can get into issues with with potential fatigue, injuries and whatnot. But on the opening kickoff of the game, on the opening kickoff of the second half, when when a defensive player like Nixon is rested and ready to go, those may be the opportunities where where then he is the kickoff returner and maybe after a long defensive drive for

a score, then somebody else goes back there. I'm just speculating here, you know, in in that regard, but but we'll have to see, We'll have to see how that shakes out. Another player we heard from wide receiver Romeo Dobbs. He assured everyone that that he's doing well off of the the two concussions that he had late in the season, the second one coming in the playoff game in Philadelphia, that that sidelined him for the rest of that game. He didn't go into any details about his recovery. He

didn't want to, didn't want to share that. He did say it was a long process, but he's doing well now. He certainly looks great on the practice field. But I think again in sort of these things like okay, let's just take a step back here, and I know there were issues with Dobbs and the suspension last year, and it sounds like long ago everybody put that, put that

in the rearview mirror. But just step back and let's give Romeo Dobbs his space to get where he wants to get health wise, and let's see what he does in a contract year.

of passes. He was doing it again during the two minute drill in practice both last week and on Tuesday. So yeah, I think that part of it is cool. The other thing I really like too, He got talking about the young guys in that room, and as he mentioned, you know, Matthew Golden a stud, but he also talked about kind of the responsibility he feels to help bring

those guys along. Yeah, he had some veterans, not a lot, He had a few, you know, Sammy Watkins came in here, obviously, Alan Lazard, you know, a little taste there one season with Randall Cobb, but for the most part, you know, him and Christian Watson have kind of had to drive that bus here the last two years. And for guys like Savion Williams for Golden for even you know, you look at a Dontavian Wicks, who's still an up and coming guy. I mean, these guys that have come in

behind them. I really appreciate what he said because he's like, I mean, they got drafted here. If they have questions, I'm going to help them. I'm going to do whatever I can to bring them along. So, Yeah, Romeo Dobs has been a pros entire time here. It was unfortunate what happened last season, but it's cool to hear his perspective now on things, how he feels he improved from that whole experience and now hopefully being able to stay healthy er going into the twenty twenty five.

ends up, I believe, getting the third most votes all Pro votes for the right tackle position. It becomes easy to forget that this guy had a torn pectoral muscle in the off season. He didn't participate at all in OTAs or mini camp, and he got back on the practice field for basically the last two weeks of training camp to get himself ready to go week one and to be able to play in that opener in Brazil. And Zach tom Is is as h as quiet and

humble as they come. But uh, but you could sense he he sort of revealed it a little bit that, uh, that there was definitely some some pride that he took in the fact that he got himself ready to play week one and he was ready to go when the bell rang uh last September, and UH and certainly now going through this offseason completely healthy, not having to focus on rehab, being able to focus on, you know, really honing the craft and improving his game, he's got uh,

he's got a lot of high hopes for himself and UH and for this team in general obviously.

or just kind of you know, perception wise. And for Tom, not that it's it's obviously huge for Tucker as well, but for playing that position, that is fascinating tearing your pack because it's not just about how it's going to respond when you're playing again, it's how you build strength to play that position. Yeah, looking at Zach Tom, I don't think he's going to be a three hundred and

ten pound man when his playing days are over. You know, he's you can sometimes see the structure and almost like, okay, yeah, this is Look at Corey Linsley right right, right, Corey Linsley took off like one hundred pounds quickly. You're putting that mass on your body. It's not just always naturally

fitting like that. Yeah, for him to be able to find a strength program that worked for him to be able to maintain his size and his strength while not being able to probably even bench press for four months or whatever it ended up being. It was impressive. It was impressive to see him be able to come out play as well as you did. He's quiet, he's steadfast. He just does his job. But the one thing that you really think about, he's on the other side of

the offensive line. But there's so many times when I look at him and I go, you know, in twenty thirteen, they got David Baktiari in the fourth round, you know, out of Colorado. They had just won one game, you know, the previous year I think is his last year at college.

I don't know. Michael Elton Jenkins has done some cool things for the Packers. I will never take anything away from what Elton's done. But Zach is a guy that has completely wowed me every single time. When he got here, I'm like, Okay, that's a guard, maybe a center. Never could play tackle, he's too small for that.

pricked up being being a steal at that stage. And then and then here in the Brian Gudokunst era, you find Zach tom in the fourth round of the draft.

got drafted in Day three. You got drafted in the seventh round like Rashid Walker, but you're gonna get a chance to still be a star in this league. Yeah it's impressive.