#657 Packers Unscripted: Camp commences

Mike and Wes discuss the arrival of Packers training camp (:20), including how some position groups are affected by players on the PUP list (1:46), particularly wide receiver (7:43), plus the biggest storyline on the defensive side of the ball (13:57) and a look at the changes on special teams (19:34).

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of Packers Unscripted
from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as
always by my trusted colleague Weston hod Kuitz. We are
back from a a summer hiatus and uh, training camp
is upon us west So I'll throw the opening line

(00:25):
of that hype song at you. Are you ready for this? No? No, no,
uh no no, it's exciting and uh, you know, I
got a chance to be at the shareholders meeting on
Monday and I was talking with Aaron Nageler from Cheese
Said TV about this. I mean, there is a certain
amount of change that you've almost feel the week that

(00:46):
training camp starts. And I would like to joke with
some of my family members that it's like there's five
seasons in Wisconsin where you know, there's spring, summer, training camp, fall, winter.
Like it's just the air taste a little bit different,
the sun hits you a little bit from a different angle.
It's an exciting time around lambau Field. And one of
the questions that I had from Mark Murphy was, you know,

(01:08):
just not just the return to normalcy, but just the
idea of being able to get the bikes out there again,
being able to to get fans really truly into this,
people not having to ask the question anymore about hey,
are we allowed? Are we not allowed? It's gonna, i think,
in a lot of ways, feel a lot more like
a traditional training camp, and for me, that's something I'm
very grateful for. Yeah, absolutely, the return to normal as

(01:28):
best we can under the current circumstances. Well, the first
practice of training camp is scheduled for Wednesday morning, that
is when camp for the Packers kicks off. So we'll
try to set the stage here a little bit with
regard to some of the news that has come out
been reported in the last few days with regard to

(01:50):
players who are going to begin training camp on the
PUP list, which is which stands for physically unable to perform.
It's players who will not be practicing at the start
of training camp, and it's routine for anybody who doesn't
pass a physical, doesn't pass a conditioning test, whatever. There
could be any number of reasons they aren't going to
be out there the first day of practice. They will
be on the PUP list. Two players in particular, because

(02:13):
of position groups that we've spent a lot of time
talking about two players who are going to be on
the pup list to start camp, David Baktier and rookie
wide receiver Christian Watson. Starting on the offensive line, this
throws a little bit of a wrinkle into maybe where
we thought training camp was going to go with regard
to the offensive line, because in my mind, I was picturing, Okay,

(02:35):
you get your five time All Pro back at left tackle,
and then you see how it shakes out at right tackle,
right yosh Naiman, maybe Sean Ryan's and the mixed Royce Newman.
There could be some different guys fighting for that right
tackle spot. Well, if bok tr is not going to
be practicing, I'm assuming most likely yosh Naiman is going
to be the left tackle with the number one offense here.

(02:56):
As training camp gets going, you still got to have that,
you know, an experience against guy there on on Aaron
Rodgers blindside, even when it's just a training camp practice.
So then we'll see what happens with regard then to
the competition at right tackle and how it begins. That
being said, they're not going to be in pads for
a handful of days here yet with regard to uh
to the all the players and alignment and the contact

(03:18):
in particular. But what's your sense of just kind of
where things are going here on the offensive line right now? Yeah,
that was when when you go back to the off
season program, you know, Yash ended up playing quite a
bit at left tackle, probably more than I was anticipating,
regardless of whether or not box tr he was out there.
I just was wondering if they would give him more
reps at the right side. My guess is knowing the
way that Adam Sanovich looks at this thing, obviously, Luke

(03:39):
buck has being a disciple of that is, let's let's
get our guys out there, let's put them in positions
to be comfortable, and then once you you know, if
you've got to do some positional versatility there, if you
gotta do some cross training there. They've obviously been really
ept at doing that as well. So, but Nieman is
the guy I guess, to me I've always sort of
had penciled in is the right tackle. Um, the real
big quite sh mark in this entire equation is Royce Newman,

(04:02):
because you you almost I look at Newman the same
way I looked at Billy Turner coming out of his
second or his first year in Green Bay in two
thousand nineteen. He played guard last year, but you know,
he also has a tackle frame, And there's been an
idea in the background mind too that Okay, maybe that
right tackle competition comes down to a Nieman and a Newman.
But then are you are you doing a disservice to

(04:24):
Newman by not letting him retain his starting position at
right guard. That's the number one question I think the
Packers are gonna have to answer this spring this summer's
where is Royce Newman playing? Where do you want to
see him line up? He started at tackle last year
and then they ended up moving him to right guard
when there were some issues there early in camp at
that position. Once the Newman kind of question gets answered,

(04:45):
I think that's where the rest falls in line with Nieman,
with these rookies that came in, you know, because that's
the thing and I wrote about in our position by
position series. There are nine draft picks I think on
this team. I mean, they have invested so many resources
into that position. Not to mention a guy like Cole
Van Landing from Bayport that was taking some reps with
the first team unit at tackle this this past spring.

(05:08):
So that is really to me going to be the
number one question is because I feel like you can
look at eight different versions of this offensive line and honestly,
I believe all of them is potentially be in the
week one line up. Yeah, I agree with you on
that point, and also with regard to sort of where
is Newman going to fit best in this equation now?
And granted we don't know how much of training camp

(05:30):
David Bactieri is gonna miss, hopefully it's not a lot.
But Newman when he was drafted in the fourth round
out of Old Miss, he was brought in as a
guy who played plenty of tackle and plenty of guard
in college. This is a guy the Packers felt, like
you said with Billy Turner, who could play both spots,
and they're going to find maybe where he fits best.

(05:50):
Now you have that third round rookie and Sean Ryan
in the mix here. Now, this is a guy who
played a lot of tackle in college at U c.
L A. But yet you look at you talked about
Newman maybe having that build of a tackle, Ryan almost
looks like he has more the build of a guard
as opposed to a tackle. Now, that's not to say
that that's absolutely a hundred percent where he's going to go.

(06:12):
But if Royce Newman is taking more reps at right tackle,
that potentially opens the door for Sean Ryan to get
some more reps with the upper units in in practice
UM at a guard spot. And then and then we
see what happens here at this time last year. Neither
you nor i, as we had talked about on our
last show before we took our break, we weren't talking

(06:32):
about Royce Newman being in the starting line up here
for the Green Bay Packers. So we just don't know
exactly how this is going to shake out. And then obviously,
when David Bati gets back um on the practice field
on a full time basis, that's going to you know,
set off a string at Domino, so to speak. As
far as how this is going to fall into play. Yeah,

(06:52):
getting a chance to talk with Sean Ryan this offseason,
I mean you get an idea how big this guy is.
I mean I almost equate him almost. He's a large
aversion of Lane Taylor where he has that's a good
way to put big, well proportioned body. But he's also
six five, I mean, so It's funny just the transition
that you've seen with offensive lineman over the years. The
Packers now have a center that's six five, they have

(07:14):
a guard that's that's six five. You know, they have
these guys that can The reason we talked about the
position and where these guys could fit because their bodies
almost are more like your traditional tackles. But yet now
you're seeing more of those guys push inside. This isn't
the six ft two center game anymore. It's it's kind
of changed a little bit in that regard. But again,
major things the Packers are gonna have to shift out,

(07:36):
and I promise you the way that that offensive line
looks this first week of practice is undoubtedly not going
to be the way it looks at the end of camp. Yeah.
Absolutely Well. With regard to the wide receiver competition, we
spent a lot of time talking about it through the spring.
Christian Watson, the rookie second round pick out of North
Dakota State, will not be on the practice field at
the start of training camp. Going to be interesting to

(07:57):
see what this means then for Romeo Dobbs, the fourth
round pick out of Nevada, for Samari too A the
seventh round pick out of Nebraska. Also what it means
for the what I what I call sort of the
holdover group, These guys who have been on the roster,
they've gotten their feet wet in the NFL, but they're
still trying to establish themselves. And of course I'm talking

(08:19):
about guys like Juwann Winfree, Malik Taylor. And there's another
one that whose name is escaping me at the moment. Yes,
Amari Rodgers. Well actually there was another one too, but
Amari Rodgers third round pick last year, didn't have the
rookie season that he was hoping for a lot of
positive signs um here in the spring. So with Christian

(08:39):
Watson not on the field early on, again, it's you know,
one one man's misfortune can be another man's opportunity in
this league. So we'll just have to see. We'll just
have to see what happens. Did you see Jowan Winfree, Yes?
I did, Jan Winfree, Yeah, Milik Taylor, Amari Rodgers, and
then uh Danny Davis from Wisconsin. Maybe maybe maybe I

(09:01):
was in Randall Cobb. Yeah, that's not quite the same. Um.
I I don't know if you saw the tweet I
found it very interesting because again I wrote one of
the stories on him in the spring, you know, Amari
Rogers saying that he's reported a camp a two hund
two pounds. Uh. That was his goal. He wanted to
get lighter. He said he played as heavy I think
is maybe to sixteen to seventeen last year. He wanted

(09:23):
to get back to being himself. He is the number
one player I think on this offense that nobody's talking
about in terms of that could potentially make a big
impact this year. And the reason I say that is
because since day one, when you look at how they
build that jet motion receiver, that guy that can kind
of do it all in this offense, Mari Marie Rogers,
he checks all those boxes. This is gonna be a

(09:45):
huge camp for him because I think the opportunity is
going to be there. But more than anything else, Mike,
I think the guy that we're going to be seeing
the most is Alan Lazard because Alan Lazard is the
guy that I think when you look at how this
roster has configured, Yes, he brought in Sammy Watkins, Yes,
you saw guy like Randall Cob really turned it up
last season and get back into the fold and show
that he still can be a real asset to this offense.

(10:06):
But Lazard is in the prime of his career. He's
coming off an eight touchdown season, and he's now going
to get a chance to be one of the first
guys that Aaron Rodgers is gonna be looking towards. He's
gonna be one of the at the guys that are
going to be one of the focal points of this offense.
And I'm really excited for him in that regard. You saw,
I know you're big on Instagram, you know some of
these photos that Lazard has put up. I mean, he
looks to be in incredible physical shape right now, and

(10:29):
I just to me, that's the guy that I think
is really going to be the catalyst in someone that
if he stays healthy, this is his chance to prove
that he can be a number one receiver. Well, we
heard we heard Aaron Rodgers in the spring when he
was here for Mini camp, and he talked about it
how excited he was to see what Alan Lazard is
going to do when he's given the opportunity to compete

(10:49):
to be a true number one receiver in this offense.
He knows the offense it's not a matter of learning
the playbook or having to having to study things any differently.
But it's going to be where he lines up, where
he is in the progression. Obviously, we're going to see
what happens with Sammy Watkins with him getting thrown into
the mix here as a veteran wide receiver who's accomplished

(11:11):
a lot in the NFL UM trying to revive rejuvenate
his career a little bit. You mentioned Randall Cobb. He's,
you know, kind of the old stand by, the old
reliable for Aaron Rodgers. Right, Rogers knows exactly where Cobb
is going to be and when at at certain times.
But how all this fits together If training camp does
indeed start as Rogers was projecting that the top three

(11:34):
guys at wide receiver are Lazard, Cobb, and Watkins, whatever
order you want to put him in, then it's just
going to be a matter of all these other young guys,
first and second year guys, the rookies all in that
mix competing with each other to see, like, Okay, who's
going to who's gonna be the guy that gets that
one day somewhere in August to get all his reps

(11:55):
with the number one offense as opposed to being with
the twos or with the threes, Right, Like, that's what
these guy as you're going to be are going to
be fighting for because we know when it comes to
the preseason games, there are certain guys who are probably
not going to play. Um, those guys are going to
get their The younger guys are going to get their
opportunities in the preseason games. But what do they do
in practice to give themselves those opportunities? With Aaron Rodgers

(12:17):
taking the snaps, right, that's what we'll be watching. Samari
to Ray is a name that I'm going to have
on my clipboard on my notebook throughout this camp, throughout
the preseason because I'm gonna tell you this, in offseason
program does not make a career. It does not make
you a fifty three man roster. To Ray did every
single thing he could do is a seventh round pick
to get noticed in the spring. Because you're not given

(12:39):
much benefit of the doubt, You're not going to be
given a lot of time in a lot of cases.
I'm not saying this is Green Bay, but there's a
lot of places in the NFL they're looking for a
reason to keep their seventh round pick on a practice
squad to Ray the way he played the fact that
he caught everything that was thrown to him. Maybe he
had one drop on a maybe a route on air,
I think, but otherwise in terms of the team periods,
the kid performed in Romeo Dobbs, same thing. This guy

(13:02):
coming out in Nevada tons of production in college, was
a complete ball hawk and playmaker in these training the
offseason practices. Now let me also add the condition here
that Alexander was not out there. Rasul Douglas often wasn't
out there. They didn't have their top to the line
of cornerbacks and safeties. You've got to be able to,
you know, cushion that a little bit. But these guys
need to be able to show that they can make plays.

(13:22):
And they did it against their peers. And that's one
of the reasons why this year, this training camp, these receivers,
it is going to be fun to watch. Yeah, certainly
won't be the last time over the next month that
we're talking about the wide receiver position. I'll take care
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(13:46):
five and had cousin subs. We have something for everyone
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sub in a bowl cousin subs. We believe in better alright,
defensive side of the ball here, not as much in
UH as far as the off season news or I
should say recent news with regard to UH, the pup

(14:09):
list and whatnot. So I'll just ask you straight out,
what is the number one storyline that you're going into
camp paying attention to with regard to Joe Berry's defensive unit. Really,
to me, it's Quay Walker. Yeah, I think so too,
in the fact of where is this guy gonna be,

(14:29):
how are they going to utilize him, and how quickly
are they going to look for him to be a
starter in this unit. We saw him rotating with the
starters in the off season program. Again, that doesn't tell
you everything, but it does say something because historically that's
not been a thing that has happened a lot in
Green Bay, especially with Devondre Campbell and Chris Barnes both
being here. For the offseason program. It's not like there
was not enough options there, So hey, let's throw a Walker.

(14:52):
All the Packers have some expectations for this young man
six ft four pounds. You and I got the visual
of what it looks like he's lining up next to
Campbell behind the defensive line. It's imposing the biggest thing here.
We're gonna talk a lot about. Okay, how is the
offense gonna, you know, do without Davante Adams. So what
is rich Bisacci gonna do on special teams? How can

(15:13):
they improve in those facets? The defense has been the
story since the day the season ended, and especially after
Wessel Douglas and Devandre Campbell signed, the defense has been
the story. These are the most weapons, These are the
most draft picks. This is the most investment green Bay
has made it at that side of the ball. Into
Joe Barry's credit, they made the most of it last year.

(15:34):
Can you see them take that jump and if they do,
Kway Walker is the type of player that they didn't
have in this defense last year. That's not a dig
against Chris Barnes. I'm saying in terms of just a player, linebacker, athlete.
This guy's a difference maker, and that that's the part
of it I'm excited to see, especially being able to
work under the learning tree of Deavandre Campbell, which has
already kind of integrated himself to into you know, in

(15:55):
the off season. Well, certainly with the way last season
ended and is disappointing as it was. The season ends
with that big thud of a loss against the San
Francisco forty Niners and the playoffs. The reason we've been
talking about the defense all off season not just because
the two first round picks were both spent on defense
and on two guys from that Georgia Bulldocks National championship team,

(16:17):
you know, Kay Walker and Davonte Wyatt on the defensive line.
It's because that defense reached a peak last season right
at the time you wanted to reach a peak. Now,
is it going to be able to just pick up
where it left off in Week one? I mean, that's
not how this league works, right, But everything about the
everything about the progression and the trajectory of the defense,

(16:40):
even in dealing with Jaye Alexander's injury and other guys
being in and out of the lineup, the defense got
exactly where it needed to be last January um for
the Packers to to get where they wanted to go,
and other the other phases of things didn't fall into place.
But that's why so much attention has been on the defense,

(17:00):
and everybody's really really excited. Then you throw in Kway
Walker and Devontae Wyatt on a defensive line where you
not only spend a late first round pick, you spent
a first round pick on that position group for the
first time since Kenny Clark, but you also brought in
a free agent in Jaren Reid who spent five seasons
in Seattle, spent a season in Kansas City. This is

(17:22):
a this is a productive guy. I like to call
him the been there, done that guys, right. I mean,
he's he's been, He's been in playoff games, He's produced.
The track record is there, he's been healthy, hasn't had
you know, an injury, pockmark career, anything like that. This
is a This is a defensive line. This is a
defensive line that's as deep as I've seen it in
a long time. And then you talk about that imposing

(17:44):
look of Campbell and Walker to six ft four guys
um as those two inside linebackers there's a there's a
lot of excitement about this defense, and for good reason.
All that being said, we may not really see what
this defense looks like for a while because a lot
guys aren't gonna play in the preseason games. They're gonna
go through camp. We're going to see him in the
eleven on elevens. We're gonna we're gonna try to glean

(18:06):
what we can from it. But Week one in some
in some respects can't get here soon enough as far
as just where is this Packers defense considering where it
left off last January. And that's where it's going to
be exciting too, because I do think for a first
round pick, I think you are going to see Davonte
Wyatt play in a lot in preseason. I think you're
gonna see I mean t J. Slayton and Jonathan Ford.

(18:27):
I mean they might need to work on their their
cardio a little bit. Those those those guys might those
guys might get might get a lot of snaps in
these three games in August, that's for sure. And and
that's the exciting part of it because Kenny Clark, you're
not going to see out there, you know, Dean Lawry,
I wouldn't imagine, especially with Dean I think he's he's
on PUP two. Yeah, Lowry is one of the defensive starters.
Who who is going to begin camp on pup and

(18:49):
Jaren Reed I wouldn't imagine. Maybe you get some work,
but it's gonna be allowed those young guys, and that's
gonna be their time to shine. Because as much as
we talk about rotation, as much as we talk about
being able to keep guys fresh, what is is really about?
To me? It's about how are we going to be
able to make Kenny Clark's life even easier to allow
him to be the playmaker I think everybody knows he
can be. Clarke has worn so many hats for this

(19:12):
defense over the years. He's been their top run stuffer
and their top interior pass rusher. Can you can you
start to pick and choose? Can you start to figure
out where other guys might be able to step up
so you get more out of Kenny in this fast
Can you take some double teams off of him? That's
the really exciting part, especially seeing how Dean Lawry developed
last year and with him having the best year of
his career, that again, the sky is the limit for

(19:33):
for so many different facets of that defense. Well, before
we go, want to touch a little bit on the
third phase of things as well with regard to uh
special teams, because right at the beginning of this week,
the Packers made another addition there and a very similar
addition to one they made much earlier in the off season.
And I'm talking about signing a reserve defensive back from

(19:58):
the Raiders who has a lot of experience on special
teams and a lot of familiarity with Rich Bisaccio, the
new Packers special teams coordinator. Interesting how the Packers have
have gone about, you know, not only looking to to
revamp the special teams, but then but then also finding

(20:18):
guys that they believe they can that that if all
goes well, they'll be able to slot in as some
of these depth pieces in the defensive backfield. And uh,
these are two guys from everything that we know, and
I'm talking about case Keishan Nixon and Dallen Levitt, Levitt
being the new signing this week that, um, these are

(20:40):
guys that have have almost the same what do you
call it track record in the NFL in terms of
in terms of they haven't been starters, but they've been
very active reserve players in the defensive backfield for the Raiders,
and they've done a heck of a lot of work
on special teams working under Bessaccio. Yeah, and it's not
like Levitt was just sitting out there either. I mean
the Raiders just let them go last weeks. So obviously

(21:00):
the Packers jumped on that quickly. We haven't a chance
to talk to rich Bisacci, but you have to imagine
he plays to call there being like, hey, this is
a guy that could really help us. And the part
of it that's exciting is you look at Keishaw Nixon.
Let's start there from day one when he got nontendered
by the Raiders and they made the Packers made such
a point to sign him. It would have been one
thing if you just brought him in. It's like, Okay,

(21:21):
this is a rich Bisacci guy. This is the guy
that's gonna help us on the core four units. No,
I mean Joe Barry was using him as his dime
cornerback to it shows you that they feel like there's
more to this guy than just the past history with Pisacci,
that this is a young man twenty five years old,
good size for the position. You know, maybe not the
typical hype, but you know, really good frame for the
safety spot that he could potentially help them up near

(21:42):
the line of scrimmage. And then you look at Levitt,
guy had his career high special teams tackles last year
had twelve. Another Eggie. The Packers have had tons of those,
you know, Utah State guys over the years. I believe
he might have been a teammate of Kyler Facker. I
gotta go back and look at that. But this guy
same to typical kind of frame. I mentioned the offseason program.

(22:03):
Mike and I wrote about this an inbox too, and
you and I discussed it that that Sean Richardsinson type
safety where it's a guy that has a good frame
for the position. You can see how he could fit
into all these different special teams units. That's without knowing
a lot about Lovett. That's one of the things that
really spoke to me. And his addition comes at a
position where the Packers didn't really have anybody with NFL experience,

(22:25):
extensive NFL experience behind the starters and Adrian Amos and
Darnell Savage. They're adding pieces where they needed obviously special
teams helped to improve those units, but also guys that
could potentially factor into the defense as well. Yeah. Absolutely,
And and here I want to close on I guess
what I'll call the my my grain assault moments of
the week, all right, because there are a lot of

(22:48):
fans obviously there's there's there's angst and and nervousness and
everything with regard to what's happening on special teams and
how is Rich Pasacci going to fix all of this?
And Packers fans are gonna want to turn and on
that first preseason game and see that the special teams
are all fixed. Right, So my, my, my sort of
take this. You know, all of this, uh, this hype

(23:09):
with regard to the special teams, the grain assault part
of it is Rich Pisacci has been doing this for
a long time. My the sense that I get, and
I could be way off base here, but the sense
that I get with how the ninety man roster has
been built, with what we saw in the spring, with
how he was trying out all different different guys, all
kinds of different guys that returner and gunner and all

(23:30):
of these different things that they were working on. Rich
Pisacci knows what he wants it to look like and
how he's going to coach this team through the season.
I think he's going to use training camp and the
preseason games to find the guys that he wants. You know,
it's not going to be about the finished product on
the field in the preseason to get ready for the

(23:50):
regular season. Getting ready for the regular season for Rich
Pisacci is I want to find the right guys. And
then when I have all the right guys and we've
made the decis visions on who they're gonna be, now
I'm gonna now I'm going to coach them and and
we're gonna get this thing to where we want to
look like. So I just want to say that with
regard to um, you know, the preseason, because there's gonna

(24:12):
be a lot of talk out there on the first
punt coverage, the first kickoff coverage, everything in that first
preseason game. We just have to take a step back
for a moment. And the other thing I have to
say to another grain assault moment of the week is
as excited as we are for training camp, it's here.
The season's gonna get rolling. The first handful of days
are gonna be without pads. These are really gonna be

(24:34):
just glorified O t A practices with like bigger crowds
and fans cheering and all that. And that's all gonna
be great. But we still have to wait several days
before before the pads go on, before the one on
one pass rush, pass protection drill, you know, we see
that kind of hitting and and uh um. So it's
it's just yes, there's a lot of excitement right now,

(24:56):
but the real work hasn't quite It will start as
soon as I had to Canton, and then they'll be
good to go. Then it's all good to go. I
do want to say this though, will close on this.
With the special teams, You're absolutely hundher percent right. It
is going to be a process. You do have to build.
The one thing though, if you're a Packer fan you
have to be excited about, is the fact that Packers
fan wanted changes on special teams. They got it. Yeah,

(25:17):
there's a new coordinator, Brian, you know Byron Storer, his assistant,
Besach's assistant, a new assistant to him. They had their
top four guys I think in playing time were all
they've moved on or they departed. This is going to
be a different unit and it's going to look differently now.
It's can you build a different and re established that
identity that that's going to be the challenge. Yeah. Absolutely,
Well with that, we'll call it a wrap on this

(25:40):
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