Sports On Deck 4-20 - Yelich, Rotation, and NFL Draft

Episode Transcript

(00:10):
You were listening to Sports on Deckwith Dave Gasper. Welcome back to Sports
on Deck here with Dave Gasper onthirteen to ten. WIBA. That's right,
it has been a while. It'sbeen a couple of weeks since we've
had a show. It's been along time. I know I've missed you
guys. I know that you havemissed me as well. We got a

(00:32):
lot to talk about, a lotto catch up on. A lot going
on in the world of sports rightnow. The NBA it's about to head
into the playoffs. We've got theNHL about to begin their playoffs as well.
The NFL Draft is coming up thisnext week. That's gonna be fun.
We're gonna talk about that, getinto what the Packers might do in
the first round of the NFL Draft. But it is baseball season. We

(00:57):
are into regular season baseball games.There's a lot to talk about with these
Milwaukee Brewers as they have been offto a great start this season and it's
been a little unexpected, but theBrewers have been playing well. But what
has been maybe a bit more expectedis Christian Yelich getting hurt and getting back

(01:19):
on the injured list. It's unfortunate. It really is. I hate to
say it. I hate to seeit. We all do, especially the
way that Christian Yelich has been playingthrough his first eleven games this season,
hitting three point thirty three with anOPS over eleven hundred five home runs leading
the team. It was everything thatyou could hope for out of Christian Yelich.

(01:44):
He was his twenty eighteen twenty nineteenkind of self. He was hitting
for average, hitting for power,playing really good baseball, and this offense
was humming along with him in thatthree spot. He's back in the three
spot with Pat Murphy as the managerthis year, and he'd been doing a
fantastic job in it, and thenall of a sudden last week, he

(02:08):
leaves early in a game against Baltimore. Low back discomfort. We've seen it
time and again. Back discomfort forChristian Yelich, and it flares up once
again while Christian Yellis is playing reallygood baseball and he ends up on the

(02:30):
injured list and he's out for whoknows how long. It shouldn't be that
long of a stay on the injuredlist, but still it requires one.
And once he does get back toplaying out there, who knows if he's
going to be hitting like he wasbefore, because now he'll have been out

(02:50):
for two weeks and you really kindof don't know if he's going to be
able to get back into a rhythm, not having not having faced live for
two weeks like that, or whoeverlong you'll end up being until he's back
out there. That can take youout of a groove at the plate.
And Yelich was in a groove.He was there, he was feeling it,

(03:17):
and just as he's feeling it,just as he's getting into a good
spot, this flares up again.And now Yelch's out, and who knows
if he'll get back into that groove. We'll find out once he gets back
out on the field. But eitherway, this offense since losing him,

(03:38):
has been going down a little bit. They weren't able to put up a
ton of runs on Sunday. Theydidn't really have a great series against the
Padres, so that's a concern,especially when the week before, the week
before, this offense was just absolutelyrolling. They were averaging about ten runs

(03:58):
a game, almost like their lowestrun total in a game in that previous
week was seven seven. This offensewas flying high, and we knew it
wouldn't last long. It's not gonnastay that way all season, where your

(04:20):
lowest amount of runs in a gameis seven, But still, how could
that offense get derailed? You loseChristian Yelich, you lose your best hitter.
And that's what he was. Onceagain, it's not just oh,
he's got the highest ceiling of anyhitter. No, he was the best
performing hitter in that lineup, performingbetter than William Contreras, better than Rhys

(04:46):
Hoskins, better than Jackson Churio,better than Seth Freeli, better than everyone
else in that group. That's whatChristianelich was. He was the best hitter
in that lineup. And now you'vegot to replace that kind of production with
who Jake Bowers. No, JakeBowers has been getting opportunities in the three

(05:10):
spots. Sal Frielik's been in thethree spot, Rhys Hoskins has been in
the three spot. You can putwhoever you want in there. They're not
going to give you what Yelich wasgiving you in that spot in the lineup.
They just weren't. Murphy put himback there after Craig Counsel had Yellich
in the leaf spot. Last year, Yelch did fine there, had a

(05:33):
pretty solid season, but he wasn'tgetting the power back like he used to
have, and he he just wasn'tone hundred there. But now he goes
back in the three spot. Murphyput him there, and Yelch was hitting
for power and hitting for average.Now what do you got? Jake Powers

(05:58):
ain't gonna cut it, Sorry totell you, but he's not. He
may be fine defensively, but he'snot gonna give you much on offense.
He's just not, sorry to tellyou. So what do you do?
If you're the Brewers, where doyou look? Who do you turn to
to be that guy? Right now? I think your best bet is going

(06:26):
to end up being Jackson Churio.I know it's early for Cheerio. He's
had as good two weeks to startthe season. Now it seems like pitchers
are starting to figure him out alittle bit. He's had a couple of
offers lately, a bunch of strikeoutsmixed in there. About a thirty percent
k rate for Cheerio. He's twentyyears old, he's in the big leagues

(06:48):
for the first time. The league'sgonna adjust to him and it looks like
that's what they've done. Now Cheerioneeds to adjust back, and if he
is the heater that we all thinkthat he is, then he will.
Last year, it took pretty muchall season for some of those rookies to

(07:12):
adjust back to big league pitching.Bryce Terrang and Joey Weimer, they had
really good couple of weeks stretches tostart the year. Then they got cold
when the league figured them out,and it took them months to figure out
how to adjust back to the league. Terrang has finally figured it out.

(07:32):
He's figured it out this year.Pat Murphys said he was primed for a
quantum leap this season, and thenumbers are backing that up. He is
taking a quantum leap, which isgreat. He's leading the league in stolen
bases, he's hitting above three hundred, is on base percentage just phenomenal.

(07:55):
He's doing everything you could ask ofhim. Bryce Traying has been amazing,
Jackson Churio. You just hope itdoesn't take him a full year to make
that kind of leap, but itvery well could. We will see.

(08:15):
But I mean, he has thehighest ceiling of anyone else of whoever's left
in this lineup to replace what ChristianYelich was bringing. Now, Yelich is
not going to be out all season, but we don't know if he's going
to get back to what he wason that tear in that first eleven games.
It's gonna be out of the groove. When you get out of the

(08:39):
groove, it is so hard toget back into it. It really is,
especially for big league hitters. It'snot easy. But this offense has
looked so much better this season,and they need it to be they really

(09:01):
do, because that rotation is notgonna carry them like it did in the
past. It is absolutely not evengonna come close. So you need that
offense to be better. And you'vegotten some production from Reye Hoskins, but
he hasn't quite fully gotten going yet. William Contreras has been doing great things,

(09:22):
as he always does. Willi Adamishas had a good start to the
season here. He's looking good inhis contract year and of course it's gonna
be in his contract year where heends up having his best season. And
Sal Freelich has gotten hot. We'veseen some very good things from this group,
from this offense where they can carrythis team for a little bit,

(09:46):
and it's not just carry them like, oh, we got four runs,
that should be enough for our pitchingstaff. No, these guys are piling
on and for a little while there, the Brews were leaving the league and
run differential, And that's the signof a good team when you can put
up runs like that. We'll seeif they're able to continue to put up

(10:09):
runs with Yellich on the shelf andpotentially not back to what he was at
before. But you're gonna find someoneto put in that three spot that can
be productive. Right now, Idon't think they have that guy yet.
They got to find him. Theygot to find him soon, and they

(10:30):
got a hope that it's gonna endup being Christian Yelich that can do it.
But if he can't, you needto find someone else and find him
fast. Coming up, we willget into that starting rotation and just how
bad are things actually with that group. Also, we'll talk about the Packers

(10:50):
and the NFL Draft coming up aswell. We are back in action.
It is Sports on Deck Dave gasperhere on thirteen to ten WIBA, Welcome

(11:18):
back to Sports on Deck with Davegasper Here. I'm thirteen ten Wiba.
You can follow me on Twitter atde gasper twenty four. Lots of great
stuff going up there all the time. We are into baseball season, that
is why. And I just Ilove it so much and I know you

(11:39):
do too. And listening to baseballon the radio, especially with Bob you
Ker calling the games, Oh,it is just perfection. Any ways,
So this Moncky bar starting rotation,we knew it was going to be a
liability coming in. We did straightup. I mean, you lose Brandon
Woodruff for the season, trade awayCorbyn Burns to get back a rookie in

(12:05):
d L Hall, who has notproven himself to be a successful starter in
the big leagues yet at all,who has not even thrown one hundred innings
in a minor league season in sevenyears as a professional. You knew it
was gonna be a liability. Youare relying on Joe Ross, who hasn't
pitched in the big leagues in twoyears. You're relying on Wade Miley to

(12:28):
stave off retirement for another season.You are relying on Colin Ray, You're
relying on Jacob Junis. These arenot household names, These are not proven
commodities that you know what you're gonnaget. I mean Wade Miley. Perhaps,
yes, he kind of falls intothat category, but still he is

(12:52):
very close to retirement. I meanhe's staving it off to come back with
the Brewers, but I mean healready played retirement a couple of years ago,
and he you can count on himgetting injured at least twice a year
at this point. You can justcount on it happening. His body just

(13:13):
doesn't recover like it used to becausehe's in his upper thirties at this point.
I know, oh, upper thirties, he's so old, but still
for a pitcher, for a professionalathlete, yes, that is pretty old
for that group. And you've gotJunis now on the injured list. He

(13:35):
made one start, went in fourinnings, and then he went on the
injured list. Miley started the yearon the injured list, came back,
then he took a comebacker off theknee and left his last start early.
We'll see what happens with him,if he needs an al stint, or
if he's going to be just fine, or if they're going to continue to

(13:56):
watch him and have these shorter outingsfor Miley. But this group is just
such a major question mark beyond Freddyper Alta. Freddy Parolta is doing exactly
what we thought Freddy Pearlta would do. There's first couple of starts, ERA
around two and a half, pitchingdeep into games seventeen and two thirds innings

(14:20):
through his first three starts, twentysix strikeouts to just two walks. It's
exactly what you thought you'd get.This is ace, Freddy Peralta, This
is what you wanted. Okay,great, you got your number one in
Freddy. Perfect. What's behind him? Colin Ray? Colin Ray through his

(14:41):
first three starts two point seventy rasixteen and two thirds, only three walks.
He's not walking many guys either.Eleven strikeouts, not as many as
Freddy, But then again, it'sColin Ray. He's not going to strike
out anywhere near as many as FreddyPeralta. So that's fine, that's fine.
Okay, you got Freddy par Altoand Colin Ray. Two guys,
two starters with a sub three ERAthe first couple of turns through the rotation.

(15:05):
Great, perfect, what's next?What's behind now? I mean you
used to have a big three.Freddy Peralta was your number three behind Brandon
Woodriff and Corbyn Burns. And youhad Adrian Hauser approven commodity there, Then
you had Wade Mightley. Well,you don't have Burns, you don't have
wood Drift, you don't have Houseranymore. What have we got? The

(15:31):
best we got is Joe Ross.In his three starts he has an ERA
of nearly five. Now, alot of that was due to a big
inning in his last start that inflatedhis era. We're still in the small
sample sized portion of the season,but still any ray of near five fourteen

(15:52):
and two thirds, eight earned runs, eight walks, fourteen strikeouts for Joe
Ross, all right. Wade Mileymade two starts ERA of over five.
Oh lovely, all right, He'sonly pitched seven innings so far across his
two starts, a four inning outingand a three inning outing. Lovely.

(16:18):
Then you got Jacob Junas. Hemade his one start of four innings two
and a quarter the ra okay,fine, but he's heard his shoulder is
bothering him so he can't pitch.And you got D. L. Hall.
D L. Hall in his threestarts an ERA over seven, twelve

(16:40):
and two thirds, ten earned runs, five walks and just ten strikeouts.
Yikes. And this is the guythat the Brewers traded Corbyn Burns for.
It was Hall, it was JoeyOrtiz and a pick. That's what they

(17:02):
got for birds. The Birds wereexpecting dl Hall to come in and immediately
plug one of those holes in thatrotation. They think he can be a
stud. He's got the stuff forit. He may very well end up
being a stud, but right nowhe's not. He's not straight up nothing

(17:25):
wrong with that. Look. He'sstill a kid. He's still just twenty
five years old. This is hisfirst time starting in the big leagues.
They Oriels had him as a relieverfor the last couple of years at the
major league level, so it's understandablethere's going to be some growing pains with
DL Hall and the starting rotation.He's got the stuff to succeed. He's

(17:45):
got the stuff to be a topflight starting pitcher. If he can ever
harness it, if he can evercommand it, if he can ever control
it, he could be a topflight starting pitcher. Five walks in twelve
two thirds is a little high,and he's given up a lot of hits,

(18:07):
a lot of contact. Twenty twohits allowed in those twelve and two
thirds innings. It's a lot heis struggling at the beginning of the season
here. Now the Brewers believe inhim as a starter. They believe they
want to make it work. Theytraded Burns for him. They want him

(18:30):
to work in that rotation. Heis going to be out there every fifth
day until he proves he cannot beout there every fifth day until he's too
much of a liability in that role. He is going to be out there.
Now. We'll see how long ittakes for the Brewers to get there.
If he continues on the track thathe's on, we may get there

(18:52):
fairly soon. He's going to needto continue to show some progress in these
starts to something we haven't quite gottento just yet. So really, if
you're the Brewers, a lot ishinging on Dla Hall here. You know

(19:14):
you've got a bunch of veteran journeymenbehind them. You got Peralta as your
proven ace, you have Hall asyour young stud I guess the young guy
that you're expecting to be a futurepart of your rotation, and then you
have a bunch of guys who arenot going to be a future part of
your rotation. They are just hopingto get in a season in the rotation.

(19:38):
Ray and Ross and Miley and Junis. Those are the veteran the veteran
journeymen that are just hoping to geta good season in Colin Ray is off
to a good start in that regardRoss, Miley Junis not so much.

(20:00):
Ross has been off to a littlebit of a better better start. Best
of that group, Miley and Junishave dealt with injuries. But you're hoping
for just something passable out of thoseguys. You don't really you don't have
big expectations for Joe Ross and WadeMiley and Jacob Junis. You just don't.

(20:22):
And if you do have big expectationsfor him, you're in the wrong
line of business. I'm sorry thatthat the Brewers that Matt Arnold is too
smart to have big expectations for thatgroup of guys. He is hoping that
they will be passable until the youngerkids are ready behind him. Robert Gasser

(20:44):
and Bradley Blaylock and Carlos Rodriguez andAaron Ashby. It's hoping for them to
step up and be those guys.But as he's kind of been talking about
how you know, especially with dHaul here, it's his first time in
the big leagues as a starter,and there's a learning curve to go through

(21:08):
that you know you're not always goingto succeed right away. And the Brewers
know this. They went through thiswith Burns and Woodroffe and Peralta and Houser
back in the day, back whenthose guys were first coming up. They
went through that. And now we'redoing it again with another group, a
younger group that has a reset serviceclock. But the difference is this time

(21:36):
the Brewers, it looks like,are going to be counting on those young
guys to be good right away inthis rotation. And therein lies the problem
that I see with this group,because even with these these veterans that you're
just hoping on polaceholders until those youngguys are ready, you're likely to He's

(22:00):
not going to see the best versionsof Robert Gasser and Carlos Rodriguez and Bradley
Blaylock and Aaron Ashby this season.Maybe Aaron Ashby once he finally gets back
into the swing of things. Hemade one start. It did not go
well. He did not get helpon defense three and two thirds, four
earned runs but eight total allowed threeerrors in that game. It's kind of

(22:22):
a throwaway almost for Ashby, whichsucks for him. But still the Brewers
are going to need those young guysto step up and step up right away
because depending on Ross and Miley andJunis and hoping Colin Ray keeps up the
success that he's had in his firstcouple of starts, while also hoping that

(22:45):
d. L. Hull can developquickly on the fly here and learn how
to be a big league starting pitcherafter having never been one before. That
is a lot to put on thisrotation. That is a lot of hope
and a prayer on this rotation.I don't know if they've got enough.
When it comes to the trade deadline, they're gonna have to look for more.

(23:07):
I think we knew that coming inthat if this team is competitive,
and they should be, and theyare so far, but once we get
to a few months down the roadand we get to July, should they
remain in the race for the playoffs, they are going to need starting pitching.
How many starting pitchers they need willbe determined. Then right now you

(23:30):
could say they need three. Yougot Peralta. You got Ray pitching well.
Other than that, it's not lookingthat great. They're going to need
reinforcements in that starting rotation. They'regoing to need proven, veteran reinforcements,

(23:55):
not rookies. I love Robert Gasser, I love Carlos Rodriguez and Bradley Blaylock
and all those prospects that they gotthat we're likely going to see at some
point this season. I like them. I think they're gonna be really good
pieces going forward. But am Idepending on them in twenty twenty four?

(24:15):
No, I'm not. I'm notdepending on them to help carry this rotation
into the playoffs. I'm not dependingon that many rookies to get you there.
And thinking it's just gonna be asound strategy that can't possibly go wrong

(24:37):
is foolish. This rotation is goingto need reinforcements, and if the rotation
keeps pitching like this, they're gonnaneed those reinforcements sooner rather than later.
Coming up this week NFL Draft.It is one of the most exciting three
day stretches of the entire sports calendar. It starts on Thursday. We'll come

(25:03):
back, we'll get into that andwhat the Packers might do on Thursday night
in Round one. You're listening toSports on Deck with Dave Gasper here on
thirteen ten WIBA. Welcome back toSports on Deck with Dave Gasper here on

(25:33):
thirteen ten WIBA. I am DaveGasper. The NFL Draft is coming up
this weekend this next weekend here Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Detroit. That's
right, going to another team inthe NFC North Detroit. Let's probably a
little Bob Seeker here. He's alsofrom Detroit, by the way, just

(25:56):
saying little connection there. But anyways, the draft will be in Detroit and
the Green Bay Packers have the twentyfifth pick in the first round of the
NFL Draft. Now what are theygoing to do with that pick? They're
picking later than all of us werepretty much expecting. As last season was

(26:18):
going out, especially around the middleof last season, Packers were hanging around
a top five pick in the draft, and it's like, okay, well
maybe that's where we are, thePackers are. We're actually gonna have to
be looking at a top five pickfor once. It's been a while.
It's been a long while since thePackers picked that high in the draft,
but then instead Jordan Love just wenton an absolute tear. The Packers made

(26:41):
it into the playoffs. They beatthe Cowboys in the playoffs. That's always
important to note, beating the Cowboys. And they end up putting twenty fifth
pick in the draft, and they'repicking late, you know, right around
where they were usually picking for mostof the Aaron Rodgers era. So what
are they gonna do? What arethe Packers gonna do? Trade up,

(27:02):
trade down? Knowing Goody, he'llprobably do something, But what are they
going to do with this pick?What are they going to do on day
two? In day three? Alot of what they do on day two
is gonna be determined by what happenson day one. Right, But there

(27:23):
are two big needs for the Packersto address. Now, we always talk,
okay, draft needs, who needswhat this time of year? What
are the Packers need? Well,the Packers have two big needs that I
could see them addressing in this firstround. That first need is safety.

(27:45):
That second need is offensive line.Those are the needs. Those are the
two possible directions I could see thePackers going in this first round. Now,
over the past several years, wehave been looking for the Packers to
draft offense in the first round.They haven't done it. They find offense

(28:06):
later, and now I think that'sgoing to continue. Personally, I think
they're going to find the offense laterand they're going to go defense in the
first round. They've gone defensive heavyin the first round for the past several
years, and I think they willcontinue. And I think they got to
be looking at a safety here attwenty five or possibly earlier if they want

(28:33):
to trade up, or maybe ifthere's several options they could trade down,
but more than likely trade up.They have several picks in this draft.
They have five picks in the firstone hundred selections, and there's a lot
that they can play with there.There's a lot of guys they can get.
They have the amo to move upif they want to, and I

(28:56):
think safety is going to be thatposition where they they need to get someone
because that safety room is undergoing amakeover. You have Jonathan Owens gone,
Darnell Savage gone, Rudy Ford stillout there. Your top three safeties from
last year are gone. You havesigned one. You signed Xavier McKinney.

(29:21):
When free agency open, is atop safety out on the market. That's
great. Love it. Good job, goody, good job Packers. You
got the top safety out there onthe market. Wonderful. You still need
another one. You still need anotherstarting safety now. Guda Kunst has said
that he wants to pair McKinney witha young, up and coming player in

(29:44):
that defensive backfield rather than going outand getting another established veteran safety. He
wants a young kid to grow alongsideMcKinney. Okay, fine, but that
means you're gonna be addressing that positionearly in the draft. It is going
to be round one at the latest, Round two at the latest. I

(30:07):
don't think you can wait until roundthree. Now, the Packers do have
two second round picks. That helpsjust the one first round pick, but
you got to start somewhere. Youhave a needed offensive line as well.
David Bektiari has been cut. You'vegot Rashid Walker there at left tackle.

(30:30):
You've got Sean Ryan right now atright guard. You got the final season
of Josh Myers on his rookie deal. Who knows if he'll get a second
contract. So an offensive lineman isalso going to be a big need the
Brewser or not the Brewers. ThePackers get brus on the brain. You
know, you know how it is. The Packers need some depth there on

(30:55):
the offensive line. They need somehelp at that position. So that's another
place that they could go. Andthere's usually a couple of solid offensive linemen
around that point of the draft themid twenties that the Packers could get someone.
Amarus Mims is one of those guysI think could be a target at
offensive line. Really only has oneyear as a starter under his belt,

(31:18):
but it's at the University of Georgia, which is a pretty good program.
And the Packers do like themselves someGeorgia players, as does oh just about
every NFL team. For the mostpart, Georgia has been a fantastic program.
So Amarius Mims, he could bea guy that you look at there

(31:41):
at the offensive line when it comesto safeties, when it comes to the
defensive end, what prospect could theybe looking at. The one guy that
I think has been most often connectedto Green Bay and the guy that I
also would agree I think makes aton of sense is Cooper to Gene from

(32:02):
Iowa. He's been a cornerback atIowa. He's got experience playing cornerback.
However, the NFL seems to viewhim as a safety, which is where
he's likely to play in the NFL, which is fine. He's got enough
athleticism and instincts to make plays inthe ball. He could make plays in

(32:23):
the special teams game as a returnman. We certainly saw his explosiveness there
when he was in college, whenhe was playing in the Big Ten there
for Iowa, I think Cooper toGene, with how frequent an athlete he
is, he'd be perfect for thePackers. Now, will he be there

(32:46):
at twenty five? That? Ithink maybe the question. He tested extremely
well at his pro day. TheGene has gotten a lot of attention.
Packers may have to move up toget him. They have the amo to
move up, which is great.Brian Goodokutz certainly has not been shy to

(33:10):
move up and get his guy before. He did it for Jordan Love back
in twenty twenty. He didn't sitaround and wait for Jordan Love to possibly
get there. He went up andhe got him. He traded back from
twelve couple of years ago or fourteen, whatever it was. He traded back

(33:31):
and then traded back up to getJayurr Alexander. He knows which guy he
wants. He knows kind of justabout where it's going to take to get
him. Will he make that move? We shall see. But if the

(33:51):
Packers are going defense on round one, I think Cooper Gene is a target.
He fits their mold of an athleticplayer. He's a defender, he's
versatile, he fits a need atsafety, and around that point you could
probably argue he's the best player availableon the board too, Because I know

(34:13):
there's the whole methodology, don't draftfor need, draft best available player,
YadA, YadA YadA. But whenthat best available player fits a need,
that's the route you gotta go.So I think that's a direction I can
see him going. Now. Anotherneed for them is inside linebacker. I'm

(34:35):
not sure if there's an inside linebackerworth taking with a first round pick in
this year's draft class. Now youcan find inside linebackers later. I mean,
for years, the Packers have hada huge need at inside linebacker and
they never addressed it in the firstround. They did address it with kway
Walker a couple of years ago,but they haven't really done it that often.

(35:00):
And I don't think there's anyone inthis class that is worthy of using
the twenty fifth pick on as aninside linebacker. I just don't kway Walker
he was worth it at that point. He was a guy who was definitely
valued at where the Packers took hima couple of years ago in the first
round. But safety Cooper de Jean, he's going right around that range,

(35:27):
maybe a little bit earlier. MariusMIM's offensive lineman, he's going right around
that range mid twenties. There areseveral other offensive linemen who could go there
as well. Could look for aguy with center experience, guy with some
guard experience. Brian Goudikunst, aswe know, he loves versatile offensive lineman.

(35:49):
He loves guys that can play multiplepositions on the line. They couldn't
need help at left tackle, theycouldn't need help at right guard, they
could eventually need help at center.That you could find a guy who can
maybe do all three or at leasttwo of those things, then I think
Goody Kunst would be happy. Butif you've got a tackle out there on

(36:12):
the board, but you also haveCooper de Gene out there, and your
biggest need, I mean your biggestneed is safety, you do not have
a starter there at least at lefttackle. You could argue you have a
starter in Rashid Walker. Rashid Walkerplayed well enough. He is not a
black hole at the position. Theycould be like, you know what,

(36:32):
we could be fine with Rashid Walkeras our left tackle. Sean Ryan played
actually pretty well at right guard.You could say, you know what,
I think we're actually pretty fine atthat position that we don't need to address
it in round one. We canfind a guard later on in this draft,
on Day two or day three,to help fill that gap. The

(36:57):
Packers have done that plenty of timesbefore. David remember was a fourth round
pick. You can find offensive linemenreally all over the place. You can
get good ones at any point inthe draft. Really, we've seen that
before. Safety though maybe a littlebit different, just a little bit different.

(37:24):
So I think if you're going tofind your starting caliber safety versus a
starting caliber lineman, the value inthe first round is there for the safety.
For the offensive lineman, you canfind value later on. Finding value
at safety later on, it's alittle bit more difficult. So I think

(37:50):
it's going to be defense again inthe first round. Dejene is my guy,
That's who I'd like to see willhe be there, and well,
the Packers actually pick him if heis there, because we've all done this
before. We have a guy inour head when we do all of our
own draft prep, our amateur draftprep, where we think we're mel Kiper,

(38:12):
we think we're the general manager,we're Ron Wolf, We're Ted Thompson,
we're Brian Goudikunst. We're doing allof our scouting, all of our
video watching him, reading of scoutingreports on the internet. And we have
a guy that we fall in lovewith, and we have a guy that
we want our team to take,and that guy is there by some miracle,
he's there. On draft night packersare on the board. It's like,

(38:36):
my guy is there, take him, come on? And they then
they don't take them. They takesomeone someone completely different, someone who is
not on your radar at all.That always happens every once in a while,
it does. So will it beCooper de Jean, Will it be
Marius Mims? Will it be someonecompletely different? I don't know. We

(38:58):
will find out on thday. Butthose are the two names I'm looking at
in my mel Kiper, Ted Thompson, Ron Wolf, Brian Gudi kuntzt mind
of who I'm looking at to possiblybe the guy. Those are the two
I'm looking to see. Coming up. We will wrap things up here on

(39:22):
the show. Is we are backhere on thirteen ten WIBA. You're listening
to Sports on Deck with Dave Gasper. She looked at him with the soft
assinas sn Sports on Deck with DaveGasper, just finishing up here on your

(39:47):
Saturday afternoon. Just a reminder comingup on Thursday, the first round of
the NFL Draft. I will bea part of our coverage over on ten
seventy of the game our sister station, alongside the great Mike Heller. We'll
be live at Buffalo Wild Wings downthere in downtown Madison, so be sure

(40:13):
to listen to that as you're watchingand listening to the first rounding of the
NFL Draft. I will be thereas part of our coverage as well.
And if you want some wings andsome beers as you're watching, you can
hang out with us there at BuffaloWild Wings in downtown Madison. That'll do
it for me this week. Feelsso good to be back, and a

(40:37):
lot more coming up. As it'sbaseball season, we are getting into the
summer. It is warm out.It is nice out and ready to talk
some sports with you. As always, thank you for listening. This has
been Sports on Deck with Dave gasperhere on thirteen ten WIBA better of him and better