August 5, 2025 • 23 mins
Mike and Wes review the happenings from Family Night, including S Omar Brown’s big performance (:42), other interceptions recorded by CBs Carrington Valentine and Kalen King (5:07) and another strong outing from K Brandon McManus (7:39). They also update the injury situation (10:13) and discuss Sterling Sharpe’s Hall of Fame induction (15:41).
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
by my trusted colleague Wes Hodkoitz. Coming to you hear
from our studios at Lambefield, coming off a big weekend,
a Packer happenings, Wes, and of course Family Night was
the biggest thing. A great crowd, great weather, a fun
practice under the lights at Lambeufield, a night the defense
(00:29):
definitely got the better of things for the most part
throughout the course of the workout. And the discussion of
Family Night has to start with young safety Omar Brown.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I mean, Omar Brown had a family Night for the ages.
And it seems to me, I always say this, there's
a defensive back that steps up, somebody that makes some
plays that maybe is kind of on the come up
or is just sort of less less heralded. He has
sort of been in the shadows a little bit. I mean,
Omar Brown had the best Family Night practice I've ever seen,
regardless probably a position. The guy had three interceptions in
(01:02):
a practice. Yeah we're talking about practice now. He had
even mentioned he's never had three interceptions in a game
before he actually had two picks already to start training
camp through the first ad practices, So this is a
guy that already was getting noticed a little bit. But
my goodness, man, And it wasn't like they just all
just dropped in his lap. The second one kind of did,
but he put himself in the right position. He had
(01:24):
to make some pretty nifty catches on the other two.
The first one flashing in front of Malik Willis on
a goal line red zone drill picks it off. It's
a bang bang play. You gotta get it. And that
last one, my goodness, it was like David Tyree, He's
like kind of pulling it against his helmet a little
bit and comes down with it and controls it.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, fifty to fifty ball there along the sideline. That
could have gone either way, and Omar Brown's the guy
who made the play.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
And Xavier McKinney said afterwards, he's like, you know, I've
been saying, like, we have a bunch of safeties who
can play here, and it isn't just the guys on
the fifty three. It's Omar Brown, who spent all of
his rookie season on Green Bay's practice squad, was twice
elevated from the practice squad of the game day roster
throughout the course of the year. But I'll tell you what, man,
when you're looking for ways to get noticed, this is how.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You do it.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's interesting how this has played out too with Omar
Brown because a year ago spring of twenty twenty four,
he was actually brought in. He came to Green Bay
for a pre draft Visit was going to be a
late round, undrafted kind of guy. Packers were definitely interested
in him. But then the way things unfolded. Then throughout
(02:29):
the spring, the Packers of signed Xavier McKinney. They end
up drafting three safeties, Javon Bullard, Evan Williams, Katanoladappo. So
Omar Brown, smartly, I think, decides to go elsewhere as
an undrafted guy. Like why would you as an undrafted
safety walk into a place where a team just drafted
three guys at your position. So he goes to I
(02:52):
believe it was Denver.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Denver, and they took care of him. He got a
nice little bonus out of that.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yeah, he goes to Denver, but then isn't able It
does doesn't make the team, isn't able to make the
fifty three man roster, so then he's available at roster
decision time and the Packers end up offering him a
practice squad spot, So all of that interest from previously,
you know, as we know, the Packers keep their files
(03:16):
on everybody, and they keep their eye on everybody, so
they bring him back. He does spend the year on
the practice squad, and now he's kind of becoming that,
you know, that long shot to watch here in training
camp at a difficult position because those three draft picks
are still here. Xavier McKinney is still here, a veteran
in Zane Anderson who made his contributions last year at
(03:37):
safety when injuries required for Green Bay. So not an
easy position to crack the fifty three man roster. But
as you said, he's got five interceptions now in training
camp with the three on family Night that leads the team,
and he's he's definitely become a guy to keep an
eye on here the rest of training camp through these
preseason games coming up.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, and the best compliment I can pay the Packers
safety group right now, there's probably five guys in that
room that could have all started at safety during my
time here. Covering the Packers. I go back to two thousand.
I'll never forget this twenty thirteen, myself and Pete Doherty
at the Green Bay Press because that we're sitting down
and Pete was actually charting out, trying to figure out, okay,
is there a possibility that could only keep three safeties
(04:19):
on this team in twenty thirteen and Chris Banjo ended
up being the fourth that made it. So there was
a guy that did end up grabbing that number four spot,
But it just shows you how deep that position has gotten,
how versatile that position is. Zane Anderson Obviously we've seen
with Javon Buller those guys have the ability to play
(04:39):
the slot that gives you some more flexibility as well.
But Omar brown Man, this has been an impressive deal
with him so far, and again you have to carry
it over in the preseason. You have to build and
stack those days consistently. But you can't get noticed if
you don't get noticed. And this guy certainly is thrown
the spotlight on himself.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
And he wasn't the only guy with some interceptions. On
Family and Night. We also saw Carrington Valentine make a
really nice play on a seam ball for Matthew Golden.
This was an interception of Jordan Love Omar Brown. Just
to clarify, two of his came against Malik Willis, the
other one against Taylor Elgerzma Carrington. Valentine intercepted Jordan Love
(05:20):
on a ball. It was a kind of an overthrown
scene pass for Matthew Golden. Golden kind of pulled up
on the route and Valentine kept going and he kind
of makes a lunging interception, is able to pluck the
ball just before it hits the ground. That's Valentine's fourth
interception of training camp. So Omar Brown with five, Carrington
Valentine with four, and then Kaylan King also gets an interception.
(05:44):
And I think both not just from the interceptions, but
both Valentine and King, two young cornerbacks with you know,
heading for different roles here, but I think both of
those guys are off to pretty strong starts to camp.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah. I mean, Valentine, we've seen this for years now,
but as he's even talked about himself the one missing
piece for the interceptions. He'd get his hand on passes
and then he just want to be able to bring
it in the catch he made, and I'm going to
call it a catch on that ball from Jordan Love.
I mean that is, if you were trying to run
the route and pull that ball down, it would not
have been easy, and he made it look seamless. And
(06:23):
now you know, we'll have to see exactly what's going
to happen here with Nate Hobbs dealing with the knee injury.
But Carrington Valentine's probably in for a lot of snaps here.
The rest of the way of this training camp.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Sure looks that way.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
And he has experienced, He's been there, He's been played
in some major situations. He was out there for the
playoff game. But fact is, man, he's still a young player,
and as he continues to build up his arsenal and
his repertoire here, we've set it time and time again.
But this guy, this isn't just some great seventh round
pick story. Carrington Valentine's becoming a very critical part of
(06:58):
this Packers defense.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yeah, I think his importance, I guess you would say,
continues to rise. He was already going to be playing
an important part of this defense and everything he's done
in training camp up to this point, and as you
said now that Nate Hobbs is dealing with a knee injury,
and we'll see where that goes. But Valentine continues to
rise in importance, and we've talked about the cornerback depth.
(07:22):
Where is this going to go? Klein King one of
those guys who's trying to yes, make a name for
himself and get on this fifty three man roster after
spending his rookie year as a seventh round pick on
the practice squad. Kicker Brandon McManus eight for eight. Now,
I will say there have been some things out there,
(07:43):
and there is the video to prove it that at
the end of the warm ups before practice actually started,
Brandon McManus missed the extra point before everything got rolling.
So technically I guess he's missed two kicks in training
camp now. But as far as during the actual practice time,
(08:04):
he is thirty six out of thirty seven through the
first nine practices of training camp. Man oh Man, I
mean he just and you talked to him last week.
He looks like he's kind of turned back the clock
a little bit in his career. He doesn't he doesn't
look like you know, the the ten to eleven year
(08:24):
vet that he now is. He's looking like a younger
kicker and the results are showing it.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah, it's funny how to see the strength and conditioning
programs in the National Football League and how they've evolved.
Not to say that kickers weren't always in tremendous physical condition,
but I even think at the end of Mason Crosby's
career what Mason was doing to keep his body together
and make sure that he was going to be ready
and be able to perform at the level that he
had grown accustomed to. McMahon has just turned thirty four,
(08:50):
but as he said a conversation I should say, as
Britch Pasaci said a conversation that they had was you know,
talking about being twenty two again and now you have
the experience. But if you can get your body in
a play where you still feel good, how far that
could take you. What I see the most from McManus though,
is just how locked in this guy is. And it's
special to watch when you see an NFL kicker have
(09:11):
the confidence, the talent, the ability, and just that narrow
vision of what he has to accomplish when he gets
on the field. Spoiler alert, this Saturday's program for the
game for the Packers Jets game is going to be
the Packers three specialists, And McManus said, you know, he's
never really had the same holder and long.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Snapper in back to back seasons.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
He thinks it happened once before where it's been the
same two in that battery. And he's a very particular
kicker in terms of what he wants with the ball, lean,
the placement, the whole operation. Now you have Matt or
Zick the long snapper knows what he wants Daniel Wheel
and has formed a tremendous operation with him on the holds.
This is a guy that I think is in his
comfort zone right now. And mentally he wasn't he said,
(09:53):
He even talked about he wasn't here for all the
Packers offseason program. He went back, spent a lot of
time with his family. I think there was like a
trip to Europe in there. During the break between Mini
camp and training camp. He did a lot to refresh
himself mentally, but physically. The guy came back in the
best shape of his career.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah. Absolutely, Well, there are a few injuries to talk
about here, and we'll see shortly after we turn off
the cameras here we'll be headed out to the practice field,
so some of this information could change. But as it
related to Family Night, left tackle Rashid Walker dealing with
a groin injury. So we saw Jordan Morgan, the twenty
twenty four first round draft pick, took the Lion's share
(10:29):
of the reps there at left tackle with the first unit.
Tucker Craft sat out Family Night also with a groin injury.
Sounded like it was being very precautionary, just super super
cautious with something that had kind of been bugging him
a little bit, and they didn't want to didn't want
to really aggravate anything there. And then Emmanuel Wilson, who
(10:51):
we saw on Friday, he went down in practice, kind
of fell awkwardly trying to make a catchdown field and
he was being tended to by the trainers for a while.
Kind of a scary looking situation. It sounds like from
the initial reports that he has avoided a significant knee injury.
(11:12):
We don't really know anything yet as far as how
long he's going to be out, but it doesn't sound
like it's a serious deal. Just the same way that
Marshawn Lloyd at running back. His groin injury is not
a serious deal, so we'll see when those guys get back.
But right now the Packers a little bit thin at
running back and providing some opportunities for those younger guys.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, and first I kind of smirked the when you're
talking about injuries because I saw some of the photos
of like Tucker Craft on the field afterwards with his family,
his newborn daughter.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
He looks like he's going to be okay.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
He looked like a guy that wasn't stressing too much
about about things. I think it's just going to be
careful with someone like that, given the role that he's
going to have on this offense. And as I wrote
an Insider Inbox, every major soft tissue injury, most that
I've come across, all started as a minor soft tissue injury,
So you want to be smart about that.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Very true.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
The running back position is very interesting right now because, yeah,
you have obviously Josh Jacobs, who has just been the
bell cow every single day since he got here. Chris
Brooks came in after at the beginning of the last season.
He's been in that de facto number two role now
with Emmanuel Wilson and Marshall Lloyd both on the sidelines.
But as you talked about, there's gonna be a lot
opportunities for young guys. Amar Johnson's a guy that has
(12:18):
really impressed me so far. You can see him run
with power. He missed the beginning of training camp, I believe,
with the hamstring, but has come back and has looked good.
They still have some bodies there and the guys that'll
probably be handling the lion's share of these touches in
this preseason game against the Jets. Yeah, but certainly those
top four. That was where green Bay looked at their
strength of this position. It's why you and I talked
(12:38):
about all offseason about how strong they were in the backfield.
It was Jacobs, Wilson, Brooks and Lloyd and right now
that's have so seeing exactly where that takes them here
and when they could potentially get both Lloyd and and
Wilson back in the fold is going to be critical,
I think for green Bay. I mean, Wilson had one
hundred carries last year. Yeah, we talked so much about
the first time Josh Jacobs or the second time in
(12:59):
his Josh Jay Cup said three hundred carries in a season.
Emanuel Wilson is the number two, had one hundred. I
mean the Packers ran the ball a ton last season.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah, absolutely, They're they're looking for They're looking to have
the depth to carry them through seventeen, hopefully seventeen plus
games here once the regular season rolls around before we
shift gears. Any other observations from Family Night that you
think we should toss out here and make sure that
we don't ignore.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
You're big on social media. I know you're big on
social media. I have over two million views now on
Twitter of my Romeo Dobbs catching that last ball of
the punt return drill.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Did you oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we were, Yeah, we
were watching that.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
He caught six footballs in his hands.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
And then unfortunately, I think he had one between his legs.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
One between his like yeah, sorry, get that in the
record book, and he unfortunately is the seventh.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
He's calling for the seventh one. He loses one. Two
of them fall out. He gives up on the driller.
It looks like it. He just flashes his hand out there.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
And catches a punt from like sixty yards out off
of jugs machine, Like your kid just threw a nerf
ball at you in the living room, right, I mean,
what the heck man? I mean, NFL receiver hands are ridiculous.
But yeah, to that point, injuries happening at running back.
Also injuries right now for Green Bay at the receiver position.
(14:16):
But steady as he goes every single summer. We talk
about Romeo Dobbs being a guy that just performs, and
I thought last week had probably his best week of
practice so far.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah, I thought. I thought Dobbs is just he's just
a consistent presence. You know what you're gonna get, he's
going to deliver for you. And you know, he's a
quiet guy. He doesn't say a whole lot and that's okay.
And yeah, another guy who who just looks like he's
in that mode of like, all right, let's just get
(14:45):
ready for the regular season and let's get rolling here.
Even though that is still a little ways away, we
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Unscripted Wes the other thing that happened Saturday over the
weekend prior to Family Night. Sterling Sharp became the Green
Bay Packers twenty ninth inductee into the Pro Football Hall
(15:49):
of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Gave what I felt was
a rather memorable speech there on the stage at Tom
Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton. Goes back to
everything with the relationship with his brother Shannon. His younger
brother Shannon, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame
fourteen years ago and famously said during his Hall of
(16:12):
Fame speech, I am the only member of the Pro
Football Hall of Fame who is the second best player
in his own family. One of the greatest lines I
think maybe ever delivered in a Hall of Fame speech.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Well right behind that one from Leroy BI.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, that's that's right, Leroy. Butler had his memorable ones
as well.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I'm sorry to rut that's okay.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
But then, also in conjunction with their relationship, when Shannon Sharp,
the younger brother, won his first Super Bowl, which actually
was against the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl thirty two,
he gave his Super Bowl ring to his older brother
who had retired at that point. That had been three
(16:58):
years earlier. Sharling had been forced to retire career cut
short by the neck injury. Shannon, of course didn't even
know he was going to get two more Super Bowl
rings before he was done, but he gave his first
Super Bowl ring to his older brothers. Yeah, yeah, so
there you go. But in a gesture to return the favor,
(17:21):
so to speak, Sterling brought his brother up on the
stage during the speech and he said, well, you said
you were the only Hall of Famer who was the
second best player in your own family. I want you
to be the only Hall of Famer with two gold jackets.
And he presented his gold jacket to his younger brother.
So Green Bay Packers now with twenty nine Pro Football
(17:45):
Hall of Famers. The Chicago Bears have thirty two. For
those who are interested, I have a story on Packers
dot Com taking a look at are there ways for
the Packers maybe to catch the Bears? And you know,
those are the two franchises with the most by the way,
Chicago thirty two, Bay with twenty nine. But it was
great to see Sterling Sharp get into the Hall of Fame.
(18:06):
But at the same time, I couldn't help feeling like
Mike Holmgren should have been part of this Hall of
Fame class as well. And I know we don't have
enough time to talk about that whole thing right now,
but bar I just now, I just flipped a switch
on Wes.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You had to say the MH words. Mike. You know
it's tough.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Mike Holmgren should have been in this Hall of Fame class.
He should have been. This was his opportunity. They changed
the whole voting system and everything with the coach and
senior candidates. Congrats to Sharp for surviving. Yeah, a very
difficult voting process for those in these categories. Holmgren unfortunately
did not reach the voting threshold to get in. I
don't know if Mike Holmgren's going to get another opportunity
(18:48):
like this, and uh, and quite frankly, it stinks because
I thought it would have been pretty cool for Sterling
Sharp and Mike Holmgren to go in together, and unfortunately
that didn't happen.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
I think I would challenge you and I to maybe,
if we want, maybe revisit this again at the end
of the week, because I have some thoughts on this.
The NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame, not NFL, but
the Profooba Hall Fame voters continually botch this. They botched
the centennial class in twenty twenty. They tried to now
tighten the belt at the exact wrong time. You cut
down the coach categories. There was like eight stories we
(19:21):
had to write on it, going from quadruple finalists to
quarter finalists to whatever. And then you don't the guy
that makes it, you don't put him in because of
this antiquated voting system. And I can give you the
details on that later this week if you want, on
why it was so difficult to get more people through
this year because the voting system was completely flawed. But
be that as it may. I don't want to take
(19:41):
away from Sharp here. I was too young to really
appreciate challenge or excuse me Sterling Sharp. I saw plenty
of Shannon Sterling Sharp in the bulk of his career,
but I do remember the ninety four season, and I've
gone back over the years and watched his clips on YouTube.
What Sterling Sharp did at the body type, with the
body type he was. I mean, this is not Megatron.
(20:02):
This is one of probably the most awesome football players
I think we've seen in the modern era. I mean,
he was a football player. He was a wide receiver,
he was a multiple time All Pro now a Pro
Football Hall of Famer, led the league in receiving a
few years, but he just was a prodigy. And to
finally see them write this, especially after what happened with
(20:23):
Tony Bisselli get in and also Terrell Davis getting in,
I felt like it was necessary that that Sterling Sharp
gets his due.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
That's what's been interesting about this whole thing, kind of
in the good and the bad, is that we've seen
we've seen the sentiments, We've seen the sentiments of voters change,
but then we've also seen the processes change and in
the sentiments changing. The whole thing about short careers and
guys who weren't able to get in. For the longest time,
the only guy with a real short career got in
(20:50):
was Gail Sayers, right, he was such a singular talent.
But then Terrell Davis got in, and then through the
senior committee, Kenny Easley, the safety from Seattle, got in,
and then Tony Bisselli from the Jacksonville Jaguars, and interestingly,
now Terrell Davis, I think sort of goes in a
different category because he was an NFL MVP and a
(21:10):
Super Bowl MVP two thousand yard rusher at the time,
which was extremely rare. But that being said, Terrell Davis,
Tony Bisselli, Kenny Easley all played seven seasons, all were
first team All Pro three times. Sterling Sharp seven seasons,
first team All Pro three times. So you could see
(21:31):
the door was opening and Sterling was able to get
in there. Unfortunately, because of the process changing, suddenly, now
Mike Holmgren isn't able to isn't able to get in,
and we will revisit this because we're running out of
time here today. But now the voting process has changed
to make it difficult for some people in some other
(21:53):
categories and whatnot. And so it's just it's hard to
you know, the system. The system hasn't been the same,
and when they keep changing things, then it's hard to
really it's hard to really know what's next.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I will close on this and then you can go
off or do whatever you want to do. The coach
candidate and the senior finalists and if there's a contribute,
just put them in. If you want to tighten the belt,
tighten the belt on the modern era. Yeah, don't penalize
the guys that already have had to wait for this.
This is why we got in the Jerry Kramer situation
(22:28):
to begin with. Jerry Kramer was a finalist for the
Hall of Fame in nineteen ninety seven when I was eight.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Years old, and that was as a Senior Committee.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
As a Senior Committee finalist.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
If you're going to go through all this pomp and circumstance,
but you want to now for whatever reason, because you
just let in twenty eight people five years ago. If
you want to tighten the belt, tighten it.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
On the modern era.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Don't penalize the coaches that have had to now wait
to get in in the first place before they change
the rules, and now you're tightening the belt and looping
them back in with the modern era guys again.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Anyway, I'm done.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Okay, we do have to go, but it sounds like
we're gonna have another interesting discussion about.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
I'm gonna get those stats for you, so.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
We are going to call it a rap. On the
sededition of Packers Unscripted, be sure to continue to follow
all of our coverage of training camp, videos, stories, podcasts
like this one, all kinds of stuff on packers dot com.
For Wes, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody,
and we will see you next time.
Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from
Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always
by my trusted colleague Wes Hodkoitz. Coming to you hear
from our studios at Lambefield, coming off a big weekend,
a Packer happenings, Wes, and of course Family Night was
the biggest thing. A great crowd, great weather, a fun
practice under the lights at Lambeufield, a night the defense
(00:29):
definitely got the better of things for the most part
throughout the course of the workout. And the discussion of
Family Night has to start with young safety Omar Brown.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I mean, Omar Brown had a family Night for the ages.
And it seems to me, I always say this, there's
a defensive back that steps up, somebody that makes some
plays that maybe is kind of on the come up
or is just sort of less less heralded. He has
sort of been in the shadows a little bit. I mean,
Omar Brown had the best Family Night practice I've ever seen,
regardless probably a position. The guy had three interceptions in
(01:02):
a practice. Yeah we're talking about practice now. He had
even mentioned he's never had three interceptions in a game
before he actually had two picks already to start training
camp through the first ad practices, So this is a
guy that already was getting noticed a little bit. But
my goodness, man, And it wasn't like they just all
just dropped in his lap. The second one kind of did,
but he put himself in the right position. He had
(01:24):
to make some pretty nifty catches on the other two.
The first one flashing in front of Malik Willis on
a goal line red zone drill picks it off. It's
a bang bang play. You gotta get it. And that
last one, my goodness, it was like David Tyree, He's
like kind of pulling it against his helmet a little
bit and comes down with it and controls it.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, fifty to fifty ball there along the sideline. That
could have gone either way, and Omar Brown's the guy
who made the play.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
And Xavier McKinney said afterwards, he's like, you know, I've
been saying, like, we have a bunch of safeties who
can play here, and it isn't just the guys on
the fifty three. It's Omar Brown, who spent all of
his rookie season on Green Bay's practice squad, was twice
elevated from the practice squad of the game day roster
throughout the course of the year. But I'll tell you what, man,
when you're looking for ways to get noticed, this is how.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You do it.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's interesting how this has played out too with Omar
Brown because a year ago spring of twenty twenty four,
he was actually brought in. He came to Green Bay
for a pre draft Visit was going to be a
late round, undrafted kind of guy. Packers were definitely interested
in him. But then the way things unfolded. Then throughout
(02:29):
the spring, the Packers of signed Xavier McKinney. They end
up drafting three safeties, Javon Bullard, Evan Williams, Katanoladappo. So
Omar Brown, smartly, I think, decides to go elsewhere as
an undrafted guy. Like why would you as an undrafted
safety walk into a place where a team just drafted
three guys at your position. So he goes to I
(02:52):
believe it was Denver.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Denver, and they took care of him. He got a
nice little bonus out of that.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yeah, he goes to Denver, but then isn't able It
does doesn't make the team, isn't able to make the
fifty three man roster, so then he's available at roster
decision time and the Packers end up offering him a
practice squad spot, So all of that interest from previously,
you know, as we know, the Packers keep their files
(03:16):
on everybody, and they keep their eye on everybody, so
they bring him back. He does spend the year on
the practice squad, and now he's kind of becoming that,
you know, that long shot to watch here in training
camp at a difficult position because those three draft picks
are still here. Xavier McKinney is still here, a veteran
in Zane Anderson who made his contributions last year at
(03:37):
safety when injuries required for Green Bay. So not an
easy position to crack the fifty three man roster. But
as you said, he's got five interceptions now in training
camp with the three on family Night that leads the team,
and he's he's definitely become a guy to keep an
eye on here the rest of training camp through these
preseason games coming up.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, and the best compliment I can pay the Packers
safety group right now, there's probably five guys in that
room that could have all started at safety during my
time here. Covering the Packers. I go back to two thousand.
I'll never forget this twenty thirteen, myself and Pete Doherty
at the Green Bay Press because that we're sitting down
and Pete was actually charting out, trying to figure out, okay,
is there a possibility that could only keep three safeties
(04:19):
on this team in twenty thirteen and Chris Banjo ended
up being the fourth that made it. So there was
a guy that did end up grabbing that number four spot,
But it just shows you how deep that position has gotten,
how versatile that position is. Zane Anderson Obviously we've seen
with Javon Buller those guys have the ability to play
(04:39):
the slot that gives you some more flexibility as well.
But Omar brown Man, this has been an impressive deal
with him so far, and again you have to carry
it over in the preseason. You have to build and
stack those days consistently. But you can't get noticed if
you don't get noticed. And this guy certainly is thrown
the spotlight on himself.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
A little bit.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
And he wasn't the only guy with some interceptions. On
Family and Night. We also saw Carrington Valentine make a
really nice play on a seam ball for Matthew Golden.
This was an interception of Jordan Love Omar Brown. Just
to clarify, two of his came against Malik Willis, the
other one against Taylor Elgerzma Carrington. Valentine intercepted Jordan Love
(05:20):
on a ball. It was a kind of an overthrown
scene pass for Matthew Golden. Golden kind of pulled up
on the route and Valentine kept going and he kind
of makes a lunging interception, is able to pluck the
ball just before it hits the ground. That's Valentine's fourth
interception of training camp. So Omar Brown with five, Carrington
Valentine with four, and then Kaylan King also gets an interception.
(05:44):
And I think both not just from the interceptions, but
both Valentine and King, two young cornerbacks with you know,
heading for different roles here, but I think both of
those guys are off to pretty strong starts to camp.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah. I mean, Valentine, we've seen this for years now,
but as he's even talked about himself the one missing
piece for the interceptions. He'd get his hand on passes
and then he just want to be able to bring
it in the catch he made, and I'm going to
call it a catch on that ball from Jordan Love.
I mean that is, if you were trying to run
the route and pull that ball down, it would not
have been easy, and he made it look seamless. And
(06:23):
now you know, we'll have to see exactly what's going
to happen here with Nate Hobbs dealing with the knee injury.
But Carrington Valentine's probably in for a lot of snaps here.
The rest of the way of this training camp.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Sure looks that way.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
And he has experienced, He's been there, He's been played
in some major situations. He was out there for the
playoff game. But fact is, man, he's still a young player,
and as he continues to build up his arsenal and
his repertoire here, we've set it time and time again.
But this guy, this isn't just some great seventh round
pick story. Carrington Valentine's becoming a very critical part of
(06:58):
this Packers defense.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yeah, I think his importance, I guess you would say,
continues to rise. He was already going to be playing
an important part of this defense and everything he's done
in training camp up to this point, and as you
said now that Nate Hobbs is dealing with a knee injury,
and we'll see where that goes. But Valentine continues to
rise in importance, and we've talked about the cornerback depth.
(07:22):
Where is this going to go? Klein King one of
those guys who's trying to yes, make a name for
himself and get on this fifty three man roster after
spending his rookie year as a seventh round pick on
the practice squad. Kicker Brandon McManus eight for eight. Now,
I will say there have been some things out there,
(07:43):
and there is the video to prove it that at
the end of the warm ups before practice actually started,
Brandon McManus missed the extra point before everything got rolling.
So technically I guess he's missed two kicks in training
camp now. But as far as during the actual practice time,
(08:04):
he is thirty six out of thirty seven through the
first nine practices of training camp. Man oh Man, I
mean he just and you talked to him last week.
He looks like he's kind of turned back the clock
a little bit in his career. He doesn't he doesn't
look like you know, the the ten to eleven year
(08:24):
vet that he now is. He's looking like a younger
kicker and the results are showing it.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah, it's funny how to see the strength and conditioning
programs in the National Football League and how they've evolved.
Not to say that kickers weren't always in tremendous physical condition,
but I even think at the end of Mason Crosby's
career what Mason was doing to keep his body together
and make sure that he was going to be ready
and be able to perform at the level that he
had grown accustomed to. McMahon has just turned thirty four,
(08:50):
but as he said a conversation I should say, as
Britch Pasaci said a conversation that they had was you know,
talking about being twenty two again and now you have
the experience. But if you can get your body in
a play where you still feel good, how far that
could take you. What I see the most from McManus though,
is just how locked in this guy is. And it's
special to watch when you see an NFL kicker have
(09:11):
the confidence, the talent, the ability, and just that narrow
vision of what he has to accomplish when he gets
on the field. Spoiler alert, this Saturday's program for the
game for the Packers Jets game is going to be
the Packers three specialists, And McManus said, you know, he's
never really had the same holder and long.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Snapper in back to back seasons.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
He thinks it happened once before where it's been the
same two in that battery. And he's a very particular
kicker in terms of what he wants with the ball, lean,
the placement, the whole operation. Now you have Matt or
Zick the long snapper knows what he wants Daniel Wheel
and has formed a tremendous operation with him on the holds.
This is a guy that I think is in his
comfort zone right now. And mentally he wasn't he said,
(09:53):
He even talked about he wasn't here for all the
Packers offseason program. He went back, spent a lot of
time with his family. I think there was like a
trip to Europe in there. During the break between Mini
camp and training camp. He did a lot to refresh
himself mentally, but physically. The guy came back in the
best shape of his career.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Yeah. Absolutely, Well, there are a few injuries to talk
about here, and we'll see shortly after we turn off
the cameras here we'll be headed out to the practice field,
so some of this information could change. But as it
related to Family Night, left tackle Rashid Walker dealing with
a groin injury. So we saw Jordan Morgan, the twenty
twenty four first round draft pick, took the Lion's share
(10:29):
of the reps there at left tackle with the first unit.
Tucker Craft sat out Family Night also with a groin injury.
Sounded like it was being very precautionary, just super super
cautious with something that had kind of been bugging him
a little bit, and they didn't want to didn't want
to really aggravate anything there. And then Emmanuel Wilson, who
(10:51):
we saw on Friday, he went down in practice, kind
of fell awkwardly trying to make a catchdown field and
he was being tended to by the trainers for a while.
Kind of a scary looking situation. It sounds like from
the initial reports that he has avoided a significant knee injury.
(11:12):
We don't really know anything yet as far as how
long he's going to be out, but it doesn't sound
like it's a serious deal. Just the same way that
Marshawn Lloyd at running back. His groin injury is not
a serious deal, so we'll see when those guys get back.
But right now the Packers a little bit thin at
running back and providing some opportunities for those younger guys.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, and first I kind of smirked the when you're
talking about injuries because I saw some of the photos
of like Tucker Craft on the field afterwards with his family,
his newborn daughter.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
He looks like he's going to be okay.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
He looked like a guy that wasn't stressing too much
about about things. I think it's just going to be
careful with someone like that, given the role that he's
going to have on this offense. And as I wrote
an Insider Inbox, every major soft tissue injury, most that
I've come across, all started as a minor soft tissue injury,
So you want to be smart about that.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Very true.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
The running back position is very interesting right now because, yeah,
you have obviously Josh Jacobs, who has just been the
bell cow every single day since he got here. Chris
Brooks came in after at the beginning of the last season.
He's been in that de facto number two role now
with Emmanuel Wilson and Marshall Lloyd both on the sidelines.
But as you talked about, there's gonna be a lot
opportunities for young guys. Amar Johnson's a guy that has
(12:18):
really impressed me so far. You can see him run
with power. He missed the beginning of training camp, I believe,
with the hamstring, but has come back and has looked good.
They still have some bodies there and the guys that'll
probably be handling the lion's share of these touches in
this preseason game against the Jets. Yeah, but certainly those
top four. That was where green Bay looked at their
strength of this position. It's why you and I talked
(12:38):
about all offseason about how strong they were in the backfield.
It was Jacobs, Wilson, Brooks and Lloyd and right now
that's have so seeing exactly where that takes them here
and when they could potentially get both Lloyd and and
Wilson back in the fold is going to be critical,
I think for green Bay. I mean, Wilson had one
hundred carries last year. Yeah, we talked so much about
the first time Josh Jacobs or the second time in
(12:59):
his Josh Jay Cup said three hundred carries in a season.
Emanuel Wilson is the number two, had one hundred. I
mean the Packers ran the ball a ton last season.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah, absolutely, They're they're looking for They're looking to have
the depth to carry them through seventeen, hopefully seventeen plus
games here once the regular season rolls around before we
shift gears. Any other observations from Family Night that you
think we should toss out here and make sure that
we don't ignore.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
You're big on social media. I know you're big on
social media. I have over two million views now on
Twitter of my Romeo Dobbs catching that last ball of
the punt return drill.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Did you oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we were, Yeah, we
were watching that.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
He caught six footballs in his hands.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
And then unfortunately, I think he had one between his legs.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
One between his like yeah, sorry, get that in the
record book, and he unfortunately is the seventh.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
He's calling for the seventh one. He loses one. Two
of them fall out. He gives up on the driller.
It looks like it. He just flashes his hand out there.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
And catches a punt from like sixty yards out off
of jugs machine, Like your kid just threw a nerf
ball at you in the living room, right, I mean,
what the heck man? I mean, NFL receiver hands are ridiculous.
But yeah, to that point, injuries happening at running back.
Also injuries right now for Green Bay at the receiver position.
(14:16):
But steady as he goes every single summer. We talk
about Romeo Dobbs being a guy that just performs, and
I thought last week had probably his best week of
practice so far.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah, I thought. I thought Dobbs is just he's just
a consistent presence. You know what you're gonna get, he's
going to deliver for you. And you know, he's a
quiet guy. He doesn't say a whole lot and that's okay.
And yeah, another guy who who just looks like he's
in that mode of like, all right, let's just get
(14:45):
ready for the regular season and let's get rolling here.
Even though that is still a little ways away, we
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Pit Boss Grills available at Menard's. Welcome back to Packers.
Unscripted Wes the other thing that happened Saturday over the
weekend prior to Family Night. Sterling Sharp became the Green
Bay Packers twenty ninth inductee into the Pro Football Hall
(15:49):
of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Gave what I felt was
a rather memorable speech there on the stage at Tom
Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton. Goes back to
everything with the relationship with his brother Shannon. His younger
brother Shannon, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame
fourteen years ago and famously said during his Hall of
(16:12):
Fame speech, I am the only member of the Pro
Football Hall of Fame who is the second best player
in his own family. One of the greatest lines I
think maybe ever delivered in a Hall of Fame speech.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Well right behind that one from Leroy BI.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, that's that's right, Leroy. Butler had his memorable ones
as well.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I'm sorry to rut that's okay.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
But then, also in conjunction with their relationship, when Shannon Sharp,
the younger brother, won his first Super Bowl, which actually
was against the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl thirty two,
he gave his Super Bowl ring to his older brother
who had retired at that point. That had been three
(16:58):
years earlier. Sharling had been forced to retire career cut
short by the neck injury. Shannon, of course didn't even
know he was going to get two more Super Bowl
rings before he was done, but he gave his first
Super Bowl ring to his older brothers. Yeah, yeah, so
there you go. But in a gesture to return the favor,
(17:21):
so to speak, Sterling brought his brother up on the
stage during the speech and he said, well, you said
you were the only Hall of Famer who was the
second best player in your own family. I want you
to be the only Hall of Famer with two gold jackets.
And he presented his gold jacket to his younger brother.
So Green Bay Packers now with twenty nine Pro Football
(17:45):
Hall of Famers. The Chicago Bears have thirty two. For
those who are interested, I have a story on Packers
dot Com taking a look at are there ways for
the Packers maybe to catch the Bears? And you know,
those are the two franchises with the most by the way,
Chicago thirty two, Bay with twenty nine. But it was
great to see Sterling Sharp get into the Hall of Fame.
(18:06):
But at the same time, I couldn't help feeling like
Mike Holmgren should have been part of this Hall of
Fame class as well. And I know we don't have
enough time to talk about that whole thing right now,
but bar I just now, I just flipped a switch
on Wes.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You had to say the MH words. Mike. You know
it's tough.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Mike Holmgren should have been in this Hall of Fame class.
He should have been. This was his opportunity. They changed
the whole voting system and everything with the coach and
senior candidates. Congrats to Sharp for surviving. Yeah, a very
difficult voting process for those in these categories. Holmgren unfortunately
did not reach the voting threshold to get in. I
don't know if Mike Holmgren's going to get another opportunity
(18:48):
like this, and uh, and quite frankly, it stinks because
I thought it would have been pretty cool for Sterling
Sharp and Mike Holmgren to go in together, and unfortunately
that didn't happen.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
I think I would challenge you and I to maybe,
if we want, maybe revisit this again at the end
of the week, because I have some thoughts on this.
The NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame, not NFL, but
the Profooba Hall Fame voters continually botch this. They botched
the centennial class in twenty twenty. They tried to now
tighten the belt at the exact wrong time. You cut
down the coach categories. There was like eight stories we
(19:21):
had to write on it, going from quadruple finalists to
quarter finalists to whatever. And then you don't the guy
that makes it, you don't put him in because of
this antiquated voting system. And I can give you the
details on that later this week if you want, on
why it was so difficult to get more people through
this year because the voting system was completely flawed. But
be that as it may. I don't want to take
(19:41):
away from Sharp here. I was too young to really
appreciate challenge or excuse me Sterling Sharp. I saw plenty
of Shannon Sterling Sharp in the bulk of his career,
but I do remember the ninety four season, and I've
gone back over the years and watched his clips on YouTube.
What Sterling Sharp did at the body type, with the
body type he was. I mean, this is not Megatron.
(20:02):
This is one of probably the most awesome football players
I think we've seen in the modern era. I mean,
he was a football player. He was a wide receiver,
he was a multiple time All Pro now a Pro
Football Hall of Famer, led the league in receiving a
few years, but he just was a prodigy. And to
finally see them write this, especially after what happened with
(20:23):
Tony Bisselli get in and also Terrell Davis getting in,
I felt like it was necessary that that Sterling Sharp
gets his due.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
That's what's been interesting about this whole thing, kind of
in the good and the bad, is that we've seen
we've seen the sentiments, We've seen the sentiments of voters change,
but then we've also seen the processes change and in
the sentiments changing. The whole thing about short careers and
guys who weren't able to get in. For the longest time,
the only guy with a real short career got in
(20:50):
was Gail Sayers, right, he was such a singular talent.
But then Terrell Davis got in, and then through the
senior committee, Kenny Easley, the safety from Seattle, got in,
and then Tony Bisselli from the Jacksonville Jaguars, and interestingly,
now Terrell Davis, I think sort of goes in a
different category because he was an NFL MVP and a
(21:10):
Super Bowl MVP two thousand yard rusher at the time,
which was extremely rare. But that being said, Terrell Davis,
Tony Bisselli, Kenny Easley all played seven seasons, all were
first team All Pro three times. Sterling Sharp seven seasons,
first team All Pro three times. So you could see
(21:31):
the door was opening and Sterling was able to get
in there. Unfortunately, because of the process changing, suddenly, now
Mike Holmgren isn't able to isn't able to get in,
and we will revisit this because we're running out of
time here today. But now the voting process has changed
to make it difficult for some people in some other
(21:53):
categories and whatnot. And so it's just it's hard to
you know, the system. The system hasn't been the same,
and when they keep changing things, then it's hard to
really it's hard to really know what's next.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I will close on this and then you can go
off or do whatever you want to do. The coach
candidate and the senior finalists and if there's a contribute,
just put them in. If you want to tighten the belt,
tighten the belt on the modern era. Yeah, don't penalize
the guys that already have had to wait for this.
This is why we got in the Jerry Kramer situation
(22:28):
to begin with. Jerry Kramer was a finalist for the
Hall of Fame in nineteen ninety seven when I was eight.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Years old, and that was as a Senior Committee.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
As a Senior Committee finalist.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
If you're going to go through all this pomp and circumstance,
but you want to now for whatever reason, because you
just let in twenty eight people five years ago. If
you want to tighten the belt, tighten it.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
On the modern era.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Don't penalize the coaches that have had to now wait
to get in in the first place before they change
the rules, and now you're tightening the belt and looping
them back in with the modern era guys again.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Anyway, I'm done.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Okay, we do have to go, but it sounds like
we're gonna have another interesting discussion about.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
I'm gonna get those stats for you, so.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
We are going to call it a rap. On the
sededition of Packers Unscripted, be sure to continue to follow
all of our coverage of training camp, videos, stories, podcasts
like this one, all kinds of stuff on packers dot com.
For Wes, I am Mike. Thank you for tuning in everybody,
and we will see you next time.
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