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Quick Packers News Recap!
19 Plays10 hours ago
Catch up on all the essential Packers news! Our recap features the latest updates so far this off season to keep you informed
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Transcript
Podcast Return & July 4th Weekend
00:00:04
Speaker
Aloha and welcome back to another episode of the Ahana Packers Edition podcast. Once again, am going to try and remember how to do this podcast since it's been a while and Joe has been taking the torch and running with it this offseason. But Joe, you and I are back. It's Fourth of July weekend.
00:00:19
Speaker
Happy Fourth to everyone who celebrates or recognizes or whatever word we want to put with that at the current political uh political temperature that we're at and i'm gonna leave everything at that because we won't dive into that hellhole as much but joe the packers have slowly trickled on with this offseason and we as we crawl our way to training camp but how are you doing buddy hanging in there like i told mike i figured this would be the perfect time to do a kind of an offseason recap type deal since there hasn't really been any kind of news and
00:00:57
Speaker
with it being the holiday weekend, trying to get a guest on was kind of near impossible.
Offseason Recap & Challenges
00:01:01
Speaker
So I figured this would be the perfect time to do a kind of a recap on things, discuss some transactions, discuss the schedule and things like that. So, you know, it's, it, basically bring it back to Packers. I know for the last few weeks, it's been anything but Packers. We've had some, I've had some really good guests and really good conversations students going on.
00:01:27
Speaker
So but I know what the what people are mainly here for, and that's our Packer takes. Yep. So as Joe just mentioned, this is going to be a slight recap of the bigger stuff that's gone on since our last you know deep dive, which was recapping of the draft
Packers Draft Picks Signed
00:01:42
Speaker
class. And as of then, I believe all the Packers draft picks are signed, which at this day and age is basically a formality more than anything else because they've really doubled down on the rookie wage scale. But I don't believe there are any sort of drama for the Packers in that regard. But is Belton finally signed?
Belton's Contract Negotiations
00:02:02
Speaker
Hold on. Because I know he was the last one, but I really haven't paid attention to see if.
00:02:17
Speaker
No, he's still unsigned. Oh, there it is. The Packer website. Yeah. Hold on. Oh, you know what?
00:02:38
Speaker
Yeah, according to the website the Packers roster, he's still an unsigned draft card. And as of, I know it's been a it's been a few weeks, but as of June 19th, only the first two of the second round picks were signed.
00:02:50
Speaker
And so it's... Okay, I know I just said that rookie draft picks are kind of a formality at this point, but there are there is a slight dance that the teams do with picks of a certain round. They do...
00:03:07
Speaker
The teams or the picks, depending on which goes first, do like to see what accommodations the other franchises make for their picks of the same round.
00:03:17
Speaker
They kind of let the table set itself. And, you know, there's not much percentage that, you know, these contracts can be scaled up or down, but there is legitimate verbiage that's put in. um know one of the big ones from a few, like almost 10 years ago was... when Joey Bosa had the, that like one clause in his contract that he held out over. And I know other guys have done similar.
00:03:42
Speaker
ah can't say for certain what Belton's waiting on, but, does sound like, you know, 32 or 30 out of the 32 second round picks are waiting. And so, you know, it's like how much of their deals are guaranteed, blah, blah, blah, all that kind of stuff. So it's,
00:03:58
Speaker
it's a matter of if or it's a matter of when, not if. I do just think that it matters that, you know like I said, everyone no one really wants to make that first step in the dance. They want to wait to see what everyone else kind of does there.
Shamar Stewart's Contract Holdout
00:04:12
Speaker
Well, if I remember right, and like I kind of said on Blue Sky the other day, I i tweeted or retweeted something or quote tweeted or whatever you want to call it, at Maggie Loney because she said the same thing. She's going through...
00:04:26
Speaker
You know, the newborn stages, they just had their second kid. And she said she hadn't really been paying attention to football because of distractions. and I said, well, you know, with my offseason, off topic stuff, I really haven't paid attention to much either.
00:04:42
Speaker
So I could be completely wrong on this. But isn't Shamar Stewart the holdout for first round still? Yeah. And that's like a totally different. Yeah. I can't remember what the clause is that they're trying to stick in there, but... I think his was the offset one, because that was similar to what... It's... it's It's so they can... It's something that... Well, his was the injury waiver one, yeah.
00:05:08
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. If something happens, they can get out of his contract easier than... Yeah, so... I don't know. I mean...
00:05:20
Speaker
When you get to this point in time, you get a little bit worried about it because it's like, well, you're missing some key moments here. You know, I know you're in the building, but usually they don't let you do any kind of practice if you're not signed to a contract.
00:05:35
Speaker
You can still be there. You can still do some things, but they pretty much say hands off because you have no contract protections and we have no protection against liabilities under there. So it's kind of a it not that anything's going to happen. I think what's the worst that can happen? They they sit out this year and reenter the draft next year.
00:05:58
Speaker
i don't think they can even work at That's how it used to be. Yeah. that You had to set out a full year and then you could reenter the draft the next year. Right. And you see, i feel like the rules, are the CBA rules are so different. don't even, and it hasn't happened.
00:06:13
Speaker
It flat out hasn't happened in like, I feel like since before our parents were born. But I do think that that's probably laying in the weeds somewhere as well. But from what I'm gathering on some quick, quick reads is that,
00:06:29
Speaker
one of the big dominoes is uh Tyler shook the quarterback I think the Saints took he's trying to get more guaranteed on his contract and because he's like 50 years old yeah gotta lock that generational wealth but and Same thing. And then TJ Sanders is another one who's taken in the vicinity of where Belton went that people are saying is like, oh that's sort of a domino. So like I said, it it gets into this area where like you and obviously we've seen every other pick in every other round for the Packers get signed, but it's kind of like no one wants to be the first to sign their second round pick other than the guys who went first and second in that round. But I don't have any reason to
00:07:19
Speaker
be concerned about what happened because, excuse me, we're not hearing anything that there's hold up on either side. You know, there's no new, none of this news is directly about Belton other than he's just one of a statistic kind of thing and stuff. So, but like you said, there is a drawback.
00:07:37
Speaker
I, Because minicamp isn't open, i don't know how much they're like practicing, practicing. And I think you're right that he can attend meetings and he can work out at the facility.
00:07:48
Speaker
i don't know if the team trainers, I forget how much that contact is allowed with or without a contract. but i do As far as I remember, it's very limited.
00:08:03
Speaker
yeah I mean, they can have conversations, they can do that stuff, but until they're under contract, they cannot, like... You cannot hit the practice field. I mean, they can obviously... Right, right. And they might not even be able to work out because of the whole liability thing. You get injured on site without a contract. Yeah, I think, yeah, it' it's one of those, like, super weird gray areas where, like, they could use the facility, but, like, the team trainer cannot talk to them or something. Like, it's one of those weird, like...
00:08:33
Speaker
see, you know, I see nothing, I know nothing kind of situations and stuff, but we won't get bogged down on that too much. Like I said, I do expect it to get handled sooner than later, but it'll be interesting to see if Belton is at the front end or if he's like, you see the Shook and Sanders contracts happen and then you see like Belton's in that wave that follows right after. So we'll
Jair Alexander's Release & Implications
00:08:57
Speaker
we'll see. It's just an interesting situation.
00:09:01
Speaker
Yeah. And like the reason that the the article I pulled up is think it's Huber's one from SI where he's kind of saying like, yeah, you know, last year, the last second round pick signed early in June and stuff. And, you know, we're a little bit behind that timetable this year. But, you know, the overall tone of the article is like it's it's a matter of formality. But, you know, would like to see it get completed sooner than later.
00:09:29
Speaker
On the other side of it, usuallyly it's the first round pick it's usually the first round pick that waits out a little bit longer than then the second round. So like i said, it's just an interesting situation that Belton hasn't signed as a second round pick.
00:09:43
Speaker
Yeah. But going to the other side of it in terms of roster moves. So, you know, you have most of the draft pick signs. Belton is still in in limbo. The And Jair situation finally got closure while we were, know, while Joe was doing his other pods and stuff. And You know, we we made our, are both of us have made our stance. You know, I'll just say stance because we were kind of in the same field that we didn't understand the need to push him out the door and stuff. And what Packers did, the Packers, you know, there was reports that they tried to renegotiate with him, yada, yada.
00:10:24
Speaker
And in the end, they couldn't come to an agreement. So the Packers cut ties and moved on. And You know, you had the you had the sensible fallout where people were picking apart the like, oh, what did he sign for with Baltimore? Is that what Green Bay offered? Is it not? Were the guarantees different?
00:10:44
Speaker
Honestly, with regards to all of that, my own, you know, people can debate that side of it all they want. My literal only concern is They better hope that their faith in the guys they have is that they'll be as strong coverage players as they believe them to be.
00:11:02
Speaker
And that the changes that, you know, the third year leap for Lucas, the continued improvement, that the additions they made in the draft and the change in the defensive line coach are going to make the the sizable upgrades for the defensive past defense or for the past defense.
00:11:24
Speaker
Because like I said, Jair was far from a sure thing. There was a lot you're gambling on if he was on the roster. But you're supposedly, again, you're supposedly a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
00:11:38
Speaker
And you're cutting top tier talent, who I know has been injured a lot, but he's still top tier talent to some regard. So it's like, we'll see.
00:11:49
Speaker
like that's i know that's a really, like not necessarily the answer people are looking for, but honestly, we'll see is the only thing I've got to say because nothing...
00:12:00
Speaker
and either of us say or do on this pod is going to change what's happened or how it was handled. And we're not going to know what this situation looks like until the Packers take the field in September.
00:12:15
Speaker
Well, and I know people have drug up my, well, not people per se. I know Wendell did bring up what I said before and all that, but I really do still think this is kind of a mistake.
00:12:31
Speaker
I know the Packers are known to be the type that, well, we'd rather do it a year but but sooner than a year later. And now it's all going to be he said, she said type crap. So you don't know what to believe and all that stuff.
00:12:47
Speaker
But according to Jair's dad, which supposedly they did an interview with somebody, did an interview with him and he talked about it. The Packers lowballed him and basically said something that what Jair signed for in Baltimore, had he been offered that by Green Bay, he would have stayed around.
00:13:11
Speaker
which I think Baltimore, what was it? It was one year, 6 million. And I don't remember how much it was like guaranteed. I think it's like four or something and it can go up to six or seven or something.
00:13:24
Speaker
Yeah. So that that's kind of disheartening in a way you've already got this guy under contract. You already got this guy. You're already going to have to pay him $17 million no matter what you do, whether you keep him around, whether you get rid of him, whatever.
00:13:43
Speaker
You couldn't at least meet him at that point because
00:13:49
Speaker
I don't know. i just I guess I don't have near the faith that the team has in what they've got. Now, I should go back and say I don't think they're bad.
00:14:02
Speaker
I don't think they're bad at all. I just don't think there's that all pro star in that secondary or in that corner room. Secondary is different story. You got McKinney.
00:14:14
Speaker
You got Evan Williams that played pretty good when he was healthy last year. Uh, Javon Bullard is back for another year. So you've got guys over there and this is nothing against Nate Hobbs. This is nothing against Carrington Valentine.
00:14:30
Speaker
If you guys remember right, and Mike, you probably remember it. When the Packers drafted him, I was happy as hell they drafted Carrington Valentine. I loved what I saw out of Carrington. This is nothing against them.
00:14:43
Speaker
It's just you're, you're,
00:14:48
Speaker
what what's What's the saying? you're Instead of keeping around
00:14:57
Speaker
solid talent in a weak room, you weaken the weak room. Yeah, because there's no depth there. They didn't replace him with anybody. They didn't draft anybody.
00:15:10
Speaker
They didn't bring it. I mean, yeah, there's some UDF phase and that, but they didn't do anything per se to replace Jair Alexander. You tell Marisol she's had you for a month and a half now.
00:15:24
Speaker
It's my time for an hour. No, no, no. That's that's ah ah Jalen taking a deuce right now. im Calling persistence. But no, I totally agree with you. And that's really the basis of our, like, and i don't I think disdain is almost too strong of a word, but our you know our consternation, our relative confusion, because it's like, okay, yeah.
00:15:47
Speaker
And like you said, it's not that It's not that I think we have scrubs, which I've seen a lot of people say we have, you know, the the rooms kind of split. And I've seen a lot of peoples who tend to be to to be track hoppers who are now like letting it be known that, oh, yeah, I've always been higher on Hobbs and Valentine and.
00:16:11
Speaker
And Keyshawn, you Keyshawn isn't bad as a number one corner. Like we've seen a lot of people who are kind of notorious for being trap hopper, track hoppers say that. And that's all fine and dandy.
00:16:22
Speaker
And You and I have very clear vested interest in the defensive end room. And I know we both want each other's guy to do well too, but there's not a track record. Rashawn is the guy with the best track record at either you know between the quarterback room and the defensive end pass rush room.
00:16:44
Speaker
Rashawn is the guy with the best track record at his position. And even he's not the same kind of top flight player that Jair was capable of being as recently as the beginning last season. And like you said, there is a... the Tying into what I said where...
00:17:02
Speaker
This organization has said that they expect, not they want to, they expect to be a contending franchise this year. And they're, you know, I don't want to say they're moving up their timeline, but because of how Jordan looked in 2023, they're like, we are right there. We have what we need to be a competitive team.
00:17:21
Speaker
And... And to cut one of your, you know, when healthy, and I get that that's a very big caveat, but to cut a guy who, when healthy, is one of the top five best players on your roster and to not have someone who's going to step into that role.
00:17:38
Speaker
And like this is one of those we can roll down the rabbit hole because, you know, we can talk about how they kind of screwed it. They screwed Carrington last year by continuing to try and make Eric Stokes work when it was obvious that Stokes didn't have much left in the tank.
00:17:52
Speaker
But they were still like, we're not going to let Valentine play the majority of snaps during a game. And you... you Don't really go after corners in free agency outside of Hobbs. You don't, you know, I do still think Golden was a necessary thing to do.
00:18:10
Speaker
But then, you know, in the second round, maybe instead of a Belton, who's like a where exactly does he fit player? know, you you go back to like you need corners kind of thing. And it just it I think our main thing where we mesh is.
00:18:25
Speaker
This whole situation in the corner room, it feels like the Packers had, you know, maybe like their 10th toe left in the door, but everything else was out of it on Jair. But they like...
00:18:39
Speaker
didn't fully have the the table set. its I'll liken it to the Rodgers to love transition where, you know, everyone's like, well, they should have just traded Rodgers. You know, they should have done the Denver deal after the 2021 season, you know, the Russ Wilson Denver deal. And, and,
00:18:56
Speaker
While, yes, maybe they should have. And honestly, I was so fed up with Rodgers after the 2021 playoff game, but they should have. But it's hard to trade a two-time defending MVP. like and and you know And they had a much better...
00:19:13
Speaker
situation with love waiting in the wings. You don't even have that equivalent in the cornerback room necessarily. And that's where you and I are in agreement that it's like, what exactly is the play
Defensive Line Coaching Changes
00:19:26
Speaker
here? Like, and like I said, that's where you kind of draw the lines out that it's like, okay, I know that this, that this defense, you know our new defensive line coach comes highly touted.
00:19:38
Speaker
you know and there there's a lot of optimism from from half lee and you know they're they're expecting a lot of improvement there but at the same time it's like okay i do believe rashawn was bouncing back or in the process of bouncing back down the down the end of the season but and i and you and i both really believe in lucas but at the same time that's a lot of faith to be putting in
00:20:07
Speaker
coaching change, driving internal development. And like I said, it would be one thing if this was Love's first season. This was twenty going into 2023. You and I wouldn't be having this much of a conversation.
00:20:19
Speaker
There would be a little poo-pooing about like, oh man, like you wish that you had gotten something for Jair. But at the same time, it's like maybe the situation is just not worth it for a team that's like going through a you know ah know ah ah ah transition at the quarterback position. You know you you can't really like...
00:20:37
Speaker
have that hanging over your young team's head and all that kind of stuff. But when you're supposedly gearing up for a championship run, this is the kind of move that's like, what?
00:20:48
Speaker
Like, what's the plan? Like, yeah. And not to not to, you know, make apples to apples, but...
00:20:57
Speaker
there's parts of this that feels like the Wayne Simmons situation in 1997 where ah ah Leroy Butler, I think to his grave, will say that, you know, you could have just stuck it out with Wayne Simmons for like four more months. And Leroy, I think to his grave, will state that we would have beaten the Broncos because he's like, our superpower is that Wayne Simmons kicked the shit out of, out of,
00:21:23
Speaker
Shannon Sharp, but now Leroy has to cover Shannon Sharp and the trickle down effect from there kind of thing. And I liken it to that where it's like, you know, like Leroy always said, you don't have another Wayne Simmons in the parking lot waiting to come in for you.
00:21:39
Speaker
And you don't have that guy. And hey, I would love for both of us to be wrong and have one of Hobbs Carrington or Nixon become just play out of their dome and, you know, lead help lead this team to a championship.
00:21:54
Speaker
But, you know, for all the hand-wringing over Jair, Hobbs is kind of the same guy with less, you know, credentials in terms of accomplishments in his career. And like I said, it would be one thing if the pass rush was a year better already, but it's not. And, you know, there's a lot of reasons to be excited, but they're just excitement at this point. There's not anything concrete, but...
00:22:16
Speaker
It's just one of those, you know, like I said, you hope that it's not a pitfall, that it's just a bump in the road. But it's a little hard to see where, know, where the line the where the lane lines are taking us at this point.
00:22:29
Speaker
Well, speaking on what you said about Nate Hobbs is basically like Jair anyway, you look at it, he's had the same injury history.
00:22:39
Speaker
2022 played 11 games. 2023 played 13 games. 2024 played 11 games and only started seven of them. So he's got injuries in there.
00:22:51
Speaker
On top of that, the guys that you have on the roster, Carrington's been banged up. Keyshawn's been banged up. So you can't just say, oh, well, we got rid of him because he can't stay healthy.
00:23:05
Speaker
So this is what... This is what the current roster looks like with cornerbacks on it. You've got a course. This is how I view the starting lineup's going to go.
00:23:18
Speaker
You got Nate Hobbs starting on one side.
00:23:22
Speaker
Well, no, I'm going to take that back because this is the situation. Nate Hobbs played primarily slot. Now they've said that they believe he can be just as good on the outside as he can on the inside.
00:23:35
Speaker
But here's how I think it's going to happen because Keyshawn can't play the slot and Carrington can't play the slot. So you can't have three boundary corners. There's only two boundaries. So you're going to have to go with if Carrington's not starting, then you have and Hobbs and Nixon on the outside.
00:23:55
Speaker
If Carrington's starting, then you have Carrington and Nixon on the outside with Hobbs in the slot. Then behind them, you got Kalen King, who was a seventh-round pick last year, Greg Jr., Micah Robinson, that was, what, was a
Bo Melton's Roster Strategy
00:24:11
Speaker
sixth-round pick this year, seventh-round pick this year, Tyron Herring, Kamal Hayden, who was on the practice squad all last year, Isaiah Dunn, and Jonathan Baldwin.
00:24:23
Speaker
All no names. nothing No disrespect to any of those guys. they're all There's no name to them. There's there's no there's no history to them to say that guy's going to be the next sam shields or that guy's going to be the next ramon williams or that guy or that guy's going to be the next uh and we'll talk to this and talk about this just right as soon as i say this they're they're supposedly letting bo melton play yeah switch positions
00:24:55
Speaker
I heard Matt LaFleur talk about the Travis Hunter situation down in Jacksonville when kind of speaking on Bo Melton. So it sounds like that there's a possibility he could both be wide receiver and corner for this team.
00:25:09
Speaker
He was doing workouts at corner during minicamps and that. there's no real There's no way to think that he's going to become all of a sudden the next Richard Sherman. So right now there's depth no depth there You have pieces, but you have no idea what they what they can and can't do.
00:25:28
Speaker
And it just it scares the the life out of me that we're going to have another Darius Gunther chasing Julio Jones across the field. Yeah. And so, yeah.
00:25:41
Speaker
I know we've beat this one to death. Yeah. And you just look at the way the season opens. They're going to find out if they fucked how badly they screwed the pooch with this decision come this season because you open the season with Detroit,
00:25:56
Speaker
Washington Commanders, Browns, Cowboys. Four teams that in some regard want to throw the ball around. I know the Lions want to run and all that kind of stuff, but you know they have the ability to bo you know throw the ball around the field.
00:26:09
Speaker
Washington, have daniels Jaden Daniels, and they just want to wing it around the park. Cleveland, I'm not sure what their offense is going to look like, so you just kind of leave that as an open book. And then Dallas, it's like they have to make good on the DAC contract. So it's like they're going to wing it around. So you're going to find early on whether that whether this decision at corner is worth it. And also to a degree, how much the pass rush has improved as we kind of touched on. So but yeah, let's let's talk about Bo at this point.
00:26:44
Speaker
We'll keep it moving here. so You know, Bo Melton has been on the roster, what, three years now at this point? And he is definitely he's definitely in the territory of, all right, they just drafted a bunch of guys who play similar roles. They signed a guy in Meikle Hardman who does similar things to me.
00:27:04
Speaker
got to find ways to prove myself more adaptable, more variable, more versatile so they can try and stay on this roster. And... He's trying a relatively late career move to corner. You know, I know that it's a little murky in terms of, you know, how much he's going to play there. If he's going full time, LaFleur has made comments about Travis Hunter.
00:27:28
Speaker
i think at this point in his career, he's got to pick one or the other. I don't think you can really have half, half lane it. Playing two sides of the ball at this point. And yeah,
00:27:40
Speaker
and In my opinion, though, i don't think so because he's still young enough and he's got all the athletic traits in the world that you want out of a guy that can do something like that. You know, he's got the speed. He's got the moveability. He's got, you know, almost everything you would ask for.
00:27:59
Speaker
i just I know some of the common talking threads on this is that it's more so he can get the upper hand when it comes to special teams.
00:28:10
Speaker
which kind of makes sense in a way. But I really like you just said, I think it's just him trying to find a way to stay on the roster with everything that they have. Unfortunately, ni Nicole, i I just unless something happens, i don't know if he sticks around.
00:28:26
Speaker
i He's the one guy that I really feel sorry for, because if he knew that they were going to load up in a position, I don't think he would have signed here.
00:28:39
Speaker
especially only on a one-year deal, I think he would have found a different team to go to where he would have been able to be used more. And then this is before the people come at me, well, special teams.
00:28:51
Speaker
I understand that. But you got guys like Savion Williams, Bo Melton, those type of people who can do the same thing on special teams as Mecole Hardman can do.
00:29:03
Speaker
So, and you can't just, like we've said before, on an NFL roster, you can't justify just having that one guy do nothing but punt and kick returns.
00:29:15
Speaker
You've got to be able to move him in and out of different spots. You know, it's not like it was the 90s where you could just bring in Desmond Howard and he doesn't get any snaps on anything but punt and kick returns.
00:29:29
Speaker
you've got to be able to bring him bring in him bring him into play because if you don't, who are you going to justify him taking their spot?
00:29:40
Speaker
Yeah. And I know the but easy counter to that is the d the the the guys that Bisaccia has brought and kept along on this roster.
00:29:53
Speaker
And really, though, the the only one that was really a bad like case of that was... I've already blocked his name. The safety. Leavitt. Yeah, Leavitt. Other than that, I mean, Nixon has proven... you Nixon has basically said, like...
00:30:06
Speaker
f special teams at this point the rules are so dumb at this point and stuff and which i think is just excuses and this isn't a bag on queshawn i know we've been you know kind of talking against him but i do like queshawn yeah but if you remember right when the rules changed he was excited for him he's ready for it and now that it didn't go his way he's like i don't want to do it anymore yeah and therere and And it's not... And I know some people going like, oh, it's because he fumbled. No, it's not because of that. It's... I do think he is pretty, like, annoyed that, like, the year... Like, instead of teams kicking to them, it's like, oh, they, like, leveraged everything to, like, really take returning out of the game kind of thing.
00:30:50
Speaker
And so I do understand... i agree with you. There's definitely a sour grapes couple. Because I think as recently as, like, OTAs, he was kind of like, I can be talked into doing it again.
00:31:02
Speaker
I think it was just like end of the season. Like you said, like just like we were saying, you couldn't take everything Jair, anything Jair said at face value at the end of the season. You couldn't really take anything that Nixon said at face value because, you know, he's coming off of Honestly, you know, he's definitely fumbled, but they the Packers definitely got screwed out of the recovery call and that stuff. And it's like, you just lost the game pretty, you know, in a pretty crappy fashion where like half the guys got injured and stuff. And then it's like,
00:31:32
Speaker
Yeah, screw that. I don't want to do that anymore. But going back to Bo, the funny thing is that, I mean, the homerun case in this scenario is like, we just find out that, oh, like, shit, he should have been playing corner his entire life kind of thing. like Like his brother, in all honesty.
00:31:50
Speaker
And like, there is an element to it where it's kind of like... Maybe that happens. you know Like you said, he does have the movement skills. hes and that I know it's nowhere near the same, but you see him be a guy where he covers ground really well as a gunner on the punt team.
00:32:10
Speaker
And that's not playing corner or anything like that. but Being a receiver who can go track a ball carrier, take good angles and make a tackle.
00:32:22
Speaker
Hey, that's honestly the harder part to play in corner than, you know, everyone's like, oh, you got to cover. No, that that's honestly the easier part. Like you can learn how to to game coverages, game route combinations, all that kind of stuff.
00:32:35
Speaker
the If a guy can or wants to tackle, that's the hard part to figure out. And the fact that he's shown like a willingness to do that side of it, I'm like, okay, there might be some legs to it. And on top of it, you've got the athleticism, you have the explosiveness.
00:32:50
Speaker
And he does... For whatever it's worth, he hits the the most important threshold he hits for the Packers is he breaks the seven-second three-cone threshold for them, which I know a lot of people roll their eyes at the thresholds, but you just look at the guys who don't hit that threshold in Packers history, and there's a lot of guys that you're like, what is he doing out there? He can't move and stuff like that. Yeah.
00:33:15
Speaker
I'm not saying any of these things mean like they'll add up and like, oh my God, they have a potential pro bowl corner, but it's like the footprints are there that it's like, oh, this is legitimately something we can have conversations about. Not like, oh my God, he's so desperate. He knows the end is near kind of thing. Like there is an element to it.
00:33:34
Speaker
And we both kind of joked about it, but also like there's enough there that's on film from his gunner to his athleticism to, um Just, you know, the willingness to do it that you're like, maybe there's something there.
00:33:46
Speaker
and And there's a reason for optimism for both Melton and the team. but And I think somebody actually took his combine results and plugged them in to the calculator. And he actually tested out better as a corner than he did a wide receiver.
00:34:06
Speaker
Especially because his size isn't as bad because, you know, he's 5'11", 190-ish, and that's solid for a corner. And it is just funny how, like, you're not playing the same position, but you're playing on the same part of the field, and it's such a, like, oh, my God, his size is such a negative at receiver, but at corner, it's like, oh, he's, like, well-sized for the position kind of thing and stuff. like And you would think, honestly, that...
00:34:35
Speaker
he'd be able to read the quarterback a little bit better with his ability, you know, his processes with being a wide receiver and knowing how to play the ball, you know, his ball skills should be out of this world.
00:34:49
Speaker
So yeah it's going to be an interesting concept. And, you know, I have a feeling it is the, the, the last ditch effort to find his, his right spot on here, but,
00:35:03
Speaker
and Because I don't think he doesn't have any more practice squad eligibility left. No, he's done. Yeah. So, but, but the part of it there is that I think he has a better chance of making it as a corner than he does as a wide receiver.
00:35:15
Speaker
You know, you, you, unless is there a loophole? Is there a loophole that if he changes positions, they can get three more years out of the practice squad? I don't think so. I think it's attached to the name, not the position. Yeah.
00:35:27
Speaker
yeah So, but no, i and, and, you know, not that it's a bad thing, because look how long we've been wanting, you know, all the the talent at wide receiver.
00:35:41
Speaker
But I do feel, I do feel bad for like, like I said, Bo Melton. and my guy Malik Heath and those kind of guys because they're great players.
00:35:52
Speaker
Well, they're they're solid players. They just aren't going to get used because of the fact of now we've got first round wide receiver Matthew Golden. We've got third round wide receiver Savion Williams.
00:36:07
Speaker
We signed Nicole Hardman. you know we're And of course, you know the big thing is is when is Christian Watson going to be back? And of course him and Dobbs are are on the last years of the contract. So do they re-sign him? Do they let him both go?
00:36:23
Speaker
Do they only sign one? Do they not sign the other? Mike's celebrating because of some sporting event over there. Padres. Go Padres. Oh, I'm out of baseball right now. My Braves are on this fucking shit list. So...
00:36:39
Speaker
honestly if it wasn't for marisol's padres i would be too because i again have continued to boycott my red socks until further notice because john henry has become a little honestly a wuss about everything about ownership when he's basically printing money but that's neither here nor there on this podcast but um but uh yeah i mean it's gonna be an interesting battle this summer Yeah. So I look forward to seeing it. and you you know, this is my spot where I'm going to break in. I will be up in Green Bay, August 18th through the 26th. So if you see me around, don't hit me.
00:37:14
Speaker
You can hug me. can shake my hand, but just don't hit me. I'm getting too old for that shit.
Demarcus Covington's Impact
00:37:24
Speaker
But other than those, like, I know we hit those big topics, but I mean, I know another one that we've touched on. It's not new news, but like we've been touching on the Demarcus Covington addition as the new defensive line and run game coordinator for the defensive staff.
00:37:41
Speaker
Seems to be getting a lot of appraise both from the players and the rest of the staff. Yeah. You know, not too much you can gain out of that from OTAs and this not even, you know, like as we're not even in preseason, but...
00:37:57
Speaker
we'll you know We'll see where that goes. Covington comes with a really good track record in terms of success with the Patriots. and The Patriots haven't necessarily had top-end talent when it comes to like draft capital spent at the position kind of thing. He has made a lot of do with day-two kind of pick guys and stuff. so we'll see We'll see where that stacks. But...
00:38:23
Speaker
You know, you really do hope that it, like I said, there's a lot of reasons for optimism with how this off-scene has gone. But also, like I said, the reason that you and I are not jumping up and down about the things that seem to be playing out well is the Jair situation combined with the fact that, okay, what is good enough in a year that you're expecting to be Super Bowl contenders?
00:38:48
Speaker
And that's really the barometer for what this Packers team is measuring itself against. Like I said, the Jair situation, if it played out this way before the 2023 season, we would have, like I said, we would have kind of, we would have kind of complained that, you could have at least gotten a day three pick for him kind of thing.
00:39:07
Speaker
But and otherwise. And I think still would have had some of the same arguments though that, yeah you know, if if they if they, yeah, yeah, yeah. Even if they would have, not even if they would have done it in 2023 going into the 2024 season, you know, if they still would have followed through with the way they did things and not bring in, you know, draft a guy in the second round or draft a guy in the first round or whatever it is.
00:39:34
Speaker
And they just stayed pat. And the only thing they did was sign Nate Hobbs or you know, whatever it is. Yeah. yeah yeah so it just that would i think i would still question at that point and i think that's the only reason why i question it now is there's no real corresponding move to it you know that and to all those that well they need to bring this rule back i'm sorry results 31 31. like yeah he didn't look good last year
00:40:05
Speaker
he can't move anymore and like the The best case is like, oh, he's there to mentor the younger players and maybe you could play him at safety. But you already got too many safeties on this roster.
00:40:18
Speaker
You know, the there's all this talk about like, oh my God, is Javon Bullard in trouble? He's not. They're going to find a role for him and stuff. And Williams wasn't healthy all season. There's no way. Yeah. like There's no way. They do not give up on second round picks anywhere near that quickly. So like, get that out of your head.
00:40:36
Speaker
And then... The other side of it is like just... And then, you know, you see other names like Asante Samuel Jr. thrown around.
00:40:46
Speaker
He's been, you know, kind of like you brought up with the Hobbs. He's been even more as injured as Jair has been the past... you know, basically the past timeframe of their contract of their, of Asante's career and Jair's like final year of his rookie contract going into his, updated contract. Like it's, he's the same type of injured player. So.
00:41:11
Speaker
Well, I think the one he's going through now is a neck injury, isn't it? Yeah. Even more so. So if he was such this hot commodity, why isn't he signed already? Yeah. As far as I know, he's still a free agent.
00:41:25
Speaker
And if he was this hot commodity, then there would be no wishing he would be on the team because he'd already be signed somewhere. Yep. So that just tells me that there's nothing there.
00:41:36
Speaker
So unless they can find a guy like they did Rizul, where it's just, ah you know, they they take a chance on somebody and they that somebody plays out out of their mind, then we're stuck with what we got.
00:41:50
Speaker
yep
00:41:53
Speaker
But at this point, anything else you wanted to discuss in regards to where the offseason's going, what's been going on, or kind of put a bull in this episode?
Aaron Rodgers' Move to Pittsburgh
00:42:02
Speaker
Unless you want to talk about Rodgers ending up in Pittsburgh a little bit.
00:42:07
Speaker
I mean, i guess i guess we're almost like, there's no contract, but we're almost obligated to talk about it. Like... I just, I mean, i hope the best for him in a way.
00:42:21
Speaker
i know he's not been anybody's favorite person for a while because of the stuff that he talks about. But he does still have love for Green Bay in that. So I got to give him credit for that. So I got to give him, you know, I like.
00:42:33
Speaker
Yeah, like, like he made it crappy for Jordan, but. Jordan himself says like he did a lot of good things for me while I was here. he did try to have a solid relationship and, you know, we still text and stuff. So, you know, you do have to, know, like you said, you do have to make commend him for that because I do appreciate that as weird and as it really insane as he got at the end.
00:42:59
Speaker
He did make sure that he didn't do exactly the same thing Brett did to him as a rookie to so Jordan. so And then the other side of it is... Yeah. And the...
00:43:11
Speaker
the The other side of it for me, the outside of Packers here for me is my dad and my brother are Steelers fans. And for them, I kind of like lament. I have no idea what the Steelers are doing at this point.
00:43:23
Speaker
Like, I don't understand what they' or what their franchise direction is. I i don't know if... They're just like, we're just so tied to Tomlin at this point. It's hard to move on kind of thing and stuff.
00:43:39
Speaker
But i who I think would get hired immediately if he got fired by Pittsburgh. But at the same time, That one does feel like almost an Andy Reid in Philadelphia situation where it's kind of run its course.
00:43:53
Speaker
Yeah, it does. And like, you know, make all the jokes you want. The whole no losing records thing, it is impressive, especially when you consider like he hasn't had a quarterback the last three years.
00:44:07
Speaker
But at the same time, it's like, I don't understand what they're trying to do here. Like, it's... Yeah. yeah So like you said, and I got to give him credit. You know, i think Will Howard is a solid quarterback that if he can get a little bit of time to sit and learn and that he might be able to be a starter.
00:44:29
Speaker
But and then they have DK, but they kind of did to Pittsburgh fans with Goody did to Packers fans last year where. We had that glimmer of hope for like a half hour that we were going to have Aaron Jones and Josh Jacobs on the same team.
00:44:45
Speaker
And Pittsburgh did the same thing, thinking that they were going to have DK Metcalf and George Pickens on the same team. And then they got rid of Pickens.
00:44:55
Speaker
So, you know, and I really, you know, I don't follow the Steelers way too much. So i I'm not sure what their whole wide receiver room is made up of. So I don't know what kind of weapons Rogers is going to have to throw to, but if they don't get their offensive line fixed, Rogers isn't going to do any better in Pittsburgh than he did in, in New York.
00:45:17
Speaker
Yeah. It is a better situation than what New York had, but they also like got injured a bunch kind of thing. So it's, Yeah. yeah
00:45:28
Speaker
As much as I'm like, I very much got very tired with all the Rodgers stuff at the end. i didn't want to see him go off sad potatoes like he did when he blew his Achilles on the first quarter of his time as a ah Jet.
00:45:41
Speaker
And... You just really... hope I'm just at the point where I'm like, you just really don't want him to go out there and realize like two weeks in like, like oh man, like he can't play anymore of thing. and like But the thing is, is he's still got the arm talent. You can see him throwing and he's still got the talent and he's still got the mind for the game.
00:46:02
Speaker
and You just don't know what's going on there that's not allowing him to be what he was. Is the body really failing that much? Yeah. You know, ah ah you know, the arms there, the minds there, but the rest of the body just can't keep up.
00:46:17
Speaker
Or is it, you know, I hate to be that guy, but is it maybe some of the off of the off the field shit that is dragging him down? Ayahuasca hasn't given him new legs at this point. Something like that or those darkness retreats or.
00:46:33
Speaker
You know. being immunized and not being vaccinated or however you want. I guess he is married now. Yeah. So, you know, congrats to him. We'll close on Bakhtiari, like kind of setting him ablaze for that. I know it was all in just, but it was hilarious that Bakhtiari had the post like, I got invited to one Packers quarterback wedding this season.
00:46:57
Speaker
I that was that was a lot of fun to see and stuff well it makes you wonder if it was one of those weird ones where they were in like jamaica and jumped a broom oh absolutely this was no this was no u.s courthouse marriage that like oh there were there was no need for witnesses there there were no witnesses because there were no witnesses there was right you know there was no crowd there was no nothing it was just they were randomly in this one weird, not weird, but this one offshoot country on vacation. And, you know, they walked around a table and all of a sudden now they're
Future Podcast Plans
00:47:31
Speaker
married. Now they gotta be like, all right, well, it's legal. You know, and this that's the unfortunate thing is Roger's long past the line where it's like, you know,
00:47:41
Speaker
five years ago even probably this would be a like oh that's nice you know he had his nice you know private moment but think it's up now it's like the the weird gets attached in numerous settings and numerous was it that they were they were in a darkness retreat and whoever's hand you grabbed first was like you're the person you were marrying or something
00:48:04
Speaker
But like I said, ah ah do on some level wish him the best. And yeah, I just don't want to see it where it's like, oh, he should have just retired. what's it called?
00:48:16
Speaker
but oh, shucks. what's see it called? Matub and Paul Noonan on their pod. One of Noonan's jokes is that he goes, if we know anything about Rogers, he does like to make money. you got to have money to go on darkness retreats.
00:48:33
Speaker
So, yeah you know, it's sad to say that maybe it is almost forced in a sense, because it's like, oh, like, what's my, you know, he does not make in state farm commercials and stuff like that anymore. And also, no
00:48:47
Speaker
But yeah, yeah, I just it. I mean, congrats on him and Jordan got married to so congrats to him and that and, you know, more power to him. It just it was really random to find out that that Aaron got married because it was just in a fucking.
00:49:02
Speaker
What was it? It was after a practice and it was like a little press conference deal where, you know, they were asking questions and he just kind of blurred out, well, you know, I did get married and shit like that. It's like, what?
00:49:15
Speaker
Yeah. But before we completely close out, and since we're kind of just now just trashing Rogers for some of his decisions, I do want to say that we probably will still be doing the offseason off-topic stuff for a little bit longer, probably until maybe training camp, maybe around when the first preseason happens, our preseason game happens.
00:49:41
Speaker
So if you guys want any, you know, you have any guests that you want on here, just let us know. And we will be doing a schedule thing where we're going to do our our predictions for games, probably like we did last year sometime and during training camp. We'll do that.
00:50:02
Speaker
That way we can get those on record. So we are going to be doing Packer stuff. We aren't switching the format of this. I'm just trying to do something that that way we have content flowing out, not just you know, dead air for, for, you know, four months or whatever. And, and yeah, so you don't sound hard yeah don't be disheartened. We are a Packers podcast.
00:50:28
Speaker
I'm just trying to get you guys something to listen to other than the same three talking points over and over again. You know, this is this is Joe pulling out his Paul Rudd close-up magic from Ant-Man and the Wasp. so But like you like Joe said, we'll put a bow on it. Thank you for joining us today as we recapped where the Packers offseason has been to this point.
00:50:52
Speaker
Check back with us in six-ish weeks, basically, when training camp starts. oh but Not when it starts, but when we're in the thick of training camp because you know media availability is going to be light. There's not going to be too much true like practice practice reps and all that kind of stuff. So we'll kind of really pick it up as the team gets into preseason prep and all that kind of stuff. but Until next time, that's Iowa Joe. I'm Mike.
00:51:15
Speaker
Go Pack Go and Aloha.