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OPE S2 Episode 65 Bring on the Preseason with CheezeTalk!
33 Plays3 months ago
Aloha and welcome to another episode of OPE! This week we bring on fellow OPE Network podcaster Brian Rago of @cheezetalkpodcast ! we give our top 5 thing we are looking forward to watching during the preseason games! Be sure to like subscribe and check out our website ohanapackers.org where we have all of our past episodes, our great articles and even a merch store!
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Transcript
Introduction & Guest Welcome
00:00:07
Speaker
So, Aloha and welcome back to another episode of the AHANA Packers Edition podcast. The podcast where two dudes from halfway around the world talk everything green and gold. Tonight, we're joined by Cheesetalk Pod, Brian. Brian, thanks for joining us today as we go into the last, what should be the last of our direction-less episodes as we search for topics to talk about the Packers while we patiently wait for games to be played again. Brian, thank you for joining join tonight. How are you doing? Good, how are you? Thanks for having me. Yeah.
00:01:01
Speaker
Great, great. I know that we've all got stuff going on. Joe is dealing with the two of us. Brian's got dogs. I've got barely staying awake at this point, but we're going to motor through this one like the professionals that we are. Five kids too. yeah And as the absolute professionals, we're putting on a top five draft of things we'd like to see from the Packers this preseason.
Top Five Draft Predictions
00:01:26
Speaker
The super professional journalistic um integrity portion of this is we do not have the topics picked out or written down anywhere. The draft order is, will you get to pick your topics before you have to come up with others because someone else has picked your topic? and We're going to go.
00:01:42
Speaker
snake order so we'll start with Brian because Brian's um even though he is with oat network he is our guest quote unquote for today's pod um and then it will go to Joe and then to me and then I will go first in the second round then Joe and then Brian and so forth until we get through five rounds of this um so No real rules as we kind of discussed before the show. We're just going to try and keep it preseason centric. But obviously that conversation may organically lead to some regular season talk. But as much as we can, we will try and keep this preseason oriented. But Brian, fire off whatever topic comes to mind as to what you're looking for as the most important thing you're wanting to see out of the Packers this preseason run.
Packers' Defensive Strategies
00:02:28
Speaker
I want to see the speed of the defense, stopping the speed of the defense as they try to fix that run that that run disaster we had last year, the run defense. um I think switching to the 4-3 is good. I just want to see a fast defense that's flying around, making the right plays. I think we hit that with who we drafted.
00:02:51
Speaker
I think that's what everybody wants to look at is just the, cause if I, if I was first, I would probably be the first one on, you know, my number one draft pick is just how that defense is going, you know, how fast it's going to be the kind of pressures that they're going to do the kind of run stopping. So yeah, that that's gotta be the obvious number one pick out of it all. And it's a good one, Brian, because Stop me if you've heard this before. This Packers defense is faster than anyone you've seen before. I feel like we've heard that every freaking year since the Super Bowl and we we've heard it. And then you have moments where like Julius Pepper's absolute legend of the game. But his first game as a Packer, he's standing what looks like with cement on his feet as ah Percy Harvin goes running by him on an end around and it's like, oh.
00:03:43
Speaker
Nobody's moving. Great. of think its And so like, yeah, like to kind of expand, it's like the physical speed of the defense, but also kind of like Brian alluded to this shift from this 3-4 front that I always preferred the 3-4, but if your defensive coordinator is not going to really utilize the 3-4 for what it's supposed to be intended to do, you might as well dumb it down and go to a 4-3 and just be like, these are our 11 guys, and this is what we're going to do kind of thing. so It seems like a lot of the system is in place to so operate that way. And yeah, Brian, that's a great first pick to kick us off with. Oh, and then that too, it gives us a better chance of not seeing Preston Smith covering a wide receiver. Yeah. And to clarify that, that's not on Preston at all. That is purely at the feet of Joe Berry that he had never had the imagination to switch that call up where it's like, everyone asks, how does that always happen? How does that often happen?
00:04:43
Speaker
It's like, okay, the whole premise is the three, four, you've got three down linemen who are rushing, and then you have four linebackers, one of them's coming, and Barry's like, well, I'm not changing which one, it's always going to be Rashawn. It's like, all right, Preston, go do something faster. You're going to do that. You better put in the safety, covering that receiver, and putting Preston Smith at safety. You know what I'm saying? Maybe as he's bailing out of there, he might, you know, just as he's trying to sprint, he might get in the way of something. The thing that I always said about Joe Berry was that he could coach a position group.
00:05:24
Speaker
but he couldn't develop a defensive scheme because he had no ability to adjust on the fly. He could install a scheme, but it had to be somebody else's scheme. He could never do it on his own. He had, he he could go right out of the playbook. Okay. You got to do this. You got to do that. You got to do that. But when he was getting his ass kicked on the field, he couldn't adjust to it. And that's where you would get the things like Preston on Devontae or you know, in the red zone, you've only got three down linemen and shit like that.
00:05:57
Speaker
Or, you know, I know Mike's boy is, uh, Darnell Savage. You have a regression in Darnell Savage from the pet in years to that year because he's putting them out of place. Well, you can't, he's got to be able to adjust in the game and he never could adjust in the game. Now he could coach the hell out of players. There's no doubt about it because he was one of the best linebacker coaches you could ever have. He just couldn't create a speed. um With with Halfly though, I have to say this is the first time in a long, long time that I remember the defense being as like excited as they were about playing in a.
00:06:40
Speaker
I have to say this even goes back to when capers first came in yeah that i that the players have really bought into the system. They're really excited. He happily is taking advice or not advice, but he's he's taking suggestion from players because I think it was. Rashaan said something about the, or half way was talking about how Rashaan came in and said something about, um we need to really fire up and we need to get in this. And from that moment, half way was like, yeah, go for it. And now they've been you know basically off the rocker on things and just went like their hair is on fire. So.
00:07:21
Speaker
This is the first time in a long time I've been excited about the defense. And I think this is the first time in a long time that I think that players are excited for their defense. Yeah, as a whole, like as a whole unit kind of thing. Because before like with that you've had individuals who played for certain ones of these coordinators who are like, oh, no, it's a good system. like I'm going to show these guys why it's great. And the other half of the defense is like, all right. like We'll see how it goes. like like like Both of you appointed. This is the first time in a while, probably since that 2010 season, where all the guys in that defensive in that defensive meeting room are like, we're going to do some shit on the field this season. so Well, that too, and you look at, you know, I mean, Nicole, I mean, I would spoken in a good way Jair was last year, you know, then if we get, if we get a healthy Stokes back and then you you get x Xavier McKinney, a captain from the defense in New York, and then you draft Javon Bullard brings even more sway to that defense.
00:08:22
Speaker
This is gonna be one scary defense.
Offensive Line & Aaron Rodgers
00:08:24
Speaker
I think, I think this is gonna be year of like narrative rehab for a lot of like for a Jair for guys who you know they were labeled as potentially toxic or you know like you shouldn't you know no matter what you shouldn't talk about your defensive coordinator you know like all that kind of crap but it's like if you really baked it down to its core it's like none of them said anything that was wrong or ah you know like They didn't say it in a totally inflammatory way. You just don't like who the messenger is kind of thing. Like, and well, they don't want things going out external. They want to keep everything internal. They don't want the media hearing that there's this, there's dysfunction in the defensive room. So yeah. And you gotta, you gotta feel that. And don't get me wrong. I love Matt LaFlore.
00:09:12
Speaker
He's a hell of a coach, but this was his first actual hire for a coordinator position. I mean, he pretty much kept a lot of the same guys that came over with the McCarthy era. And the Joe Berry signing was his first major signing as a coordinator. And you got to think he wasn't going to admit there was a mistake until he had to admit there was a mistake. Yeah. And when you've got players walking out there saying, hey, this is, you know, look at Devondri Campbell.
00:09:44
Speaker
You know, Devondre was at his outspoken as he could get there towards the end of his time in Green Bay. Jair was doing some weird ass shit, not like weird ass shit in a bad way, but when it came to the defense and all that stuff. And I strongly believe that's why Jerry Gray was let loose before Joe Berry was, because if everybody remembers, right, there was a rumor going around that Jerry Gray was pretty much undermining ah joe bery'
00:10:16
Speaker
Joe Barry's position because the the secondary was going to Jerry for their assignments more than they were going to Barry. Yeah. and And, you know, you can't have that. You've got a hierarchy, you know, you've got to answer to the coordinator. Well, when the coordinator doesn't know what the hell he's doing, you got to go somewhere. So.
00:10:43
Speaker
And we've talked about that for over a year now, didn't we, Mike, about how dysfunctional Joe Berry's shit was. Yeah. I've been saying it since like the the last few years, they Rogers and Green Bay too. I mean, it's kind of off topic, but I felt like like players are walking on eggshells around Rogers, especially like people on ah offense. Cause it's like, if I don't get the ball and show production, I'm not going to get paid. So I have to kiss Aaron's ass to to try to get the ball, you know? And then you got the floor as a head coach siding with Rogers. He doesn't want to have that conflict.
00:11:23
Speaker
behind closed doors and I think kind of I can finally run the offense the way he wanted to run it. I think this is why they brought him in is to run this offense that we saw last year and we're going to see you this year. I also, I agree, but I disagree because I think LeFlore would actually would tend, yes, he would follow Roger's lead for a lot of it, but I think that's also why you saw a lot of budding of heads because LeFlore would say, no, we got to do it this way. You need to do this. You need to do that. And, you know, but you would still have, okay, yeah, I get you Aaron, I get you Aaron.
00:12:01
Speaker
Whatever, you know go do what you're gonna do and that's why you heard a lot of the media ah questioning things like okay, you know going into What was it? Was it the first year the floor was in there? And well, how many how are are you gonna let Rogers run it at the line still or is he got answer to you for everything? you know, that's why you're getting those kind of questions because The floor was kind of but it to agree with you an extent ah You could also tell that I've i said this for a little bit too. I remember going up to training camp when the floor was hired. And I remember because I was up there when the Texans came in for joint practices. And I remember going back to my grandpa saying and saying,
00:12:50
Speaker
I think this is the closest we're going to get to Vince Lombardi style coach in Green Bay. And he goes, what do you mean? I said, this guy had no problems going out there and mixing it up with the players, going out there and butting heads with players. Because I remember when um Lonnie, what was it? What was his name? on Mike Lonnie Johnson hit Jay Sternberger and injured Sternberger. the floor was right in the middle of the scrum. It's like this guy is nuts. He's, you know, this isn't the coach we've seen in a long time, but then you saw him get passive after a while. And now we're seeing the resurgence and now we're way off topic. So let's, well but that's up to you. We don't allow other people onto the show. Damn it.
00:13:39
Speaker
but but The two of us are aimless already, so we're just adding more fuel on the fire. Joe, second pick, go. You know, I've said this for a while and I said this, I think it was last week with ah Matt Ramage on the show. My focus, and and this isn't normally my focus because we've been so, if you want to use spoiled over the years with it, My focus is going to be the offensive line. um There's so many questions right now with what's going on. you know We think, and this is my theory on how it's going to play out. We think it's going to be Rashid, Elton, Myers, Morgan, Tom.
00:14:36
Speaker
That's how we think it's probably gonna roll out. But the best we can do is say we think because they've been rotating so many different guys on the offensive line. They've put Elton at center. They've put Morgan at both tackle positions. They've you know they brought in Caleb Jones, didn't bring him in, but they've slotted him in over there. They've slotted- tell first Was it Telford? I was going to say Tanuta because they were really high on Tanuta, but it's Telford, but they so start with tea. So it is what it is. yeah And then tom Tom hasn't been fully healthy yet either. right That's what's also making it a little murky.
00:15:19
Speaker
But didn't LeFlore say after last night or say this morning that they expect Zach Tom to start doing some 11 on 11s this coming week? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he's going to be on this his way back. But then you have what was said, was it last offseason or this offseason that, you know, the Packers view Zach Tom as an all pro Hall of Fame center. So does that mean he's going to be taking snaps at center? You know there's just all these questions going into it. There's the issue that we can rehash with the Jordan Morgan pick in the first round this year. You know the whole reason why I wasn't high on it Mike was iffy on it too.
00:16:00
Speaker
The question is, where the hell does he play? And that's not a good question to be asking about your first round pick is where the hell does he play? You know, well, his arms are too short for tackle, so that means he's a guard. Well, not necessarily he he could play center if you wanted him to. So he's a center. No, he's he's probably going to be a tackle. Well, those are the that's not something you need for a first round pick. So. My big thing is watching the offensive line being rolled out for the preseason game. Obviously not so much for the third one because that's probably going to be primarily second, third, fourth, fifth string guys trying to make, you know, catch the last roster spots. But at least the second preseason game will give us a decent look at what the starting lineup should be.
00:16:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's going to be um interesting to watch how that shakes out. I do think they are going to there. It is going to shake out to the Walker, Elton, Myers. um I guess Morgan, based on how the the Ryan Morgan rotation is going right now and Tom. But like you said Joe, we just haven't seen it yet, you know for a variety of different reasons, you know shuffling Morgan around Tom Working his way back from a pectare and just you know Myers needed some personal days off and stuff So, you know, you had different guys shuffling in and out of that starting five group for a variety of different, you know reasons so we just haven't seen that unit yet and frankly, I it it falls under the category of I
00:17:36
Speaker
I don't care what happens until the first preseason game because it doesn't matter until you see that unit go out and play together against the, you know, not a not practice opponent kind of you got to see a live rep out of that group before you really take any sort of shuffling to to hard on that. So yeah, no, but until we see that music, you know, until the music goes off on that game of musical chairs and we see who's got a seat and who's left standing at the end of it, we're not going to know. And realistically, um you know, especially with how little starters play in the preseason, we may not really know until, you know, week one in Brazil. So
00:18:13
Speaker
um I and you still think that week two in the preseason will get an idea of what their plan is just because that's when you think most of the starters will get a chunk of playing
Preseason Expectations & Jordan Love
00:18:26
Speaker
time. You know week one is usually they only get like a quarter or maybe 10 minutes or the first drive or whatever. Then week two is usually when they do you know, the half and then week three is when none of them play and that that's how normal procedures go. But, you know, we haven't been normal in a long ass time. So who knows what's going to happen? Yeah.
00:18:52
Speaker
Okay, so my first pick, first of two picks is gonna be Jordan Love's deep ball accuracy. Again, this is one of those weird ones where it's like, we don't know how much of that we're gonna see in preseason, but for what we've seen so far in training camp and what we're hearing is he's already taken another step in ah his deep ball shot making. And you know we saw a turn probably from about that Lions Thanksgiving game where before it was kind of like, oh man it's it's short it's why you know everything was short because it was the whole get the ball up that's what she said yeah ah can we stay on topic here sir but i'm sorry it was right there that was a softball of softballs i could have said something else but i i'm not going to be that mean yeah but so
00:19:44
Speaker
Um, it, you know, it looked like love took a more grip it and rip it approach to the second half of the season on his deep ball. We saw, you know, it still wasn't all there, but at least, um, plays were being made. it It wasn't just like, Oh man, that guy's open and it's just, you know, missed opportunity, missed opportunity kind of thing. You know, there was, it was more of the, okay, we're at least gaining 30 yards, but there was a chance for another 15 or more kind of thing. But, it sounds like you know from what we saw on um saturday's uh family night and just what we're seeing a lot of the you know like i said practice practice highlight clips are you know they're helpful but there's also you know a very um a very big grain of salt to be taken with it but i do think love has shown a level of accuracy anticipation on his deep throes that um he didn't have you know at this point last year and like i said
00:20:39
Speaker
the floor and love have been pretty mum on how much love is going to play during the preseason but you know i'm sure if he gets you know a drive a quarter whatever we're going to see a deep shot or two in whatever time he gets on the field so um hoping to see a little bit better um a little bit more proficiency than we saw in last preseason and you know kind of a level of ability that um shows a ah progression from where he was to end the season. So that's the first one that I'm looking for.
Wide Receiver Potential & Predictions
00:21:11
Speaker
And then the second one I'm looking for is to see who out of this um receiver room takes a step from their game last season. and
00:21:20
Speaker
um The elephant in the room is Christian Watson staying on the field. And you know I made the joke after that ah that highlight throw that Love had in Family Night where he throws the absolute perfect ball to the corner of the end zone over Jair's coverage. And I just retweeted it and I said, okay, wrap Watson up, put him in bubble wrap and let's just get him to South America for week one already. um I do. hold And I want to I want to say something about that because I yeah that's one of the things that I seen or I did. I was able to watch Jair didn't get beat. I'm seeing a lot of people yeah say that that Watson beat Jair. He didn't get beat. That was as
00:22:05
Speaker
greatest coverage as you could have. It was just an amazing placement by Jordan Love, and it was an even better um catch by Christian Watson. yeah there's There's no beat there. There's a no better coverage than you could have. The only way Jair could have made a play on there is if he would have been this probably a couple inches taller, then he might have been able to make a better play on it. but there was no better way that he could have played that. But I mean, then again, if you have, if you have like, I've seen videos of dogs in training camp getting behind Jair, if that's the case and we have really good receivers.
00:22:50
Speaker
I mean, you can play the best coverage possible, but if you have say Watson who got, who I think can burn any defense over the top with, he's healthy with his speed. I think, I mean, it's just show us how good our receivers are. I mean, you can't knock out your ever be in a good cornerback. I mean, especially when he's getting beat, if he is getting beat by say dubs and Watson, two of the best in the game. I mean, it's. Yeah, and I will agree. This is probably a great wide receiver core I just I saw that bad take from a couple of different counts yesterday. and Yeah, no, he didn't get beat He was that's that's the that that's the adage of perfect great offense beats great defense every day personified and and
00:23:33
Speaker
To Brian's point, I know a couple of the plays were in the like 11 on 11, but you know the quarterback's not completely live, so you know edge rushers are trying, but they're not. Trying trying kind of thing and stuff and then in the one on ones that is a drill that is geared to the offensive player because unless the coaching staff is like alright, you have until this horn goes off or you have until some. timer goes off the the defense is out there covering like you know like the old like Fran Tarkington days where he runs around the whole the width of the field three times and then just throws the ball to someone who's you know he's open but he's uncovered because he's made like a fifth umta fifth um adjustment on his route kind of thing so um but still great to see the production from Dobbs and yeah it's like
00:24:25
Speaker
you know we've we've spent the last half of the 23-24 season wondering who's going to become that quote-unquote wide receiver one out of this room. Is it a matter of Watson being healthy? Is it Wicks taking a step as you know and ascending young player? Is it Dobbs realizing the the talent that he has? Is it Jaden Reed being you know just so explosive in the slot that he just forces defenses to cover him a different way? So you add all of that up and i I raise that question not so much as to say like I want to pick my favorite kid kind of thing it's more just I do think that those guys that receiver room is turning it into a competition to see who's gonna be the best man standing and the irony of it all is I think that honestly it behooves the Packers that
00:25:16
Speaker
they don't necessarily have a single go-to guy. I think it helps that they have a room of guys that, you know, that is a Swiss Army Night room where it's like, okay, we have five guys that Jordan trusts in almost any situation and we're just going to look at who you got at your quarterback room and we're going to just roll the best matchup options out there. And so, Obviously you want to have a guy that you're like, and I kind of do think it's Dobbs, where it's like, if the thing breaks down, this is who Love is looking for. That's how it seems like it's been throughout the first week and a half of training camp, is Dobbs is a safety net. So, you know, there's times like that where you want to see it, but also
00:26:02
Speaker
If all these guys, and I know that's that's very unlikely, if it does happen, the Packers are winning the Super Bowl. like but I don't think that's even hyperbolic. If the top five wide receivers in Watson stays healthy and takes a step, Dobbs takes a step, Reed stays healthy and takes a step, Wicks takes a step. and then screw it you can pick who you want the fifth one to be and melt in just for the hell of for shits and giggles of having another deep threat on the field if all five of those guys take a step forward this offense goes from very good to stupid uncoverable so yeah that's the that's my first pick of the second round there well if you go back to the the rogers teams that were great
00:26:45
Speaker
they didn't have a a traditional number one receiver they just had a room of solid guys that weren't how do you want to put it because they were great receivers but
00:26:59
Speaker
Jack of all trades, master of none. They, they, they weren't great at one certain thing, but they were good at everything. You know, whether that's route running, getting open, you know, separation receiving, you know, that's how they were. And and you think about it, the best receiving core they had had to have been Jennings, Jones, Jordy.
00:27:26
Speaker
Yeah. Cobb. um And an old driver, yeah. Yeah, driver. I can't believe I couldn't remember driver off the top of my head. um Their elite skill was that they didn't have a glaring hole in their game. that That's right. That's the thing is like, well and yeah. With that too, you have ah you know you have those those four receivers on the field and go back to Joe's point with like, The receivers he mentioned that the Rogers had. And then we have Tucker and Tucker Craft and Musgrave.
Running Backs & Roster Speculations
00:28:04
Speaker
Who's going to cover them?
00:28:05
Speaker
So I mean, right there, then you have, I don't think I was reading Josh Jacob stats and he doesn't have for any receiving touchdowns at all in his career in the NFL. Then to get him out, then all of a sudden peekaboo, he's out in the flat wide open, catch the ball. He's gone, you know? So, I mean, yeah it's, it's going to be a crazy, crazy sick offense that we're going to see, I think this year. but it just, I'm excited. Lying, were we're all, what we're basically saying is we are lighting the health, the player health prayer circle and we are going to keep that that flame lit longer than the Olympic flame is going to be lit for the rest of the 23 four. and And see, to piggyback off Mike's pick, you know, it's that's probably gonna be the hardest cut
00:28:57
Speaker
at the end of the preseason is the cuts going on in the wide receiver room. Because you've got the obvious ones that are going to stick around like Watson, Dobbs, Reed. Then you start getting question marks. And I know this is going to be controversial, but question marks in Wicks, Melton, Keith, Grant DeBose has been making plays in his moments in training camp. and And I say controversial because everybody thinks Wix is a guarantee. But with everything, everybody else in the room, after your top three, nobody's a guarantee. You know, unless they do something wild like trade Watson or trade Dobbs or something, you know,
00:29:46
Speaker
Nobody outside those three are are guaranteed because you've got so many other bodies in that room that are going to need playing time. And there's no way the Packers are going to be able to carry eight wide receivers on the friggin 53 man roster. And you know, they're not going to be able to hold over on the practice squad because they're going to get picked up at the end. I know we say this every year that we expect somebody to claim such and such and such. But this is the year that I honestly believe it can happen because in his limited time when he was put in so oh to play, Melton looked terrific. He got a hundred yard game against Minnesota. Heath was looking tremendous. The only one that I don't think will get picked up unless he absolutely blows away preseason is DeBose and that's because there's nothing on tape for him.
00:30:40
Speaker
to be able to pick him up unless somebody really believes in his and his talent, which I'm not saying he's not talented. I'm just saying there's nothing to back it up in the professional level. Wicks is kind of the same thing. I think there was a tweet stating that he was during family night practice last night, he was only targeted six times. So, you know, ah obviously Dobbs and Watson are going to get the most targets out of it. But Wix was only targeted six times for somebody who is like the second coming of Davante Adams, you know? Was that on purpose though? I don't know. You know, why why show your whole playbook if you don't have to?
00:31:24
Speaker
And then, well, you're not, um I'm not sure your playbook, but not, I mean, we know what he did last year. He can only, I mean, only way up are the only way to get better. is but if you you're looking at better last year So I mean, we know what he can do. and know We have an idea of what he can do because of limited snaps last year, because he was also dealing with injury for a lot of times. Right. But if you go with what you just said, then you would think they wouldn't want to target Watson and Dobbs as much because that's the obvious. I mean, mean I don't know. I think Wix makes the roster. I do.
00:32:05
Speaker
Well, I'm not saying he doesn't make the roster. I'm just saying the only three guaranteed right now um are the top three, because there's going to be a lot of stuff towards the end of it. that A lot of hard decisions are going to be, have to be made. And I'm not saying Wix isn't going to make the T I'm just saying that I don't think he's fully guaranteed a roster spot. yeah Who knows? It could be one of those things where, okay, we've got all these guys Wix is expendable. So we're going to trade him for a six round pick in the 20, 27 draft.
00:32:41
Speaker
That's what I was saying in one of my podcasts. I forgot who I had on, but they're like, well, what's going to happen when like there's they all time for a contract? Leverage. right That's the problem that they're going to run into is is in two years, they've got to make decisions on Dobbs and Watson. And then the year after that, they've got to make decisions on the rest of the guys. So yeah. But I do think we're a year out. But like you know Joe's right. Nothing is off the table. but right i The other side of it is I do wonder if these new kickoff rules which I'm not sure if I'll understand the full ramifications of it until we're like a season and a half through these new rule changes. I do wonder how much those change how they shape the roster because you're like
00:33:28
Speaker
it's before it was like, oh, you get you need guys who will tackle on special teams. Now with the new kickoff rules, it's kind of like, do you need more guys who can catch the ball and run with it kind of thing. So it's, and you're not going to put Watson on kick returns at this point of his career. So it's like, do you, do you keep a seventh wide receiver? You know, does keeping a seventh wide receiver become more acceptable you know how before it was like oh like what are you going to do with a seventh wide receiver that's you know that's a totally unnecessary unuseful position you know 53 man roster spot where now it's like maybe these new special teams rules are like maybe that guy does become important so
00:34:06
Speaker
Who's to say there's a lot of that that's kind of like I said where it gets into a little bit of the regular season side of it but there's a lot of different ways to so um to slice this thing up but so Joe that was your pick of what you're looking forward to kind of more eyeing the end of training camp or More, I guess more eyeing what the wide receiver room kind of folds out. Like I said, there's there's so many question marks with it that, you know, like I said, DeBose has even been showing off in camp. Yeah. Well, obviously it's just camp, but you know you never know what what
00:34:44
Speaker
can happen. And, and, you know, that was one of the things said about him when he was drafted was he came from a small school, he had tons of talent, but he was very raw. So as he finally as he started to put it together to make the right and then obviously I'm a big heath mark. So, you know, it's and yeah, so i Guess mine is more the end of the depth chart for the wide receivers Because like I said, we know who the three top guys are gonna be. Yeah All right, Brian you've got picks you got your second and then the first pick of the third round so lay it on us what you got um, I'm curious to see how it plays out who's gonna be running back to and Who's gonna be our kicker?
00:35:38
Speaker
um I, uh, Marshawn Lloyd just seeing ah his college highlights, uh, being a, being a fresh rookie in the NFL and, and seeing what we did in college and his speed and and his aggression and his size. It's kind of like having like a second AJ Dylan, you know, I would say more of a little bit bulkier, uh, Aaron Jones, because they're about built the same. It just on my boy is like' like a wrecking ball, you know? Yeah. As far as like busting through the line and when you hit on somebody, you're not, you're trying to avoid a hit. You're also looking to make a hit on somebody, you know? Um, I think they brought back AJ Dillon.
00:36:25
Speaker
for his leadership in the locker room. I mean, he knows the playbook. I mean, I think he, he'll get playing time, I think, but I think that, uh, Marshawn Lloyd will most likely take over his RB too. And then as far as the kicking, I, I don't want to give up on Carlson because you can go back and look at, he had a better kicking percentage, his rookie year versus Mason Crosby did his rookie year in Green Bay, but Crosby did attempt more field goals. But I mean, I can't remember back, people wanted to throw the towel in on Mason Crosby. And he was a like pretty much a lifelong packer, a leading scorer in team history, correct? I mean, right why give up on a kid that's that's a rookie, you know? So I just, I'm just curious to see, you know, the competition and a kicker, because I know they brought in Greg Joseph, who was doing decent.
00:37:23
Speaker
So I don't know, it's it'll be interesting to see what happens in those two parts of the team. We kind of talked about it last week with Ramage that nobody's really. ah Run away with the competition yet. Matter of fact, they had another guy in that they were trying out to today. I can't think of his name, but he played in the UFL. oh Uh, the this past whatever UFL season and shit like that. So they're still trying out guys even.
00:37:58
Speaker
But and and I agree they can't just give up on Carlson right away because yeah not that it's a great example because of the team he was on, but you'd take a look at Daniel Carlson, shit the bed with the Vikings and then went on to be one of the best kickers in the NFL with with the Raiders. So you you can't just say I was what because you also got to remember. Uh, Anders was. still getting used to kicking after tearing his ACL. You know, I think his, what was it, Mike? You know it a little bit better than I do. Was it his senior year of college? He was kicking with a brace. So his rookie kicking out without the brace. So he was trying to readjust. So, you know, that, had that is one thing that
00:38:51
Speaker
can make a ton of difference when you get used to one way and then you've got to go back doing it to the other way. There's a there's a bit of adjustment there. So yeah, it'll be it'll be. and Again, that's what's going to be a thing to keep an eye on in the preseason is just how that battle goes down. Yeah, I agree. And then just to kind of touch lightly on Brian's point about the running backs, I do think that Lafleur and Goudekins are hoping that Lloyd can pick up the running back to Slack as quickly as possible. You know, that's always what you kind of hope for is that your your young players or, you know, even Wilson, for example, can kind of pick up the Slack there. But I do think Dylan is there as like an insurance policy, you know, both for Jake, because Jacobs has kind of been a little bit injury-ish the last couple of seasons, not really missing time, but we've seen his efficiency go down a little bit the last couple of years because he's had some nagging hamstring and stuff.
00:39:48
Speaker
And then also to be a guy that's like, they trust Dylan in pass protection. They trust him enough in the, in the past, even though he's not explosive, they trust him to be in the right spots in the past game. Um, and they trust him to run hard behind this O-line. So it's like, you can count on him, you know, he's not special, but you count on him to make the right plays. And you're like, if he has to play fine, like we're fine with AJ Dylan picking up running back two snaps, but you're hoping that. Wilson or Lloyd can make it a like a competent like a true like possibly taking snaps away, but also It's a lot to ask for a rookie running back to pick up a whole offensive playbook pick up all the pass protection schemes and You know just gain the trust of everyone on offense So it's a good bet hedge, but it is something that's gonna be really interesting to keep an eye on going through the preseason I wonder though
00:40:45
Speaker
depending on how the other battles play out and what they keep on the roster at the different positions, I wonder if they could keep four running backs and use AJ as the fullback slash running back. Especially possible because sorry, your long lost cousin got cut, Joe. Yeah, I know. And they do not have like a fullback fullback on roster. So it's kind of like, do they you know It kind of looked like they were having Tucker and Ben Sims play fullback last season. And so if you're you're your tight ends are more fungible as your fullback, then that's a roster spot that doesn't get used. And that fullback roster spot goes to another running back. So I do think it's definitely possible. As long as it's not Tyler Davis.
00:41:34
Speaker
That 84 needs to go to a receiver. It's it's blasphemy that a ah Green Bay Packer, not wide receiver is wearing 84. That's just a, that's a atrocity against nature. All right, Joe, what's your third pick for what you're looking for this preseason? I'm going to take it before ever anybody else
Safety & Cornerback Competitions
00:41:54
Speaker
does. And I'm going to have to say the safety room um because we know the one, we know the one starter and that's going to be McKinney.
00:42:06
Speaker
Who knows what the other route is that they're gonna go. I know they've been saying that they've kind of rotate them rotated them so far in training camp. So Anthony Johnson Jr. has been starting him one day and then Evan Williams is the next day and then around in a circle just to see who better fits with who. It pains me to say as ah as a loyal Hawkeye fan that I'm kind of rooting for Anthony Johnson Jr. just because I thank i think he has the ability to do it. And I know a lot of people, a lot of the talking heads were kind of surprised that he lasted as long as he did in the draft last year. And a lot of people assumed it was because he only played one year at safety. So if he can pick it up that quick,
00:42:58
Speaker
I'm excited to see what he can do going forward, but I'm also excited to see what these rookies can do. You know, Bullard, another Georgia bulldog, you know, he's good. He's been outstanding so far. Evan Williams has been talked about great. I think Oladipo is still out due to injuries. I think he just came back at the end the last week. So like basically so for all intents and purposes, he's still out kind of thing.
00:43:33
Speaker
Yeah. So, you know, they've got all these guys that they just drafted in this past draft. Plus they've got the guys from last year, Anthony Johnson, Jr. Benny sap. I, I don't expect much out of Benny sap other than I really kind of like him. Um, I think he's got the pedigree to him and no, it doesn't have to do anything with him being a UNI panther. Um, because he was a Minnesota gopher before that. So, you know, fuck the gophers. uh um
00:44:08
Speaker
But in what hurts him also is I think he's a little bit older for. He was a little bit older coming out last year, so I don't expect him to be great or anything. And he'll mainly be a special teams person, but this safety room again, like I said. With the wide receiver room, there's so much depth right now that this is like a complete 180 compared to what we're used to with the safety room. Uh, before we were wondering which UDFA was going to be the, the fill-in spot because there was nobody else that could do it. And I know a lot of people are saying, Oh, well, this is the best we've had since Nick Collins. Well, yeah, but you guys forget about Morgan Burnett and you forget about, you know, The Torrey Bigby.
00:45:03
Speaker
And to be fair about what big B is, he was never a cover a cover guy. He was just a hitter. So, I mean, that's something we've been lacking for a while as somebody who's not afraid to make a hit on somebody. And it's finally good that we're seeing guys, you know, the Packers finally invest into those groups. Yeah, this is the safety room. I do think unless someone really runs away with that second safety spot, I do think it's going to be a little bit like what the wide receiver room is where you got, you know, you got McKinney who's you're far and away your safety one. You know, you pay him all that money to be that. And then you've got like you said, you've got Johnson Jr. You've got Evan Williams, Bullard, Oladapo when he um when he is healthy.
00:45:56
Speaker
And you've, so amongst those four, you've got four guys who are just totally different players amongst, you know, they, they have a little bit of overlap amongst each other, but it really allows you to be more matchup centric. And I do trust athlete to be that kind of guy, you know, uh, there's a, there's a joke amongst coaching circles where it's like, you can tell. what position group a coordinator coached by how their defenses run and halfly being a secondary guy by by nature. I do think that is very good for this defense moving forward because the big thing for him is you can you know.
00:46:34
Speaker
If you can get your coverage in order, the front seven of your defense will, I don't want to say it falls into place, you know, automatically, but I do think that a good secondary covers up a lot of, you know, potential holes on the front end. And I know that between the three of us, we'll go over that front seven in vigor, but I do think that I'm excited to see, though, especially the four young players, I don't expect McKinney to play much in the preseason, but I'm excited to see what those four younger guys get to do in the preseason action. And if we see any sort of ah pecking order take shape, or if it really just does look like one guy starts one game, one guy starts another game, and one guy starts the third game, and it's kind of like, okay, like, they didn't really rotate him, and is it just matchup base kind of thing? So that'll be interesting to follow in the preseason.
00:47:23
Speaker
So you could you see them playing some of those linebackers, you know, say you have, you know, McKinney and you have, uh, Javon bowler as safety and you swap out like a linebacker with a safety for plays to like blitz. Oh yeah yeah. I mean, you're going to be utilizing that left and right. Oh yeah, definitely not going to draft for for safeties to play one. You're going to be put have on the field at the same time and multiple schemes, you know, you know, and that's the thing is like, you know, we talked about shifting from our three four to our four three. The fact of the matter is it, I don't expect us to play more than about 20% of the season in base. Anyway, the league just has totally moved away from base defense because offenses are playing so many three and multiple wide receiver sets. So.
00:48:11
Speaker
you're going to spend most of the time in sub package. And then on top of that, we don't know what the linebacker room is. you know They're high on Edge Cooper. you know I'm trusting that Kway is going to take a leap. But realistically, you struggled to find two off-ball linebackers in the 3-4 scheme. And now you have a third one that you have to fill. And I wonder how much of that Halfly is going to try and Bondo and duct tape over for this season as the rookies get in, Quay gets acclimated to his scheme, and how much he tries to bridge that gap with just playing more sub package. So it'll be interesting to see you going into the season. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, and I know I'm wrong a lot, so it won't hurt my feelings if you do correct me. But is it Halfly's system, even though they call it a 4-3, doesn't he run more of a 4-2-5?
00:49:03
Speaker
It really is. It it is. Yeah. So it's it's four three in quote unquote base, like against big personnel, but he really does run a nickel. It's a three safety nickel system. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean that, but on top of that, I see, I see good against doing to the safety room that he did with a lot of the other ones that had big question marks and just draft a bunch of them and throw it against the wall and see what the hell sticks over there. And you know, if this guy doesn't work out, okay, you know, we'll call it a fail. But at least one of the four guys ah opposite McKinney has to stick. You've got to believe that.
00:49:42
Speaker
and mu with this right that that's the big one everybody but um on top of that you got to remember that the safety room was so bare going into this season they only had one guy that was listed at safety, that played time at safety from last year, left on the roster. And that was Anthony Johnson Jr. So they had to throw a bunch of of stuff at that position to get them going. So that's the signing of McKinney. That's the drafting of all the guys that they drafted. So yeah, that that's my go.
00:50:26
Speaker
Yeah. So I'll stay and don't forget the the man, the myth, the international man of mystery, Zane Anderson is still on the roster and is actually appearing in preseason plays clips. So I always have to get Zane Anderson jokes off, but to be honest, I didn't even realize he was still on the roster. I completely blanked it out of my mind. that's how i was Wasn't he in the group one direction? ah Yes. yeah That's a total bad joke because you're the only one that can know it is of your kids. Yes.
00:51:03
Speaker
I'm going to stick kind of in the same area of the field, and it's going to be mine is who looks best in that cornerback two role. Similar, you know, similar situations in safety. I don't expect Jair to play much if at all in the preseason. He has nothing to prove. I know new defensive coordinator may be the one number one defense but get some run together just to grease the wheels and get some time on field together and ah against an actual opponent. but I'm really curious to see, you know, I'm very happy that Stokes has been able to just, you know, I know he's getting beat here and there in practice and stuff, but more than anything, I'm just glad that he's been out there from day one of training camp and he hasn't missed days since that, you know, he's just been able to stay on the field and that's a huge step in the right direction for him. um And most of the returns are promising. Yes, he's gotten beat here and there. I know that Dobbs got behind him on family night. A lot of rest.
00:51:59
Speaker
there And that's a route that Stokes even at 100% health was never going to cover you know there's a double move post corner route, and that's a route that Stokes was never built to cover very well especially against a receiver like Dobbs, but I'm just so happy for him that he's been able to stay on the field and healthy. And overall, it sounds like he's in position and um you know he's not just getting toasted every time. It's just that you know guys are, like you said, Joe, they're more in... they're more um they' they don't have rust to knock off like he does and then the other one of course he's hurt right now but Carrington Valentine who closed last season so well but you know they have high expectations for him and seeing you know if he can not just maintain that level but really expand his game off of what he did at the end of last season because he's the guy that
00:52:51
Speaker
Um, you're looking at that would be that, you know, not that he's going to be Charles Woodson. I know that, uh, you know, you've got multiple guys on this roster. Like we've idolized and watched a lot of Charles Woodson, but out of the guys in the starting unit, we know that John doesn't like to play a slot, but. Carrington is the guy that you're like, he's got the build and the athleticism to start on the outside and move inside in the sub package as you bring another, you know, you bring Stokes on the field to play on the perimeter. So, you know, do they shuffle it that way? Does Kalen King actually make the roster? How long does Nixon hold the young guys off to be the top slot defender?
00:53:28
Speaker
Does he start losing reps to a safety, you know, there's a lot of different angles that, you know, I'm kind of curious to see, you know, does Nixon if he's, is he losing reps to the young guys, or are they actually putting him on offense more like you know that you've heard the floor, you know, It's kind of like talking out of both sides of his mouth on that side of it but even Nixon has kind of said like we've had conversations and stuff. So, just curious to see how that you know that quarterback situation shakes out it's, it's a similar to the safety room they didn't attack it the same way that they did the safety room but I do feel like they have.
00:54:03
Speaker
just by Job being healthy this season Stokes also getting and staying healthy this season They just have better options on the board than last year where they really did just scrape the absolute bottom of the barrel in terms of like we forget having good corners we have to field corners on this roster because everyone with the guys that they brought in were doing amazing jobs. I mean, Corey Valentine earned a ah second contract because of the play that he he was doing last year. so yeah And then to dovetail that in, again,
00:54:46
Speaker
kind of sticking with new scheme.
Defensive Line & Special Teams Insights
00:54:48
Speaker
How is this going to look? This D line, you know, and that encompasses not just Kenny, new contract Clark, but, um, the, the ends, what are now defensive ends. Again, I know that half league stands his guys up and lets them do kind of some kind of funky things, but for all intents and purposes, this is a four man D line and we're getting back to each one of those guys, you've got a gap, you've got a gap, you've got a gap, you've got a gap, go win, attack upfield and get to the play kind of thing. And we've heard all different kinds of things. Obviously it's against not the best guys that are on the offensive side of the ball, but we've heard that Rashawn has basically been unblockable all training camp. Lucas looks to have turned the corner and is taking his game to another level. Preston has just been super heady and
00:55:39
Speaker
The most surprising one in the defensive end room is Kingsley is healthy after we all thought he might miss the whole season because it was reported to us he blew his ACL out. He said it. Yeah. He was basically crying in the locker room in debt like and that's not to bash it. like I would too if I thought, oh shit, I just blew my knee out. And then, oh, just kidding, I didn't. like its like The the ah collective, like, head scratch from the Packers fandom when when they open training camp and it's like 55 is out there and it's like what it's like did they give the double number to someone else kind of thing but you get that edge room and then
00:56:20
Speaker
These D linemen who, you know, you talk about three four versus four three only Kenny and TJ really fit the quote unquote traditional build as a three four defensive linemen, but now all these guys are playing a four three defensive tackle position, and I'm excited to see what Devontae is able to do, what um Carl Brooks is able to do we've heard good things about wooden being a different player because he's bulked up to like the two the low 290s um and just seeing what you're going to be able to get and then you know TJ is taking a book out of um a page out of kill Gilbert Brown's book and is just gonna you know he's going from a true 2 gapper to seeing if he can get his momentum going upfield so I'm just excited to see what this unit does when they're like they don't have
00:57:08
Speaker
Really what sounds like restrictions on how they're supposed to play what they're allowed to and not to do and it's just like Just see ball get ball at this point so really excited to see what that that front down for it looks like and It sounds like as much as this as much as half Lee is revamping the back end of the defense it sounds like that front floor is gonna be counted on and I do think has the talent to cover up a lot of holes and learning, you know, learning hiccups for the back seven of the defense as the season moves through the first month, the first half and half Lee gets his system on traction. So that's what I'm excited to see as they get out of the gate is how does that front four get off the ball?
00:57:54
Speaker
Yeah, I'm excited to see like you kind of piggybacking off what you said Mike, but like Roshan Gary all of his off season workouts. He's he's he's coming off the ball in the defensive end position. Are they going to revert him back to what he was at Michigan or he was all American or I mean he was God back then he was awesome. If the Packers can get him playing that position and command that attention from the And then the whole other other side of the line, it just gets blown up by our defense. It's going to be a scary defense.
00:58:28
Speaker
I think the only difference is, is they won't move him into the interior portion of the line. I think, this um you know yeah yeah, yeah. Well, you said revert him back to his Michigan. Well, and loggan they um land yeah yeah but i mean they had his play up and down the line and I don't see now I've said this on a last year and I think we can finally get it this year where we have Van Ness and Gary lined up on the same side. rushing the quarterback. Oh, come on Williams, let's go. Yeah, can't wait and not wait. Because I think. Lucas is. With the way Lucas is built, I think he can go back to because Iowa did the same thing with him as as Michigan did with Rashawn. They played him up and down the defensive line. I think the big differences is I think.
00:59:27
Speaker
Lucas is built different than Rashawn where he can still manage to play the interior and the edge portion where I think you're really just going to want to stay with edge for Rashawn. Not saying there's anything wrong with that or Lucas is better than Rashawn. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying the way that they're built Yeah, it it's a little bit different and I playstyle to it. It it does. Roshan can get a little lost in trying to be more of like a like a speed specialist, whereas Lucas, he just tries to take. He does a better job of staying on task and taking the shortest line to the ball. So yeah, I think that that is the bigger differentiator between the two of them. Alright, so I suppose that means it's my turn again. Yeah. Um.
01:00:21
Speaker
What haven't we talked about that I could. Uh.
01:00:29
Speaker
Do you know I'm going to say this one. And the only reason I'm going to say this one is just because it's kind of interesting how this all went about. And I guess you can mix it in with just completely special teams, but the long snappers. Because.
01:00:51
Speaker
You know, Mike and I talked about this a lot last year where not all all of Anders' problems were him. A lot of it had to do with Orslick snaps. And Whelan did a hell of a job to be able to wrangle some of those snaps to at least get them on the ground for Anders to be able to attempt to kick. So we all thought that coming into this, this season, you know, they signed that Bowden out of Wisconsin for a pretty sizable, uh, signing bonus. And then the first thing that, you know, one of the first moves that they do is they cut him before training camp. Well, then they brought him, I know, but they brought him back. So, you know, here we think we're going to have this huge ass competition.
01:01:45
Speaker
Then we go back to, okay, well, Orzalik is the only one. Now we're back to, okay, we're going to have a huge answer competition. So I know it's weird to say that you're going to be interested in seeing snappers, but like I said, Mike and I talked about this a lot last year where we focused in on the log snapping because we were seeing that not ah and not all of Anders' problems had to do with him and his kicking ability.
01:02:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's got to get consistency, you know? Yeah. Yeah. All right, Brian. I think the fact that Joe went to long snapper shows, we are scraping the bottom of the barrel. So, okay Brian, your last pick, bring us home last thing. Well, not the last, but last big thing that you're looking forward to in preseason. Who's going to be returning kicks and punts with the new rule? Because last night I saw a lot of Jaden Reid. And then you hear from training camp. I mean, initially we got Kishan Nixon for that role to be the returner, but he stepped up on defense in practice. So you're going to keep him off return to who you're going to have.
01:03:02
Speaker
bringing that ball up. And if Jaden Reed, your number three receiver, do you want him bringing that up or you want to, you know, like you mentioned earlier, keep a receiver on the roster, designated with speed could be the boss because he has speed, right? And decent. Yeah. You know, what, what are they going to do with the new kickoff rules? And, and are they going to try to save Jaden Reed and Kishon Nixon to play offense and defense? have i just I'm just curious to see what what happens with this new rule, I guess. i mean that's why Go for it, Joe. I was just going to say, I think it's going to be a primarily Kishon Nixon thing, but it doesn't hurt to have one or two others taking the majority of the snaps right during the preseason because that's a in case this happens.
01:03:54
Speaker
Yeah. So, great you know, let's say Nixon, you know, knock on wood that this doesn't happen, but you know, Nixon is out for three weeks because of some kind of ticky tacky injury. Well, there goes your whole special, you know, return game because you didn't let anybody else take the snaps during the preseason. Correct. So, you know, it's best that, okay, we know this is our guy. He's going to be doing this, but we're going to let him concentrate on this other stuff while we let, you know, read or debose or I think there's been a couple other guys that have been taken, uh, uh,
01:04:35
Speaker
kick off and punt return snaps. So it just didn't make, that makes sense. But I get what you're saying, you know, do you just leave Nixon out there or if he's playing too good, do you pull him and put Reed out there? I don't know, but I think it's just a good thing for the, ah for all of the preseason stuff to just throw as many guys out there as you can right yeah in case something happens. I agree with Joe. I do think Reed is going to be your primary punt returner. Nixon is going to be your primary kick returner. But it behooves you to have as many trusted options on your roster. And because one, like Joe said, Reed did miss time last year with injury. Nixon has been pretty healthy, but has had some nagging things. You know you don't want one of those guys to go down. And then like the first time you walk someone out there, it's like they've never returned a punt in their NFL career kind of thing. And it's like, you know,
01:05:31
Speaker
you know you You just, that's when every fan, your gut just drops out the bottom of your body and you're like, oh God. That's when you get the Amari Rodgers and the Darius Shepherds. and the the don't don't Don't forget, catch it just don't even just call everyone off and let the thing bounce for 20 times and stuff and just let it go. like so i mean I get that you want to have, you know, obviously, yeah ah do you want to have dependable people back there. I'm just saying like, if, you know, if Nixon and Rita are you know a valuable part of the offense and defense, you want them back there. I mean, I can see it as a game. They get paid money to go out there and do that. But obviously you want to have more people in mind in case something does happen. I do think the depth in the receiver room helps make it, ah what's the best word, makes it more like
01:06:26
Speaker
you know, um makes it more acceptable, I guess, that Reid is, you know, you're like, is he your wide receiver one? Somewhere between your wide receiver one, wide receiver three, you know, in terms of how important he is to your offense. But because you have Watson play slot with speed, Melton emerged as another deep slot, you know, deep play slot guy. So they're not Reid, but they bring elements of what he does so that you're like, if something happens to him, you're still good on offense kind of thing and stuff. And kind of the same in the the the DB room where, you know, Nixon, and he's probably gonna be the primary slot defender to start the season, but you drafted like three safeties who can cover the slot. You've got Carrington who can cover the slot. You've got, you know, you drafted Kalen King this year who, you know, he's not a near guaranteed to make the roster, but he can play the slot. So you've you've got overlap in those two rooms where you're like,
01:07:21
Speaker
okay yeah like you're a little more you know and that's the thing is like the rules are so different you can't just kill shot guys like you used to be able to so even more so you're like we're okay letting important guys play return positions because you don't just have the like guys getting speared from 20 yards away kind of thing and stuff like that anymore so um i think it makes it more you know uh more digestible to see a star a quote unquote star option out there also Yeah. But I do think to Joe's point, we'll probably see those two guys return like maybe two to three of each of their, you know, punt and kicks. And then the rest of it is just going to be guys trying to either expand their spot on the roster or guys trying to like cling to a roster spot. Like, you know, who's a, who's a, you know, who's a low wide receiver, but you know, the kid from Albany. Like, can he, it does it turn out that, um,
01:08:17
Speaker
Uh, does it turn out that Julian Hicks is a good punt returner or something like that? And, you know, is that a skill that you're like, Oh, we might keep that guy around just because, you know, you know, this, he Desmond Howard his way onto the roster kind of thing, you know, to call back to 96. So. it'll be really interesting. And like I said, I don't think we're going to understand the full ramifications of these new kickoff rules until we see them enacted a few times over the course of the season. So nobody's going to know anything until they get into, you know, I didn't watch the Hall of Fame game, so I don't know how well it was going during it. You know, there's going to be a point at like Thanksgiving where it's like, wait,
01:09:00
Speaker
that's a That's allowable. It's like, oh yeah, that's those new rules that no one has, you know, no one has needed to or taken advantage of to this point. So everyone's just like, like, what the hell just happened? Am I watching football or rugby on my screen right now? So yeah. Let's go for the outside kick.
01:09:22
Speaker
I know. R.I.P. surprise on sidekicks. you You lived a good life. But that's going to wrap it up for us tonight. Brian, thank you so much for joining us. I know that Joe and I have raised more questions than then not for you. Oh, this is who I signed on to to podcast under. this This is how they run it on the big boy show. but no it's ah ah There is usually more structure once we get into the games. As I said, we are dragging this show across the finish line as we wait for preseason games to start up. But Brian, thanks so much for joining us. Everyone, please check out the Cheese Talk Pod. You can find that on the Ope Network. um Check out the website, ohanapackers.org.
01:10:09
Speaker
Brian show streams of Brian shows, Joe and my show. They're all up there. We've got our our writers are putting up more blog posts as we circle into the start of preseason games. I expect um the the volume to increase. The quality will not drop off there. We've got some excellent writers on tab right now. Follow speaking of speaking of make sure you follow Cole. It's what is it? It's CRI XUS. Uhhh... I'm completely blanking on his Twitter. CRIXUS1170. We're trying to get him to at least 100 followers. We were just talking this um before the show that most of his followers right now are just those crappy spam bots. So we're trying to get him built up. Once he does hit 100 followers, we are going to give away a t-shirt from our merch store to one lucky person.
01:11:10
Speaker
a t-shirt of their choice. um So please do go follow him. We hit our 523 mark. We did give away the 8x10 of Jair Alexander. That was two. Again, I'm blanking on names because again, I'm not great at names. I read i forget my name half the time. You know what Iowa stands for, right? I don't know. And that's basically what it stands for. I don't know. but It's all wandering around. There you go. Ryan Graham. Ryan Graham was the winner of the eight by 10. He did get ahold of us. We are going to get that sent out here within the next couple of days. So congrats to him.
01:11:58
Speaker
I'm sure we've got other giveaways coming up, ah depending on what happens with me taking my trip up to Wisconsin and all that stuff here towards the end of the month. So please follow Cole, oh yeah followryan follow follow Carlos, follow us all, and you know make sure if you want in on the giveaways to ah Pay attention to the Ohana account, which Mike will now give you the the handle. Yeah, so follow Ohana underscore Packers to be eligible for the drawings like this Jair one that we just gave away. Follow Brian um at cheese talk. That's cheese with a Z talk underscore pod. Follow him on TikTok. Brian underscore Rago R A G O. um You can follow him on YouTube at cheese talk pod. Excuse me. um
01:12:55
Speaker
Follow the podcast, both podcasts, on all your favorite podcasting apps. Give us likes and of subscribes. For this one, for OAP, give us your positive and negative feedback. We want to be creating the content you're looking for. As we, Joe and I, we've walked through, we've given you top fives of everything from food to music, to movies, to the labels on our t-shirts. We have fought through the that we had yeah we fought through the doldrums of the and we are on the doorstep of the preseason. 2024, 2025 season is right around the corner. Keep it tuned in here to Oak, go Pack Go and Aloha.
01:13:45
Speaker
So.