Transcript
Speaker: Aloha and welcome back to another episode of the Ohana Packers Edition podcast. This is take two for Iowa Joe and I as software has crapped the bed once, but we are still here. We're going to just recap everything from um family night, the first full week of training camp and the periphery roster moves that the team has made um to date. You know, there's just been a bunch of injuries that front office has had to accommodate for. um They're just churning up. with ah they They've been cutting bait like real quick on people.
Speaker: Did you notice that? Yeah, like, so I guess this one, we'll we'll touch on that now because it'll kind of like influence where we go with certain things, but... the The big ones is like the tight end room just got a complete makeover last week, Monday, right after record it we recorded our episode. So Luke Lachey and um RJ Marilyn were cut with or waived with injury designations um and replaced with ah Bibber and Yasmin, the Australian. Shout out, Nick Gregory. And um Marlon Jones and Jonathan Baldwin. You got that wrong a little bit. Yasmin came in before...
Speaker: Yes, you're right. And they re-signed McCastle. Yes. Forgot about... that I forgot about... McCallan Castle. So, that's right. Castle's was the one who came in with Bibber. So...
Speaker: Um, they've just had to revamp the tight end. It does make you one... Well, the funky one I thought was Marilyn, because the Lachey one was the one where you're kind of like, okay, he's in a boot and on a scooter kind of thing, so that did sound like it was a potentially long-term thing. It was kind of interesting that with Marilyn, they were just like, we're not waiting for a hamstring. Like, we need body... Like, I guess it does speak to, like, how badly they needed bodies in the room that they were like...
Speaker: Yeah, we're not even gonna wait for your hamstring, RJ. You're just gone. We're gonna bring in three new bodies to replace you and Luke at this point. And then, and um... They yeah didn't do any kind of injury settlement yet. They have reverted to the ah i r Oh, is that what... Oh, okay. ah Yeah. always I'm always so like torn on like how they're going to designate guys if they do the waved injured or they're going to revert one way or the other kind of thing. But you thought they had to be gone.
Speaker: i thought they had to be gone-gone because the team was at the 90-man limit. So... um Well, no. they If you waved... I think this is how it works in the preseason.
Speaker: If you waved injure them... They pass through waivers, and then if nobody picks them up, they revert to the injured reserve. Oh, you're right. You're right. Yep, there they are. And right now, according to the roster on on the official Packers website, both Lachey and Maryland are on yeah reserve injured.
Speaker: So that's kind of weird that they have, you know, it's been about a week now, and they haven't. reached an injury settlement so it makes me wonder if they're gonna keep him or Lachey I can see Lachey I can see cuz that didn't sound like it was a short-term thing that like I said the Maryland one where it's like he has a hamstring injury it's like oh you're gone kind of thing so we'll see how that plays out for both guys but yeah they They were legitimately down because of the Musgrave injury being on PUP as well. They were legitimately down to Kraft on super limited snaps. Josh Wiley and um Drake Dabney.
Speaker: And Messiah Swenson. and Messiah Swinson. So they were very limited in terms of guys who could feel be fielded in a practice. So makes perfect sense why they were like, yeah, we need bodies we can throw. So, you know, bringing back castles, bringing in that bibber and bringing in Yasmin. So Like you said, it just it was just impressive how impressive and a little surprising how quickly they moved to like just totally redo the room. wasn't even just talking about those. I was talking about and not just those.
Speaker: Excuse me. You also have the two that we'll be talking about here in a – well, I'll bring them up now, the Baldwin one and and Marlon Jones. It's like they just cut bait with them. They didn't even wait and see. They were just like, okay, you're you're out because they got injured at family night. And then it was like the next day that they were making a decision on him.
Speaker: Yep. So – yeah and I don't know you know this is the first year right this is the first year where they're like just there's no middle of preseason cut down day they're just you're just Cutting your roster down to 53 from 90 on one day kind of thing so I am curious like if teams are gonna still function like there are the the sub deadlines and then because I know some people are like, oh, you want to hold on to guys, but it's like, at some point, you need to give snaps to the guys who are gonna make your 53 or on the extreme fringe of making your 53. You can't be giving snaps to guys 88 through, you know, 85 through 90 because you're intrigued by them and you're like,
Speaker: trying to be like oh yeah that that's the guy we want on the practice squad kind of thing and stuff like i am curious how teams are going to handle it moving forward um especially for like that it goes against your your thought process on that is the fact that they used one of the roster spots to sign another wide receiver I know, yeah, the Keyshawn Johnson thing just... But then again, partly because, um you know, Golden and Reid checked in with injuries today that um Golden's one especially is a little bit unnerving, but, um you know, Reid... It's a toe thing, and LeFleur said they don't expect it to be long-term. Yeah, they don't, but, you know, just don't like seeing something like that pop up. I'm hoping it's as minor as they're saying it is. And then Reed, Reed of the two of them, is the one that's like, oh, he's sitting out like half the number one snaps. And um people are like, oh, it's a good thing they have Sky Moore. And I'm like...
Speaker: rather give all the snaps to the guy who's earned the $70 million dollar contract kind of thing. Like, we we don't need to play this game anymore. Like, like you're you're at the point where you're legitimately playing paying guys to play specific spots.
Speaker: Play them. So, um you know, it's not great that he's got the ankle injury, but hopefully it is as minor as they're saying it is. And, um you know, he... he won't he won't play in the preseason much but if he could he would you know if that he he would if he could kind of thing so that's kind of the thing that i was worried about when it was announced that they came to long term and we kind of talked about this when when they gave him the contract extension it's like great he's wonderful on the when he's on the field but is he going to see the field And, and yeah you know, it's a little bit the same way with Watson, even though Watson has seemed to overcome a lot of his.
Speaker: You know, it's great that they're giving them the contract. Yeah, they they're explosive on the field. But, you know, they're still missing three, four games a season.
Speaker: Yep. So we shall see how that how that clocks and checks out. But um that's really... ah Transaction-wise, I think that's all. I think they still have one spot open.
Speaker: Technically, yeah. Because yes they're at 90, and that is with Yasmin as the IPP, man. so um But in terms of guys who...
Speaker: yeah Yeah, I'm looking at it right now. Their transaction since 731, which we we covered most of them, was they released Krieg, they waived injured Brendan Rice, who did not revert. I think he got an injury settlement.
Speaker: Yep. They signed Prather and Adam Midas or whatever his name is. Yeah. Then eight four they re-signed Castle, signed Bibber, and Wave injured Luchet and Maryland.
Speaker: And then today they officially signed Keyshawn Johnson and Wave injured Baldwin and Jones. So that would make one roster spot open. Yeah.
Speaker: So... Now from the transactions to just who didn't participate. So um the new the old names being um Domani Jackson, Carrington, Josh Jacobs, and then Baldwin who dropped out from um Family Night.
Speaker: um not great uh seeing that edge and zaire were not practicing today a little odd um don't remember hearing anything about them during family night not sure if it's just a rest night lafleur did give this like oh because family night was friday plan to go light on sunday and then monday will be a heavier practice day so who knows if this is just like um limiting you know trying to like take load off certain starters kind of thing and stuff but not great seeing those two guys on it um obviously we just went over golden and breed and then um josh wiley also not participating today and kind of wonder if that's a load management thing because he has been like basically tight end one with kraft not doing team drills up until today um and you know the number shortage they had in the previous week so we'll keep an eye on that one but
Speaker: The good news is returning to practice today were Javon Hargrave, Chris Brooks, Tucker Craft after Missing Family Night, Zach Bacobowale after Missing Family Night, Banks again after Missing Family Night, Wyatt and Haddon. So um you got a bunch of guys back and then also not really listed, but um you had guys like um Melton, McClellan, um who else? um Cissé, who all like at some point kind of stepped out from Family Night due to different little things. um It's good to see that those guys in particular who LeFleur noted were somewhere between cramping... um
Speaker: ah Excuse me. they like Due to cramping or so whatnot. So... um Yeah, there was a lot of cramping and you could tell when it happened. Like the McClellan one, you saw him go right for that calf and you could tell it was a major cramp. And Cissé, with the way he was moving around on on the sideline, you could tell that ah It wasn't anything major for him. It was just more of a cramping situation. Now, the Melton one what i wasn't sure of. It looked like it could have been like a hip or something because of the way he hit the ground and slid out of the end zone on his attempt.
Speaker: But, yeah, they this it was... And, of course, I wasn't up there, so I don't know what the weather was like, but I imagine it was super hot and humid. Yeah. So...
Speaker: to each their own. Hydrate. hydrate kids. But otherwise, it sounded like it was a good um good return to practice. um oh Excuse me.
Speaker: One... Oh, there it is. oh What's it?
Speaker: Zaire had to... know There, Wes had to go somewhere. I'm assuming like kind of quote-unquote personal matter kind of thing. Golden with the toe, rude with the angle. Zaire went out to Indy for the Hall of Fame...
Speaker: Oh, yeah, yeah, Um, Wily with the neck. remember who it was. Vinatieri. He was teammates with Vinatieri. Yeah, so Wiley with the neck and Cooper with the foot. So we'll keep an eye on those if those are like legitimate or they were just finding reasons for them to have a day off. But positions with not much depth, not great.
Speaker: So we'll keep an eye on those and we'll let you know how those all play out. But we can try again at going into how Family Night went and...
Speaker: As we were discussing, on each side of the ball, there's two position groups that like really have most of the um the collective eyes of the fan base on them. On offense, it's the offensive line. And on defense, it's the cornerback room. um I know that there's some questions in, you know, what's the defensive front going to look like without Micah until he returns and all that kind of stuff. But really, the quote-unquote season-long questions are going to be, what are they going to do on the offensive line and what are they going to do at cornerback? And we will...
Speaker: try again our offensive line conversation that we had before so um i'll keep my initial opening thoughts shorter this time so that it's a little easier for us to discuss so um you're starting five at family night from left to right were jordan morgan um jager burton sean ryan jacob monk and anthony belton and um We'll start with um Belton because you know he had been starting the whole way through training camp and then come into Sunday's practice after a rough but ah rough family night for Belton. He was with the second team. um they were They had reshuffled around because Bakobole was back at right tackle, but the guards remained Burton and Monk.
Speaker: Joe, like i you know we'll start with Belton, but we can then just go around the guard competition where it looks like Monk is ahead of um Burton for now. But Burton, we know, as LeFleur has pointed out a couple times in Pressers, that he looks ready to go from the team perspective. So but you know what are your thoughts on where Belton stands right now and what his you know projection progression is looking for the team?
Speaker: I'm trying to remember what I said on the other one because I don't want to say it again because that's when it everything went goofy on the recording program. So you had brought up um a comment that Belton... Yeah, so basically the thing is with Belton...
Speaker: I think he's still trying to find a spot. I'm pretty sure that you even found the quote that, you know, he said he wasn't happy with the way his pass protection was both at guard and tackle.
Speaker: So it's not something that is you want to hear. um I mean, you do want to hear that he's acknowledging that he's having issues, but you don't want to hear that this guy that you spent a second round pick on and you were hoping was coming into his own towards the end of the season and and was potentially going to be your starting right guard, say he's continuing to have problems.
Speaker: And... So it's just one of those things that i think they're just going to keep rotating him at the two spots, obviously with, with, uh, uh, ZBB,
Speaker: um
Speaker: he's not going to play in the preseason unless and we and i said this in in our aborted attempt earlier about tucker craft unless zbb walks into the floor's office and threatens to throw him in a dumpster or something you know you got to figure he's not going to play anything in the preseason so you know somebody's going to have to take the right tackle spot You were talking about in the other ah the before about, you know, canard there. They may have a little bit of a worry with canard not looking so good.
Speaker: and So you got to figure I figure what the starting lineup for the first preseason game coming Thursday is going to be Morgan at left guard. Monk, or I mean Morgan at left tackle, Monk at left guard, Ryan at center, Burton at right guard, and probably Belton at right tackle.
Speaker: Then when they decide that Ryan is played enough or whatever, then most likely they're going to rotate Monk and Burton at the center position and move probably Belton into one of the probably right guard again with Kennard and, you know, whoever else is on the roster that they're going to rotate in. And that's probably how it's going to be through the rest of the game is just those rotations.
Speaker: Burton and Monk are probably going to, ro and I know that's the next point that we're going to get into, but they're probably going to rotate the left guard center position throughout the whole game after Sean Ryan exits just because they're well we'll get into that minute you asked about belton belton yes there are major concerns i and this is one of those things that i i know lafleur had yeah was it with k adams i think it was most recently with k adams they were talking about luke butkus being there and he really talked up luke butkus as a coach
Speaker: And I know we've had our issues with it, and not just us, but other friends of the show have had issues with the way the offensive line and the coaching doesn't seem to be putting the offensive line in the position it needs to be. but That's not a good look at the offensive line coach right now when you've still got your young guy who, like again, was slated in to be your starting right guard saying, hey, I'm having issues with my pass blocking. yeah We're not happy where my pass blocking's at.
Speaker: Yeah. And it was always going to be a work in progress because he had some technical issues that he needed to iron out. And that was one of the like kind of concerns with picking him is he's like he's an older prospect and he's still got like technique issues that he has to work out and stuff.
Speaker: So like you said, it's that weird, light you don't want to hear that, but... There's also the like, hey, he's acknowledging and recognizing where his shortcomings are. So that's a good thing. And of course, now the next good thing you need is that he fixes them and improves on them. But yeah, um I think I think you're right that he's going to be starting at right tackle ah um to open the preseason game. Because if for whatever reason, Bacoboile goes out of a game, i think they want Belton to be the right tackle. I just don't think they're very confident in Canard there right now. And then, like you said, once Ryan comes out, I think that they're going to just...
Speaker: like you said, Belton probably goes to right guard at that point. And then it's just maybe you flip-flop a couple series between, like you said, um Burton and Monk flipping between left guard and center at that point to um shuffle them and keep them getting snaps. Because I do think that,
Speaker: Monk in particular is at the point in his career where he's short up he should have shored up his technique. It sounds like they're pleased with where he's at in terms of seeing the game, processing the game, all the like mental aspects of it and you know transferring the whiteboard to the field and stuff. And he's at the point where like he just needs reps. And um there's nothing that's going to help him more than experience and any kind of live reps he can get. So um he needs those. And then same for Burton where... you know they they have high hopes like you you alluded to earlier lefleur has made the comments that like he is ready to go for this team at you know this season at one of the three interior positions and at this point his biggest weakness is he's a nfl rookie with no nfl snap obviously because he's a rookie and so you know i know a lot of people will poo poo what a pre-season snaps are but it's like you're playing another team you're not playing your own teammates anymore you're getting a lot true live fire reps and And they're not, you know, it's not um it's not like chalked up pre-approved plays for your team to scout. Like, it's not scouting team. It is like you're going against actual other people who aren't going to play it to the chalkboard. They're going to just be human and do their own thing and stuff. And you just need to see those guys get those kind of reps. So... um
Speaker: While that's, you know, a little bit somewhere between, you know, like, oh no on the Belton side and, you know, we're optimistic with where Monk and, um you know, different levels of optimism with where Monk is at in year three and with where Burton is as a fresh rookie.
Speaker: the The best news, I think, on the O-line is the fact that ah Morgan has gotten in you know some rave reviews from some former NFL player. you know We talked about it last week with Tasha Bulaga and Joe Thomas each giving you know somewhere between positive to glowing reviews of how they think Morgan looks thus far. and looked thus far in um training camp. And then, you know, even on family night, you know, he didn't do anything that was otherworldly, but it wasn't Morgan's guy who was causing the problems for the Packers offense when he was on the field. And like,
Speaker: Honestly, if he's that level, that is immensely better than what Rasheed Walker was giving you down the so the back half of the season. So um you you just take that it as an absolute win if that's the low the level of play you're going to get from Morgan at this point. So um I look at that as a positive and um well we'll just have to... you know the Just like we say you don't want a team to peak too early, that's the same with O-line. Now, obviously, you need a good floor because you don't want to get your quarterback you know messed up while you figure things out.
Speaker: But at the same time, you want that unit to gel, to coalesce, the individual players to figure things out as they go through the season. And then as a collective five, that group is stronger by the end of the season than anywhere it was during the season. So that's the hope. And um like I said,
Speaker: If Morgan is shoring up a lot of the question marks Walker created at left tackle, that's a huge win regardless of what happens at the other spots. Right. and And I kind of said this before with both...
Speaker: Morgan and and Monk, I kind of equated Monk to getting the Jake Hansen, Royce Newman treatment, not because he's a bad player, because we don't know.
Speaker: You know, we've not really seen him get meaningful snaps. and you know, he's had limited snaps in preseasons the last couple of years. But Other than that, he's not really had a ton of meat and meaningful ah snaps, but I equate the equate them equate him to both Newman and Hanson in, we're just gonna throw you out there and at these positions and and you know you're either gonna sink or swim. and even if you just give us a dog paddle, you know that that'll save your your roster spot. But if you go out there and sink like a stone,
Speaker: you know we're just going to cut bait with you if we can get something out of you in trade we're going get something out of you in trade if not then you know thank you for your time here good luck you know don't let the door hit you on the way out uh But with Morgan, you know, it's one of those things that, again, you're going sink or swim with them. I hate going back to the same boat with with the puns and the the oh sayings and shit, but, you know, it is going to be sink or swim. they let There's no Rasheed Walker that can step in if things are getting bad. There's no, you know,
Speaker: no free agent out there that I'm going to trust to come in and be that left tackle at this moment. I mean, obviously things could happen with the final 53 cut down, but they've put all their faith into jordan Jordan Morgan being the left tackle of the future. And, you know, I kind of again, to equate this to something else, it's kind of like Marshall Newhouse a few years ago where We know you you know it could be one of those situations where we know he's not good, but he's the only one we got that can play left tackle.
Speaker: And you know I don't want to see Morgan end up like that. I do want to see Morgan succeed, to see succeed if I speak, um But because he's, he Jordan Love isn't a left-hand quarterback.
Speaker: Jordan bur Love is a right-handed quarterback. That left tackle is blocking his blind side. you know And there's a reason they call it the blind side is because he can't see what's coming from that side of the field.
Speaker: And you don't want him to be in a situation where he has no idea that he's gonna be getting hit from that side of the field. So you gotta have somebody who's at least gonna give him a little bit of time to see what's going on. So, you know, ah like you said, we haven't really been hearing anything bad. We haven't been hearing anything good, but usually when it comes to linemen, you know, no news is usually good news because if you don't hear them, then they're not messing up.
Speaker: ah So, It's kind of weird that, and we're both Big Ten football fans and we're used to offensive line being the constant talk, but with the Packers, we've never been into this situation where we've worried what the starting five is going to be.
Speaker: yeah And now the last couple years, it's been a worry about what the starting five is going to be because there's so many question marks right now. It's legitimately been since um Thompson took over in 2005. He let Marco Rivera go in free agency. He cut um he released Mike Wall to free up cap space. And it's like, OK, we've got clifton tausher uh flanagan's coming off another acl problem and it's like so what's the interior of this offensive line gonna look like and you know the answer in that season was not good bob but but um you know i i do think there is upside in this group it's just a matter of if and when they figure you know they get their traction and you know how much they can improve over the season so you know um
Speaker: It's a red flag. It's something to be concerned about. But also, it's not like they have nobody. you know that that's That's the thing is that um there's a lot of ifs on this offensive line. But if they get even four out of five things right, it's going to be a solid to good room. So they they just need the majority to win out, which I'm hoping they can do. um Right. And the only thing that I would say about that is Again, back to my point with Morgan, there is nobody that can take a left tackle yeah that you would hope for. So you've got to hope that he's going to be even ah you know mediocre. you know right you can't
Speaker: You can't even think about him being subpar. He's got to at least be mediocre. And the opposite side of that coin is, if Bakobo-Oele is himself, it's, you know one side of your line is shored up, no ifs, ands, or buts. If he can't get back to that level, or if he's at all diminished by this patellar tendon repair, it doesn't really matter what the rest of the line does unless Morgan really ascends to where, like, he doesn't have to be at where...
Speaker: Tom was last season, you know, in terms of like his top end play. But unless that flips and you need Baco Boeli to be like 80% of where he's been before. got it you You need that as a baseline. Because if you don't have that, um a lot of the upside of this line goes right out the window with it. So that's the other big domino that has to be known. Yeah. But at least with him,
Speaker: If, you know, there's a setback or anything, we know we can slide Belton over there. We can slide Kennard over there. We can slide, you know, maybe a Travis Glover or whoever wins one of the the final ah line spots for the roster.
Speaker: And we can trust that, you know, they're going to be okay over there. We don't know about that with the left side. So that's why I said you got to put... yeah Everybody in Packer land has to, like, will, i mean, send all their willpower to Jordan Morgan and just to make him be at least mediocre.
Speaker: if that Either that or the great composer reincarnate Jonathan Williams needs to be a good player, which... Okay, I do think he is O-line 9 at this point because he's played like every spot on the O-line this season, including center, which is kind of odd because they have three guys ahead of him. But you know what? So be it. If he can legitimately play five positions, that's good for him in terms of his ability to make this roster. It sounds like um he used his time on Pup and IR last season very well because...
Speaker: and um You know, everyone's like, oh, but he was a really smart kid. He's an aerospace engineer, all that kind of stuff. But I'm like, okay, but like, how many times have we seen guys spend the whole year on IR and just waste it and, you know, come back and look completely unprepared? It sounds like... I'm going to tell you something about smart people.
Speaker: You can be a smart person. You can be a book smart person. yeah doesn't That doesn't make you... Street smart. Smart smart. you know You can be book smart, but you you and and I always use this as an example.
Speaker: When I was in high school, there was this girl that was super, super, super book smart. you know Constant straight A's, constant this, constant... you know She could do anything as a with schooling and education and all that.
Speaker: She couldn't drink a bottle of water. She, for some reason with her mind, with her head, she didn't know how to close her mouth when she drank a bottle of water.
Speaker: So the guy that she was dating in high school's mom was a, is still a seamstress. She would have to make bibs for this girl to wear, so when she drank a bottle of water.
Speaker: or any kind of drink because for some reason, the common sense was not there to close your mouth when you take a drink.
Speaker: So that's why I said there's a difference between being smart, book smart, and being smart smart. You know, if you can be both street and book smart, you're going to be the best in the world.
Speaker: yep and for whatever it's worth it does sound like williams has proven to be that so um good on him like i said for putting the time bit engine but i always hate when people start bringing up well he's this or you know he he went to school for this there's a difference between school smart and yeah and rest smart so and the the reviews have been glowing so far Like you said, i don't know what answers they got. He might have to be one at left tackle because a lot of the options have not looked good so far. But I know he's been repping mostly at interior O-line, but he may need to open the repertoire up or just be there in case, you know, anything happens with Monk, Belton, and Burton, you know, going and Banks, too, going through the season. So we shall see. In the pro roster, they still have him listed as just a pure guard.
Speaker: Yeah, but I know he has been repping it. Like you said, he's been repping everywhere. I think he was getting some left tackle reps during this last week's training camp practice. And I think even at at family night, but you know, it's one of those settings that Like you said, they must see something must have seen something in him they really liked that they kept him around all last year, even through the injuries or any and all that. you know Going into the season, he was on you know the pup list and all that. So they had hopes for him at that point.
Speaker: you could even argue that he's not even the number nine o ah l he could be like a number six or seven at this moment just because depending on how like you said if kennard is solely for six o linemen use at this point like and and that opens a whole other can of worms that will i don't even want to waste time on it because i just don't think they're gonna move him unless something really weird came up but it does make you wonder with how they're just so open to belton moving out there over what they've seen from kenard so far in cap so um yeah we shall we shall see flipping sides to the other side of the ball as noted previously the other position group that's under the microphone the the magnifying glass is cornerback um
Speaker: Brandon Cissé looked awesome on family night. Yeah, he took some lumps and stuff. There are going to be growing pains with a rookie's corner.
Speaker: And know there are things Watson does really well, i.e. be really fast and explosive, and he's still improved as a route runner, but it's not like CeCe's out there guarding prime Devante or anything. But it's good to see that when a rookie gets thrown into pure one-on-ones and those kind of situations that he's able to punch back with a veteran player and stuff. So really good see from CeCe. Well, as the great philosopher Jair Alexander said, iron sharpens iron.
Speaker: yep'
Speaker: So, um what's it called? It's just good to see him. Yeah. it's it's It's good to see Cissé in there producing, battling,
Speaker: And they really need to have it because, one, Carrington continues to be out with the hamstring. And two, I know we've ragged on the guy a lot in the past, but Nixon just was awful on family night. Like, um all his all his previous issues, you know, not having good sense when the ball is coming. um His press technique remains just...
Speaker: unsightly at times you know that that's where a lot of you know the golden clips where golden is just toasting him off the line of scrimmage a lot of it is a product of um nixon just i don't know if he doesn't know what to do doesn't have the technique to whatever it is he's not doing the job in press jam technique at the line of scrimmage but and then he just doesn't have any sort of explosiveness or speed to make up ground after he gets beat off the line of scrimmage and that's the part that was most concerning and you know hey I had some back and forth with a couple people, you know, shout out um Aaron Doppelganger. But, you know, and in his defense, he was trying to point out like, hey, let's just be positive about how Golden looks. But I was like, you know, Perrone and I were kind of saying like, why is Nixon, you know, um,
Speaker: We made our jokes about did he really have a hamstring, did he hold in and realize like with whichever way it was, oh God, the rookie can actually play kind of thing. But I don't understand why Nixon was like, I'm back and got a starting spot back the next day kind of thing. It's like you weren't very good last year.
Speaker: This isn't the same defense, you know and like, like, and the guy who brought you to Green Bay isn't here anymore. So, like, the things that you used to have in your favor,
Speaker: we can argue about if you you know the first one but the latter two of where like your player in the returning defensive scheme and the guy who brought you to green bay was the associate head coach those two are no longer true and i don't understand why nixon is getting the benefit of the doubt i know st juiced has been like has had a couple like little ding-ups here and there kind of thing but overall He's looked better in the in the drills and teamwork than Nixon does. I just don't understand why Nixon is getting any sort of benefit of the doubt at this point over anyone else. Because it's like...
Speaker: I guess I get that St. Juiced hasn't been healthy a lot of his career. You know, he's had issues with nagging injuries and all that kind of stuff. I get that CeCe is a rookie, but what is Nixon doing that's giving you a better chance to succeed as a team defense over the best of what those two guys can offer you? And like...
Speaker: that' That's my consternation with the position group at this point. is i'm just like I just don't know why you're wasting first-team snaps on Nixon at this point. like earth I don't want to say wasting, but like I don't understand why he comes back after sitting out a day. Like I said, I don't care which reason why, but I don't understand why he comes back and is like immediately at the front of the line again. like That's the part that I don't agree with at all. like There's no...
Speaker: reason why he should be like okay i'm back i'm first man up again kind of thing i didn't you're not gonna get an argument out of me on that one i i was able to watch a lot of the family night uh practice and there was a couple of times that and i know you know, they don't tackle in, in training camp practices and all that, but there were a couple of times that he was in the area that he would have made the tack, you know, he would have been in position to make the tackle after the catch or whatever. And you could see him hop to the side and it's like, well, he's in, in post-season form already. So it just, you know, I, I,
Speaker: i I don't understand it either. ah you know Like you said, he the two people that were his biggest rah-rahs are not on the ah staff anymore.
Speaker: i You gotta to believe this is, this has definitely gotta be his final year in Green Bay, unless they come to him and say, hey, if you wanna stay here, we'll let you return kicks, but that's about it.
Speaker: And you can be an emergency corner if we need it, but you know you're you're pretty much, yeah, well, I don't say useless because anybody who's made the NFL and has had a long career in the NFL can't be considered useless.
Speaker: I don't care who they are whatever it is. If you've made that and he's been in the league for eight years, you know and there's so a little bit there that they, you know special teams, whatever it is, but You know, and I do. I see the same stuff that you do with the support of him and all that. And it's like, I get it.
Speaker: You want to rah-rah. You don't want to poo-poo a lot of things. And, you know, you want to be a supporter of the team. But that also doesn't mean you have to be okay with everything they do.
Speaker: Yeah. Like, and that's my only point is I'm like, especially now, it's like, give the... it The only quote-unquote defense I got is that Domani Jackson is still dealing with whatever injuries kept him out of OTAs, like the after-effets.
Speaker: I would be really irritated if Jackson was fully healthy and you weren't getting... You don't have to give him first-team snaps, but like if he was getting shoved down the roster just to make Nixon feel good about where he stands with the team kind of thing, it's like...
Speaker: kale
Speaker: I know that different people have different opinions on how good either prospect is, particularly um Domani Jackson, but it's like, all things being equal, if the front office was given truth serum, their ideal scenario is at some point, Cissé and Jackson are your starting cornerbacks by merit.
Speaker: because that means that the two guys you have under contract for the longest period and in the room are giving you some kind of tangible positive return that they've justified starting at cornerback um what's at you know in um for for the season at some point so um and you gotta wonder what the rotation would be if carrington wasn't hurt right now would nixon be getting the number one slot would you know St. Juice be getting any kind of time there? Would Cissé be getting his time if if it wasn't for... And this isn't in support of Carrington because you know Mike and I have been pretty clear on his issues. He can't tackle. He won't tackle.
Speaker: So, but he can be a hell of a a coverage guy. And if you can at least cover and stop the catch from happening, then you don't have to tackle. But, you know, it is what it is.
Speaker: What was the we were joking about it in one of our group chats that there was a, ah during, not family night, but during like training camp that It was during one of the one-on-ones, and we were talking about it, and somebody said, oh, yeah, Golden's looking good, and we got to looking at the video, and it wasn't even Golden that he went up against, and it's like... Oh, shit, yeah. It's like... oh Nixon looked horrible, and I used my favorite... One of my favorite quotes from the movie Major League, you know? Yeah, I did it against a guy who's but we're going to be bagging groceries in a week, and it just...
Speaker: It was one of those where we were kind of like, how did we even get this wrong? Because Golden's obviously wearing zero kind of thing. But yeah, well, and I know he had this. Nixon just sucked.
Speaker: Yeah, I know Sturdivant had the one the one route against him where everyone was like, oh my god, Sturdivant got behind Nixon. and And then that was the one that I was like, it honestly wasn't even a good route by Sturdivant. Like, Sturdivant, that was the one where Sturdivant got vertical on Nixon. And I kind of, like I think I quote tweeted it where I pointed out, i was like...
Speaker: Honestly, this is just really bad play by Nixon, and he's lucky because um he's lucky to commit DPI on the one-on-one rep because Sturtevant doesn't honestly do much with his release off the off the press look. So again, Nixon, what are you doing? He just blows by him on the outside, and then the part that Sturtevant screwed up on and allowed ah Nixon to get back in to make DPI is that he doesn't restack him once he gets over the top of him, which is where, you know, if you're the receiver and you're running past the cornerback, you have to get back over in front of him so that he can't come and make a play on the ball. um
Speaker: And it was one of those where, like, I was like, from a wide receiver point of view, none of this is teach tape. And Nixon still got burnt really badly on the play. And if the ball is any kind of, you if the ball is thrown on time or where it should be, i.e. 5 to 10 yards further down the field, Sturtevant is walking into the end zone and Nixon is just in the mud kind of thing. So, um...
Speaker: I think that's the one we were seeing, but I was just looking it up. I used the quote on a different one. People were praising Sky more doing whatever it was against a guy, and it was... ah That was when we thought it was Oladapo, but it wasn't even Oladapo that rep. It wasn't Oladapo, and people were praising It no, that's quite... And that's something we can talk about here in a minute. but You know, with Nixon, it is with him. And there was like a couple, like the one that I know everybody we were all laughing about because oh Jacob Morley comes out, well, that's the that's a perfect pylon throw. It's like, no. But ah like I said, it just,
Speaker: of with Nixon, it's a horrible situation we're in. They should have invested corner a while back. I'm not saying they should have took a corner over Matthew Golden because we'll talk about Golden here in a minute.
Speaker: Golden is going to be a star. There's no doubt about it. He's already on his way. So I completely agree with what they did there, but there should have been no reason the rest of the draft, a corner couldn't have been taken.
Speaker: Because Nixon needed to be off the roster last year, especially after being the guy that got his butt handed to him to finish off the comeback in the playoff game against the Bears.
Speaker: Yep, like he has the interception in the first Chicago game, but it's not, you know, you have the not making the tackle in the Chicago playoff game. You have the the coverage against DJ Moore. You have the multiple times, but the worst one being in the Cowboy game where it's like he just stops playing multiple multiple times last season. But the Cowboy one was the worst one where it's just like,
Speaker: He just stops playing in the middle of the play. And um I forget. I think that Flournoy. Comes back and makes the diving catch on the sideline. And it's like, okay, like, Mr. I'm CB1. CB1s don't do that. Like, CB1s are making the play for their team. Not getting posterized and stuff. So, yeah like you said, we don't have to beat a dead horse or anything on this one. But um it's just...
Speaker: It's like I said, if the corner room had a little more oomph to it, i and even just in terms of how it's constructed this year, if Carrington's not injured, if Jackson's not injured, you know, I would have more issue. But I do still have like, it does make my eye roll that like, he sits out the first day of training camp.
Speaker: and then Cissé and Saint-Just have a good day and it's like, oh, I'm back. Like, I'm back and he immediately is at the front of the line. Like, that is the part I have a problem with. but So just one of your eyes roll when when that happens or which one?
Speaker: More the right one. yeah yeah yeah ah ah um Other standouts from the defense, um Baron Sorrell just continues to be a madman. um He had multiple reps where he just dump trucked the blocker in front of him. i he got Monk, he got he definitely got Burton on one play. um I think he got Wiley on another one. um You know, people are like, oh the pass rush.
Speaker: I don't take pass rush on family night for much of anything because you can't touch the quarterback. You can't do certain things and stuff. um And then, like, um none of these guys are going to just win instantaneously like Micah does with any sort of consistency. If they did, we would hear about it more often kind of thing. so um If they did, we wouldn't have needed a Micah.
Speaker: Yeah, so, but good to see ah um improvement from Sorrel. I thought Lucas did some solid things in terms of, like, how he sets up against the run. um Again, he's a guy that's just not going to be at his full goal in a family night setting because, like, his physicality, he can't use all of it on family night kind of thing. Yeah.
Speaker: I'm sure he's not one to go full board just to not risk injury. Yeah. I thought Brinson put some good plays on tape. McClellan was solid. Ford had a TFL or two. and yeah but Let's give props to this guy for coming in as ah as a first-year player, Anthony Campbell. That guy is like pass-batter-down specialist.
Speaker: Yeah, and not just who and not just as a first-year player, he he like barely played his last two years in college too, kind of thing. So like um you know it's one of those feel-good stories.
Speaker: think they have something there. I don't know if he'll be able to crack the top six to make the 53-man roster. I think Ford has just been like better at doing like truly D-line things than him or Stackhouse, but definitely a guy to keep an eye on that like you know if he doesn't make the 53, he's definitely a preferred guy for the practice squad at this point.
Speaker: I'd throw him on special teams too just to see if he can make that friggin' connect. Oh, yeah. canag Put him on the field goal block unit. Yeah. My god, ah what's he up to? He's at like seven ah batted passes already throughout training camp.
Speaker: Definitely five. Well, i think he was in five going into family night, and then he had like another two. Yeah, so i I'm seeing a couple of scattered counts. Definitely five he has, so I'm going to just stick with that. i don't I missed if he had one one today on in Sunday's practice, but... um Just a you like you said, those are the kinds when you're a relative no-name coming into training camp, that's the kind of showing you've got to have to, whether it's to make the roster you're currently on or to get the attention of one of the other 31 teams.
Speaker: But um given what the state of Green Bay's room is, I hope that they find a way to kind of keep him around because there's... I think there's something there. there it's you know It's sort of like how we talked about Brinson last year where it's like he's definitely raw, but there's so much like athletic and physical upside there. you'd like to like You'd like to ride the crazy train just a little bit to see if you can... you know um avoid a Lawrence guy situation again where it's like, oh, you just weren't patient enough and you let a decade-long top half starter walk out the door on you kind of thing. So um it's it's that kind of like foresight and patience that you hope the team keeps with it.
Speaker: um Linebackers didn't really do too much. um I know Hopper had the safety. Just to before we skip on him, Colin Oliver had had was putting together some decent pass rushes during family night too. So, I mean, yeah you know it's he's getting his footing in there.
Speaker: Whereas, like I said, Lucas and some other guys, it's not quite their setting. Like Oliver, it definitely is his setting where it's like you're like his ability to just literally run around guys. That gets like played up in a family night type of setting. So like you said, it's definitely good to see him translate in that setting. So really good to hear from Oliver as well. Good to see and hear from Oliver as well.
Speaker: Linebacker level, it was, they were like I said, nothing good or bad, really. um i know Hopper had the safety, but that play was kind of screwed no matter what. um It was more of like a, he happened to come on a run blitz on the perfect look kind of thing, but good on him for like making the play happen. um Well, yeah, that's one of those things that I i said it i tweeted it out.
Speaker: when it happened you know that's the kind of thing that you want on a free run he had a free run if he wouldn't have made a play on the free run then you gotta be like what what's what's going on yep so um so that was the linebacker level and then safeties um I thought Oladapo looked fine out there.
Speaker: um Bullard's going to get chewed up for how he played the golden deep ball. That's kind of been one of the his, like, um his short, his, like, issue spots is, like, playing the ball in the air at depth and stuff. And you can tell that, like...
Speaker: He thought he had a bead on it, and then he was like, when he takes those two backpedaling steps out of his his turn when he's running to the deep portion, it's like, oh no, he totally misjudged the ball. and um like Like I said, Love had way more room where he made that throw, but the broadcast angle looked made it look like but Bullard was right there. In reality, he was still like 10 yards away from the ball to truly make a play on it. But it is one of those where you'd like to see him like understand to just keep running at this point, like to to have better spatial awareness and understanding on how to like take routes to the ball. So that was a little bit of a negative. And then the other bummer is like um Williams and McKinney both dropped interceptions out there. like They made some reads and they just couldn't come up with interceptions. And that was...
Speaker: Kind of a story from last season and you hope that it's not a problem again in this season. Well, what I was going to was back to the Bullard on on Golden, where was saying Jacob Morley come out and said, well, that's a perfect pylon throw. No, that's just the typical Jordan not having the greatest feel for a deep throw. So he just lofted it up there and happened to get it in the right spot at that moment.
Speaker: But but Oladapo, it's kind of weird with the Oladapo and Bullard situation because Bullard has been tremendous as as a slot guy and struggles a little bit deep, whereas Oladapo seems like he's more of a deep guy and struggles a little bit more up close.
Speaker: And I was kind of seeing that with the family night stuff when we would kind of see Oladapo because a couple of times he got it beat, it was when he was playing up close. but the plays that he was kind of making were when he was playing as a deeper safety so that's kind of a interesting thing yeah and and like his his um like so the savi on touchdown he's in good position it's just that's a guy who's not used to playing trail technique man all the time where it's like understanding when to turn around and look for the ball all that kind of there's certain timing on individual routes and things like that
Speaker: He's moving a lot better in that role than I thought he would because he's kind of... He's not like a super fluid-looking... Like, his build. He's a decent athlete for his size, but again, that's ah with the for-his-size qualification. so um it it is interesting to see how he moves out there but yeah i do think that they're cross training him to like be bullard's backup but um i'm just glad to see he's out there and he is the top gunner opposite of um melton so his locker his roster spot is basically locked at this point but i do think they're just trying to figure out ways to get him on the field especially because ganon has again and again professed that he's gonna run a lot of three safety looks so being able to mix and match whether you're counting Bullard as a corner or if Oladapo is going to be out there in like the dime or penny packages and things like that so just giving you way more flexibility in your coverage options so um like like I said it's a work in progress with Oladapo but i'm overall I'm encouraged by what he's put on film um as opposed to being like oh no like it's never gonna happen for him kind of thing so um
Speaker: Like what we're seeing there. Before we go to offense, we will talk about Trey Smack. I thought Smack had an excellent night on family night. um Just everything looked really solid. I know he had the one kick that that um that went just wide left on him, but that was a 51-yard kick. Everything else was...
Speaker: pretty much perfect uh you know he was pretty center mass on everything else and he even dealt with a false start so he like made a 42 and then had to re-kick from 47 didn't have any issues on the re-kick so you know he was uh six of seven but technically you could argue he was seven of eight because he had to re-kick and stuff but um i just a really nice day at the office for smack after you know Like we said, like, and, you know, Family Night isn't a tell-all either, but the thing that I'll give Family Night the bigger nod to is, like, everyone has to remember is that Hinkle, there are no NFL stadiums that are like Hinkle because Hinkle doesn't have, like, you're not in a bowl of any sorts. The wind is, like, he's, it's like kicking in um a high school stadium more than it is, like, kicking in a professional NFL stadium where, like,
Speaker: that Right? I don't think there's any stadiums that are just like open on the sides like Hinkle is. So, you know, the way the wind affects you. Are you the outside practice field? Or not Hinkle. um Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the outside practice field. That's Nitschke.
Speaker: Nitschke, dang it. Yeah. so um But Nitsuki is wide open. So like if there's 20 mile an hour gusts, you're getting 20 mile an hour. as in like a stadium, it'll swirl and all that kind of stuff. So like it's a different profile and stuff. Yeah.
Speaker: the The practice fields are weird because you have Nitsuki that's the open one for when they practice in front of the fans. The Hudson Center is the indoor one, and then I think, yeah, the Hinkle is the one where they close off that nobody can see. Oh, okay. It's still outdoor, but yeah I know what you mean. Like, it's closed to the public. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, niche game. And then you've got the underground one that I don't know if it has a name or not.
Speaker: The dungeon. but But, yeah, that's where they do their walkthroughs and all that is the underground practice facility on, like, game days and stuff. Yeah, so um good to see um good to see smack bounce back.
Speaker: On offense, we'll just address it. Golden was awesome. it was yeah It was freaking awesome. um Whether it was cooking Nixon in the one-on-one, he had the deep ball. And like like you said, it wasn't the greatest throw. I give it like a B plus or A minus from Love just because, like you said, it wasn't perfect, but he put it in a safe spot for where it was golden or nothing and I I do give those a little bit extra um boost on the grading but golden adjust to that ball perfectly he fades it fades himself to it leans his head back all that kind of stuff I do wonder I know they called it but do you think it would have held up as a touchdown in official review
Speaker: Because I don't know if the ball crossed the pylon. I know his foot crossed it. are you talking about the one on one Are you talking about the one-on-one play or the the the deep touchdown over Bullard?
Speaker: The deep touchdown over Bollard where I just said with the Morley one where he called it a... Oh no, Morley was talking about the one on Nixon, that's why. The Nixon one was really close. You're right. Okay, well then maybe that's the one. and Whatever he was talking about, that's the pylon throw. Because it was like he caught it and it was right there at the front pylon.
Speaker: And he swung his leg around the pylon and it's like, okay, do you think that would have been considered a touchdown if they went through official review? Because i don't I didn't pay attention enough to see if the ball crossed the line.
Speaker: Because the only angle of that play I saw was from like the the broadcast view, i can't honestly tell you how it looks in terms of... like if he truly gets the ball inside the pylon because it's that whole rule on the goal line where like you have to break the plane but the ball has to be in the field of play ie so it has to be above or inside the pylon i i can't tell from the broadcast angle because he catches it crocks it in his right elbow but i can't tell where his torso exactly is in relation to the goal line so
Speaker: it's a cat It's definitely a catch, but like you said, I can't tell if it's definitively a touchdown or if he's out at like the two-inch line or whatever. So, yeah. it's It was one of those plays. Yeah, so it just... I know it doesn't matter, but it's just one of those things that...
Speaker: Golden made a hell of a play on it. You just hope that he... And and I'll say this about Sturdivant too, just kind of to mix him. You need to have a little bit of better spatial awareness. yeah And I said this during with Sturdivant that he made some tremendous catches.
Speaker: But they would have been out of bounds or they would have been this or they would have been that because he didn't have the spatial awareness. And I get it. You know, they don't paint the field to be NFL regulation during family night. They just put the basic stripes out there. So he didn't have the end zone, you know, the wide brim end zone area.
Speaker: uh for the touchdown you know if he was in bounds there they didn't have it then along the sideline either so that's a little bit rougher it's just not to take away from what they did because like i said i i'm going to be a golden ride or die until he gives me a reason not to be you know i'm going to put my cap on him just because i was that was one of the few times that i've predicted correctly what the packers were going to do in the first round and so i'm going to be supportive of that no matter what so i i'm completely for it just be a little bit better with your spatial awareness because you don't want that pa popping up in a game and have to come down to a decision by new york and the re and the refs on the field you know make it to weird and it could have been one of those things that he misjudged it and he had to catch it the way he did
Speaker: yeah but yeah yeah from a lot of other people it sounds like it's the whole college guy guy or you know rookie nfl receiver making the transition from college like not being aware that you need two feet kind of at all you know how much more space you need to get that second foot down and stuff um We saw a couple nice plays from Nair. I know the one, like, wouldn't have counted either way, but the one where he, like, Superman dove for the ball on the sideline. He was, like, a whole body length out of bounds, and the ball bounced out when he hit the ground, but...
Speaker: I like seeing a guy make that kind of effort when he knows he's on the fringe, like he's on the outer fringe of the roster. And then he did have the nice play in team where he catches the deep out along the side. He was aware of where he was, made sure he got his feet inbounds when he made the catch and stuff. So um interesting to see him get some snaps with the ones. um Savion looked pretty decent and in the stuff that he was doing.
Speaker: He had the nice back shoulder catch, and then he looked like me trying to jump up the Lambeau wall right afterward. um Watson. I've got to say this about Watson.
Speaker: Watson was doing good with his routes. He looks like he's getting stronger with his route tree. Now you've got to learn to finish the the catch because there were a couple of passes that went right off his hands that...
Speaker: Okay, now you're getting paid decent money. Now you're viewed as the number one receiver. You need to start finishing out with it. You know, it's great that you're picking up the routes. It's great that you're picking up, you know, better moves to get open.
Speaker: but once you're open, you have to finish it. Yeah, and he really did catch the ball well last season. And even in 2024, he was catching the ball pretty well. But yeah, that that drop he had on the dig stop route, that was a rough one. like I know it was a little high from Jordan, but that's one he absolutely has to come out down with because that's going to be a staple from his route tree this season is he's going to run a lot of overs, a lot of deep posts and goes, and then he's going to have to convert those stop route situations because that's...
Speaker: further taking advantage of his speed because you know that's the counter to when guys overplay his speed and all that kind of stuff so you're right gotta gotta convert the plays um Otherwise, than that, there wasn't really a wide receiver that really stuck out.
Speaker: Yeah. I feel sorry for him. Will Shepard was kind of having a rough night. Yeah. I like Will Shepard. And, you know, obviously there's something the Packers liked about him to keep him around all last year. And he got a little bit of time in some, you know, towards the end of the season.
Speaker: a Prather, I know he made a couple of catches, but I didn't really see anything. Melton had a rough night with drops. Skymore.
Speaker: Do we want to talk about Skymore and his inabilities, or do we think we built beat that horse to death? We've done enough on that. It's all going to come down to how he looks returning kicks and punts in the preseason games. He didn't look that the limited times he did it in that family night. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, so that like you said, we don't have to beat a dead horse on that one. um Tight ends, I thought Dabney looked good in the one-on-ones. I thought he had a couple of nice routes there. um i know it's Wayne and and Larry, because they were like, this guy is more known for his in-line blocking and stuff, and here he is out, you know, really turning on and making plays.
Speaker: yeah and it wasn't against any of the top guys but he was doing against the dbs and stuff so it's not like he's like against a totally mismatched linebacker or anything like that he's doing it against someone who can like athletically keep up with him kind of thing so that was kind of impressive to see wiley i thought was solid um hope the neck injury that he popped up with isn't anything too serious it's just a matter like i said i hope they're just you know lefleur alluded it to it in in his presser that it's like Tuesday or Sunday was going to be like a slow day and then Monday we would ramp back up kind of thing. So you just hope that that is a case where like guys who were tender after family night, let's just take a step back and like make sure everything's as okay as possible kind of thing. um Otherwise, not much out of the tight end room.
Speaker: Swinson didn't look good. He had one or two catches, but he looked slow and and everything else. And then, she yeah, he had a couple of drops too in the one-on-one. So, yeah, it's it's been a rough training camp for Swinson.
Speaker: On the bright side for Frennik. at ah ah Nick Gregory out of Australia, former co-host. Thomas Yasmin looked pretty decent in his limited little snap.
Speaker: Bibber had a couple of catches, but you know you couldn't really make any judgment out of him. so just he's playing gets He's playing against like the fourth string kind of thing and stuff, so it's hard to say anything. I know they were talking him up because he's from like Cedarburg or something like that in Wisconsin. so Yeah, you know got to. the Yeah, hometown guy or whatever. The home cooking. Yep.
Speaker: And then at Running Back, again, it's hard to say much because they're like popping pads and stuff, but they're not really drive blocking anyone or anything like that. They're like... they're like The offensive line is like fitting to their run blocks, and the defensive line is... Honestly, the D-line was probably taking it a little more seriously. Like I said, like, Sorrel dropped a couple guys on some of the run plays and stuff, but... um it it was just It's just good to see Lloyd get through the practice with no issues. you know he He kind of was like kind of um like almost over-slow playing some of his reads and stuff like that and just like really accept like really um practicing his revamped running form and his explosiveness out of his cuts and stuff like that. So it was good to see him get through the practice. um He had a catch on Christian Welch that... wasn't even well, like Welch wasn't in bad coverage either kind of thing. It's just that Lloyd is that explosive out of the backfield kind of thing. um But the the overarching thing is he made it through, no issues. um I thought Strong actually looked pretty good out there. I know he had the like touchdown off the screen pass in the low red zone, but I thought he had a solid showing. And then Martinez looked a lot better once they did the quote unquote live tackling portion where he kind of broke away for like a 15 yard runner because he was always going to look better in that.
Speaker: scenario he's he's just not a seven on seven player like he you know he'll he'll look good if he gets into the open field kind of thing but he was always gonna show better when it's like oh we're actually have to tackle people and he is a 6-1-2-30 guy kind of thing so yeah I expect that his showing for like proving whether he deserves a roster spot is gonna come in um the preseason games where he like actually gets to run against like a real defense kind of thing and stuff but um you know good news like i said on the running back front um lloyd is healthy you know knock on wood he's it and it seems like he's not saving himself if that makes sense like he does seem like When he's doing the drills, he's going full out. like I know they're limiting his reps, but it doesn't look like he's babying the reps or anything like that. looks
Speaker: Still looks explosive, which is really good after he's just dealt with soft tissue and weird injuries the past two seasons. And then um the other good news is Chris Brooks returned to practice on Sunday. so um And he had like a funky comment. it It does sound like he was trying to like really revamp his bot. it's It reads like...
Speaker: Because his comment was, it was a good learning experience or something like that. That was his um response to when they're like, oh, like what happened with your injury that and he kind of like had this kind of like yeah um um i don't want to say put words in his mouth but it was almost like he's like it it it reads to me like i bit off a little more than i can chew and i strain my hamstring because of it and i know now like hey like don't have to go that all out in off-season training kind of thing like it kind of like between the lines it kind of read like that to my point of view but um
Speaker: You know all things being equal, the top three guys are there. It's Jacobs, Brooks, and Lloyd. And it's on Martinez strong to like, especially strong because he's out of practice squad eligibility. It's on them to like prove they're worthy of a fourth running back being kept on this roster.
Speaker: And, well, you don't forget about Nixon. You to throw Nixon in there. because Nixon had a good showing, but I put him in the he's their, like, practice squad target guy kind of thing. But he did put a do a couple nice things on film. He's the guy that I thought he was coming out of UCF, honestly.
Speaker: we We got to speak on that. So, friend the show, Sarah Keller. Sorry, Sarah.
Speaker: ah Yeah, and I mean, there's not much. Like you said, Martinez looked pretty good when they started going into more of your quote-unquote live action. um Lloyd, we all knew what Lloyd was going to be. It was just, is he going to be able to show it because he can't see the field?
Speaker: You know, hopefully, like you said, they they got that worked out and he'll be able to show. I'm wondering how much he'll play in the preseason. Yeah. he'll just say, no, well we'll keep you practicing just so you stay in shape, but we'll save you for week one.
Speaker: um Yeah, there's not much more can really say about running back because there's not – they don't have an overabundance of them on roster at the moment. Which is why it's a little bit weird that they signed that Keyshawn Johnson instead of bringing in. Well, and then they just they literally just claimed another wide receiver off waivers. So, i don't know. I'm just kind of confused what they're doing Yeah, some former LSU kid. So, yeah.
Speaker: Who knows? Maybe they really are going to throw the ball more this season. that That name sounds familiar. I'll have to look through my scouting stuff.
Speaker: um And then quarterback. um We'll see how it looks in the preseason games. We're going quarterback, but I want to do this real quick. oh So we had a comment on one of our...
Speaker: tick tock clips from the show we were talking about it was me talking about how i'm not i'm kind of concerned about ah have we decided if he's still going by tyrod or is it tyrod now i don't know taylor learn either yeah um about how we're kind of concerned about him because he hasn't been like showing out that he deserves to be the backup and practices and stuff. And St. Blitz over on of TikTok says, it's the backup quarterback. If you are worried about that, you are hoping Love gets hurt.
Speaker: No, it's not that we're hoping Love gets hurt. It's that we know Love has has missed a couple of games every year so far. we were in better We knew we were in good hands with the way Malik showed out.
Speaker: Now we have nobody in to in in the position to lead the team if it happens. yeah And the reason why I wanted to bring that up now is because I don't think Tyrod Taylor looked...
Speaker: any better at family night than he has the in no the other practices. And the unfortunate thing there is that neither Drones nor um ah McCord showed much of anything. And again, they're playing with like the third and fourth O-line and stuff. And that's where I'm hoping that Taylor doesn't play too much in the preseason because I do want them to get to play both with the better of whatever O-line players the Packers do field, but also get to see the, like, better defense... You know, the, like, more closer to first-string defenses on the field, because...
Speaker: Taylor is going to be just a a one year older and worse version of himself than whatever he was last year at this point. he's He's at that age where he's just getting older and his physical skills are deteriorating. That's what happens when you get older. and He's 37 and there's a reason why he's jumped around to so many different teams. Yeah, that's why he's got you know half the teams scratched out on his eye his um his collection card. um And like you said, it's not that we think McCord or drones are the next coming or anything like that, but we need to see they don't just need a clipboard carrier.
Speaker: And I know Jordan will try to play through things. and He played through the thumb. He played through all the leg ailments after he returned in 2024 and stuff. And he had a couple ding-ups in 2023. But...
Speaker: Like you said, he's been dinged up or missed games each of his three years as the starter. And the season is only going to get longer because they keep wanting to add extra games here and there kind of thing and expand the non-Sunday game palette and all that kind of stuff. So... um We're not questioning who's QB2 because we don't believe in Jordan or anything like that. We're just going off of what has been his historical trend. And unfortunately, historical trend is just three seasons worth. And he's missed a couple games, a few games every season. Yes, the concussion is, you know, the concussion he's suffered is a more freak one than really all his injuries have been kind of freak incidents. But it just shows that you do need to have a contingency plan because shit happens in this league and you you have to have a viable game day option because
Speaker: um like if I know this is a bad thing like wait but if if Malik Willis couldn't win us a game down the stretch of last season what is Tyrod Taylor gonna do any different that's better than what Malik does so that's the way i look at it and like you said you can say whatever you think about us worrying about it but it is a concern because jordan has missed seven game six or seven games over the past two seasons and that's basically what i said in response to him but i wanted to bring it up here just in case anybody else is thinking that's what we're talking about no we just
Speaker: We don't want to be back in the old McCarthy days where we had some random UDFA as the backup and then we have to rely on that. You know, we don't want the Graham Harrell in there. We don't want um ah Scott Tolzien. We don't want Seneca Wallace.
Speaker: ah Yeah, but Seneca was at least drafted and had some success in in prior stints. But we don't want to have that guy back there that you know we even questioned that when malik showed up you know because all we had with malik was what little bit he did down in tennessee and that was almost nothing so you know it's one of those things that yes we're not hoping for him to get hurt but there is the trend that he has at least missed one or our two games in his in his starting years
Speaker: So we got to have somebody that we can trust to go out there and win a game. And I just at this point, I don't trust Tyrod Taylor to win it. Yeah. And, you know, saying with McCord and Drones, I don't think they were bad during the practice.
Speaker: Just nothing really happened. Yeah. Yeah. They they weren't really giving me. I mean. McCord had a nice thread the needle type throw for a touchdown on one of the, the um ah what was it, seven versus seven or 11 versus 11 or what it was.
Speaker: um Drones kind of drove the field on on his two-minute drill, but... they're um they're both playing with guys who aren't making they're They're both playing with guys and against guys that aren't making 53-man rosters at this point. So it's hard to make true determinations of what they're really doing within the system.
Speaker: We would have been able to make better decisions had they went out there and went 10 for 10 for 200 yards and and you know two touchdowns or whatever it is, because that means that they're torching competition they shouldn't be torching.
Speaker: Yeah. ty Even Tyrod Taylor didn't do that. Yeah. he should be torching a lot of these guys that should be torched. You know, the veteran savvy that a lot of people are saying so important. You're right. Like, that is the part, too, where it's like, he's not just out thinking the not first string guys, if that makes sense. You know what mean? Like, the veteran savvy that everyone says is so important is not translating to the field tangibly in any way.
Speaker: Yeah, but and that's pretty much where I'm at with it. And, you know, I'm hoping something happens to where, you know, whether somebody is cut the the Packers really liked, they they make a Malik Willis type trade.
Speaker: Because the thing is, is we've seen it with Malik that LeFleur can take a guy that has talent and put him in a situation to win.
Speaker: I just don't think Tyrod Taylor has that type of talent right now at 37 years old. Yep. That's where I'm at as well. But we have been going... Well, you know, this episode is an hour and 20. We've been going basically two hours because we had to restart and redo. um We'll just put a bow on it here. know We've covered it. We covered Family Night pretty well. we covered the recent transactions.
Speaker: um You know, the first game is coming up on Thursday. I'll try to do something after that ends, whether it's a TikTok or a short live or something like that. I'll see what I can put together on Thursday night after the game just to get something up. But, Joe, you got anything else before we put a bow on this one?
Speaker: No. I mean, you know, if you see me around the Green Bay area, you know, say something. Yeah, mean that's right. He will be there. don't hit me i don't really feel like being hit but yeah i mean even i we should be able as long as the hotel internet holds out on me we should we could do something thursday night after the preseason game um because it's an away game so i won't even be there ill i'll be at the hotel just chilling out sounds good but no i think that's pretty good
Speaker: Alright, well, we'll do our usual. Check us out at Ohana underscore Packers on Twitter, at Ohana Packers Edition on Instagram. Please continue to follow us on Facebook. um We're trying to get to our 100 followers so that when we do go live, we can stream live to Facebook. We're getting really close. um We'll also be doing a drawing when we hit that 100 subscriber. um please follow the podcast on your favorite podcasting apps please give us a like and a subscribe as you did you know like joe he found something on a tick tock comment whether it's there one of our personal twitter accounts the show's twitter account instagram whatever if you comment give your thoughts questions we will respond to it on the next show so please keep sending us those but until next time that's iowa joe i'm mike go pack go and aloha
