Episode notes
Mike and Wes recap the first five practices of training camp, highlighting the strong starts by WRs Christian Watson and Matthew Golden (5:15), the presence of TE Tucker Kraft (8:40), the flashes from RB MarShawn Lloyd (10:50), the underdog story of DT Anthony Campbell (13:00), and the ongoing installation of the new defense (18:05). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Read the transcript · about 5,950 words, follows along as you listen
Speaker 1:Hi, everybody. Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spaffer, joined as always by my trusted colleague Wes Hodkowitz. We're coming to you here from the Potawadi Sportsbooks Studio, and I'll start off the show with an apology for all of our regular listeners and watchers. We were supposed to have a show last Thursday, and in fact, we shot a show last Thursday, sitting right here in these very chairs. But in the post production phase of things, something went haywire with regard to how the show got recorded. It was all messed up, and it just so happened that last Thursday, between practice and Packers Hall of Fame inductions and all kinds of other stuff going on, Wes and I did not have time to reshoot the show, so we ended up just having to scrap it and skip it and say, all right, we're gonna come back next Tuesday full force. So, Wes, what that means is that we have a lot to talk about on this show because now there are five training camp practices in the books since our last show.
Speaker 1:So the first one in Pads taking place on Monday, and there will be another one in pads shortly after we turn the cameras off in here, So I'll just throw it out to you. I want to talk you know, both sides of the ball, special teams, everything, just your your key takeaways, guys that are standing out, you know what you are taking note of through these first five practices, What is top of mind for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah. The one thing we're doing this before practice six today, at the time in which we're taping this is you know, this is training camp fifteen for me now. And I don't know if through the first week there's ever been an energy quite like the one that I've felt out there at Nichki Field. I think part of that credit to the fans. I think has been an unbelievable atmosphere that the fans have provided. The turnout has been fantastic, no doubt, you know, and that's a big part of it too, But also just I think it's a mixture of a lot of young, hungry guys and also guys who have been here three four years now kind of becoming their own player and setting their own tone. And you know, there was one guy that we were talking to last week. This past week, Kamal Hadden. So Kamal unfortunate had a terrible ankle injury at the end of last season, but that was a rough one. Starts the year on pup and he makes his return at practice and we're talking to him afterwards, and we're going through this talk about what happened in that game against Baltimore, and he says, rhetorically to himself, He's like, you know,
Speaker 2:if I had to do it all over again, I would, He's like, that's what I got to do. I got to set the tone for my team. I got to make the play. It was my responsibility to take on that crack block. I have to be there. And it just seems to me that that sort of underscores the mentality this football team. Obviously, you don't want to get injured, but it's just that everybody understands their role and understands what their job responsibilities are, and I think are maximizing these snaps early on. So, whether it's Jordan Love, I think has had a really good pace with the offense so far, whether it's Xavier McKinney who picked off Jordan Love for the first time in team periods on two on Monday. Yeah, I've just really liked the level of compete and as we transition now into the full padded portion of practice, of the full padded portion of training camp, I'm just really excited to see what these guys can do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's interesting that you bring up the intensity. I mean, I definitely felt the intensity ratchet up a notch when the full pads went on for the first time on Monday, and that's not unusual. That happens quite a bit. But I hear what you're saying too about those first four practices that were, you know, more of like the glorified OTAs, you know, where it's not full contact. But and I guess maybe it's a combination of things, right, I mean it's you have a new defensive coordinator, you're installing a new defense, you have a new special teams coordinator, so the special teams period's taking on a little bit different look with some different drills and other things going on.
Speaker 1:And you go back to what Matt Lafleur said way back I believe it was in March when you were with him in Phoenix at the Owners. I mean he's talking about breaking down the offense all the way back down to like square one to the basics, and then rebuilding what the playbook is going to be for twenty twenty six. Maybe it's just a combination of all those things that there's just you know, there's kind of something different in the air this year in terms of the preparation.
Speaker 1:It's just different the preparation to get to get ready for the upcoming season. I'm totally with you on the way Jordan Love has looked he I mean, things look sharp. I mean the interception by McKinney, great diving play by McKinney, one of the only like off target throws. We can probably count him on one hand so far through all these practices, the off target throws that Love has made, and McKinney happened to make him pay for that one when he missed Jade and read over the middle. But when talking about the offense, and again the pads have only been on for one day, so it's hard to talk a lot about the guys in the trenches just yet.
Speaker 1:But for me, what I've seen out there on the practice field from Matthew Golden and Christian Watson at wide receiver has impressed the heck out of me. I mean it doesn't. With both of those guys, it hasn't looked like the first week of camp. It's looked more like the first month of the regular season what we're seeing them do. And hopefully that is just the beginning and things are going to progress from here. But I've just been really impressed with the plays that Golden and Watson continue to make day after day after day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think for Golden one, it's just what you and I expected, right, I mean, he's going to get more opportunities, He's going to be running more with Jordan Love this year. His hands, he has such good hands, he has such good separation for a young guy. He runs the route tree really well. You can use him downfield, you can use him across the middle. That's all to be expected. What I've really liked with Christian Watson in particular is this looks like a guy that has taken steps to becoming a complete wide receiver. Now that it's not just that, Okay, he's a six foot four guy that runs in the four threes. No, Christian Watson is making an impact. He's using that speed to stretch the field, you know, he's using it to go sideline to sideline on guys he's catching underneath routes. I just feel like, as much as we've focused this offseason on the transition at receiver and Romeo Dobs and Dontevin Wicks being gone and Okay, this is going to be the nucleus, it's also how those guys fit together and the various ways that you can use those three and to branch off for your thoughts on the offense, and I actually I
Speaker 2:thought you raised one of the best points that I think we've had so far during training camp during three things yesterday when you were talking about the early periods of team. First time they're in the you know, the spider pad, what you know, the full pads. You know, they've done all these things the last few days, and you feel like the offensive line that, in my opinion, with some of that run stuff, it seems they're playing with the chip on their shoulder. And when you talk about rebuilding the the playbook and the game plan a little bit, it seems like the Packers are getting back to maybe some of their original principles with the inside zone run, some of the things that Josh Jacobs is doing in Marshall Lloyd knock on Wood being able to get through this first week of practice with no injuries so far looking really good, looking really explosive. And we're not even talking about the fact that Tucker Kraft was elevated off of pup. Not in the team periods yet, not in that mix yet. Packers are weathering a lot of injuries at tight end, but when it comes to receiver, running back, quarterback, the positions where Green Bay probably is
Speaker 2:gonna have to lean on here throughout training camp based on how much they're going to have Craft out there. I think it's been a really really good start for that unit. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, I mean it's been good to see certain guys get back into practice Craft being one at the top of the list. We've seen DeVante Wyatt in practice, though he's not doing eleven on eleven either. We've seen formerly known as Zach Tom now Zach Baco Bewelli, changed his last name to honor his uh, honor his heritage on his father's side. He's back at practice, but also not doing team eleven on eleven yet. You mentioned Kamal Hadden has come back still, you know, some injury concerned with with Luke Musgrave and you know Javon Hargrave isn't isn't back out there, you Jordan Riley, you know, another one with with a tough, tough injury late last season. So they're you know, not everybody is back, but but it's been good to see and and you know, I think maybe I made the comment to you yesterday, it might have been somebody else I was talking to a practice.
Speaker 1:You know, we're all waiting for whenever Tuckerkraft is going to get the green light for the eleven on eleven, And it just feels like once he does the first like four or five passes in a rower going his way right, it's like, it's all right, Tuck, you're back. Let's see what you got, you know. I mean, it feels like they are going to they are going to push him to get him ready. Not that he does and push himself obviously, but he is going to be pushed to get ready to contribute in the way that he's expected to and believed to within this offense. And I think even he's not in the eleven on eleven, but there's just a little bit of extra juice to some of those drills just because Tucker Craft is on the field.
Speaker 2:And it's not just the tight end drills. Have you noticed that. I mean, one thing I like about Tuck and I don't know if this is the training staff, I don't know if it's him. I don't know if it's something he's talked about with the assistant coaches or what John Dunn. You see him sort of just going around the practice field in these periods where he can't be out there for team. You know, he's looking at some of the individual stuff where they're doing some you know, blocking things. He was over with the running backs going through the gauntlet with Ben Sermons, you know, you know, finishing that out. He was working the blocking shed on his own. There's no wasted minute with him. And I think when you look at his preparation and his recovery, that sort of just, you know, is what he's done all off season to put himself in this position. The other thing I thought that was really interesting, and again kudos is Zach Bakubawell got to make sure work on that one. B Well, if it wasn't for the name change, I think one of the big headlines coming out of that media scrum of his he thinks in the next
Speaker 2:week or so, he'll be back in team.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So a guy that had a pretty significant pateller tear injury last year. Now he's getting closer to being back in the fold while Darian Kinnard's been taking those snaps so far. So pads are on. Guys are gonna get banged up. You're gonna see that injury. Let's get a little bit longer than it's been. But for the most part, I think the Packers were able to navigate the off season program the way they wanted to, and you're seeing them get their nucleus, that core on the field here in August.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's been great. You mentioned him already. It's been great to see what Marshawn Lloyd has brought to the table. I mean there have been certain plays, you know, on a handoff, when it develops a certain way, you see him when he hits that extra gear. He's got that common of the shiftiness and the explosiveness anytime the ball's in his hands. And you know, we're all knocking on wood here. Of course, everybody's rooting for this guy, not only on a personal level, but because Marshall Lloyd can really really be a factor in this offense. In twenty twenty six. We're seeing it already, and you know, and fingers crossed that it comes to fruition.
Speaker 2:The Packers need to get Chris Brooks out there too. He's such a well rounded player. He works on teams and the offense. But you know, way it almost kind of feels like one of the silver linings to Brooks unfortunately starting pup with on pup with the hamstring is it's almost like they had to kind of they had to push Marshaw Lloyd out there. I mean, because this is undisputed. It's those two guys at the top of the depth chart there with Josh Jacobs. He's had to take first team reps. He's had to take second team team reps, and they obviously had a formula for him during the offseason program. There'd be days where he would do team. There was days when he wouldn't. For the first week of camp, he's been off the chain here.
Speaker 2:He's been allowed to just kind of be himself and be a running back again. And I think, you know, we got to get to the preseason games. You gotta get through training camp. But the more and more you stack these days, you just gotta feel like Marshawn is feeling more and more confident about the changes he made this offseason, the training and how he's altered his approach and hopefully how he's able to play in actual NFL games this season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no doubt about it. Well, I want to shift gears to the defensive side of the ball, but we will pay some bills first and hear a quick word from our sponsor. Serious XMNFL Radio delivers hard hitting analysis and up to the minute NFL news that true football fanatics need. Twenty four to seven, three sixty five. Hey, Packers fans looking to score a few more Wisconsin memories from Devils Lake State Park to the Milwaukee Art Museum. Discover all the wonders of Wisconsin at travel Wisconsin dot com slash Wonders. Welcome back to Packers Unscripted. All Right West, First five practices Defensive side of the ball. I'm gonna start with this one because everybody always wants to know in training camp, who's the underdog story, right, Who's the who's the guy coming out of nowhere? Who's gonna make for a really tough decision for the personnel department right when the when the decisions are made, roster decisions are made, the cut down to fifty three. Now we are just a week into things. There is a long way to go.
Speaker 1:You just said it in relation to Marshawn Lloyd. There is the preseason games and all that, but you cannot help but notice Anthony Campbell, young defensive lineman. He's listed at six foot six three oh seven. He is definitely all of six foot six, and I believe the three oh seven is a bit understated. I'm guessing, you know, I think he's probably fifteen to twenty pounds heavier than that. I mean, he's he's a big, big man. But he is making an impact now. He you know, he's been on every unit from the threes of the twos to ones.
Speaker 1:He rotates in with the ones, sometimes he's with the reserve units. He continues to pressure, get pressure up the middle and knock passes down. At the line of scrimmage yesterday, that six foot six, three hundred plus pound frame is chasing to Rod Taylor out of the pocket and keeping up with him and forcing him to throw the ball away along the sideline. This is a guy you mentioned him in our in the three Things video. After practice yesterday, completely under the radar acquisition. It was the first week of January and the Packers just signed him to the practice squad. Yeah, like an acquisition when the Green Bay is getting ready for the playoffs and all this, nobody's paying attention to it at all. And now here we are seven months later and this is a guy who's you know, getting noticed on the practice field and getting some reps with the first unit with some of those other defensive tackles, not in the eleven on eleven.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was funny. Was talking denied Dennis Sutton, the Packer's rookie edge rusher, yesterday, and he was we were talking about him rushing on the interior and you know, he has some versatility there, can go inside outside, and it was just so funny. Out of nowhere, without being prompted at all, He's like, yeah, then you got like ac and he's got like three batted balls a day right now in these practices. And here's what's so interesting about this kid. And we're gonna watch him. We'll see how he obviously does. In the preseason, he played in community college ball. Goes to Louisiana Monroe in the rotation there, transfers to Miami. Plays two years at Miami, and when I say plays, I use that term rather loosely. There's a lot of watching. His senior year, he had a half sack that accounted for his only tackle in eight games.
Speaker 2:He did have a pass deflection though that season two. There you go, and this is a credit to Brian Goodcuns. It's also a credit to John Schneider. I mean, these are the guys, these are the gms out there that leave no stone unturned. And Schnyder signed him as an undrafted rookie last year. He got through training camp, he was on the peace squad Seattle eventually lets them go in Green Bay. How many times you're talking about these practice moves? How many times, Mike, once you get to the second half of the season, do we see a guy signed one week and then cut the next and then they flip? You know, they just are always turning.
Speaker 2:They're always looking at.
Speaker 1:Guys constant and that part of the roster during the regular season.
Speaker 2:And here is Anthony Campbell, now, you know, maximizing those third team reps and is going to probably get a lot of playing time in the preseason. You would imagine and for sure the one thing, and I wrote about this. I'm sure you're gonna transition to some of the you know, the first team stuff, but I wrote about this on packers dot com today. You know Chris mcclollin, the Packers' rookie third round pick. When you look at Warren Brinston six rounder from last year, you know Nziers Stackhouse, undrafted guy for last year. All these dudes in the interior defensive line have had opportunities to rotate in right now because unfortunately, as you talked about why it's not back in team yet, and Javon Hargrave has been on pup with a knee injury. Those two guys, when they're healthy, that is going to be dudes that are gonna be playing on first, second, and third down and form or fashion.
Speaker 2:The fact that these young guys have been able to get these opportunities, the trickle down is guys like Campbell now in the second third team units being able to get some you know, some shots as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's one of the biggest things I've noticed as far as this, and it's partly injury driven, yes, because of guys who are out and not you know, not full fledged participants. In practice yet and whatnot. But it seems as Jonathan Gannon is going through the installation of this defense, he is doing a lot of rotating with the first unit he's he's rotating. I mean, we've seen the vast majority of the draft picks, whether you're talking Brandon Cisa at corner, you mentioned Deny, Dennis Sutton on the edge, Chris McClellan in the middle, all these rookie draft picks are getting some snaps with the ones.
Speaker 1:CSA getting more now in addition to just the previous rotation because Carrington Valentine is currently out with a hamstring injury. So Sisa is lining up regularly opposite Keishawn Nixon with the number one defense. But the the constant rotation it feels to me, and again this is just my two bit analysis from the sideline, but it seems to me a very intentional effort on the part of the coaches to engage as many players as possible in the installation of this defense. Get as many guys as possible in the huddle with Zaire Franklin, with Xavier McKinney, with the guys who are calling the shots, and the guys who are you know, yelling and hollering, and you know Evan Williams, the guys who are you know, getting everybody aligned. The more guys that are in the huddle and on the field with those guys on a regular basis, the more they're engaged in this whole installation process. I think, I know it's partly injury driven, but I also think it's partly intentional.
Speaker 2:Just love it all around because like you're seeing when you look Againnon's scheme right now, we've I was talking with Xavier McKinney about this last week, and also Javon Bullerd, I know, has been mentioning it to some guys too. Keishaw Nixon went out of his way to talk about it. There's like almost an emphasis that it's like there's gonna be three safeties. We're going to go three safety that's going to be our base front. We're going to learn how to defend the run against it. We're gonna look at being able to be multiple with it. It's not just gonna be Jivon Bullard as a slot cornerback. He's the guy blitzing. They're gonna send different guys and they want to see how many guys Okay, you know what your starters can do, but when you get down further down the depth chart, guys that you might have to rely on in week eight, week twelve, week fifteen, who are gonna be the guys that could potentially step in and stand out? And that's been the beauty of what he's been able to look at this training camp. You want to have Micah Parsons, you want to have Why, you want to have Hardgrave, You want to have these guys,
Speaker 2:you know, Carrington valand you want to have them all available, but sometimes you're not. And who's gonna be the next guys up? And are they gonna be ready for those shots? Se say Dennis Sutton McClellan. These guys are all dudes that have been running with the first team unit since the offseason program. Yeah, that's a lot of snaps that they've been able to stack up. And there's going to come a day here if everything works out, where they're gonna be on the second team unit and it will be guys taking those first team reps and they're not gonna be able to rotate in there as frequently, but you know when they're need them on second down in the third quarter in Week three against the Atlanta Falcins.
Speaker 2:You're gonna need to find guys that can eat snaps for you, that can contribute. And I just I like everything about gannon scheme so far. I think Halfley did a tremendous job of implementing what he wanted to do here, and they did it very well.
Speaker 1:And did a lot of adjusting a lot of adjusting along the way too.
Speaker 2:But there's something about gannon scheme that it is just the unpredictability of it. It's just very intriguing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think one of the things that intrigues me the most, and you made me think of it because when you're talking about this whole three safety thing and how they're doing this. The combination, the combination of Evan Williams and Javon Bull are both going into year three here. We've seen what both of them are capable of. They've got a lot of NFL football under their belts in their first in their first two years in the league, where they are in their own maturation process as professional football players. And then the combination of Jonathan Gannon's scheme what we might see out of guys like Evan Williams and Javon Bullard could be pretty impressive this year. We might be spending a lot of time talking about those guys.
Speaker 2:I think you're right in one of the things. Again, this is not an indictment on Halfley. He was brilliant with how he dialed things up, but it was like, Okay, Evan Williams is the free safety. But if you go back to his makeup at Fresno State, at Oregon, he was used in a lot of different ways. He was a guy that did get after the quarterback at times. The way he's built, he has those attributes. And what I really like about Bullard, and you've underscored this in some of your copy and some of our videos that we've talked about, is there was a time, Mike, when you think about Charles Woodson in that nickel role, you think about Casey Hayward as a defensive Rookie of the Year candidate in twenty twelve out of the slot, There's been a time where that slot, or what Tom Capers used to call the star position, that was a marquee position.
Speaker 2:You want to have one of your best players playing that spot. The Packers have gone through transitions, they've had undrafted rookies. They've had different players. You know, Shandon Sullivan played that role at one point.
Speaker 1:Where they've taken a guy like Morgan Burnett and moved in there because they didn't really have a better option.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, Javon Bullard has made that his home. He has embraced that role. When you talk about okay, yeah, interceptions, when you talk about coverage, that's all involved in it. But it's also about how you chase down running backs. It's also about the tone you set up front, and I think Bullard gives them that flexibility too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's it's going to be exciting. Again, it's really early. We don't even know how much, if at all, the starters are going to play in the preseason games or what we're really going to see until Week one when it matters against the Minnesota Vikings. But it's been it's been interesting to see the process. And you know, Jonathan Gannon's just out there with his bucket hat on and his walkie talkie call in the plays, and you know, and he's just and he's just watching. He's figuring out, he's figuring out what his guys do best. Now that's to say, I mean Jordan love and the offense. They've had their share of success against Scannon's unit. Ganna's unit has taken it to them in certain team periods as well.
Speaker 1:There's been a lot of really good back and forth out there on the field, which is what you want to see in training camp. You want to see when when one side starts to get the better of it, how does the other side respond. We're definitely seeing that's gonna take things go along.
Speaker 2:It's gonna take some chances too, and it's gonna be interesting to see how Packer fans how they responded to that, because for so long they're like, well, just send them, just do this and do that. And there was sort of this ideology with with Halfway that you want to keep the ball in front of you. Ganning goes big at times. I think that's gonna resonate with fans, but uh yeah, it's gonna be fun to watch.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. A couple last thoughts before we go, just so we hit on all three phases here through the first five practices on special teams. One change up, so to speak, or a couple of them actually, because we didn't have it. We had talked about it on our last show. That ended up getting scrapped. But the Packers are actually down to just one kicker on the active roster.
Speaker 2:I called that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Lucas Haversik was released. The German born and his name is escaping at the Kreeg Lenny Kreig. Lenny was in my mind. I couldn't think of the last name. So German born Lenny Kreeg was signed, but then he was subsequently released because the Packers need a long snapper in camp because Matt Orzik is currently dealing with CAF injury, nothing serious, but they want to get him better before they push him into action. So cal Adamitis has been signed as the long snapper who's now part of the operation here in practice until orz It gets better. All of that said, we've seen rookie kicker Tray Smack have two kicking periods the last couple of days in practice.
Speaker 1:He went three for five in each one. Then he went two for three at the end of the various two minute drills at the end of practice on Monday. So I think officially, slash unofficially, he's eight thirteen on field goals thus far. A couple things I will say. One of those was definitely a bad snap by Adamitis when when he missed and another one was a fifty five yard or where he just flat out mishit the ball, And that can happen when a guy is really trying to put something extra into it. But it feels like, you know, the fan base is already in a state of panic over Tray smacks misses early in camp. I'll just remind everybody, a there's a long way to go.
Speaker 1:B this time last year, Brandon McManus couldn't miss and when push came to shove, it didn't matter because because the big kicks that the Packers really needed late in the season weren't made. And number three, when the Packers went through this with Andras Carlson a couple of years ago, a rookie sixth round pick, he went five straight games in his NFL career before he missed a kick in a game and that still didn't work out. So I'm not saying Tray Smack is the kicker here for the next ten years. I'm not saying this is going to work out swimmingly. I'm not guaranteeing anybody anything. I'm just saying after a couple of practices. Let's just let the process play out and let the young man work on it for a bit.
Speaker 2:I've said it once, and actually I said it last week on the show too, when you look at the kicking position again, it's so cliche to say, but I mean, Packer fans did get spoiled by Mason crosby the fact that he had a couple down years over the span of fifteen years, right, I mean, that really shows you the amount of consistency and level headedness that Mason had in addition to a heck of a lot of talent. The more norm is to go like what the Chicago Bears went through, which was they cut ties too early on Robbie Gold. They struggled for years to find the next kicker, and then they sort of just lucked into Cairo Santos and now Santos has been just money for them the last couple seasons. It's hard to develop kickers in this league. Sometimes guys will come in. You see Baits come out of the UF. Oh, and he's been a stud for the Lions, right. You see obviously Brandon Aubrey come out of you know, major League soccer wherever he was from.
Speaker 1:Right, And he's obviously soccer player.
Speaker 2:He's been, you know, just absolutely the best kicker in the league. He's the highest paid kicker in the league. So the Packers are ready to ride the waves here with a rookie kicker. The key I think is going to be for Smack is just understanding it, narrowing the focus and just trying to make sure that it's not just about what kicks you make and what cakes you kicks you miss. It's about finding improvement. It's about finding your rhythm. And the other thing to keep in mind too, because of Adamitas coming in, they kicked the first few practices either, so we actually are seeing like the very first kicks that he's having with a brand new long snapper.
Speaker 2:Two and also shout out to Wes Hokwitz. I called the Packers signing cal Adamitis. I just did it four years ago after the twenty twenty two NFL Draft, But was.
Speaker 1:I was gonna, I was gonna bring that up. But I'm glad. I'm glad you did so that I didn't forget before we sold that he cal item Adamas was on Wes Hogcouizt draft board four years ago and he's you know he's done some snapping for the Bengals, and you know he's been in the league from Clark Harris, Yeah he's been. He's been in the league. So but yeah, hopefully or z It gets back, they get the operations smoothed out all that, and and we see where things are a couple three four weeks from now and not perseverate so much over the you know, the Twitter updates on this kick and that kick at practice.
Speaker 2:No disrespect by the way to Adamitis, but it was when the Packers signed him. We usually don't see two long snappers. It kind of reminds you how big Matt Orzick is. You almost kind of forget about just as as a long snapper goes like him.
Speaker 1:Yeah he's not small. Is not a small dude, No, he's not.
Speaker 2:But we never saw like these guys, Rick Levado or any of these guys together. It's just it was just yeah, it's like, well, that's that's a big he's a big long snap.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah he is. He is, all right looking on the show there, what's that? We'll call it a rap on this edition of Packer Is Unscripted. Be sure to follow all of our coverage of the team, everything going on with training camp. We got five things from practice every day, we got feature stories on players the next morning, three things. Videos, more unscripted shows to come, of course, so please continue to log onto packers dot com for west i am. Thank you for tuning in everyone to see you next time.
Transcript supplied by the publisher with the episode.
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Packers Unscripted
Green Bay Packers · Sport · English
On "Packers Unscripted," Mike Spofford and Wes Hodkiewicz analyze all the latest news on the Green Bay Packers. Produced by the Green Bay Packers.
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Mike and Wes review the standouts from the preseason game in Pittsburgh, including rookie K Trey Smack (:40) and No. 3 QB Kyle McCord (7:00). They also discuss TE Tucker Kraft’s return to 11-on-11 work in practice (11:24), the continued emergence of DE Brenton Cox Jr. (23:30) and the competition at the DT position (30:30). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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11 Aug 2026 · 29 min
#897 Packers Unscripted: Full-fledged battles
Mike and Wes discuss the starting competitions at RG (:30) and CB (6:32), update the team's health (12:05), highlight CB Jaylin Simpson's underdog bid for a roster spot (19:05), and preview the preseason opener at Pittsburgh (22:46). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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6 Aug 2026 · 28 min
#896 Packers Unscripted: Moving forward
Mike and Wes discuss Micah Parsons’ update on his recovery (:40), highlights from the second padded practice, including Barryn Sorrell’s INT (10:15), rookie CB Brandon Cisse’s impressive start (15:40), thoughts from the coordinators (19:25) and the upcoming Family Night (24:26). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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28 Jul 2026 · 32 min
#894 Packers Unscripted: Training camp storylines
Mike and Wes preview training camp and look at the prominent storylines to follow, including the pending return of injured players (4:20) and the competitions at cornerback (8:15) and edge rusher (13:20). They also examine the new additions on defense, including LB Zaire Franklin (21:10). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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11 Jun 2026 · 26 min
#893 Packers Unscripted: Minicamp musings (but we digress)
Mike and Wes wrap up the offseason discussing TE Tucker Kraft’s media session (:45), the top plays from minicamp (9:15), rookie Jager Burton’s first-team reps on the O-line (16:55), the kicking competition (20:45), and backup QB Tyrod Taylor’s veteran presence (21:20). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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9 Jun 2026 · 21 min
#892 Packers Unscripted: Just rewards
Mike and Wes discuss WR Christian Watson's contract extension (:45), look at all the WR groups in the NFC North (7:05), and preview this week's minicamp (14:57). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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4 Jun 2026 · 26 min
#891 Packers Unscripted: OTA observations, cont.
Mike and Wes discuss the update on Micah Parsons’ rehab (:42), rookie OL Jager Burton rotating in with the first team (9:25), WR Bo Melton’s presence (12:24) and veteran LB Zaire Franklin’s arrival (16:24). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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2 Jun 2026 · 26 min
#890 Packers Unscripted: OTA observations
Mike and Wes share what they learned during Week 1 of OTAs, beginning with injury updates on Tucker Kraft (1:22) and Micah Parsons (3:14), a look at who's getting first-team reps (8:52), including which rookies are in the rotation (10:45). They also discuss the big news stories happening around the NFL (15:42). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
