Packers Losing Pieces: AJ Dillon, Quarterback Depth Gone from Green Bay

hello and welcome to the second very episode of Lombardi party I unfortunately don't have a live audience with me today I only paid them for one episode and they wouldn't come back uh but make some noise for me wherever you're sitting or standing or driving or walking I don't care what you're doing as long as you're listening to Lombardi party I had a long episode in store today and we may still get to it I probably not though because we have had some big news in the Packers Nation Packers are losing some I don't want to say big pieces but pieces nonetheless first of all the battle of the QB tws is over Pratt versus clippard who won somehow Malik Willis won uh typical of Pratt and Clifford they can't even win a battle amongst themselves uh Malik Willis was ated to the Packers for a seventh overall pick he's from uh the Tennessee Titans uh of course he's not a needle mover he was brought in to be a qb2 and that's what he's going to be he solves the problem there because Pratt and Clifford were bad I mean they were just bad and Mal Malik Willis I mean he's not great he's a he's a qb2 uh but I took the liberty of looking up his stats in 2023 Willis only five passes it's a tiny tiny sample size so bear with me but in 2023 with those five passes he went four for five so that's 80% pretty good uh 74 yards so that's an average of 14.8 yards per pass attempt and a rating of 118.1 I mean that is good stats it's like I said it's a tiny sample size doesn't really mean anything uh but do I think that Clifford could do that no do I think Pratt could do that no so I think that we have like the battle's over I think we solved it I I think we got it right too uh getting getting rid of Clifford and Pratt was the right choice neither of them were qb2 Caliber qb3 Caliber maybe I mean Clifford might be out of the leag Pratt actually showed a little bit of Promise uh and I liked him a little bit but I think I'm still going to like Malik Willis as the wide receiver quarterback to more I think I'll feel more comfortable with that uh so that was the first thing that the Packers did recently uh it's not really like I said not a needle mover doesn't really matter that much as long as Jordan love uh can stay healthy please let Jordan love stay healthy the other move much more important not even a move uh AJ Dylan is out for the year AJ Dylan our running back two is out for the year with a season ending neck injury uh that's terrifying first of all I don't know what that really means because there's not any reporting on it other than neck injury um but if it's a season ending one I mean that is that's scary the neck is uh a serious place to get injured and of course uh I'm wishing AJ Dylan uh a speedy recovery I mean it's not it can't be that Speedy but I'm wishing him a full recovery I hope he gets back to the form that he's out now but it worries me for him cuz I don't know if he's going to be back on a football field after this this is a really really difficult injury I mean I I assume it's a neck injury and it doesn't seem like it's just a sprain or or like a kink in the neck you know when you're sitting on the couch too long like I don't know if he's going to get back on the football field he had already regressed uh in 20121 he was 187 attempts 803 yards 4.3 yards per attempt and five touchdowns in 2022 186 attempts so just one attempt Less in 2021 770 yards so just 30 less yards 4.1 average uh so just 0.2 below 2021 and and seven touchdowns so two more touchdowns than 2021 and 2023 last year 178 attempts so sorry eight less attempts 613 less or 63 yards so that is 150 a little more than 150 less yards 3.4 average so that is almost a full yard difference between 2021 and 2023 and only two touchdowns uh which obviously that's a five touchdown drop off he was viewed as a premier running back too like I saw people saying that the Packers were going to have one of the best running back Duos in the league even last year after that tiny regression even last year people were saying AJ Dylan and Aaron Jones are one of the best running back tandems in the league he's not talked about it anymore he didn't like he did not live up to that whatsoever and and now like I don't know if he can ever get back to that with this with this injury um in terms of just football for the Packers it puts a more of a burden on Josh Jacobs I've seen a lot of Josh jacobs's washed opinions recently um I don't I don't think that's true I disagree uh comparing his stats from last year to the year before he played Four less games he had 100 less carries he had 800 less yards which is a lot for just four less games uh a 1.5 yard average decrease that's pretty bad uh and six touchdown decrease for four less games played that is bad I understand where these takes are coming from from I just don't think you're looking at the full picture yet the situation in Oakland was awful awful nobody was bought in there nobody was bought in on the Raiders until until their new coach but even still like you're in Oakland you're the Raiders you're the worst culture in the NFL like how are you supposed to play your heart out there you know he's coming to Green Bay now like the best culture in the NFL the best history in the NFL one of the best up and cominging teams in the NFL it's going to be easy to want to go out there and play it's it can't be easy to want to go out there and play for Josh Jacobs I played for some pretty horrible teams I obviously I never got anything close to the NFL but uh I've played I I love basketball and I played a lot of basketball and I played for some horrible horrible teams teams that went winless into until the last game of the season that's how bad we were it was hard to want to go out there and play your heart out every single game obviously I didn't have money on the line but not winning sucks losing is hard to do and it has to be even harder for these professional athletes who have worked their entire lives to get to where they are today and to feel like it's being wasted to feel like your Prime he's 26 years years old to feel like your Prime is being wasted by by an awful organization something that has happened to two many players too many players that's got to be that's got to be hard to play I think when Josh Jacobs comes to Green Bay it's going to be a different story it's a different it's a completely different culture it's a complete culture switch from one of the worst to one of the best so I I don't like this Josh ja's wash propaganda I think it's invalid I don't think it's true uh but like I said I can see where it's coming from we just have to look at the whole pictures especially with running backs and young running backs and speaking of young running backs can Maran Lloyd step up he's going to be the Packers new running back too that's a big position to fill AJ Dylan was a good running back too uh like I said he was one of the best before last year in that regression can he step up and fill those shoes I have his college stats here 116 attempts 820 yards 7.1 average very very good nine touchdowns very very good I'm worried he's a little bit injury prone I dug into his history he tore his ACL I believe in 2020 um and he had a bruise or a a bruised thigh let me see yeah here we go a Grade Three knee ACL tear in 2020 uh obviously he was still in college at that point and uh in 2022 he missed three games with a deep thigh contusion and now he wasn't expected to to start he wasn't expected to be available for the beginning of the Season until hours ago today or I guess yesterday uh he was expected to to miss the start of the Season he was going to be put on ir and they took him and they took him off and now he's going to be able to start but like is he going to be able to start are they just doing this so he can come back earlier like I don't I don't understand and I think that there's some stuff that the Packers aren't really telling us which is understandable it's their business it's not really ours but I just don't know if I can trust him to come in and just fill those shoes immediately and then like I said I also worry about him getting injured and if he gets injured then we have to bring in Emanuel Wilson and he's really just a body like he played decently against B against Baltimore in this pre-season game 11 attempts 52 yards 4.7 average but like is that really anything I don't think so so I I do worry about this a little bit I don't think it should be too much of a problem which that sounds terrible obviously this is a terrible terrible injury and of course it's a problem for AJ Dylan but in terms of the Packers season I don't think that this is going to affect the Packers too much but if Domino's start falling if the bar if the ball starts rolling I can see this really putting a hamper on this up and cominging team uh AJ Dylan is only 26 so maybe he'll be able to come back after this I'm not sure he's not playing this season we know that for sure and I really just don't trust Emanuel Wilson in a in a football game in a meaningful football game I don't want to see him on the field really uh Marshon Lloyd is already a little scary to me just with his lack of experience with his injury history so Josh Jacobs is going to have a huge burden and I'm happy that I got him on my Dynasty fantasy team but as a Packers fan it worries me uh putting a burden like that on a w on a running back a young running back and Josh Jacobs is a a bulky guy he's powerful and but but that work like against him uh especially on these turf fields like I worry about the health of this running back room do I think that any of these losses truly affect the Packers season no unless worst case scenario comes uh Dylan I think losing AJ Dylan is the most impactful loss of these two losses I mean the the first one the Pratt versus Clifford battle and then we bring in WIS like that's not really a loss uh we it's it's more of just a a trade a a net net positive I guess I don't know like doesn't really matter we have a running we have a c a quarterback too uh just like we did before just now you might be a little better but uh God willing Jordan love is staying on the field for all 18 games or all 17 games plus the playoffs and I worry about even saying that now this could spell dis disaster for the Packers season if Jacobs goes down if Lloyd goes down of course if Jordan Love Goes Down And you can say that for every team in the NFL if Patrick Mahomes go down the Chiefs are going to have a really hard time if Josh Allen goes down the bills are going to have a really tough time like of course losing your star player hurts but I don't know if the Packers have depth like other teams do at those positions of course we have great running we have great wide receiver depth uh but running back depth I'm not loving quarterback depth I'm not loving it's time for my first ever segment on Lombardi party wo it's called make your take and I'm the only one here so I'm going to be making my take my take this week is that Matt lefur is going to make a case for coach of the year next year uh first off I think he had one last year uh I know that the Packers didn't have the record that a normal coach of the year would but just the circumstances that that he was in you have first year quarterback and Jordan love you have the youngest offense in the NFL Aaron Jones was obviously viously a huge help but you have the youngest offense in the NFL you have a like a bottom five defensive coordinator and Joe Barry uh he was just wrecking things left and right single-handedly lost us the Bucks game single-handedly lost us the Giants game I won't say single-handedly for the Giants game because Jordan love played pretty poorly in that and there was some bad weather and uh you had freaking Danny deito going out there and torching us but I'm going to go ahead and say that Joe Barry was a bottom five defensive coordinator in football he almost lost us that uh Panthers game the lowest scoring offense in the NFL last year I believe dropped 30 on the Packers that was Joe Barry and yeah he lost us a lot of games last year close games um he's gone but that's what Matt lefur was dealing with last year I I to get us to where we were we overachieved last year to get the Packers to where they were I think he had a case right there but this year I don't expect the the dips like we had last year I think that the Packers are going to win 10 games if they win 11 or more thef Flur is gonna have a real real case once again it's going to be the young youngest offense in football it'll be the second straight year that Matt lefur is operating with the youngest offense in football an offense that many many players went on the record after playing us and just saying that it's different it they don't know what that offense is doing to make it run so well I I can't remember what the um podcast is but I think it's with Aman ra and his brother and and they were just saying that that Packers offense is different that's Matt lefur Matt lefur is the one drawing those plays he is is making this run like a well o machine the one that it is he's an he's an incredible offensive mind I put him up there with sha McVey I put him up there with Mike McDaniel well maybe not Mike McDaniel yet I think think that Mike McDaniel and um Kyle Shanahan are in A League of Their Own but Matt lefur is right under that he's that legitimately that great at drawing up plays Jordan love I I I think that that was what was really causing the disconnect in the beginning of the season is that they just didn't know how to work well with each other yet and then they figured it out after that Steelers game that they lost uh I think they they played the Chargers next and it was just all uphill from there uh of course thank you the Chargers that's so like them uh but I think that he's going to have a real case cuz the Packers are going to overachieve they have no I mean unless the bottom falls out here like everybody should be improving because we're all they're all incredibly young Jordan love should improve the wide receiver core should improve hopefully chrisan Watson has figured out what was going on with his hamstring uh they said it was something about one being stronger than the other which makes sense uh so hopefully he's going to be back and and ready most of the season and that'll be another weapon so this wide receiver core is going to improve I think that the running back position might be a little worse I liked Aaron I like Aaron Jones a little more than Josh Jacobs as a runner of the football I think Josh Jacobs provides value in other places and I just think that he fits the Packers timeline better so I think that Matt lafur is going to be in these Coach of the Year cases year after year not just this year the next one and the next one and the next one Packers are going to be in playoff contion I mean soon they're going to be a playoff lock I think after this year they'll Pro probably be a playoff lock year in after year and I think they're going to be title contenders year after year that's where I think we're going that's what I see for our future because of all the just perfect pieces in place and Matt laflor being I think a coach of the gear candidate is going to be able to put them together so that's my show that's my take thank you all for watching uh I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart of course you guys are the best uh I'll be here next Wednesday same time I'll just go ahead and give you a preview we're going to be ranking the NFC North I hope to have a a fan of either the Lions Vikings or bears uh to join me but if not then it'll be me here again talking about the NFC North with you talking about the Packers talking about the Lions talking about the Bears even uh not really talking about the Vikings but that's an episode for next week so for now I've been your host Carson Williams and thank you so much for watching lardy party