Green Bay Packers New QB, New Kicker, and New Season - Weekly Wilde, Ep. 1

a weekly pulse on the green and gold with the three-time Wisconsin sports writer here Jason Wy who looks a lot like Mark touser all of a sudden this morning with his Mark toer training camp cutout that's Jason wiy I'm Alex RO with you this is episode one of weekly Wy here in the 2024 Green Bay Packers season what are you doing just excited to be part of this I I heard you asked for T and he turned you down so I'm doing it yeah yeah weekly wiy with Mark touser has a really good ring to it uh looking forward to doing this each and every Thursday aside from a few Thursdays when the Packers play on Thursdays through the entirety of the 2024 season with you Jason I I I want to use this as an opportunity to kind of put you in the passenger seat to uh take a look at everything that goes on at 1265 Lombardi Avenue every week a little bit deeper than maybe you have the opportunity to on on Wii and tou and all the shows you appear on throughout the week so I think this will be an exciting ride right I sure hope so uh so let's make this awkward right away uh I I I think uh that you are one of our uh most talented young Rising Stars yep it's awkward you're right so when you asked me you know having read all your fine work in the den Denmark newspaper and uh having watched you grow into the the burgeoning star that you are when when Alex stro says hey I'd like to do a show with you uh you don't say no because then otherwise then you're a hypocrite right if I'm talking about how great you are but I'm like no I don't have time for you so look I I don't I know T gives me a hard time T that that's this guy you can hear us every weekday 9: to noon uh across ESPN Wisconsin uh gives me a hard time for you know I don't have takes and I don't have opinions uh the dynamic of our show uh is a great one and I I say this behind his back I don't say it to his face because he doesn't like uh the praise it makes him uncomfortable too the guy's a genius uh I do brag about the fact that it was my idea for Wii and T Craig carmes and Evan Cohen came to me and asked me if I could do a show with anybody on the planet who would I pick and I picked him and they made that happen but the dynamic of the show does often lead to me not having a whole lot of opinions and so when you suggest that we do this uh in in the digital space and wherever else you're going to be able to find it um I I thought it was a really good idea uh I certainly don't need any further exposure I I got after somebody who was complaining about my uh work at on Twitter today and listed all the places I can be found so he could avoid them but uh I don't need the extra exposure but any opportunity to talk to you once a week I was not going to pass that up well I appreciate the kind words as awkward as that was um but awkward as at all you're lying because you led that with let's make this awkward right away well yeah it wasn't awkward for me I made it awkward for you which is what I was shooting for I bet everybody watching this right now has already clicked it off because no way there's so much good stuff coming here don't don't don't turn don't turn that YouTube dial let's let's start with cutdowns Jason I I mean this is year 29 on the beat for you so you've seen these each and every year you've seen dreams essentially come to an end for a lot of guys in the NFL it's always a tough day at 1265 and across the league I think it was only 29 people in total that that were picked up from waivers you know across the league from other teams three of which came from the Packers that went elsewhere uh what were your initial reactions to cutdowns I I know like guys like Christian Welch who I don't know what else he could have done in the preseason to make the roster he was a surprise to me Anthony Johnson Jr another guy who got in the end zone in the preseason finale who saw real time at the safety position a year ago uh does not make the team and ultimately is picked up elsewhere what were your initial reactions to cut down day earlier this week yeah I unfortunately uh while I was disappointed because I really like Christian uh you know I've gotten to know him uh one of my favorite stories from last season was uh reaching out to his high school coach at Iola Scandinavia and uh him talking about the great pep talk that uh Christian gave his team um and they went out and won the game like 53 to nothing or something like that um but he gave it at halftime when they were only up like 21 nothing so they really were fired up in the second half but you know he's he's one of us right I mean Wisconsin guy he went to Iowa but he was playing for the team he'd grown up cheering for uh like we did and I I I just think you know gy flat out admitted it he did do enough he should be on the roster but he cut him anyway because they obviously drafted two linebackers in the second and the third round uh in Edan Cooper and Tyron Hopper those guys weren't going anywhere um now they did keep Aaron Mosby at least for now who had a spectacular last preseason game too but you know I Christian Welch deserved better there's no denying it but I wasn't surprised like I I just kind of felt like really I well I felt like when you have the draft picks you did he's probably going to be the odd man out even though he doesn't deserve to be the odd man out so when I saw his name I was disappointed but I wasn't surprised Anthony Johnson on the other hand I was legitimately surprised uh they kept Zay Anderson who's a special teams guy for them and which by the way we can get into that uh it would appear that uh gy has said okay Rich I'm okay now with the roster I'm gonna handle the roster because I don't think Rich Basia it certainly doesn't seem based on who's on the roster uh that Rich bace has a whole lot to say anymore including Andre Carlson not being there anymore I would guess that rich would have liked to have seen them be a little more patient with Anders Carlson but again that's a question I want to ask him when I get an opportunity to but Anthony Johnson surprised me because he took a ton of reps with the ones like they were rotating guys next to X and he was one of them and for him to go from that and having a touchdown in the preseason finale to being released that was a surprise to me I I guarantee you goody didn't say this but I guarantee you that Grant Duos who again I did think would be if they were only keeping six he was not going to make it if they kept seven he would um at wide receiver I'm fairly certain that Goody's plan was there's not many guys to get claimed we're going to try and get Grant deos and Anthony Johnson Jr through to the practice squad carry him there for a little while and then there's going to be injuries and we're going to call them up and they'll be on the 5 and obviously the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants foiled those plants yeah for the first time since TM Hill Jason uh a Packers player was claimed it was three of them this year does that speak to the depth of this roster in your opinion because obviously this is a very young team and once again they will likely be the youngest team in the league but when I saw that stat come across I was blown away the first time since taes Hill a Packers cut was claimed by another team three of them this year claimed by other teams yeah earlier in my career it was like clockwork there guys were always getting claimed right during the the Ron wolf era and and during at least the early portion of Ted Thompson's tenure but yeah that did surprise me now you know I I am I am a taste some Hill Stan uh I always thought that that was they should have they they should not have exposed him to the waiver wire but if I'm being honest when you look at what he's done in New Orleans um there's been some special moments but it's not like uh the um the franchise was going to fold up shop because they didn't have tesm Hill on their roster uh that said it does speak to I mean look goody put it I thought perfectly we had more than 53 guys that deserve spots on this roster and the three of them plus Christian Welch who leflour said he was signing with Baltimore and then I had somebody else tell me he was signing with Denver and I haven't seen at least not yet where he landed but I'm sure he'll have a job um but that tells you they had a they probably had 57 guys at least who deserved roster spots and four guys that didn't get them ended up with other teams well hold hold on I'm fascinated by that Christian Welch thing because I did not see you're right at least as of recording it has not been announced that he signed anywhere I did see he won't return to the team but the two teams he might sign with are the two teams that the Packers played in the preseason that he forced to turnover against yeah so thef Flor the Flor was up there t because CU sometimes I know this comes as a surprise but sometimes my feelings despite my unbiased journalistic approach um do do tend to bleed over into my job really yeah I know shocking uh and so I did ask about Welch uh I think to both of them if if someone else asked one of the questions it was only because they asked it before I could but the guy deserved a roster spot he did and so I wanted to see how people are going to answer the question and and lefl at the end of his answer says I'm glad he's going to get an opportunity with Baltimore and then one of my other colleagues reached out to somebody who covers the Ravens who in turn said that's news to the Ravens so and that was the team that that Christian Walch had played for previously yeah so as of as we're recording this I I don't know where he's Landing U but it would be it would be something if two of the teams they played in preseason that he had interceptions against uh were the ones that were interested in bringing him on their teams very interesting um we will see how that plays out I guess hopefully we have an answer next Thursday when we record episode two of of weekly Wy but that's uh that's fascinating to me we'll get to the AJ Dyan stuff a bit later Jason because obviously that's a whole another fascinating story and we'll see how that plays out in a bit but I really do want to talk to you about the evolution of Brian gun the general manager of the Packers and the way he constructs rosters because this year in particular it seems like he is admitting defeat on draft picks that didn't work out specifically Shawn Clifford Michael Pratt and of course the A4 mentioned Andre Carlson and in years past it seems like a big knock on gy is he's loyal to a fault with guys he drafted Allah Amari Rogers like that experiment went way too long you've covered this guy now every year obviously of of his of his tenure both as a Scout in and now uh is this year seven or eight as the general manager for Brian gak H how have you seen him evolve specifically when it comes to roster construction because it seems like his tone and you mentioned earlier it seems like Rich bace isn't really playing a role anymore this is Goody's roster it seems like he's changing his ways a bit as he grows as the general manager of the Packers yeah I I I'll be honest with you I I disagree with your premise um really because um I think for one year you're on scholarship if you're a draft pick now Michael Pratt was a seventh round pick right um risk the the the fifth round pick that they used on Shan Clifford is a little more of a premium pick right I can go through the list of fifth round picks including Davon Wicks who have turned out to be potentially very good players right it goes back to uh Corey Lindsley and before that you know dorsy Levens was a fifth round pick so those are those aren't those are no joke picks and when you use them on a punter like he did on JK Scott uh a number of years ago or you use them on a backup quarterback um you're picking them because you intend for them to be on your team and look they did bring Clifford back out the practice squad and there's no guarantee that Malik Willis is going to be an upgrade in fact he's he's still he's still a uh developmental project player at this point right like he's going in he was in he was in Tennessee for two full seasons and a training camp and he had three different offensive coordinators and three different offenses and now he's with the Packers so in less than three NFL seasons he will have had four systems so I'm curious to see how he fares because to this point you know he fell in the draft and has not been able to show what he's capable of in the NFL he's only started four games or three games his team is one and two in those games so they brought back Clifford because I don't think they're fully giving up on him uh I do think that they decided that I don't know what it was about Pratt is a strong arm but I don't think they felt like he was a good fit so I don't think they would have brought him back had he uh not chosen to go to Tampa Bay on their practice squad so I I yes he gave up on a couple of draft picks right he gave up on Royce Newman some might argue you know I know Rob dski would argue long after he should have given up on Royce Newman um but nine of his 11 draft picks from this class made it and I think you get one year grace even if you don't do a whole lot like Travis Glover their sixth round pick who made it as an offensive lineman I mean he ran with the threes for a good chunk of training camp but we're investing a draft pick in you we're going to give you the opportunity to grow um the Amari Rogers thing I think is a one-off personally and uh as as has been proven uh he obviously hasn't been good enough but and again I I don't know him that well but I do wonder if he is maybe one of those guys that he got off to a difficult start his quarterback was a jerk to him and it affected his confidence to the point that he never recovered because he was talented if you saw him in college you knew he was a talented player but I W I found myself wondering if he would have gone to a different team with a different quarterback and a different situation and had the same amount of time to grow if he might have had a different level of confidence I mean I just think I just think success in the NFL yeah you have to be talented but guess what almost all of them are so as T will tell you I don't know I put him away where is he yeah where'd he go I lost him oh here he is as T would tell you uh it's also about the situation you go to right like T had 11-year NFL career right he went to a team where Larry Beckle was a perfect offensive line coach for him and then James camping after that he went to a team where the starting right tackle had back problems and he got a ridiculous amount of snaps in training camp to get him ready and T deserves all the credit in the world for taking advantage of the opportunity but he thought he might be going to the Seattle Seahawks at one point the Seattle Seahawks may not have offered him the same opportunities and two years later he gets cut without ever having gotten a play and so it situations matter and I think what we're seeing with this group is that goody has has put together a lot of t there's no denying that uh the question is how does it come together because it came together great during the second half of last season but there are some spots on this roster that even those that are goody stands uh not speaking of anyone in particular um they have to acknowledge that those holes are there and that's the kicking Situation's a mess their depth on the offensive line is unproven and at running back now because of the AJ Dylan situation ation um they've got two guys that are young inexperienced unproven and you cannot take J Josh Jacobs and have him play 90% of the snaps and have him be ready by season's end still all really good points and that leads me to the two Acquisitions that that you mentioned both of them there Malik Willis trading a seventh round pick to Tennessee for him and then signing Braden arvon the free agent kicker uh from Tennessee after he was waved and he will likely be your starting kicker uh for at least the beginning of the season now those moves are interesting to me because that's filling holes that I think everybody that watched the preseason games in in training camp like we did Jason we know those are there right quarterback two was a mess that that competition did not go well Clifford's back on the practice squad as you mentioned and kicking has just been a disaster really since last season with Andrew Carlson and Greg Joseph uh this preseason so going to se narison trading for Malik Willis although I don't know that we can definitively call those upgrades those are moves that tell me goody understands this as a championship roster is that a premise you agree with well uh no uh so we're off to a good start yeah we are good because again for let's take let's take uh what you're talking about Willis first yeah sure which your you don't do that actually I I I want to cut you off quick because you sent out a tweet this week Badger Nan tweeted that you know Malik Willis developmental piece if you were going to go that route Mike Pratt is on your roster you still view Malik Willis as a as a guy that needs to be developed and isn't a Bonafide really good backup I I thought that was a heck of a co-sign from you on Twitter at jasonj wiy so go on well so and and look I I said this uh on our little WBA TV show last night uh with demovsky and Bill Huber I love the Malik Willis Edition I I don't get don't get it twisted on me like I I'm fasc by his talent and I'm fascinated by the idea of developing him and Rob made a really good point while we were debating it that hey maybe by you know November or December he has made strides in a new offense and he is a capable backup but you know there were plenty of opportunities for them to play him and they chose not to uh in in in Tennessee so look what my issue is and and I saw this I think this happened last night Taylor hinck he was traded uh the Falcons traded him to the Chargers for a sixth corre uh I don't think Taylor hinek and I probably fall uh under the same umbrella with some of his uh opinions but I can tell you this if I'm a GM that's the guy that I want backing up my guy because he's played in the league and played well in games uh has started more games than Malik Willis he was the guy that I and again this is what I'm saying I'm not a huge fan of some of his opinions but he's a he's a he's a proven commodity he's not proven to the level of Justin Herbert or being your starter but he's gotten opportunities to start and if something happens to your guy Jordan love in this case I feel like he's shown that there's reason to have uh optimism that you can win with him as your quarterback and obviously Jim Harbaugh feels the same way that's why they acquired right so Malik Willis I don't personally believe is at that level I'm certainly open to being wrong on that but I think he still has a ways to go uh that said when gudy gets up there yesterday and says and I quote that there were underwhelming performances from the two quarterbacks that he drafted that is a pretty damn big indictment of their play and while they're not giving up on Shawn Clifford entirely uh he's got to work that out because he did have some moments and they they were high on him going into camp and obviously uh they came out of Camp not feeling the same way yeah for a guy that's viewed as a gamer it was certainly not a uh a pretty preseason for Sean Clifford but yeah that's it's an interesting move I I didn't see that that coming with Malik Willis uh Braden narvon seems like he has a big leg he had a nice preseason six for seven on field goals made both of his extra points his only miss from a field goal was a 58 yarder uh reason for optimism for the for the Packers fans Jason albe it that it's another rookie kicker for the second straight year uh look I I don't know anything about Braden narison uh I know that he made 78% of his kicks in college at three different schools um I know that they drafted Anders Carlson even though he had some accuracy issues in college 7% brers yes so I I don't you know I'm not saying that your college actor see is the end all Beall of whether or not you're going to be a good kicker or not but again gy confessed in front of all of us uh that he is too impatient with Specialists and that Ted was far more patient and he talked about being in the building when during that 2012 season Mason Crosby was struggling and he and others in the office were like let's move on and Ted did not uh so I I I I I think it's really interesting he brought up JK Scott un unprompted to say that JK Scott has now become a very good punter in the league with the Chargers and I you know T gives me a hard time about this but I've always said I'm not drafting a specialist I'm letting Specialists go suck somewhere else and work to figure it out and then once they've got it figured out now I want them right and but if you're going to draft him then you got to show patience and I think this is what I respect about gy in this instance is that he was very self-aware to acknowledge his blind spot on this so he was premature on JK Scott now JK Scott's good there's a good chance that that'll happen with Anders Carlson just like it did with his older brother after the Vikings gave up on him so I think that's part of the root of Matt lefleur's frustration is that hey we spent all summer looking at these guys and you don't want any of them and this kid from Tennessee there's no guarantee he's an upgrade like they didn't go out and and trade for an established they didn't go get Justin Tucker and the problem here is that goody said in 2022 when we were talking to him about Mason Crosby now we didn't know how that season was going to unfold but they'd b a back to back they had a back-to-back MVP winner they had been the top seed in each of the previous two years they blew the top seed in the NFC championship game against Tampa and in a divisional round game against San Francisco but the quote was if you have a championship level team you need a championship level kicker don't they think they have a championship level team right now is Braden narvis a Championship level kicker he may become one I don't know and neither does goody but if you're looking at well he made six of seven in preseason including a 46 yard gamewinner and a 59 Yer that doesn't necessarily mean that he is going to do that when the games count and you are trying to win in Brazil on a 54 yard walk-off field goal maybe he will but they did not I don't know how anybody can look and say well they really they've up graded you don't know that I don't know that maybe they have maybe they haven't but the bottom line is they have not solved their problem I will put my Packers Fan hat on and say they upgraded I'm all in on the narf dog uh but we will see no you're totally right really well said by you all right let's give this a shot about 10 minutes left in episode one of weekly wer we're going to do four downs I've got four quick hit questions for you but brevity's never been your specialty so I'm going to uh lead with the one that might take us the longest uh first down what the heck's going on with AJ Dylan uh after he was sat in the second preseason game I think we all thought yeah he made the 53 it comes out that he had his second stinger in nine months now he's put on season ending IR does that mean he will be a member of the Packers this year will be kind of a an assistant coach cheerleader Etc and I don't mean that in a negative way or will he likely not end the season or start the season with the Packers and have the opportunity to go elsewhere what do you think on the AJ Dyan front so there is the possibility that they can uh wave him off injured reserve If he if he wants to pursue another opportunity uh he has taken on a mentor role with those running backs even helping Josh Jacobs who's more experienced than him uh get acclimated to Green Bay look he's a terrific dude and he's done a fantastic job of becoming part of the fabric of the community marrying a Green Bay girl that Paula actually coached in gymnastics oh no kidding it it's great but you know when you've had Matt lefur said when you have a recurrence of an injury it's absolutely a concern and you know a stinger is a nerve issue in your neck generally caused by some sort of contact and the fact that they put him on inur reserve to end his season when they had at their disposal the ability to put him on injured reserve with the possibility of returning I think it ends his career in Green Bay whether it ends his NFL career I can't speculate and I have not talked to AJ about it but I will say this uh what our instinct when they sat him and we didn't know he had the Stinger in Denver was right Matt leflour flat out said it yesterday they had a plan for his role on this team uh he was and it wasn't just going to be carrying the football they had him they were going to use his versatility they loved the shape he was in it's you know I don't want to use the word tragedy because there are much worse things that do happen but this is a football tragedy for a guy who came in to the season in the best shape of his career like not just saying that but like legitimately and now his season is over before it even started yeah really fascinating uh how that all came together very interesting uh story on the AJ Dylan front uh let's go down memory lane what's your all-time favorite practice squad to super stardom story uh Jason in terms of the Green Bay Packers for second down so the best story and and he spent some time on their practice squad late in the 2006 season um and I love the you know we didn't know him at all at the time and then in 2007 on family night um this guy had a big night he had an interception and I love to tell the story of being in The Green Mile which is what we call uh the auxiliary locker room uh from the 1999 film The Green Mile with uh Tom Hanks about death row because that's where your NFL dream go to die um Tim vanor of Fox 6 and I were interviewing this player and he was so inexperienced about being interviewed that he kept taking Tim's microphone from him and answering the question and then handing it back to Tim and that player was TRON Williams and I know you knew that story but I was trying to build the momentum for our new viewers of what are we calling this again weekly wiy okay we might have to work on the title but uh what what what's amazing about him obviously is that he went on to become one of the best corners in the league in 9 10 11 there so um you know there are magical moments that happen in preseason and in training camp uh but again it goes back to what I said about t the opportunity has to be there you have to seize it there's no doubt about it but there are plenty of guys that the opportunity never even comes so they don't have the chance to seize it they never get to find out what they could have been really good story one of my all-time favorite Packers Tron Williams third down real quick uh we've seen the explosion of international games Packers opening their season in South Pao Brazil I know you're not on the road as much as you were early in your career Jason but I'm curious what's your favorite road trip in the NFL uh San Francisco um that's where uh Paula and I got engaged because we both love it there very very overdue to take the girls back um I have no interest in sou Paulo uh I I have I've not left North America which I would like to do I wish I'd have gone to London I I whenever the Packers play in Munich I definitely want to go um but I will say this Rob demovsky is working on a story for espn.com and ESPN wisconsin.com about what's all involved in getting this game to go off in Brazil and it included Rob told us last night that they had to put a bunch of equipment on a ship like a cargo ship wow including goalposts the ship left on June 1st wow to get there in time for uh September 6 so uh I don't I don't probably tease his work enough I don't probably tease my work enough either but this is a story you will want to read Because I my interest is very much Peak they also sent a cargo plane full of materials that the NFL has to get to to still so be on the lookout for that story coming soon from Rob it's it's going to be a DE wow that's uh that's fascinating June 1st it's going to take some time a slow boat to Brazil apparently yeah no kidding fourth down last one for you Jason here in episode one of weekly wiy Jordan loves leadership style H how have you seen it evolve from year one to year two as the starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers so I I I don't he has not led me right uh I don't play I'm not one of his teammates uh so I'm always leery of reading too much into anyone's leadership style that I'm not on their team that said um I believe that the best leaders and best coaches are the ones who figure out on an individual basis what the best way is to motivate that person uh you treat everyone fairly you don't treat everyone the same and I think Aaron roders early in his career was very good at it uh I've told this story before last year in training camp when Romeo dos said and I quote I learned a lot from Aaron even with him barely speaking to me uh I reached out to Aaron right away I said hey look this is gonna be a story I'm gonna use this because he said it um and I just want you to know about it and I'll be honest with you Aaron was pissed he's like I I I had lunch with him a bunch of times I you know I don't get it and and my point to him was whatever you thought was enough clearly was is n enough that's a failure by you as a leader you have to you know that and you know that's sometimes when I go into older brother mode with him and it's not always welcome but what I like about Jordan is and again I don't know who needs to get their ass chewed by him and I don't know how effective he is at that but what I like about him is that he seems to be very conscious of I'm not going to embarrass anybody I'm not going to scream and yell at them I am more likely to take them to the side and talk with them now whether or not he gets after guys who need to be led that way I don't know I have not seen evidence of that I can just say that if I was playing tight end for him a I would probably blow a lot of assignments and B the best way to motivate me is like Jason I know you're better than this this is disappointing you got to be better like I need you to be the best version of you that's how you would vot motivate me screaming and yelling at me and telling me how much I suck is not going to help help me I'm going to it's going to make things worse for me so look I still believe in you but we got to get this going man come on you're better than this that that's the way and I think he has a very clear ability to connect with his teammates but the the challenge of a leader is what you do when things are going poorly and while we saw some of that last year the expectations weren't High when things were going poorly now the expectations have been raised when they hit adversity this year how much better how much more prepared is he for that that's going to be one of the many questions of this season just over a week away from the season opener in South Pao Brazil between the Packers and the Eagles that does it for episode one of weekly Wy that is the three-time Wisconsin Sports writ earli Jason wiy you can find him on Twitter jasonj Wy you can find alexor stro You're Gonna Want to find him on Twitter uh the show is called weekly wiy so I feel like it's only fair to allow you you have a four catchphrase you say at the end of every show you do take it away Jason let's change the name