Brian Gutekunst on Malik Willis: 'He's really shown a lot of progression'

uh first of all just want to thank our players for a really good camp um love the way they competed um it was was a really good camp I thought it was physical it was uh you know it was close in a lot of in a lot of areas so I just want to thank our players thank our staff thank our coaches uh just all the work that went into it with that I'll take some questions what was the thinking at backup quarterback bringing Malik instead of the two guys you had all Camp yeah I think certainly there are some some underwhelming performances I think at times but at the same time um Malik is a guy that um certainly he's in his third year and he really has shown a lot of progression particularly this past this preseason and which just an opportunity for us to uh um add a guy that I think can not only make plays with his arm but with his legs as well and I'm excited to get him get him in the building um and see where that goes He seems like he seems like a much different player than love how much do you have to change would you have to change your offense if you asked to play no I don't think so not much all in fact he's got some crossover in this offense anyway um and I think that was the one thing this preseason as we track guys through you know through their early stages of their career the one thing that we saw particularly with this new coaching staff in Tennessee is just just how how much he had progressed uh within the offense playing from the pocket and uh making plays that way so um again I mean everything this will be new form and obviously the quarterback position it uh it'll take a little bit of time but at the same time um just kind of really excited where his progression has taken him this far and and where he'll go particularly under our group group do you think he'll be able to get up to speed with the offense to be the number two by week one or yeah I would think so yeah the kicking you put a lot into the kicking stuff how did you end up you know where you are right now yeah I think just uh obviously I think you guys know when we went into this we we rotated some kickers through here um I think we were the only team to have three for most of the the training camp and so we were looking a lot we monitoring the league um and um you know uh Bren was a kid that we light coming out um and then he had an excellent um preseason there in Tennessee so um you know as it as it unfolded and he was let go we just thought it was an opportunity to get a really good young kicker and give him a shot at it do you have um the confidence to go with a totally new guys or going to be some sort of competition there I mean so I think we you know obviously uh ners will be on the active and then and Alex Hil will be on on the practice squad so we'll have two um but right now we're going to go with with uh Braden Brian were there when you were talking to Tennessee about Malik were you talking to about the kicker as well or what like it the way it happened yeah there's conversations that that go on you know throughout throughout Camp from our not only from me and and but but from our Pro Scouts that are talking to these teams all the time so there were some conversations but um ultimately it just kind of you know fell how it fell Brian what sort of your reaction to ER in Mosby's you know finish to the preseason and also you know him being a to make that jump on3 this yeah really proud just of the way he he's progressed you know he's when we first got uh you know when we first got him you know he's a little bit of a tweener you know is he an inside backer is he an outside backer in our in our old scheme and then as we as we moved into this 4-3 um we put his hand down and he really kind of took off and you got to give him a lot of credit he's put a lot of work into it and really you know um not only as an ed rusher and his ability to rush a passer and do all the things that we're asking him to do on the defensive line but in special teams as well you know his ability to kind of play multiple spots there just uh and play it well um and then he produced he just did a really nice job producing kept getting better each week and U was showing up in practice it showed up in the games um excited for what he was able to accomplish this Camp um there's as you know there's a lot of unknowns with a rookie kicker and how do you know about the mental makeup and how a guy will handle something like this situation yeah I don't know if you ever you know for sure I mean you know I think certain we Scout that you know and um certainly he had a great preseason where he hit a 59 Y and then a game winner at the end uh to handle that kind of pressure um so you're you're you're constantly monitoring that stuff but until you get him in Lambo field and everything that that brings um I'm not sure you ever know I mean I'm probably not as patient with Specialists as I should be you know I really I'm not I mean I give Ted a lot of credit certainly he was a much patier man patient man than I was but you know I think Mason was under 80% till like his fifth year and then that sixth year was my first year in the office in 2012 and I think he was 67% you know and he missed like 12 kicks you know and I can tell you right now that there was people in the office that were like let's you know let's move on and um you know so I probably need to be a little bit more patient I mean we had JK Scott in here he's turned into a very good punter you know um so but at the same time I you know I'm very confident in this team and what we can accomplish so I want to make sure we give um this team every opportunity to win and um so there's going to be a standard that that we're going to try to reach obviously you used a Draft pick on Carlson a year ago what ultimately made you decided to turn the page on him and how much did that last field goal that last kick in the last preseason game factor into it yeah I think it was a culmination of the whole camp and and everything I think you know for me um and I think our group as we as we went through it it was just you know we were going to try to to to to get better there and whether that was Anders or that was somebody from outside it didn't matter but we needed to get better we felt we needed to get better and um so you know that that's that's kind of the reason why um we made the decision kickers in this league you know um you know some of them come out right away and and they can they can handle it and sometimes they got to bounce around a few times before they actually land I think Anders is probably going to be one of those guys you know he's just uh he's got a ton of talent um he actually had a you know pretty solid rookie year for us um but I just think at this this time we were we were looking for a little bit little bit better and that's that's the direction we're heading in you learn about uh AJ's Stinger that made you guys put him on that season ending IR yeah I think that you know we're very very cautious with you know head necks and hearts around here we always have been um you know obviously had the injury last year went through some things this year and I won't get into the details of it but it was just something that we weren't comfortable with at the moment hopefully that will change in time obviously you know he won't be with us this year um but he's going to he's going to need some time to get through this to see exactly how this will shake out but I wish in the best for I'm obviously you know he's a Pros Pro and and it's a tough blow when when these things happen but um hopefully uh you know here in in short time he'll get some good news ran you talked about how you're very confident in this team and want to give them every chance to win when you have two high-profile battles that all eyes are on the kicker back a quarterback and you end up going with someone from the outside what message does that send to your team about turning over every Rock and doing everything you can and being super competitive at every chance yeah I don't I don't know I think you know our guys want to win and so when we bring in people from the outside I think it's like anything else if they if these guys see that they can help us win they're going to be all you know they're going to be all forward um I don't know if it really sends any message but I think that I think the guys that have been here any length of time understand that's kind of how we we do things you know and um they've gone through Seasons where you see guys here every Tuesday and us turnning the practice squad and um so that's I think it's kind of standard you know operating procedure around here so that the guys that have been here will know it and the guys that are new um get up to speed pretty quick I don't know where the kicking battle that we watched all of off season was before Saturday but is is Andre here if he makes a 32 yard field goal does it that be the last no that's it doesn't come down to something like that I mean certainly that matters right I mean that certainly matters but um that wasn't something that um you know like Turn Turn the page on it in hindsight what what do you think you missed there cuz I he he might be a good kicker one day but he had his struggles I mean I think it's like whenever you go into you know particularly quarterback and kicker are always an interesting because of the there's just only one guy out there right you know so it's always an interesting um uh the way those guys kind of go through this league there's a lot of bouncing around with those guys sometimes before they land so um we certainly knew that was a possibility when we drafted Anders um I can't say enough about his work ethic he's put in all the time I mean done everything we've asked him to do and he's had some really good moments here um again I think it's no different than anything else we're constantly looking at if there's an opportunity that we think we might have a chance to get better um does it make sense to take that chance and in this particular instance I felt it was it was necessary So when you say take that chance goody it is a risk right I mean this is a guy you don't really know much about so what like I would think in your position the one thing you don't want to do is then have this not work out and then you're trying other guys out all the time like where do you go from here when you when you are where you are that's part of it and I me I think that's just it's not just here it's in every you know pretty much every building in the in the league I mean um I mean guys got to produce if they don't produce it's it's going to be short you know it's going to be a short leash and so for me it's just um it's really no different than it ever has been you know I mean we we were going to always kind of you know we're working all year to kind of see if there's opportunities to make us better and if there is and we can we're going to try to try to do that if you know we're really excited to get Braden in here to see what he can do um and he certainly got a lot of talent and we're excited about that and um but at the end of the day like you know all these guys that that made this team um they got to produce I mean that's that's part of the National Football League and I really like our group I really really like the way they work um I like the way that uh they're working together and connecting um again we got a long ways to go but I like I like this group and I'm excited to add the guys that we added over the last few days well where did games fit into the evaluation process at this point you know like he obviously drafted two linebackers so it it's going to be tough for Christian but it would seem like welched did absolutely everything he could have to make this team and still didn't so how do you kind of view the game component at this point in the NFL yeah it's the most important part right I mean that's that's what it is I think you know Christian along with a few others um absolutely did everything and deserved to make this football team we had more than 53 in my opinion that deserved to make this football team um and deserve to make a 53 roster um that's a great problem uh it's very difficult it's very difficult to look people in the eye that you know that it that have produced and um played well enough to make your team and and have to move on that's really really hard um I'm glad some of our guys got opportunities and Christian as well um because I think they deserve it and they burned it um but that's that's very very difficult can you talk about the process with the wide receivers and kind of that decision with Bo and with Malik the gut and Grant not and kind of just what it all came down to yeah again another really really you know that was a great you great competition throughout the entire camp with those guys they all had their moments um you know and at some point you know you're you're you're debating a lot of things you know do you keep six do you keep seven how does it look offense defense special teams all those things go into it and uh again um really happy for grant that he's going to get an opportunity here um but I just think at the end of the day um you know some of the things that uh Malik and Bo did just uh made more sense for us at this time um at the same time if we would have kept Grant um again he he he earned it he deserves to be somewhere and um I'm glad he's getting the opportunity in Miami how much that was special teams dur definitely part of it I mean and he well first of all you know the thing I love about Malik is obviously um all those guys are excellent um I mean they they they do the the the grinding the Dirty Work the you know the blocking um they're all willing to do that they're tough as Nails Malik's got a very unique ability to make plays when it matters you know when the ball's in the air it's kind of his he has a great ability to go attack the football make tough catches um you know he's been a playmaker from college to the moment he got here and um I think he's just a very reliable player uh when it matters either Carlson or Joseph did you present them with an opportunity to come back on the practice squad or is that not on the table at this point uh not at this moment but but both both of those guys I would have no hesitation bring him back here if I thought that was the right thing to do you had a few guys claimed when you were going through those final roster decisions were you thinking there was a pretty good likelihood this year that maybe you weren't going to have the opportunity to get some of these guys into practice squad like that yeah I mean I think you know um there's always less guys claimed than you think you know um certainly I thought with the um the pre-seasons that Anthony had um that Christian had that Grant had um you know I thought you know they played really well in the preseason and they're not rookie players so you know there's a little bit more tape and a little bit more information on those guys um that they would have a have a chance to get uh claim along with you know Royce as well you know um he's played he's got a lot of tape in this league you know veteran offensive lineman that can play multiple spots are hard to find so and he and Royce is one of those guys so um you always kind of think that that those those were the kind of the guys we thought would have an opportunity to get claimed and picked up um but you were always always hopeful that you were able to get them back and recruit them to your practice squad Brian with your job there's like 10th whole days and weeks like the draft you accumulate a lot of talent this week you have to make some tough decisions what's that like to to have both ends of that Spectrum then what's next week like for you when you see the team take the field for the first time in that game yeah I think you know we always would you know we always talk about that first practice once once you have everything set um is a nice is a nice day to get out there and see your team and get Beyond this because this is a really tough you know three four days for everybody involved um it's not easy to go through this process and and and make these decisions but more importantly you got a A lot of young men in there that have put a ton of work uh into this and to kind of have to you know tell them you you don't want to move on but just by rules you have to and um so it's really tough so it's good to get down the other side of it at the same time I mean it kind of nothing really stops you know I mean um in a few hours here we're going to get another you know another uh transaction of a bunch of guys that are now released because uh of the claims you know and we're going to go through that we're going to you know evaluate that and see if anything that you know any of those guys could possibly help us you know so um you know all there's roughly a thousand guys put on the market you know uh over the last uh day so you know we're going through that we'll like we always do we'll have a ton of workouts here in the first three to four weeks of of the season um and as you guys know our roster will change between now and and October November December you got five practice squad spots foring is that can be from that group or you have more resettings coming in yeah we have a few guys coming in that we've we've kind of agreed to and then there's a couple um you know decisions we're still kind of waiting on um so um hopefully by uh tomorrow's practice we'll be we'll be full but we'll see you're a draft and developed team um you've had a lot of Grace with young players throughout your time here um with Michael Pratt obviously you decided to move on rather quickly what kind of gave you the conviction that you know it just wasn't going to work here in Green Bay I I didn't never have that conviction I think it very much well could have worked here in Green Bay I think the um the opportunity to get Malik in here and then having to kind of make a decision I think certainly we could have thought about bring you know having four quarterbacks uh on the roster um but I think that's really hard to get reps and develop you know I think that's that's very tough U I think Michael's got a bright future in this league um um and I would have no hesitation in bringing him back I think really it was the uh the opportunity to acquire Malik that just kind of forced our hand there how did that come together I'm curious about just the process of that trade and then when you talk about having more than 53 did you have some conversations about trades going the other way with some of the guys that yeah those are all those convers those conversations start you know actually prior to training camp starting and our guys do a great job of kind of setting the table for me as far as what might be available out there as we go um so we're watching that each week and we're watching all the tape and kind of seeing and predicting what might be available and and so those conversations ations are um being had um between Pro Scouts and different people throughout um certainly Malik is you know guy going into his you know in his third year um and you just he was kind of running in third string for them so you're just wondering how that was going to want to shake out and um you know through conversations it was became that he was going to be available and I think it took about 24 hours and then that was deal was done so do there come a moment in that process when he flashes something in the preseason you mentioned his growth you're like oh this is different he's taking a step here he could could help it what was that yeah I think he's always I mean he's always shown the um traits you know he's a he's a really good athlete very strong athlete um strong arm able to make all the throws um you know he came from Liberty I think in a little bit you know they're obviously two different guys but a little bit like Jordan you coming a very young kid coming from a smaller level of competition um you know you saw the flashes early on um in his in his preseason work um but then I thought this year particular there was a coaching staff change as well to a little bit of a new system but the way he kind of his patience and the way he was going through his progressions and ability to play from the pocket when to run when not to run those kind of things I thought you know progress again it's a it's a short sample size in the preseason you know this but I thought he did a nice job and um you know I just again I think his ability to win with his arm and his legs was something that attracted us to him and um yeah so that's kind of how that unfolded