Packers Offseason Recap w/ Ross Uglem!!!

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1:02Make sure to use our links so they know we sent you ruzzi.com slash packers. The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports. Right now, the NBA is heating up, March Manus is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I could follow the teams I care about, get real-time scores, breaking news, and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment. What is up, Packers fans? Welcome back to the Daily Draft. I'm your host and the publisher of Packer Report. Ross Ogleman, we have brought to you by the Green Bay Draft guy.

2:05Use code, and we make sure I get this right. Use code draft, 10% off of that bad, but we're also brought to you by Packer Report. Today, to support the show, off season, off season recap. We didn't do it a little bit yesterday, but why I haven't been around as much. I'm not going to rehash that. This isn't the Daily Ross stuff, this is the Daily Draft. But we wanted to kind of give you guys where I am on the off season, my thoughts about this. I think I need to do a great job. I mean, everybody that's been on the Daily Draft, excuse me, on Packer Report podcast, has done a great job of recapping the off season and analyzing the off season and everything that they've been doing since losing that game to the Bears. And I just kind of wanted to get, I guess, where I'm at.

3:08And I think, talk about being overwhelmed, not underwhelmed, not overwhelmed, but overwhelmed. And that's really where I am with this off season. I think the release is for the most part made sense. I think you would have loved to, I think there's a world in which you pay Elton Jenkins close to what he was getting from the Browns and release Banks and just move Jenkins back to left guard and move forward. But it's clear that they view Banks differently. They saw, and he did play better in the second half here, but I think they're ready, not ready to see that as a sunk cost. Speaking of sunk costs, they're not deciding, they hops, that was a disaster, but the fact that they were comfortable releasing him.

4:10And just admitting, like, hey, this didn't work out, pull the plug, you know, keep going on this just because we thought it was, you know, good signing at the time or were willing to, like, introduce me to the excuse or this, that or whatever, the fact that they were just able to move on was wise. So you understand moving on from Jenkins, you understand moving on from Hobbes, and then certainly, Roshan Gary, the effort that he showed late in the season, and really just never really returning to the player, I think Packer Spins don't realize how good he once was. I think he's always kind of been viewed as a bus, there were seasons, certainly where he was not that, you ever return the value of the 12th overall pick, I don't know, but he was a really good player, and that knee injury, for whatever reason, he just never got quite back, and then, like, I said, man, I thought, on field effort, really, he

5:14really just was never the player that you thought he could be across from a Micah Parsons, and I don't know if that had to do with feeling like the Packers were, you know, his team, that was his defense, and then obviously it wasn't after that, what, but I just thought he was a different player, and I'm not even really talking about physically, just, you know, the same locker room stuff, the same words were coming out of his mouth, you always kind of appreciate that, but when that doesn't match what you're seeing on field, when that doesn't match the effort, then it becomes corny, and then it becomes something that, fans it, and teammates, I mean, not an outpouring of support for Gary when he was traded to Dallas, or, you know, not a lot of thank you, Roshan, you could tell that I think his teammates were maybe a little bit sick of all of that as well, but, Gary the G-Man loved

6:15being a Packer, I have a hard time after running down his name right there, I mean, a hard time really regretting the Gary Pick, or, you know, wanting to speak badly on his time in Green Bay as a whole, just because he cared a lot, and he, it was clear that he had a lot of pride in being a Packer, and there were big moments, and unfortunately, and there weren't enough big moments, especially after Parsons got hurt. Everybody remember him saying, watch how the front play, boy, he and the front just did not back up, and it ended up being a big part of why their season ended in Chicago. I think the only other contracts I would have looked at, and it's just clear that they don't agree is Josh Jacobs and T-Shut Nixon. Jacobs is just making more than what I would ever pay a back, and is creeping now towards

7:18that history, was definitely a lot of this, is the guys up in front of him blocking, but was certainly less efficient in 2025, it was in 2024, and, you know, expecting him to get a year older and then become more efficient next year with the same offensive line, I just, it's not something that I would have done, and then, you know, you could have got a decent, not not a ton, but you could have got out from underneath the Nixon contract. We have to the St. Jude signing, and then, and we'll talk about this, but I have the St. Jude signing, and the sky more signing. I think you've replaced Nixon, and the fear would be that you haven't, in the sense that he's on the team, they're gonna play him, and we all kind of saw how that went, and that would be, I guess, to me, the one big hole still on the roster is both corner, backspot still, why do you like St. Jude, so we'll get that, get to that in a bit.

8:20And I think in Ganon's scheme, there's not gonna be a lot of CB-1ing, right? If not, you can follow anybody with a corner, but even just having, you know, left corner for the quarterback, it's looking to his right, a lot of, not every throw goes to the right, but a lot, you know, go to the right or the middle, because they're right in the quarterback, it's easier for them. To not have a great answer, even if left corner back is, is not great. The trade, the big one, Zaire Franklin, doesn't really do anything special, but neither did Koby Wooden. So that part of it doesn't bug me, don't think it kind of bugs me, and they'll ask, Zaire Franklin, to do different things in the sense that if they are gonna play a bunch of quarters, you know, as Justice Mascade has pointed out, they're not gonna play like Tampa, and expect Zaire Franklin to run the Tampa two, you know, deep middle. He's not gonna do much other than

9:20hook curl zones or flat zones, and so that should protect him a little bit, but I just, I think a lot of guys can do what Zaire Franklin can do, and the trade part of it isn't a problem. Green Bay doesn't really get job setting a floor in the sense that, okay, now they have Zaire Franklin, they don't need to go get a linebacker in the draft. The problem is, they probably could have drafted a better cheaper player than Franklin in this year's draft. I like this linebacker group, and Zaire Franklin's new contract makes that kind of hard to do. He's on the team. I think he's already made the 53. I could be wrong about that. But boy, there's some guys that I like in the mid-rounds, the kid from Oregon. There's just, there's dudes in this class at the linebacker position, you know, early, especially after the way he tested, you could fall in love with Jacob Rodriguez, put Jacob Rodriguez next to entering Cooper, and have some playmaking, but the Franklin contract

10:22just makes all of that so unlikely, the potential move to a 3-4, that really means that in base, you know, you've got edge defenders out there in 3-D linebackers, and so the times that you would have at three linebackers on the field, like in base last year, you had three off-ball guys, there were times you had Quay and McDuffie and Koop out there, and that just isn't going to be the case. So now you're really down to a two linebacker defense, whether it's 4-2-5-nickel, or a 3-4, where your linebackers, they're not linebackers, they're Micah Parsons and Barron Surrell, or Micah Parsons and Alvian, like that's what line, outside linebackers would be in this defense, giving you enough confirmation because the staff isn't finalizing again and has none of the press conference, but as far as like loading up at the off-ball linebacker position, it's just not something they're likely to do. In fact, they might be landlocked into the guys they have, if they want Neeman to play special teams, they kind of are landlocked. When you already have

11:26Hopper, Neeman, and McDuffie backing up Cooper and Franklin, are you going to add to that room, especially if you really think Franklin's already on the team? He could release Hopper, I guess, that's the top 100 pick that hasn't been there that long, it's not really the Brian Gouda comes to way. We'll see. I really like the Benjamin St. Jude signing. He was kind of the third corner for the Chargers. Long guy was not great in Washington, but was maybe not asked to do the right things, really good zonies. And I think at this point, Green Bay is what it is, right? They don't have man corners, and if they're going to have Ganon there, I mean, it's still a zone league. And St. Jude was awesome last year. The number one braided corner by PFF in zone coverage now,

12:27found a limited number of stamps. And you can believe or not believe in PFF, but I understand all of that, but he's number one. And so I think that's really impressive, Emana, I just, I like the way that St. Jude plays. He's physically tackles well. I think the Packers are probably going to, you know, if they're going to play that 3-4, the DBs aren't going to be constantly in position to make tackles. The edge defenders are going to kind of be more of the contained guys. But even just on those screens where Valentine got embarrassed, those are places that St. Jude usually makes. And as long as you don't put them in a bunch of man situations, and they don't have the other corners to play man, like you're not, you shouldn't want to play man with Nixon. You shouldn't want to play man with Bollard certainly. C.V. can play a little bit of man, but I don't know how much they're going to play C.V. So I think St. Jude was a really good

13:28signing. Probably my favorite of the things that they did. We'll be right back. Big thanks to our sponsor, BetterHelp, for partnering with us with this important conversation about mental health. This Steve Smith here, former NFL Y receiver and host of the 89 show on YouTube. So having a counselor and work with BetterHelp, that gives you an opportunity to really start to unpack, but people don't understand when you unpack things. You also open up a box. You're not always sure what's inside. So I think that's why seeing a professional is extremely important. If you need someone to open up to, visit BetterHelp. That's BetterHELP.com slash 89 to get started. The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports. Right now, the NBA is heating up, March Manus is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day, there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with

14:32the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I could follow the teams I care about, get real-time scores, breaking news, and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment. If it's not my favorite Skymore is, and again, like the St. Juiced and Skymore signing do make, I think specifically, because Valentine makes such little money, they do make Nixon expendable because you have a better punt returner. You have now two options at KickReturner. I don't know how good Savion is at it, but Skymore is a very good punt returner. If you want to save the money, that would certainly be where you look, and I think I've been frustrated enough with what's been going on on defense that I would just play, whether you get with the second round pick, Valentine and Adam and St. Juiced outside. That's what I would do.

15:38But it does, to me, it looks like they're just going to let him play out his contract and then not resign him. The hard drive signing is okay to me. He was better than I thought at Minnesota. I think I might have lumped him in with Jonathan Allen too much. Jonathan Allen was brutally bad for the Vikings, but he still doesn't really defend the run. Now, I care a lot more about past defense than I do about run defenses, specifically obviously past rush, but he was still only like a 30 pressure guy, low sack total guy. He's disruptive. He can one gap, but I don't know how much one gapping is going to be going on in this system. Against the run, I think as long as he's not your nose tackle, you're okay. And so to me, the hard drive signing, because if you're just replacing theoretically, now, what we wouldn't, you could argue is the player on the rise and hard drive at 33

16:42is the player on the fall, but I think you still expect hard drive to be an upgrade over what we wouldn't. And so as long as there are meaningful additions made at the nose position or in a meaningful addition, because I kind of, I think the nose depth is okay. I'm still bullish on as your stackhouse, and then they did get Jonathan forward back from the Bears, who's kind of a veteran nose. So if your starter is better, now we're going to talk about that in a second, I kind of like stackhouse as a number two nose, and Jonathan Ford as a number three nose. I think that's fine. But at this point, because of what's gone on, you're going to have to make a trade or make a pick. And there are heavies in this class, so get into that. They would get into that future. But as far as just going out and getting like a Roy Lopez, that's not happening. They saw what they saw in the nose tackle market and went with kind of more of an under tackle,

17:47an upgrade. And I think it's okay. The money is not unreasonable. Right? You just got two years 30 from the Vikings. So to sign them a year later for two years, 23 is doable. And here's the, and I know it frustrated people. And I get that, right? Talking about comp picks. And I understand the argument from the fans side, right? Where, hey, if there was somebody available, go get them. I don't care about comp picks, go improve the team. And I understand that to a degree. With that said, your this season, now they're going to try to win the Super Bowl. I understand that. But 2027 is a really, really big year for them. They're going to have the flexibility to sign free agents. And now they've created this war chest moving forward. Again, they're going to try to win in 2026. But with that said, Michael Parsons is coming off an ACL.

18:50Tucker Kraft is coming off an ACL. You're kind of uncertain at least on the offensive line. They were still with this group, basically, because the losses and Andy Herman's talked about this. I'm not worried about any of the guys that they lost. Malik Willis is the best player that they lost. And in a perfect situation, he doesn't play. Like, I was done watching Rashon Gary. I was certainly done watching quite. There's a reasonable expectation that Jordan Morgan can be better this year than she was last year. And a bar, yeah, that's unfortunate. But I think Barron has more juice. You can go down the line. And I mean, dogs go all the time like this, right? So I'm not worried about the losses. Internal development, you got every pick except your one. And then you made some additions and stuff. But with that said, 2027. Yes, they don't have a pick

19:51in round one because. But they should have their own two, two threes. I think, I mean, I don't think I basically know if Malik Willis is the starter for the dolphins for the whole year, that pick is going to move up to three. Two threes, they're going to have three fours. And if not, they're going to have four fours because of the Willis pick. Two fives, two sixes and a seven. Now, Will they need to add that many players? I don't know. But if they want to get back in around one, they can. If they want to have two second round picks, they can or if they want to have three second round picks, they can. They have the flexibility to move around and do all the things that they would ever want to do. In the 2027 draft, in addition to the fact that they're going to have financial flexibility in 2027 to sign free. And they're not going to worry about comp picks. They're going to let all that go. And they're going to really be able to make a run in 27.

20:55I'm not saying they're pointing 2026, but the off season has to be viewed as. Yes, they lost these guys, but they were the game these guys and they were able to gain three mid-round picks and a late-round pick by doing business the way that they did. Overall, C plus so far, that they could get into the B-Range with a good draft. That's kind of where I'm at. Thanks so much for watching today. Like I said, by the draft guide. And please, if you love this show, if you love everything we do over at Packer Report, the number one way to support Packer Report, and I think it's 50% off right now, is to become a VIP member. It's not a ton of money. We don't VIP protect a ton of content. We do VIP protect some, but it's just the easiest way to keep us going. So I certainly want to kind of plug that or whatever. Thank you guys so much for

21:57watching. Go Packer. The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports. Right now, the NBA is heating up, March Manus is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app.

22:59For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I could follow the teams I care about, get real-time scores, breaking news, and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment.