What's Going On w/ Rashan Gary?!

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1:02Make sure to use our links so they know we sent you ruzzi.com slash packers. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and side chicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%, tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at USAA.com slash bundle, restriction supply. 20 minutes a day, 365 days a year, this is the Pack-A-Day podcast. What's going on Packer fans? Welcome into another edition of the Pack-A-Day podcast. I am one of your co-hosts, Matt Freilich alongside me, as always, Eli Birkowitz, Janelle Mackie. Guys, we are post NFL combine. We are in kind of, you know, free agency starts on Monday, but we've definitely had a lot of moves throughout this week across the NFL. We've had some that have potentially impacted the Packers.

2:03We'll talk about that shortly. We've had some that are definitely impacted in NFC North for sure right before we started recording the Chicago Bears traded for Garrett Bradbury, center from the Patriots, according to Adam Schaefter and Ian Rappepore, compensation 2027 fifths are on pick. So they are likely out of the linen bomb sweepstakes. They obviously made another move, I think it was on Wednesday or Thursday, to trade DJ more to the Buffalo Bill. So a lot moving and shaking in the NFC North also some retirees, Taylor Decker retirees or ask for his release, I guess, Ryan Kelly. It's just down the list of things going on in the NFC North, but of course across the entire league. And the purpose of this episode, we've been waiting for weeks to get to it because it's, you know, we could talk about free agency all the time, but seem very relevant since free agency officially starts on Monday. Again, there has been moves already been happening, likely Monday around 11 a.m., it'll

3:05be just an absolute mayhem because all these deals have been either worked on, kind of behind the scenes during the combine or this last week. So it'll be pretty crazy. But one that we, I guess, maybe saw coming, but then it was retracted with a Ray-Shang Gary. Ray-Shang Gary, his social media account, not him, puts out a post and a caption saying, hey, done with the team, I'm released, et cetera, et cetera, less than 15 minutes later. It is deleted from both his Instagram account and he says that he was hacked. So probably foreshadowing, he will probably be released at some point, will it be with the same post? Not sure. Maybe the hacker had a really great post. He thinks could be repurposed on his end. But, you know, what were your thoughts on it? I know when I picked up on a phone, I'm like, oh, he's released, not too shocking. Then 10 minutes later, I'm like, am I having a fever dream?

4:05Like he didn't get released, he was hacked. So, what were your thoughts on it? And is this more than likely at some point he's going to be released, or are they somehow salvage and say, no, no, no, we never, it was a misunderstanding, a miscommunication. So, what are your thoughts on the whole debacle? Yeah, I mean, I think there's initial shock when you just kind of see, you know, a time-yered player with your team is no longer going to be with the team. And I think from the moment Ray-Shang Gary was drafted and you know the tears, like he just kind of embodied a lot of things with being the packers, you know, the putchies on everything, like just a great guy. So regardless of kind of what he was putting out on the field, I knew when this time came, it was going to be pretty sad. So, I could kind of like feel it in my soul and it's like kind of going through the feelings of like being sad, like, okay, it actually happened, Ray-Shang Gary is leaving. And then like the complete 180 of, oh, actually, you know, we got deleted and quote-unquote got hacked and this got posted, whether it be like maybe you post from the drafts and

5:07it's already happening, whatever, but it was kind of just like, you're trying to take in the sadness of like, okay, I expected this, I understand it. And then it just kind of like carpet ripped out from under you and it's like, what's going on now? Like, obviously, it would be more shocking at this point if it was like, oh, we got hacked and he's actually staying with the team. Like that would be the biggest plot twist, I think, for the packers this off season. But yeah, I think it kind of, I don't know, took away the emotions that will feel when it actually does happen because I feel like at this point, it's like 99% likely that it happens. We all kind of, in that 15-minute span, we're kind of saying our goodbyes, getting our peace with it. And now it's just kind of like, whoa, I don't know, it's like laughable, a little second-hand embarrassment for me at least, like watching it's like, oh my gosh, like, what is happening? I wish this isn't how it was like the end for everything, you know, Roshan Geary. His end in Green Bay is like going to be left with this hacker, emo, whatever.

6:08And I don't know, I was just kind of, a lot of emotions and a very quick turnaround and I'd already texted my family in the group chat, like, hey, here's the news. And it's like, how do I explain to my parents that his social media got hacked? Like, I didn't want to have to explain the whole thing, so I'm like, well, I don't know at this point, like, the day I've just done, I already, you know, reported to my family and I think my brother came in at one point and he kind of mentioned like the hacker and I was like, okay, well, he's at home with my parents, he can explain it to them, but it's just kind of like a whirlwind happening here. Yeah, it was just, it was bizarre. I've never seen anything like that. I don't know if you guys have any sports, but that was just, it was bizarre. And yeah, it quick turnaround onto my emotions to say the least. Yeah, explain that to your parents. That's a tough one. I mean, I'm still, still trying to get my dad up to speed on the full capacity of an iPhone, let alone explaining how to do that. Like, how do you pull your parents who aren't on social media? Like, yeah, he posted this thing a very long goodbye because that's what they do.

7:08And then turns out he got hacked and it got removed. Like, no, they're not going to be in on all that drama. I, my mom asked who Rashan Gary was. So she's not going to care about the social media drama of it anyways. Exactly. Yeah. It's just, you know, it's tough. And then examples, I mean, it's definitely happened before, not for the packers, maybe in the NFL. I'm sure it's happened in the NBA. There's some crazy stuff. But yeah, just to be secondhand embarrassed, but like you said, you know, kind of a little bit embarrassing, especially when it, I guess it wasn't, you know, again, like you said, 99% is probably he's gone at some point when that happens. Maybe it's TBD. Maybe it is tomorrow or when people listen to this on Saturday, maybe it's Monday, maybe it's Tuesday afternoon, whatever, I'm sure it's going to happen. So it's not too surprising. So I think we all thought he might be released based off of just his contract kit for this year and everything else going along with it. I guess it's, you know, better that it's a player we expected than someone like just a complete, you know, maybe a player like Josh Jacobs, there's Ben conversation on that,

8:11but that would be really, you know, a punch to the gut. So it's pretty bizarre. There's been some weird stuff with the Packers over the last couple of weeks. We don't love the rich, rich Pasachio situation, the organizational grades that come out, you know, all of them by themselves, whatever, but like collectively, it's like, man, tough, tough scene for us the last, you know, two months, you know, going back to the wild card game. So it is what it is, but yeah, kind of like you mentioned, you know, the best way to sum it up is like pretty odd thing to have happened, kind of embarrassing, but ultimately like he's probably gone at some point. Eli, you also said I didn't catch this, which I'm surprised I didn't see it, but Kudos to you is everyone was talking about the Instagram post that was out there, but somehow someone hacked his Twitter account as well and posted the same thing. So make sure, make sure you really question the truthfulness and the validity of the excuse from Brachan Gary. Yeah, I mean, I was thinking like it's not totally unheard of where like you just have

9:12the same login, right, across multiple social media accounts. So maybe the guy hacked his Instagram and is like, oh, you know, let me try this on Twitter and it's the same thing, but I mean, that's obviously pretty unlikely and yeah, unless I'm really misremembering it, but I remember scrolling on Twitter and seeing the same picture that he posted on Instagram, I don't think there was any caption, it was just the picture. And I'm fairly certain it was from his account because I remember hitting the profile picture just to make sure it was his account. I retweeted it and then as soon as the tweets came out that it was deleted on Instagram, I went back to my page and the tweet was no longer there. And then I went to his and it was not there. So it seems like, I don't know, he jumped a gun, something happened, miscommunication, whatever it is, it does. I mean, at this point seemed very unlikely that Brachan Gary remains with the packers, which isn't majorly shocking, but still somewhat surprising, considering who he is, where he was drafted, the contract he was given.

10:15And yes, his play on the field was not what we hoped down the stretch last year, but I do think he was like a big part of this team locker room, the energy broad. Like that's one thing he always did. I mean, well, not always, maybe chasing down the quarterback at times this past year was a little questionable, but it sucks, you know, it's one of those guys that you wanted to root for. Right? Like there are certain packer players where things don't go well, whether it's a high draft pick or a free agent signing. And I feel like people are very ready to turn on that person, and there definitely are parts of Packers Twitter that have turned on Gary a long time ago. But I do think a majority of Packer fans just, you know, whether you want to call it making excuses for him or whatever, like they wanted this to work. Obviously Terry V. C. L. when he did, I felt like right as he was really breaking out in a major way. I think like a year, three or four of his career. And that just seems to have totally altered the course of his career, which sucks. And it's very unfortunate to work out this way.

11:15Hopefully, you know, you can find himself in a good spot, still get some good snaps in. It would be pretty classic. Right? He goes to a team all of a sudden. 12 sex season. That happens. You know, it's going to be very frustrating as long as it's not the NFC North. Yeah. That's true. Yeah, he doesn't come off as the kind of guy who would be like spiteful, you know, like look, if if the Lions call him and offer him the most money, what are you going to do? But I don't think he's going to go out of his way to stay in the NFC North, like maybe some other players, like possibly Clay Walker seems like he might want to do that. But either way, or Sean Gary, if this is the end of your time in Green Bay, I appreciate you. And, you know, we'll see you. We'll see when you come back and retire after one day, I'm sure. We'll be right back. Big thanks to our sponsor, Better Help for partnering with us for this important conversation about mental health.

12:16This Steve Smith here, former NFL Y receiver and host of the 89 show on YouTube. So having a counselor and working with Better Help, 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 that you're not always sure what's inside. And so I think that's why seeing a professional is extremely important. If you need someone to open up to, visit BetterHelp. That's better. H-E-L-P dot com slash 89 to get started. Have you ever wondered if you work to live or if you live to work? Neither do we. Corona La Playa awaits. Relax responsibly. Corona extra beer. Import it by crowned in Port Chicago, Illinois. Yeah. It'll be interesting to monitor. Again, part of this is like, hey, his cap it is huge is here. I think it's 28th overall or 22nd overall, excluding quarterback. So extremely high cap it for a guy that effort wise wasn't there last year, thought he would

13:18have a better year with Michael Parsons on the other side that didn't seem to happen. And I think Eli, you hit on the head just that Achilles or excuse me, the ACL just never really was able to really bounce back after that. So won't behold wherever he goes, hopefully he doesn't look fantastic post packers. I think the packers have done pretty well, as far as getting it getting out of the business of a certain player ahead of time, obviously, there's those situations like Eric Stokes this last year, who had a great year with the Raiders statistically. So yeah, we'll see what happens. But if and when he is gone, there is quite a void there at the, at the edge position. And we're going to talk a little bit about the free agency and what that looks like for Monday. So we'll start on the edge, you know, assuming race on Gary is gone, Eli, we were talking about this before we started recording just there are other edge guys that the packers have that are also restricted free agents are unrestricted. So they'd be Brenton Cox, Kinsley and Igbari, you know, some would consider maybe just a couple of bodies there, Aaron Mosby, also an edge guy there, like they're very thin

14:21when it comes to the edge position and if Gary is gone, there's a lot of snaps that need to be filled. And you think about, you know, what LVN's role is at this point on the team, maybe being more of a defensive end when it comes to the Jonathan Ganon defense, you look at what Michael Parsons is going to be come September, I would doubt he's 100% at that point if he is, that's awesome. I'm sure he'll be weaned in gradually, or maybe he will just be 100%. But nonetheless, even if we're trying to get next days, Michael Parsons is completely healthy. There is still a need for edge rusher, so the packers are losing a couple of those guys. Again, defensively, can stick there, Koi Walker is pretty much the big one on the defensive side. You know, I will start with you, I guess, you know, edge we were talking about, could be a potential need for free agency. And before we get too far, like they did restructure saver McKinney or this week, which is helpful. They are now out of the red when it comes to the salary cap. But I think they only have like about $2.8 million to mess around with this next week.

15:22So they for sure have to do something, like whether it's cut someone, restructure someone, Elton Jenkins might be one of those, because they don't even have enough money. I think you need like $5 million, $6 million. Maybe it's more to sign your draft class, maybe it's even less since they don't have a first shown pick. But like, they got a, Russ Paul's got a, and Goody's got to do some action here the next few days. Do you even get in the conversation, get to, you know, get thrown that monopoly money even out there? Yeah, there's definitely going to be some work they got to do. When it comes to contracts, like that's one thing that to be perfectly honest, I feel like I just, it's not something I dedicate a lot of my time to, because it's just seems a little bit, you know, numbers, not my favorite thing. But the way it seems is like, hey, can we make your money a roster bonus and not go against the cap? Sure. Okay, great. I don't know what every contract and NFL history is in a roster bonus. And I mean, I kind of do, because I think that makes it guaranteed.

16:23But either way, like you said, I think there will probably be some decently simple restructures they can do. Sure, you know, anyone listening to this knows Ken Ingalls on Packers Twitter. He is obviously the cap guy. So I'm sure he has some tweets up that you can look at showing some options for us. But it seems like yes, Alton Jenkins will probably not be on the team next year, which should clear up some money. Rashangiri will clear up some money. So they'll, they'll be able to get some money back. And then just real quick, looking at some ad-dressures, I mean, we do have to wonder like Kingsley and Ivory have to bring him back that obviously makes the need a little less. I don't think it's like, oh, we're good. But it's a little less. It is also a very, not very deep. But I do like the edge class this year, like the day two edge guys like no one's talking about it, because it's all in corner defense attack, offensive line. But if they do cut Rashangiri, which it seems like they are, I think ad-dressure immediately

17:24goes towards the top of the list, not the top, but towards the top. But a couple guys that I think could be interesting, he's old, sure, but Cleomack would be a very fun addition to this defense, even if it's just for a year or two. He just bringing that veteran presence, I would not complain about that. And then two other guys, I think, could be interesting, depending on their price, would be Boyet Maffe and Adafoé, which is kind of fun, two names to say back to back. I didn't think about it till I said it out loud. Boyet Maffe and Adafoé, you signed both and you got the Maffe O'Abrose, now would be a fun way to do it. But either way, there are some options. There's not like, I mean, yeah, there's like Trey Hendrickson, and sure, I think next cross, you'll get traded. Obviously, we're not in those markets. Even Joseph Asai is someone out there that could be, you know, there are guys that can come in and give you rotational snaps. I mean, I think O'A and Maffe are a little more than just rotational snaps, but there are things they can do that I think can help.

18:24And obviously, like you said, you know, I don't think Michael Parsons is going to play the first month, maybe more of the year, and then you're easing them back in. They need to have a plant, like you cannot have zero edge pass rush, or hoping that LVN and two second year players are all of a sudden going to be able to bring consistent pressure. So they got out of the plan, whether it's for agency or the draft, they have to do something. Yeah, I think Edge is a sneaky need, very sneaky need. I think you talk about those pillar three, right, center defensive line in corner, take the cake, and I think based off of how it seems like deep the centers are in this class, how many of the corners fit the certain thresholds the packers want. It makes those seem almost like a foregone conclusion. One of those would be a section at 52 or 84. But if a talented player drops, and they are, I don't want to say a project, but someone that they could take a flyer on, maybe even trade up slightly from 52, to go and grab them in the mid 40s, I don't want to be shocked if Green Bay does that.

19:28You know, to be honest, to Eli, I've made a case on many packer day podcasts episodes over the years of bringing in that quote-unquote veteran player for a position. I just don't see the packers doing that. I would love this clip, but like we've said that for years, right, they should do that on Edge, they should do that corner, they should do that linebacker, they should do that receiver. It just never happens, and it's like it's just not, it just goes completely against if the philosophy, I would love Cleo Mack to be brought in as a 20-snap, 25-snap guy. That would be sick, but I just don't think they're bringing them a 35-year-old. But I could be wrong. I mean, there might be a change of the guard where they have to go out and do that. They don't feel comfortable with where they're at post-free agency, but there's a couple other, like Arden Keys, a guy that I look at, AJ Esponessa, used to be mocked a ton back the day before he went to Buffalo. There's a few dudes out there, there's some other even older guys that, you know, Von Miller still around, but I don't think they'd do that, but maybe they changed it up, but

20:29it just seems like it's not the, the Guru comes away, and they'd much rather spend some draft capital on a guy or two, or even just hit the UDFA market and see if they can grab someone. And then again, we're not even looking at, there's potential cuts that are happening, right? Like that might be the area that they get into where it's like, hey, most of these people that are on this list, unless you're paying top dollar for a Trey Hendrickson or a Jalen Phillips, we're going to make a ton of money. Most of them are, you know, very, very veteran guys. So maybe they get a couple that are, are cuts, but outside of that, yeah, defensively, like, I think there's some corners that are pretty interesting to me, you know, they're not losing any corners to mind that. I mean, they lost Trayvon Diggs, but we don't really talk much about that. Bull Melton is a free agent and I guess come all ahead and but like, there's not a ton of corners that they're losing or even like snaps that they're losing, but like, there's a lot of corners that I particularly like a few of them from the Seahawks. I love Josh Job. I would love if they were able to get him, you know, Trey Kuhlund is a free agent.

21:33I don't necessarily think he fits any of the thresholds that the Packers typically go, he's six four, so that kind of negates him, but I think there's just a ton of corners that they could go out and snag that might fit what Jonathan Ganon does. It would be a little bit strange to go ahead and get Nate Hobbs in one free agent class and then go out and get another one. Not there'd be the same payment, but it just seems like it'd be kind of crazy to go back to back, but it does seem like such a need that I don't think you can rely on cornerbacks at all on that defensive side that are rookies. Do you know, what are your thoughts on the defense? I know that's probably where more of the focuses may be free agent wise, right? It's easier to find a detackle that's just a big veteran guy that can fill up some space as they're trying to get better on the run defense. Ed Rush, we talked about there could be massive holes there where they do that in the corner, definitely a focus, so like I could see most of the free agency outside of a center going towards defense, but again, like we talked about, they got to get into the cap. So any position or any player in particular, you know, on the defense that we've already

22:34mentioned, or I guess you could even make the case for linebacker. Quaywalker's a free agent, so depending where you fall, you being anyone listening on the Tyron Hopper train or the Isaiah McDuffie train, you might think linebacker's a massive need. So take it anywhere you want. You know, on the defensive side. Yeah, I mean, I think outside of lineman defense as a whole is just where you need to start filling bodies and yeah, I mean Gary News comes that that was expected. So we know we're going to kind of have to fill that that hole there. And then yeah, Quaywalker think he went and deleted everything packers. So I think that's a pretty clear message. We're at that point in the offseason where we're looking at guys social media is seeing what information we can get and people are kind of pointing out the way that those what is at the year end of meetings kind of went and what they were pulling from that. So which is a huge bummer because I was so on board with the Quaywalker redemption train. So kind of feels sour the way that things may kind of end here after him. He kind of turned things around and was a captain for this team.

23:36So I think that in itself what what you think of Quaywalker, he's a captain out there for a reason. So I think that's going to be a huge loss, whether you can kind of fill his role with complimentary play. It may be an effect in the locker room to lose guys like Roshan Gary, Elton Jenkins, Quaywalker. Like you could potentially be losing a lot of those veteran locker room guys. And I think that in itself, it's kind of like, well, we got to start getting guys. We're going to step up and be vocal and here you got McKinney, but it's like Jordan Love. He's kind of, you know, turning into a veteran now really got a grass that locked room, but he's just such like a level headed chill guy that you kind of need more of those vocal guys. And I think that's where losing Gary is really going to hurt too because Gary brings a lot of that emotion into the locker room. So when you start losing guys like that, I know Quay is a little bit quieter, but he impacts the guys on the field and in the locker room. So those are also things that make the the offseason tough words.

24:39Not only are you losing players and yeah, maybe you won't miss kind of what they were doing on the field, but it's going to really impact that squad. And you're also bringing in new coaches and all these new coordinators. And there's going to be a lot of unique turnover on this team. I don't know if they'll go out and start chasing veterans for that reason. It seems like this team right now is really priding themselves on being youthful. So that would be kind of shocking, especially that you mentioned, you know, for the last few years, it feels like we were begging for them to go chase a veteran wide receiver to kind of help in that room and that just wasn't happening. So kind of low expectations on that might just kind of be trying to find diamonds and the rough that you can afford draft guys, but even the draft, we kind of haven't seen a lot of success in recent years. Maybe it helps that we don't have a first round draft pick to have to worry about since those guys kind of haven't been panning out the way we want. But yeah, it's kind of just where can you find the right guy to plug in to a new defense

25:39or guy that can go be stellar on special teams with a new coordinator there and there's just kind of the more you talk about it, you realize how much turnover there really is on this team, a playoff team, these last couple years. So it's going to be really interesting, but yeah, definitely need to bulk up that D line, you know, Parsons, yes, he's probably going to miss a little bit of time coming back. We also don't know what he's going to look like when he comes back, you know, you want to be hopeful that he's still going to be the Micah Parsons before the injury, but sometimes that's just not realistic. So you have to find guys who can not only fill his role before he gets back, but also guys who can compliment him when he does come back and that cornerback room is just going to be a fiasco till the end of time, it feels like right now it's just, it's a big question mark. It's anyone's role at this point kind of what's going on in that room feels thin. There's bodies there, but do you chase reagents? What's available? What can you afford? Like you mentioned, they they went and got hods last year and I feel like probably over

26:40hyped that in the off season because there was really nothing from that that we saw during the season. A lot of that probably due to injury, maybe not fitting him in the right role in that defense, but yeah, for a defense that seemed so good so early last year, there was a lot of injuries and we just did not have the depth or the talent to be able to replace those guys. So I think they really need to bulk up that defense. Just got to kind of prepare for your team to have a lot of injuries at this point. It just kind of seems to be the NFL way right now and in a room like the cornerback room where it's so thin already, like I really hope they do bulk that up and yeah, maybe they draft a couple guys and we kind of see what happens with that, but I don't know. It was nice to kind of see the young guys in the safety room start standing out. So now I kind of need the cornerbacks to follow suit and I'm not too worried about the offense. I mean, we've got some tight ends here in the free agency room with craft also dealing with that injury.

27:41I'll be bringing at least one of the free agents back between Fitzpatrick and Wiley would be my guess. Probably one of those maybe both. I don't know, but yeah, the offense isn't too much a concern outside of center for sure. Obviously, you need somebody who can snap the ball to join love, but I also kind of just feel like the offensive line has been kind of messy where it's like that's also kind of a carousel right now and games are one in the trenches. So kind of bulking up lines on both sides of the ball is going to be huge, I think, in this off season. Yeah. I mean, I love it. I think you kind of said it best. Like, I'm like, hey, they haven't gone for a veteran in a while, but they're losing a ton of vets. I mean, if you, you know, nothing is official yet for some of these guys, but like, Clay Walker, not necessarily a vet across the league, but like on the Packers, he'd been there for a while, you know, just top to bottom, likely, Elton's gone, likely, Ration Gary's gone. Some of these guys that bring the juice to the locker room, I mean, I'm sure Bo Melton is a great asset to a locker room. I can't imagine he would be, you know, an energy sucker by any means.

28:45And yeah, I mean, you guys got like Romeo dobs, Sean Ryan, it's just, you know, it's a list of guys that it's, yeah, they've been, they've been contributors or at least it seems like a, for the last couple of years, kind of a cornerstone, and then you lose a guy like Malik Willis, where it's, you know, obviously you can't pay Malik Willis. He's going to get paid, but to have to replace that, there's a lot of turnover there. And I think, yeah, the cornerback room is the messiest of all. It's, it's just under performing guys. Maybe the Jonathan Ganon defense can flip it on its head. I think everything that I've read, it's more of a man defense in itself. I hope I'm correct on that. So that seems like a challenge with some of the guys that have, they're going to have to hit it from both angles in my opinion. They're going to have to hit free agency and the draft. I just don't think there's a way around it for a corner. It just, it seems like the, the need, again, there might be, that's the beauty of some of us. You look at some of these free agents and it's like, hey, these aren't the best options for a certain position, but like, there's going to be guys that are caught whether they're

29:46veterans or guys that just, they're not going to pick up certain options for them or they're just going to, you know, cap casualty, get cut, similar like a Trayvon digs thing that happens. Trayvon digs was pretty damn good 18 months ago, clearly did not look great in his limited snap that he had with the packers, but there's going to be guys out there that do have some ties either to Jonathan Ganon or some ties to other positional coaches that might bring in. Dalvin Thominson was cut earlier today, obviously has some ties to Jonathan Ganon in the one year that had with the Arizona Cardinals defense. So Clay has Campbell's been followed around there. So they'll definitely make a splash. And then I agree with you 100 percent, you know, on the offensive, offens a front, like, it's pretty much like, maybe they need a running back doubt it. I think the receivers are interesting, since they only have two under contract into 2027 that are the high profile guys, definitely enough to do something on Titan. I would like to see Wiley back. I think he's a nice little chess piece for them, but the biggest one is like center and interior

30:46offensive line, you know, the versatility is great. I think they got a little too versatile at times this year, but like, I think center would be awesome to go and grab, but just seems like that center free agency is getting to get a little bit priceier than they wanted to get. I mean, be honest, Tyler, be honest, goes and gets $10 million a year, that's more than I expect him to get. We talk about Bradbury at the top of the episode getting traded. So we have Lindervon out there. There's a couple other guys that I think could potential for a center for the Packers, but I don't know, I don't necessarily love if they would have a rookie center, potentially a rookie corner competing and still not completely sure what the linebacker and the interior of the defenses. So, you know, anything on the offensive side that we're missing, I think like the receivers you're talking about tight ends, I probably do have to do something at quarterback, like, I don't know if they roll with Kyle McCord next year, I think Desmond Riders still on the roster, but it's, you're, you're a far cry away from having like Malik Willis where you can win some games with, and I know those are limited in the league, right?

31:48There might be five to 10 teams at max that have a guy that you can put in and actually win a game with. As a backup, that's not just some random 23 year old, 24 year old rookie that might work out, but your thoughts on the offense here for free agency, guys that they're losing and, you know, guys that they could potentially go out and get her positions, they need to get. We'll be right back. Lifelock, how can I help? The IRS said I filed my return, but I haven't. One in four tax paying Americans has paid the price of identity fraud. What do I do? My refund though, I'm freaking out. Don't worry, I can fix this. Lifelock fixes identity theft guaranteed and gets your money back with up to $3 million in coverage. I'm so relieved. No problem. I'll see you every step of the way. One in four was a fraud paying American. Not anymore. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com slash special offer, term supply. Has the news been getting you down?

32:48I'm Megan McCartle and I'm here to help. I'm the host of a news show from Washington Post opinion called reasonably optimistic and it's an antidote to the pessimism that's riddling America right now. Every Wednesday, I'm going to talk to people who see a path forward. It doesn't seem to me that there's some awakening of a desire to act together to solve problems where they are. I am a believer in America and it's worth fighting for. Join me Wednesdays on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, there's a lot to try to get through. Sean Ryan probably, well, Romeo and I was probably at the top of that list feels, I mean, there was a report and I feel bad for not remembering from who, but that it's not some like foregone conclusion that does is gone, but then again, I also feel like match nightman, I believe it was nightman kind of said, it is a foregone conclusion. I assume he will be gone. And as much as I love Romeo, dobs to be perfectly honest, I don't know how much sense it would make for them to pay him when you just spent the first round pick on golden, you're going

33:51to extend or you should extend Christian Watson. Hopefully, you're going to be extending Jade and Reed next off season. So to give dobs a bunch of money now, it just wouldn't make a ton of sense. Sean Ryan, I think you could bring back and I don't think he's some sort of like awful player. I don't think he's a tremendous player. I think he's just like a solid player. So for the right price, I would bring him back that would, I guess, sort of solve center, but I don't love it. I mean, they were pretty bad last year running the ball at the middle and he was the center for the second half of the season. So right now, I mean, Tyler Biotis would have been a really fun option at center. He's obviously gone. I think Conor McGovern from the bills could be a pretty fun option. Centres are making more and more money every year, but I don't think it's like so much that they can't afford it. So I think he could be an option. And then Cade Maze from Panthers is a center who will be a free agent who's also a solid not spectacular, but solid center that they could probably pay a pretty cheap deal to

34:53avoid having a rookie started center or Ryan, who is not even a center, I mean, is a guard. So there's that. And then a quarterback, I mean, there's this cool guy, you know, Aaron Rodgers, no. There was reports, I think, and I'm not saying I like it. I'm just saying I saw this that like Jimmy Garoppolo was linked to the Packers, which, I mean, I guess whatever, you know, he's a veteran. I don't think your team will like implode if you have to start him or play him for parts of the game, but I think we all know Jimmy Garoppolo has his limitations as a quarterback. Like you said, I think, I think Desmond Ritter could be an option like, you know, he's somewhat mobile. He has shown flashes in the past, obviously not someone you want starting for a long period of time, but maybe you could get by with him at quarterback and then other than that. You know, you have veterans like Marioda, Tyler Huntley, Tyra Taylor, but like, none of these guys are overly exciting to me.

35:57So I feel like Ritter, Garoppolo, or maybe you draft someone, you know, maybe Christian Watson's former alum, North Dakota State's Cole Payton is an interesting guy to look at, but it's not a great quarterback class, obviously. So it will be interesting, but they need to have a plan because Malik Willis, two straight seasons played a major role for this team. So for them to be like, oh, you know what it is, what it is, we'll figure it out. Who knows, maybe Goody does what he did with Willis and trades a seventh round pick for a quarterback that didn't work out. Obviously, a name that's been floated as Anthony Richardson, I, I mean, it would be fun, but it's like, I don't see it, like I just don't think he's ever been like, he's definitely not going to figure it out the way Willis did, at least I don't think so. But they need to do something like you didn't have some backup plan that is not like an undrafted rookie or even a seventh round rookie where it's like, oh, you know, maybe this will work like Jordan Love unfortunately has missed time each of the last two years.

36:58So they got to have a plan there. Yeah, for sure. And I think maybe it was a little foresight from them to be like, hey, Malik Willis is going to go get paid. We know that that's why they went out and got Desmond Ritter and Kyle McCord at the end of the season. We know there was injuries there, but like at least those guys are options of younger guys that have done decent in college and then Ritter at least played a little bit in the NFL. McCord was obviously a rookie last year for the Eagles. So maybe there's a chance for them, but yeah, the free agent class for backup quarterbacks is not great. But I do think the center one's the one I look the most sort. Kade Maize has been on my short list for a while. You bring back maybe Sean Ryan, go get Kade Maize draft a corner or choose me draft a center, at least you have the versatility option, right? If it's like, hey, Sean Ryan doesn't need to play center, we have two, right? We have a guy that's played in the league and we have a rookie. Luke Fortner is one from the Saints I've had on there for a while too. So like, I think there's some options out there that could go get that are a little bit of a B class situation instead of, you know, going out and paying for Linderbomb

37:58or trading for someone. But they're going to have to make some moves. It's exciting, right? Monday is just those are going to be stuff all weekend too, which is great. Could be people getting hacked. Could be trades, could be potential resigning. I think it's, it's probably just one of those times. And I, I, I know for it from experience I was doing work today and all of a sudden I log on to Twitter and I missed the race on everything by about five minutes. It's like, well, five minutes is nothing. But like, there's always going to be those lapses, right? Whether we're taking a nap, running an errand, working, going to the gym in the shower and you're like, oh, miss that breaking news, which it's not that big of a deal. The world still goes on, but there will be those times throughout the weekend. For the entire NFL and obviously for the Packers at some point, but it officially starts on Monday, it'll be a blast. There will be, there's going to be a lot going on in the NFL. There's tons of new head coaches. There's a lot of teams that are already making splashes trying to gear up themselves. There's teams that need a quarterback. They're going to go probably essentially overpay for some of them or make a deal. So it's exciting for agency as fun.

39:00Packers will be a part of it, even though people say that they're, they're never a part of it or they're not a part of it that I think just needs to be put to bed. Goudoucoun's makes moves, makes multiple moves. It might not be in the first day of for agency we're overpaying, but it might be on that second wave. It might be in the middle of the summer where he goes out and gets some veteran or a week before the season starts and trades a seventh or under for Malik Willis. So Goudoucoun's does make moves. It's exciting to see. And I think they definitely going to have to prioritize the defensive side of the ball. You got to give Jonathan Ganon some dudes that fit his scheme that he wants to do. And I don't necessarily know if they have all those pieces right now. Healthy or free agent wise. I don't think they are necessarily in a good spot with that. So we will continue to cover all the free agency stuff leading up to the draft. Of course, at Pack of Day podcast, we put an episode 365 days out of the year on the audio waves. Whether it be Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, of course on the YouTube side of things. Andy will put out a video there every single day and then some from live streams to Q&As,

40:01to members only, to happy hours, dive into those. Those are awesome to interact with them. The chat, of course, him and Justice Miscata have their standing Tuesday episode, which I highly recommend people listening to, if they can, if not catch up on it on the weekend, but check it out at Pack of Day podcast on YouTube. Definitely subscribe. But rate review greatly helps the algorithm over on the YouTube side of things. And if you haven't already followed Pack of Day podcast on X at Pack of Day podcast, recommend doing so great kind of way to create a timeline or a feed for yourself to get all the latest packer news from everyone that puts out content. With Pack of Day podcast for myself, you can still find me over on X at Matt underscore, for a underscore, that's at MATT underscore FRA underscore. I am in the depths of multiple mock drafts and looking through the combine thresholds and rad scores Eli trying to figure out which packers, which players are packers, potentially. Now we're going to have all these pro days coming, which are going to add another layer

41:01of data into the mix. So it's been fun thus far, kind of charting some of them based off of thresholds and really trying this year to position myself to understand here. It's a short list of players for each position at the packer's going to grab and at least get a couple of them right. But it'll be fun. So if you got any suggestions, feel free to reach out in the DMs or interact with my mock drafts and put them out all the time. Eli, anything that you got coming out any new articles, Pack of Report, I know your land in Robinson article just dropped to there, which was awesome. And he had a hell of a pro day over at Navy. So shout out to him, but where can everyone get in contact with you? Yeah, I'm going to try to get something out probably after like Monday or Tuesday, like after the first wave of free agency, kind of reevaluate the team needs. Look at the draft, maybe cover some of the signings we make or don't make some of the players that leave. So all that will be over a pack report.com as always. And then you can find all my other content on Twitter, at Book of Eli underscore on

42:03a fell, we're obviously from the next, what is it now? Six, seven weeks will all be pretty much draft related. Absolutely. Janelle, same question for you. We go from the Olympics to a little bit of hockey trades. We got World Baseball Classic going on. We got a whole mess of sports going on. I know you'll be into you got playoff hockey for high school, playoff basketball, all the stuff, but I know you're a die hard sports fan. So we're going to get in contact with you and any of your hot takes. Yeah, definitely give me a follow on Twitter and big Mac underscore for like Matt alluded to a lot of hockey going on. So today, actually, as we're recording this Friday was the final day for the NHL trade deadline. So my wild took Eli is captain from the Black Hawk. So we acquired the other full no brothers. That's been really exciting. I know Eli is a little upset with me on that, but it's going to be great when we see those brothers holding the trophy together. Lord Stanley finally coming back to Minnesota because of the Latino brothers going to be exciting stuff.

43:04But yeah, very hockey induced right now. We got the state boys tournament going on right now, which is just a holiday in its own in Minnesota. I know bad room and in women doing really well in their respective tournaments right now as we build up to the NCAA tournaments. So a lot of good hockey here coming out of the Olympics, a lot of good stuff happening. So yeah, I mean, I'm trying to keep up with NHL trades. I get the drama from Rashan Gary thrown in the mix and it's just been a crazy day trying to keep up with everything. But yeah, anything that I feel like putting on my page, definitely be sure to follow me there of it. We it's it's not a slow time there. Some people say that it's been awesome between the Olympics world classic baseball world classic. So it just started the combine. We have free agency kicking off. Then we'll have like you mentioned, you know, March madness will have frozen for will have conference championships for basketball. It's great time of the year to watch sports and figure out at least if you're a packer's fan or an NFL fan, what your team's going to look like.

44:04And we're just on the precipice of that with free agency and the draft. But for Eli Birkowitz, Janelle Mackie, I'm at Freilich. You guys take care. Be well. Get rested before a free agency frenzy on Monday. And as always, go pack up. When you open a Corona, you hear the sounds of wherever you are a little differently, a little more Corona.

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