It's the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. fans of your team, and you can even jump into the national chats and talk about whatever's happening across the league. Tap the Everydayer Club link in the show notes to learn more. When Brian Utican said the Green Bay Packers as a team, as an organization, needed to ramp up their urgency to win a Super Bowl, it was a statement of intent. This year, he essentially borrowed from Kevin Green. It is time. you are locked on Packers your daily Green Bay Packers podcast part of the locked on podcast network your team every day you are locked on Packers part of the locked on podcast network your team every day I'm Peter Bukowski and I cover the Packers for the leap a newsletter I I would love for you to subscribe to subscribe to the podcast, wherever you get podcasts, Spotify, Apple, Google, wherever you find podcasts, you will find Locked On Packers, the number one Packers podcast on the internet and the show for fans who know what happened. They want to know why and how thanks to everyone who makes Locked On Packers their first listen every day. We hope you like starting your day with us as much as we like starting our day with you here on the Locked On Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network. Brian Guttekin said a lot, and we're going to dig into all of it here as we work through the combine and everything that comes with it this week. But there was a subtle moment that stood out to me. And I don't know that it will be something that gets talked about. It was not a catchy headline. There was not some pull quote that you can put in a story and go, ooh, isn't this sexy? Brian Goodenkin said he believes the Packers are good enough, that the players are good enough to win a Super Bowl. That's all you need. That's all you need to know because a general manager going on the record and saying we are good enough is just another way of saying, okay, guys, pressure's on you. Go figure it out. Now, that's not to say his hands are off. like, hey, I did all I could. I don't think that's what he's doing at all, but it is a call to action for this team. When he said that the team needed to have urgency, they needed to get back to feeling the anxiety of not winning a Super Bowl to let that motivate you. He didn't use all those words, but that was the implication, that the team needed to feel like, hey, every year, the time is now. And he goes out and he trades for Micah Parsons. Now, for months, he didn't do that. He signed Aaron Banks and signed Nate Hobbs and that was that. But then he traded for Micah Parsons. And pulling the trigger on a move like that is embodying the urgency. and so you the season does not go the way that you had planned didn't go the way that you'd hoped injuries played a big factor there were some coaching questions but Matt LaFleur is going to be the coach they have a new defensive coordinator they have a very good defensive staff and they have an excellent roster Brian Gutekinst is right to say that they have a not just the players, but the coaching staff, they're good enough to win. And saying that out loud carries weight because it is level setting expectations. The expectation is this team competes for a Super Bowl because this team is good enough to win a Super Bowl. Like there are plenty of general managers and coaches that go out there and say, hey, we believe we can win it all. That's what we're fighting for here. But they're paying lip service to the idea that they are. But we saw this team, at its best, look like the best team in the league. They haven't found a way, unfortunately, to play consistently. And injuries have been a reason for that. But coaching has been a reason for that. Some personnel deficiencies have been a reason for that in key moments. Sometimes your personnel deficiencies come back to haunt you. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes your conservative coaching comes back to haunt you. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes your injuries come back to haunt you. Sometimes they don't. And so, yes, this is a little bit just, is the coin going to come up the right way this year? No doubt. But when you come into the season with the expectations, hey, we're good enough. We don't have to worry about, oh, you got to go get a number one receiver. Oh, you got to do this. No, no. This team and all the places that it matters is good enough. Now, it's not good enough to just be good enough because you have to be good enough every week. You have to be good enough when it matters. You have to be good enough in January and hopefully February. Just having enough talent is insufficient. You have to be good enough when it counts. And this team has just not done a good enough job of that. And Brian Udekinst said as much. It's the finishing games. Well, that was a 2025 problem. It wasn't a problem in 2024. 2024 Packers didn't play down to their opponent. It's something I talked about today in the Leap, a newsletter. I would love for you to subscribe to. And so the team seems to be spinning its wheels a little bit. They can't quite get over the hump. And there's not, I don't think, an obvious reason for that. some fans, some media people, some bystanders and observers will say, well, actually, it's obvious. It's Matt LaFleur. Because if the players are good enough, and we believe they were the last couple of years, then it's Matt LaFleur. But that's not true. Matt LaFleur is not perfect. Matt LaFleur did cost them some games last year. I think that you can make the case that in 2024, Matt LaFleur did not have the team ready to play against the best teams on their schedule with any sort of consistency or regularity. And that is a debit for him. That is a problem. But they didn't have that issue in 2025. That was not the problem. It was the closing of the game. It was the team's inability to play 60 minutes. And you know, we've talked about this a lot, what really helps? Micah Parsons, Tucker Craft, Zach Tom. Your best players. You need your best players. But the players are good enough. There's no looking around and wondering, you know, when the cavalry is coming. There no white knight coming to save you This is it This is like as close as you going to hear a GM to going we all we got we all we need But that is what this is. This team is good enough to go win a Super Bowl. This team healthy could have beaten the Seahawks, could have beaten the Rams. They didn't. They didn't. We're not playing the what if game here. I'm not even doing that. this team, when healthy, was good enough to do that. And that has to be a core part of the message. You play to your potential and you still have to go out and do that. You still have to go out and put in the work and prepare the right way and be in the moment every single play and be focused on your responsibilities and not blow coverages and not blow blocks and not miss reads and not miss tackles and not drop passes. You still have to go out and execute the thing. Coaches, players, everybody. But this team, as currently constructed, is good enough. And that fact, saying that fact out loud has meaning. It carries weight. And it's up to the coaches and the players and this front office because that's the next thing. we don't play games. We don't get to see anybody on the football field. First thing is setting this roster, figuring that part out. And that starts with Brian Gutekin. So this is not just Brian Gutekin saying, okay, guys, you go figure it out. It's this team is good enough. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the team is good enough. But we're good enough right now. And if you don't think that, get in line. This is what's happening. This is where the train is headed. See you in LA. Now, to get there, they're probably going to have to do some offensive lineman stuff. And Brian Gideon just talked about that. I think you should hear what he said. As the new year gets going, a lot of people are trying to simplify their routines. And dinner is, of course, a big one. 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The off-season doesn't exist for the Everyday Air Club. Join the group chat. Been throwing some questions at you guys. We program our Friday News Dump show around questions from the everyday or chat and you get episodes of Locked on Packers ad-free. That's a nice bonus for you too. Hit the link in the show notes or go to lockedonpackers.supercast.com for more. So Brian Gutekinst is gonna tell you, if you ask him a question about methodology, he might equivocate sometimes. but by and large, he's going to tell you. And our pal Tyler Brooke over at Acme Packing Company asked Gutekunst about the offensive line and some of the decisions that were made around the players that they brought in the last couple years. This is great. Check it out. It felt like last offseason, you guys had a lot of bigger bodies with Banks and Belton. Was that an intentional move and something that you've changed in your evaluation process of offensive linemen? I wouldn't say it's anything we've changed in our evaluation process, but it was intentional. We did want to get bigger, a little bit more styled up front, be able to move people in the run game if we can. So I would say it's intentional, but it's not something necessarily we changed in our process. Was that more something because of the personnel for the run game or the way Jordan Love operates in the passing game or a little bit of both? A little bit of both. I think coming out of 2024, I just thought we were getting pushed around a little bit more than I wanted to. and again I think all 32 teams here covered big guys who can move right because they're the hardest guys to find and then so again it was naturally is that something you'd like to keep looking at for this offseason as well yeah all the time thanks to Tyler for for that he also does a great YouTube channel where he breaks down draft prospects so a great time this time of year to be subscribing to what he's doing over there. But once again, if you subscribe to the notion that this team is soft or whatever, you cannot accuse Brian Gutekinst of not trying to do something about it. He says explicitly that he felt like they were getting bullied in the trenches up front, that they were just not able to exert themselves the way that you would like as a football team. And certainly, as Matt LaFleur would like, as someone who wants to be able to stay balanced and run the football, personally, I would just like to see them lean into the thing that they're really good at, which is pass protect and throw the ball a bunch of times. But that's not where we are. That's not what this team wants to do right now. Maybe they'll get there. But what's interesting is he said, well, we're not really changing any of the structures that are in place when it comes to evaluation. We're just prioritizing something differently. And I've heard that theory before, that concept before with a team that, you know, they're not going to change the way they, oh, that's right. We just talked about this yesterday with defensive players. So this is a little different in that, generally speaking, the Packers have shied away from the big boys, the thick boys on the offensive line, the 330-pound guys. Sean Ryan had been the biggest offensive lineman that they drafted in the top 100 in years and years. But they signed Aaron Banks in free agency, who would have been the heaviest offensive lineman that they drafted in years and years. And then they drafted Anthony Belton, who was the heaviest offensive lineman that they drafted in years and years. But the thing is, they didn't go away from the things that have worked for them. Anthony Belton, still a very good athlete for his size, especially at guard. Aaron Banks, a good athlete, not the elite athlete, but free agency. They don't take the athletic profile into account the same way that they use the tape. And whether or not that they were effective in the way that they evaluated Aaron Banks, I think reasonable people can disagree. I don't know that they did the best job with that one. We'll see if he can stay healthy and play better, play more like he did in the middle of last year when he was healthy. but clearly they believe that they need to be more physical like Anthony Belton did not play great as a rookie but the flashes of him in the run game of him discarding and displacing defenders the nastiness and the physicality that he brings is something Matt LaFleur cited over and over This, to me, is a directive from the coaching staff, too. And if you listen to the squad show with our pal Jeff Jagosinski, the former Packers offensive coordinator, longtime offensive line coach, he mentioned that when you go through the combine process and you go through the pre-draft process and the off-season process, the coaches and the front office talk about what the coaches feel like the team needs. And then you go out and you use the models that you believe in and you find those players. So the example I love to use is Devontae Wyatt. The defensive coaching staff clearly wanted a cover linebacker, someone that they could just live in nickel and play light boxes all the time and be able to cover in space while also fitting the run while also having big enough bodies to take on blocks and do all the things that you have to do to defend the run. That's Quay Walker. And they wanted a penetrating gap shooting three technique. That's Devontae Wyatt. But Walker and Wyatt as first round picks, collegiate pedigree, elite, elite athletes. That's still the way the Packers are going to draft. You have to believe that they still thought Wyatt and Walker, independent of what the coaches preferred in terms of the players that they picked. You had to believe that they believed those players, a pretty cumbersome way to say that, Peter, that they thought that those guys were really good players and that they were first-round talents. And the Packers, in fact, Brian Goodenken said after they drafted Quay Walker, they had him much higher on their board than 22nd, which leads me to believe that they thought this guy could be an all-pro. And unfortunately, that hasn't happened. But the point is, you know, Bill Parcells once famously said, if he's going to cook the meal, he should have to buy the groceries. But what's interesting is it seems like with this team in particular, and we have direct examples of this, that the coaching staff is putting together the grocery list. And then it's up to Brian Gutekind to use his exacting standards and say, okay, well, I need cucumbers. Do I want to go to Aldi? Do I want to go to Whole Foods? Do I want to go to the farmer's market? Where's the best value? Who's got the best stuff? And then whether or not he's, you know, actually ultimately the best at divining those things, I think reasonable people can disagree once again, but he's going to use his standard. His standard is still his standard. So, okay, you want a receiver to take the top off the defense. Here's Matthew Golden. Oh, you want a gadget guy that can create after the catch and can win contested down the field? Here's Savion Williams. It's not just we, like when you put together, like let's say you're going to do a mock draft. And you're going to write the needs down. You go to the PFF or you go to ESPN or whatever. They have that little needs blurb. It's not the same as when the teams does it. The teams do it. Man, I'm really struggling today. What's going on? I need some five-hour energy apparently. Um, you, you, if you were going to sit down and do it, you got needs, okay, defensive tackle, cornerback, and then you get to go through the mock draft process, but it's much more collaborative on an NFL team, the team, and certainly the internal, you know, front office folks, they get to decide too, because they're evaluating their own team constantly, but the coaches have a say in, Hey, you know, the offense would really work better if we had a blocking tight end or a move tight end or a big beefy guard that could move bodies in the run game. Well, you know, it might be a little harder for Brian Utikins with the model that they use because they like guys that are in that like 305 to 315 range to find the perfect guy. So in the case of Anthony Belton, it's possible that they had other guys rated similarly and in a different context would not have drafted Anthony Belton. but for the Packers asking, the coaching staff asking for a player exactly like him. And that also changes the evaluation because if what you want is specifically that thing, then that trait that he has suddenly becomes more valuable. So the grade might be the grade, but when you tier them, and we don't know exactly how it's done in Green Bay in terms of the board, you know, the board is the board, but a lot of teams, they put guys in tiers. And you've got a vertical board and you're like, okay, well, we'd really like to get a defensive end. Okay. Okay, how is he relative to this other player? Jags told the story of Chad Clifton. When Chad Clifton got drafted, he had a first round grade from Green Bay. By the time they drafted in the second round, they probably would have drafted Chad Clifton regardless of what they wanted or needed just because the value was there. you needed to do that in that moment, not because your roster said you needed to, but because the value proposition was too great. And Jack Lifton turned into a great player for the Packers for a long time, or a very good player. I mean, I don't have to throw around the hyperbole here, but he was a very good player for a very long time for Green Bay. And so those priorities can shift and change. And the way that you value certain traits, not that it changes your evaluation, But then you look at it and you say, well, that guy has a skill set that is particularly beneficial to the Packers. So this is always what I've talked about with, it's not just the best player available. It's the best player available for that team over the life of the rookie contract. So it's not just who has the highest grade. It's who can impact the Packers the most. and that has to include their role and the style of play or the scheme, those sorts of things. So again, the evaluation doesn't change, but the role does and the impact does because of the way the pieces have to fit together. That brings us to centers. Centers. 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Play your game with Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. at the combine good against was asked about the center position and this class and he said they like this class and he pointed out that they have been comfortable rolling with rookies at the center position we talked about this a little when we talked about offensive line earlier in the week and needing the depth and all those things. And he pointed out that Josh Myers came in right away in what he said was a particularly difficult situation. You know, for a lot of reasons, of course, in the 2021 season. Josh Myers was part of the fabled 2021 class that was in the midst of the Aaron Rodgers public meltdown and I think one of the reasons why the Packers drafted Josh Myers over Creed Humphrey is because they felt more confident in Josh Myers at his size despite the fact that he didn't have an athletic profile having played in the Big Ten could come right in and contribute Ohio State. I don't think it's a coincidence that Corey Linsley was the last guy that they asked to do that. They draft him, veteran out the door, rookie comes in, and he goes right away, Ohio State. And the last time they drafted an interior offensive lineman high was Elton Jenkins. Mississippi State, SEC, experience. if you can find that sort of profile of player, you feel really good about what you're getting. And there are guys in this draft, we don't have to go through all the names, but big time programs with offensive line pedigree, Big Ten, SEC. And one of the reasons why you're able to do this in 2014 and 2021 is you have Aaron Rodgers. Because what happens is, so in Philadelphia, for example, So Jason Kelsey was instrumental in helping Jalen Hurts early in his career because Jason Kelsey can set all the protections. You don't have to worry about it if you're Jalen Hurts. I don't have to ID the mic. Jason Kelsey can do that. Sly protections. Make all the calls. Don't worry about it, Jalen. You just read the defense. What coverage are they in? Where's everybody going to be pre and post snap? You handle that. I'll handle the offensive line. Well, Aaron Rodgers could do that. So you can have a rookie come in and the only question he has to ask is, do I gotta go left or gotta go right? Do I snap the ball on one? Do I snap the ball on first sound? What's going on? On two. Okay, cool. That's it. That makes your life as a rookie much easier. And of course, when you evaluate rookies, you wanna know, okay, did they make the calls? Are they smart enough to make the calls? because at center, that is a big brain position. You're still having the potential, you know, call out, okay, I got this guy, you got this guy, you go here, you go here. Even once the protection is set, there's still got to be communication about who's got who in the zoo. But you don't need that center to set everything. Jordan Love, he adjusts the protections. He's setting stuff. He's IDing the mic. He knows what's going on. So you could do this with Jordan Love if you have the right player. And again, this is why I told you yesterday that, and I think, and the day before, that I think the Packers are going to take an offensive lineman, an interior offensive lineman early. I think that they are going to go out and do some work in free agency. I think they're going to sign a corner at the very least. And maybe some more depth at offensive line. Like if you look back at the track record, and this is something that I think is important too. when this team has needed depth at offensive line, by and large, they have gone, and they've been in a contending window, by and large, they've gone out and got veterans. Jared Valdir, crucial in 2019. Rick Wagner in 2020. Dennis Kelly in 2021. Darian Kennard this past season. What a huge boon it was in all of those instances. All of those guys had to play in big games. All of them. and so like that's Jared Valdez started a playoff game Dennis Kelly started a playoff game Rick Wagner started a playoff game Darian Kennard started a playoff game well had to come in and play in a playoff game like you need those guys I think you have to go out and you have to get especially you have Kennard maybe you need to get a guard this to me has has like day two center written all over it for the Packers Doesn't have to be round two. I think if the board broke perfectly right for them, they would go defensive tackle first and then go to center in the third round if you could get a guy like that. And I'm not sure there's going to be the perfect, you know, look, the best laid plans of mice and men, right? But there is a group of guys on day two. You look at the pro football focus board, for example. Connor Lewis at 65. Sam Hecht at 68. Jake Slaughter at 77. And then you've got this next group of guys. We talked about Yager Burton, Logan Jones from Iowa. Like if you can get Logan Jones, he's 193 here. I think he'll probably go sooner than that. If you can get Logan Jones at like, you know, fifth round, maybe he could be Corey Lindsley for you. And because you have Jordan Love, it allows you to say, let's just worry about the player and not worry about the readiness to play stuff. Because Jordan Love can set the protections. That's not that big a deal. Can he block? Can he block? Can he be a tone setter? That's what they have to find. Because if they're gonna go to these bigger offensive linemen, now someone like Logan Jones is not a big offensive lineman, but he played in a system where you're kind of, that's the deal. You got to play smash mouth football. Same thing with Sam Hecht at Kansas State. All these guys are, centers in college are not generally big guys. Almost all these guys are between 300 and 315. so you have to you have to marry that that idea of can they play right away with how good is your team right now like you can't take a developmental center early on or anytime expect them to be the starter if you're trying to win a Super Bowl you got to find a guy who's ready to go today and there are guys in this class that can do that all right we're going to get some we're going to get some player data coming in here soon We're actually going to see these guys on the field. Who's big enough? Who's fast enough? Who's strong enough? What matters? What doesn't? We're going to talk about this as we move through combine week. And of course, if you miss our squad show, go check that out on the Locked On Packers. It's in your podcast feed, but it's also on YouTube. You can watch us, of course, Tuesdays and Thursdays in the offseason. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you get podcasts. 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