It's the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. trash talk chat. You also get an ad-free version of your favorite Locked On show and a whole lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everyday Your Club link in the show notes. The Green Bay Packers have to modernize their approach to nutrition, to training, to everything if they ever want to have a chance to keep their players healthy. It's a Friday News Dump live on YouTube. 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 would love for you to subscribe to. Subscribe to the podcast wherever you get podcasts, iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, wherever you get podcasts, you'll 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. It is a Friday news dump, and I want to focus on the cornerback position. Got a lot of questions about that. The draft is on everyone's mind right now at the NFL Combine. I've got questions about the health of the Packers. And I have a lot. I have a lot to say about that one. But I want to start in actually a different place than I normally would. I want to start with a question that we got in the everyday group chat. And the reason I want to start there is because it is about the everyday group chat. And I actually, for those of you watching, I have screenshotted it and put it on the screen. So you know that I'm not lying about this. My guy would, he has a question for you. My simple question this week, and it's for the people listening that aren't in the group chat. Why aren't you in the group chat? Like-minded individuals just having a great time talking ball and hanging out. Thank you, Wood. And because I love that question so much right now, I'm going to give you a free month of locked on Packers every day or club with the code would send time. Basically W O O D S E N T M E. For those of you watching, it is on the screen. W O O D S E N T M E. I didn't pick the promo code. they gave me the promo code but thank you to wood for the question and thank you guys for listening um i'm going to give you a free month of every day or club if you put that promo code in and sign up for the every day or club membership and my guy would if you're listening i'm going to try and get you a free month as well just because you asked such a great question so let's get to the locked on Packers every day or club question of the week this comes from Ricardo I think lately the Green Bay Packers players have been dealing with several injuries if not at the highest rate in the league at least more than quote normally expected considering that is there something the organization is doing wrong or failing to do do we have the right staff in that area is there something in the food Ricardo was joking he put the laughing cry emoji in there. And you know, what's funny about that is he came with that question before the NFL PA survey came out and the Packers got C grades for the training room, the strength and conditioning staff, the nutrition, all of these things are related. Yes. If your nutrition is bad, you are setting yourself up for injury. Things like your pliability, your mobility are directly impacted by your nutrition, by your hydration, that stuff matters, man. And if you aren't doing everything you can to take a progressive mindset about nutrition and fuel, then you are setting yourself up for failure because other teams are doing it. Now they are renovating the training room. And so that's a good thing. The facilities will be better. But based on a conversation I had with a recent player who had dealt with multiple injuries in Green Bay. What he said was it not the facilities that are the problem necessarily It the approach That basically regardless of what the injury is they treat it more or less the same way and they send you on your way No customized plan for the thing that you're dealing with, just a little electronic stimulation, some cold tub, and 800 milligrams of Tylenol, basically. You're on your way. That's not the modern approach. That's not the way to best take care of professional athletes worth millions and millions and millions of dollars to your team. It's just not. And so I pose the question in the title, are the Packers falling behind the NFL? And to me, it's a rhetorical question. The answer is unequivocally, yes, they are. They are falling behind the rest of the league with this stuff. And look, I do think this falls at an organizational level. because I don't expect Matt LaFleur to know the score here. It's not, it's, I mean, ultimately this all is a reflection of him. He gets to make those decisions, but I don't expect him to be up to date on the latest sports science. I don't expect him to be up to date on the latest on biology and physiology and body chemistry and metabolism and, and, and biomechanics. It's not his job, but he does have people employed whose job it is. And so what you hope is that something like this, they're renovating the training room, that's great. And so the facilities will be better. But it doesn't matter if the facilities are better if the process is bad. You build a big, beautiful restaurant and kitchen for, you know, a line cook from George Webb and you're gonna get what you get. Now, by the way, love the food at George Webb. It's not a knock on them, but it's not, you know, gourmet, Michelin, James Beard award-winning, Cuisine, probably. Now, some really good bacon and eggs is still really good. But if that's what they're serving to the players, maybe you have some question marks about the way this is all going. So look, this is a real thing. I kind of like don't care about the coaching piece of this. Matt LaFleur got a B minus. Last year, he got an A minus. I think frankly, what happened was he's just harder on the guys this year. Like there was that line in Tucker Craft from the NFL films about, I'm scared of coach. Like I'm scared of Matt LaFleur. He will curse you out. Like I think the ironic part is, I think the reason that he didn't get the high grade on respect for players is because he is low key hard on these guys. And if you look at the survey, the guys who were at the bottom in terms of respect for players, it's Jim Harbaugh, who by the way, everyone thinks is a great coach. It's Pete Carroll, who by the way, everyone thinks is a great coach, but they have a more old school way of doing things. And though Matt LaFleur looks new school, he's got his old school mentality in the way that he's working on all of this. So we did get the question, where do you sign up for the Everyday Air Club? Lockedonpackers.supercasts.com is where you can sign up for the Everyday Air Club. You get ad-free access to Lockedon Packers. no ads when you listen to the show and you join the group chat it is a terrific opportunity to talk fall to talk football have fun do some do some interesting uh uh deep dives there you guys don't even know what's happening in the group chat there's some wild stuff going on like hey have you seen this video this this video from 1996 it's great we're having a lot of fun so come hang out with us and I want to talk a ton of draft stuff when we come back here on Locked on Packers. Ever wanted to experience the NBA finals live and in person? FanDuel is giving you the chance to turn that dream into reality with their NBA sweepstakes. Here's how it works. Use your profit boost on any NBA future and you'll automatically be entered for a shot to win an NBA finals trip for two. That's right. 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And if there's a close second, it's tropical burst for all the same reasons. The caffeine with the island vibes, pineapple and apricot in that one. So it's a little different island vibes, a little light tang. It's sweet, bright and sunny impressions. It's the fruit punch vibe that I want. That what I want in a drink to take me to a place that makes me feel good Go to 5hourenergy or get yours on Amazon We also got a lot of we got a lot of questions about the draft One was about the cornerback position. Mr. Minecraft in the, in the everyday or club chat wants to know what is our best chance to get a corner in this draft? and I think that their best chance to get a corner in the draft is to sign one in free agency. I mean, I don't mean to be glib about it, but I think that when you look at the way that corners tend to perform as rookies, you're seeing over and over and over that most rookies are bad. Everyone knows. That's how I feel. Most rookies are bad. but rookie corners are almost always bad almost always bad and so I just I don't know if you can go into a season where you expect to compete for a Super Bowl and and believe you have a rookie starting corner now I have been told I had someone set me straight on this a couple different things the future of Nate Hobbs is genuinely up in the air. I assumed because he started as the boundary corner in training camp, I assumed wrongly that they were not just willing to, but preferred for him to start as a boundary corner. That is not my understanding of it now. And so, you know, sometimes when you assume, we know what happens, right? and that Green Bay really thought he was a slot corner and a very good slot corner, and he was. But it turns out Javon Bullard is just straight up a better slot corner, and the injuries, I think, derail his chance to be a boundary corner. And now, if you think Carrington Valentine and or Keyshawn Nixon are better, you have a problem. But the issue that I have with this line of thinking is if, let's say, you trade or release Nate Hobbs, what is your current corner situation? Like then you really desperately need to add someone. And you probably need to add two people because as I mentioned on a recent episode, you don't have Carrington Valentine and Keyshawn Nixon likely beyond this season. And so that's going to put you in a position where you're trying to build down the line. Now that could be the perfect opportunity here. You sign a veteran, a Greg Newsome II, someone like that, Rick Willen, someone like that. And then you draft someone on day two. Now, there are going to be guys on day two. And as we're recording this, we haven't seen all the guys run and do all the stuff yet. But the Packers, there are some guys who we expect to be in the 50s who could be there and be future players for the Packers. Now, historically, you want a good corner, you got to use premium picks. That means first, second. And you can get nickels and stuff like that on day three. but most of the time, and the Packers, by the way, they don't really draft nickel corners. They draft corners and then they play nickel. So this is something where I think the Packers are going to look at the guys, see where they think they stack up. Now there's a bunch of guys at the top of the draft. A lot of these top corners, such that they are, they either came in light, They came in shorter than expected. They came in with shorter arms than expected. Again, we'll see how they work out. We'll see how they run. But I think that this is a weak corner class in terms of the premium talent. And so that could push these guys down the board a little bit. There's a ton of offensive linemen in this class. There's a ton of pass rushers in this class. There's a ton of receivers in this class. Again, even though there isn't that elite, elite talent. In the top 50, there's like 8, 10, 12 receivers. There's like 8, 10, 12 edge players. There's like 8, 10 defensive tackles. There's like 15 offensive linemen. Plus, you know, a quarterback or two is going to go. There's a running back or two that it's going to go. There's a tight end that's going to go. And so that could push some of the quarterbacks down more into the range where the Packers could get them at 52. I think if you don't get one there, now you're really reaching. And I think that's part of the problem. That's why they have to go out and sign somebody to get you where you need to go for this Packers team. Um, a week on the stream wants to know, based on what you know about the draft and the Packers needs, what would you prioritize the first two to three rounds? So this is, this is part of the conversation that we were just having, right? So if you want a corner, you're going to have to take them early. Someone has to be there for you really in the second round at 52, unless you're going to move up. And I don't think, I don't see the Packers wanting to move up, uh, in a situation like this. They just don't have enough draft capital to make that work. So I think corner at 52, if the right corner is not there, you you'd like to get a, a big body pass rusher who big, well, a big body defensive tackle who can also rush the passer. If all you have are kind of the best nose tackles out there, the Dominique oranges of the world I think you wait I think you go a different direction I would I would take the best edge rusher that available there Like if your corner and your defensive tackles are off the board someone like Jacob Rodriguez, who we talked about yesterday, someone like Antonio Hill Jr. who we talked about yesterday, these linebackers who can fly around and make plays. I think that makes, that makes sense for green Bay. Maybe you look offensive line at that point. Does one of the centers interest you in a spot like that? is there a big gap between your RB2 and the rest of the running backs class? And could you go the AJ Dillon surprise route? If we're just doing it by need, yeah, they need a corner. They need a defensive tackle. They need a center. They need a backup running back. They need linebacker depth. They need, you know, tight end depth. It's too early for the depth stuff there. But if you see a player that you just love, like sometimes you just got to take those guys. Holmes wants to know if I'm just finishing lunch. I'm trying to be comfortable, guys. I'm in a hoodie. I'm in a purple lilac hoodie. Trying to be more casual. It's a Friday news dump. We're just trying to have fun. Let me live. Let me live, dog. Chill. Come on. Bill says, watching the defensive tackles and the linebackers of the combine, I wasn't impressed. I'm thinking drafting offensive line, receiver, and tight ends. Okay, let's relax a little bit. The linebackers looked really good. the defensive tackles, I would say less good, but the tape is always the deal with front seven players. You're going to get a chance to see some movement skills, but with these defensive tackles, especially like it's 330 pound guys out there. How do they, how do they look on film? How do they look taking on blocks? How do they look trying to put together pass rush moves, stringing together stuff? That's what I'm worried about. Elliot Sanders asks, commanders just released center Tyler Biotis. This was something we also talked about in the group chat. He's 28, had a nice PFF grade last year. Could be in that $8 to $12 million range. Yeah, I see it. We talked about this yesterday on the show. Lloyd Cushenberry and Tyler Viotic, both being veteran options who do not affect the comp pick formula and don't sleep on that. That's a real thing. I think the Packers would love to sign one of these dudes with the comp pick formula in mind. And so if Malik Willis is going to get a bag and Malik Willis is going to get it back. That's a big comp pick coming for you. If you could get a center, you could knock off one of your checklists and still not count against your comp pick formula. I think that's a really appealing option. I think Beattis is a good guy. And I think that Cushion Barrier is also a possible arbitrage opportunity here for both these teams or both these players. They're just getting a little bit older and they were going to be a little bit more expensive than the teams wanted to deal with. That was really funny. John Kime, who covers the team for the Washington Post. Still, I don't know if he still does after all the layoffs, unfortunate, but he was like, this was not about the salary cap. They wanted to take his money and allocate it elsewhere, which I'm not a finance genius, but I think if you don't want to pay him his contract and you want to spend that money elsewhere, that it is a cap thing. Like by definition, I don't know. Look, I'm not an expert. So I think those are good opportunities for the Packers. And I think there will be more opportunities like that for Green Bay as they go through this process. More and more guys are going to get cut and they are going to be potential options for the Packers as they move through free agency. Remember, free agency does not start for another two and a half weeks. So, well, I guess I forget that it's February. And so February is basically over. It's basically two weeks because it starts in the middle of the week. And it's a whole silly thing with the legal tampering period and all the shenanigans that go on there. So a ton of stuff that could still come out here over the next couple of days and the next couple of weeks. I'm anxious to see these corners run. I think that's going to be a big deal. This is a stopwatch position, guys. You can not like the Underwear Olympics all you want, but if you don't run fast as a corner, you cannot play. The Packers don't really care about arm length that much. They care about three cone and they care about 40. Do you show the athletic traits? And this is some of the things too, when we talk about the athletic measurables and those kinds of things, it is the tail wagging the dog a bit because really good players tend to be really good athletes. And so are the Packers targeting really good athletes? Are they targeting really good players who are really good players because they're really good athletes? And then they test well. And so we think that they're looking for great testers, but what they're really looking for is great football players who are also great athletes because those are the things that translate to NFL success. I think that's just something to think about as we look through the next couple of days here with the Combine. All right, we'll be back for you the Sunday OT coming your way, me and Brandon Snide. That'll be in your podcast feed on Sunday, a new show that we're doing around here. Make sure you're subscribing to the Locked On Packers podcast, wherever you get podcasts, subscribe to my content feed on the social medias. We'll be here with you every day. Now we're basically here seven days a week for you, twice on Fridays, an extra Sunday show. So now we're here every single possible day so you can stay Locked On Packers. Thank you.
