Breaking News - Packers Trade Dontayvion Wicks!!!

20 minutes a day 365 days a year. This is the pack a day podcast. Welcome in everybody to the Saturday edition of the pack a day podcast. Eli Birkowitz here with the draft expert Rob Rieger coming in to join us as he did last week and will throughout the rest of this draft season. Matt Freilich will not be with us today, but we will guide you covered right as we were about to start Rob hit with some pretty breaking news for the Packers. We're going to jump right into it because we got a stack show today going to be going through the whole list of Packers 30 visits. But before we get to that breaking news agreement Packers trade Don Tavion Wicks wide receiver Don Tavion Wicks to the Eagles for a 2026 fifth round pick and a 2027 sixth round pick. So Rob this literally just happened as we were getting ready to start. Why don't you just give everybody your raw right you know reaction right off the bat. What do you think about this? It's perplexing to me if I'm being honest Eli it's one of those things that kind of took me by surprise. I didn't feel like Wicks was a guy on the chopping block. I felt like he was even a potentially a guy that they could sign long term if he had a good year. We just lost Romeo Dobbs to free agency. So my initial thought was that Wicks was going to kind of fall into that role that Dobbs had. If you look at all the stats that he had over the years. He got open when he had opportunities he took advantage of it and he got open. I don't have them right in front of me right now but you can look it up that as far as like being separation percentages he was always near the top of the league. I liked him as a player he's a big target. So it's a little perplexing especially considering the Packers have not really done anything in free agency to address the wide receiver position so losing Dobbs and now losing Wicks. I personally feel is kind of a big blow to that. Yeah it's I mean I think people have talked about you know Wicks being a potential trade target option Romeo Dobbs you know for the last year or two obviously he's now signed with the Patriots but this is a move that I mean on some levels like I understand like you drafted Golden and you drafted Savion Williams and you have Christian Watson coming off a great year I'm assuming he's going to get extended pretty soon. Jaden Reed when healthy has been really good obviously last year missed a lot of time with the Rope Collarbone but this just feels like I don't know to get a fifth and a sixth like I get it you don't have a first round pick you want to recoup some draft capital Wicks has been kind of up and down right obviously there were moments where Packer fans are like oh this is going to be our wide receiver one this guy's got the guy and then there are some Packer fans are like I don't know why this guy plays I fall more on the side of him being good than him not playing I don't know if we're talking about him being some sort of elite receiver but like a good wide receiver three I think so so to get a fifth and a sixth I guess in a perfect world I would have hoped for a fourth or I would have hoped maybe just for a player for player deal similar like the Colby Wooded for Zaire Franklin where you just kind of got a veteran from another team that wanted to change the scenery Rob you kind of mentioned that before the show and I think this must be a part of it do you think Wicks was one of the guys that Mat LaFleur referenced who just was not happy with his role on the team you can't help but think that honestly like that was the first thing that came to mind when Mat LaFleur came out and said flat out that there are certain people on the team that weren't happy with the role and they were kind of mal content with the way it went and you look at the usage of Wicks and you could maybe see that he fit into that category and with team unity and those type of things being a crucial part of the team moving forward that maybe he was one of those guys and a fresh start might be what he needs I'm a little disappointed though because I do like him as a player that he's going to one of our rivals at Philadelphia and making them stronger which kind of makes it more likely that they're probably going to trade AJ Brown right now and probably get some significant draft capital out of that so they can add to their team while not dropping a whole lot by adding Wicks to the mix so it's a little concerning that we traded with Philadelphia because it almost seems like Howie over there is playing chess when a lot of other teams are playing checkers and it just seems to always work out for him so that concerns me a little bit but you can't I mean honestly you can't help but think that that that he might have been one of the players that wasn't happy with his role last year yeah Wicks only played 38% of the Snaps last year I mean to be honest looking at this list no receiver I mean this is actually kind of surprised actually sorry Romeo Dobbs played 74% of the Snaps behind Romeo Dobbs Matthew Golden played the most number of Snaps at well a highest percentage of Snaps I should say after that at 43% of course we got to take in the take into account that Jaden Reed missed a ton of time Christian Watson missed some time early in the year and then had to ramp up back into it but I don't know it is strange it's never fun trading with the Eagles because like you said it always seems like the Eagles come out on top of these trades and yeah I would agree just in general NFL I feel like this was already headed this way that AJ Brown would be traded from Philly now you got to assume whatever I mean not like that Tavion Wicks is going in there to be the wide receiver one but I don't think they go and trade two draft picks for another receiver they've already added I think two other receivers this offseason and then not trade brown so that will probably happen but overall again this just happened so it will take some time to like process it but I would give this like a I don't know a C-minus kind of grade right off the bat of like a trade where it's like whatever to me and we'll wrap up the Wicks conversation with this like this just better mean that Matthew Golden is going to be a massive part of this offense next year you drafted him in the first round I don't like yes I just said he played the second and most Snaps last year that was 43% of the Snaps that is not a massive number of Snaps for a guy you drafted in the first round he should be playing it should be him and Watson and Reed essentially playing all the Snaps mixed Savion Williams in there and if you at this point Rob you know let's transition into this do you think now receiver moves up the draft need board for the Packers a lot more does this not change it or did you already think it was a need how do you think this trade impacts the Packers draft strategy yeah well I mean I thought that they're going to probably address it at some point it definitely makes it a more pressing need at this point so that you know even at 52 it might be in play for a wide receiver right now I'm personally of the belief that the wide receiver class is pretty wide I just I just don't uh I don't know where they're going on this I really don't it's kind of perplexing to me but I thought that they were going to address it at some point but now obviously you can't really go into training camp with the room that you have right now and you mentioned earlier and there's a great point that they did draft Matthew Golden number one there's probably been several discussions with him say hey look we need you to take a step up this year um Reed uh took a little bit of a step back now we need him to kind of go into the forefront we need Christian Watson probably do for a pretty big contract coming up soon so he's going to be relied on a lot more and like you said if those guys are on the field say 70% of the time and they stay healthy that's a pretty good receive receiver group right there but you know that there's always going to be circumstances there's always going to be things that happen there's injuries there's ineffective play there's all kinds of things that come into play so it's good to have depth at wide receiver especially for a past happy offense like we have yeah so it'll be very interesting to see how this affects the draft I mean Rob obviously everyone listened to this it'll be Saturday already but we're recording this on Friday I mean two weeks from tonight the Packers will be on the clock it's exciting you know it's like you put in all this work and all this preparation for the draft and it feels like it takes forever to get there but like I didn't realize last night was two weeks till the first round it's coming fast man it's coming fast man it's coming we're gonna blink and it's gonna be you know the Las Vegas Raiders are on the clock and it's gonna be exciting and yeah I agree I think depending on how the board falls I certainly wouldn't say receivers at the top of the list at 52 because you trade wicks but if a great receiver falls or if all the corners and defensive tackles are gone and you got to take a receiver I'm certainly not going to complain about it but we won't speculate too much on that right now because we got a lot to get to still but again for anyone just tuning in the Octavian wicks traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2026 5th and a 2027 6th and just some details on that it looks like the draft pick this year is a pick the Eagles acquired from the Falcons so it's originally the Falcons pick and then next year it is the second of two Eagles six round picks so I don't know the exact number but it'll be later obviously then if it was the first but yeah we'll see how that goes but Rob moving on to let's dive in man I'm ready for this yeah so go ahead no no go ahead I was just gonna say uh I was you know we don't have all the names yet for the 30 visits but we have a good portion of them and we were just gonna kind of go through some of our favorite some of the most maybe surprising some of the guys that are going under the radar but uh yeah Rob what were you about to say I was just gonna say that uh back in the day I remember Ted Thompson kind of used these uh personal visits for a little smoke screen he tried to get he tried to get players that you know maybe he wanted teams to think that we're interested in certain guys so maybe they'd overdraft them I don't know if you did that on purpose but it became pretty obvious that you know very rarely did they pick any of the guys that they brought in for visits and he'd you know smatter in a bunch of like undrafted free agents into these visits as well so it seems like Brian Gudekun is not 100% on that same philosophy like a lot of guys that have come in for visits have been drafted so I kind of like this list and the one thing that I noticed just looking at it is it's so eclectic it there's so many different variances in this list there's all kinds of different positions there's all kinds of different players that could go anywhere there's guys that you know I would say would be targeted in round two there's guys that I feel would be on drafted free agents so it doesn't feel at all like there's any consistency and the guys that they're bringing in it seems like some of the positions that I would have expected them to have more i.e. cornerback that there'd be a couple more of those but I just found out that Will Lee's coming he's one of my personal favorites we'll get in them in a second but the other corners that they've that they have coming in they wouldn't be guys that would be second or third round even maybe even not even fourth round guys and I don't know it's it's very interesting to kind of try to predict what his strategy is going to be yeah I mean I almost think that he probably like I think on some level he's bringing in guys obviously that he wants to see potentially would draft but I also think that he might avoid bringing in like the guys at the top of his list right I mean you don't want to maybe give it away too much and also I do think as like a scouting department if there's a guy you just love and you love the tape and you love you know you met him at the senior bowl maybe this that I don't think you need to bring him in for a visit to really put him on your to put everyone else that he's on your radar so there are guys that I'm sure they really like that won't be brought in but I think it's probably a mix where it's like out of the 30 guys it's probably like 20 that you generally genuinely have interest in and then maybe like 10 smokescreen kind of visits obviously it's kind of a yes but that's I feel like what I would do because I wouldn't want to bring in 30 guys and I absolutely loved and then be like all right every other team in the NFL these are the guys I really like that just doesn't seem super smart to me but why don't we just start with the guy you just mentioned because that was reported earlier today will Lee cornerback out of Texas A&M right I believe yep coming in for a visit big physical corner strong guy I feel like he is different than the corners the Packers currently have and you just said he's one of your favorites so what do you see out of Lee that makes two well the first thing that the first thing that really stands out to me is coming in for a visit and maybe could become a Packer but yeah the thing that's really exciting to me is the fact that any guy that's nicknamed the blanket is a guy that I like I like people that have cool nicknames and you know people just don't get open against him and he's a very aggressive corner he has great size he kind of fits that profile of what the Packers look for he's not the fastest corner in the world but I feel like he's very efficient with his movement he's not a guy that wastes a lot of steps and I just feel like you know even though I ran a 4-5-2 he had a vertical jump of 42 inches so whatever he's lacking in speed he's making up for that jumping ability he just feels to me like a guy who's being slept on and that's kind of what I look for in this because like I want the Packers and I've stated last week that I want them to pick two or three corners in this draft I want them to kind of reset that position a little bit and bring in some young talented players and not wait till the seventh round to draft guys not rely on undrafted free agents I want them to pick up guys so this could be a guy and I don't know where he's exactly going to be drafted but I feel like third fourth round is where he should be and I think he's a bit underrated as it comes to that and who knows maybe teams will value him the same way that I do which is much higher than that but I mean the only thing that really stands out I mean he's but the thing is like you know is the things that he does bad are correctable errors they're not physical errors he does get a little handsy he's had some penalties he's had certain things like that but those are easily correctable you get him with a good coach and he'd work on this technique but as far as a talent concerned I talked last week a lot about how about some dogs on my team and he's one of those guys he likes being impressed man and he's a player that gets up in your face and he does not back down at all and had a great year last year for Texas A&M on the flip side he's a little bit of a older older player I mean he's been around the block a couple times he started at Juco kind of worked his way went to three different schools but um ended up landing at Texas A&M and became a really really solid starter for them last year we'll be right back the world moves fast you work day even faster pitching products drafting reports analyzing data microsoft 365 co-pilot is your ai assistant for work built into word excel powerpoint and other microsoft 365 apps you use helping you quickly write analyze create and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work learn more at microsoft.com slash m 365 co-pilot yeah Lee was one of the first guys corners I should say that I watched and immediately like you said I just his physicality stood out to me and yes penalty wise he's got to clean it up it's been 11 penalties over the last two years six and 20 20 25 five in 2024 but you know sometimes you're going to get that when you have a physical corner who's not afraid to press up on a guy and he does not like you said even when he sometimes loses a step I think his size and his closing ability and his range makes up for that when the ball's in the air so he's someone that like you said I think like a sweet spot for him is third you got him in the fourth obviously great I don't think he's probably a top you know a top 60 player you know second round kind of guy but third or fourth if you end up going defensive tackle or hell like you said a good he's done this in nearly every draft where he doubles even triples up at the same position I don't know if he triples up at corner but I certainly think you should and could double up a corner and if it worked out I mean not too long ago I mean I guess at this point it was a little bit while ago but they drafted two corners right back to back the year right it was Jair or Josh Jackson I believe are the same year correct I remember I don't know about you this is a little side note but like I think I was more excited about Josh Jackson and obviously I was very off on that yeah but like I was one of the few I think like three times ever have I been like dying for one specific player at a specific pick and it happened Josh Jackson was one Ha Ha Clinton Dix was another and Eddie Lacey was another where it was like I wanted to hear one name specifically and they actually picked that guy so yeah I mean if it works if the board falls that way they might go corner at 52 and 84 and I would have complained if they're the guys and I want them to stick there so let's stick a corner well I just wanted to do a quick aside to that so this one you should mention those two players Eli because I have two jerseys of the Packers hanging in my closet right now one is Ha Ha Clinton Dix and another the other is Eddie Lacey so those are two of my all-time favorite Packers at least when they drafted them I I was so ecstatic to have them I was not of the agreement with Josh Jackson my opinion on him is that he lucked into a lot of his turnovers every time I watched him on tape it was like he was beat but like the quarterback made a bad throw and it just happened to go to him and so he had a ton of interceptions but it wasn't necessarily that he was guarding the guy and that's something that's important I think for everybody that's watching film is that especially for cornerbacks and safeties the stats don't always tell the story when it comes to that because there are a lot of guys they get the most interceptions are A the guys they get passed on the most and B they could be the recipient of just some bad quarterback play there's a lot of quarterback yeah stuff like that where the ball could just fall in your hand sometimes and if you're just looking at the box score I mean I even think with like sacks right like if a guy has 12 sacks well this is amazing but then you watch and like eight of them are either coverage sacks or cleanup sacks and another guy's pressure like that is a part of it that's why watching the film is so important for all positions but gotcha truth is we spent a lot of time on corner last week and outside of Charles Demings who we actually did talk about last week I wouldn't say there's any other corner that we've had visit that I think is like probably even like going to be drafted or at least not drafted highly definitely not I want to I want to ask you because this surprised me based on his size and his profile Ramelohite the edge rusher yeah someone that I did not really expect to be on our radar and maybe this is one of those smokescreen visits but where you have Ramelohite obviously a very light smaller edge rusher but very twitchy has that explosive getoff do you think this is a smokescreen do you think you know do you think Micah Parsons has changed the way Goody wants his edge rusher is obviously Colin Oliver another smaller lighter twitchy or bendy or guy where you have Ramelohite this one kind of threw me for for a curve a little bit I mean he doesn't really have a lot of the profile that the Packers traditionally look for he's an older player he's 25 years old right now so he's not a guy he's a sixth year senior and he's not really a guy that I had my eye on at all he's not a he's not a bad player I guess and he is you know he's quick off the ball I guess if that's what you're looking for but I don't I don't feel like he's anything more than maybe a specialist like a third like a third down specialist or a passing down specialist that could play for the team I would be shocked if they drafted him I mean 200 and I mean he didn't even have he didn't have a chance to gain weight from his combine to this pro day he actually lost weight he lost a pound and he was already like coming into that 238 he's measuring measuring at he's just to me he's too wiry he's not a guy that can really stand up against the run so maybe if he drops he could come in as a pass rush specialist but outside of that I wasn't a huge fan fan of him playing he didn't really stand out as a player that I really had my eye on it doesn't mean that in certain cases he couldn't be good but I would be shocked if the Packers drafted him yeah I think he's definitely in my notes the very first thing and in my summary is you know DPR designated pass rusher I don't think he's a guy you want out there routinely on run downs he's just not heavy enough he'll get just kicked out of the play too often by larger tackles someone that again if he develops right could be one of those guys who manages to rack up around eight sacks a year just because he's always rushing the passer but it's so unlike the Packers again unless they've just had a complete philosophy change after the Parsons trade well truth is I mean they drafted Colin Oliver before the Parsons trade and maybe that was the first step in saying you know what we've gone after these bigger ad rushers and it hasn't necessarily worked out a lot and I'll be honest I've always liked like the twitchier leaner longer thinner kind of ad rushers but Ramelah I I agree like I don't actively dislike him but I would be surprised and I'm not of all the day two ad rushers he's certainly not you know at the top of my list so I mean also a guy he's also a guy that Eli he got his first sack as a collegian in his fourth season yeah so he was in his fourth season playing football in college before he got his first sack and you know it's just what the four schools in six years he's 25 years old like he doesn't fit any of the profile of what we look for yeah that is a big thing you got to look you know are you starting to play good football because you are a man amongst boys at a certain point and that could definitely be the case for height but two guys sticking on the defensive actually I mean I guess there are three here that I want to bring up but the two I would say highest profile and we sort of touched on them last week Kristen Miller out of Georgia he's he came in for a visit or is coming in for a visit Kayla Proctor out of southeastern Louisiana someone that I think we're both very big fans of and then Jordan Vandenberg out of I believe it's Wake Forest right that has picked up some steam lately so let's start with Miller and Proctor where are you at with those two uh fits for this defense how do you feel about them well Kayla Proctor was the guy um when I wrote my uh his non-power force sleeper article which is kind of one of my claims the fame for the G-side TV draft guide as I always write you know and I mentioned it last week so I'm not going to plug it you know now but he was one of the guys that really stood out to me I love Kayla Proctor I thought initially when I was looking at his film if he had gone to a bigger school that he'd be in a conversation for being a first-round pick it's really the only thing that's held him back but I feel like he's so fast off the ball he's so quick off the ball he's a penetrating defensive tackle now with the packers switching primarily to a 3-4 I don't know how exactly that's going to fit in but even if they start as a base 3-4 they're going to be in a lot of four man's fronts and if he comes in he can penetrate and get into the backfield like he did in college he'd be a home run pick if he can last to that third round maybe not second round but maybe third round if they drafted him he'd be a home run pick I feel like he really really has shades of Milton Williams to me which is another guy that I profiled a couple years back for the same draft guide I profiled him as a just an uber athletic big man that maybe from a technique standpoint isn't quite there yet because of the small school maybe the competition was a little low but the physical skills are there and he's a guy that they could mold into a star player yeah I love proctor I only got to see a couple games of him up until earlier this week or last week I should say where I got access because it is you know a smaller school harder to get some of that film but wow like he immediately shot up my board very high and just became one of my favorite defense attackals in the class so explosive and just like filing hands a bunch of different pass rush moves just someone that I like you said in the third round I would be thrilled with that pick if you go corner in the second and you follow that up with Kayla Proctor that will be one of my favorite possible starts and Kristen Miller I mean I mean I would draft him at 52 I don't know about you I don't know if he makes it to 52 Miller obviously much more of a run defending defensive tackle as opposed to a pass rusher I think he could build that part of his game out where he gets you know a little bit more of a pass rusher profile but zero sacks last year so how do you feel about Miller is he someone that you would be targeting or want them to target at 52 if he was there okay so this is gonna sound bad Eli and I'm not trying to go against you on this I like him a lot so that's not to say and I also feel the same way about certain other positions I don't feel like a first or second round pick is the right spot to pick a run stuffing defensive tackle and it doesn't take away from his skills I think he's excellent at it he's a guy that he's not a big pass rusher he's excellent against the run he holds up the point of big he's a big boy if maybe they could put him over the nose and just have him you know kind of stay there I just the thing is with me is that I feel like second round picks should be spent on corners on receivers on edge rushers those type of people rather than the defensive tackles unless they have a unique skill like proctor for example I wouldn't draft him around two just simply because of the because of the small school factor but with Miller he's a guy that would be an excellent starter they could plug him in from day one so I have nothing against him at all it's just like I feel like we can find guys like him maybe a little bit less in like the fourth and fifth rounds that's my only knock on him and he's a two-year starter rock solid man so I do like him a lot and if he drops I wouldn't be mad if we picked him because he would be an instant starter on her defense and he does hold up the point of attack and he played in the you know big school for sec Georgia for two-year starter so and he's young he's only 21 years old so I mean he could be a guy that could maybe fall into that Kenny Clark type of type of situation where remember when Kenny Clark came out he was you know a very very young player developing player whose best football was ahead of him which he proved and maybe Miller's the same way maybe he hasn't in him and he just hasn't shown it yet so we'll see but for right now I'm a little bit leery about drafting him that high yeah no I mean first off I think the listeners love to hear a good debate so definitely keep a comment if you have any disagreements but I will say like Miller someone I actually think actually no I think the very first player I watched in this class was LT Overton but then I think the second player I watched was Pristin Miller and I was a big fan immediately but I will say that it is hard to draft almost a pure run defense guy in the top you know 50 to 60 picks as opposed to someone that at least gives you some pass roast juice so again it's not someone I would complain it's certainly not someone I'll complain about but Miller is someone that you got to know what you're you're getting from him which is I think going to be mostly a run defender and then you know sticking we mentioned Jordan Vandenberg we'll see about that obviously just an athletic freak I think he's more of a day three guy obviously we'll see you know how how that potentially goes out for that but switching over to the offensive side some really interesting names that we brought in and I want to get your opinion I don't think we talked to any any offense last week so Ted Hearst right one of one of I think people's favorite names throughout this draft cycle someone that's just shooting up boards people really like him where have you landed on Ted Hearst I want to like Ted Hearst I love his story I love his size I love his speed ratio like I really really want to like him he's the type of guy that I root for he's the type of guy that like I want to see success out of him okay so let me be very clear on that okay he has a ton of physical skills my problem with him and this is a couple of these receivers is I just feel that he's more athlete than football player I really do I feel like he's a unique athlete and he's not a guy you know maybe in the mold of like an Ysie Voss on on Cincinnati a guy who is also an athletic freak that's huge and he hasn't really made a big impact I mean he's like their number three receiver I mean granted they have T Higgins and Chase but you know he hasn't really made an impact he makes a couple of wild plays a year but that's about it so my thing with Hearst is that a big thing that people talk about is contested catches and I'm a big believer that you really have to watch the film to determine what makes a contested catch unique and what makes it special a lot of guys when they have a quote unquote contested catch all they do is basically the quarterback throws it up and a taller guy reaches over the defense and makes the catch and I don't feel like that's necessarily the same category as somebody who maybe has guys draped all over him and he's still catching the ball and guys are you know putting their hands in there I just feel like it's an eat it's a much easier quote unquote contested catch when they do that so a couple of times when I was watching Hearst and he was very high near the top of the contested catch and he had a very high ratio and people are going to cite that as a positive however because he played at Georgia State the cornerbacks that they went against were not the best cornerbacks in the country so if you really turn on the film and watch his contested catches were basically like the defense of god defense of back up beat they started to catch up they had their back turned to the play and Hearst would simply just reach above the cornerback and make a catch which I feel like is not translatable to the NFL because the NFL cornerbacks are much better skilled they know how to turn their head around they know how to knock the ball down so I just felt very strongly that with Hearst I just I just couldn't I couldn't get there with him he's a guy that might make a couple of wild plays where you're like wow this guy is great every once in a while but overall I just I don't know I don't know where you land on him but but that was kind of my my impression is that he'd be a guy to make a couple big plays and that's about it yeah so Hearst is someone that I first started really hearing about at the senior bowl so I went and checked him out and I do I agree I feel like he was the kind of guy that it's like it's like feast or famine with him like he makes a couple plays where you go like whoa that is really impressive then there are also decent stretches where he's just not really getting open that much like I think he did struggle with separation and I think for me obviously you want to see a player get contested catches because it shows like their strength at the catch point but I also do think when a player has too many contested catch opportunities at least I think that's also a sign that he's not really getting that open like if you're just constantly being forced to have a contested catch then you're just not creating a ton of separation I think he has like a really special second gear when he has the ball in his hands like you hit him and stride on a slant route he can cut an angle and just be gone and that safety has no chance to get to him but overall I think he's like kind of your boom bus wide receiver three I wouldn't say he's the same player as like MVS but in that mold of like yeah you know there's gonna be like four or five big plays to him per season he'll have a couple other big catches but I don't think he's the kind of guy that's routinely going to be catching I don't know 70-80 balls for a thousand yards I think it's more like yeah like 50 catches for like 800 yards with a high catch average high reception you know yardage average and then you know five or six touchdowns most of those being on some big plays so he's an exciting player but I mean there were moments throughout this cycle people were like trying to force him into the first round or in the top of the second that's no way just a little yeah yeah I didn't see that at all I mean MVS is actually a great comp that that you may be lie that I mean that's about what he reminds me of yeah unreliable hands I mean the guy had and this is this is a my status looked it up but he had he had more drops than he had touchdown catches I already had about seven drops last year I believe yeah seven drops and six touchdowns for Georgia State so yeah you want to see more consistency you want to see some hands he's a guy that yeah I mean he can take you deep you can take the top off a defense but he's gonna catch it like that's the thing like he's gonna catch it even if he gets open so yeah that's that's my thing on Ted Hurst I know that everyone loves him and they want to make him into this something that he's not but I can't get there with him sorry no I hear that I think again like if you draft him for what he is great but do not I don't think you should be forced on boards because of the story or because of some flash plays and all of a sudden you're thinking this guy's gonna come in and be even your wide receiver too I think he's more like you bring him in wide receiver three he could be a good in that role but moving over to running back two guys one of them that I'm a huge fan of the other one that I'm not necessarily huge huge fan of his game but I just think he's an awesome like just his mentality so Mike Washington Jr. and Kailin Black so Washington Jr. I mean I think some people have him as high as running back two three four for some guys in this class other people maybe around five or six Kailin Black lower on the list but I just love the way he plays such a tough runner wants to run through your face looks for contact I love the fact that I think he was the only player on Indiana or Miami to go to the senior bowl right after the national championship he went out there and competed which I just think is really cool I had the chance to interview him actually at the senior bowl and just a really good guy really just loves to compete which I think is an underrated part of this game or so many guys now they don't want to test they don't want to do this they don't want to do that Kailin Black is not shying away from any of that so let's start with Washington though where are you are you in on the hype are you lower on him uh how do you feel about Mike Washington I like most I like most things about Mike Washington okay he's a fantastic athlete I mean when he's almost like he got created into a lab like the way that he's built he's 225 pounds he's six foot so he has a decent height um he has good weight he's fast around a 4 3 3 um every everywhere across the board I didn't look up his razz score but I'm sure it's well into the nines like way into the nine nine nine nine yeah yeah like it like it's when you know looking at some of the things that he that he can do um where I have a little bit of a pause it says he does really only have one year of production that's one of the things he's a one year starter at Arkansas so he had been still a great athlete but he played three years at Buffalo he played one year at New Mexico State and then he transferred to Arkansas and kind of made you know he had a very good year last year got over a thousand yards my only issue with him is that you need to have an offense that kind of tells him where to go and doesn't have a lot of read type plays one of the strengths that Josh Jacobs has and people can rip on him all they want but when you look at Josh Jacobs when he's within the tackle box his feet are fantastic he can move side to side he can maneuver he can kind of just worm his way around the defenders and he hardly ever gets hit solidly and he's always falling forward and he's always kind of twisting and turning his way to to additional yardage now he lacks the home run threat so this is kind of where Mike Washington comes into play if you toss him the ball and say okay we want you in the seven hole or toss in the ball I want you to eight hole or we want you to do a one cut and go I feel he can be really really effective if he's in kind of a read and react type of scenario I feel that he struggles there his vision there's been a couple times where I was watching this film and it almost seems like he ran into the wrong hole or that hole wasn't open and he'd still go there anyways when there was other holes that were open elsewhere so there are a couple times where I felt like his vision lacked a little bit and the kind of his lateral quickness but as far as like a kind of a change of pace back which is what he'd be on Green Bay with Josh Jacobs there if they need a guy who's a home run hitter that can take the ball on the outside and go down down take to the house he'd be the perfect complement to that. We'll be right back. Yeah I personally yes there are flaws to his game but I am a big Mike Washington fan I think like you said he wouldn't necessarily be the guy I want to bring in and have him be my every downer but you want to bring him in and be that change of pace guy I think you can be very good in that role so certainly someone that I mean maybe not day two but like early day three I would see for Washington I think that's by a realistic range for him and then Kailin Black I mean he might I mean I think he gets drafted but maybe late day three but he's just someone that again I love the mindset I love the way he runs anytime you have a running back who just wants to run through your face is someone I really enjoy do you think Black is like a dread like do you have a draft will grade on him? Oh without a doubt he's the real deal man it's one of those things where sometimes running backs just kind of have a knack for the position and they might not wow you with a lot of the the physical although I mean he'd ran a 4-4-5 so I mean he wasn't he's not a bad athlete but he's such an imagination but but I feel like there's certain guys that just kind of have a good feel for what they're doing out there especially at the running back position and I think that he's one of those guys I really really like him I like the fact that he's a leader that he works hard that like you mentioned earlier that that goes a long way most of those guys that played in the national championship they weren't about to go one week later and start training again they're going to take a couple time off they had a little hangover going from the from the national championship game but he was right he was right in there this guy's strong as an ox he's benched for over 400 I don't know how much that you know means for a running back but you can just tell that he's a guy that works hard he's a guy that's in the weight room all the time he's always honing his craft and he would be a great addition to the locker room and even potentially I really feel like he'd be a type of guy who could be a starter in the NFL he's a shorter guy but the pack is kind of like shorter running back he's only five nine but if you watch him during that playoff run that Indiana had and I did man he was hard to get down like he it took more than one defender to get him down and he was just a guy who just kept fighting and fighting and fighting and I will take that guy on my team any day they're saying fifth round pick sixth round pick maybe seventh round pick for him I would hop on that in the heartbeat yeah really fun player and I actually kind of always like shorter running backs I feel like they have better contact balance lower center of gravity harder to bring down at times like sometimes those bigger running backs they get tripped up a little easier it feels like a little like their movements aren't as sharp like lankier kind of movement so Katelyn Black again someone that if the Packers just wanted to wait till I don't know the fifth six round and grab a running back I mean I do think I don't know if he's like the greatest compliment in the world to a guy like Josh Jacobs but either way just a fun player that I do like a lot so I feel like those are the main guys that I certainly think will be drafted and guys that could be definitely on guys that were targeting the other guy that we didn't get to that I had ran down here was the receiver Anthony Smith out of Eastern Carolina did you have a chance to watch him I actually kind of reminded me honestly of Christian Watson like the way like his build and the way he is just so explosive and fast and with the ball in his hands obviously I'm not saying he's as good as Christian Watson I'm just saying the way he there were times where he would catch a crossing route and much like Watson did like against the Bears last year on that uh short pass screen uh slant route that Jordan left hit him and stride and then beat the safety to the sideline and ran up for a touchdown like that is what Anthony Smith does it's basically that kind of a play or a deep ball not a ton of refinement in his route running but someone that almost like Ted Hurst like a lower level Ted Hurst where you're not bringing him in to be some important uh every down piece of your offense but you want to try to get a big play I think he is a big play guy did you get a chance to watch Smith I I did and he's kind of like and basically honestly I mean the Packers must have a type here at least as far as what they're looking for because he's almost a carbon copy of Ted Hurst they both play the exact same way they both have drop problems but they're explosive athletes they're big targets they can get open downfield he's another guy and and I guess I'm a little somewhat confused when I'm looking at these these different guys that they're bringing in is a lot of these guys are older than than you would expect this is another sixth year senior this is another guy who you know played in a couple different schools and I think that's just kind of the way that it is from now on hopefully probably starting next year I think we're going to be completely clear of the whole COVID era type of player where these guys are just playing forever and maybe who knows if the you know the president's executive order comes through and they start limiting them to five years in college I think that it would be beneficial to the athlete but you also see some guys like him like he wasn't on anybody's radar last year nobody's like he wasn't even a even close to a draftable player but he had a solid season this year and he showed out in the testing phase so he's now a guy who could get an opportunity but he's a MBS guy a Ted Hurst guy same exact mold as those other two guys yeah definitely similar vibe so again those are the guys that I think could be drafted anyone else so I'm going to just like rip through some of the other names on this list and if you have any notes on them I would love to hear it so starting with Illinois guard Josh Gueski he's probably the only guy left on this list that I was able to find some film on and watch but then we got linebackers Jaden Dugger and TJ Quinn we have quarterback Barrett Morton safety Jacob Thomas Ronnie back Damon Bankston cornerbacks Karen Prunty and Malcolm DeWalt the fourth and then Ed rusher Michael Heldman who was reported on Friday with a visit any of those guys that you got to watch any notes on any of those guys I kind of take it wherever you'd like yeah I mean I think I talked last last week that I felt like interior offensive line was a big it was a big need of the packers and Gueski's certainly a guy that has a lot of experience there as an interior offensive line with a guard so I do feel that we need to address that at some point at least if anything else for depth purposes maybe not as a starter the other guy that you didn't mention was the quarterback Barrett Morton which I felt I feel like you know as a guy who kind of intrigued me I mean I think out of the guys who are coming in for 30 30 visits the top 30 visits he's the only quarterback and we need a back we need a backup quarterback so it was kind of intriguing to me um I don't think that Morton's that good I don't feel like his I don't feel like his arm strength is where it needs to be so it's kind of like the polar opposite of a guy of a guy like Malik Willis where he's a guy who's played a lot he's bounced around but he has some decent stats I mean he has 71 career touchdowns you know he has almost 9 000 yards passing so he has decent accuracy he's good at anticipating different different routes but he doesn't have mobility he doesn't have a strong arm so I don't know what he'd be other than maybe a practice player or maybe that's just a smokescreen anyways or you wanted a free trip to Green Bay um I don't know um out of those other guys I think that Jayden Dugard probably is the one that interests me the most um I do kind of like his athletic ability I feel like he could potentially be a target of the Packers I think that would be more legit than anything else um out of the other guys I mean basically they're all just free agents I mean if we're being honest like if you look at the rest of the guys on this list they're guys that you know probably after draft day we'll never talk about again and maybe after this podcast we'll never talk about them again you know because because they're not really you know they're I mean they're nothing wrong I mean you know the thing is like shout out to all these guys that are putting themselves out there and working hard and trying to fulfill a dream so when I I'm down on a player it it's based upon them versus other players it's not you know the general public like I certainly could never play in the NFL or do that or anything like that so I have a ton of respect for these guys for putting themselves out there in general but as far as players go I don't see any of the players left on this list as being anything other than special teams guys that they might pick up for the practice squad yeah I would agree and just doing a quick look I mean I would say this is around 20 of the 30 if I'm just eyeballing it here so there are still going to be some more names that come in and depending on who those guys are I'm sure we'll cover them over the next couple weeks leading up to the draft and I believe as we've done for the last three or four years now I assume we'll be covering recapping rounds two and three of the draft right after they happen which was always a fun show with Rob, Matt and myself so that will cover it for today again the big news right before we started recording Dantavian Wicks traded to the Eagles and I mean the more time that's passed like again it's not even the compensation that I'm upset about like at the end of the day a fourth would have been nice but a fifth and six I guess value-wise you can argue is pretty similar it's just that I do think Wicks still has like some untapped potential and I think a team that gives him a real opportunity could be very very happy they gave him that opportunity and it would bother me a lot if the Eagles went and played him a ton and he was just really good because we think he could be really good but again Wicks traded for a 2026 fifth and a 2027 sixth we will see obviously over the next couple years how that trade works out for itself and then of course the top 30 visits there will be more to come over the next handful of days but before we head out real quick obviously make sure to check out Packaday Podcasts check everything out on the YouTube side that Andy's always doing I believe him and Ross Uglum are doing a bunch of draft breakdowns much like ourselves over here so make sure to check that out and then Rob I know you said you plugged it already last week but plug it again you know everyone wants to read your content and see what you got going on for draft season any radio appearances what do you got going on over these final two weeks before the draft okay so you can catch me on X at NFL draft rigs R E G S if you haven't done it yet pick up the cheesehead tv draft guide I cover quarterbacks and I also cover the small school sleepers which is my favorite article to write and I picked up a new radio gig that I'm going to promote today I start on Monday it's actually a Milwaukee channel 920 Fox Fox Wisconsin so I'm going to start Monday Monday morning I'm going to be fresh on that station I've never been on that station before so it should be a fun time and we are currently with the host Drew Olson uh and 10 year anniversary of the day that I told him on his airwaves that the Packers were going to trade down into round two and pick Kevin King but they should stay put and pick TJ Watt and it is recorded that I the day before the draft that they asked me what I thought the Packers were going to do and what they should do so I brought that up to them the other day and I said look like it's been it's been 10 years guys since I made that prediction so Rob and basically you you spoke that into existence so all the Packer fans that want to complain about that move here's your guy blame Rob Ted Thompson was listening to that radio and was like wow Rob Rieger he has a great idea here uh I'm going to do this and completely change the future of this franchise on it was not an endorsement it was not an endorsement and and they they remembered me saying that so um it is not an endorsement of that move I said that we should take yeah TJ Watt state state and pick him but they'll probably trade back into round two and pick Kevin King so um for all you Packer fans out there listening uh sorry for ripping off that uh that scab that's probably not healed yet but that's it that's what I mean yeah no sorry again so everyone listen to Rob on the radio and then again write uh the cheese at tv draft guy um tell everyone where they can get that and what you got going on in there it's just uh yeah like I said cheese at tv I guess dot com um it's easy to find uh Aaron Nagler you can search all those guys on there Cory Benke if you haven't been blocked by him yet um you can probably uh look them up look them up on x as well um but it's all over the internet the cheese at tv it's about 250 pages and it's a must own for Packer fans yes definitely check that out as always uh and wow I mean I think in all the years we've done this I don't think you've ever mentioned uh that prediction of yours that's pretty crazy um I can't imagine your reaction first when we traded out of the pick and you're like okay so the first part's done now we've got to wait till tomorrow and then Kevin King coming in that yeah probably like a like excited that you got it right but a sinking feeling that you got it right I knew that what was gonna be good man like I knew it like I knew it in my in my heart I said man if this guy you know he was just such a monster at Wisconsin watch every single one of his games and I'm just like man like what do you do in tech like this this this is a sure thing here yeah sometimes you know we've we'd mentioned it with Goody before we started recording sometimes you just outsmart yourself try to be the smartest guy in the room and you mess yourself over but either way again we've got two weeks to the draft weekend it's very exciting you can find all of my work uh on x at uh book of Eli underscore nfl my writing at pack report dot com I put out an article covering some defensive tackles earlier this week next week I'll probably hit offensive line um probably do some receivers running backs I want to try to hit as many positions as I can before the draft so keep an eye out over unpack report dot com for that and otherwise again follow packaday watch everything packaday has got going on listen to packaday and otherwise everyone we will see you next week hopefully with the three of us back myself rob and matt but until then as always go packo um