Packers beat writer explains Patriots rebuild | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast - video Dailymotion

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In this episode, Greg Bedard is joined by Tom Silverstein to discuss the New England Patriots' rebuild from a Green Bay Packers perspective. They explore Eliot Wolf's background and readiness for a significant role, why he lost out to Brian Gutekunst for the Packers' GM position, and the contributions of coaches like Alonzo Highsmith, Alex Van Pelt, Ben McAdoo, and Jerry Montgomery. They draw parallels between the Packers' rebuild in the early 1990s and the current state of the Patriots, discussing the "Wolf way" of team-building, attitudes toward free agency and the draft, and what Patriots fans can expect in the coming offseasons.  0:00 The Wolf Way 26:45 Patriots fans, talk radio hosts are freaking out. What should they expect? 32:28 Thoughts on Eliot Wolf 34:25 Alonzo Highsmith 36:55 Alex Van Pelt 39:18 Ben McAdoo & Jerry Montgomery   Check Greg's Coverage out over at www.bostonsportsjournal.com, for $50 on BSJ's annual plan. Not only do you get top-notch analysis of all the Boston pro sports, but if you're a Patriots junkie — and if you're listening to this podcast, you are — then a membership at BSJ gives you access to a ton of video analysis Bedard does on the coaches film, and direct access to him in weekly chats.  This episode of the Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast w/ Nick Cattles is brought to you by:  PrizePicks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!   Football season may be over, but the action on the floor is heating up. Whether it’s Tournament Season or the fight for playoff homecourt, there’s no shortage of high stakes basketball moments this time of year. Quick withdrawals, easy gameplay and an enormous selection of players and stat types are what make PrizePicks the #1 daily fantasy sports app!

Transcript

00:00 This is the Greg the guard Patriots podcast with Nick Cavins.

00:08 Everybody welcome into the Greg that our Patriots podcast.

00:11 This episode is brought to you by prize picks the largest daily fantasy sports platform

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00:18 Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to a hundred bucks.

00:23 Pick more, pick less.

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00:26 Hey, even if you don't want to put any money in, just do us a favor, go over to prize picks,

00:31 punch in the code, just sign up for an account that would help the pod if you enjoy it.

00:36 I think you guys are really going to like this one.

00:38 I'm very excited to bring in one of my mentors from when I was at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

00:45 covering the Packers, Tom Silverstein.

00:48 Tom, how are we doing bud?

00:50 Hey, free agency is almost over.

00:53 So I'm doing much better.

00:56 Well I mean the Packers actually, you know, made a few significant moves.

01:00 I mean Xavier McKinney who I love and also Josh Jacobs who I've seen a lot of on film

01:08 over the years covering McDaniels closely.

01:11 I covered the Raiders team themselves for you know, a season towards the end of Gruden

01:18 there.

01:19 So I've seen a lot of Josh Jacobs.

01:20 I love Josh Jacobs.

01:22 I will say that I think with his contract squabble last year, he reported out of shape.

01:27 He did not look like the same Josh Jacobs probably until later in the season.

01:32 He had to round himself into form.

01:34 But almost immediately, the first time I saw Josh Jacobs on film, it was the same way with

01:39 Max Crosby.

01:40 I love those two guys.

01:42 I think if he's right, if he's right physically, he gives the Packers a dynamic both running

01:50 and passing in the same player that I don't think they've had for a very long time.

01:56 Well only when Aaron Jones has been healthy.

01:59 When Aaron Jones is healthy, he's as good a running back as there is.

02:05 It's just he hasn't been healthy and that's why they needed Josh Jacobs.

02:10 So we'll see how that goes.

02:12 I think they would have loved to have both but you know how that stuff goes.

02:17 It just went off.

02:23 So I wanted to bring Tom in because I'm sure you're here.

02:27 You people are sick about hearing from me about sort of the Ron Wolf way, the way Packers

02:32 have done things over the years under Ron Wolf, then Ted Thompson, then Brian Guttekunst,

02:38 which is all pretty similar.

02:39 They all, Ted and Brian, I think was pretty young.

02:43 He did start working for Ron Wolf.

02:44 I will say, Spoon, I spent the weekend reading this book, which I wasn't even, when I covered

02:52 the Packers, I wasn't even aware of it.

02:54 I wish I would have read it at the time.

02:57 Certainly interesting, but you were there for all of it.

03:02 If I recall correctly, you started covering the Packers in '89.

03:07 That was right around Lindy Infante, the end of him, the beginning of Ron Wolf, and Mike

03:13 Holmgren, sort of, I guess, start off sort of talking to me about the state of the Packers

03:21 at that time when Ron Wolf took over.

03:23 They are not the Packers we see today with a full Lambeau Field and success for 30 years.

03:30 They were pretty far from that at the time, weren't they, Tom?

03:34 Yeah.

03:35 I would say they were worse off than the Patriots are right now.

03:41 They were not a good football team.

03:42 They were 4-12, Lindy Infante's last year.

03:47 They had a quarterback, Don McKoskey, who was kind of, you know, was coming off rotator

03:51 cuff surgery, so they didn't really have a quarterback.

03:56 They were starting from ground zero, and they had a five-year plan to get to the Super Bowl.

04:05 And it, you know, included, started with trading for Brett Favre, which, you know, turned out

04:10 to be a franchise changer, and then, you know, Reggie White the next year, and then they

04:16 would add some more pieces and keep drafting, building through the draft.

04:23 It took five years for them.

04:25 Now, I think the NFL is different now.

04:27 I think you don't have five years.

04:29 I think you have three years, you know, and you better be competitive in year two.

04:35 So it's a little different animal, and I do think that Elliott Wolfe will do things differently

04:43 than his dad did, because he's grown up through several different systems.

04:49 I think, you know, he's learned a ton from his dad, but he's learned a ton from other

04:53 people too.

04:55 And so I think he'll apply a lot of different ways of addressing their roster.

05:03 Yeah, I mean, he has talked about those things, and even his dad in the book.

05:10 And again, the circumstances were different, because when Ron Wolfe really started remaking

05:15 the Packers before the 1992 season, there was an unrestricted free agency.

05:22 That didn't come in until '93, the next year when they landed Reggie White.

05:26 '92, there was still sort of what was called Plan B free agency, which is sort of like

05:31 lower level free agency.

05:34 But how, talk to me about two things, because I do think what happened with Ron Wolfe and

05:42 the Packers back then is applicable to where the Patriots are right now, what Elliott is

05:47 doing somewhat in terms of they needed a quarterback.

05:50 Now Ron obviously had conviction on Brett Favre, who is somebody he wanted for, was

05:55 it with the Eagles at the time?

05:57 I forget where he came from, but he wanted them.

06:00 Jets.

06:01 That's right, with Dick Steinberg.

06:03 And the Falcons took him right in front when they were going to draft.

06:07 That was always stuck with them.

06:09 Now, what was the reaction, because it's going to be somewhat similar to the Patriots are

06:14 probably more than likely drafting a quarterback at three.

06:17 So they're getting their quote unquote Brett Favre.

06:19 But we're talking about Brett Favre was a guy who almost drank his way out of Atlanta.

06:25 What was the reaction when he traded a first round pick?

06:28 And remember, he also traded a second round pick for Mike Holmgren.

06:32 They had, I think, two firsts and two seconds in that draft.

06:34 But what was the reaction among the media, the fans, when this new guy comes in and trades

06:40 a first round pick for a quarterback that Jerry Glanville didn't even want anymore?

06:46 Yeah, people thought he was crazy.

06:47 I mean, they really did.

06:49 They're like, you know, they traded him and, you know, on the conference call, you know,

06:55 "Hey, Brett, what are you doing right now?"

06:57 "Oh, I'm drinking some beer and eating some crawfish."

07:00 You know, and it was like, "You're signing this hillbilly to come up to Green Bay?"

07:07 And you know, he's coming from an option offense in college.

07:15 And you know, his head coach couldn't stand him.

07:19 He missed the team picture because he was hungover.

07:22 You know, so it was a matter of circumstance, too, that Wolfe was able to get him.

07:30 If Jerry Glanville wasn't so down on Favre, then he would have never gotten him because

07:37 Ken Herrick was the GM and Ken Herrick was Rolf's buddy.

07:40 They both worked at the Raiders.

07:42 And you know, he kept harping on him.

07:44 And finally, you know, Herrick was like, "Well, you ain't going to play here as long as Jerry

07:49 Glanville's here.

07:50 So might as well get a first-round pick for him."

07:53 And that's what they did.

07:54 And you know, of course, it was a process.

07:57 You know, Favre had started out great in '92 with a miracle win against Cincinnati.

08:06 And then '93 was garbage.

08:08 He was terrible.

08:09 He threw so many interceptions, Holmgren wanted to bench him.

08:14 And his coaches talked him out of it.

08:17 But then, you know, '94 came about and he started to really come into his own.

08:23 So it was kind of a process with him.

08:25 I think most quarterbacks coming out of college are ahead of him from where he was.

08:31 He was just a guy with a cannon arm, a ton of guts, and people were banking on they could

08:39 mold him into something.

08:41 I think most of the guys you get now at least have run some form of pro offense.

08:47 So they ended up winning a Super Bowl in year five, but you know, they posted, they went

08:54 97, 97, 97, 11 and five, then 13 and three.

08:59 They kept, correct me if I'm wrong, they kept running into that Buzzsaw Cowboys team, right?

09:04 Aikman, Smith, all those guys?

09:08 Yeah, I mean, that was back when teams had dynasties.

09:11 I mean, you could, free agency didn't really, you know, kick into high gear until later.

09:18 The only guy who kept moving teams was Deion Sanders, you know, and every time he moved,

09:23 he went to, his team won a Super Bowl.

09:26 So the Cowboys had amassed so much talent that, you know, they were the bully.

09:34 And the Packers lost to them in 94, they lost to them in the NFC Championship game in 95.

09:40 And then they were lucky, they didn't have to play them in 96.

09:43 They weren't, I think they got eliminated in the playoffs.

09:48 And then they finally in 97, when they were going to their second Super Bowl, finally

09:52 beat the Cowboys.

09:54 So it was, you know, and then the 49ers were, you know, dynasty, they played them in the

10:01 NFC Championship game in 97.

10:05 They played them in the divisional round in 96.

10:09 I can't remember.

10:10 Yeah, in 95, they beat them out in San Francisco.

10:13 So anyway, you're talking about, you have to get past these two really good teams.

10:18 Probably, you know, not unlike everybody in the AFC when New England was going through

10:24 its run, you know, that's who you had to get by.

10:28 Yeah, I want to talk about 92 for a second, because like we talked about, I think the

10:36 Patriots and Packers are in a similar place.

10:39 They're both coming off four win seasons.

10:42 You look at it and you say there's not very much talent, there's a void at quarterback.

10:49 How did Ron Wolfe, how did Ron Wolfe quickly rebuild the Packers into?

10:57 And we've heard Elliot Wolfe when he's talked to us at the combine, he talks about like

11:01 he talks about like we'll be competitive.

11:04 How did they go from four wins to nine wins without being able to change much?

11:10 Because I see that similar to where the Patriots are, the Patriots are deciding.

11:14 And what Ron says in his book is he looked at that team, that four and 12 team, and he

11:19 said they were better than what the results were, that I am, you know, basically like

11:25 the coaching wasn't good enough and, you know, certain circumstances.

11:29 And then he sort of kept the good parts and tried to improve the bad parts.

11:34 And I see that Elliot to me looks at this and he was here just like his dad was there

11:39 at the end of 91.

11:40 So he could evaluate the team.

11:42 Wolf's been here, Elliot's been here and knows all the inner dynamics that have gone on with

11:49 like, you know, Bill being Bill towards the end and his personnel decisions and the the

11:55 crap show offensive coaching, the crap show offensive line coaching.

11:59 And it looks like much like his father, that Elliot looked at this, took a step back and

12:03 said this team was better than four wins.

12:06 And they did lose eight games by one score or less.

12:10 That this team is better than the four wins.

12:12 And what we're going to do, the defense is really good.

12:15 And what they've done, they basically re-signed everybody on defense and they and and Elliot

12:21 saying the defense can buy us time, will improve on offense.

12:25 It's not hard to after what they did last year and will compete.

12:28 Was it similar to how Ron got them to go from four to nine wins in one year?

12:32 Because I got to tell you today and again, we haven't had the draft.

12:35 We don't know who the quarterback is in New England.

12:38 Like I bring up that they're going to be competitive next year.

12:41 Even if I say they're going to win, I think they're going to win seven games next year.

12:44 People look at me like I have three heads, but Ron got them to go from four wins to nine

12:49 wins in one season.

12:51 Yeah.

12:52 And I think you have to give a ton of credit to their coaching staff at the time.

12:56 So they were able to win with what Ron gave them.

13:02 And and Ron was going through a process of sifting through a lot of really bad talent,

13:10 you know, and replacing it.

13:12 But in the meantime, I mean, consider who is on homegrown staff.

13:16 Steve Mariucci, John Gruden, Andy Reed, you know, Ray Rhodes was on that staff, Sherman

13:23 Lewis.

13:25 It was, you know, an all star cast of coaches.

13:29 And so, you know, they they improved dramatically in almost every area.

13:35 Now, quarterback was where, you know, they they were going one way or the other with

13:42 quarterback until they got Reggie White and then their defense started to pick up.

13:48 But my my recollection of Ron Wolfe, and I know this from experience because I had to

13:56 cover it, he rotated that roster during the season.

14:02 I mean, he was constantly looking for somebody, you know, that's how he ended up getting Gilbert

14:07 Brown.

14:08 He just picked him up on waivers.

14:11 Let's give him a shot.

14:12 He's overweight and he's not very good, but let's pick him up.

14:15 You know, he got so many guys that way by like we used to joke like Tuesday was the

14:23 most important day of the week in Green Bay, because that was when he brought in all these

14:27 guys for workouts and he was going to sign somebody.

14:31 I mean, you know, he signed some real rich rats.

14:35 Steve McMichael was on the team.

14:37 Keith Millard was on the team.

14:40 I mean, Jeff Dellenbach.

14:42 God, there were so many of those type of guys.

14:46 He didn't care.

14:47 He was just going to keep trying till he could improve the roster.

14:52 And you know, he he kind of believed that the draft is where you get better.

14:58 But there's all these other opportunities to get better, too.

15:02 And you can trade.

15:03 You know, he used to complain that the only guy who would trade with him was Belichick.

15:08 You know, everybody else was afraid to trade and he wanted to make trades all the time.

15:14 He was just looking to improve his roster.

15:17 And I would I will venture to guess that Elliott will be that way as well.

15:22 I think if there's one thing he took from him, it's that they're going to rotate that

15:26 bottom part of the roster and bring in guys.

15:29 And you will find guys who can play.

15:33 You know, it's just you have to keep trying.

15:38 So you you've covered, you know, the whole the whole time from even before Wolf started.

15:44 But you know, outside of the outside of the Ray Rhodes and then Mike Sherman stuff, this

15:54 has been, you know, largely a successful sort of blueprint, the way to run a franchise.

16:02 You know, what would you what would you boil down?

16:06 What would you say the philosophy is of or even if you just wanted to leave it on Ron

16:11 Wolf or, you know, I don't know how much you think Elliott might, you know, be more like

16:16 Ted Thompson, but just what how would you describe the philosophy in terms of team building?

16:21 Well, it comes from player valuation, from being extremely confident in your ability.

16:31 Also, there's some, you know, characteristics of players that have stuck for years and years

16:41 and years, including they don't like small cornerbacks.

16:46 They want they have a height limit for cornerbacks and they pretty much adhere to that.

16:53 I think what happened along the way was they believed the draft was, above all, the most

17:02 important thing.

17:04 But it wasn't once that was over, that was only a part of of roster building.

17:12 And like I said, they would bring guys in, but they would trade for guys.

17:16 They would pick guys up off waivers.

17:18 They did such a good job of and I suspect this will be one thing that Elliott does of

17:25 scouting the small colleges and really getting out and knowing small colleges.

17:32 And one of their most successful things they've done is signing on drafted free agents.

17:39 And that goes out to all the other GMs that have come out of that system.

17:46 You know, John Schneider has prided himself on undrafted free agents.

17:50 Guttekranz has done that.

17:52 Ted Thompson, he treated those guys like they were the most important guys in the draft.

17:58 And they didn't, for the most part, they didn't have huge impacts, but they solidified the

18:06 roster.

18:07 They picked the right guys, they solidified your roster.

18:10 So the draft is where you got the impact players, excuse me, and the undrafted and waiver guys

18:19 are how you built up the backside of your roster.

18:23 I think that'll be a way that Elliott works.

18:28 I think he'll be big into undrafted free agents.

18:35 And their view on free agency activity, I think, I mean, I don't know about Ron or even

18:42 Guttekranz.

18:43 Now, I do think, I think Brian has gotten the roster to the point and why I think they

18:46 went for these two guys, McKinney and Jacobs, is because like it look, it's almost, I went

18:51 back and looked at it, maybe I'm wrong according to the R-Lads depth chart, but I think the

18:56 Packers only have one starter, at least going into this off season, Preston Smith, who wasn't

19:00 drafted, didn't come up through the Packers.

19:03 It's almost entirely homegrown and they've gotten it, the Jordan Love development is

19:08 there.

19:09 They took off towards the end of the season.

19:10 I mean, they've gotten the roster to the point where now you could see, all right, I add

19:14 the best safety on the market, the best running back on the market.

19:21 This can put us over the top.

19:23 They got it to that point.

19:25 And maybe Ted Thompson was to the extreme, certainly was because they would basically

19:31 take the first weekend of free agency off.

19:33 This is before they had the legal tampering period where you sort of have to be in on

19:37 things.

19:38 Ted probably went the other way.

19:40 He was probably a little bit too conservative, but what's the general attitude towards free

19:45 agency coming from that Ron Wolf Packer way?

19:50 I think it's defined value and not to overspend unless you have this absolute commitment to

19:58 this guy being the best player at his position or available.

20:05 And really what, the Reggie White thing was a slam dunk.

20:10 I mean, he was a game changer type of player.

20:14 And not only that, it's been talked about a million times, but changing the culture

20:20 in Green Bay and making it okay to want to actually play in Green Bay, that was important.

20:26 But Favre had a lot to do with that too.

20:29 I would venture to say if you went back and looked at Thompson, I'm sorry, Wolf, Thompson

20:37 and Guttekunst, it comes down to back-to-back draft classes.

20:44 You have to have two really, I don't want to say earth shattering, but extremely successful

20:56 draft classes.

20:57 You put two together, you have the makings of a pretty good team because you're going

21:03 to have some veterans already on the team and you're going to pick up some guys in free

21:08 agency or whatever.

21:09 But this becomes the basis of your team.

21:13 The Packers have pretty much remade their roster based on these last two draft picks

21:20 or last two drafts.

21:21 And then Jordan Love was part of the addition to that, that they were waiting on.

21:26 And they have a third draft coming up where they have a first round, two twos, two threes,

21:34 a four, two fives, where they're going to be able to do some damage again if they do

21:39 things right.

21:40 And I would bet that Elliott will be looking to add draft picks.

21:45 He's going to want it.

21:46 I'll bet you he's trading down all over the place after they take whatever quarterback

21:51 they take.

21:53 He will be looking for multiple picks.

21:55 Ron always thought the more picks he had, the better chance he had of hitting.

22:01 And he always felt there was a percentage of guys who were going to make the roster

22:09 out of the draft.

22:10 So the more guys you had, the better chance you had of hitting that percentage and making

22:15 that percentage effective.

22:16 Yeah, it's certainly interesting.

22:20 One thing I wanted to ask you about their attitude towards playing younger players.

22:28 How would you explain that?

22:29 It's certainly to Patriots fans.

22:30 I mean, Bill Belichick would go out of his way not to play younger players.

22:35 He would always have some veteran who was slower and whatever, but he was assignment

22:39 sound and he loved those guys.

22:41 These guys, and I remember that '07 team that we covered, because that was another

22:45 sort of mini-rebuild from the end of Mike Sherman, beginning of Mike McCarthy.

22:49 They had to reset the cap.

22:50 But I mean, you look all over that roster in '07 and even the 2010 Super Bowl championship

22:56 team.

22:57 That first year that I covered the team, I mean, Brandon Jackson and DeSean Wynn were

23:02 draft picks who were in the backfield.

23:04 They had a fullback.

23:05 John Kuhn, I think, was in his second year.

23:08 They had a rookie fullback that was out there.

23:10 Donald Lee, they got, I think, as a street free agent at tight end.

23:14 But I mean, Clifton had been a draft pick.

23:17 You had Spitz in college who played almost right away.

23:21 Scott Wells had been internal.

23:23 Mark Tauscher had been internal.

23:24 And of course, you had Donald Driver, but Jennings, James Jones, Jordy Nelson, all those

23:30 guys, let alone the secondary on defense.

23:37 They pick these kids and they put them out there, don't they?

23:39 And has that served them pretty well doing that?

23:43 Because up here, it would be a scary proposition.

23:45 Yeah.

23:46 So when Ted Thompson was the GM, and you already made reference to it, that he didn't take

23:50 part in free agency.

23:52 The only thing they had to beg him, John Schneider, I'm sure Elliott was involved, Reggie McKenzie,

23:59 to sign Charles Woodson.

24:01 They're like, "This is the best value you're ever going to get on a free agent."

24:07 And they had to beg him and beg him and beg him.

24:10 And he finally did it.

24:12 And look what impact Charles Woodson had on their team.

24:18 They also added another guy, Ryan Pickett, that year.

24:20 But when Mike McCarthy came, he found out quickly that you have to play young guys because

24:30 there isn't anybody else.

24:33 It's a draft and develop system.

24:36 And those guys, you have to coach them and you have to get them ready to play.

24:42 And they're going to break your heart a lot of the times.

24:47 It's just the way it is.

24:48 But if your coaches accept the fact that you're going to have to coach them up and get them

24:57 ready to play in the first year, by the end of the first year, they start to become better

25:02 players.

25:03 We've seen that over and over again, where they've had to play guys and they've had big

25:11 impacts, rookies.

25:13 So I think if you look at the Packers now, like you said, they're just full of draft

25:20 picks all over the place.

25:21 I mean, they had two rookie tight ends, actually three rookie tight ends.

25:26 They didn't have a wide receiver who was beyond his second year.

25:31 So they had a phenomenal offensive year once they got going too.

25:37 And so I think your coaching staff has to be in, has to be all in on that philosophy.

25:44 If they're, Mike Sherman was always complaining about them letting guys go and come on, let's

25:51 push the salary cap and whatever.

25:53 And Thompson wouldn't do it.

25:56 And McCarthy agreed to it and understood it.

26:01 And every free agency, he'd be like, "Hey, you know, you'd ask him about it.

26:06 You're not getting anybody here.

26:08 What's going on?"

26:09 And he'd be like, "Come on, you know, we know what the deal is here."

26:13 You know, he'd be like, "I'm not going to say, you know, what I really want to say,

26:19 but this is how it is.

26:20 And that's what I got to live with."

26:22 And that's, you know, I'm sure Elliott will have that discussion to some degree, you know,

26:27 with his coaches and they'll come to some kind of, you know, philosophy, philosophical

26:34 decision on how they want to build the team.

26:40 Last thing here on this before I just want to get in quickly, want to get your take on

26:45 the Packers guys who are now here more.

26:51 People are freaking out up here about the inactivity and all that stuff.

26:59 You know, what should they expect if they are, you know, doom and gloom, we're going

27:05 to suck, we're not doing anything.

27:08 You know, what would you say to them?

27:10 I mean, I've told them the off seasons are going to be boring for the most part, but

27:14 you know, what would you say to Patriots fans who are freaking out?

27:17 Like, what the hell are we doing?

27:18 We're doing nothing.

27:19 We're not going to get better.

27:21 Well, they have some cap issues, right?

27:26 They have like $60 million in cap space.

27:28 They have, they started off with a hundred.

27:29 They have no problem with money.

27:31 Oh, they have no problem with cap space.

27:33 Okay.

27:34 Nope.

27:35 So I would guess that, you know, they are resetting through the draft first and, you

27:45 know, free agency was okay, but how many impact players do you think are going to come out

27:52 of this group?

27:53 I mean, anybody who's any good is franchised.

27:56 So when you're hitting free agency, you're kind of filling positions and they probably

28:02 have so many positions that they were like, well, let's, let's save our money on re-signing

28:07 guys.

28:08 Let's make sure we're getting some value.

28:10 I would bet that he will sign some guys in April, you know, maybe a handful of guys who

28:17 he thinks can help, you know, solidify their situation.

28:22 Probably, you know, offensive lineman is where, you know, they need it or where he'll want

28:28 to be really strong.

28:30 That's that was always a Ron Wolf thing.

28:31 You got to be strong on the offensive line.

28:33 You got to protect the quarterback.

28:37 It could be that they just decided that, okay, this year is not the year to spend all our

28:43 cap money and let's build, let's try to build some momentum with the young guys.

28:49 And then next off season, they'll fill the holes where they think they really have them.

28:56 I just don't think there were that many great deals.

29:01 You know, the teams who overpay in free agency, they'll pay for it.

29:05 They're not going to, those guys aren't going to turn their teams around.

29:10 I don't think there's anybody who's, you know, done that completely.

29:14 Some of the highest paid free agents, you know, they've helped their teams, they raised

29:19 their teams, but they don't take them to Super Bowls.

29:21 You know, look at what San Francisco did with, you know, McCaffrey and Young and, you know,

29:29 guys like that.

29:30 They keep adding those guys and it wasn't enough.

29:32 So I think, I think they're going to figure out what they got first and then draft and

29:38 then maybe be really active after doing one.

29:43 Yeah.

29:44 I will say that I did find it interesting that really the only free agent that they

29:48 bid on was Calvin Ridley.

29:50 And from what I understand, they gave him a very competitive offer, but the Titans go

29:54 into $50 million guaranteed for Ridley, who's going to turn 30, who's already, he left in

30:01 the middle of one season over mental health issues.

30:04 And then he got suspended for gambling in another off season.

30:06 I just think $50 million guaranteed was too far.

30:09 It's the second most for a wide receiver behind Tyreek Hill in NFL history.

30:14 So, but that, that indicates to me that Elliott sees, all right, we have a weakness that at

30:21 wide receiver one, that we're not going to be able to plug just with a draft pick in

30:24 like the second or third round and play them.

30:26 Like we need a, we need an interim sort of guy.

30:30 And so I wouldn't be surprised and his dad loved trading.

30:33 Like you talked about.

30:34 I wouldn't be surprised if we see them make a big move, a big trade for wide receiver

30:38 at some point, it might come after the draft, after other teams see what they have as far

30:43 as the, you know, what they get out of the draft and things like that.

30:45 But I could see that the offensive line, I think they're at the point now, cause they

30:51 resigned Michael Winnow to big money.

30:54 I think they, I think they think they have enough left tackle.

30:58 They'll probably get a tackle in the draft, but I think they have enough for now where,

31:01 all right, Michael Winnow is going to move to right tackle, right tackle is good.

31:04 We can, we can help left tackle.

31:06 If we're a little weak at left tackle, as long as we're good at the other spots, we'll

31:09 be okay.

31:10 And I do think there's an argument to be made there.

31:13 Let's take a quick break here and then we'll be right back to finish up with Tom talking

31:19 about all the Packers people here at Packers East.

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32:22 So we touched on Elliot Wolfe, but just sort of give me your thoughts on Elliot, how he

32:31 didn't get the job in Green Bay.

32:34 Do you think he's ready for this?

32:37 What do you think of Elliot?

32:38 Yeah, he's more than ready.

32:41 I mean, he's been in a top executive in three different places.

32:47 I mean, he was listened to quite readily in Green Bay.

32:53 I mean, he was a major part of their personnel department.

32:58 He just wasn't in charge.

33:00 And they went with a more experienced guy in Guttekranz.

33:04 And I know Elliot was really disappointed and Ron was pissed beyond, you know, he still

33:13 is kind of mad at the Packers about that.

33:16 But you know, then he goes to Cleveland and, you know, he gets more experience and then

33:21 he gets to work with Belichick, you know, and to me, there's a lot of connection there.

33:28 Ron Wolfe's best friend or one of his best friends is Bill Parcells.

33:33 So I mean, they live like almost, you know, next door to each other now at Jupiter.

33:39 And they talk constantly about player personnel and things like that.

33:45 So Elliot probably had that back, some of that background, and then he gets to learn

33:50 how Belichick evaluated players.

33:54 And now he's had, you know, all kinds of experience with this kind of thing.

34:00 And so I think he's more than ready.

34:03 I don't think that's a question mark.

34:04 I think it was a matter of opportunity.

34:07 And people don't like to take big chances on young guys unless, you know, they'll do

34:13 it with coaches, but you don't see it a ton in general managers.

34:17 They want someone who's got some experience, you know, and especially with a winning organization.

34:23 Yeah.

34:24 Alonzo Highsmith, not a surprise.

34:28 As soon as it was clear that Wolfe was going to be up there, it wasn't a surprise that

34:32 Alonzo landed here from the University of Miami.

34:38 What do you think of Alonzo, sort of the role he played with the Packers and with the Browns

34:43 and, you know, how those two might work together and sort of, you know, what are his strengths

34:47 and weaknesses?

34:48 Well, Alonzo has been a guy who grew up in the system.

34:53 You know, he, Wolfe hired him in what, like '93 or something like that.

34:58 And Alonzo's strength is that he uncovers people that nobody else does.

35:07 I mean, he just, he sees things that a lot of other scouts don't see.

35:14 He's like the mayor of Houston.

35:16 So if there's anybody coming out of Houston or, you know, the Texas area, he's going to

35:21 know about it.

35:25 He's just one of these guys who is into the detail and digs and digs and digs until he

35:31 finds, you know, someone he likes.

35:34 And you have to trust his judgment.

35:37 I think he'll be a great asset to them.

35:42 I'm not sure exactly what his role is, if he's going to be doing just college, if he's

35:47 doing pro.

35:48 He's pretty good at pro personnel too.

35:50 But, you know, he's just a guy who's been in the system.

35:55 He was waiting for a GM job too, and it just never came about.

35:59 Hmm.

36:00 Yeah, I will tell you that I talked to McCarthy about some of these guys, and he said that

36:06 Alonzo was the greatest running back evaluator he's ever worked with.

36:14 And it's funny that, you know, there was some scuttlebutt about the next guy that we'll

36:19 talk about, Alex Van Pelt, who was there and all of a sudden he left the Packers.

36:23 And McCarthy swears to me, or at least he told me, he was definitely in podium mic mode.

36:28 It wasn't like the good mic mode that we would get off the podium.

36:33 When I spoke to him, he was very buttoned up, but he said that I asked him about Alex

36:38 Van Pelt growing too close to Rodgers, and that's why he departed, that they parted ways.

36:45 And he said it was just his contract and he was looking for better opportunities.

36:50 But what do you think of, what do you know about Alex Van Pelt?

36:56 How do you think that he will do being an offensive coordinator who's calling plays?

37:01 He's been an offensive coordinator, but he's never called plays before.

37:05 Yeah.

37:06 So, you know, I initially thought it was part contract.

37:11 And then the more I kept hearing about it, the more I think you're right.

37:15 I think he got too close to Rodgers and McCarthy, and Rodgers, despite all their, you know,

37:23 claims otherwise, they were feuding a lot of the time.

37:28 Feuding is too strong of a word.

37:30 They were, you know, it was a tug of war for influence and power and whatever.

37:38 I don't think it's that different.

37:39 I think Farvin Holmgren went through it too, but I think McCarthy was feeling like he's

37:47 lost communication with Rodgers and that, you know, he had to go through Van Pelt or

37:53 something like that.

37:55 I thought Alex Van Pelt was an outstanding quarterbacks coach.

37:59 I know Rodgers, of course, loved him and he developed a number of guys, young guys

38:06 under him.

38:09 He's been around a long time.

38:10 He's played the position.

38:12 That's probably really important.

38:15 I honestly don't know what he'll be as a play caller.

38:18 You know, that's just not something he's done a ton of.

38:22 But he's been around the league for a long time now, you know, 20 years and has a playing

38:29 career as a quarterback.

38:32 I would think that he's got plenty of all the knowledge you need to do all that kind

38:39 of stuff.

38:40 I'll be interested to see what kind of offense he wants to run.

38:43 If he's more the McCarthy West Coast, if he goes more to the Shanahan stuff that everybody

38:51 seems to be putting in, that'll be a really interesting thing.

38:56 Yeah, for sure.

38:58 I mean, he's told us it's going to be sort of like a blend between what he learned from

39:02 Stefanski in Cleveland and also McCarthy.

39:05 But I think all of those are sort of the basis is old school West Coast offense.

39:10 I don't think Stefanski's offense doesn't go crazy into the running game like Shanahan,

39:14 but we'll have to see.

39:16 Two final guys, Ben McAdoo and Jerry Montgomery.

39:23 Ben McAdoo, despite his ill-fated year in New York, and mostly because he thought Eli

39:34 Manning was in his final years and he wanted to start preparing.

39:40 And I think he turned out to be pretty right in that situation.

39:43 Yeah, he was a great quarterback, but McAdoo got him towards the end.

39:50 I think he's a really sharp mind.

39:54 I've talked to him numerous times.

39:57 He knows the game.

39:58 He knows the players.

40:01 You know, Carolina, I don't know what happened there.

40:06 He wasn't really part of the Bryce Young thing.

40:09 And you saw how that just fell apart.

40:11 That whole thing, they didn't know what they were doing under Reich.

40:16 And I think McAdoo had the experience.

40:20 I know Rogers really liked him a lot.

40:23 I think he'll be a good addition.

40:29 He needs to be involved with the quarterbacks, you know, especially a young quarterback.

40:33 And then Jerry Montgomery's, you know, his players always really liked him.

40:38 I think they wanted in Green Bay a guy who was more fiery.

40:42 Jerry's kind of, he's not a, you know, burn the house down kind of guy.

40:51 He's gonna, you know, he's gonna let you know what he says.

40:56 He never gives compliments.

40:58 He's always, you know, Kenny Clark was played for him for 10 years and one of the best nose

41:03 tackles, oh yeah, he's playing okay.

41:05 You know, he just like, but he could be better.

41:08 You know, he's kind of one of those guys.

41:11 But you know, he's been around the block and though, you know, he'll be solid.

41:19 They just like in Green Bay, he's not going to be the kind of guy who's going to, you

41:23 know, bang his head against lockers and stuff like that.

41:28 Yeah.

41:29 Interesting.

41:30 Yeah.

41:31 And it's interesting times here at covering the Patriots.

41:36 I mean, I seemed I keep hearkening back because, you know, when I joined up and cover the team

41:41 in 2007 like it was, it was just after, you know, there were a few lean years sort of

41:49 like here.

41:50 And I just remember doing those Packers insider post game chats before, you know, they became

41:57 like 13 and three, it was a little bit of a struggle there.

42:01 They were what eight and eight the year before people were just like, you know, this isn't

42:04 going the right direction and, you know, let alone what happened after Favre and, you know,

42:10 with Rogers starting six and ten and then four and four.

42:13 But the way Patriots fans are reacting right now brings me back to a lot of those post

42:18 game chats where I wanted to beat my head against the computer screen because people

42:22 are freaking out.

42:23 But I mean, I one thing I'll tell you, Greg, is, you know, when you have guys who come

42:31 from a winning organization, so, you know, they're dropping the Belichick way, I suspect

42:39 in a lot of manners.

42:42 But then you have guys who've been part of this Packer way, as your book says.

42:49 But it's been you know, they've had like what, five losing seasons in in 30 some years.

42:56 And so you're talking about another way to win.

43:00 It's just a different way.

43:02 And I would suspect if if they give him free reign, Elliott will be allowed to upgrade

43:08 facilities.

43:09 He'll, you know, he'll make it a more open, you know, player friendly kind of atmosphere

43:19 where, you know, they'll be able to draw free agents who just want to win, but want to be

43:25 comfortable, you know, and not play us afraid all the time.

43:30 I think they'll be able to change that aspect, that culture.

43:37 And he's not bringing he's not coming from a Cleveland culture.

43:42 He's coming from the Green Bay culture where they've won for years, for decades.

43:46 And so I think he brings that with them and so do the other guys.

43:50 And, you know, it sounds to me from everything I've read from the head coach that he's he's

43:55 down with that, too, you know, and being more player friendly.

43:59 And that could be interesting.

44:01 That could be really interesting.

44:03 Yeah.

44:04 Yeah, definitely interesting times.

44:06 All right, Tom, I've kept you long enough.

44:08 Thanks so much, buddy.

44:10 Great information.

44:11 You know, especially for people who are sick of hearing from me about what goes on in Green

44:15 Bay and for a guy who's been there through it all.

44:19 You know, he's he's a lot younger than he looks, folks.

44:22 He has he he doesn't go back to he does not go back to Lambeau just to Ron Wolfe and Lindy

44:28 and Fonny.

44:29 But he's a he's a buddy.

44:30 He's been there for me for many years and I can't thank him enough for what he's done

44:34 for me in my career.

44:36 And, you know, he's he's one of the best at it.

44:39 So thanks so much.

44:41 Yeah.

44:42 Likewise, you've kept me young over the years.

44:45 Every single person that I've worked with, especially yourself, you know, it's it's a

44:50 growth together.

44:51 So there's a reason why you're at where you're at.

44:54 So keep it up.

44:57 Thanks, bud.

44:58 All right.

44:59 Have a good one, everybody.

45:00 Thanks for tuning in.

45:02 Go over to PrizePix.

45:03 Check it out.

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Packers beat writer explains Patriots rebuild | Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast

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