It's time for Make the Call, a weekly discussion on the top Wisconsin sports stories of the week.
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Now, it's time for Make the Call, a Civic Media sports production.
Welcome in another weekend here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
This is our sports show at Civic Media.
Make the Call.
I'm Jimmy Cuskas, sports director here.
at Civic Media, welcoming you in for an hour of sports talk from the week, recapping this week in sports.
There's a lot to talk about today, and we're going to do it all here in the next, well, about 45 minutes or so.
Coming up in about a half an hour will be Mike Clemens.
He is our Civic Media sports reporter.
He has been at the NFL Draft.
He has been at Brewer's Games.
He's going to be covering a Bucks head coaching press conference here in a few days.
He is a man who is everywhere.
Mike Clemens will be joining us.
later in the show.
Last weekend was the NFL Draft.
The Packers made six selections.
We're going to talk about all six of them coming up at the bottom of the hour here with our panel.
And let's introduce these folks.
We'll start with upper management.
That is Craig Gunderson.
up in park balls.
Great.
What's going on,
man?
I'm coming up for air from football things.
You told me that there would be a football show coming up here soon.
I've been preparing, and so I actually got showered and dressed today for not, okay, I kid, I kid, I'm not coming out of a cave here, but I'm excited today.
Then we've got Parker Vertical Olson on the program as well.
Parker, welcome aboard.
Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy.
I am going to just kick back and relax.
I thought about not showing up because I know Gray's got this football thing down.
He's been working for weeks in the caves, so I'm sure he's prepared for this.
Well, no, wait a minute.
We have more than just football to talk about today.
In fact, we're going to spend a lot of time talking not football in this first segment and second segment as well, because these first couple of segments are what we lovingly refer to as the top eight at eight.
So this show airs at eight in the morning.
These are the eight top sports stories from the week at eight AM.
And number eight this week on our list, it's the fishing opener today.
If you're in Wisconsin, then well, let's just ask it.
What's the biggest fish you've ever caught?
For me, it's probably a pretty common answer, a musky just over 40 inches.
You know, if you've tried for any length of time, that's probably about where you land most of us.
If you've got something bigger than that, I want to know.
Parker, what's your record?
Got to try to see if we can one up each other here.
So, Gray, were you here when I said that I've never gone fishing?
Ever?
Clearly not.
Oh, my goodness.
That must have been one of the weeks I was gone.
Jimmy, rescue the moment, please.
My rescue in the moment is going to go in a
completely different direction.
I paid $2 for a double plate at a fish fry in Owen, Wisconsin, and they gave you four just deep fried huge chunks of fish.
For $2 more, you could double your order.
Eight huge, gigantic chunks of fish on my plate.
The biggest fish I've ever caught is at an Owen, Wisconsin fish fry.
So that is my tall tale in the wild world of fishing.
This was also like 20 years ago, and I've never been able to recreate that moment.
There you go.
That's my fishing story for this week.
Now I'm just wondering how this question ended up on the list when only one of us has an actual answer
here.
I wasn't ready for this, guys.
I mean, I'm sure I've caught something like a Boy Scout set.
I think they mentioned it was like almost a size of a dollar bill, and I was pretty excited about that.
Which, of course, our Scout master referred to you as bait because you throw it back in to catch.
more bigger fish.
All right.
Number seven in our top eight at eight, more serious questions here on the program.
What have you watched more of this postseason, the NBA playoffs or the NHL playoffs?
I've been watching a lot of NHL playoffs actually.
I love that they are actually like pretty well spread out.
They don't overlap all that much.
So that means pretty much from dinner time to bedtime.
I'm watching NHL hockey boys.
Great answer.
Great answer.
I'll go the other route, though, because I've been keeping an eye on the NBA this year with the historic roster in the playoffs right now between Wemby and SGA and a couple others.
It's like, man, it's easy to forget that it might not be this good forever.
You know, I think we're a little bit spoiled right now with NBA basketball and the superstar power that's going on.
And it's, you know, it's star power NBA right now.
Who knows?
It may never look this good again.
I'm a big hockey guy.
I love hockey.
But the NBA
is available on just about every streaming platform I own, and it is usually at the top of whatever.
If I'm not sure what I want to watch, the NBA Playoff game is sitting right there waiting for me.
So that is what I have usually just gone to because it's been there present in front of my face.
And I'm sure all the folks listening at the NBA are like, yeah, that's exactly why we stream our Playoff games because, you know, jokers like you are just sitting there not sure what to watch and, oh, look, NBA Playoffs, why not?
It's one click away.
Number six in our top eight at eight.
Let's talk some actual sports for now.
And let's talk about injuries with the Brewers.
Part one, the pitching staff took some hits here the last couple of days, and specifically Brandon Woodruff.
And after seeing his outing, seeing the velocity drop up, are we worried now that it might be
done for Brandon Woodruff as a brewer?
This
question just makes me so sad because Brandon Woodruff is one of those guys who doesn't need to be a brewer, right?
He's just so good that he doesn't need to be stuck in small market Milwaukee anymore.
But he chose to come back to Milwaukee.
So I think that he is sticking with the brewers.
I think the brewers are going to stick with him if he is able.
I don't know if he's going to be able because he has had so many issues injury-wise.
That said, though,
He just, I am hoping that this injury isn't a bit of a nothing.
It was kind of, he just said his arm felt dead.
So we'll see what happens there.
I'm hopeful, but when you can't tell anybody what's wrong and you're not being able to throw your fastball, then I'm concerned.
That's exactly my thought to Parker nailed it on the head.
Anytime you've got an injury or you have, you have the signs of an injury, but the explanation is lacking.
I get so worried.
And as always, I'll tie it to football.
I think of when Jordy Nelson went down with that ACL, it's like he fell kind of weird and nobody touched him.
It's just when the explanation isn't built into the moment, it's never good.
It's never good.
And do I think it's the end of his career?
No, but when you just can't point to it, it's easy to expect the worst.
So hoping for the best with Brandon Woodruff, but I am definitely worried.
The answer is yes, I'm worried.
Number five in the top 88 is a very similar question because on the other hand There we saw a couple of very prominent brewers getting some rehab starts now in the minor league So we've got some hitting coming up.
So how much do you think that will help now as we go into the month of May?
Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy, come on man.
Do you know how excited I am to have Andrew Vaughn back and Jackson Churio back?
The Brewers have kind of had a little bit of an issue here and there with the lulls in hitting.
I think they went like eight games without a homerun.
Obviously you don't need homers to win, but they help.
Believe it or not, they help.
And these guys have got that firepower.
I think that they will really help.
Not even heard really a timetable on Christian Yelich at all, which concerns me.
I forget, I believe it ended up being a groin injury.
It's
Memorial Day-ish, I think is what they've been saying for him.
Yeah, so he'll be kind of supplementary to the guys that they get back pretty quick here in Vaughn and Sharia.
Was there getting going down in Nashville?
Number four in our top eight at eight.
It's officially official.
Taylor Jenkins will be the new Bucks head coach.
He'll introduce him at a press conference on Wednesday.
So we'll get the head coach.
That has been checked off the list.
So what's next for the Bucks?
That's a great question, Jimmy.
And I think that question better be in everybody's minds.
If you find somebody who claims they know, I want to know why they think that.
They better have some kind of inside source because, look, winning coaches get fired in the NBA right now.
What's going on with Giannis?
What's going on in general with the Milwaukee market?
That's a bunch of great questions.
Parker, do you see anything that actually indicates even a direction that they're going?
Or to me, it's just a giant question mark in Milwaukee right now.
I think that Jenkins is a guy who was around Milwaukee previously, and that's kind of what they're going for, right?
I think that they're looking for someone who might appease Yanis.
I am still living in the camp that Yanis is going to, if not remain a buck, they're going to try like hell to keep him as a buck.
Yeah, I know, probably rose colored glasses, whatever.
I think that's probably the direction that they went there and just trying to hope in some way, shape, or form that they can keep Giannis and get him happy by themselves a little bit more time before he decides he's lost too much.
Milwaukee, he wants out.
Everything you've seen or heard from John Horst has been along the lines of, well, we have draft capital to use.
So the lottery's coming up.
They get the ability to trade additional draft picks in the future to help shape the roster.
And to me, it doesn't
point to, well, there's somebody in the draft that they're targeting that's going to immediately help.
What it seems to me is that they're looking at the draft picks as a way to retool and restock the roster around Yana.
So they have three to trade, including this year.
That's what I see.
And I think that'll be the next move made.
It's going to be some kind of draft pick trade, whether it's draft night or beforehand.
But that's kind of what I'm seeing.
But yeah, I think it all kind of ties around to do they think that
They're going to have Giannis for at least another year or longer, or are they ready to move on?
And I think anything we see with a trade involving draft picks is going to do that.
Because obviously, if you trade Giannis, you're going to get a whole bunch of draft capital in return.
At least that's the expectation.
So that's kind of where I'm leaning.
I think what's next is going to be some kind of trade involving one of their three draft pick assets.
Number three in our top eight at eight Badgers football recruiting is a bit different this year.
And what I mean by that is that they have recruited a lot of in-state players to commit to their upcoming class.
Also, they get a legacy at quarterback the son of Jim sorgy Jack sorgy has committed to Wisconsin a four star prospect that it just seems like every time you open up Twitter There's a three or four star commit to Wisconsin in the upcoming class So does the recruiting and all the transfer ends and the spring ball has that made you more less or just as excited for this fall in Madison?
I'll say it kept me at the same level, but changed my reasoning You know, I've gone from worried to a little bit more optimistic.
So I'll say
I'll say I'm more excited.
We need to figure out what we're doing.
We need to find out whether we can tread water, and if not, we need to figure out how to swim.
And I know I'm the analogy guy.
It's NIL money.
They're drowning in the sea of schools with more money.
What do we do?
How do we make ours?
What is our place in the current system?
All questions the Badgers need to answer.
Parker, what do you see happening?
I am seeing the Badgers actually figure out how to be the Badgers again, frankly.
The Badgers for a long time kind of took pride in being able to get those in-state guys.
First name that comes to mind for me is JJ Watt.
You love to keep those in-state guys, and now that they're actually going to do that, I think that there is very clearly an effort at
reconfiguring the culture of Badger football.
I think that this is going to be a really good thing.
That does make me more excited.
I will contest though, Jimmy, about getting names for quarterbacks and these star recruits.
That's kind of how it's been for all of Fickle's time.
Way back when, when Fickle first came in, there was a brief period where actually, I'm pretty sure that I put this online.
I think I might have tweeted this.
We were worried about how many quarterbacks were coming in because we did we had too many to know what to do with them and none of them have panned out to be a healthy or be very good, so I Take that with a grain of salt seeing some of those recruits
Got a couple minutes here.
So I'm going to sneak in number two in our top eight and eight real quick before the break.
And this is a football question, and it'll set us up nicely for what we do here in about 20 minutes.
The Packers have picked up the fifth year option on Lucas Van Ness.
So are you expecting him to bounce back this year after some injuries last year, Gray?
In a word?
Yes, absolutely.
If only because of the injury, but Van Ness has never lived up to the potential you want to see out of a first round draft pick.
And of course, that's why this fifth round option is available.
The Packers have shown they're willing to deny the fifth round option if they think it puts them in a better position.
But that's also bitten them recently.
Kway Walker's a raider right now.
We could have locked him down for another season had they chosen to bet on Kway.
That's basically the line the yardstick I'm measuring with.
It sounds like the Packers expect LVN to improve like Kway Walker did last year.
If not, it wasn't worth this gamble.
Parker, are you an LVN guy or are you thinking we move on?
I'm thinking that we can afford to give him another effort here.
You started to see him a little bit last year, a little bit better last year, not incredibly good, but certainly better than I think the first couple of years were with him.
And you got, I mean, I guess I'm very rose colored glasses this morning, guys.
I am really hopeful that this guy can come through.
I think LVN has got a chance of being really impactful for the Packers, but.
He's got a short leash for sure.
Well, Parker, that internal optimism is going to serve you extremely well in our next segment.
When we get to number one in our top eight and eight hit, it's a baseball topic.
And we'll have that coming up for you here in just a moment.
Coming up later in the program, Mike Clemens will join us and we will talk more about all the things happening in sports, box brewers, Packers, everything happening.
And also coming up here at the bottom of the hour, about 20 minutes from now, we are going to go through the Packers NFL draft this year.
pick-by-pick and offer some analysis on all six of the packer's graphics.
This is Make the Call part of the Civic Media radio network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Happy weekend to you.
It is Make the Call here on the Civic Media Radio Network.
We're into the month of May.
which means that it is time to talk all things baseball.
For this whole cycle, we're going to talk Brewers in about 10 minutes.
We're going to take a deep dive on the Packers and if I'll draft this year, but right now I'm going to talk some Brewers.
It is number one in our top eight at eight.
We are a month into the season, a month in change as the Brewers taking on the Nationals in a series this weekend, but we're a month in the Brewers.
Currently situated in fourth place in the NL central, but there's some reason for some optimism despite some recent injuries in the pitching step there are some hitters that are set to come back and Of course the Brewers never really feel like they're out of it I've heard it a lot said in baseball guys that you can play your way out of contention in April But you can't win any division titles in April and I think the Brewers
have not cost themselves any division titles or any pennants or anything like that in the first month.
They are over 500 heading here into the month of May.
So the question at number one in the top 80 days, a month in, are the brewers still contenders in your view?
And I'm asking this because, again, it wasn't that long ago, they were actually in last place in their division, the NL Central, which has every team over 500, of course, but the brewers
going into the month of May.
I feel like there's probably a few things that might be concerning, especially on the entry front.
There's also, I think, a number of reasons why people can be optimistic.
Because we ended the last segment with eternal optimism, I want to bring it back to that.
So, Parker, I'm going to start with you.
Are you still viewing the Brewers as contenders this year?
I'm definitely still viewing them as contenders.
I don't know how hot I am on them winning the division necessarily.
I've been very impressed with, I believe the Reds right now.
I think their record is like 20 and 11 or so, if I remember right.
It's like almost 10 games over 500 a month.
Yeah, they're doing incredibly well.
And for a Reds team, that's not quite what I expected to be perfectly honest with you.
I was kind of banking on the Reds.
Kind of being more of what the brewers are right now, right?
A little bit above 500.
the Reds to be able to maintain that would be very, very impressive because that's a Reds team that has not quite had the success that you would be aiming for, typically.
And the Cubs as well, though, the Cubs are also, I think, a good handful of games.
I want to say like seven or eight games above 500 as well.
So that is another team that you really need to worry about just within your own division.
So it's going to be really hard for the Brewers, I think, even only being what?
four games back maybe of the division.
It's gonna be pretty tough for them.
They've got a lot of tough competition and we haven't even really gotten into those in division games yet, right?
The Brewers, I don't think have played any.
Oh no, they played the Pirates.
They played the Pirates and I believe that they play the Cardinals either this weekend or later on this week.
So it'll be interesting to see what they can do once they actually get into those division games and see if they can actually kind of take
Give themself a leg up as they beat some of those opponents that they're trying to catch up to Gray, what is your take on as you see this Brewers team?
Sitting around 500 right now, but you've got a couple of teams that are way above 500 Kind of what does that do for your mindset as the Brewers are a month in here?
It has me a little bit pessimistic Parker only because of those general trends I have to stick to the broad strokes to the to the wider angles because of my lack of baseball knowledge But what I see from the Brewers so far even someone with with this kind of
armchair kind of perspective.
I feel like it looks like, hey, there's some things to like, there's some things to worry about, but is there enough to like the team in a crowded division?
How often have you seen a pretty solid team coexisting with some Titans?
And it's like, man, on another year, you guys would be looking like part of a top heavy conference, part of the top of that conference.
But right now, let's be real, they're tied for the fewest wins in the NL Central, and it's totally crowded right now.
So yeah, it's early enough that things could shift if a couple of things fall their way.
Great.
If a couple of things don't, I don't like their chances.
They're right on the cusp right now, as far as I'm concerned.
I think I look at this.
There's, you know, Pythagorean theorem, right?
It's math.
We all learned it like eighth grade,
whatever.
But you look at run differential and the Brewers are third in run differential right now in the National League.
A couple of teams are far ahead.
Brewers are third at going into the weekend.
They were, you know, about 20 runs behind in run differential, the other teams.
And I think that has been
a pretty frequently cited stat in terms of whether a team can move up or down.
And the other stat you look at, obviously, is runs allowed.
How are they limiting runs?
Because scoring runs tends to be a little easier.
You can usually afford bats more than pitching.
Hitting can be a little more reliable than pitching sometimes.
And again, their third in runs allowed in the National League.
So I look at those as positive things after a month.
You can chalk up.
a good run differential on a poor record is just bad luck.
And at the same time, you can look at a team like the Reds, where you're just talking about 10 games over 500, and their run differential is, I think, single digits in the positives.
So that tells you that they've had exceptional luck.
Or you can look at one run games or look at any of the other number of factors, but I think run differential and overall record pretty
pretty tightly correlated going over a much larger data set.
I don't think 30-ish games is enough to tell you with run differential where things can go.
And as Parker mentioned, the viewers have played it on schedule.
They've played a lot of AL teams so far.
And I think too, when you're talking about run differential here, it's really important to remember, I think that was the number two winner top eight at eight here.
They don't have, they haven't had Cheerio or Vaughn for the entire season.
So again, 30 games, not a great sample size for 162 game season, but those guys are definitely gonna help you out.
And I think that that should be a very good reason to keep being optimistic about how good the Brewers can be going forward here.
Those pitching concerns, though, like we talked about earlier, Angel Zerpa, I believe, went out.
Trevor McGill has kind of struggled, although he looks to be getting his footing back.
That Layton Games bullpen is going to be something to really keep your eye on here because the Brewers are so used to having a 1-2 punch at the end of games, and I'm not sure that they've got that concrete yet this year.
It just feels like they'll find something out of nowhere.
It'll materialize like some rando will be.
Oh yeah, by the way, I'm the closure now.
30s apes later.
We're wondering why we were sweating this whole time.
But I will say this, having a good run differential and a low number of runs allowed, I feel like is good for long-term prospects.
Despite the fact that everybody in the NL Central is playing out of their minds right now, these things regressed to the mean at some point.
And I think especially for teams like the Reds who are playing with fire where they've given up a lot of runs this year, I feel like they'll come back down to earth a bit.
as well.
Speaking of coming back down to earth, we will bring in some stability to the program.
Mike Clemens will join us here in a half an hour to break down all things sports here across Wisconsin.
But coming up next, it's a deep dive time on the NFL draft.
The Packers made six selections.
We're going to talk about all of them coming up next right here.
I'll make the call part of the civic media radio network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Halfway through here on Make the Call, part of the Civic Media radio network.
Jimmy, Gray, Parker, all hanging out.
And in this segment, we're going to talk NFL Draft.
The Packers made six picks last weekend, and the draft held in Pittsburgh.
Our own Mike Clemens was on hand in Green Bay in the war room to take
in all the notes on all the players the Packers have drafted six of them to be to be in total here and we will talk about all of them right now Michael by the way be joining us in about 15 minutes from now
Well, let's talk about it.
Packers make six picks in the NFL Draft.
They did not pick until the second round of the NFL Draft, and with the 52nd overall pick, round two, the Packers pick up Brandon Ceasey, and they pick him up out of South Carolina.
And what he brings to the table is a good mix of skills on the outside for Green Bay.
You
know, just a player that can play everywhere, play fast, physical, religious, be a student of the game.
They're looking to contribute any way they want me to contribute from day one and give the organization everything I have.
So, Gray, when you think about Packers' needs, defensive back was certainly very high, if not the highest among them going into this draft.
100% Jimmy, undeniably, fans will agree, coaches agree, and you don't get that very often.
Real quick, before we dive into seesay here, a quick disclaimer.
The Packers drafted almost exclusively defense, one offensive lineman, one kicker, everybody else defense, and they have a new defensive coordinator.
So, what's coming in the
kind of tough to see if it were Jeff Haffley sticking around.
We'd have a bit of a better idea how these players will be used.
But the Packers making a couple clear moves, starting with Brandon Ceasey, say high athletic scores and some rough edges for almost every player they drafted.
You look at relative athletic score, how fast are they, how big are they compared to the other players at their position, and it scored on a scale out of 10.
Brandon Ceasey scores a 9.2, which means he's bigger, faster and stronger than almost all the other corners out there.
Long story short, the Packers needed to stop getting torn up by tight ends.
Their little corners, players like Carrington Valentine, you remember how Dallas Goddard ragdolled him last year?
Not allowed to happen again.
And the moves that the Packers made at the corner position are clearly leaning that way.
We'll talk about it again when we get down to the later rounds.
They grabbed another corner who is even bigger than Ceasey and they added St.
St.
Juiced, Benjamin St.
Juiced from the Chargers.
St.
Juiced is six foot three.
You don't see many corners that size.
They don't want those tight ends going up over the guys again this fall.
And I think we've seen exactly that with this first pick.
Parker, what was your thinking when you saw a cornerback first?
For me, it was, ah.
Yes.
Ah, it's a very good way to put it.
I think that this is a theme that you kind of hit on there and I think we're going to see throughout this segment here.
The Packers addressed pretty much all of their needs and they got to it pretty quick here with Cece.
You mentioned some rough edges.
Some rough edges that I think a lot of Packers have.
Tackling is kind of one of those things that Ceces might have to work on.
It was what I was reading in some reports.
But yeah, I mean, I think it's a great good pick, good first pick for the Packers.
early on or middle of day two there.
I'm pretty confident about this guy going forward.
And Jimmy, I'm excited about the new defensive tackle as well.
Yeah, let's move right ahead because the Packers and a couple of moves to this draft made trades up to get guys.
And the first of those is Chris McClellan, a defensive lineman out of Missouri.
And I think this was an interesting pick because there was a very clear need for interior defensive linemen as well as edge rushers in whatever defense they're going to play.
And what McClellan can do is he can do just about everything.
You know, I can play anywhere off the line.
And that's what I'm going to do.
Wherever they need me to go, I'll go and play.
to help the team in whatever way I can.
I don't care if I have to be a zero nose or a five technique wherever I can go to play and help the team as well and be
great when we talk about the Packers picks and I think you were alluding to this when we were talking about seesay is that with a new defensive coordinator.
We're not sure where these guys will fit but a lot of these guys have versatility in their in their portfolio of skills.
And that's gonna have to be Jimmy, because there's already been some rumors and even some interview answers that point to maybe not a clean departure from the 4-3 versus 3-4.
It might be a little bit of a blend, but that said, Jonathan Gannon is known to run a different defensive front than Jeff Halfley did.
So it sounds like there will be a general return to that 3-4 front that the Packers saw under previous defensive coordinators.
Everyone back through Capers was running that three-man front.
That said, where does that leave Packers existing players?
it's a big old we'll see.
With McClellan specifically, I'm super curious what's going to come of him because he's kind of the proof the Packers just didn't go out there and grab all the big fast guys.
He is big, he is quick once he gets through the offensive line, but his general athletic performance is actually kind of near the bottom of the list for defensive tackles.
That said, the Packers traded to get him so they see something they believe in, and he did a lot of overpowering.
McClellan relied on power to break through a lot of offensive lines.
That may or may not work in the NFL.
So I'll be honest, when I saw the move up to get McClellan, I thought, ooh, I worry a little bit.
I wonder what they see.
But the only defensive staffer who's still on from last year was defensive line focused.
Now an outside linebackers coach, DeMarcus Covington, formerly with the New England Patriots.
So maybe he had some input.
He's around longer than anybody else, and they kept the coach around for a reason.
Parker, what do you see when you see McClellan?
First thing I saw was kind of a wrecking ball, honestly.
I think that he's going to be really good against the run.
And like you said, he's going to try to overpower guys.
I'm very interested to see how that goes.
Now that he's in the NFL, it's the couple of things that you hear right away are that the game is faster in the NFL and stronger in the NFL.
So it'll be really interesting to see if he was able to kick it into gear against the NFL.
Oh, lineman.
The Packers with their third pick in the draft, round four pick 120, stayed on defense and they stayed on the outside where they got to need Dennis Sutton out of Penn State.
So they bring in an edge rusher to bolster that part after seeing some notable departures here this off season from the program.
So what does he bring to the pass rush for the Packers?
I'd say really pass rush has always been something that I've been natural at doing and things like that.
But
Yeah, I agree.
I feel like just attacking the football is something that, just like you said, comes natural.
Yeah, just going for the ball, punching the ball at Penn State.
Coach Franklin, he did a great job of preaching.
The ball is a program, so offense, preaching, ball security, and on defense, attacking the football.
And we work every single day in practice.
And those are game-changing plays.
Sacks are great, but strip sacks are better.
Force fumbles are better.
And that's the type of player I try and be.
So just being conscious of that and making it part of muscle memory is how you really get better at those things.
So the packers with a clear need on the edge are looking here to, again, replace some very notable and expensive departures from that position group gray.
The question on this one, Jimmy, is
Will this be a serviceable replacement even for Rashawn Gary?
When you've got a guy like this, you know, we talked with, when we were looking at Brandon Ceasey earlier, relative athletic score, where do you fall with speed, power and size compared to your position?
If you're scoring at almost 10, that means not only are you bigger, you're faster.
and you're stronger than almost everybody in your position.
And that's Denied Dennis Sutton 9.96 out of 10.
That means he's the biggest, fastest and strongest all in one body.
So how do you fall to the fourth round?
Well, those rough edges we mentioned, it's rough edges all over this pick and Denied Dennis Sutton might be the roughest edges.
He falls for fakes.
It's the biggest thing you watch tape on him, and he's making bad reads.
A standard play-action pass probably has denied Dennis Sutton fooled right now, unless they can get him some discipline on those fakes.
He also struggles a little bit with side-to-side movement, which is one of the more powerful tools in the toolbox of an edge rusher.
You send somebody where you thought Dennis Sutton would be, and you have Dennis Sutton swing over one gap quickly, and it's called a stunt.
They're going to run a lot of them.
Even Jonathan Gannon, we can guarantee, is going to run stunts, and he struggles with them a little bit.
I'm a little bit worried there.
But that said, if he can get his discipline down, stop falling for fakes.
And by the way, stop letting a single little wiggle from a running back be enough to make you miss a tackle by a mile.
Clean those up and you've got, I mean, one of the most frightening athletes.
I'm thinking honestly, my composite, my comparison there, if he figures the discipline out, he reminds me of JJ Watt.
There's just nobody you can put in front of him who I like better.
But right now he's just too easy to fool.
Parker, have you watched much from Dennis Sutton yet?
I've not got to see a bunch of it, but I know that he's a Penn State kid and I know another Penn State kid that you've got on this Packers defense.
And much like you're going to be able to say this about anybody that's on that side of the ball for the Packers, this guy is really going to benefit by being around Micah Parsons, not just while we're actually playing here during plays.
Like obviously you guys will move over towards Parsons, but he's actually going to, I think, help him develop right here.
This could be, those rough edges might get smoothed out pretty quickly.
The first pick of day three of the NFL draft for the Packers came at pick 153 in the first for a fifth round They go with Jagger Burton out of Kentucky who plays interior offensive line and well He's willing to play just about anywhere the Packers tell him to
for me.
I don't really have a preference just whatever He's gonna gonna help, you know, the Packers win games at the end of the day.
That's all I care about now So I think that was something that coach back yonder and coach Eric Wolford at Kentucky both did a great job of was just
making sure guys are ready to play, you know, numerous positions and putting us in a good situation for, you know, trying to get to the point that I'm at right now and just knowing how important that is at the next level.
So that is a great job of just developing, you know, all our guys with flexibility to play left, right, center, swing tackles, things like that.
Packers have had a long history of versatile offensive linemen in the draft.
And that's going to continue with Jagger Burton 100%.
A natural center.
So there is a bit of a question where he'll spend most of his time, but he's not expected to start right now.
The Packers starting five is set.
Usually things go the other direction.
Packers like to grab a left tackle from a college team because they're usually the best and convert them to guard.
But it sounds like Burton's expected to do a little bit of everything.
But again,
Probably going to uh to keep him a backup at least for now unless something bad happens I I don't want to see Burton on the field much that will be my first good sign, but I also expected him to play well
at the Sixth round their first pick in the sixth round at pick 201 They went to the sec again this time to Monty Jackson another defensive back picked by the Packers and Jackson is going to be bringing a little bit of oomph to that outside position
I'm a physical corner.
I like to say I can play in space
You know, just really dialing in on pre-snap rituals and QB Tennessee's and their favorite receivers, just little stuff like that.
You know, everything pre-snap, I feel like I really gain knowledge from my junior year to my senior year, and you know, I'm ready for the next level.
So we've got another defensive back, and Gray, you talked a lot about this before, but they needed some size out there, and well, they get it with Jackson.
That's right.
He's actually over the six foot mark, which makes him a little uncommon amongst NFL defensive backs, has all those physical traits and an apparently high ceiling.
But the problem was he was ineffective last season.
He was actually benched halfway through his senior year and had to regain his starting position.
So again, if he can put it together, if he can meet that ceiling, if Green Bacon instills some discipline, I like this for some serious late round value.
No question why he slid though, Jimmy.
Let's get the final pick up here.
And this is another sixth round pick.
They traded away the seventh round picks to get him and the Packers went for a kicker.
They pick up a trace smack out of Florida who says he's kicked in cold weather before a
group in Maryland.
So it's not not new to me or, you know, it's always done it.
You know, it's kind of how I started out kicking is kicking in cold weather.
You know, I kicked a couple of years ago during Christmas, probably eight years ago.
And
It was snow in here, so I'm pretty used to it, but it's a little different in Gainesville.
And I got to get back in that cold weather rhythm that I had before.
Yeah, Florida and Wisconsin just a little bit different, but not surprising after the playoff game that the Packers addressed kicker gray.
He
went from diet cold to no cold to serious cold.
So he's going to have to recalibrate for sure.
But I like his chances.
Honestly, I like this pick way too much for it at the sixth round.
It's, it's, uh, it's Trey smack traded up to get a kicker named Trey smack.
Hey, fans, Crosby has reassured us, Mason Crosby, that is, that this is not like a couple of years ago when they drafted Anders Carlson.
Smack has traditional, steady mechanics.
Carlson does weird stuff.
And that's why it didn't work.
Smacks expected to succeed here where Carlson did not.
But he still has to compete with Brandon McManus, who was extended last year.
I really like this pick.
And obviously the Packers really like this pick.
They trained it up to get him.
And how can you be against a guy, a kicker, whose name is Smack?
Come on, boys.
The vibes are immaculate here.
Boy, he really smacked that one in there for the game winner.
Boy, the headlines just bright themselves, right?
I just think if you ever called in to Jim Rome, you have Van Smack and Trey Smack.
That'd be just great radio to listen to.
Alright, that's enough of that.
We had a lot of fun covering the Packers, NFL Draftpicks, all six of them, and a big thanks to Mike Clemens for gathering all that audio for us and speaking of Mike, he's coming up next right here on Make the Call, part of the Civic Media radio network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
One final time here on Make the Call, like Clement standing by to get us an update on all things sports, but...
you know in light of our draft conversation one thing we didn't talk about was some of the things the Packers didn't address in the draft anyway specifically and one of those areas was backup quarterback and here's what coach Matt LaFleur had to say about the backup quarterback situation in Green Bay.
I think we all know how we felt about Malik and his ability to go out there and
you know give us a chance to go win games and he did exactly that so I think it's a work in progress you know I don't want to speak too early I mean we haven't even we've only done classroom work with these guys I mean we had a limited exposure to Desmond last year but what I can say is those guys are doing a great job in the meetings and we're looking forward to getting our hands on them as we progress into phase two.
So that again, coach Matt LaFleur speaking on backup quarterbacks.
Great.
It just feels like there's still another move to make here.
There is.
There absolutely is.
I don't think the ceiling we've seen from Desmond Ritter is high enough for the taste.
And I know they're spoiled a little bit with Malik Willis providing some of the best backup play for a long time for any team.
So I feel like you're right in that there is a move to make.
But if there's not somebody who stands out in some way, I expect Ritter to be the one who sticks.
This has traditionally been a high value late round pick
for backup quarterbacks.
Jordan Love not withstanding, obviously, Aaron Rodgers.
They picked their starters in the first.
They picked their backups up later.
Don't be surprised if it's somebody you've counted out.
Nobody expected Malik Willis to pop up, so the Packers spot value there.
Where I honestly don't know right now, a big old IDK.
That's what I expect, but Ritter is my safe pick.
Parker, what do you think?
Yeah, I definitely would be going with Ritter as well, out of what the existing room is right now for the...
behind love, duh.
Um, I would like to see them pick up somebody else, but frankly, they're gonna be okay.
Pitchers are kind of one of those things that you don't, er, excuse me.
quarterbacks are kind of like pitchers.
You're not too worried until you don't have one.
So we'll see what happens.
I think that they can get away with not picking anyone up for a little while longer here.
Pitchers quarterbacks and throw the ball.
It's all the same.
Exactly.
Hey, I appreciate you guys this week.
A lot of fun and we'll see you again here next week.
Thank you, Jimmy.
Thanks, Jimmy.
Mike Clemens will get us an update on all things sports right now here on make the call part of the civic media radio network.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Another Brewers injury.
Clio Mike Clemens with sports baseball.
The Brewers in Washington DC this weekend for a three game series against the Nationals.
One of the better teams offensively so far this season.
Friday night the Brewers beat the Nats six to one, but the Brewers starting pitcher Jacob Mizorowski had to leave the game.
The Miz had a no-hitter going into the sixth inning.
The word was he had suffered a cramp in his right hamstring.
Was that accurate?
Yeah, just hamstring cramp.
Didn't want to push through it, you know.
I think it's a lot better to, you know, turn it over to the bullpen and so, you know, as good as I can.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy on how Mizorowski performed Friday night.
He had good stuff, but he didn't have his great rhythm, great timing.
So he threw a lot of balls, but he was very effective and pitch great for five and a third, then he cramped.
And we feel pretty good about it.
We're not going to test it right now because I'm afraid he might cramp again.
So we'll see what it is tomorrow.
We're very hopeful.
He feels good about it.
that's all it was
veteran Brandon Woodruff had to leave in the second inning in Milwaukee on Thursday's game on MRI showed it was inflammation.
in his shoulder that was bothering him.
Woodruff can only throw at the most 86 miles per hour.
He's going to rest it for now.
College basketball, Wisconsin forward Nolan Winter announced his decision this week.
He wants to finish his senior year playing one more season for the Badgers.
Having a lot of talks pretty much the day after the season ended with everyone and a couple weeks after we made up our minds and decided Wisconsin was the best fit for me.
As a basketball player and a person and it's where I'm the happiest.
The
NCAA has proposed expanding
The March Madness Tournament from 68 teams to 76 next year for both men and women's basketball.
Wisconsin Badgers head coach Greg Gard was asked if he supports adding eight more teams to the big dance.
I am.
Whenever I've been asked, I've been a proponent of it just because of portal NIL, the transient nature, sometimes what gets lost is the experiences that you provide your student athletes.
That experience is obviously a pinnacle of a college athlete's career.
NFL.
The Packers wrapped up their draft last weekend, adding six new players, four on defense, one on offense, another on special teams.
That's place kicker, Trey Smack.
Out of Florida, the Packers gave up two seventh round picks
to trade up to get him in the sixth round.
So what does that mean for the Packers veteran kicker, Brandon McManus, who had a quad injury last season and missed some time.
Then in the playoff game in Chicago, missed three kicks that cost them seven points and maybe the game Packers GM, Brian Goodekins.
Brandon's been excellent for us and his time with us with exception in that past game, which I think, you know, we all recognize.
But I feel it's important that we address that and have a guy who can go in his games.
Former Packers kicker, Mason Crosby.
It's
funny that that's the mindset, right?
Like you can't trade up to go get a kicker.
That's ridiculous.
But, you know, they, they saw value at it.
This guy was a great college kicker, was the top rated kicker in this draft.
And you kind of feel like, okay, we have a veteran guy who's coming off some injuries through the season, not his best year.
Let's build some competition.
Obviously Brandon's done it for a long time, but.
You know, there's been moments of inconsistency.
This weekend, the draft picks and undrafted players that the team signed are in Green Bay for their rookie minicamp Packers rookie defensive back Brandon Cease out of South Carolina, what he hopes to accomplish during the team's offseason program.
I think it's first it starts with, you know, taking the learn from the vets, you know, like those guys have been in the league for a long time and those are guys that have experience.
So trying to learn ends and out sometimes is just best to shut up and, you know, learn from the guys in front of you first and just coming from a humble place and whatever they tell me.
I know they're telling me out of place of respect.
So just coming in ready to work and ready to learn and just keep improving every day.
Jagger Burton is a center out of Kentucky drafted by the Packers and at the minicamp this weekend.
A big thing with the rookie minicamp is just getting the playbook in front of us and kind of having that separate from the veterans.
You already know the stuff so good for us to kind of at least get an idea of stuff before jumping into it with them.
We've just been studying at the hotel and stuff trying to get it down together.
So it's been awesome.
The Packers fourth round pick is impressive.
6 foot 5, 200.
250 pound linebacker deny Dennis Sutton out of Penn State has them
if he'd been in contact with his Penn State alum, the Packers, Micah Parsons.
He hit me right after.
Yeah, so right after everything happened, he hit me.
Obviously, he's come back to Penn State a couple of times, but I've talked to him just trying to get some advice already, but he'll be here soon and just be ready to work.
And just before the May 1st deadline, the Packers picked up the fifth year option on defensive end Lucas Van Ness, which will pay him over $14 million this season.
Matt LaFleur.
Yeah, Lucas is I mean, is it important?
and I know he's been kind of snake bit with some of the injury stuff.
He looks great and I know he's in a good head space, so I'm excited for him.
That's Packers head coach Matt LaFleur with sports.
I'm Mike Clements.
