Inbox: Keeping the pipeline stocked is a priority

Michael from Shawano, WI

Gents, speaking of cutting pizza. Tavern pizza tastes better cut in squares and takeout pizza tastes better cut in triangles. I know a guy who's been working on about a 45-year study. No math, just science in the II. You're welcome.

And once again we're off, so we might as well get going.

Jack from Chicago, IL

Now hear me out. It's not the number of plays, number of possessions, or amount of time. It's almost like it's the number of points.

Moving on.

Tim from Augusta, WI

Not a question, just kudos to Spoff for your multiple short, to-the-point responses in the Wednesday II. Brevity is, indeed, the soul of wit. Funny point about that quote, the character who said that, Polonius, was well acquainted with verbosity. Shakespeare, throwing down the irony. Wait, does that make Mike the Bard of II?

I do not claim to be the bard of anything or anyone. I was just in a bit of a hurry as I've been under a deadline crunch with the Packers Yearbook this week. It heads to the printer today.

Tom from Two Rivers, WI

Mike, did you go to the Brewers game on Wednesday? If you did, I'm so jealous! What a matchup! I would have paid for seats right behind the plate. Love that young Jake Misiorowski and his cool as a cucumber approach.

Unfortunately, missing that game was another casualty of my Yearbook deadline. I did see Skenes no-hit the Brewers for seven innings last season and beat them 1-0, so it was nice to see the Crew hung a crooked number on him Wednesday. I do need to get down there to see the Miz ASAP.

Jim from Hudsonville, MI

Agree with the thought that the "grind" isn't really a grind when all is said and done. I am curious, though, how a team can be ready to go bologna-less after just 15 practices and a couple of scrimmages.

Nobody is ready to play the season in Week 1. They're just ready to play Week 1.

Ray from Phoenix, AZ

I was taken back by the number of second-round draftees not signing yet because they ALL want more guaranteed money. I know you cannot prove it but sure seems like a bit of collusion going on. Is this the first year this has happened?

I won't wade into whether or not there's any collusion, but this is typical. Anytime there's a shift in contract precedent, there's also a stalemate until somebody else breaks more of the ice.

Mike from Winchester, TN

Hi II, watching the locker room interview with Mecole Hardman reminded me of the interview with Sammy Watkins a couple of years ago. They both seemed grateful to be with the team, and looked forward to contributing. It seems like a number of veterans that sign a one-year deal are here today, gone tomorrow. I'm in no way downplaying their impact. Andre Rison was a great addition for the Super Bowl run. Maybe that's just how the game goes.

It does. Some new stops revive players, others don't. Just the nature of it.

Richard from Kaukauna, WI

When Donald Driver started training camp in 1999, he wore the No. 13 jersey. When did he switch to the No. 80?

I believe when he made the team. At the end of camp in '99, No. 80 Derrick Mayes (a second-round draft pick from '96) was traded to Seattle, and Driver took his number. Driver never wore No. 13 in the regular season.

Al from Green Bay, WI

Sports media is now the baloney factory that spews it 24/7. While team Spoff/Hod have proven worthy of our trust, how do you manage your own consumption of external media? How do you decide what to consume and what to ignore?

Anyone who reports something that turns out to be false, or just tosses ideas out there but nothing ever comes of them, are not worth my time. Eliminating those eliminates a lot.

Bob from Emmaus, PA

With training camp a month away, which players, which players will be the biggest surprises when they get wear pads and play for real?

If I knew they wouldn't be surprises, but someone always emerges from the shadows when the pads go on. It's inevitable.

Venny from Montgomery, AL

Outside of Sam Shields, can you think of another player to barely squeeze onto the roster at the end of training camp and by the end of the season you ask yourself, "What would the season have looked like without him?"

Shields is truly the best example there. Frank Zombo as a UDFA in '10 and Brad Jones as a seventh-round pick in '09 are, to a lesser extent, a couple more. Others who come to mind are guys who didn't make the 53 out of camp but were soon on it and proving valuable, like Allen Lazard in '19 and Krys Barnes in '20. Also, this question made think of the end-of-camp acquisitions that dramatically changed the course of things, like Ryan Grant in '07 or James Jones' return in '15.

Jim from Mundelein, IL

I am more than a little confused with the Packer OL situation. With the draft of Jordan Morgan and the Aaron Banks signing, it looks like the Packers felt they needed to upgrade to win a SB. Obviously Myers is gone. Do these moves indicate that Sean Rhyan and/or Rasheed Walker are deemed not good enough to win a SB?

That's not how I look at it. My perspective is the Packers gave Banks big money to, in effect, replace Myers, because they felt a Banks-Elgton Jenkins interior combo was the best use of resources compared to other alternatives. As for the draft, not everyone can/will be signed to a second contract, so keeping the pipeline stocked is a priority, and if a big guy is the best guy on the board in the first round, you take him and figure out the rest later.

Terry from Ixonia, WI

Despite the optimism I continuously see here, I remain a "believe it when I see it" fan when it comes to our receivers, our secondary and our pass rushers. Hoping that one- or two-year players make the next step is not a strategy, it's a gamble. Given the choice between winning our division and missing the playoffs, no one has convinced me which way to lean. The way I see it, a little pessimism will dull the pain or enhance the excitement, depending on which way our season turns.

You can call it a gamble if you prefer, but counting on the development of young players to move the team forward is absolutely the Packers' strategy. It's how they've built and run the team for a long time now. Has it won them a bunch of Super Bowls? No. Has it given them several opportunities to get there? Yes. And that's the foundation, being competitive on an annual basis for the chance to get hot at the right time, versus compromising the cap for a one-year sellout that guarantees nothing in an injury-riddled, quirky game.

Nick from Gresham, WI

Who's going to have a breakout year?

Hopefully we're arguing after the season about who it was because it will be difficult to choose. If I were to pick two players who could have the biggest impact on the Packers' 2025 fortunes by having that breakout year, I'd say Luke Musgrave and Lukas Van Ness.

Markus from Aurora, CO

Insiders, I may be naive, but I don't really care if Coach LaFleur gets the national recognition he deserves. He does what he does and knows and will hopefully soon be rewarded with a Lombardi and ring. That's enough for me, and I'm inclined to think he thinks similarly.

I'm certain he does. He's seen some of his peers/friends/former colleagues in this business get to where he hasn't, a Super Bowl, and I would imagine nothing motivates him more than that. Sean McVay has been to two and won one, Kyle Shanahan's been to two, Zac Taylor's been to one.

Ben from McFarland, WI

As to NIL...saw an interview with Ben Brust where he was asked about NIL. He was conflicted because he never had that opportunity, but if he had he could very well have left the Badgers after his freshman or sophomore seasons and never got to experience the run to the Final Four his senior season. Everything has a cost.

The development of players over time within the program produced those magical March Madness runs by the Badgers in 2014 and 2015. That sort of culmination is a dying breed, if not a totally dead one, in major college sports now.

Paul from UK

Dear Wes/Spoff, out of curiosity and to give me a better knowledge of your Packer timeline, could I ask what was the first game you ever saw GB play at Lambeau and how old were you at the time? Any standout memories from that game?

I've told the story before that my first Packers game was against the Bears at Soldier Field in December of 1984 when Rich Campbell's sort-of Hail Mary to Phillip Epps gave Green Bay the upset. I was 12. It was another 10 years before I saw my first game at Lambeau, also against the Bears, December 1994. The Bears took an early 3-0 lead and then the Packers scored 40 straight points.

Ed from Minneapolis, MN

Hey Mike, thanks for taking the Com. It seems like the only constant in the NFL is change. To what do you attribute your longevity? Thanks as always for what you do.

Willingness to adapt. When I became this website's first full-time writer in 2006, I was a writer and writer only, and very much a low-profile one, perfectly content with toiling in obscurity. If I had insisted on sticking with that, and been unwilling to interact with readers online, appear at pep rallies, go in front of a camera, record podcasts, and a host of other things, they would've replaced me a long time ago.

Kevin from Rockton, IL

I had the opportunity to have dinner over the weekend with an old friend, Dewey from Kronenwetter, WI (formerly of Rockton, IL), a longtime Packer fan. I asked him if he was aware of the II, and he was not. So, I got him set up. We're always trying to expand the II network. These may also be the first Dewey and Kronenwetter references in Inbox history.

We've had submissions from Kronenwetter before. Multiple readers from that suburban metropolis.

Stosh from West Milwaukee, WI

As a community newspaper editor who retired after 44-plus years, I appreciated the mention of the pica pole. However, let's give credit to the other tools of newspaper layout: the X-Acto knife and the proportion wheel. Skilled use of that trinity of tools was key to excellent newspaper design.

Ah, when the printed product WAS the product. The good ol' days.

Scott from Lincoln City, OR

Hey Mike, I just watched a movie called Pixels that brought back memories of playing arcade games in my youth. What favorite stand-up arcade game were you best at? It was Asteroids Deluxe for me. I hold the world record (just ask AI) and could have been famous if the internet had existed back then.

I never set any world records, but I was pretty good at Ms. Pac-Man and Super Pac-Man. I was also a big fan of Galaga, though I wasn't all that good at it.

Bob from Covington, KY

Hi, guys … a dead zone question I've always wondered about. Why do people say they are going the whole nine yards when everybody knows that leaves you with fourth-and-1? Desperately bored minds want to know.

Maybe they're playing on one of those 80-yard fields in Winnipeg.

Mike from Green Bay, WI

Do the Packer players ever show up to watch you and Wes practice? If so, where do they stand to get the best angles?

Happy Friday.

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