Packernet Podcast: Green Bay Packers

Breaking: Elgton Jenkins Released!

Breaking News: Malik Willis to Dolphins, Enagbare to Jets!

BREAKING: Rashan Gary Traded for a 4th

The legal tampering window is here, and Ryan breaks down everything you need to know before the Packers' offseason gets real. From the Aaron Banks contract restructure that locks Green Bay into their offensive line for years to the Sean Ryan re-signing that signals the Packers are more content than they probably should be — this episode covers it all before free agency officially kicks off. Aaron Banks restructure saves nearly $13M in cap space but locks the guard into Green Bay for the foreseeable future — and Ryan explains why that's a complicated pill to swallow Romeo Dobbs & Jaden Reed — multiple teams are circling, and the Packers' receiver room could look very different by Tuesday morning Rashaan Gary linked to the Bengals as his Packers departure appears imminent, plus what dantavian Wicks showing up in trade talk really means Jamel Dean emerges as Ryan's top free agent cornerback target — breaking down his elite PFF consistency and why he's the perfect fit for the Gannon defense Subscribe, lea

What if the 32 NFL teams aren't building independent draft boards at all? On this episode of the Draft Room, we pull back the curtain on the scouting consortium model — specifically Blesto and National Football Scouting — and explain why nearly every team in the league is starting from the exact same baseline evaluation before they ever move a single player up or down their board. The Blesto/NFS breakdown: How these shared scouting organizations were born, how teams pay into them, and why the standardized reports they produce create far more consensus across the league than most fans realize Anchoring bias and group think: Why scouts who privately disagree still end up with nearly identical boards — and what it would take to truly separate your franchise from the pack Finding the edge: The areas where teams can differentiate — medical staffs, technology/analytics investment, Senior Bowl intel, and a GM willing to trust unconventional takes Packers draft priorities: Caller Jared the Uber Driver kicks things

Big Sal from Peshtigo has had ENOUGH — and on a Sunday morning, no less. The Green Bay Packers just handed Sean Rhyan $33 million guaranteed for a man with nine career starts at center. NINE. Spotrac had his market value at $6.5 million a year. Green Bay paid $11. That's not a signing — that's a charity event. And while they were handing out money like that, Tyler Linderbaum walked out the door. Sal breaks down the Rhyan deal in brutal detail — $11M per year vs. a $6.5M market value, a 6-game PED suspension on his record, and nine career starts at the position he's now being paid to anchor The offensive line gets the full Sal treatment: Morgan (question mark), Banks ($19M for "serviceable"), Belton (zero NFL snaps), Tom ($22M) — over $50M per year at three spots surrounding a center with no track record Elgton Jenkins — four-time Pro Bowler who could play every position on the line — was released to make room for the backup who filled in when he got hurt The Dale's Deck analogy lands perfectly: a beautiful

Ryan wasn't even planning to record today — but the Packers went and did a dozen things while he was away, so here we are. The headliner: Green Bay traded defensive tackle Colby Wooden to Indianapolis for linebacker Zaire Franklin in a straight player-for-player swap. Ryan breaks down exactly why this move makes more sense than the PFF grades suggest. The Gannon A-Gap Blueprint: Ryan digs into Jonathan Gannon's history as a defensive coordinator in Philadelphia and Arizona, showing why a 275-pound defensive tackle in the A-gap simply doesn't fit his scheme — and why a 320+ pound anchor is almost certainly coming in this draft class. Who Is Zaire Franklin? Ryan unpacks Franklin's connection to Gannon dating back to Indianapolis, draws a compelling comp to TJ Edwards in Philly, and explains why his 2025 collapse was a scheme misfit under Lou Anarumo — not a talent cliff. The Cooper-Franklin Partnership: Franklin is the dirty-work green-dot linebacker who frees Edrin Cooper to fly around and make plays — the s

Big Sal from Peshtigo has been sitting on this one since October — and he is done waiting. Rashan Gary is gone, the farewell graphic was apparently the work of a very thoughtful hacker, and Sal has the receipts on one of the great statistical magic tricks in recent Packers history. Gary led the entire NFL in sacks after Week 7 — then recorded ZERO sacks and ZERO tackles for loss from Week 8 through the end of the playoffs. Three hundred and thirty-seven players outproduced him down the stretch. Sal breaks down exactly why those first seven weeks happened: Micah Parsons was drawing every double team in America, handing Gary clean one-on-ones all day. That's not a breakout. That's arithmetic. This isn't the first time — Gary ran the exact same hot-start, cold-finish pattern in 2023, and Gutekunst signed the $96 million extension anyway. Now the Packers move on with Lukas Van Ness — two career starts — as the next man up. The cap space is real. The pass rush is still a question. Subscribe, leave a review, an

The lines are packed and the takes are flying — it's another late night at Packernet After Dark. Ryan fields a full house of callers covering everything from Justin Fields as Jordan Love's potential backup, to whether Aaron Jones could pull off a sentimental return to Green Bay after the Vikings cut him loose. Spoiler: Ryan's not holding his breath, but he's not slamming the door either. Garrett from Southern Illinois makes the case for Justin Fields as a legitimate backup and wonders if Gutekunst could work his LaFleur magic again — Ryan actually agrees the fit could be dangerous enough to steal a game or two Randy from Minnesota breaks down Matt LaFleur's coaching DNA: smart by nature, aggressive by necessity — and whether he'll ever fully commit to the latter when the game is on the line TJ from Alabama roasts the Vikings for being $44 million over the cap with a rookie QB, and reviews his own draft crush history — a humbling exercise Ryan recommends for every Packer fan Uncle Rico goes on a tear about t

The Draft Room dives deep into the 2026 NFL Combine's offensive prospects using Kevin Cole's Unexpected Points modeling — and the gap between what teams value and what actually predicts NFL success is massive. Ryan breaks down running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, offensive tackles, and interior linemen to find the combine winners, the overrated darlings, and the hidden gems that draft boards are getting wrong. Running Backs: Mike Washington Jr. and Jeremiah Love dominate both team value and actual value metrics, but Love carries a 20-point overvaluation gap — and zero-star Navy product Eli Heidenreich emerges as the most undervalued back, a WR/RB hybrid with elite PFF grades and a compelling character profile Wide Receivers: Jeff Caldwell is in a class by himself at 99.9th percentile across the board, while Colby Young — the big-bodied Georgia X-receiver — shows up as undervalued despite significant off-field concerns that will complicate his draft stock Tight Ends: A position loaded with overrated co

BREAKING: Rashan Gary Released

Big Sal from Peshtigo is in his kitchen, there's a coffee stain on his shirt, and his wife just walked past without saying a word — and Pack Nation, that silence says everything. The Green Bay Packers did not tender Emanuel Wilson. They let the angriest, most physical back on the roster walk into free agency and turned around and signed Chris Brooks for two years. And Sal cannot let that stand. Wilson posted 156 rushing yards after contact last season — not a statistic, a personality type — and the Packers handed him to the open market like a free sample Chris Brooks is a fine human being and a solid special teams ace, but Sal breaks down exactly why "safe and consistent" is the wrong call when you're chasing January football Big Sal's neighbor Gary, his friend Tomek from the paper mill, and yes — the Beer Cheese Benny / Joey Diaz situation — all make appearances in this one The cold, hard prediction: Wilson signs cheap somewhere, runs for 600 yards, and the comments section will not be kind Subscribe, le

The Green Bay Packers lost one of their greatest leaders this week — Bob Harlan, the visionary President who transformed a franchise on life support into the model organization the NFL looks to for guidance. Ryan takes a moment to honor Harlan's legacy before asking a question that cuts to the heart of every Packer fan: are the current stewards of this franchise living up to what was built before them? Bob Harlan remembered — from hiring Ron Wolf and landing Brett Favre, to going door-to-door at 5:30 AM to save the Lambeau Field referendum, Ryan breaks down why Harlan may be the single most underrated figure in NFL history The weight of the Packer Way — Ryan reflects on what it truly means to be a first-class organization, and why losing that identity would feel like more than just losing football games Xavier McKinney restructure explained — a detailed cap breakdown of how the Packers converted base salary and roster bonuses into signing bonus to slash his 2025 cap hit, and what it means for next year's ba

The Pac Nation faithful called in and they're not feeling great about Green Bay right now — and honestly, neither is Ryan. From the passing of legendary Packers CEO Bob Harlan to a front office that keeps talking about "culture fits" instead of football results, this episode is a full offseason pressure cooker. Dakota (that nerd from Tennessee) sparks a passionate extended rant about the Packers' dangerous obsession with offensive line versatility — specifically why treating Jordan Morgan like a utility player is a franchise-threatening mistake. Ryan doubles down hard: lock him in at left tackle and build around him, or risk turning a premium draft pick into a bust. The covered wagon vs. Hellcat analogy alone is worth the listen. Uncle Rico raises real questions about the leaked player-coach grades — are players grading coaches low because they're bad, or because they're getting screamed at to do their jobs? The T. Higgins draft revisionism gets called out — Ryan reminds the fan base how wrong m

The combine dust is settling and the 2026 NFL Draft picture is getting clearer — and messier — by the day. In this loaded episode of the Draft Room, we tear through the biggest news and notes coming out of Indianapolis, from jaw-dropping athletic performances to the quarterback drama that just won't quit. Ty Simpson Chaos: Arizona Cardinals staffers reportedly love him, the Miami Dolphins are lukewarm, and the Cleveland Browns may be circling Anthony Richardson — meanwhile, Simpson might go anywhere from third overall to the second round. Nobody knows anything. Combine Winners: Skyler Bell's elite testing at UConn cements his status, Kenyan Sadiq's 4.39 at 241 pounds is a freak show, Latrell McCutchen and Malik Muhammad ran significantly faster than expected, and Enrique Cruz — a name you haven't heard — put up one of the best OL workouts in years. Danny Dennis Sutton's Problem: An elite combine performance actually frustrated scouts more — because it proved he wasn't playing to this level on Saturdays. A c

Big Sal from Peshtigo is fired up, and today's target is the Minnesota Vikings — a franchise that somehow spent $245 million in a single offseason and has absolutely nothing to show for it. Forty-three million dollars over the salary cap, nine wins, no playoffs, and a roster being dismantled piece by piece. Pull up a chair. The Grave Digger Fiasco: Jevon Hargrave — $30 million, two sacks in Week 1, then 1.5 sacks the rest of the season. Sal has a neighbor named Gary with a $3,000 snow blower that tells this story better than any stat line. The Justin Jefferson Time Bomb: A $140 million extension structured to explode — $38 million in 2026, $43 million in 2027, $47 million in 2028. They duct-taped a bow on a ticking clock and called it cap management. Nine and Eight: After spending a quarter-billion dollars, the Vikings got shut out, finished below .500 against playoff teams, and are now cutting two team captains just to scrape together $18 million — bailing out the Titanic with Sal's coffee mug. Kyler Murra

The NFL offseason is heating up and Ryan is breaking down everything that matters — from a blockbuster trade that signals just how expensive this market is getting, to a Packers draft prospect who literally gave scouts his own perfect comp. The Rams sent a 2026 first, fifth, and sixth to Kansas City for 25-year-old Trent McDuffie — Ryan breaks down why it's an all-in move that actually makes sense for LA, and why Chiefs fans shouldn't sleep on that first-round return Aaron Rodgers hits the Pat McAfee Show with zero commitment to the Steelers — and somehow manages to tell the GM not to draft his replacement while still refusing to sign on the dotted line Ryan digs deep on Jonah Coleman, the Washington RB projected right around the Packers' third-round pick who compared himself to Josh Jacobs — and a top draft analyst agreed Free agency release wire roundup: Stefan Diggs, Makai Becton, Jonnu Smith, Max Crosby drama, the Vikings' ongoing cap catastrophe, and Chris Brooks quietly locking in a team-friendly two-

NFL executives weighed in on the 2026 Draft's top 10 — and the results are messier than anyone expected. Ryan breaks down the Athletic's executive mock draft, where four front-office insiders couldn't even agree past pick three, and the debate over Cam Mendoza at one is more unsettled than the consensus wants you to believe. Executive Mock Breakdown: All four execs lock in Mendoza-Reese-Bailey in the top three, but picks four through ten feature wildly divergent opinions — including two executives who had Keldrick Falk going to Tennessee in the top five, a pick the rest of the industry thinks is laughable. Jeremiah Love Rising: Connor Rogers floats the possibility that Love doesn't make it to the typical 7-9 range, with the Titans, Cardinals, and Giants all in play as potential landing spots earlier than expected. Combine Analytics — Defense Wraps Up: Ryan finishes Kevin Cole's Unexpected Points modeling series, covering linebackers, cornerbacks, and safeties. The takeaway: teams are overvaluing measurables

Big Sal from Peshtigo is fired up — and this time he didn't even finish his wife's chili. The Washington Commanders just cut Tyler Biadasz, a Badger-born Pro Bowl center from Amherst, Wisconsin, and if Brian Gutekunst isn't already on the phone, Big Sal is personally driving to Green Bay. Biadasz's full résumé: Remington Trophy winner at Wisconsin, blocked for Jonathan Taylor, started all 17 games for a Dallas offense that led the league in yards, earned a Pro Bowl, and helped carry Washington to the NFC Championship — before getting cut for $8 million in cap savings The Packers have nearly $20 million in cap relief waiting the moment they move on from Elton Jenkins, whose 2025 PFF grade ranked around 25th at center with run blocking near the bottom of the league The Chicago Bears are already circling — and Sal's got a yard sale story about his neighbor Tomek that perfectly explains why standing around being indecisive is a catastrophic mistake Jordan Love needs a wall in front of him, not five strangers wh

The NFL offseason is absolutely on fire — and the Packers are just sitting there saying "it's fine." Ryan breaks down a jam-packed day of NFC North news while Green Bay remains mysteriously quiet on all fronts. Minnesota's salary cap nightmare exposed: Jonathan Grenard trade rumors, Hargrave's release, and a roster full of aging veterans that could gut their vaunted defense before the season even starts The stunning retirement of Bears Pro Bowl center Drew Dahlman at just 27 years old — what it means for Chicago's offensive line and how Tyler Biadasz's visit could impact Green Bay's own center plans Malik Willis's chaotic free agent market: Jets, Cardinals, Dolphins all circling, and why Ryan's rooting for an AFC landing spot A small fire at Lambeau, no overseas games meaning nine home games in 2026, and the return of Malik Heath as a potential depth signing If you're wondering why the Packers are the calmest team in the league right now, you're not alone. Buckle up — the NFC North offseason is just getti