Ryan Wood, USA Today Green Bay Packers Reporter

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Get six times longer lasting freshness plus odor protection with Downy Unstoppable's in wash scent beads. Ryan, how are you? I'm good. You know, let's be honest. It's hard to beat summer Wisconsin. So it's a real low bar. I think my neighbors are root for the package.

I think they're good too. But that can change quickly. We'll have to see how long this Jordan Love hold-in lasts. Well, it appears that we got a little bit of news that it gets closer and closer. We are at the end of the week. Do you think we might get an announcement as soon as tomorrow? Or should we stretch a little bit longer?

Like it happened at any point, right? We don't know when it will come down. But we know tomorrow is really the first deadline. I mean, they start their padded work tomorrow.

And until tomorrow, it's all been... The first three days of camp aren't really training camp. It's an extension of the off-season program, which is what Jordan Love has already been through.

He did all the off-season programs, the OTAs, the minicamp. Missing the first three days of camp is nothing. But once the padded work starts happening in training camp, that's the lifeblood of your preparation for the NFL season.

That's real football that's missed at that point. So I do think that Friday is really the first real deadline. It's not a hard deadline, right?

I mean, week one's the hardest deadline. I don't think it's going to last anywhere near that long. It would be high red alert levels all over Wisconsin if it did.

But I think that it can happen at any point. What we know is that it's going to get done. This is going to get done. It's probably going to get done sooner than later.

And once it's done, it'll be forgotten pretty quickly. And Ryan Wood is joining us from USA Today. Is Jordan Love, do you believe he's going to be the highest paid quarterback in the game when it comes to year to year?

Well, here's another thing we know, right? Again, Jordan Love did everything in the off-season program. And at the onset of camp, his side felt like they weren't close enough for him to be on the practice field. This is a mere formality. He's got to sign the paperwork. He's probably out there Monday on the practice field, just like he was in June and May, right?

But there was further to go. It would not be a surprise at all if the Packers, they're not questioning, they're not sitting around wondering if Jordan Love is the quarterback of the future. They know he's their franchise guy. It wouldn't be surprising at all if it was a set the market type of request from their side. And we'll have to see where they come down. Where's the compromise? Where's the middle that they finally reach an agreement? Will that be setting the market?

To be determined, but it's absolutely the initial request at least. Here, Jordan Love, you feel like you should be setting the market. You waited three years. You were the good soldier behind Aaron Rodgers. You bet on yourself last season. It was a shaky start, but the last two months of the season, you were as good as just about any quarterback in the NFL, right? This side of Patrick Holmes.

Yeah, I would imagine that he absolutely feels like he should be setting the market. Ryan, you talk about how they started versus how they finished with a record of 6-2. Packers are not going to be sneaking up on anybody this year. There are a lot of expectations even in their own division. You have Super Bowl contenders. People are excited about a rookie quarterback with the Bears.

How do you think that the Packers are going to live up to these expectations? Would anybody be shocked if there were a little bit of a regression? Wouldn't be surprising.

You're absolutely right. They're sneaking up on nobody. Last year was a shock. Nobody saw that coming, especially nobody saw that coming around week 8 when they're sitting sub.500 and look dead in the water. Nobody saw how that season was going to end.

They're not shocking anybody. They are a short-list contender to win the NFC going into the 2024 season. But they're also every bit as young as they were a year ago. This is another bloated draft class that Brian Gudekic brought in. He believes in having a young roster.

They got experience, but there's a lot of youth too. So it's going to be very interesting to see how this very young team handles being a favorite now. They handle being the plucky upstart as well as you could possibly hope for if you're a Packers fan.

How do they handle being a favorite? And I go back to the very end of this past season when they just got back from San Francisco, disheartening loss on the doorstep of the NFC Championship game appearance. And Matt LaFleur, the first thing he says in his season ending remarks is 2024 is not going to be 2023. Everything that you thought you knew is about to change because now you want to be the hunted. You're going to be a favorite. It'll be very interesting to see how they handle that role. And Packers beat writer Ryan Wood is here with us.

You talk about some of the changes. Out is an Aaron Jones. In is a Josh Jacobs. They get Xavier McKinney over from the New York Giants. You lose a John Runyon out east as well. What's the biggest offseason adjustment? Well, big change. They're going from a 3-4 defense, which they've been for more than a decade, to a 4-3 defense with new defense coordinator Jeff Haffley. And, okay, it's going to be a nickel defense like all 31 other teams in the league.

Everyone plays nickel. Two linebackers on the field, but it's still an adjustment. And even the defensive line. The defensive end has got their hand in the ground now instead of being 3-4 outside linebackers on the edge. There's less field vision, but their job is not dropping as much in covers. They're going to be rushing after the passer.

All these fine nuances that go in a scheme change. There are things that this defense, which over the years, the Packers historically on defense have not held up their end of the bargain. They've had some really good quarterbacks, really good offense, put up a lot of points. The defense from year to year has been shaky. That's the side of the ball that they need more out of. This is a very promising, very exciting young offense, obviously led by Jordan Love. But what they can get from their defensive side and can they match the offense, that's in a lot of ways going to determine how far they go this season and whether they can make a run to the Super Bowl. Anytime there's a scheme change, it's just at the early start of training camp. We haven't seen much of it yet.

But anytime there's a scheme change, obviously there's going to be a lot of eyeballs on that. Well, Ryan, you talk about the expectations for the team. What is the fan base looking towards? I mean, where's the disappointment level? Would they be happy enough just to get to the play? Oh, we made it again. Now we got to keep rolling. People in Wisconsin thinking championship game?

What are they looking for? You know, the rift on Titletown is in Titletown. If you're a Packers fan, you feel like you should be going to the Super Bowl every year. That's just the way it is. 13-time world champions. This has been a very jaded fan base in terms of you expect to win. That's just the expectation. Three decades of Hall of Fame quarterback play and the one year in 2023 when it was supposed to be a rebuild, it wasn't a rebuild. You're in the NFC divisional route playoffs with a lead in the fourth quarter in San Francisco. So, yeah, the fan base is absolutely expecting that, OK, there was that transition that was about half a season in 2023.

And here you are. And when you look at it, once Jordan Love is back, you can make an argument that there's not a better quarterback in the NFC than at least the two months that he put on film to end last season. And if you got you going into a season with potentially the best quarterback in the conference, you're expected to make a Super Bowl run. You're expected to be a favorite. And that's where they find themselves. So, yes, there could absolutely be regression. Sophomore slumps are a thing.

They exist for a reason. But the Packers are internally. They have very high expectations. I think that national the outside with their fan base.

Wow. Ryan Wood is joining us from USA Today. Last question, where do you think they're going to end up? I think they're a year away still. You know, it wouldn't surprise me if they they were as hot as could be last year. There's a lot of young talent on this team.

I saw the entire rise. It won't surprise me if they did win the conference. There's a lot of really good competition in this conference, including their own division with Detroit, which I think is a very fine football team. I think they're a year away from being from stamping a trip to a Super Bowl. If the natural progression follows, it took Aaron Rodgers three years to 2008 was his first year starting 2010. They won the Super Bowl. But I think they're on the short list. I mean, it's going to be very that they're going to be playing meaningful games January.

And we'll have to see where it all shakes out. And spoiled Packers fans and they don't even got to deal with Aaron Rodgers anymore. Spoiled Ryan spoil.

It's a good life. When you go Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love, you get used to some winning. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure there's some there's some 12 year old right now who's getting ready to get the arm warmed up in about 15 years or so.

I could see that happening. Hey, Ryan, where can people where can people follow you and all your work, man? Packers News dot com on Twitter at by Ryan Wood. Thank you so much, Ryan. Hey, enjoy the rest of the summer as much as you can. OK, absolutely. Yeah. Winter is coming and it gets cold.

Absolutely. The summer's great. What was what's the high right was like eighty five, eighty. Oh, it feels about 80 degrees.

You know, I don't know what the number got up to today, but it's about perfect. It's summer weather. Wisconsin. That's where it's at.

It gets very different in January, February, July and August. It feels great. Yeah, I know those negative temperatures will be hovering. Ryan, thank you so much. We'll catch you on down the line. OK. Take care.