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Rob Demovsky
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Brian Gutekunst is a planner. Always has been.
Just ask anyone who has worked with him since he joined the Green Bay Packers as a scouting intern in 1997, or since he became the team’s general manager in 2018.
“Some guys just throw s— on the board and think it’s a plan,” said an NFL personnel analyst who worked for the Packers in multiple capacities during Gutekunst’s tenure. “This is a clear plan. He has a three-year plan and a five-year plan. You can see that by the way he’s shaped the roster.”
This was merely Year 2 of that plan. So far, it has resulted in back-to-back postseason appearances with no signs that this is the end, but rather another step on the way to getting the Packers back to the Super Bowl.
“We’ve got a bunch of good guys in that locker room, we’ve got a bunch of talented guys in that locker room, and I think it’s time we started competing for championships, right?” Gutekunst said following the Packers’ NFC wild-card playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. “I think they’re ready.”
The next step, according to coach Matt LaFleur, is to shed the wild-card label and get back to winning the NFC North like they did in each of his first three seasons. Then it would mean they wouldn’t have to open the playoffs on the road against a team like the Eagles.
“I think it just goes back to show you the importance of getting these home-field games, in my opinion,” LaFleur said.
While much of the credit has gone to LaFleur, who has five playoff appearances in six seasons as head coach, and quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love — who backed up Rodgers for three years before turning in two seasons worthy of the franchise quarterback label — Gutekunst has worked in the background without many accolades.
But those around the league have noticed.
“The way he’s building the team is good,” an assistant GM with another team said. “You won’t hit on every player, but he has managed the team well — maybe need one more impact player, but those are hard to just go find.”
GUTEKUNST, WHO WAS hired as GM in 2018 to replace Ted Thompson, is in Phase 2 of his tenure. The first included maximizing the remaining years of Rodgers’ career in Green Bay. To that end, the Packers reached the playoffs every season from 2019 to 2021 and twice reached the NFC Championship Game before he traded Rodgers to the New York Jets in April 2023.
The second part is built around Love, who Gutekunst picked at No. 26 after trading up in the first round of the 2020 draft.
And it meant going young, especially on offense, once it was clear Love would take over in 2023.
A year after Gutekunst drafted receivers Christian Watson (second round) and Romeo Doubs (fourth), he went heavy on skill positions in the 2023 draft with receivers Jayden Reed (second) and Dontayvion Wicks (fifth), plus tight ends Luke Musgrave (second) and Tucker Kraft (third). The Musgrave pick was one he had acquired from the Jets in the Rodgers trade.
Reed has been the Packers’ leading receiver each of the past two years, while Kraft, Doubs and Wicks ranked Nos. 2, 3 and 4, respectively, this season.
Gutekunst’s plan was in place: Give Love young teammates he could grow up with.
“That’s a little bit of the idea, right?” Gutekunst said after the 2023 draft. “That’s important for those guys to grow together. And we took some guys last year that I think have really done a nice job in their first year. We’re excited for their growth.
“We have a good nucleus of guys, pass catchers to be able to grow with the quarterback.”
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this season’s team was the second youngest by weighted age (25.72) to make the playoffs over the past 45 seasons. The youngest? Try last year’s Packers team (25.58).
Phase 2 could be considered ahead of schedule. Rodgers did not make the playoffs until his second year as the starter, while Love made it in Years 1 and 2.
Next season could be considered the year Gutekunst has been building toward. The players in the 2022 draft class — which also included starting offensive linemen Zach Tom (right tackle) and Sean Rhyan (right guard) — will be in the final season of their rookie contracts.
Gutekunst has mostly stayed away from paying out large contracts in free agency, but twice he’s dived into the deep end of the free agent pool.
In 2019, he spent big money on the foursome of safety Adrian Amos, linebacker Preston Smith, defensive end Za’Darius Smith and offensive tackle Billy Turner to help Rodgers make another run at the Super Bowl, though they lost to San Francisco in the NFC Conference Championship Game.
He did it again last offseason, when he added running back Josh Jacobs and safety Xavier McKinney. Both signed four-year deals, but the structure of Jacobs’ contract suggests Gutekunst wanted him for 2024 and 2025.
“I’ve been a part of a lot of great teams here,” said ninth-year defensive tackle Kenny Clark, who at age 29 was the third-oldest player on the team. “This is one of the best, just based off of our depth. We got a lot of great players at the top of the depth chart, but the more you look at our depth, we got a lot of guys that can play.
“It hasn’t been like that in years past. So yeah, they’ve been doing a great job of drafting and just bringing some dawgs in here.”
Gutekunst has the wherewithal to dip into free agency again, and the biggest need might be a pass catcher who can bolster an offense that has operated without a go-to receiver since Davante Adams left in 2022.
But that doesn’t seem high on his list — or as high as perhaps a pass rusher or cornerback.
“I think we have some of those guys, and I think we don’t have just one,” Gutekunst said of a No. 1 receiver. “But I think historically if you look at a lot of the teams, very rarely do teams that have one receiver that’s super heavy with targets, that doesn’t usually play out well for playoffs and success there.”
WHEN LAFLEUR HIRED Jeff Hafley as his defensive coordinator last offseason, Gutekunst didn’t just rely on a scheme change to make that side of the ball better. He supplemented it with McKinney and high draft picks, including linebackers Edgerrin Cooper (second round) and Ty’Ron Hopper (third), plus safeties Javon Bullard (second) and Evan Williams (fourth).
The Packers finished with their best regular-season defensive ranking (fifth overall in yards allowed per game) since the Super Bowl season of 2010 (also fifth).
“We’re a pretty young defense right now when all those guys are on the field,” Hafley said. “I don’t want to get ahead to what’s ahead, but that’s a good group of young players. So I give [Gutekunst] a lot of credit, and I appreciate it, and I hope he can do it again this year.”
The pass rush, however, could use a boost. Perhaps that will come with a coaching change. LaFleur fired defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich after the likes of defensive ends Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness — both first-round picks — had disappointing seasons.
“There was some transition to a new scheme, but I think we didn’t grow into that consistent front like we had hoped,” Gutekunst said. “But there were times that we showed it, so I know it’s capable. I think we’ve got the right guys. They’re workers in there, I think they’re all passionate about the game. They’re unselfish team guys, so I expect us to get better there.”
Two in-season moves also played important roles in 2024: acquiring quarterback Malik Willis for a seventh-round pick and signing kicker Brandon McManus. Willis went 2-0 as the starter after Love sprained his left MCL in the season opener, and McManus made 20 of 21 field goals attempts and all of his extra points in the regular season before missing one of two field goal tries in the playoff loss.
The only starter on offense who is not under contract for next season is center Josh Myers.
On defense, tackle T.J. Slaton and linebacker Eric Wilson — both part-time starters — are the only key free agents.
Gutekunst might let them test the free agent market, but with more than $40 million in projected space for 2025, he is in a strong salary cap position to bring any of them back and still make another addition or two from the outside.
That doesn’t mean Gutekunst has been perfect. A few of his first-round picks — notably safety Darnell Savage in 2019, cornerback Eric Stokes in 2021 and Van Ness in 2023 — did not turn into long-term, high-impact players. He also had a surprisingly poor record in the third round early in his tenure with linebacker Oren Burks (2018), tight end Jace Sternberger (2019), tight end Josiah Deguara (2020) and receiver Amari Rodgers (2021), as none of whom received a second contract with the Packers..
And the Packers are still looking for their first division title in Phase 2 of Gutekunst’s plan. Green Bay has made the playoffs in both seasons since Rodgers’ departure, but this season’s 11-6 record was good for only third place in the NFC North, behind the Lions (15-2) and Vikings (14-3).
“He went and got Jacobs and McKinney and has drafted well,” the same opposing assistant GM said. “Just a little bit of bad luck that all those [division] teams are loaded, too.”
With Gutekunst as general manager, the Packers have gone 73-42-1 in seven seasons. Only three teams — the Chiefs, Ravens and Bills — have a higher winning percentage over that span.
Of course, it’s not all Gutekunst in the personnel department. Vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan has been a hot name on the interview circuit already this offseason, and there are other potential future GMs in director of player personnel John Wojciechowski, director of football operations Milt Hendrickson, director of college scouting Matt Malaspina and player personnel executive Lee Gissendaner. Wojciechowski interviewed for the Steelers GM job in 2022 and Sullivan was on the list of interviews for the Jets, Raiders and Titans GM jobs this offseason.
MUCH LIKE THE quarterback position — with essentially three full-time starters since 1992 in Brett Favre, Rodgers and Love — there has been stability at the top of the Packers’ personnel department.
Other than Mike Sherman, who served as coach and general manager in the early 2000s, the Packers have had three true GMs since 1992: Ron Wolf (1991-2000), Thompson (2005-17) and Gutekunst. Both the late Thompson and Gutekunst worked under Wolf, the Pro Football Hall of Famer.
All three got it right with the quarterback and not always under the easiest of circumstances, considering Favre had no interest in mentoring Rodgers at first, and Rodgers was hoping the Packers would draft a receiver, not his replacement.
“It’s a tribute to Brian that he had the courage of his convictions,” Packers president Mark Murphy said earlier this season of drafting Love with Rodgers still around. “It was hard.”
The main difference between the Wolf and Thompson regimes and today is the general manager doesn’t hire the coach anymore. Murphy, who is retiring in July, made the decision when he hired Gutekunst to put the coach and general manager on equal levels with both reporting to him.
It will be up to incoming president Ed Policy to determine if that structure will continue, but throughout Gutekunst’s tenure, Murphy has let Gutekunst operate freely — and that includes drafting Love and trading Rodgers.
“Gutey’s done an outstanding job,” LaFleur said. “He probably doesn’t get enough credit for the job he’s done building our roster and just getting guys in here that love the game of football.”