GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Green Bay Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst put a ribbon around his 6th season as the architect of football operations that put a reconstruction project on a faster track than nearly everyone expected in 2023. Think of the labor costs he saved the franchise. A rebuild usually takes time and good labor doesn’t come cheap. Getting a team with annual Super Bowl or bust expectations with Hall of Fame play at quarterback for more than a generation and taking an overhauled roster, the youngest in the league, into the NFL’s Divisional Playoff round got that project done in less than a calendar year was nothing short of amazing. Yet the longtime scout and now GM of the team said he had no expectations going into the year with a first time starting quarterback but was proud of how they emerged from a bleak month of October, stayed determined to improve and played their best ball at the end. Matter of fact, Gutekunst admitted with five minutes left in the season ending loss to the San Francisco 49ers, he was thinking this club just might get to the Super Bowl. In a 34 minute, season ending news conference at the Lambeau Field auditorium today, Gutekunst opened with bouquets for everyone in the building and realized it all came about because of Jordan Love’s emphatic display of growing from a novice NFL #1, to perhaps the most productive QB in the league down the stretch.
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Gutekunst said he tired of hearing about “the league’s youngest” team as the season wore on. He followed his mentor, Ted Thompson’s thinking that being young, with talent, is a positive, not a negative. The first and second year laden wide receiver room simply grew into a productive group by playing. As Gutekunst said the team had, “to learn how to play, learn how to play well and learn how to win.” They did all of that in a single season’s time.
The GM covered a lot of ground including the change in philosophy on defense. Gutekunst thought that side of the ball showed flashes of solid play, he felt the front 7 held up but there were issues with the back end that need to be addressed. Head Coach Matt LaFleur let go Defensive Coordinator Joe Barry after three years and hired Boston College Head Coach Jeff Hafley to take over that unit. Guekunst said he’s impressed with what Hafley hopes to bring to the defense.
While a lot of veterans were jettisoned last year, players like Aaron Rodgers, Mason Crosby, Randall Cobb, Allen Lazard, Marcedes Lewis, Robert Tonyan, Dean Lowry and Adrian Amos, a couple of senior leaders came up. Gutekunst wants to bring Aaron Jones back for more after he showed just how productive he can be when healthy and how much he means to the offense and locker room.
The situation with David Bakhtiari is a bit more complicated considering another major knee procedure was required after just one game. The team will want to be convinced about his health before considering how to proceed with his prohibitive salary cap figure for 2024 and beyond.
Gutekunst admitted the suspension of Jaire Alexander was a difficult decision but he applauded the defensive back’s handling of the discipline and will hopefully lead to a more positive relationship in the future.
The front office will remain diligent in the search for free agents and will be unafraid to enter the market to bring quality players in. Having five draft picks in the first three round’s of April’s NFL draft thanks to the trades of Rodgers and Rasul Douglas will give Gutekunst plenty of flexibility to add another handful of players or shop them around for a better pick or another team’s talent.
The 2023 Packers came close to meeting the standard that Gutekunst said has never left the organization, to compete, improve and earn an opportunity to play in the season’s final game, by doing so, said, “the future is bright.”
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