Brian Gutekuncst deserves credit for the Packers’ quick turnaround.
The rise of the Green Bay Packers can be attributed to a number of factors, but one of the most significant is the acquisition of quarterback Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers.
Packers general manager Brian gutekunst made a number of smart decisions when he signed Rodgers to replace
On Thanksgiving, the Packers smoked the first-place Lions, and in the press box, coach Mike McCarthy and his staff celebrated every score as if a playoff berth were on the line.
The New York Jets lost again on Black Friday, and the team Aaron Rodgers helped put together is a shell of itself without Rodgers.
Wide receiver Allen Lazard, the highest-paid receiver in free agency by both total and guaranteed money, sat out.
It’s a question of whether or not he can get that edge back, who he is and who we think he is,” said New York coach Robert Saleh.
Wide receiver Randall Cobb played seven offensive snaps, replacing the punchless Jets who gave 54 snaps to unheralded rookie Jason Brownlee (zero career catches).
Offensive tackle Billy Turner played two defensive snaps, despite the fact that the Jets’ defensive front wall was continually stuffed by the Dolphins’ defense.
On defense, safety Adrian Amos played seven defensive snaps.
Without Rodgers to orchestrate the offense like a conductor, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett finds himself in a quandary. “I think a lot of people have gotten rewarded for his ability to play and play at a high level, frankly,” LaFleur said last March.
“Sometimes the best moves are the ones you don’t make,” Gutekunst said. “I could have signed Leonard Lazard or Cobb, which would have given Love that much-hyped veteran receiver. I could have kept Robert Tonyan, or Marcedes Lewis, to help the young tight ends. I could have brought back Adrian Amos, who had been a reliable starter for the past four seasons. I could have gone younger on the defensive line with Jarran Reed or/or Dean Lowry.
For the Jets, it’s Hazard (20), and Cobb (3) with 23 catches each. For the Packers, it’ll be rookie Jayden Reed with 36 catches and second-year pro Dontayjon Wicks with 56.
For the Bears, Tonyan has seven and Lewis has two, while rookie Luke Musgrave has 33 and rookie Tucker Kraft has seven and 40.
Amos leads the Jets with 23 tackles; Ford has 58 tackles and Jonathan Owens has 43. The Packers signed Owens to a one-year deal and he has combined for 101 tackles, including one against the Lions, where Owens was among the best on the field.
Is there a better fit for the Packers than Jarran Reed? He has 4 sacks for Seattle. Or is it Mason Crosby? Maybe. But if you want to go younger, go younger.
Gutekunst has had one of his best offseasons in years.
Even fair-minded people will disagree on whether he went all in on Rodgers to get the most out of the Packers’ championship window. But what’s indisputable is that his aggressive play-calling put the Packers, if not in salary-cap Hell, at least in salary-cap Purgatory.
This past off-season, when there wasn’t enough money in the bank to hit the road for a steak dinner at a fancy steakhouse in Ponderosa, he hit the road for another steak.
Gutekunst signed $4 million-salary-spare-time slot and return-kicker Keisaan Nixon to fill a void on the depth chart.
Ford, Owens and safety Eric Wilson – with a combined $4 million-in salary – have provided plenty of good defensive and special-team snaps.
The draft has been a resounding success. Of the 13 picks, 11 are on 53-man rosters, with most playing key roles. The offensive starters, Musgrave and Reed, look like starters on offense. It’s not a stretch to say they could be the best tight ends and slot receivers in franchise history. Wicks in the fifth round, defensive tackle Karl Brooks in the sixth round, and corner Carrington Valentine in the seventh round look like the kind of steals that turn great drafts into great ones. As long as outside linebackers Lukas Van Ness in the first round and Kraft in the third round keep trending in the right direction, this has all the makings of an elite draft class that can turn this franchise around.
For the Jets, of course, as they’ve learned the hard way, nothing is going to happen without the star quarterback. By trading Rodgers for a draft pick (currently at No. 39) and handing the reins of the offense to Rodgers’ successor, the Packers’ story this season has been one of Jordan Love’s development. “All he needs to do is play,” Rodgers said. “I’ve said that a million times.” As it turned out, those words were not just from the mouth of a man so devoted to his beliefs that he was willing to blow his career wide open.
As Love has played more, he has played better. He was a below-average quarterback in a Packers offense that lost four in a row; now he is one of the NFL’s best with three victories in the past four games.
If Love’s ceiling is somewhere near the top of the quarterback rankings – and we don’t know at this juncture – then the Packers are on their way to another golden era of perennial championship contention.
Was it a terrible decision in the 2020 Draft to take Love instead of an immediate impact player to give the Packers a last-ditch effort to make it to the Super Bowl?
No one will care if Love takes the Packers to the next level this decade.
The quarterback can’t do it all on his own, as LaFleur pointed out after Thursday’s victory.
Gutekunst will have five picks in the top 80 of the draft in 2024, following strong drafts in 2022 and 2023. Financial flexibility is on the horizon.
It’s no secret that the 49ers and Eagles are two of the best teams in the NFC, and there’s a huge difference between being a playoff-caliber team and a championship-caliber team.
But the rapid rise of this team suggests that the rebuilding process won’t be as lengthy or painful as it seems just one month ago.
