For Now, There’s Nothing to Love About Packers’ Draft
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Brian Gutekunst’s legacy, good or bad, almost certainly will start with the date April 23, 2020, and his decision to draft quarterback Jordan Love in the first round.
Just before the Scouting Combine in February, the Green Bay Packers’ general manager met with a handful of beat writers at Lambeau Field to talk about the upcoming draft. Inevitably, the conversation turned to quarterback and whether it was too early to start forming a succession plan for 36-year-old starter Aaron Rodgers.
Gutekunst learned from his predecessors and mentors, Ron Wolf and Ted Thompson. Wolf traded a top pick to Atlanta for a third-string quarterback named Brett Favre in 1992. Thompson pounced when Rodgers fell into his lap in the first round in 2005, even with Favre on the roster. The Rodgers pick obviously paid long-term dividends – the team has won one Super Bowl and reached four NFC Championship Games with Rodgers directing the offense – but it didn’t help the team at all for three seasons.
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“I do remember Mike Sherman was our head coach and there were a lot of people not real thrilled about that at the time,” Gutekunst recalled. “To have the courage at that time to do that, and what that one decision did for the organization for how many years later? That stuck with me. It could have been real easy to do something different. (Thompson) thought that was the right thing to do, and he did it. That’s always stuck with me.”
If a quarterback fell into Green Bay’s range, Gutekunst said he wouldn’t be afraid to make a bold move of his own, even though Rodgers is under contract through 2023 and, in Gutekunst’s words, “has got a lot left” despite a rather ho-hum season and coming up empty in both games against the 49ers. Gutekunst acknowledged the pressure is to win “now, now, now” but he felt the need to keep the long-term good of the franchise in mind – like Thompson did by drafting Rodgers.
So, Gutekunst didn’t view a first-round quarterback as a “wasted draft pick” – those were my words that February day – even though he might not play a single meaningful snap for the foreseeable future.
“I think it’s such an important part of what makes this thing go. It’s quarterbacks,” he said. “I know what you’re saying. Aaron didn’t play for three years and for three years people were probably saying, well, that was a total waste. I just don’t think developing a young quarterback is a waste.”
Gutekunst got his quarterback on Thursday night. He traded up from No. 30 to No. 26 to get Utah State’s Love. It’s perhaps worth noting that in 2005, the Packers were coming off a 10-6 season but plummeted to 4-12. In 2020, the Packers are coming off a 13-3 season and an unexpected trip to the NFC Championship Game. The team that crushed the Packers in January, San Francisco, took a standout defensive tackle (Javon Kinlaw) and explosive receiver (Brandon Aiyuk) with its two first-round picks. The Packers, on the other hand, took a quarterback who might not get on the field after August. Maybe the Packers won’t crash and burn like they did in 2005 but it’s absolutely impossible to say the gap between the teams has tightened over the past three months.
To be sure, it was a gutsy move by Gutekunst, whose career is measured only by wins and losses. Love won’t help the Packers take the next step in the NFC. Love might not even pan out; he threw 17 interceptions last year, after all. Gutekunst left linebacker Patrick Queen on the board – a speedster who, A, would have helped defend the Niners’ juggernaut rushing attack and, B, provided critical talent at a position headed by two chronically injured players in Christian Kirksey and Oren Burks. Gutekunst also left receivers on the board that would have given Rodgers badly needed help, as well as offensive tackles Ezra Cleveland and Josh Jones and defensive tackle Ross Blacklock.
Like all drafts, judgment shouldn’t be past for at least a couple years. If Love pans out, the Packers will be championship contenders until 2030 and beyond and Gutekunst’s legacy will be etched in the finest granite. Speaking only for the here and now, a team that finished a distant second in the NFC has fallen even further behind the pace.
