Did Packers GM Brian Gutekunst Provide Clue About Future of Rashan Gary?

Rashan Gary had absurd sack production to start the season and equally absurd sack production to end the season.

Green Bay Packers defensive end Rashan Gary did not have a sack during the second half of the season. | Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have a lot of personnel decisions to make on players from their 2025 roster before turning their attention to building a roster for 2026.

Right at the top of the list is defensive end Rashan Gary.

Gary this season was part of the greatest disappearing act since Houdini. He had 7.5 sacks and seven tackles for losses after seven games and 7.5 sacks and seven tackles for losses after 17 games. In the two full games following Micah Parsons’ torn ACL, Gary had one assisted tackle.

With great money comes great expectations. Needless to say, Gary didn’t live up to them.

In 2026, his base salary is set to rise from $7.05 million to $18.0 million and his cap charge will increase from about $25.8 million to $28.0 million. The Packers could release the 28-year-old and create almost $11.0 million of badly needed cap space.

“I expect all these guys that are under contract to be back, but we’re just getting started at looking at how we’re building out the team for next year,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said as part of his season-ending news conference on Wednesday at Lambeau Field.

Rashan Gary Goes From First to Worst

When Gary had two sacks of Aaron Rodgers in the victory at Pittsburgh, Gary led the NFL in sacks. He wound up tied for 28th. These numbers from Pro Football Reference are absurd: From Game 8 through the end of the regular season, 337 players had at least a half-sack and 516 players had at least one tackle for loss.

Literally, he went from first to worst.

Gary had zero sacks or tackles for losses. Even Shemar Bartholomew, who was brought up from the practice squad for the final game, and Collin Oliver, who made his NFL debut in Week 18, had a TFL.

“I thought he started out really, really strong,” Gutekunst continued. “He obviously had a lot of production early. I think he ended up with 60-some pressures, 7.5 sacks. That’s pretty good production in the National Football League.”

Gary didn’t play in Week 18 at Minnesota. Including the playoff game, Gary was at exactly 60 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. That’s 11 more than he had last season, when he was picked for his first Pro Bowl, but six less than he had in 2023 and far off his career-high 87 in 2021.

Interestingly, it’s worth noting that Gary had 26 pressures when he was sacking the quarterback with regularity in the first seven games. In his final seven games, he had 27 pressures. He just didn’t have the juice to make an impact play.

“I did think towards the end of the year, he wasn’t as productive as he was at the beginning,” Gutekunst said. “So, certainly, that will be something I’m sure he looks at personally and we look at as a team, how we can continue to make sure that his production is the same at the beginning and the end of the season.”

Was That a Clue?

That sentence would seem to suggest Gary could be in the plans. Talking about getting his production back on track is much more than a generic wanting everybody back who is under contract.

Gary had a season-high six pressures in the playoff loss to Chicago, according to PFF, but just one tackle.

“Oh, it hurt, period, because we’re in the playoffs, bro,” Gary said after the Packers blew a big lead and were eliminated. “For me, seven years, finishing my seventh season, being in the playoffs six, it’s bound to happen. It’s bound to happen, but it’s frustrating. Every time we finish like this, it’s all about looking yourself in the mirror and finding areas to improve and come back better than ever, man.

“You got to take it personal. I just can’t wait to watch the tape and see where I could’ve been better, be very critical of myself and then as a defense find out how we can be critical of ourselves and come back in OTAs with one track on our mind, man. Ain’t nothing change in terms of our goals, man, and that’s winning the NFC, you feel me? And that’s going to the Super Bowl and bringing back a trophy to Lambeau. We’re right there. We tasting it. Just got to find a way to finish.”

The finances and production suggest the Packers will not bring back Gary. But the uncertainty at defensive end with Parsons’ torn ACL and Kingsley Enagbare’s free agency could complicate the decision.

“Green Bay, the organization, the history of everything, we play for something every year,” he said. “Coming to Green Bay, you know you’re going to be in the playoffs. It’s what we going to do when we hit the playoffs? I got to look at myself in the mirror, defense got look at themselves in the mirror, and we just got to come back better. That was the message to the team and that’s what it’s going to be.”

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