Best, Worst Moves For Packers GM Brian Gutekunst, Who Signed Extension

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers on Friday announced they signed general manager Brian Gutekunst to a contract extension, ensuring the triumvirate of Gutekunst, coach Matt LaFleur and executive vice president Russ Ball will remain atop the organization for the foreseeable future.

“We are excited to extend our commitment to Brian, Matt and Russ as the leaders of our football operations,” Packers President and CEO Ed Policy said in the team announcement. “Their steadfast dedication, passion and collaboration have remained constant in our drive to compete at the highest level.

“While we are all disappointed with the way this season ended, we remain aligned in purpose and have spent considerable time over the past weeks collaborating on a path forward. I am exceedingly confident we have the right people to achieve our goal. The entire Packers organization looks forward to supporting every effort to bring our community and fans another championship that they very much deserve.”

Getting LaFleur done as soon as possible after the season was a necessity to allow him to rebuild his coaching staff. Now, Gutekunst, who has assembled rosters that have competed in the playoffs six of the past seven years, and Ball, who is in charge of making it all work within the salary cap, have been extended, as well.

Here’s a look at his six best personnel decisions since he took over as general manager in 2018.

Brian Gutekunst’s Best Personnel Moves

During Gutekunst’s eight seasons as general manager, the Packers have won 82 games. That’s the fourth-most in the NFL and tops in the NFC. These moves are a big reason why.

6. Trading for Malik Willis

Maybe we’re guilty of recency bias, but we chose Gutekunst’s trade for Malik Willis ahead of Gutekunst’s first-round maneuvering in his first draft that netted Jaire Alexander and an additional first-round pick that became Darnell Savage.

With Green Bay facing the choice of two bad options to be Jordan Love’s backup in 2024, Gutekunst dumped Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt and sent a seventh-round pick to the Titans for Willis, who had been a third-round bust.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Malik Willis (2) high-fives fans after a touchdown during the third quarter against the Ravens. | Kayla Wolf-Imagn Images

From 2022 through 2025, there were 237 individual seasons in which a quarterback threw at least 35 passes and started at least one game. With the Titans, Willis’ passer rating of 42.8 in 2022 ranked 234th. With the Packers, Willis’ 145.5 passer rating in 2025 ranked first and Willis’ 124.8 passer rating in 2024 ranked second.

Without him, the Packers might not have reached the playoffs the last two years.

Willis is headed to free agency, where he’ll be rewarded with a chance to be a starting quarterback in 2026.

5. 2022 NFL Draft

The Packers wound up with 11 draft picks in 2022, thanks in part to the trade of Davante Adams to the Raiders. Gutekunst didn’t land any Pro Bowlers, but this was the type of draft in which playoff teams are built.

First-round pick Quay Walker has 33 more tackles than any other player in the draft class. Fellow first-round pick Devonte Wyatt leads all interior defenders in sacks and tackles for losses. Second-round pick Christian Watson ranks second in the draft class in yards per catch and fourth in touchdown catches. Third-round pick Sean Rhyan has been a competent starting guard and center.

Fourth-round pick Romeo Doubs, who has been reliable in the red zone and on third down, is second in the draft class in touchdown catches. Fourth-round pick Zach Tom has been a Pro Bowl-level right tackle. Fifth-round pick Kingsley Enagbare, who is eighth in the draft class in TFLs, has provided quality depth at defensive end. Seventh-round pick Rasheed Walker has been a reliable starting left tackle – a position filled mostly with first-round picks.

Combined, they started 315 games.

4. 2024 Free Agency

Gutekunst hasn’t been a major player in big-ticket free agency, but he knocked it out of the park with safety Xavier McKinney and running back Josh Jacobs.

They are face-of-the-franchise type players as top performers on the field and leaders in the locker room.

3. 2019 Free Agency

In Year 1 under Gutekunst, the Packers went 6-9-1. In Year 2, the Packers went 13-3 and reached the NFC Championship Game.

The seven-game improvement was spearheaded by Gutekunst’s free-agent binge of outside linebackers Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith, safety Adrian Amos and right tackle Billy Turner. The Smith Bros. combined for 25.5 sacks, Amos was second on the team in tackles and Turner started every game. After 13.5 sacks in his debut season, Za’Darius Smith had 12.5 sacks in 2020 as the Packers returned to the NFC title game.

Things ultimately went south with Za’Darius Smith, who missed most of the 2021 season with a back injury and was released in March 2022, but those signings meant a swift renaissance.

2. Trading Aaron Rodgers

After the 2022 season ended in disappointment, it was clear it was time to pass the quarterbacking baton from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love. But who would take an expensive, aging quarterback – a player everyone knew the Packers were eager to cast aside – off the Packers’ hands?

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers runs onto the field for what wound up being his final home game vs. the Lions. | Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK

Not only did Gutekunst find a trade partner, but he was able to extract prime draft capital from the Jets. The Packers moved up from No. 15 to No. 13 of the first round and gained second- and sixth-round picks in the 2023 draft and added a conditional first-round pick in the 2024 draft. Ultimately, Rodgers’ torn Achilles in his first series with the Jets meant the 2024 pick became a second-rounder.

It wasn’t just the cache of draft picks. Dumping Rodgers’ contract allowed Gutekunst to hit a quick financial reset on the franchise. While the Saints are still in financial purgatory following the retirement of Drew Brees, the Packers were able to practically hit the ground running.

1. Drafting Jordan Love

Nothing matters more than the quarterback. It took incredible guts for Gutekunst to draft a quarterback in the first round in 2020, but that’s exactly what he did with Love.

Love has not proven himself to be a great quarterback. But he’s a very good one, having finished fifth in the league in passer rating in 2025. In a league in which teams with a bad quarterback have almost no chance to succeed, the Packers have reached the playoffs in all three years with Love as the starter.

If drafting Love gave Rodgers a late-career kick in the rear to propel him to back-to-back NFL MVPs in 2020 and 2021, all the better.

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst walks on the field before the playoff game at Chicago. | Mark Hoffman/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Brian Gutekunst’s Worst Personnel Moves

Not everything Gutekunst has touched has turned to gold.

6. Not Kicking Carlson

Drafting a kicker oftentimes is a bad decision. And so it was with Anders Carlson, a sixth-round pick in 2023. Making matters worse was Gutekunst’s decision to stick with Carlson, who missed a league-worst 11 kicks during the regular season.

Naturally, in the playoff loss at San Francisco, Carlson missed a field goal – a key play in a three-point loss that kept the upstart Packers from reaching the NFC Championship Game.

5. Quiet Trade Deadlines

The Packers haven’t added a player at the trade deadline since safety Anthony Smith in the Super Bowl season of 2010. In most years, the supply does not match the demand and the cost of adding a player is just too great. Still, Gutekunst has built a lot of quality teams but hasn’t made that “final move” to perhaps give the team a push.

Not all trade-deadline moves pay off. However, it’s worth noting that Seattle this year traded for receiver/returner Rashid Shaheed, who has been a critical piece of its Super Bowl run. And it doesn’t have to be a one-year rental. In 2024, Seattle acquired linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who was an All-Pro this year. In 2023, Seattle added defensive tackle Leonard Williams, who was a Pro Bowler in 2024 and 2025 and a second-team All-Pro this year.

4. Drafting Jordan Love

The trade for Jordan Love kept the Packers’ championship wide open. Who knows where the Packers would be without him, though last place in the NFC North is a decent guess.

However, by trading up for Love in the 2020 draft, Gutekunst chose not to add to a roster that had just reached the NFC Championship Game. Love was the 26th pick of the draft. Would Tee Higgins, who was taken at No. 33 by Cincinnati, been the X-factor alongside Davante Adams that would have given the Packers their fifth Super Bowl win?

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins (5) reacts after a first down against the Packers. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

We’ll never know.

3. Third-Round Draft Picks

If not for Tucker Kraft, Gutekunst’s third-round history would be a complete and total failure. Here’s the list:

2018: LB Oren Burks

2019: TE Jace Sternberger

2020: TE Josiah Deguara

2021: WR Amari Rodgers

2022: G Sean Rhyan

2023: TE Tucker Kraft

2024: RB MarShawn Lloyd, LB Ty’Ron Hopper

2025: WR Savion Williams

Green Bay Packers running back MarShawn Lloyd has played 10 regular-season snaps in two seasons. | Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

That’s nine players in eight years. Kraft is a budding star and Rhyan started a total of 28 games the past two seasons. They are the only starters from those picks.

Of the 19 players on offense who were drafted in 2024, Lloyd (by 115) has played the fewest snaps. Of the 16 players on defense who were drafted in 2024, Hopper has played the third-fewest snaps.

2. Not Maximizing Big Trades

Gutekunst made two blockbuster trades, sending Davante Adams to the Raiders in 2022 and Aaron Rodgers to the Jets in 2023.

The Adams trade netted the Packers first- and second-round picks in 2022. The first-rounder was used on linebacker Quay Walker. The Packers packaged the Raiders’ second-rounder (No. 53) and their own second-rounder (No. 59) in a deal with Minnesota to move up to No. 34 for receiver Christian Watson.

The picks from the Rodgers trade were used on defensive end Lukas Van Ness (first-round pick swap, 2023), tight end Luke Musgrave (second round, 2023), kicker Anders Carlson (sixth round, 2023) and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (second-round pick, 2024). There was some other wheeling and dealing.

1. 2025 Free Agency

The Packers gave a four-year, $77 million contract to guard Aaron Banks and a four-year, $48 million contract to cornerback Nate Hobbs in hopes of solving two major weaknesses.

To state the obvious, they did not. Gutekunst had been tremendous in free agency but there’s a chance he’ll wash his hands of both players before free agency at the cost of more than $32 million in dead money.

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