Six Big Things Said By LaFleur, Gutekunst Before Start of Packers Training Camp

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl in 2010. They’ve won a lot of games over the past decade-and-a-half but never the big one.

The question to finally scale the championship mountain will begin with the first practice of training camp on Wednesday.

General manager Brian Gutekunst has built a consistent playoff team, but the Packers haven’t reached the NFC title game since 2020 and haven’t won the NFC North since 2021.

What does he think about this year’s squad?

“I really like our group of guys,” he said. “I like the individual components and the talent that we have. And I think what they're capable of is all the things we want to accomplish. Teams win championships, individuals don't. They got to come together. Health, obviously, is a big part of that, but they got to come together and they got to do a lot of the things that maybe we didn't do at the end of the year, (such as) finishing games, situational football. They got to come together and be really good in those areas. That takes time, it takes work.

“You got to have some lucky bounces along the way, as well, with health and different things. But I really like the group. Roster building is 365. Where our team is right now, what it’ll be Game 1, what it’ll be Game 8 and so forth, we’ll see, but I like the group, I like the way they work. They're good guys that approach it the right way. I like our locker room.”

And then, he perhaps contemplated putting his team in bubble wrap for the next month.

“Again, we're in Practice 1 and, not to go Ted Thompson, but hopefully we can get out of it without anything. But I'm excited for the year, excited to see what they can do, but there's a lot of work ahead.

The Kicking Question

In the wake of Brandon McManus’ nightmare playoff game, the Packers drafted Trey Smack in the sixth round this year.

“We felt that he has a chance to be a very, very good kicker in this league and be one of those championship-level kickers,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have taken him.”

However, as Gutekunst said, “it can take some time to become a great kicker” in the NFL. But rather than let him battle McManus and/or Lucas Havrisik, the Packers have released their veteran kickers in favor of German important Lenny Krieg.

But can the Packers afford to wait for a rookie kicker to become that “championship-level” kicker.

“It’s interesting,” Gutekunst said, “in the regular season, we've been at a higher percentage than Mason (Crosby) was. With the kicker, all the different kickers we've had, it's just the playoffs, that's where we've really struggled. And that's important to me. That's the most important thing is to be able to make those kind of kicks.

“So, I'd like to have some patience her, but, at the end of the day, any player who's going to be in the playoffs, costing us opportunities to win football games and we're going to have to look at that. But we really have a lot of confidence in Trey and what he's going to be able to do. But he is a rookie kicker and he's got a lot to learn and to earn before he gets there.”

Are they taking the right approach? Our take on that will go live at noon Central.

The Latest on Micah Parsons, Tucker Kraft

Tight end Tucker Kraft and edge rusher Micah Parsons, two of the best players on the roster, are coming off torn ACLs and are opening training camp on PUP.

GM Brian Gutekunst said “it’s in the best interests to get something done” with Kraft in terms of what might be a market-setting contract extension. And that is the expectation.

Gutekunst said Parsons “is a little bit of a genetic freak, so things com pretty easy to him.” While he has a “little ways to go” in his comeback, “he’s doing great right now.”

Gutekunst called it “unlikely” that Parsons would be taken off PUP before the end of training camp.

“We’ve invested a lot in him, so we want to make sure he’s ready to go before we even think about putting him out there.”

This is the big question of training camp, though.

Packers training camp begins today. It could be a long, dismal season if they don't get this problem figured out over the next month.

Subject to change based on how things develop, here's my season prediction.⬇️https://t.co/6MorNf6wWI
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) July 29, 2026

True Competition at Kicker?

The Packers have already had a lot of turnover at kicker this offseason. First, they drafted Trey Smack in the sixth round after trading up to select him. They stated the kicking competition would be a real one between Smack and the incumbent, Brandon McManus.

McManus was released in May, clearing the way for a competition between Smack and Lucas Havrisik.

On Tuesday, the Packers released Havrisik after signing Lenny Krieg to be the team’s International Pathway Player.

Currently, the Packers are saying all the right things about having a true competition at kicker, with LaFleur saying things are fluid, but there was one line that appeared to be telling as to how true of a competition will take place.

“It's going to be very fluid. There will be days when they both kick,” LaFleur said before delivering the money line.

“Certainly, we drafted Trey, so we have high hopes for him."

The Packers have already released two veteran kickers this offseason that have some semblance of a track record. While the Packers may say all the right things at the podium, it’s hard to envision them moving on from Smack outside of him being an absolute disaster during camp and the preseason.

Thin at Tight End

The big news of the morning came when it was revealed that Luke Musgrave was on the PUP with a neck injury that Matt LaFleur said Musgrave sustained when he dropped out of the team’s mandatory minicamp.

Brian Gutekunst noted that the team is going to be more conservative with getting Musgrave back on the field as they would be with any player with an issue in their head, neck or heart.

LaFleur is disappointed, but pointed out that Musgrave still could be an important piece to their offense.
"He may not have the production that certainly he wants up to this point in his career, but I think he's got a legit, premier trait in terms of the speed. You got to account for that on every play,” LaFleur said on Wednesday.

Without Musgrave, and with Tucker Kraft still rehabbing from last year’s torn ACL, the Packers are very thin at tight end. If a game were to be played tomorrow, Josh Whyle would start. He’d be supported by Luke Lachey and Messiah Swinson.

If there were ever a position where opportunity is ringing for the guys on the back of the depth chart, it’s at tight end, an important position in LaFleur’s offense.

The nature of the injuries to that position, among others will force LaFleur to dial back some of the competitive periods he typically likes to incorporate into practice.

The Best Ability is...

Two players who the Packers have seen very little of, could play big roles in Green Bay this season.

Collin Oliver plays a position that does not have a lot of guys with a proven track record, paving the way for a potential chance at a starting role.

Marshawn Lloyd plays a position that has a combination of injuries and uncertainty surrounding it in the wake of Chris Brooks being on the non-football injury list and Josh Jacobs’ situation yet to fully play out.

Lloyd and Oliver both have plenty of talent to meaningfully affect their position groups. The Packers need more explosiveness in their run game after seeing a decline there a season ago.

Oliver can provide some juice to a pass rush that will be looking to squeeze every bit of that orange in the wake of the absence of Micah Parsons.

The key for both players is availability, which LaFleur pointed to on Wednesday, and there are some adjustments made for that in Lloyd’s workload.

"In regard to MarShawn specifically, it's how can we increase his volume each and every day in what we're allowing him to do at practice,” LaFleur said.

In regards to both players, LaFleur noted that both Lloyd and Oliver need to remain available so they can go out and prove it.

Coaches often say the best ability is availability. LaFleur wants these two men available so they can potentially show some of their abilities on the field.

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