INDIANAPOLIS – Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst spoke with both local and national media Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
Here are 10 things learned from the sessions:
- His thoughts at the wide receiver position haven't changed much.
Gutekunst made it clear he didn't feel running back Josh Jacobs' comments – about the Packers needing a proven, No. 1 wide receiver, which he said while making the media rounds at the Super Bowl – were detrimental to the team.
But the GM's focus, as it was in January right after the season, appears to be on players in house stepping forward to assume that role rather than searching outside for one.
"You'd like to have somebody move into that space … I'd like multiple guys to be able to move into that space," Gutekunst said. "What I'm looking for is guys that when they're called upon can perform at a high level. I think we have a lot of guys that have done that."
He also stressed he's had private conversations with Jacobs, and he puts more stock in those than anything said and interpreted in media reports.
"The one thing I do know is Josh desperately wants to win, and I really do appreciate that about him," Gutekunst said. "I think he'd like to have as many good players as we can get.
"His desire to win and win a championship is very strong. From the time we got him he's been that way, so his heart's absolutely in the right place."
- Health-wise, the receivers are where they're expected to be.
Christian Watson's surgery on his torn ACL went fine, and his rehab is off to a good start. Watson injured the knee in the regular-season finale in early January.
There also are no long-term concerns in the aftermath of Romeo Doubs' late-season concussions. Doubs exited the playoff loss in Philadelphia with his second concussion in a two-month span.
"I would expect him to bounce back and be at his best," Gutekunst said of Doubs.
Finally, the shoulder injury Jayden Reed sustained in the playoff loss to the Eagles could limit him during portions of the offseason program, but he's expected to be ready for training camp.
- The defensive line has been given a couple of mandates.
"We've got to be able to get after the quarterback with four," Gutekunst said in straightforward fashion. "We've got to affect the quarterback more with just four players."
Later, he added of the pass rush: "It needs to be able to control the game when we need to control the game and finish games off."
The path to all that is greater consistency and reliability up front. As with receiver, additions on the defensive line could be coming via free agency and/or the draft, but that doesn't change the emphasis on the Packers' current players making strides with their own games.
Green Bay's D-line has plenty of veterans, led by Kenny Clark on the interior and Rashan Gary on the edge, and while the run defense rose above years of struggles to climb into the top 10, the pass rush was wildly up and down.
"I just think there was a lack of consistency across the board," Gutekunst said. "Again, a little bit of that had to do with the scheme as far as those guys adjusting to it. I expect more from them this year, and I'm pretty confident that'll happen."
He sounded especially bullish on 2023 first-round draft pick Lukas Van Ness, who in a part-time role has recorded seven sacks over his first two NFL seasons.
"He does everything he can," Gutekunst said. "He's everything you want in a professional as far as his work ethic and what he puts into it, and I expect him to take a big jump this year."
- Adding a speed rusher to a group of power linemen isn't a cure-all, though.
Progress with the pass rush can't come at the expense of the Packers' better run defense, which is why Gutekunst cautioned against simply acquiring a speed rusher or two for limited snaps in passing situations.
That sounds great in theory, but it can make life difficult when depth gets tested and undersized speed rushers are asked to hold up setting edges on early downs.
"You love those guys that can scream off the edge and come in on third down and that's all they play, and they play 20 snaps a game tops but they're very effective," Gutekunst said. "Then when you do have injuries and you need him to play 50 snaps, can he?
"So there's room for those kind of guys. I just think you've got to be creative, from a roster management piece, how you use those guys."
- No news on Jaire Alexander.
As he was last month, Gutekunst remained non-committal on the All-Pro cornerback's future after another injury-shortened season.
On whether Alexander will be with the Packers in 2025, "We'll see," Gutekunst said. "We're working through that. He certainly could be.
"Not being able to be out there at his best has frustrated him and that has frustrated our football team too, because we're better with him. But we'll see."
- The goal is for Brandon McManus to remain the Packers' kicker, but no guarantees.
The veteran McManus' strong performance after being acquired midseason sets him up to cash in as a free agent. Meanwhile the Packers are trying to keep him around.
"Yeah, we'd love to," Gutekunst said of bringing him back. "We're working towards that end. We'll see where that goes."
A lot of initial talks between clubs and player agents take place at the combine, particularly with a team's own free agents, laying the groundwork for more serious negotiations as free agency approaches next month.
In addition to McManus, center Josh Myers and defensive lineman T.J. Slaton are among the most prominent names of the Packers' pending unrestricted free agents. But nothing on Green Bay's ledger appears imminent.
"Both sides, the agents and the clubs are all coming here trying to figure out exactly where the market is," Gutekunst said, "and everybody wants to wait."
- The upcoming fifth-year option decisions might not mean much.
By early May, the Packers must decide on the fifth-year options for 2022 first-round picks Quay Walker and Devonte Wyatt.
At linebacker with Walker, the option price tag gets inflated by all the edge rushers that count in the calculation, so the Packers may not exercise his option while having every intention of keeping him in Green Bay longer.
Meanwhile, Wyatt's option number will be lower as a D-lineman so it's a stronger consideration, but he's viewed as part of this defense's long-term future as well.
"I think their best football's still in front of them," Gutekunst said of both players.
- Quarterbacks remain on the drafting radar.
The Packers have a rather robust QB room with starter Jordan Love plus backups Malik Willis and 2023 fifth-round draft pick Sean Clifford.
But that doesn't mean Gutekunst will stand pat there. In his view, the position is too important to not be constantly evaluating talent to try to improve depth. Clifford spent the bulk of last season on the practice squad, but Gutekunst wouldn't be averse to carrying three QBs on the 53-man roster if warranted.
"Every year it's important to really put a lot of time into those guys, (to) identify them," he said. "It's a hard position to make it in this league."
- The Packers hosting the draft will not impact how the first-round pick is treated.
Gutekunst said team President/CEO Mark Murphy has assured him he can trade Green Bay's first-round pick – leaving the throngs of fans on the Lambeau Field campus potentially waiting another day for a Packers selection – if he feels it's the best move. It may be a bit of a running joke that he can't deal the pick, but it's just that, a joke.
"It will have no effect on what we do," Gutekunst said of the event being held in Green Bay.
The Packers are currently projected to have eight picks in this year's draft once compensatory selections are announced. That's not as many as Gutekunst has possessed in recent years, when he's had double-digit selections going in.
He may be looking to get more. Asked about not having as many, he playfully interrupted by saying, "Yet."
- He reiterated the urgency exists to compete for championships.
Gutekunst won't get caught up chasing the new Super Bowl champion Eagles, even though they beat the Packers twice this past season. Just as he's never fixated on the 49ers when they were the biggest NFC obstacle.
While the team's 1-5 record in division games was alarming in 2024, that's not the driving force, either, because too much external attention can diminish internal focus on improvement and development.
"There's been a lot of talk about our youth which I don't really buy into, and I just want to make sure our organization as a whole understands what the standard and the bar is, and not being complacent," Gutekunst said. "We lost our last three games. We can't lose sight of that."
The boost in the salary cap combined with the Packers moving past some of their recent cap limitations bodes well moving forward, in terms of both exploring options and keeping players the organization wants in Green Bay as several contracts come up for renewal.
"We feel really good about our flexibility and where we're at … about being able to do what we want to do over the next two years to put a championship-level team out there," he said.
"I do believe in these guys. Like I stated at the end of the season, I think we all have to understand that level of urgency we all need to get to where we want to go."
