Starting to build his own path
Gutekunst has been busy in first year
GREEN BAY – With the promotion of Brian Gutekunst to general manager in January, there was an inherent curiosity about which direction he would take the Green Bay Packers’ roster. And while he rose to the role of director of player personnel under Ted Thompson, it’s important to remember Gutekunst was a scouting intern in 1997 and was then hired full-time by Ron Wolf prior to the 1999 season.
During that time, Gutekunst would work with future general managers John Dorsey (Kansas City, Cleveland), Scot McCloughan (San Francisco, Washington), Reggie McKenzie (Oakland) and John Schneider (Seattle).
“He’s been around a lot of really talented personnel guys,” former Tampa Bay general manager and current SiriusXM NFL analyst Mark Dominik said. “All these different dudes he’s been able to steal parts of it and now he’s trying to blend it into who he wants to be, or what he wants to be, and that can take some
patience and that can also be great at the beginning.”
Gutekunst handled free agency and the draft a bit differently, but he didn’t stop there. How the first-year general manager has managed the 53-man roster week-to-week has been a bit of a departure from the recent past as well as with trades, the raiding of other teams' practice squads and the signing of ready-to-play street free agents.
“Aggressive” is how it has been termed by those watching from afar, as he has tried to help the coaching staff win week-to-week.
Let’s take a look at what Gutekunst has done during the 2018 season:
Trades
We’ll use the line of demarcation for the start of the “regular season” as the trade of backup defensive back Lenzey Pipkins to Indianapolis for linebacker Antonio Morrison on Aug. 26, a week before final cuts in training camp.
At the time, the deal for Morrison was perceived as a depth move as rookie linebacker Oren Burks had suffered a shoulder injury. But it proved to be an important acquisition as Morrison has become a key player in Mike Pettine’s defense.
Gutekunst made three other trades after that, shipping quarterback Brett Hundley, safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and running back Ty Montgomery for draft picks in 2019 and 2020.
On the surface, it could appear that trading away a starter in Clinton-Dix and a role player in Montgomery may not have helped the immediate roster. But the Packers arguably have played better pass defense on the back end with Tramon Williams assuming a role at safety, and moving Montgomery freed up more snaps for running back Aaron Jones.
Gutekunst now has 10 picks in the 2019 draft, but to move a starter and a role player in season illustrated the line general managers have to walk between the present and the future.
“The focus is always on winning now,” Gutekunst said in an interview with the Journal Sentinel and PackersNews.com. “This is the Green Bay Packers.
“We always are focused on winning now and I think we always will be.”
Giving Ted Thompson that same one-week window before final cutdowns, the most trades he made in any one “regular season” was two, in 2011.
In all, Gutekunst nearly matched the number of trades this season that Thompson made from 2008-’17 combined (five).
Waiver claims/practice squad signings
Gutekunst said the morning meetings discussing the waiver wire with his staff have been some of the more enjoyable moments of the season, with ideas being tossed around by co-directors of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan and John Wojciechowski along with director of pro scouting/salary cap analyst Chad Brinker, scout Richmond Williams and personnel executive Lee Gissendaner
“One of the really nice things for me this season is all these guys thinking outside the box,” Gutekunst said. “We have a lot of conversations about stuff that never happens but at the same time I really like the way they think and the way they’re trying to improve the squad.”
Gutekunst said he has leaned heavily on Sullivan and Wojciechowski while Richmond, Brinker and Gissendaner have done all the heavy digging into other teams and players.
Because of this, Gutekunst pushes back on the idea that this season has been about him forming an identity as a GM, but rather one that has seen the front office form one as a collective.
“I would probably put it like ‘ourselves,’ like ourselves as a personnel staff,” he said. “I think we’re kind of finding – and I think we did it probably pretty early – but I think we kind of found a way to work together and to try to work to help the team.”
To sign a player off another team’s practice squad or claim a player off waivers means you have to be ready to carry them on the team’s active 53-man roster. The Packers have done this five times.
Thompson had become more active in this area by claiming/signing six players the last two seasons, but from 200815 he had done it just five times.
This list for Gutekunst doesn’t include three signings directly to the practice squad in cornerbacks Tony Brown (Los Angeles Chargers) and Will Redmond (Kansas City) and fullback Danny Vitale (Cleveland) – all players who eventually were promoted to the 53and 46-man rosters.
Street free agent signings
Signing an available veteran free agent happens often across the league and the Packers are no different in that regard, having have signed at least one player – and up to as many as eight in 2009 – over the last 11 seasons.
“It’s a cumulative thing as we look at a player, players who are available,” Gutekunst said of his approach to those players.
“It’s not just hey, what did they do this particular preseason? It’s kind like of the player as a whole, what we’ve seen from the time they were in college through where they are now.
“I think our guys this year have really enjoyed the ability to know that if we can help our team that we’re willing to do it.”