Zero2Cool
4 years ago
This is a very good read for those wondering why Packers didn't pick up a WR. Our GM is a good one.

GREEN BAY — Afterward, there were no celebratory toasts of garage-fridge beers at Brian Gutekunst’s house, or of Spotted Cows at a watering hole near Lambeau Field.

With the COVID-19 pandemic’s stay-at-home orders forcing the Green Bay Packers and the NFL’s other 31 teams to make their draft picks virtually, with each member of each team’s personnel staff working remotely from their homes, the Packers’ annual Saturday night post-draft tradition of the general manager and all of his scouts knocking back a few cold ones together in recognition of a job well done was put on hold.

“I suppose this is for everybody in pretty much all walks of life and professions but, yeah, it’s not the same,” Gutekunst confessed Saturday evening after making the team’s final six selections on Day 3 of the draft. “When we work basically 11, 11 1/2 months on something and it comes down to three days, the amount of work that gets put into it … it is a bit of a letdown not to get together with everybody and celebrate and be together. We did a lot virtually as we went through it, but it is a little bit of a letdown.”

But make no mistake: Even as much of the outside world panned the Packers’ nine-player draft class — one that began with a first-round trade-up to pick Utah State quarterback Jordan Love as the heir apparent to two-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers and ended without the selection of a single wide receiver during a draft billed to be the best in history at that position — Gutekunst, head coach Matt LaFleur and the team’s scouting and coaching staffs did not see their draft as a letdown at all.

As they clicked off their computers and television monitors in their makeshift home offices, they did so believing they had plied their club with ample help for the 2020 season.

Whether their assessment is wishful thinking or right on the money will be decided over time, but it was clear that Gutekunst, in his third draft as GM, believed he gave his offense a valuable depth charge and improved the roster of a team that went 13-3 last season and reached the NFC Championship Game.

Even if that sentiment wasn’t shared by analysts, social media users or members of the team’s passionate fan base, it was by his second-year head coach.

“We just wanted to get as many good players as we could,” LaFleur said. “It’s our job to adapt to our players and find out what they do well, and highlight that. That’s exactly the approach we’re going to take.”

Having traded their fourth-round pick to the Miami Dolphins on Thursday to move up to take Love, the Packers picked five players on Saturday: Minnesota linebacker Kamal Martin in the fifth round (No. 175); three offensive linemen — Michigan guard Jon Runyan (No. 192), Oregon center Jake Hanson (No. 208) and Indiana guard Simon Stepaniak (No. 209) — in the sixth round; and TCU safety Vernon Scott (No. 236) and Miami (Fla.) defensive end Jonathan Garvin (No. 242) in the seventh.

Those selections followed Gutekunst’s surprising decision to pick Love with the 26th overall pick on Thursday night and add Boston College running back AJ Dillon in the second round (No. 62 overall) and Cincinnati tight end/H-back Josiah Deguara in the third round (No. 94 overall) on Friday night.

In the end, the Packers wound up with six offensive players and three defensive players, with Gutekunst acknowledging that he went into the three-day affair believing he needed to replenish the offense after what he did last year on defense, signing three high-priced free agents and using both of the team’s first-round picks on that side of the ball.

“(That) wasn’t necessarily by design. But I think certainly we added a couple good players on offense. Where our roster sits now, I thought that was something that was important for us,” Gutekunst said. “Obviously, on Day 1, getting a quarterback we think can play in the National Football League is something that we think is obviously very important. I think we added a lot to our offense.”

What they didn’t add was a receiver, even though 37 were selected during the seven-round draft and a record 13 went in the first two rounds. As a result, the Packers enter their virtual offseason program with star wideout Davante Adams atop the depth chart and a host of questions and inconsistent performers thereafter.

“We really like the group of receivers we have. We think there’s some guys really coming into their own,” Gutekunst said. “If the right players would have been there when we picked, if we had the opportunities we liked, we certainly would have considered it. It just didn’t happen.”

Gutekunst also insisted that even had the Packers invested in a wide receiver, the odds were against that player having an immediate impact, just as other standout wideouts in recent Packers history were unable to break through as rookies.

That said, while Gutekunst acknowledged that Love shouldn’t be expected to play right away with Rodgers at the helm, the GM does believe he got a few players who can help right away.

“I’m not going to put any kind of limitations on their ability to contribute this year. I can understand with the quarterback that that’s probably true. As far as the running back and the tight end, I think there’s ample opportunity for those guys to contribute this year,” Gutekunst said of Dillon and Deguara. “I think in general, all NFL teams, they’re usually counting on their veterans and their young players to improve from Year 1 to Year 2, Year 2 to Year 3, to give you that push to improve as a football team. I think for all rookies in general, there’s a learning curve and it takes some time.

“Rookie classes, the impact initially is not that great. It’s usually Year 2 and Year 3 where you feel the impact of the draft class. We’re excited about the guys we got, and we felt we were disciplined enough to not reach for positions of need. I like our football team right now. It doesn’t mean it won’t change, but I like where we’re at.”

https://madison.com/sports/football/professional/i-like-our-football-team-amid-less-than-glowing-reviews-packers-gm-brian-gutekunst-sees/article_2304b345-5170-5f13-a8c7-4f05480436e9.html 


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nerdmann
4 years ago
That's Ted's line. "We like our guys." 👍🤣
“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don't do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”
wpr
  • wpr
  • Preferred Member
4 years ago

That's Ted's line. "We like our guys." 👍🤣

Originally Posted by: nerdmann 



That's every GM's line. That's why I don't listen to weekly coach tv or radio shows. Why would they say anything other than that? The only coach I recall saying otherwise was Ditka. By the end of the year the team quit on him and he was fired.
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Zero2Cool (1h) : I think a dozen is what I need
dfosterf (2h) : Go fund me for this purpose just might work. A dozen nurses show up at 1265 to provide mental health assistance.
dfosterf (3h) : Maybe send a crew of Angels to the Packers draft room on draft day.
Zero2Cool (3h) : I am the Angel that gets visited.
dfosterf (4h) : Visiting Angels has a pretty good reputation
Zero2Cool (7h) : what
Martha Careful (17h) : WINNING IT, not someone else losing it. The best victory though was re-uniting with his wife
Martha Careful (17h) : The manner in which he won it was just amazing and wonderful. First blowing the lead then getting back, then blowing it. But ultimately
Zero2Cool (12-Apr) : I'm guessing since the thumb was broken, he wasn't feeling it.
dfosterf (10-Apr) : Looking for guidance. Not feeling the thumb.
Mucky Tundra (10-Apr) : If they knew about it or not
Mucky Tundra (10-Apr) : I don't recall that he did which is why I asked.
Zero2Cool (10-Apr) : Guessing they probably knew. Did he have cast or something on?
Mucky Tundra (10-Apr) : Did they know that at the time or was that something the realized afterwards?
Zero2Cool (9-Apr) : Van Ness played most of season with broken thumb
wpr (9-Apr) : yay
Zero2Cool (9-Apr) : Mark Murphy says Steelers likely to protect Packers game. Meaning, no Ireland
Zero2Cool (8-Apr) : Struggling to figure out what text editor options are needed and which are 'nice to have'
Mucky Tundra (8-Apr) : *CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP*
Zero2Cool (2-Apr) : WR who said he'd break Xavier Worthy 40 time...and ran slower than you
Mucky Tundra (2-Apr) : Who?
Zero2Cool (2-Apr) : Texas’ WR Isaiah Bond is scheduled to visit the Bills, Browns, Chiefs, Falcons, Packers and Titans starting next week.
Zero2Cool (2-Apr) : Spotting ball isn't changing, only measuring distance is, Which wasn't the issue.
Zero2Cool (2-Apr) : The spotting of the ball IS the issue. Not the chain gang.
Mucky Tundra (2-Apr) : Will there be a tracker on the ball or something?
Zero2Cool (1-Apr) : uh oh
Martha Careful (1-Apr) : Too bad camera's can't spot the ball as well.
Mucky Tundra (1-Apr) : So will the chain gang be gone completely or will they still be around as a backup or whatever?
Zero2Cool (1-Apr) : The method for measuring first downs in the NFL will switch from chain gangs to camera-based technology in 2025, the league announced.
Martha Careful (1-Apr) : A big step in the right direction. Just put in the college system is very very good.
Zero2Cool (1-Apr) : NFL has passed a rule that allows both teams to possess the ball in OT during the regular season
Zero2Cool (1-Apr) : Touchbacks on kickoffs will now bring the ball to the 35-yard line.
beast (31-Mar) : It might of gotten more popular recently, but braiding hair (even men) in certain cultures goes back for centuries.
Martha Careful (30-Mar) : Is men braiding their hair a new style thing? Watching the NCAA men's tournament many players have done
Zero2Cool (29-Mar) : Ha. Well, it'd be nice for folks to reset their own password. Via validated email 😏
beast (29-Mar) : Monopoly was supposed to be an educational game, that show how evil capitalism was and how we should avoid it
beast (29-Mar) : Lol, I was thinking username would be better, as then I wouldn't have to keep an email up to date lol 😂
beast (29-Mar) : Zero2Cool (25-Mar) : I was thinking email because I think it'll make folks keep it up todate lol
wpr (29-Mar) : sure is
Zero2Cool (29-Mar) : Monopoly is a rip off of The Landlord's Game
wpr (27-Mar) : 28 days until the draft
earthquake (27-Mar) : Which seemed strange to my 9 year old self, that you could be a fan for a team other than the one you play for
earthquake (27-Mar) : Nothing eventful happened, other than it being clear that he was a bengals fan
earthquake (27-Mar) : And we went and hung out with him one afternoon, I must have been 9 or so
earthquake (27-Mar) : That’s wild, when I was a kid my friend lived in the same apartment complex in De Pere
Mucky Tundra (27-Mar) : Only career highspot was a 200 yard rushing game while playing for the Cardinals
Mucky Tundra (27-Mar) : He is a former Packer. Drafted out of Northern Illinois. Didn't do much in GB.
dfosterf (26-Mar) : Despicable
Zero2Cool (26-Mar) : Former NFL. I think Packers too
Zero2Cool (26-Mar) : NFL RB Leshon Johnson has been charged in a massive dog fighting operation, with the FBI seizing over 190 Pit Bulls
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