In order to gauge how good of a job Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst has done, you have to frame it with what you value more: patience or parades?
Since taking over in 2018, Gutekunst has operated with a clear philosophy for the Green Bay Packers: draft, develop, extend — and resist the urge to chase headlines in March. In an era where offseason winners are crowned on social media and cap space is treated like Monopoly money, Gutekunst has largely stayed the course.
The results are hard to ignore. Jordan Love, Elgton Jenkins, Christian Watson, Rashan Gary and Zach Tom have all been drafted by Gutekunst and they all earned second contracts with the Packers.
“I have a lot of respect for what they do top to bottom,” said an anonymous NFL executive. “They’ve done some things that people questioned, but they do it right. They got the quarterback right. They’re just really good evaluators.”
Green Bay’s roster has been one of the youngest in football, yet it has remained competitive through a franchise-altering transition at quarterback. When Gutekunst made the controversial decision to draft Love and eventually moved on from Aaron Rodgers, he wasn’t just picking a player. He was doubling down on organizational sustainability. The Packers weren’t going to lurch into a rebuild. They were going to reload.
Look at the core: homegrown offensive linemen, ascending receivers, defensive pieces drafted and extended before they hit the market. Rashan Gary. Jaire Alexander. Elgton Jenkins. The model isn’t flashy, but it’s functional. Green Bay rarely finds itself in cap purgatory. It rarely panics.
And yet — this is where the debate sharpens — does functional equal fearless?
The Packers under Gutekunst have avoided the kind of “all-in” maneuvering that defines modern championship pushes. They have not operated like the Los Angeles Rams did when they pushed chips to the center of the table, traded premium picks, and hoisted a Lombardi Trophy. Green Bay prefers long-term flexibility over short-term aggression.
Gutekunst really surprised me when he shocked the NFL world by sending a pair of first round picks and Kenny Clark to the Cowboys for Micah Parsons. The Packers don't trade first round picks. They hold on to them until grim death. Ultimately, it was the right move because Parsons is the No. 2 defensive game wrecker in the league and it also proved that Gutekunst is willing to sacrifice the future for the present.
The NFL’s middle class is littered with teams that chased one window and shattered the next five years. But there’s also risk in perpetual restraint. The Packers had back-to-back 13-win seasons early in Gutekunst’s tenure and came away empty-handed. At what point does prudence start to look like hesitation?
Critics argue that while the draft-and-develop pipeline has been strong, the roster has occasionally felt one proven veteran away. A trade deadline splash. A premium free-agent pass rusher. A difference-making safety. Instead, Green Bay has trusted internal growth. Sometimes that works beautifully. Sometimes it leaves fans wondering what might have been.
The deeper question is philosophical: should a small-market, publicly owned franchise behave differently? Without an impulsive billionaire owner demanding immediate gratification, the Packers can think generationally. Gutekunst’s measured approach aligns with that structure. Stability is baked into the building.
But championships define legacies. If Love blossoms into a perennial contender and this young core breaks through, Gutekunst will look visionary — the architect who transitioned seamlessly from one era to another without bottoming out. If the team hovers in the divisional-round tier for the next five years, the conversation will turn.
Quiet competence is admirable. Sustained competitiveness matters. But in Green Bay, where banners hang and expectations echo, “one of the best” ultimately requires more than steady hands. It requires a moment — or several — when caution gives way to conviction.
Gutekunst has built a strong foundation. The question now is whether he’s willing, when the time comes, to push all the chips in.