Packers: Brian Gutekunst has placed immense pressure on himself

Green Bay stonewalled their franchise quarterback and drafted a long-term project at the position.

Brian Gutekunst, as a result, has tremendous pressure on his shoulders to make it work.

We don’t need to hash over it again, but the Packers need a lot of help. They have one wide receiver worth anything. They have three running backs who will all be free agents at the end of the season. They have the worst group of tight ends in all of football. They have a band-aid at right tackle. They need depth at edge rusher. They have one inside linebacker who can hold is own against any NFL offense. They have no slot cornerback.

But good thing the Packers spent two draft picks, including a first-rounder, on medium-rare Jordan Love, who if all goes according to plan, will take over the reins sometime within the next five years. After the team’s shell-shocking pick, Gutekunst spoke to reporters and defiantly said, “We have the best quarterback in the National Football League and we plan to have him for a while competing for championships.”

Neither part of that sentence appears to be true anymore. Rodgers has been overtaken by Patrick Mahomes, and maybe others as well. But, even in what was at times an unwatchable season from Rodgers, he still threw for 4,000 yards with 26 touchdowns and four interceptions with a new head coach and offensive coordinator. Not to mention a receiving corps that separates from defensive backs about as well as scotch tape does when placed on Gorilla Glue.

It is also worth reiterating that Green Bay’s defense was still patently bad in 2020. Any notion that the two new pass rushers alone made some sort of grand turnaround is completely wrong. The Packers finished 18th in total defense, and were a dominant 14th against the pass. If the NFC Championship didn’t give it away, they were 23rd against the run. Is Dom Capers still running things?

Devin Funchess, on his best day, is not going to solve the receiver problem. Christian Kirksey, on his best day, will be as good as Blake Martinez. Ricky Wagner, on his best day, will be as good as Jared Veldheer. The Packers somehow won 13 games last year. But, they came away with several incredible strokes of luck along the way.

For starters, they stayed very healthy throughout the season. Secondly, Green Bay stole a narrow win over the Chiefs, who were missing five starters including Mahomes, Chris Jones, and Frank Clark. They were gifted a victory by the stripes against the Detroit Lions two weeks earlier. They squeaked by the hapless Washington Redskins and Lions late in the season. Are the Packers really as good as 13-3 sounds? No.

Now with eight remaining draft picks, six of which will be dart throws in the fifth round or later, Gutekunst has to make something out of nothing and fix his still-ailing roster. This is known to be an unusually deep draft, and one incredibly rich at wide receiver. Common sense would tell you to move down and nab as many picks as possible to secure long-term commodities that also happen to be at positions of need. Green Bay could have picked virtually any player at any position, and it would’ve been of great service to a deficient roster, except one.

And somehow, they actually moved up to do it. If Gutekunst and the Packers really believe this offseason is salvageable, the next couple of rounds better be home runs. He needs players to come in and contribute right away in a potential playoff game. In other words, he is placing incredible faith in whatever rookie he picks in rounds two and three to be an instant starter. Of the next 142 picks, the Packers have two of them. Good luck.

Having lost several key players in free agency, the Packers are in line to receive at least two compensatory draft choices in next year’s draft. It would be wise of the Packers to use their added capital to trade for reinforcements at the trade deadline at multiple positions, to help make up for the lack of support they’ve given their all-world quarterback in the draft, and all the other times they’ve done the same thing. But it’s hard to know if the Packers really value that.

It always appears to be a matter of kicking the bucket further up the road. Cap space is saved for re-signing free agents that are never re-signed. Now, a quarterback has been shrewdly drafted to help the team stop the run. As of right now, the Packers have a free-agent-to-be running back who could decide to hold out, a 36-year-old tight end best served as a blocker, a bad defense, and receivers that strike fear in exactly no one with a limited offseason program. Gutekunst has his quarterback, and two picks in the next three rounds.