Packers: Ranking 10 best and worst moves of Gutekunst’s tenure

No. 1 best: Drafting Jaire Alexander

In his first draft pick in charge, Gutekunst hit a grand slam. The Packers had the 14th pick in the 2018 draft, and maneuvered through the first round brilliantly. Gutekunst did surprise everyone when he traded way back to 27th overall with the Saints, seemingly doing the unthinkable by passing on Derwin James.

Green Bay hauled in a fifth-round pick in that year’s draft as well as a first-round pick in the following one. He then rocketed back up to 18 after a deal with Seattle and grabbed Alexander, who looks to be one of the best pure defensive players in the NFL. At cornerback, it’s still Jalen Ramsey’s world, but the Packers have the closest thing to him at the position. Alexander could go down as an all-time great Packer cornerback.

No. 1 worst: Drafting Jordan Love

There’s just no defending this one. It’s one of the worst personnel decisions across the NFL in years. To fully understand why, context must be established. Aaron Rodgers had four years remaining on his deal, rendering him immovable for at least two years. The Packers knew the cap was going to shrink the next year and needed to have a strong draft to prepare for free agent departures.

This is also not even remotely close to the Favre-Rodgers comparison, as Rodgers was thought by many to be the best quarterback in the draft and quite shockingly fell all the way to 24th.

Love wasn’t even thought of as the second-best quarterback in this draft, and many expected him to go in the second round. The Packers had just been humiliated by the 49ers after coming within one game of the Super Bowl yet again.

Patrick Queen, a run-stuffing magician from LSU, was sitting there for Green Bay to draft at 26. The Packers didn’t even want to let go of Tim Boyle, meaning the Packers would simply lose a roster spot for the entire season as Love was inactive each and every week. Mind you, that’s in a COVID year, where every team’s depth is going to be heavily tested.

And oh yeah, they traded up to do this. Had the Packers taken the pick seriously and picked up a cornerback, a receiver, a linebacker, anyone, might it have made the difference? The answer could be yes. Keep in mind, a fourth-round pick was surrendered too to make this utterly pointless move.

Might a first-round wide receiver have caught the pass Equanimeous St. Brown dropped in the end zone against Tampa Bay? Might a first-round cornerback have played better than Kevin King? Throw a fourth-rounder in there too. The Packers screwed themselves over with this pick and unless Love becomes the next Patrick Mahomes, there’s no reason to think it wasn’t anything other than a two-hand shove of Rodgers out the door.