The Green Bay Packers moved on from 2019 first-round pick Rashan Gary this offseason, trading the veteran defender to the Dallas Cowboys for a 2027 fourth-round pick. The Packers appeared to be on their way to releasing Gary if they didn’t find a trade partner, so it's great Green Bay was able to get something before parting ways with the defender.
While that's the perception of the situation from the outside looking in, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst is pushing back on that narrative. Speaking with media members at the NFL's annual league meetings, Gutekunst was asked if he was surprised the Packers were able to get something in return for the defender. The general manager's answer was no, because he thinks highly of Gary, and says the team didn't plan on moving him unless Green Bay got a package that made sense.
While Gutekunst's answer sounded good, Packers fans aren't believing it.
"It was tough to part with Rashan because he's such a good player. I just think where we're going as a football team, it made a little bit of sense for us. Quite frankly, I think a guy with 60 pressures, seven and a half sacks, a guy you can kind of count on consistently like that, there's not a lot of those guys in the National Football League," Gutekunst said, via Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
"He's still a pretty young player, probably his best football is probably ahead of him. So not at all. We weren't going to move on from him unless we were going to get something that made sense for us, and I think where we were headed as a football team, it made sense to do the deal with Dallas. They're getting a really good player."
Brian Gutekunst says Packers were only moving on from Rashan Gary for a package that made sense
Gutekunst said that it was tough to let go of Gary because he was a good player, and the general manager even rattled off some of the defender's stats to drive home his point. However, he went on to deliver somewhat of a conflicting message, saying that based on where Green Bay is headed, it made sense to move Gary, but also that the Packers weren't going to move the defender unless they got the package they were looking for.
These two points, which are almost in opposition to each other, are just another reason why fans aren't buying what Gutekunst is selling.
Additionally, the writing was on the wall for a Gary release well before the Cowboys entered the picture. Gary even appeared to confirm that with the entire Instagram fiasco, when a premature farewell message to Green Bay was posted to his account, before being deleted, with Gary claiming his account was hacked. Of course, he was traded a couple of days later.
Gutekunst is a professional, so he probably isn't just going to come out and say that the Packers were about to release Gary.
Additionally, it wouldn't behoove the general manager to taunt the Cowboys, who have been great business partners for Green Bay. Gutekunst saying the right things, though, doesn't change fans seeing what was really going on.