Bizarre is about the only word to describe the totality of the work done so far by the Green Bay Packers this offseason.
The Packers have:
– swapped Bryan Bulaga for Rick Wagner, creating a rather significant downgrade at right tackle.
– stagnated in the defensive front, with Christian Kirksey replacing Blake Martinez but no other significant additions made at linebacker or defensive line.
– added little at wide receiver, save for Devin Funchess and former CFL star Reggie Begelton. Seventeen receivers were picked during the first two days of the draft but none by the Packers.
– used their first two picks in the draft on a developmental quarterback and a running back. Their third pick might be an H-back long-term.
The Packers have six picks on Day 3 of the draft, but they don’t have a fourth-rounder (used to trade up to get Jordan Love) and five of the six are in the sixth or seventh rounds. Expecting GM Brian Gutekunst to find early contributors so late in the draft is unrealistic.
Gutekunst, now in his third year, built up plenty of goodwill during his first two offseasons, using a bunch of high picks and a truckload of cap space to reshape the roster. For the most part, Gutekunst did really, really well to transform the Packers from a flailing team in 2017 and 2018 into a 14-game winner and division champion in 2019.
This was the first year Gutekunst needed to truly maximize limited resources at his disposal. The Packers didn’t have significant cap space, and they entered Thursday night with limited overall draft capital, despite holding 10 picks. Gutekunst was going to have to be creative and smart and string a bunch of good moves together to push the Packers forward.
Has he done that?
The defensive front isn’t any better. The offensive line is worse. The passing game probably didn’t improve in any meaningful way.
The Packers patched a few holes in free agency and focused the first two days of the draft on building the future. Now, any improvement from the Packers will be mostly reliant on internal development – both schematically and from individual young players.
Can Matt LaFleur’s offense take a step in Year 2 by simply being more comfortable in the scheme? Will Mike Pettine find ways to advance the defense forward without help? And how will the virtual offseason affect or stunt development?
The Packers might have to look to a big group of young players – such as Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Jace Sternberger, Eqanimeous St. Brown, Oren Burks, Rashan Gary, Kingsley Keke, Josh Jackson and Montravius Adams – to get better in their second or third seasons and drive the improvement overall. And they might not be able to join teammates on a football field until training camp at the very earliest.
The Packers didn’t really operate this offseason like a 13-3 team that was one win away from the Super Bowl with a future Hall of Fame quarterback entering the final stage of his career. They treaded water, content with the status quo, and potentially prepared to begin the transition to the next phase.
Maybe that’s where the Packers are at after an unexpectedly win-filled 2019 season – stuck between the allure of winning more with the old and wanting to accelerate the transition to the new.
Picking Jordan Love, who Matt LaFleur reportedly loved, has set in motion Aaron Rodgers’ future departure. It’s coming. The Packers didn’t take Love just to have a talented backup sitting around for the next half-decade. They will want him to play. And as soon as divorcing Rodgers becomes financially relevant, the divorce won’t just become possible, but probable. The end of the road for No. 12 in Green Bay has finally appeared over the horizon.
Gutekunst could have waited another year to target a quarterback high. The timing and the finanicals would have lined up better. And he could have stayed put at 30 and picked one of the talented receivers that went high in the second round, providing a new weapon for the passing game. Instead, Gutekunst moved up for a flawed but talented quarterback, and no matter what he says, trading up in the first round for a quarterback is a reflection of the team’s view on the current quarterback.
Taking A.J. Dillon in the second round is another pick for the future. Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams are both free agents after the 2020 season. Regardless of future need, using a second-round pick on a running back is bad process.
It was stunning that the Packers exited the first two days of the first round without a receiver, offensive tackle, inside linebacker, defensive lineman or cornerback. Stunning.
The grand plan of the offseason just doesn’t look coherent. Maybe it will emerge over time. The individual parts just don’t add up to a clear pathway to improvement in 2020.
Did the Packers get any closer to competing for a Super Bowl next season? It’s really hard to argue they have during this bizarre offseason.