Nobody should complain that the Packers have spent the past few weeks working on a trade for Aaron Rodgers and signing experienced special teams players. These moves needed to be made. The problem is they waited too long to make them.
Team president Mark Murphy and general manager Brian Guteunst waited until Rodgers had a down season to trade the future first-ballot Hall of Famer. Better late than never, but by not pulling the trigger a year ago, the return for a player who was named league MVP only 14 months ago will be modest. Gutekust is reportedly holding out for a first-round pick from the Jets. He almost certainly would’ve received a pair of No. 1 picks and a lot more for Rodgers last spring.
While trading the reigning MVP would’ve taken guts, doing what’s easy doesn’t usually win championships. It wasn’t easy in February 1992 for then-GM Ron Wolf to trade a first-round pick for quarterback Brett Favre, a second-round pick the previous year who threw four passes as an unimpressive rookie for Atlanta. And it wasn’t easy in August 2008 for then-GM Ted Thompson to transition from Favre to Rodgers only months after the Packers played in the NFC title game.
Gutekunst and coach Matt LaFleur waited until a blocked punt cost the Packers a playoff game to get serious about improving special teams. Since losing by a field goal to the 49ers in the divisional round in January 2022, Gutekunst signed a half-dozen players who are in the NFL primarily due to their prowess on special teams, and LaFleur hired Rich Bisaccia, one of the league’s most respected coordinators for the past 20 years. It’s not unrealistic to think the Packers would’ve won that game and gone on to the Super Bowl had anybody other than Maurice Drayton been in charge.
LaFleur had a chance to be proactive and move on from Joe Barry after last season but chose instead to retain a run-of-the-mill defensive coordinator who hasn’t produced a good product with three different teams. The coach justified his decision by citing improved play in December and January. Never mind that a unit with seven No. 1 draft picks and four players earning at least $10 million a year couldn’t find a way to slow down mediocre quarterbacks like Taylor Heinicke, Daniel Jones, and Ryan Tannehill. Once again, LaFleur appears to be waiting for things to go really bad before making a change.
The best leaders are the ones who are able to figure out what to do before it becomes obvious to even the hordes of know-nothings on social media. It’s a problem when posters on Reddit know that special teams coordinator Drayton should be fired months before LaFleur or when commenters on multiple Packers forums realize that trading Rodgers is the right thing to do a full year before Murphy and Gutekunst. Being proactive is almost never easy, but it’s always necessary.
One of the only times this regime has actually been proactive was when Gutekunst selected Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 draft. Not many people saw that coming, and very few liked it at the time. But three years later, the Packers at least stand a fighting chance of surviving life sans Rodgers. If Love proves to be legit, the team should be a contender again by 2024. And while I didn’t support the move because I didn’t like the particular player, I never had a problem with the reasoning. Gutekunst was being proactive rather than reactive, and that’s the only way to win big in the NFL.
There’s a problem with the mobile version of the site, but the desktop version should be fine. Hopefully, everything will be back to normal in a day or two.
Michael, I was using a desktop when I couldn’t get in the previous post. It’s all good now. thanks
Desktop version has never had a problem for me, just the phone. Particularly when linking here from Twitter. Thanks for looking into this.
I was disappointed that Barry was retained, but I’m still hopeful that he’ll be replaced by Jim Leonhard after next season.
Sometimes I wish I knew what was going on inside the braintrust of Lombardi Ave. I’m a know nothing who has never played football beyond 9th grade, and I knew the time to trade 12 was after that SF debacle. I also knew the ST coordinator couldn’t cut it. I also knew that a 240 lb long snapper was a liability.
I don’t get it, man.
But like you said, if Love ends up being good then all of this doesn’t really matter because we will contend for the next 15 years. Never mind that we had three legitimate cracks at a SB and struck out each time.
The assumption here being that the main goal is to win the Super Bowl. I don’t think it is- I think the Packer’s strategy is continued playoff berths to maintain relevance and revenue. How are the attendance figures and (perhaps more important) the TV times going to look once we enter a sustained period of losing?
When you view the FO’s moves through that lens, milking Rodgers for every last win and playoff appearance makes a lot more sense. For most of his career, Rodgers was a near lock to make the playoffs regardless of supporting cast. The coach stuff is less understandable, but I guess Murphy doesn’t like to pay people money not to work. Can’t say I blame him, even if I wish he would send talents like Barry and Drayton packing a lot sooner (or maybe never hire them at all?).
I think it would be more accurate to say that the collective decision makers at 1265 Lombardi wished and hoped so much for one more try for a Super Bowl victory in 2022, that they ignored logical conclusions and paid a high ransom. Even before the 2022 season began, they knew the status quo could not continue into 2023. That is, and still have half of the starters.
The 2022 season was obviously disappointing, but even a successful 2022 would not have changed the unlivable situation for 2023. That train left the station a year ago.
Today we see what was set in motion a year ago.
Rodgers having a down season in 2022 probably makes this bad situation more tolerable.
If I want to put a positive spin on LaFleur’s proactiveness or lack there of, I can say he is much, much more proactive than Ray Rhodes. Smile!
Love the positive spin at the end. It’s true!
How about the coaches being more proactive when it comes to who to play? Starting Jake Hanson in week 1 and sticking for so long with Amari Rodgers and Darnell Savage was inexcusable.
The most important thing a coach has to do is hire good coordinators. I’m afraid this could be LaFleur’s downfall now that Rodgers is gone. Considering how close he is to Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, I’m surprised he’s not better at hiring coordinators. His friends hit the jackpot with LaFleur, Kevin O’Connell, Wade Phillips, Zac Taylor, Mike McDaniel, Vic Fangio, DeMeco Ryans, etc.
i think it makes a lot of sense for the Packers to target the Jets top choice in the next draft. that Jets’ #1 pick could be instrumental in the Packers selecting their QB of the future in the event that Jordan Love demonstrates that he is not their guy. i also see the Jets wanting to hold onto their 2024 #1 in the event Rodgers decides to retire and the Jets may look for another QB in the ’24 draft.
it is personal intuition; however, barring unforeseen injury, i think Rodgers still has multiple years of play left in him. the Rodgers’ retirement threat is more air than substance. i hope the Jets see that, and i really hope that the Packers can land the Jets ’24 first round choice in the impending trade details.
I agree about Rodgers playing for at least another couple of years. He’s not walking away from $40M in 2024. Plus, what’s he going to do without football? It’s not like he has a wife and kids. Playing golf and going on darkness retreats will get old after a while.