Packers GM Brian Gutekunst on big trades: ‘You better be right’

Paul Bretl | 2/3/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — “I think it’s time we started competing for championships,” said Packers’ general manager Brian Gutekunst during his season-ending press conference a few weeks ago.

This statement came after Gutekunst mentioned that there are a bunch of “good guys” in the Packers locker room and that there are a bunch of “talented guys” as well. However, what Gutekunst wants to see from his young team in 2025 is that the “sense of urgency” is ramped up to help capitalize on the opportunity that is out there for the Packers.

Ultimately, that element–the urgency–is on the players and coaches to maximize. But for Gutekunst, with the time to compete for titles here, would he go off-script and make a big trade for a player that could put this Packers team over the edge?

We saw just last offseason that Gutekunst will take big swings in free agency for the right players when he signed Josh Jacobs and Xavier McKinney to either top of market or near top of market deals. That wasn’t the first time Gutekunst did that either, with Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith being other examples.

“I think I view every offseason that we have to attack it aggressively,” said Gutekunst in his season-ending press conference in January. “The opportunities that present themselves, whether that be free agency or trade, are different every year. Every year there’s not going to be a Josh Jacobs or an Xavier McKinney out there to go get.

“So we’ll see kinda what transpires through the free agency class – who gets re-signed, who doesn’t, if there’s salary cap casualties, if there’s trade opportunities, all those. But I think we always operate under the aggressive mindset, but we have a process that we go through and we’ll see what’s available. If it’s right for us, then we’re going to attack it. If they’re not there, it’s not there.”

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Gutekunst mentioned trade opportunities, but that isn’t a path he’s really explored during his time as general manager. He’s been more cautious when it comes to adding players through that avenue While the outside world focuses on what could be gained from an addition acquired via trade, the other part of the equation is what is being given up as well.

As Gutekunst described, this can include parting with not only draft picks, but young, ascending players who come with relatively inexpensive rookie deals, which when it comes to building a sustainable roster in today’s salary cap league, it’s a must nowadays to have high impact players on their first contracts and then the salary cap means to be able to extend them when the time comes.

“You’d better be right,” said Gutekunst when asked about trading a high draft pick for a player. “When you trade a high pick for a veteran player, you’re trading a young, really good contract for a player who’s proven but is probably expensive.

“So you’re giving up a pick and salary-cap space. So I think you’ve got to weigh that. And if it’s the right player, if you feel like he can be a dynamic player who can change your football team, I think you’ve got to consider that, because there’s not many of those guys out there. But I think you have to also understand what you’re giving up.”

One would assume that the Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett would fall into that “right player” category for Gutekunst and the Packers. Garrett is a four-time All-Pro, the 2023 AP Defensive Player of the Year, and on Monday, he requested a trade. Garrett is also still just 29 years old and was top-three in quarterback pressures this past season.

If it gets to the point where the Browns are willing to trade Garrett–which reportedly at this time, isn’t the case–Adam Schefter brought up the Khalil Mack trade when he was moved from the Raiders to the Bears. In that trade, the Raiders received two first-round picks, a third-round pick and a sixth-round pick. The Bears, in addition to landing Mack, also received a second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round pick.

The Athletic’s Dianna Russini had one NFL general manager tell her that landing Garret could require a “one-plus,” referencing a first-round pick and then some. However, that same general manager also said that three first-round picks is “not happening.”

In addition to giving up a first-rounder and more to potentially land Garrett, the team that acquires Garrett will also need available cap space, and likely have to be willing to sign him to a new deal. For some context around that, San Francisco’s Nick Bosa is earning $34 million per year, which is the top of market at the edge rusher position heading into the 2025 offseason.

Garrett is currently signed through the 2026 season and comes with a cap hit of $19.77 million in 2025 and a cap hit of $20.37 million in 2026, according to Over the Cap.

On paper–and Gutekunst agrees–the Packers are in a good position with the salary cap this offseason. With a large number of players still on inexpensive rookie deals, Green Bay currently has $42.14 million in available cap space, according to Over the Cap, which in terms of spending power, ranks as the 13th-most among the NFL.

Like any team, the Packers also have the ability to create more room through contract restructures, which pushes salary cap charges from the current year into future years. We saw Green Bay do this often during the 2021 and 2022 offseasons to keep that veteran-heavy roster together.

The benefit in the moment is that restructures create cap space now. However, the downside is that the player’s cap hit in future seasons is now inflated. If the Packers have to go down this path to improve the roster, Gutekunst is willing to do so, but he prefers to operate from the team’s current cap position now that they no longer have the salary cam impact of those past restructures on the books.

“Certainly we’d love to be in that situation every year where you have a lot of flexibility to do what you need to do,” Gutekunst said. “I think depending on the opportunities that are out there and your football team or where you’re at can dictate some of that. Again, I think whenever there are players like X or Josh that are out there (in free agency), which isn’t very often, I think even if you don’t have great flexibility, you have to really consider adding those kind of players because there’s just not that many of ’em.

“So again, I feel really good where we’re at right now, would love to stay in that kind of flexibility year to year. We’ll certainly try to do that, but at the same time if we kinda have to do some different things because we have an opportunity to acquire a player that can impact our team like these two guys did, we’ll do it.”

While, overall, the Packers’ defense took a step forward in Jeff Hafley’s first season as the defensive coordinator, the pass rush struggled to find any consistency. By ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric in 2024, the Packers ranked 26th and ended up parting ways with defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich. They’ve since hired DeMarcus Covington to fill that role on the coaching staff.

In order for the Packers defense to continue progressing and to ultimately reach its ceiling, the pass rush has to improve in 2025.

“It doesn’t happen a lot at all,” said Gutekunst of the Packers trading high picks for players, “but we’ve gotten some first-round picks for players. Certainly if that player can impact our football team in a significant way, you have to consider that.”

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