GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – It’s been a pretty eventful week in the Green Bay Packers Football Operations department. On Monday it was learned General Manager Brian Gutekunst and Executive Vice-President and Director of Football Ops Russ Ball worked out the four year, 107.5 million dollar contract extension with Rashan Gary and on Tuesday, Gutekunst sent starting cornerback Rasul Douglas, even with a thin depth chart at that position, to the Buffalo Bills that also relinquishes next year’s fifth round draft choice, getting a third round pick in return.
Gutekunst may have appeared in the Lambeau Field media auditorium for the last time until season’s end today to explain the moves and discuss the state of his 2-5 team.
Gutey meets the press at Lambeau.
He opened the session with praise for the departed, a big endorsement of the future cornerstone of his defense and patience testing growth of his team as it nears the season’s midpoint.
Hearing the GM has convinced me even more he’s staying the course with his plan to assemble a young team around a first year starting quarterback and watch it take root and grow together. It’s just that growth has been painfully slow. Gutekunst didn’t excuse the youth saying 7 games in, we’re beyond that, the players are professionals and better results are expected. Matter of fact, he said the extreme struggles offensively have made it difficult to evaluate Jordan Love properly. He’s giving it the whole season saying there are 10 games, 10 very important games remaining to offer a solid evaluation.
Head Coach Matt LaFleur echoed Gutekunst in discussing the Douglas deal, he played a big role in his two years with the team, became a locker room leader and will be missed.
Player reaction in the locker room was also as expected. Love could well have been speaking for the entire team.
One of his closest friends on the team, Keisean Nixon said, “I was really lost for words. I understand it’s a business, but I’m still to sick to my stomach honestly.”
7th round draft choice Carrington Valentine is expected to replace Douglas beginning Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams. Valentine said he learned a lot from Rasul making it a point to sit next to him at almost every team meeting. When given a start with Jaire Alexander out with his sore back in Denver, Valentine struggled against veterans Russell Wilson and Courtland Sutton but LaFleur said he has the requisite short memory and talent to rebound.
As for practice, LaFleur made good on his vow to shake things up this week. After giving his assistants new responsibilities in some team meetings and practice preparation, the squad worked in full pads on a Wednesday, Thursday is usually the heavy lifting day of the week. While all rostered players took part in practice, running back Aaron Jones was fashioning a new jersey look.
Aaron Jones joins Jordan Love in red.
Jones put on the red, “Don’t touch!” jersey usually reserved for quarterbacks. Just a precaution said running backs coach Ben Sirmans after practice, “Right now he’s in a good spot and we just didn’t want to take any chances.”
Jones was officially limited on the week’s first injury report. The other limited participants were Jaire Alexander, Elgton Jenkins, Luke Musgrave and Yosh Nijman.
Out in Los Angeles, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford did not practice on Wednesday after spraining the UCL on his right thumb last week. Head Coach Sean McVay said they are not ready to rule Stafford out for Sunday, giving him the entire week to recover.
Finally, the Packers announced today nominations are now being accepted to find the 26th Packers FAN Hall of Fame inductee. Check out Packers.com for details on the nomination process, open through the end of November. A committee will eventually select the winner early in 2024.
