Packers GM Brian Gutekunst: FULL INTERVIEW (2025)

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst: FULL INTERVIEW (2025)

today we welcome in a very special guest to discuss the off seasonason and the team’s outlook for 2025 it’s Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gudikunst what’s up Brian that much how you guys doing yeah doing well i’m just I’m just happy you can hear Corey well you had a lot this is We did it we’re contending for championships we’re contending for Let’s go absolutely yeartoyear improvement brian really appreciate you being here man um first uh up right off the bat talking about an off seasonason where man it feels like there’s a ton of headlines no matter what’s going on i thought coming off of like the last couple years a lot of quarterback drama right there would be a little less drama around the team but it seems there’s always something going on with the Green and Gold but trying to pull back 30,000 ft what is your first impression of the group now that you’ve gone through an offseason you’ve got them all together obviously you had your rookie camp and now you’ve had your OTAAS and your mini camp you’ve put them on the field what are your kind of first 30,000 foot impressions of the group you’ve assembled yeah you know I think um I really like the way these guys work together it’s an interesting group because there we do have a lot of guys who are young by age but very experienced by the amount of football they’ve played in the National Football League um you know big games playoff games those kind of things so I think you know watching some of these guys come into different roles as far as leadership goes and bringing everybody else with them um it’s been it’s been a good offseason to watch that happen and certainly something that’s really critical for for our success moving forward so um but no they they work really well together i think they gel with the coaching staff um it’s been a good offseason for us and now it’s just time to you know get ready for the real grind which is training camp can’t wait for training camp brian at the end Okay so at the end of the season there’s this quote that’s been going around you you said “It’s time we started competing for championships,” which I loved by the way so thank you for that so I was thinking of as I was thinking about questions because you know I only I Naggler only lets me get like one or two so on my one question so yeah yeah exactly exactly exactly uh so uh you know what about this year and kind of like the process that you’ve gone through with the team what about it makes you think that this team is ready to compete for a championship yeah I think it’s a lot of what they’ve been through over the past couple years you know and the experience that they’ve gotten um I just think that’s that’s the next step for us right i think we’ve we’ve we played some really good football u we’ve been really competitive at times um but I think it’s time for the consistency day in and day out to to to be there and and that allows you to compete for championships you know so uh I think this group has grown together the the way we kind of wanted it to um then I think there’s obvious some steps left but uh I think they’re ready for that challenge specifically this off season do you think you accomplished what you needed to to help this team get over the hump yeah I don’t I don’t necessarily look at it like trying to get over a hump or or anything like that i think it’s just a matter of making sure that you know there’s competition in every room um you know that there’s going to be multiple ways that we can win a football game whether it’s offensively defensively special teams um and I and I like I said I really do like the group i like the competition that’s something we monitor 365 days a year and are always trying to add to that um but I like the way um the competition is is shaping up right now and and the way they’re juggling with our coaching staff um with the vision that we have so um again it’s really really early um in training camp I think you find a lot out a lot about your football team as you move forward in the early part of that season um but I like where the guys are right now you mentioned competition and I think there’s something you look at the roster and it’s something it’s been somewhat of a running joke this offseason online which I know you’re perennally online you’re a big Twitter guy but something that you know has continuously come up is people noticing how many wide receivers there are on this roster there there there are a number of them and I I I would suspect and I’d like to get maybe confirmation from you is the idea there as far as yes you’ve got guys who have done it for you right and a number of guys who’ve done it at a high level put up a bunch of production for you but just the sheer number seems to suggest look we can’t be feeling ourselves right like there are there’s a lot of talent in that room but I don’t think you’d go around the league and say that’s a that’s a group that’s proved it and arrived there’s still a lot of kind of competition at the wide receiver spot in Green Bay yeah there’s certainly a lot of competition i do think there’s obviously some of those guys have proven some things in the National Web have done things and and some guys are just getting started at the same time um you know nothing’s for certain in this league i mean you guys know how injuries happen and and what your needs are right now where your depth is right now can completely change in and in in a very quick short order so um but I do I’ve always felt um from the time I’ve been involved in football that competition brings out the best in everybody um and for the guys that we’re trying to find to put this team together that can win in January uh I think it’s important that we have that kind of competition because um you know to to to reach the levels we want to get to you got to be able to handle that fire so to speak so um I think it’s going to be interesting how it all shakes out um but I really like the character of the men in that room and I think that um certainly um they’re going to have a lot of opportunity as we move forward flimping it over to the other side of the ball um more competition going to be happening at the corner spot right uh certainly I I know you and Matt have both talked about really liking your top three guys after the release of Jier Alexander which we will get to in a second don’t think I ain’t going to ask him for but uh the idea you know after those kind of initial top whatever you want to call them three you know uh you do have a lot of unknowns and you do have a lot of guys that I think there’s a lot of promise there um are you still on the lookout there I know you always talk about it’s you know 365 day a year job um but are are you on the lookout or is it the expectation that you know a number of those guys are going to make the jump yeah I think you know I really like again we have three guys that have you know I think they’ve combined started you know over 90 games in the National Football League and we feel really good about those three guys um and the versatility that they bring i mean all three guys are able to play inside and outside and um so we’re excited about that um I would you know again uh there’s not many teams in this league that probably have three guys that they feel really good about um we do so so again I like our depth there i do think you know between you know um Kaylin King and uh Kamal Haden and and Michael Robinson I think there’s going to be some really good competition for the back end into that roster i’m excited to give those guys that opportunity to see um but uh kind of you know what what you’re talking about we’re always going to look to add to that and if if guys become available whether it’s you know today tomorrow as we get into camp um certainly we’ll be looking at that but I I like where we are right now um there are some guys that um are going to have to go earn it um to to solidify that back end of that corner group um but uh like I I’d like to see those guys um have the opportunity to compete for those jobs i uh I wanted to ask you I wanted to interject on draft okay because one thank you for not taking a kicker or punter in the draft i really appreciate that so thanks for that um but I did have a fun question for you um so I know that you’re like really busy for the draft and the draft this year was I mean it was incredible it was cool it was the coolest thing I think I’ve ever experienced in my life and it was incredible and I know you didn’t personally because you’re actually one of the few people at 1265 that works during the draft um not that everybody doesn’t but in a typical draft so did you get to do anything like cool like for you personally or with the family or was there anything that you got to like experience the Green Bay draft or was it just kind of in the corner while you’re doing deals and and you know what I mean like was there anything that you kind of remember that that that was cool about it i do remember a lot of it i didn’t get to experience much really anything um as far as the outside part of my family did on Thursday night particularly um you know my son and he had about seven buddies they were running around they thought it was fantastic um there were so so so for us it really was business as usual for the most part as we went through our process but the cool moments just came um you know certainly in the first round when when Mark got up there and and I mean to you know to understand what a big deal it was for him to get the draft here in Green Bay and and to have that moment up there like it was just uh again it was like you know as soon as we we were going through a number of things while we were on the clock when we decided to go ahead and make the pick um you know I think I sat down and one of our scouts just kind of said hey you know this place is about to erupt right and I go oh yeah I turn it up you know so we listen to it and just to kind of see Mark how he handled that and and what a cool moment that was the Baron World thing again was another cool moment we didn’t expect coming um but I think just the whole vibe you know as we were going into it my biggest concern was getting in and out of here making sure our process could be unaffected and um it never really quite frankly dawned on me how what a great experience it was going to be for everybody involved in it and it couldn’t have been better so I just I think that for me that’s my biggest takeaway besides the players that we got are going to help our football team is just the fact that um you know the city of Green Bay and and the Packers and and the NFL um I just thought it was a great event and really just showed our showed our town well speaking of the draft and uh things that kind of transpired through it um obviously you mentioned the big pop when the Golden Selection gets made Murphy does the WWE style intro and it was great um the golden selection I got to admit did surprise me um the the idea that you guys hadn’t taken a wide receiver in so long in the first round and I know you’ve often talked about how it’s just how it fell you know and and Ted is Ted used to say the same thing right but finally you pull the trigger on a guy who is fast as hell right like there’s no question about his speed like that is certainly an attractive element i did want to ask looking kind of back through the course of the last five six years what have you um even back when Aaron was the quarterback and Matt kind of first came on the scene I think it’s noted and noticeable the games or times the stretches where either MVS back in the day or Christian Watson more recently have kind of you know been on the sideline due to injury for either one game or a stretch of games the offense has really seemed affected right the the idea that they’re they’re still able to move the ball score points what have you but it’s it feels like much more of a grind when those guys have missed time did that inform you at all as far as look we know Christian’s not going to be back until whenever later this year we’ve got to be able to get someone on the field who can affect on the offensive side of the ball the same way they’re not the same players but that element alone should help open things up in Matt’s offense yeah it’s interesting when you run 429 in the combine obviously that’s a huge talking point right um really with Matthew that was obviously a plus and he plays the game very fast um but really there was so much more about his game his hands and his ability to get in out of his breaks and um just his overall instincts and awareness of the game that really drew us to him more so than anything um you know Christian’s speed on the outside what he does is pretty hard to replicate for anybody there’s very few guys that have the size and the power and the speed that he has um certainly Matthew’s fast and he can he can do so but this that really wasn’t a lot of of a big factor as we went into that selection um you know the whole first round wide receiver thing obviously I’ve dealt with that for a long time it’s just now you never have to deal with it again yeah right exactly well you know a couple years they’ll probably saying it again but or whatever other position you haven’t taken in a while but in all seriousness like you know the thing that’s always it’s when you had Devonte Adams and Greg Jennings and Jord Nelson and all these guys who were such great players uh Pro Bowl type players um in the second round I never understood why it mattered but um it is what it is but um to see the to see the reaction on uh in the way Mark set it up on draft day was um I mean you can’t you can’t make that up that was fantastic and then in the second round I only wanted to touch on this because it’s so unusual uh given everything that’s transpired in the CBA and everything and the way things are slotted now but all these second round picks they’re not signed yet including yours is this just a weird happen stance i know there’s the kind of two teams that have signed their second rounders with fully guaranteed deals is that a major sticking point is that something you’re hearing from agents or No it’s Do you expect that to get done by the time camp starts we do and again you know obviously we do i think this is something that over the past few years you’ve seen this as kind of how it’s fallen it’s really it has you know it’s a it has something to do with obviously what you talked about guaranteed money in in in the for the contract and it’s just you know it always bogs down here and moves slower because no agent wants to get jumped by somebody who got picked you know behind them so that’s that’s why it happens um as we get closer to camp those things usually you know kind of take care of themselves and hopefully well you know for us as well so um it’s just a big waiting game uh the these things are used in recruiting uh for agents against them and for them as they go through this so that’s that’s why this particular round um always seems to be the last to to sign speaking of guaranteed money see this is how you do it Brian speaking of guaranteed money we got uh we got you know Jaier Alexander’s relatives on Twitter talking about guarantees or lack thereof from the Green Bay Packers which I didn’t think was a huge surprise given what the contract was structured um and everybody knew it saw it i don’t want you to get into the details i don’t need you to like you know sit talk about the conversations you had with Jaur or his representatives um I will say though and just because I know there are a whole ton of Packers fans who have this question and feel this way um how are you a better team without Jaier Alexander i understand the frustrations of his inability to stay on the field consistently but I don’t think there’s any argument to make that you’re a better defense if he’s on the field and now he’s going to be on the field for the Ravens yeah well I think it comes down to that whether he can stay on the field right that was that was always a thing over the past four years really for us was um his ability to be out there and um what that kind of does i think obviously bringing in Nate Hobbs and then Keshan stepping up like he did and Carrington going to I think that’s what allows us to be a better football team than than than we were last year just those guys having more experience bringing in Nate as well um because the reality is Jay really wasn’t on the field for as much at all um the past couple years so uh it’s a shame i mean he he’s such a good player for us um and it’s just one of those things that we would have loved to work out in some in some way but um he just uh I think over the last four years with what uh we were paying him and and his ability to stay on the field that was just something I think it was time for us to move on it was probably really good for for him as well to have a fresh start and uh I know there was frustration on his part and our and our part just for his inability to be out there um on a consistent basis so hopefully that’ll change for him as he goes forward but for us I think it was important that we had a little hopefully a little bit more stability there well I told Wallers we’d have you for like around 12 10 to 12 minutes and it’s been 15 do you mind if you can we ask you just a few more questions i I mean I know Wallers is a a you know a taskmaster over there i don’t want to like get off track i’m sure there’s a tea time involved so that’s probably why so at least you’re honest you know that’s what I like about you Brian the honesty um speaking of contracts cuz that’s all the [ __ ] we talk about in the offseason um Zack Tom when’s that going to get done i mean I made a whole stink about this earlier this this summer man like you got Adam Stenovich out there talking about how he’s going to have to compete for a right tackle like at what point do you say this is a core player we’re going to lock him up yeah first of all we’re we’re always competing right no matter who you are what your contract status is and all that but I will say now we we’ve had really healthy conversations with Zach about about um you know locking him up and certainly that’s something we’d like to do um you these things take time as you know and um they’re never u they never happen very quickly but uh uh confident obviously he’s been a really good player for us since the time he um he got here done everything right by us and we’d certainly like to make that happen so hopefully we’ll we’ll um we’ll get there soon and then you you pulled the trigger on the fifthear oper option for Dvonte Wyatt you uh declined it declined to do so for Quay Walker what are your expectations for Quay because I know you’ve talked pretty glowingly a couple of times now about how you do expect him to be a core part of this defense uh what are your expectations there are you really kind of bullish on what you saw towards the end after he got back from the injury it really seemed like he and Cooper had a good thing going there in that game against Philly um what are your expectations for Klay Walker yeah my expectations are really really high and really the only reason we didn’t do the um fifth year option i think you guys probably know this that a lot of the outside linebackers are are calculated into that to that number so just to make less sense we’re like we’re going down that road with him as well to see if we can make that happen as well so um but no I we’ve been bullish on Quay since he got here he’s played a lot of really really good football for us i think you know his best football is still in front of him um but he’s just you know constantly pro does everything the right way um you know has a level of toughness and and and focus that that our that our defense needs um and really having those two guys on the field at the same time the athleticism that that brings and the size uh the ability to rush the pass or the ability to cover uh I think they those two guys are going to work well off each other as we move forward one thing that did uh hit the I guess internet yesterday uh kind of out of nowhere on our end maybe you knew it was coming but Ed Policy met with the local media and uh you know had some some things to say about priorities and winning football games which is no surprise but you know the the portion of the interview I guess interviews that I was very interested in was when he was asked about the structure right we’re just feels like we maybe we on the outside are a little more kind of uh invested in this than you guys are on the inside but um like Ed policy talking about the fact that you you and and Matt and and Russ working well together that’s what he’s observed but wanting to maybe meet a little bit more with him um to facilitate more andor better communication is that something that u you you welcome is that something you think is necessary because again from the outside looking in I’ve always talked about and felt and I think you know your own historian Cliff Crystal has written about this extensively the less that the executive side of things is involved on the football side of things the healthier and better the Green Bay Packers have been so I just wondered what your response to that was yeah you know I’ve kind of I’ve obviously been here a long time so I’ve kind of got to see a number of structures in place here obviously when I got hired by Ron there was a certain structure in place mike Sherman took over it for for a period of time and there was this different structure in place and then um you know worked under Ted where it was back to kind of the way it was with Ron and then certainly the way it’s been you know for me over the past uh since 2019 or 18 so um you know to me it’s really comes down to the people and their ability to work together and I think we got a really good group right now that communicates very very well i think when when Ed coming in there’s going to be a lot that I think he’s going to want to be part of that he hasn’t been part of prior to just kind of gain the knowledge of how everything works together so I think it’s a really good thing um certainly I’m going to say that he’s my new boss right so we got to say that but um but but at the same time I’m I’m excited for Ed and and kind of some of the things that he wants to do with the organization moving forward for for Matt myself and Russ you know our our um our goal doesn’t change we’re trying to win a championship we’re all trying to do our job in the best we can we’ve been together a long time now so we’ve we’ve really found a way to communicate on all the the issues and the things that we need to do moving forward in a really good way there’s a really good cadence there um with Mark we met every couple weeks and so this is just going to be a little bit more but I don’t think it’s going to um you know really change a ton of how um Russ um Matt and I uh communicate on a daily basis because I mean we’re talking every single day so um but no I think I’m excited for Ed and you know he’s waited for this opportunity and he’s certainly knows our culture he’s not coming in from the outside so um he knows how important you know winning and and chasing championships is to this organization so um yeah it’s nice to have that kind of support really appreciate the time Brian this is amazing that you you even agree to do it uh I got one final question i don’t know about Corey cory’s Cory’s got quicker i’m good i got my two i got my two Brian thank you all right very good um my final my final question out the door here is something that like permeates online and there are Packers fans who feel this way and that’s why I want to present it to you uh simply because we had a gentleman in our happy hour last night who offered up his Twitter account to you if you need a burner to go and battle this online because it does seem to be a very online particular kind of complaint when they see something like a Gier Alexander being released a very good player and this team that has perennially been kind of you know knocking its head on against the wall as far as trying to get back and win a Super Bowl and he said you know it’s time to get back to contending for championships and I don’t think anybody uh disagrees that that yes let’s go right that that sense of urgency that you talked about at the end of the season um but you know there there’s a faction of the fan fan base that legit thinks that you andor the Green Bay Packers are satisfied with just winning a lot of football games now I think that’s insanity but I wanted to ask you here in this forum and maybe get your response andor anything you might be able to tell Packers fans as far as like a how freaking tough this is but b how you know clearly you are your number one kind of job here is to win a championship in Green Bay um it’s just fascinating to me that people think that there’s some kind of complacency in that regard when it comes to everything going on inside 1265 yeah i think it’s it’s it’s I I don’t you know obviously I don’t follow a lot of that stuff but I will say like from the time I I step foot into this building back in 1997 as an intern like it’s never changed right that the only thing that that we hang banners for that we put up around this building is is world championship Super Bowls now um and everything that we we we do and we think about goes into that i think our philosophy on that is we want to compete for him every single year um we want to be involved and and relevant to compete for a championship every single year so there are things that we do look at long term that way um I’ve never been a big believer to try to build up for a window i’ve never I never thought that’s a a wise thing to do i want to be you know try to be in this tournament every single year um but yeah when you walk around this building and and you talk to the different people I think this goes throughout our building and how how important um winning championships is um I don’t think that would you know I don’t think that would be something they would they would question i love it ryan you’re the absolute man can’t thank you enough for the time i hope you’re uh you know at least I know last year you said you don’t really get away you just like go to all your kids baseball games and stuff so I hope you’re you know you’re ready to go to a lot of baseball games this summer prior to uh like you said the grind really starting there in late July yeah we’re you know we’ll enjoy this time off but every year it’s the same as we get closer to you know middle of July we just get more and more exciting to get back at it and um I know the whole group when we left here was kind of one of those moments where it wasn’t like the the last day of school everybody was just screaming to get out here everybody was kind of like “Okay there’s a lot we got to get done and we want to get back soon.” So it’d be good love it absolutely love it thanks guys thanks so much Brian have a great day thank you

CHTV co-founders Corey Behnke and Aaron Nagler are joined by Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst to discuss the team’s offseason and outlook for 2025.

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