GREEN BAY \u2014 There are very few guarantees in the National Football League, but one thing is for certain: Every player \u2014 no matter how talented he is, no matter how productive he is, no matter how large his paycheck is \u2014 will, at some point, face adversity.<\/p>\n
And while Brian Gutekunst doesn\u2019t wish hardship on any player, the Green Bay Packers general manager also knows that no amount of film study, and no battery of drills or physical fitness tests can tell him how a prospect will handle the professional setbacks and challenges he will ultimately face.<\/p>\n
Which is why, in addition to 40-yard dash times and video clips and intelligence tests and personal interviews, Gutekunst takes a keen interest in what draftees have overcome or endured to reach the precipice of the NFL.<\/p>\n
Although such an approach might seem like a recent development \u2014 brought on by an era of college football where players sign lucrative NIL deals and have the freedom to enter the transfer portal at the first sign of not getting what they want or feel they deserve \u2014 Gutekunst insists it has long been part of his evaluation of players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say we always have [valued it],\u201d Gutekunst explained after choosing eight players during last month\u2019s NFL Draft. \u201cThere are times where you run into some guys that maybe haven\u2019t [gone through it], and when you don\u2019t know how they\u2019re going to react to adversity, that can be tough. Especially in the National Football League.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the first time they\u2019re facing adversity is here, that can be difficult. So knowing that they\u2019ve already been through something and learned how to get to the other side of it and persevere, it\u2019s important. Because they\u2019re going to go through adversity \u2014 there\u2019s no doubt about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard and they\u2019re going to question themselves and their confidence is going to get shaken at times. And they need to be able to get through that to perform at this level. So it is important to us, and it always has been.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three times during the draft, when discussing a player he\u2019d just selected, Gutekunst said, \u201cHe’s had adversity in his life and he’s come out the other side,\u201d or a variation thereof.<\/p>\n
He said it about first-round pick Matthew Golden, and he said it about third-round pick Savion Williams, and he said it about fourth-round pick Barryn Sorrell.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for any good scouting department, you have to wrap your mind around the fact that these are young men who’ve been through a life \u2014 their life to this point is different than how I grew up in a small town in southwestern Wisconsin,\u201d said Packers director of football operations Milt Hendrickson, a Blanchardville, Wis., native who was a multi-sport star at Pecatonica High School and who has known Gutekunst since the two were together at UW-La Crosse.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many of these kids come from so many different backgrounds and adversity. But I think if you have guys who’ve been through tough times \u2014 in their minds, whatever that tough time is \u2014 and they’ve come out OK on the other side, that they’re going to be calloused enough to be able to handle the day in and day out, what it takes, not only to be in this league, but then to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
To be clear, Gutekunst and Hendrickson aren\u2019t just talking about not being invited to a high-school all-star game, or a guy\u2019s dream school not recruiting him, or being snubbed in the all-conference balloting in college.<\/p>\n
They especially mean real-life stuff \u2014 the experiences that typify the old adage about how adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives you perspective, No. 1,\u201d Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said. \u201cResilience is key, and I think you see it especially in our league or any competitive league. There’s going to be moments of adversity and there’s going to be some struggle. And if you’re not tough minded, it’s hard to make it through the other side of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we’ve seen it with just with our team over the course of two years. And as painful as it is, in the moment, from a team standpoint, sometimes you’re better for going through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, let\u2019s not be clich\u00e9 or flippant here. Football players aren\u2019t the only ones who endure tough times, and they\u2019re not the only ones who persevere through them, either.<\/p>\n
But to understand why this is something Gutekunst believes is worth thinking about, the Packers need not look any further than Golden, who became the first wide receiver the franchise has selected in the first round since Javon Walker in 2002.<\/p>\n
After being told of Gutekunst\u2019s comment about appreciating the way he\u2019d battled through real-life adversity, Golden was then asked what the GM might have been referring to.<\/p>\n
Golden had previously shared before the draft how his grandmother, who\u2019d helped raise him, lost her home several years ago. He vowed to use the money from his first NFL contract to buy back the house, which he said \u201cis basically abandoned\u201d but is on the market.<\/p>\n
But Golden also revealed last week that times were often so difficult when he and his mother, Geri, were on their own that they were homeless.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and my mom, at times, we stayed in hotels and there was times we couldn\u2019t pay for a room, so we stayed in front of Walmart in Brenham, Texas,\u201d Golden recounted during last weekend\u2019s rookie minicamp. \u201cSo I reflect back to that whenever I am playing football, it just keeps me motivated to keep going.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything that happened to me, everything that I went through, it happened for a reason. That\u2019s what got me here. To be in this position, you know it wasn\u2019t easy getting here. I know what I did, the people that I had around me that helped me get to this point.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat it took to get here wasn\u2019t easy, but I always stayed grounded, stayed committed to the process and whatever opportunity that came to me, I made the most of it. Just knowing that\u2019s what it took to get here and that\u2019s what going to keep me here.\u201d<\/p>\n
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