{"id":741979,"date":"2026-02-10T07:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T07:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/741979\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T07:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T07:32:08","slug":"how-seriously-should-we-take-gutekunsts-statement-about-rashan-gary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/741979\/","title":{"rendered":"How Seriously Should We Take Gutekunst\u2019s Statement About Rashan Gary?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s fair to take Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst\u2019s words from his end-of-season press conferences with a grain of salt. He all but guaranteed<\/a> running back Aaron Jones<\/a> would be back two years ago, and then let Jones go after the Packers agreed to a deal<\/a> with Josh Jacobs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gutekunst had some interesting things to say about defensive end Rashan Gary<\/a> at his recent presser. The consensus among fans and analysts was that Gary would be a cap casualty<\/a>, but Gutekunst pushed back on that. That still seems improbable, but even taking Gutekunst at his word, it can\u2019t be an option to bring Gary back on his current deal.<\/p>\n

By now, you\u2019ve heard this familiar tale of statistical woe: Gary had 7.5 sacks in 2025 but didn\u2019t have a single sack or tackle for loss after the seventh game of the season. As his production dipped, so did his snap-count totals. By the end of the season, Gary was getting out-snapped by Kingsley Enagbare<\/a> and Lukas Van Ness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to reporters asking<\/a> Gutekunst about Gary and his interesting answer about all the players under contract for next year \u2014 Gary specifically.<\/p>\n

I expect all these guys who are under contract to be back. \u2026 I thought he started out really, really strong. He had a lot of production early. \u2026 I did think toward the end he wasn\u2019t as productive as he was at the beginning. Certainly, that\u2019ll be something I\u2019m sure he looks at personally, and we look at as a team how we can make sure that his production level is the same at the beginning and end of the season.<\/p>\n

Rashan Gary has a $28 million cap hit<\/a> in 2026 if they don\u2019t alter his contract at all. That would be the second-highest on the team. Gary can still be productive, but not to the tune of a $28 million cap charge. The Packers would be asinine to let that play out without restructuring his deal.<\/p>\n

For many, Gary is as good as gone. But, thankfully, those fans aren\u2019t in charge of the operations at 1265 Lombardi Ave. When cooler heads prevail, bringing back Gary would be fine. It just can\u2019t be on his current deal.<\/p>\n

Micah Parsons<\/a> won\u2019t be ready for the start of the season. Enagbare will be an unrestricted free agent. Van Ness hasn\u2019t been able to piece it together consistently. Barryn Sorrell<\/a> and Collin Oliver<\/a> are still wet behind the ears, entering Year 2.<\/p>\n

The Packers need bodies at defensive end. Having Gary back in the fold wouldn\u2019t be a bad solution to that problem. He\u2019s been a vocal leader, has worn the captain\u2019s C on his jersey for a reason, and he showed in the first half of the season that there\u2019s gas left in the tank \u2014 at least some.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if the Packers release Gary after June 1, they will reap $19.5 million in cap savings. A release before that date would still give Green Bay close to $11 million in savings.<\/p>\n

Is the money worth releasing Gary over? That\u2019s a highly debatable topic. What isn\u2019t worth discussing is bringing Gary back with a $28 million cap hit that would be behind only Jordan Love<\/a>\u2018s in 2026.<\/p>\n

Gary spoke up<\/a> when the Packers lost Parsons for the season, and many believed it would be Gary who would deliver in the absence of their All-World player.<\/p>\n

I told him to keep his head up and we\u2019re gonna finish strong for him. That\u2019s what I told him. I\u2019m gonna keep in contact with him throughout what he\u2019s doing. That was my first message to him. It hurt. It hurt. \u2026 We can still write our story. Guys that\u2019s been out the season \u2013 Tuck, D-Wy, (Parsons) \u2013 are going to be a reason why we\u2019re going to finish strong, keeping those guys in mind.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Gary and Green Bay\u2019s defense, Gary\u2019s impact was the same after Parsons\u2019 injury as it was for countless weeks before it: invisible.<\/p>\n

Rashan Gary has been a solid player for Green Bay across his seven years with the Packers. Now there\u2019s a fork in the road with his current contract. If he agrees to a restructuring, by all means, bring him back. It\u2019s a real possibility. Otherwise, chalk Brian Gutekunst\u2019s assessment in his press conference as a pleasant platitude, like his claim that they would likely retain Aaron Jones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s fair to take Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst\u2019s words from his end-of-season press conferences with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[2945,7,41,345,2514,2513,4096,491,6,428,3996],"class_list":{"0":"post-741979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-brian-gutekunst","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-green-bay","11":"tag-green-bay-packers","12":"tag-greenbay","13":"tag-greenbaypackers","14":"tag-kingsley-enagbare","15":"tag-micah-parsons","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-packers","18":"tag-rashan-gary"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116045175638734647","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}