Y’all know the drill. We don’t mess around with these mailbag intros. Let’s dive right into your questions.
Note: Submitted questions have been edited for clarity and length.
Is it time to tank? — Brady B.
Come on, Brady. The Green Bay Packers have played five games. Are they Super Bowl contenders? No. But should every team that’s not a realistic title contender tank? Of course not. The beauty of being an NFL fan is having hope, even if it’s not quite based in reality. Now, if they lose to the Denver Broncos, then we can discuss shifting that focus to 2024. It’s nearly impossible for players to tank, but general manager Brian Gutekunst might start watching some USC and UNC film if the offense submits another dud in Denver.
Packers signed RB James Robinson to the practice squad, not the active roster. They also signed CB Anthony Johnson — not safety Anthony Johnson Jr. — to the practice squad and released CB Kiondre Thomas from the practice squad.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) October 17, 2023
With Eric Stokes coming back, doesn’t it make sense to move Rasul Douglas to safety? — Michael V.
We’re still doing this Rasul Douglas-to-safety talk?! I thought Joe Barry squelched that before the season! I think, and the Packers clearly think, that Douglas best suits the Packers at outside cornerback even if his skills could work at safety. I wouldn’t think there’s any consideration of moving parts right now, at least, because Stokes can probably only handle spot snaps on special teams or in dime upon first returning to game action. But when Stokes is ready for a full workload, will coaches consider him among the Packers’ five best defensive backs? If the goal is to get your best five DBs in the secondary, maybe one coach brings up moving Douglas to safety and starting Stokes and Jaire Alexander at outside cornerback with Keisean Nixon in the slot. I don’t think that suggestion would get very far, though.
GO DEEPER
How will the Packers integrate Eric Stokes when the 2021 first-round cornerback returns?
How many more games like Monday night’s does Matt LaFleur have to call before his seat is considered “hot”? — Tyler D.
I don’t think LaFleur’s seat will be hot over the remainder of this season and next season unless the offense is an unmitigated disaster consistently. LaFleur has had enough success as Packers coach — you can be the judge of whether that success was more because of Aaron Rodgers — that I don’t think even two seasons of intermittent stretches of offensive struggle would put his job in danger. Maybe that seems wild, but if Jordan Love doesn’t end up being the long-term answer and the Packers let him walk in free agency after next season, LaFleur gets a shot with another quarterback in Green Bay.
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How do you like the Packers’ chances in their next four games against the Broncos, Vikings, Rams and Steelers? In your opinion, should they win all four? If not, then how many? — Ed H.
The Packers’ next four games certainly aren’t the toughest remaining on their schedule, but I think they’ll go 2-2 in that stretch with wins over the Broncos in Denver and Minnesota Vikings at home before losing to the Los Angeles Rams in Green Bay and the Steelers and that stingy defense in Pittsburgh. Could they go 4-0 in this stretch? Sure, but the offense has to put at least one impressive game together before I even consider that a possibility. I also have little reason to believe Green Bay’s defense can play like it has against the Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders consistently, which the Packers will probably need to win three or four of their games over the next month.
Does it make sense for the Packers to trade for a more experienced receiver or experienced OL (we know the Packers love to trade)? The receivers don’t seem to be getting open, but Love also doesn’t have a clean pocket to throw in. — David H.
If the Packers didn’t add a veteran receiver in free agency, they’re not going to add one now. They bypassed doing so in the offseason because they wanted the young guys to develop together. There’s no indication that objective has changed, especially because the team isn’t one receiver away from contending for a Lombardi Trophy, as the Packers might have been in years past. The same goes for the offensive line. The Packers seem likely to use the rest of the season to find out whether Rasheed Walker is their left tackle of the future. Bringing in a veteran who won’t be here in the long term to take snaps from Walker defeats that purpose. In general regarding the trade deadline, the Packers aren’t one or two players away from title contention. Considering how Gutekunst wants to use this season to help build for the future, it’s hard to believe he’d give up future draft capital for a short-term player in 2023.
Do you think there’s any chance the Packers run it back with virtually the same offensive line next year or is a big switch-up coming? — Steve S.
We know Elgton Jenkins, Zach Tom and Josh Myers will be on the team, and the first two starting. Let’s say Myers holds on to the starting center job, too, entering the final year of his rookie contract. Jon Runyan Jr. is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after this season, and I don’t have a good sense of whether the Packers will re-sign him. If they do, he’ll probably start at right guard. If they go cheaper, maybe Sean Rhyan will get the job. Left tackle is the big question. Walker is on a trial run for the rest of the season to be the long-term left tackle. If the team determines he isn’t the guy, they’ll go left tackle in the first round of the 2024 draft despite the fact they’ve found some darn good offensive linemen in the middle-to-late rounds of the draft over the last decade.
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Brian Gutekunst took over a team with Super Bowl aspirations and ignored the aspirations to build for the “future” with raw players and backups. This is the future. How much longer does he get? — Zack M.
Gutekunst didn’t start building for the future — truly — until this offseason. What we’re watching right now is the first chapter of the future, which nobody expected to result in a Super Bowl title or anything close to it. Has he been the best GM in the league since taking over? By no means. But to say he ignored Super Bowl aspirations to build for the future when the team made the NFC Championship Game in two of his first three years as GM is silly. Those were primarily Ted Thompson’s teams, but Gutekunst also had a part in getting the Packers there. Gutekunst isn’t on the hot seat, either, because we don’t know how Love will pan out yet. If Love isn’t the long-term guy, then his seat will get hot.
Kevin Harlan, Trent Green and Melanie Collins are on the CBS call of Packers-Broncos from Denver on Sunday.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) October 17, 2023
Given the state of the defense and the rest of the roster, is there a world where GB trades Rashan Gary rather than extend him? — Ryan M.
If the Packers don’t extend Gary and instead lose him in free agency, Gutekunst should lose his job. Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but I don’t think it’s too far off from reality. Gary is the Packers’ best defensive player and the only semblance of a pass rush worth a damn. No matter how far away the defense is from being dominant or how much you’re rebuilding this year, that doesn’t mean you just get rid of a 25-year-old elite player in the heart of his prime for some juicy draft capital. There’s no guarantee the Packers will find another player like Gary in their next decade of drafts.
Is it absurd to not hit the panic button after two bad weeks? — Jack L.
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Not absurd at all. But if they lose to the Broncos on Sunday, smash that sucker.
Will Taylor Swift be at the Packers game? Asking for a friend. — Steven
Finally, a good question. It’s a Sunday night game against the Kansas City Chiefs, so maybe the NFL will urge her to go to drive up ratings. The two places she’s watched Travis Kelce play are in Kansas City, her boyfriend’s home, and in New York/New Jersey, where she has a place. I don’t think she owns property in Suamico, but correct me if I’m wrong. There’s also the element of Kelce’s only bringing her to games against teams he thinks are bad at the time — Bears, Jets and Broncos. The Packers could stoop that far, but there’s plenty of time left for them to scare Taylor away from an easy Chiefs win before that December game.
GO DEEPER
Brian Burns, Jerry Jeudy and potential trade candidates for every NFL team
What is the delta between the results we’ve gotten so far and the preseason expectations of a young team that everyone agreed would take time to develop? — Matthew D.
Good question, and good first name. People are reacting the way they are now to offensive struggles in part because they feel deceived based on how the Packers started the season, specifically in seven of the first eight quarters against the Bears and Atlanta Falcons. Maybe we shouldn’t have expected the offense to be as bad as it’s been for the majority of the last three games, particularly in the first halves, but the struggles should’ve been expected from such a young group, nonetheless. And if you told someone there would be multi-game absences for David Bakhtiari, Aaron Jones, Elgton Jenkins and Christian Watson in the first five games, too, what we’re seeing now probably wouldn’t have come as much of a surprise, if any.
How is Joe Barry qualified to be a defensive coordinator? — Joseph M.
Based on his defensive coordinator stops in Detroit and Washington before Green Bay, you can make the case that he’s not. This defense has more talent than those two spots, and the results still haven’t been consistent enough over the last two-plus seasons. This year is his last chance, and I don’t see LaFleur firing Barry, if he does, until after the season. Then again, even if the defense is a problem, who’s to say the offense won’t have been a bigger problem by season’s end? Would the offensive play caller really fire his defensive play caller if the unit he oversees was worse? That certainly wouldn’t be a good look.
(Top photo of Brian Gutekunst and Matt LaFleur: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
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