Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst has made some bombshell moves, especially over the past two offseasons.
Last spring, Gutekunst and Green Bay took a detour from the franchise’s longstanding restraint in free agency by adding difference-makers in All-Pro safety Xavier McKinney and former rushing champion Josh Jacobs, who powered a run to the postseason.
Perhaps the boldest move of all, and among the more aggressive made by any general manager in recent memory came on the eve of the 2025 regular season kicking off, when Green Bay shipped two first-round draft picks and All-Pro Kenny Clark to the Dallas Cowboys for All-Pro EDGE Micah Parsons.
Parsons transformed Green Bay’s defense, until suffering a torn ACL in a Week 15 loss to the Broncos.
Packers insider extremely bullish on Brian Gutekunst signing Malik Willis
Packers team reporter Wes Hodiewicz believes that Gutekunst trading a seventh-round pick for backup quarterback Malik Willis dwarfs even the McKinney, Jacobs, or Parsons additions.
“Willis has proven he deserves the opportunity to compete for a starting job,” Hodiewicz writes for the team’s official website. “Whatever happens, Willis will go down as one of the best moves Brian Gutekunst has made. For the modest seventh-round price it took to acquire Willis, he’s been an incredible return on investment for the Packers.”
