Big Sal's Off-Season Report Card: Gutekunst Gets a B+
Packernet Podcast: Daily Green Bay Packers Podcast
AC Sports
4.7 • 524 Ratings
🗓️ 19 May 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
The off season is over. Brian Gutekunst made his moves. Big Sal has grades.
Free agency gets a B minus — Javan Hargrave was sharp, Benjamin St. Juste was necessary, Skymore on returns was overdue.
But Sal isn't handing out gold stars for cleaning up your own mess. The Aaron Banks restructure and the Nate Hobbs
disaster are on the same ledger, and you don't get credit for both sides of that equation.
Extensions get an A minus. Jaden Reed locked up, Sean Clifford rewarded for improvement, Christian Watson and Tucker
Kraft still coming. Trades land at C plus (Rashan Gary) and B (Zaire Franklin). And the draft — six picks, the fewest of
Gutekunst's entire tenure — might be the best class he's ever run. Brandon Cise, Chris McClellan, Dennis Sutton at 120
(Sal calls it stolen), Trey Smack. The man stopped stockpiling and started building.
Big picture: this team is better at linebacker, corner, defensive interior, and special teams than the one that walked
off the field in Chicago down 21-3 and somehow still lost. Overall grade: B plus. Would've been an A if last year's
wreckage wasn't still in the rear view.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Let me tell you something, Pac Nation, the off season is over. |
| 0:14.7 | The draft is done. The free agents are signed. And now, now it is time to do what this show is built for. We are grading Brian |
| 0:23.8 | Goudicund's entire offseason. Top to bottom, start to finish. From the moment that wild card |
| 0:30.8 | lost to the Bears ended, 31 to 27, 21 to 3. Caleb Williams, 361 yards. |
| 0:40.1 | I cannot. |
| 0:41.3 | From that moment to the last pick of the 2026 draft, every move gets a grade. |
| 0:49.3 | Every grade gets an explanation, and Big Sal does not curve. |
| 0:54.1 | Let me lay out the categories. Free agency, |
| 0:57.0 | extensions, trades, the draft, and the big picture question. Is this team better than it |
| 1:04.0 | was when we walked off that field in Chicago looking like we got hit by a Zamboni? Let us start |
| 1:10.0 | with free agency. And I'm going to be |
| 1:12.9 | honest with you, Pack Nation. I went back and forth on this one. Back and forth like a door |
| 1:18.2 | in a windstorm on the Highway 17 corridor in November. You know what a November windstorm looks |
| 1:24.9 | like on Green Bay's Lakeshaw? I am talking 40 miles per hour gus coming off the water. |
| 1:31.3 | You cannot tell if the door is open or closed. |
| 1:34.3 | You cannot tell if you are going in or coming out. |
| 1:38.0 | That is how I felt watching Goody navigate this free agent market. |
| 1:43.0 | Because here is the thing. some of these moves were brilliant |
| 1:47.2 | and some of them were mistakes from last year that he had to spend this entire off |
| 1:53.5 | season cleaning up let us start with the cleaning up because we have to |
| 1:58.6 | Aaron Banks four years77 million, signed last offseason to anchor the offensive line. |
| 2:08.3 | And what happened? |
... |
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