11:01pm: According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, LaFleur and the Packers have agreed to a multi-year extension. NFL Network peer Ian Rapoport adds that an extended deal has been agreed to with Gutekunst, as well. In addition, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reports that executive vice president Russ Ball was included in the extensions, as well.
According to Dianna Russini and Matt Schneidman of The Athletic (subscription required), Policy did not give Green Bay’s playoff loss to the Bears a great deal of consideration. That game was just one of the many data points Policy took into account when making the decision to extend his top power brokers.
8:24am: The Packers are working toward contract extensions with general manager Brian Gutekunst and head coach Matt LaFleur, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. Both Gutekunst and LaFleur are expected to reach agreements with the team.
As things stand, Gutekunst and LaFleur are unsigned beyond 2026. It’s no surprise the Packers are nearing extensions with the two, however, as CEO Ed Policy made it known last summer he’s against allowing GMs and head coaches reaching lame-duck status.
“I’m generally opposed — I’d never say never — [but] I’m generally opposed to a coach or GM going into the last year of their contract,” Policy said. “That creates a lot of issues. I think normally you have a pretty good idea of where that relationship is going when you have two years left — not always, but normally.”
As a Packers employee since 1999, the 52-year-old Gutekunst has spent approximately half of his life with the organization. He worked in scouting roles until taking over for Ted Thompson as the team’s GM in 2018. A Super Bowl appearance has eluded the franchise since then, but the Packers have gone to the postseason in six of Gutekunst’s eight years at the helm.
Less than a year after Gutekunst assumed the reins, he fired longtime head coach Mike McCarthy in December 2018. The ensuing head coaching search led to the hiring of LaFleur, then the Titans’ offensive coordinator. The Packers have gone a resoundingly successful 76-40-1 under LaFleur in the regular season. However, they’ve struggled to a 3-6 mark in the playoffs.
The Packers’ 2025 season ended with a wild-card round meltdown against the archrival Bears, who overcame a 21-3 halftime deficit to escape with a 31-27 win. There was some uncertainty about LaFleur’s status in the immediate aftermath, but another report indicated he’d land an extension. It appears that will be the case despite the Packers’ season finishing with five straight losses. They went 9-7-1 in the regular season after starting 9-3-1.
The Gutekunst-LaFleur duo produced 13-win seasons and NFC North titles in each of their first three seasons, but the Packers’ results have been less impressive in recent years. They compiled an 8-9 mark in 2022, future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers‘ last season in Green Bay, and have combined for a 29-21-1 record and no division crowns in three seasons since then.
Gutekunst found the Packers’ third straight franchise QB in Jordan Love, the 26th pick in 2020, and that no doubt earned the executive a longer leash. All indications are he and LaFleur will continue working together in Green Bay for the foreseeable future.
well here’s to another 5 years of mediocrity
Not really, I think next season if we’re healthy we’ll get it done and finish, have to think positive.
Tough in that division
It’s tough when you win 9-10 games every year. Never bad enough to add top end talent in the draft and not quite good enough to win it all. That Jordan Love contract will make it tough as well.
No. Playing in a tough division is an advantage. Make the playoffs battle tested.
Until they lose shy of the SB.
Take off your Rose colored glasses tangerine
Ok there son!! Just be a Nancy!! *kisses* u little simp
Yep. Every year, it’s all SB hype. And it always implodes. Then it’s the “we’re a young team; injuries plagued us… “ excuses. But in reality, Gutey fails on first round picks, doesn’t draft any immediate impact players; LaFleur fails to manage the game and clock and sets a culture of softness. This team is built as a finesse team. And they get bullied by the tougher teams in the trenches.
Until that changes, we will have more mediocrity
Hey, on the bright side, we got Micah Parsons instead of another Ha-Ha Clinton Dix, Damarious Randall, Darnell Savage, or Eric Stokes. I don’t know about you, but I got pretty sick of seeing them continuously picking defensive backs that didn’t get 2nd contracts.
I really blame Gutekunst much more, here. Every year, the Packers shuffle their offensive line to cover up longstanding deficiencies, and the cornerback room has been unsteady since before Gutekunst started. Well, Jenkins is likely gone next year, and their solution of just giving up a top five guard to cover another random position won’t be viable anymore. The WRs have developed well, but none have really completely become a top option. Some say that you don’t need that, and there could be truth to that sentiment, but when you fail to get over the hump, you do look for some kind of X factor to get you there-and, instead of resting on his laurels and expecting the team to just figure it out, the GM needs to find that player.
Gutekunst recently has done that, or at least tried, with the Parsons trade. He drafted Golden, finally investing in a WR, and he did sign Jacobs, so attempts were made that still have time to contribute more. However, you can’t ignore the misses in the draft. That first draft was nearly entirely a failure. It did net them Love, but none of those players started for the next two years. Dillon became a contributor, and Runyon was a contributor, but for a team in the twilight of a HoF QB’s prime in a Super Bowl window, the abject failure to draft an impact player (or sign one of the several impact free agents at several positions, such as DeAndre Hopkins or Stephon Gilmore) was glaring for a team that really just needed one or two moves to get over the hump. People said that it was time to move on from Rodgers, but it’s the GM’s job to win titles.
No matter how mercurial your QB is, if you have a window, you need to exploit it. Gutekunst never has, and time and again he blindly ignores or refuses to address multiple positional needs for the sake of some indecipherable long-term build plan that never bears fruit. It’s just inexcusable to be gifted a team that close to a Super Bowl window, with that narrow and obvious a need at a handful of positions, and just pick for depth and fail in free agency. Gutekunst just hasn’t gotten the hump, even when the moves seem to be right in front of him.
LaFleur certainly has his faults, and as a coach we see them more obviously on gameday because they’re right in front of us sometimes, but he’s kept the team mostly competitive. Despite the occasional good additions, like McKinney or Parsons (when he was playing), Gutekunst hasn’t added to the team once it reaches a minimal level of competitiveness, or so it seems. In my opinion, LaFleur’s system keeps the team more competitiveness than Gutekunst’s roster building, and I don’t see why the GM takes that for granted as he seems to have done for the last several years.
100% on point. Gutey should be the first one out the door.
As a Bears fan, I am thrilled by the prospect of more MLF.
You’re a bears fan, you should be worried!! Johnson is writing out checks his butt won’t be able to cash!! 2025 he got lucky. But 2026 will be a different story. Pack have OWNED the bears from 1996-2923 and that will continue in 2026!! Do you understand son??
2023 excuse me
I think you should be the one worried. The Bears have a superstar QB in the making . Once the Bears start beating the Packers all of you Packers fans start crying. Get over yourself
Tangerine… Feel better, Homer? Btw.. How much does ‘96-‘23 matter now.. son?
More GB hogs for dinner son. I promise to say Grace before the feast.
“It’s tough when you win 9-10 games every year. Never bad enough to add top end talent in the draft and not quite good enough to win it all. That Jordan Love contract will make it tough as well.”
They won 11 games last season and were 9-3-1 until half the team got hurt. Additionally, Love was top ten amongst QBs in the following stats: AY/A, both QBR metrics, TD%, and INT%. Not an elite quarterback, but hardly a liability. You’re making the Packers sound like the Steelers.
And this is coming from someone that doesn’t particularly like Green Bay
Gute is awful.
Right…. I guess the FA additions like Mc.Kinney and Jacobs were really bad huh? Or how about the the trade he pulled off with parsons? His draft from 2022 resulted in a lot of starters. Do your research next time you say he’s awful okay son!!
He’s awful… okay son!!
He is awful. For every McKinney and Jacobs, there’s a Hobbs and Banks. And please inform us of the last first round pick that made any meaningful impact before their 3rd year…He’s done enough to have a good regular season team, but not enough to have a championship level team.
If you have to have a championship level team to be a good GM then there are a lot of bad GM’s out there. To consistently make the playoffs with the youngest or one of the youngest teams in the league means Gutey must be doing something right. I just checked AI and they said he said he’s rated somewhere from the 5th to 10th best GM in football.
So you’re happy with mediocrity? Just happy to make the playoffs? You definitely don’t like the nickname of “Titletown”. Gutey pushed out AR, and the team hasn’t been better than a #7 seed since Love took over. Luckily the playoffs have been expanded, or there’d be no playoffs since AR left.
Get a clue you moron!!
I wouldn’t brag about trading for Parsons since you gave up two firsts and lost Parsons to an ACL tear
Aaron Banks, and Nate Hobbs signing give me hope 😂
Correct….one of the worst GMs in the league not counting Jerry Jones. I was hopeful this would be the end of him….unfortunately it doesn’t appear so.
Your a clueless swamp donkey
“I’m generally opposed to a coach or GM going into the last year of their contract,”
Malik Willis and Romeo Doubs are probably wondering why that attitude doesn’t apply to players 🙂
Gutey approached Doubs agent early about a contract extension but it didn’t sound like there was interest from the Doubs camp. Doubs knows he’s a hot commodity in the free agent market and will probably command a bigger payday elsewhere. If he can’t get a bigger payday, he knows he can always sign an extension with Green Bay. Doubs has a lot of leverage here.
A few years ago, Gutey said he wants to be a QB factory like they were in the Ron Wolf-Mike Holmgren era when Matt Hasselbeck, Ty Detmer and other Packers quarterbacks were developed and traded. Willis developed nicely, he will get his contract in free agency, the Packers will get a nice compensatory pick for him. Then it’s on to develop Desmond Ridder the same way as Willis. It’s the QB factory.
Unless youre Sean Clifford or Michael Pratt or Clayton Tune who was given 1 spotty start
Clayton Tune was given 1 spotty start. He might still be given a camp tryout. When Desmond Ridder became available – formerly a 3rd round pick out of Cincinnati, there was a bigger upside for the playoffs. I don’t blame them for activating Ridder for the playoffs.
Being a QB factory is fine. But how about drafting/developing an entire championship roster?
They’ve got a lot of pieces in place. They’ve got a great WR room and TEs. Their safeties and DEs are solid on defense. Like all teams, building a championship roster is all about balance. You are going to have holes to fill. One year you are strong in an area and then suddenly it becomes a weakness. Once you fill that weakness, something else becomes a hole to fill. A couple years ago, tight ends were weak. It’s now a strength of this team. Now cornerbacks and defensive tackles are the weakness. That needs to get fixed. They’re always working at it.
Doubs is injury prone and a head case. I’m fine letting him walk
The Packers are in utter cap hell for next year. Tons of needs, not much cap money.
They get to try again. Can the defense stay healthy and make more of a difference? Can Love, Jacobs and Watson stay healthy and help them win enough to get home playoff games?
Alright, first round playoff loss, here we come!
These guys are soft, and that lies squarely on the head coach. You plant tomatoes, you get tomatoes. Extending him gets you more of the same.
Don’t love it. Don’t hate it. He had to grow but has gotten undeniably unlucky. I guess we will see.
Real growth comes from overcoming hardships and setbacks in life. The struggle makes reaching a goal that much more satisfying when it finally occurs.