Packers GM Brian Gutekunst on Tetairoa McMillan: ‘Spent a lot of time with him’

Sports

add

Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst was asked Monday during his annual pre-draft press conference if he needs his first-round pick to contribute immediately. Fans probably won’t like his answer.

“No,” Gutekunst said. “I think you’d love to … it’s great when they do, but that’s not always the case.

“The transition to the National Football League is tough. It’s not always easy. A lot of times, it’s really determined by opportunity.”

Gutekunst’s first pick in the first round was cornerback Jaire Alexander, who didn’t start immediately in 2018. Defensive end Rashan Gary only played 23.5 percent of the defensive snaps as a rookie in 2019. Quarterback Jordan Love barely played his first three seasons. Cornerback Eric Stokes didn’t start immediately, but Wally Pipped Kevin King early in the season. Defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt played 21.7 percent of the defensive snaps in his 2022 rookie season. Defensive end Lukas Van Ness played 32.9 percent of the defensive snaps in 2023 and has yet to break out. Offensive lineman Jordan Morgan alternated with Sean Rhyan at right guard last season before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.

While the likes of safety Darnell Savage Jr. and linebacker Quay Walker played more from the jump in 2019 and 2022, respectively, Gutekunst has shown in his seven years in charge of Green Bay’s personnel department that he’s not tied to his first-round pick starting right away.

Now doesn’t seem like the time for the Packers to use their first-round pick on a player who will take a significant amount of time to break out (like Van Ness, for example) given their proximity to contention, but Gutekunst clearly has a way of doing things and he’s not going to change now.

Showing his hand?

At this pre-draft press conference last year, Gutekunst gave a fairly detailed assessment of defensive back Cooper DeJean’s football ability when asked about the eventual Eagles second-round pick.

“I think he can do both,” Gutekunst said when asked about DeJean playing cornerback and safety. “I think he’s very versatile that way. I think he’s obviously a very good athlete. His ability to take the ball away is very impressive. Obviously, he’s got some (special) teams ability as well. He’s a very well-rounded player. I think he can do either. I think it’s really going to come down to where you may need him.”

On Monday, Gutekunst was asked specifically about Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan. Gutekunst was reportedly the only general manager at McMillan’s private workout last month and joked that he didn’t actually attend it (he did). He then kept it brief on the projected first-round wideout and didn’t mention anything about his on-field ability.

“Good,” Gutekunst said of his interactions with McMillan this offseason. “We had him up for a 30 visit, as well. He’s a third-year junior coming out, so we’ve spent a lot of time with him, so it’s been good.”

Maybe it’s much ado about nothing, but that sounds initially like a general manager who doesn’t want to let anyone know he’s enamored with a prospect. The Packers seemingly had little interest in drafting DeJean in the first round, so Gutekunst had no issue firing off a scouting report about him. Gutekunst was asked last year about DeJean’s positional versatility, so maybe this year’s question about his time spent with McMillan didn’t yield an expansive football answer because it wasn’t specifically about football.

Either way, the Packers clearly are interested in McMillan, for whom they’d likely have to trade up on Thursday night. Gutekunst said anyone he’d trade up for using premium picks is expected to “come in right away and be productive.” So maybe it’s only first-round picks that he doesn’t trade up for who get time to grow on the bench.

“When you’re talking about premium picks — first-, second-, third-, maybe even fourth-round type picks — you’re expecting those guys to be good players, right?” Gutekunst said. “So if you’re going to do it, it’s got to be a player worth that.”

Brian Gutekunst gave a fairly detailed answer about Cooper DeJean’s football ability at this pre-draft presser last year.

Gutekunst asked about Tetairoa McMillan. Jokes he didn’t go to his private workout and keeps it brief without mentioning anything about his football ability. pic.twitter.com/CcF14gpp48

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) April 21, 2025

Potential trade back

Only once in his seven prior drafts has Gutekunst had this few picks. The Packers’ eight selections this year match their eight from 2019, while they’ve had double digits in four of the six other years and nine in 2019 and 2020.

Does that mean a trade back to accumulate more draft capital is inevitable?

“I think certainly we’d love to (get more picks),” Gutekunst said. “Whether that’s where we do that or how we do that will really be dependent on the opportunities that are there and the players that are there. We’re not going to pass up a really, really good player to move back unless we somehow still feel we can get that player, so we’ll see. Yeah, I’d like to have 15 every year if that would be just about right … I think there will be opportunities, but at the same time, it’s such an unpredictable thing.”

Roster updates

The fifth-year option deadline arrives in less than two weeks and the Packers must decide by then whether to exercise them for the 2022 first-round picks Wyatt and Walker.

Exercising Walker’s would guarantee his 2026 salary at about $14.8 million (six linebackers make more than that annually) and Wyatt’s would come in around $13.9 million (25 interior defensive linemen make more than that annually), according to Over The Cap.

“I think we’re pretty close,” Gutekunst said of decisions on both guys. “We won’t deal with that until after the draft, but I think for both those guys, whatever mechanism we use, we’d like to keep those guys around for ‘26 and beyond. So whether that’s through doing the fifth-year option on these guys or extending them, one way or the other, we’re planning to do that. We’d like to do that.”

As for Alexander’s future, Gutekunst didn’t have any updates on Monday. He was asked specifically if he’d keep Alexander for the 2025 season if he can’t trade him before or during the draft.

“We’ll work through that,” Gutekunst said. “I don’t really have any updates on Jaire. He’s obviously on our roster right now. We’ll see how the draft goes and then see where we are at that point.”

(Photo: Chris Gardner / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Luis Arráez injury update: Padres designated hitter lands on concussion IL after scary collision vs. Astros

Sports

Next

trending_flat

College basketball rankings: St. John’s climbs into top five, Duke slides amid NBA Draft declarations

Sports