GREEN BAY Wis. – When Brian Gutekunst took over as the general manager of the Green Bay Packers, he knew he had to perform surgery on a roster that had fallen from the league’s elite.
One of the weakest positions on his roster was outside linebacker.
Just two years before Gutekunst’s promotion, the outside linebackers were able to boast about a deep room that included Nick Perry, Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers and Mike Neal. All of those players, however, struggled with injury issues or age-related decline the next two seasons.
Matthews looked like a shell of himself by the end of 2018. Perry’s breakout 2016 season looked like a one-year wonder. Neal always felt like someone who was miscast as a standup outside linebacker.
Gutekunst entered the offseason following the 2018 regular season with a team in transition. The old guard was mostly gone, but they had a new coach, Matt LaFleur, and a two-time MVP quarterback, Aaron Rodgers.
So, Gutekunst took drastic measures.
He allowed Matthews to sign in Los Angeles to play for the Rams. He released Perry. Those moves came a year after allowing Peppers and Neal to leave via free agency.