Eagles’ Sweep of Packers, Run to Super Bowl Starts With General Managers

Brian Gutekunst has done a good job in building the Green Bay Packers into a perennial playoff team. Howie Roseman has done a great job in building the Philadelphia Eagles into a Super Bowl team.
Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst is shown before their game against the Houston Texans at Lambeau Field.
Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst is shown before their game against the Houston Texans at Lambeau Field. / Mark Hoffman/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images
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Good, not great.

That phrase is probably the most appropriate way to describe the 2024 edition of the Green Bay Packers.

There are a lot of reasons why the Packers earned that distinction, but none greater than their performance in big games against the NFC’s elite.

One of those elite teams will represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles, built by general manager Howie Roseman, beat the Packers, assembled by general manager Brian Gutekunst, twice this season.

The Eagles beat the Packers 34-29 in the season opener in Brazil. An entertaining, back-and-forth affair saw the Eagles hold off the Packers’ desperation attempt to find the end zone at the end of the game.

It was a game in which the Packers could lament their mistakes but feel good that they belonged on the same field with a team that saw itself as a contender in the NFC.

The teams met again in the postseason.

The Packers did what they had done all season in big games. They fell behind 99 seconds into the game after Keisean Nixon fumbled the opening kickoff and Jalen Hurts fired a touchdown pass to Jahan Dotson.

The Packers kept the game close but never truly threatened to earn a come-from-behind, upset victory at Lincoln Financial Field.

At the end of a 22-10, season-ending loss, the Packers would again lament their mistakes, but a clear gap was defined between the Eagles and the Packers.

One of those gaps starts at the top of the food chain.

Gutekunst is good at his job. There’s no question about that.

He built a roster that was good enough to win the Super Bowl in 2020 and 2021, though those teams wasted their No. 1 seeds and homefield advantage.

Gutekunst has done an excellent job of rebuilding on the fly, as well.

If you had told anyone following the trade of Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets that the Packers would win 21 games the next two seasons, including a playoff game, they would have signed up for that immediately.

Context, however, changes expectations.

The 2023 Packers played with house money. Anything they achieved with Jordan Love as a first-year starter with a historically young offense was considered gravy.

2024 was different.

The Packers saw themselves as Super Bowl contenders. They talked about it openly once they came together in the spring.

Instead, anytime they saw a Super Bowl contender, they were beaten, and usually soundly.

Everyone knows the situation at quarterback in Green Bay. The Packers have had two Hall of Fame quarterbacks since 1992. Jordan Love has not reached that status but has at least proven to be a capable starter.

Since 1969, the Packers have been to the Super Bowl three times and won twice; they have not been back to the Super Bowl since 2010.

Conversely, the Eagles will be making their third trip to the Super Bowl in the last eight seasons.

Their first came with Nick Foles on a magic carpet ride, when they defeated Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.

Jalen Hurts has led the Eagles to the Super Bowl twice in the last three years.

Nobody is going to confuse Foles or Hurts with future Hall of Famers.

Hurts has received criticism for his inability to elevate the team around him, or as the passenger thanks to a loaded roster.

Why is the Eagles’ roster so loaded?

The prowess of Roseman.

Roseman is widely regarded as one of the best in his position. He’s been a central figure for all three of Philadelphia’s Super Bowl appearances.

After going to the Super Bowl two years ago, the Eagles suffered from a bit of a Super Bowl hangover last year. After starting 10-1, they finished 1-5 down the stretch and were blown out in the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Once the season ended, Roseman went to work.

Noticing that the team’s secondary struggled a season ago, Roseman’s first two draft picks went to the cornerback room. Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean ended up as finalists for the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

Roseman was not done. He brought back safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who was a linchpin of the team’s Super Bowl run two years ago. He also kept cornerback Darius Slay as a veteran to help the young draft choices.

Contrast that with how Gutekunst looked at his cornerback room.

Jaire Alexander’s injury issues were a known quantity. Ditto for Eric Stokes.

Carrington Valentine was a nice player as a seventh-round rookie, but not someone a great general manager looks at as a reason to pass on a potential upgrade.

In general, Roseman has been much more aggressive than Gutekunst.

Gutekunst has been able to spend on the free agent market, and usually found success.

Josh Jacobs, Xavier McKinney and Za’Darius Smith received top-of-market contracts. His free-agent splurges in 2019 and 2024 could not be seen as anything less than resounding successes.

The difference has come on the trade market.

Gutekunst has not traded a top-100 pick for a veteran player since taking over as the team’s general manager in 2018.

“When you trade a high pick for a veteran player, you’re trading a young, really good contract for a player who’s proven but is probably expensive,” Gutekunst said during his end-of-season availability. “So, you’re giving up a pick and salary-cap space. So, I think you’ve got to weigh that.

“If it’s the right player, if you feel like he can be a dynamic player who can change your football team, I think you’ve got to consider that, because there’s not many of those guys out there. But I think you have to also understand what you’re giving up.”

In essence, Gutekunst isn’t giving up a high draft choice for a veteran, no matter the need on the roster.

Sometimes the best moves are the ones you don’t make. Marshon Lattimore is an example of someone everyone outside of 1265 Lombardi Ave. was clamoring for Gutekunst to trade for at this season’s deadline. Instead, Gutekunst held onto his draft choices and cap space, and Lattimore was abused in the NFC Championship Game by Philadelphia’s A.J. Brown.

Other times, however, the best moves are ones that are made.

One example comes from Roseman’s draft-day trade for Brown in 2022. With Hurts set to take over as the team’s full-time starting quarterback, Roseman struck a deal with the Tennessee Titans for Brown.

Brown has been excellent. In three seasons in Philadelphia, he’s been second-team All-Pro every season and has emerged as Hurts’ go-to guy.

During the 2023 draft, Roseman essentially sent a fourth-round draft pick to the Detroit Lions for running back D’Andre Swift, who had the best season of his career last year. He’s not as impactful as Saquon Barkley, another Roseman signing, but it was an example of how the trade market helped the player and the team.

From a draft-pick standpoint, Gutekunst and Roseman have had recent chances at bonus first-round picks.

In 2023, Roseman had two first-round picks and landed on Georgia’s Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith III.

In 2022, Gutekunst took a different pair of Georgia defenders, Quay Walker and Devonte Wyatt.

Carter was taken in the top 10 and is one of the best defensive tackles in football. Smith has been a breakout star this postseason, recording four sacks, including two against Green Bay in the wild-card round.

Walker and Wyatt, on the other hand, have been inconsistent.

Gutekunst had multiple first round picks in 2019, as well. Rashan Gary has been a good player but hasn’t hit the expectations associated with being the 12th pick of the draft. Next, Gutekunst traded up to select safety Darnell Savage, who showed flashes but never played at a consistently high level and was allowed to leave after his contract expired last offseason.

Overall, since Gutekunst took over as general manager, Jaire Alexander, Xavier McKinney, De’Vondre Campbell, Za’Darius Smith and Keisean Nixon are players he acquired who were first- or second-team All-Pros.

No more than two players Gutekunst has acquired have made an All-Pro team in the same season.

In just the 2024 season, Jordan Mailata, Lane Johnson, Jalen Carter, Zach Baun, Barkley and Brown made the All-Pro team. Roseman had a hand in acquiring all of those players.

That difference in blue-chip talent was a big reason why the Eagles were able to dominate Green Bay in their wild-card round.

There are a lot of things that separate Philadelphia from Green Bay, but perhaps nothing bigger than this:

The Packers have a good general manager.

The Eagles have a great one. 

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