Gutekunst, Rodgers Speak After Selection of Love

“He’s always been a true pro, a pro’s pro, and a really, really good teammate. I know what his goals are,” Gutekunst said.

Bill Huber | Apr 25, 2020

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Not long after Brian Gutekunst drafted the Green Bay Packers’ presumptive starting quarterback of the future on Thursday night, he spoke with the starting quarterback of the present.

“I spoke with Aaron (Rodgers) last night,” Gutekunst said after Friday’s second and third rounds. “Like I always told you guys, the conversations I have with our players – myself and our other players – are not for anybody else. But I did get a chance to speak with him last night.”

Gutekunst traded up four picks in the first round on Thursday to select Utah State’s Jordan Love. There was plenty to talk about for Rodgers and Gutekunst.

First, what is Rodgers’ long-term future? He signed a four-year, $134 million contract extension in training camp in 2018, then renegotiated the deal in late December to create cap space. He’s got cap charges of $36.35 million in 2021, $39.85 million in 2022 and $28.35 million in 2023. By the time Rodgers’ contract runs out, Love will have played four NFL seasons. Between the third and fourth seasons, the team must act on Love’s fifth-year option.

Second, Rodgers no doubt was hoping for an instant-impact player in the first round to help a team that fell one game short of the Super Bowl. Instead, the pick was used on a player who might not play a meaningful snap as a rookie.

Pressed on the conversatoin, Gutekunst again elected not to detail what was said.

“He’s always been a true pro, a pro’s pro, and a really, really good teammate. I know what his goals are,” Gutekunst said.

According to ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky, Rodgers reached out to Love on Friday.

“Yeah, I was able to talk with him earlier," Love said. "You know, really good guy. [He was] just congratulating me, and I was just letting him know that I was excited to be able to work with him.”

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Published Apr 25, 2020

BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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