GREEN BAY, Wis. - A decade ago when Ted Thompson was the general manager, the Green Bay Packers would have gone into Week 1 with Drake Dabney as the No. 3 tight end, Pierre Strong as the No. 3 running back and Domani Jackson as the No. 6 cornerback.
Brian Gutekunst isn't perfect, but he deserves credit for taking more than a wishing-and-hoping approach into the season.
Last weekend, Gutekunst signed veteran tight end Jonnu Smith and released Dabney, traded for running back Kaleb Johnson and released Strong and traded for tight end Mark Redman and released Jackson, who wasn't worthy of being on the roster despite being a draft pick.
Patience is a virtue and it's nice to have.
Talent is better.
To be sure, none of the newcomers are Josh Sweat , let alone Micah Parsons , from an impact perspective, but they will be incredibly helpful players this season. Here's a closer look.
Smith is 31 years old and is coming off a down season. He went from 88 receptions, 884 yards and eight touchdowns with Miami in 2024 to 38 receptions, 222 yards and two touchdowns with Pittsburgh in 2025. His 5.8 yards per catch was the worst in NFL history by any tight end or receiver with 30-plus receptions by more than a half-yard.
However, Aaron Rodgers finished last in the NFL in average pass length per target and per completion, meaning there wasn't a lot of space for Smith before facing a bunch of defenders.
"I got a lot of football left in me, man," he said on Tuesday.
Smith's history demonstrates his production as a run-after-catch threat as well as when aligned in the slot. He has been one of the best tight ends after the catch in the NFL. Over the last three seasons, 47 tight ends have caught at least 60 passes. Tucker Kraft , as you'd expect, is No. 1 in YAC per catch. Smith is sixth.
Maybe Smith could take some of that checkdown/swing pass role and free up Kraft for more downfield passes, where he's been effective in limited chances. The last two years, according to Sumer Sports, Kraft caught 16-of-24 targets for 447 yards with four touchdowns on passes thrown 10-plus yards downfield.
"A plethora of things," he said when asked what he'll bring to the team. "For one, my experience in playing in the league going on Year 10. I've seen a lot of ball. And, obviously, the football part of it just adding another weapon to the tight end room, which already as talented as it is, obviously. So, I'm just excited, man, to be able to be a part of something special that they got brewing here."
The Packers had been looking for a physical, nitty-gritty, dirty-work player to replace John FitzPatrick . They believe they found one in Redman - and even gave him the No. 86 worn by FitzPatrick after acquiring him for a seventh-round pick.
FitzPatrick was a sixth-round pick by the Falcons in 2022. When the Packers swiped him off Atlanta 's practice squad in 2024, he had played 18 snaps on offense in his career. So, from an experience perspective, he wasn't too different from Redman, who went undrafted last year and didn't play in a game.
FitzPatrick wound up being an asset as a blocker and occasional receiver (12 catches, 72 yards, one touchdown in 15 games before a torn Achilles). The Packers are hoping for the same impact from Redman, who caught 11-of-12 targets in his two preseasons.
"I'm an in-line tight end that's going to block at the point of attack and stuff like that, and that's what I'm coming here to do," he said. "So, just kind of embracing that role, just get dirty, and finish some blocks and stuff like that. I think I put it on tape in the preseason and that's what I like to do. Hopefully, that's what they'll use me for."
Johnson is the wild card. He was an All-American in 2024 at Iowa after dominating the Big Ten and was a third-round pick by the Steelers last year. Pittsburgh gave up on him after one season, his rookie year doomed and his career derailed by a botched kickoff return in Week 2.
However, Johnson is still the big, physical, tackle-breaking prospect he showed at Iowa. Literally, from a toolbox perspective, nothing has changed.
Here's what has changed.
First and foremost, it's the scenery. In going to Green Bay , he'll be running in the same offensive system he dominated in at Iowa. Tim Lester was an assistant coach for the Packers in 2023 and installed Matt LaFleur's offense upon being hired as Iowa's offensive coordinator in 2024.
"The parts [of the playbook] that we do carry are pretty much verbatim, word for word," Lester told Packers On SI for a story that we'll publish on Friday. "Verbiage-wise, it's probably 98 percent Green Bay, and I would say the amount of playbook that we run of the Green Bay Packers' playbook is probably 60 to 70 percent."
Johnson starred in Iowa's outside-zone scheme. The Packers figure to run a heavy dose of that this season, which should bring the best out of the 225-pound runner.
"It's like the same thing that coach Tim Lester did at Iowa. It's literally like the same thing," Johnson said. "At the end of the day, I'm just glad to be here and I'm just ready to work."
Opportunity has changed, too. The Steelers' backfield was strong with Jaylen Warren , who rushed for 958 yards last season, and Rico Dowdle , who is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. Now, with Josh Jacobs out of the lineup indefinitely and no proven back to take his spot, Johnson has a chance to get his career back on track and reach expectations.
"We knew kind of going into it that this might be a possibility," Gutekunst said. "Once we got the information that we did, we kind of knew what the options were at the moment, and we made the decisions that we made.
"So, excited to get Kaleb in here. Obviously, a young player with a huge upside, and we're excited to get him into our environment and see what he can do. But feel really fortunate that MarShawn's had the camp that he's had and, obviously, having Chris here is a very, that's a nice safety blanket for us."
All offseason, it's felt like the Packers were going nowhere fast, like a gerbil going as fast as it can on an exercise wheel but not making any discernable progress.
The Packers signed defensive tackle Javon Hargrave ; the Rams added Aaron Donald , who is one of the best players in NFL history. The Packers drafted Brandon Cisse and signed Benjamin St-Juste at cornerback; the Rams acquired Jaylen Watson and Trent McDuffie . The Packers will get back All-Pro Micah Parsons; the Rams traded for Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett .
It would have been impossible for any team to keep up with the on-paper acquisitions the Rams made this offseason. However, with the start of the season a little more than one week away, the Packers are barely part of the Super Bowl conversation. At FanDuel Sportsbook , for instance, the Packers have the 14th-shortest odds of bringing home the Lombardi Trophy. They are 1.5-point underdogs for Week 1.
Of course, sportsbook odds at this time of year are little more than educated guesses. With Jordan Love , Tucker Kraft and Micah Parsons, almost anything as possible. Given the power of the Rams, a lot of things will have to go right for the Packers to contend for their first Super Bowl championship since 2010, starting with the health of those three players.
With a maturing roster from a team coming off three consecutive playoff berths and now with a few late additions, a team with modest outside expectations entering the season should be in the mix to win the NFC North, so long as it can survive the opening stretch without Parsons. If the new players can help, which they should, anything and everything is possible.
SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/packers/onsi as Packers Are New and Improved, But Are They Improved Enough? .
