Packers Make Decision on Extending Matt LaFleur, GM Before Season

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Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, left, stands with head coach Matt LaFleur.

Incoming Green Bay Packers president/CEO Ed Policy believes head coach Matt LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst are doing an “exceptional job” for the team, but he has no plans to extend either’s contract before the 2025 season.

“All three of them [are] under multi-year contracts,” Policy said of LaFleur, Gutekunst and executive vice president/director of football operations Russ Ball, via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “None of them are up at the end of this year. We won’t be doing anything going into this season.”

LaFleur and Gutekunst both have two seasons left on their current contracts with the Packers, but the upcoming changing of the guard from retiring president Mark Murphy to Policy at the Packers’ annual shareholders meeting on July 25 has raised questions.

A new team president can sometimes take over with plans to reinforce the continuity of the team’s football leadership, usually by signing the head coach and general manager to extensions that cover the foreseeable future. Instead, Policy is choosing not to rush to judgment, effectively putting a greater emphasis on the success of the team in 2025.

Even still, Policy holds all three members of the Packers’ football leadership — including executive vice president/director of football operations Russ Ball — in high regard.

“You’ve got three exceptional people doing an exceptional job right now and working well together,” Policy said of LaFleur, Gutekunst and Ball. “I feel very good about all three of those individuals. I love them, I trust them, I respect them.”

Ed Policy Would Prefer to ‘Avoid’ Lame-Duck Status’

Policy is no stranger to the Packers despite the fact that he will soon step into a bigger role as the team’s president. He has worked for the Packers since 2012, starting off as their vice president and general counsel before making the jump to COO in 2018.

As president, though, Policy will need to chart the future. He even told reporters this week that he sees “the president’s role as it relates to football operates as really selecting football leadership, guiding them and giving them all the resources they need — and supporting them, evaluating them and then ultimately holding them accountable.”

To accomplish that, Policy will need to take a hard look at both LaFleur and Gutekunst in 2025 to evaluate if they are the best people to lead the Packers. The team has posted a 70-38 overall record since LaFleur became head coach in 2019, but they have lost five of their eight postseason appearances — including two in the NFC championship game.

Does that mean 2025 is a do-or-die year for LaFleur and Gutekunst? Perhaps, although Policy said he would prefer to “avoid lame-duck status” with a head coach or GM — which implies he could make a decision one way or the other before the 2026 season.

“I’m generally opposed — I’d never say never — [but] I’m generally opposed to a coach or GM going into the last year of their contract,” Policy said, via ESPN. “That creates a lot of issues. I think normally you have a pretty good idea of where that relationship is going when you have two years left — not always, but normally.

“So I think generally speaking I would avoid lame-duck status. It’s oftentimes difficult on everybody involved. But there are certain situations that probably call for it, so I would not say never.”

‘Not A lot of Change’ From Mark Murphy to Ed Policy

Policy said there is “not a lot of change” in how he plans to do things from how Murphy did them over the 17 seasons in charge. He plans to keep the same leadership structure — at least, at first — that Murphy had, which allowed Gutekunst to focus exclusively on roster building instead of handling all football decisions, such as hirings and firings

That said, Policy seems unafraid of making changes if they will benefit the Packers.

“We’ll do whatever it takes to win football games,” Policy said, via ESPN. “If that means changing the structure, then we’ll change the structure. Just like Mark was not wedded to the structure that he inherited when he came in, I would say I’m not wedded to the structure. We’ll do whatever is best for the Packers.”

Ultimately, though, Policy’s priorities fall in line with the Packer Way.

“Win football games, number one; keep the Packers in Green Bay, number two; and to strengthen our community, number three,” Policy said, via ESPN. “I’d say I even apply them in that order of priority. And so, really, every decision that we make here — to do something or not to do something — will be based on furthering one or more of those purposes.”

Jordan J. Wilson is a sports reporter who covers the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. He has previously covered all levels of sports — high school, college and pro — for a variety of publications including The Indianapolis Star, The News-Gazette, Springfield State-Journal Register and Peoria Journal Star. More about Jordan J. Wilson