The notion that Gutekunst is as extreme as TT in terms of being anti-FA should have been dispelled last offseason. However, people will often ignore the evidence if doing so gives them a chance to **** and moan.
I have to say, Gute is trending almost too far in the opposite direction for my liking. I definitely love both the Smith's and Amos. I was calling for them to sign one of the former as well as the latter all offseason. However, they have really mortgaged the future with these moves in order to sign BOTH of the edge players, plus Billy Turner.
If these moved as a collection don't pan out, it's really going to hurt.
We don't have numbers for Za'Darius yet, but here are the collective cap hits of Preston Smith, Adrian Amos, and Billy Turner:
2019: 23.5M
2020: 47.25M
2021: 54.75M
2022: 55.75M
So the impact doesn't feel huge right now, but that's because of all of the back-loading. They are giving up flexibility in the future for more impact in the present. If 2-3 of the acquisitions are big hits, it should pay off. But if that doesn't happen, these contracts will collectively be a millstone around the team's neck until 2022 when the dead money becomes a small enough issue that they can be released.
On the other hand, the cap will continue to rise and the Packers don't have too many in-house candidates to extend in the coming seasons. I also resonate with the desire to load up on young, impact players while Rodgers is still playing. But it's a high risk, high reward strategy. I definitely prefer it to doing nothing, but it's trending towards the other extreme.
EDIT: Updated the numbers to include Za'Darius Smith.
