Brian Gutekunst got lucky with Rasul Douglas. 

That’s not a dig at Gutekunst or a knock on Douglas. It was a fantastic pickup by the Packers’ general manager, and Douglas paid off every bit of faith the Packers had in him and then some with a Pro Bowl-caliber season.

But this wasn’t the plan. When the Packers nabbed Douglas from the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad in October, they were desperately in need of help at cornerback. Jaire Alexander had just injured his shoulder, Kevin King was nursing one of his recurring ailments, and Isaac Yiadom had just played meaningful snaps against the Chicago Bears. They needed someone. They needed anyone.

They got Rasul Douglas, and the rest is history.

But how they got him bears further examination, because it reveals something of Brian Gutekunst’s free-agent process, one that should be repeatable and could bear fruit again in the future.

Rasul Douglas wasn’t the Packers’ first target

In retrospect, October 6, 2021, isn’t a very interesting date, but that day was full of Packers news from start to finish.

New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore was available for trade, but the Patriots weren’t finding any suitors and the former All-Pro was expected to hit free agency as a result. The Packers, still sorting through the aftermath of Jaire Alexander’s shoulder injury, were thought to be his preferred landing spot, and as the day wore on, it seemed to be more and more likely that Gilmore would end up in Green Bay. 

Until he didn’t. Late in the day, the Carolina Panthers met the Patriots’ plummeting asking price and did what the Packers couldn’t: fit Gilmore under their salary cap. The dream of an All-Pro corner in the secondary to replace Jaire Alexander was dead.

Instead, the Packers were left with Rasul Douglas, a consolation prize that did little to console Packers fans smarting over missing out on a trade for Gilmore. The very same day the Patriots dealt Gilmore to the Panthers, the Packers claimed Douglas from the Cardinals’ practice squad.

But the Packers weren’t done, either. Douglas would need some acclimation time, and the Packers had multiple needs at cornerback, so on October 13, Gutekunst signed free agent cornerback Quinton Dunbar to the practice squad. To that point, Dunbar had arguably had the better pro career, starting 31 games and picking off 10 passes over six seasons in the NFL.

But it was Douglas that got the first opportunity on the active roster, and he made the most of it. He played 52 snaps in his first appearance with the Packers and never looked back. Dunbar was ultimately released just six days after he’d signed with the Packers, while Douglas thrived. Just 22 days after he arrived in Green Bay, Douglas picked off Kyler Murray in the end zone as the Packers held on to beat the Cardinals on Thursday Night Football.

Brian Gutekunst wins with multiple swings

The context around Douglas’ arrival shows two important things: first, that the Packers were very concerned about their cornerback situation, and second, that Brian Gutekunst was willing to try multiple approaches to fixing it.

Roster building in the NFL is a gamble. But as in blackjack, the slot machines, poker, or even the lottery, there’s one simple rule: you’ve got to play to win. And the more you play, the better your odds at a big payout.

Early in his tenure as the Packers’ general manager, Gutekunst promised that the Packers would be “in every conversation” when it came to player acquisition. That may or may not be true on a grand scale, but when it came to shoring up their cornerback position group in 2021, Gutekunst was true to his word.

He was in the conversation for Stephon Gilmore and seemed like he had a good shot at landing him once the Patriots decided to release him. But when the Panthers stepped in, Gutekunst pivoted to another acquisition in Rasul Douglas, and hedged his own bet by adding Quinton Dunbar a few days later. The lottery ticket that was Douglas paid out big, and the Packers reaped the benefits. For that matter, Douglas did too — no matter what he may say about returning to the Packers on a cheap deal this offseason, he stands to get a big check in free agency. Snagging five interceptions in 10 games has a way of loosening up some purse strings.

Gutekunst certainly got lucky in how the signing worked out. Nobody would have expected Douglas to play as well as he did, maybe not even Douglas himself. But he increased his odds of success by staying active, and in the end, everyone won.