GREEN BAY — Let’s be clear: The Green Bay Packers have not recreated the supergroup they had at the front of their No. 1-ranked defense back in 1996. No one is suggesting the current crew is the modern-day equivalent of Reggie White, Santana Dotson, Gilbert Brown and Sean Jones.
But that doesn’t mean that Brian Gutekunst — a 23-year-old UW-La Crosse student then, the Packers general manager now — doesn’t see the defensive line as crucial to a team’s success.
“I think it always is,” said Gutekunst, who interned for the Packers in the scouting department during the summer of 1997, while White, Dotson and Brown were still playing.