Packers Morning Buzz: Was Khalil Mack deal too big a risk?

Welcome to your Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers from around the web and here at PackersNews.com.

The Packers trimmed their roster down to the 53-man limit Saturday and are preparing for the regular-season opener Sunday night against the Chicago Bears.

We’ll start with Tom Silverstein's column on what we learned about Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst during his first 53-man roster cutdown as the main decision maker and his actions in the Khalil Mack sweepstakes.

Tom writes:

Mack would not have guaranteed the Packers a Super Bowl just as the acquisition of Reggie White didn’t guarantee one in 1993. Brett Favre wasn’t the highest-paid quarterback in the league and so general manager Ron Wolf had the ability to sign other free agents like Sean Jones and Santana Dotson and acquire high-paid veterans like Eugene Robinson and Andre Rison after he signed White.

It was the combination of having Favre, White and a whole bunch of other good players that made the Packers Super Bowl champions back in 1996.

It’s one thing for Gutekunst to say, “We’re here to win now, you know?”, but it’s another to risk becoming so top heavy you capsize. Fans want immediate gratification, but they hate having to rebuild even more, and that’s what they’d be doing once Rodgers’ and Mack’s contracts hit their peak.

Whether Gutekunst truly tried to obtain Mack or bowed out when he found out what the Raiders were demanding, he at least tried. As they say in the NFL, some of the best moves are the ones you don’t make.

Be sure to read Tom's entire column here:

Gutekunst walked us through his thought process on picking the 53-man roster, and Jim Owczarski was there:

Ryan Wood analyzes the Packers' practice-squad selections:

The makeup of the Packers' roster and their attempts to acquire Mack were topics for analysis by Owczarski and Pete Dougherty:

Regardless of what the Packers offered Oakland for Mack, odds are they should've offered more, writes Dougherty:

It's possible the Packers were just too good a team to give the Raiders the kind of high draft picks they wanted:

For his part, Mack seemed pleased to be headed for Chicago and eager to face Aaron Rodgers in the regular-season opener Sunday night:

The Bears envision Mack as someone who can level the playing field against quarterbacks like Rodgers:

But after missing all of training camp, will Mack be ready to play Sunday night in Green Bay?

Elsewhere, Jason Wilde writes in the Wisconsin State Journal that Gutekunst's roster moves show a pattern of moving on from many of former GM Ted Thompson's draft picks.

Cheesehead TV chimed in with takeaways from cutdown day:

One of them, of course, being DeShone Kizer in Green Bay:

The Packers' trade to acquire inside linebacker Antonio Morrison from the Colts is looking even better:

How likely is it that the Packers will return to the postseason?