Hopefully, Delay Wasn’t Opportunity Lost

The Wisconsin State Journal was reporting in the days leading up to the Packers’ selection of Brian Gutekunst (whose name I can’t yet pronounce) as their new General Manager that the Packers had an interest in hiring Seattle General Manager John Schneider.  As reported by The Wisconsin State Journal and The Seattle Times, Mr. Schneider, a Wisconsin native, had an out in his Seattle contract until 2016 that would have enabled him to go to Green Bay if he wished.  That right was eliminated from his current contract, and Seattle reportedly rejected Green Bay’s request to interview Mr. Schneider for the GB GM role.  After that, GB CEO Mark Murphy turned to Mr. Gutekunst.

Mr. Gutekunst may, despite his lack of experience as a General Manager, prove to be an excellent choice for the role; that said, the team clearly had an interest in Mr. Schneider, who already has an excellent track record as a GM.  Given the rumblings about former Packer GM Ted Thompson’s performance that predate the expiration of Mr. Schneider’s last contract, let us hope that we don’t find that Mr. Murphy lost a better GM because he waited too long to pull the plug on Mr. Thompson.  Of one thing we can be sure:  if Mr. Thompson had been in Mr. Murphy’s position, such a delay is not a mistake that Mr. Thompson would have made …