Ted Thompson to transition into a new role within the organization. GB will begin a search for a new GM.

[skibrett15]

24 minutes ago, incognito_man said:

True, not a similarly healthy Philly team.

Not sold at all on MIN though.

The only position they are objectively worse at is qb and OL?

You have a Cook Vendetta that I can't explain.

Redraft the 2017 Rookie RBs... Cook is still in that fournette/mixon/mccaffrey/hunt group, no?

[incognito_man]

17 minutes ago, skibrett15 said:

The only position they are objectively worse at is qb and OL?

You have a Cook Vendetta that I can't explain.

Redraft the 2017 Rookie RBs... Cook is still in that fournette/mixon/mccaffrey/hunt group, no?

Yeah but QB is the huge one. I never trust first time playoff QBs.

Still don't live Cook. He looked better than expected, but he had no explosion to lose. We will see how he comes back.

[cannondale]

Some thought Cook would be Superman. I thought he would be closer to Percy Harvin. Some thought he was an injury waiting to happen. Some thought he would be in jail by now. Let's not anoint the guy as a Packer killer while so many more attractive options are still on the table 

[deltarich87]

Packers losing Highsmith

 

[deltarich87]

So Highsmith is gone, Wolf/Gutekunst pending. Got a few positions opening up in the FO

[cannondale]

Highsmith is a big loss. But this is where TT being re-assigned helps us. Most everyone else is going to be more proactive in reaching out to other talents instead of just promoting from within and hoping. We've lost a ton of talent over the years and I can't think of one guy we brought in from the outside. I think it was starting to show in the results we were gettting

[Packerraymond]

7 minutes ago, deltarich87 said:

Packers losing Highsmith

 

Well that was fast, must be Dorsey's right hand man. 

[skibrett15]

Just now, cannondale said:

Highsmith is a big loss. But this is where TT being re-assigned helps us. Most everyone else is going to be more proactive in reaching out to other talents instead of just promoting from within and hoping. We've lost a ton of talent over the years and I can't think of one guy we brought in from the outside

I've never heard of Highsmith tbh.  Not saying that doesn't mean he's bad at his job, but isn't this the front office equivalent of losing Joe Whitt, a guy most like but few see as a critical piece to this organization?

 

When one or more of Wolf/Gute/Ball leave, that's a big loss.

[{Family Ghost}]

8 minutes ago, deltarich87 said:

Packers losing Highsmith

 

Not sure there was much that could have been done to keep him on board.  To work something out this quickly in Cleveland the had to be working on it the past several days.  Thanks for the good work, Alonzo.

[{Family Ghost}]

1 minute ago, skibrett15 said:

I've never heard of Highsmith tbh.  Not saying that doesn't mean he's bad at his job, but isn't this the front office equivalent of losing Joe Whitt, a guy most like but few see as a critical piece to this organization?

 

When one or more of Wolf/Gute/Ball leave, that's a big loss.

Lose one more of these guys and we better get on the horn with Scot McCloughan.

[deltarich87]

Helluva promotion for Highsmith

 

[{Family Ghost}]

1 minute ago, deltarich87 said:

Helluva promotion for Highsmith

 

Obviously this has been in the works for a while.  Congrats to Alonzo.

[Acrid Josher]

I'm not sure we need a pure personnel guy as GM. Yeah it would be great if your GM was also your best scout, but is that necessary If you have a good organizational structure in place including a GM that listens to fosters discussion between all the Directors of Pro/College personnel, their assistants, and all their scouts?

A great GM also needs to be great at managing the cap, have a great working memory and organizational system for all available college/pro players, balance and upkeep short/medium/long term team needs (injury replacements this year/upcoming team FAs and drafts/cornerstone contracts), be charismatic enough to negotiate FA/combine visits that make players want to play for us in the first place, manage the relationships between player needs/coach needs/scouting needs/organizational needs, handle the media, fans, and NFL when things aren't going well, and build and/or maintain an institutional structure that works well at identifying and employing excellent people that can work together in many different areas (front office/scouts, medical/training, coaches, players).

Can Elliot Wolf do that? Maybe, but I'm not sure he has the relevant experience in many of those areas despite what sounds like being a very good scout thanks to a lifetime of scouting that started a decade before most guys in this game.

Maybe in practice it works best to have a really good scout as your GM. I don't know. But I don't think it has to be that way. I think a guy like Ball with a breadth of experience might be a better choice for a guy who needs to manage so many aspects of a team well. Yeah he probably won't be able to evaluate college talent as well as the guys that end up working for him, but if he asks the right questions and listens to what his experts are telling him he probably has a better idea of what to do with that information to build a successful team in the big picture than a guy who is so focused on the scouting side of things and can only see the players and the decision right in front of him.

 

[Packerraymond]

2 minutes ago, Acrid Josher said:

I'm not sure we need a pure personnel guy as GM. Yeah it would be great if your GM was also your best scout, but is that necessary If you have a good organizational structure in place including a GM that listens to fosters discussion between all the Directors of Pro/College personnel, their assistants, and all their scouts?

A great GM also needs to be great at managing the cap, have a great working memory and organizational system for all available college/pro players, balance and upkeep short/medium/long term team needs (injury replacements this year/upcoming team FAs and drafts/cornerstone contracts), be charismatic enough to negotiate FA/combine visits that make players want to play for us in the first place, manage the relationships between player needs/coach needs/scouting needs/organizational needs, handle the media, fans, and NFL when things aren't going well, and build and/or maintain an institutional structure that works well at identifying and employing excellent people that can work together in many different areas (front office/scouts, medical/training, coaches, players).

Can Elliot Wolf do that? Maybe, but I'm not sure he has the relevant experience in many of those areas despite what sounds like being a very good scout thanks to a lifetime of scouting that started a decade before most guys in this game.

Maybe in practice it works best to have a really good scout as your GM. I don't know. But I don't think it has to be that way. I think a guy like Ball with a breadth of experience might be a better choice for a guy who needs to manage so many aspects of a team well. Yeah he probably won't be able to evaluate college talent as well as the guys that end up working for him, but if he asks the right questions and listens to what his experts are telling him he probably has a better idea of what to do with that information to build a successful team in the big picture than a guy who is so focused on the scouting side of things and can only see the players and the decision right in front of him.

 

Those are all things you'd like to have, but not all necessary. Thompson was downright horrible with the fan base and media and we were a fine team with him, plus Russ Ball is here to manage the cap whether he gets the job or not.

Ron Wolf brought the importance of being a scout to GMing in today's NFL. He wanted football people making all football decisions. His scouting tree is as impressive as any Belicheck/Walsh coaching tree. The #1 trait hands down for a GM to me needs to be the ability to evaluate and acquire talent. All the other stuff you listed can be handled by numerous other people throughout the organization.

[Leader]

2 minutes ago, Packerraymond said:

Ron Wolf brought the importance of being a scout to GMing in today's NFL. He wanted football people making all football decisions. His scouting tree is as impressive as any Belicheck/Walsh coaching tree. The #1 trait hands down for a GM to me needs to be the ability to evaluate and acquire talent. All the other stuff you listed can be handled by numerous other people throughout the organization.

Agree. Players on the field win games / make the difference.