The Packers have undergone a fairly seismic shift this offseason, and eventually they’re going to have to backfill their personnel department. But that’s not going to happen until after this year’s draft.
New General Manager Brian Gutekunst is overseeing his first big event of the offseason this week at the Senior Bowl, with a staff that’s short a few bodies. After former G.M. Ted Thompson was kicked upstairs and personnel men Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith left to go work for John Dorsey in Cleveland.
“I think there will be some additions I’m sure at some point, probably after the draft when most of that movement happens,” Gutekunst told Michael Cohen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We’ve got plenty of hands on deck right now, so I’m not worried about it right now. But at some point I’m sure we’ll have some movement, you know?
“There will probably be some duties that change . . . and then obviously Ted being there, having that to lean on is huge, too. But I think right after everything happened, I think for me it was just, ‘OK, let me assess and make sure we’re covered.’ Then I realized we were fine and decided all right, we’ll wait until after the draft before we move into that next step.”
Gutekunst said Thompson will be on hand for the Scouting Combine, but isn’t with the team this week. Instead, he’s surrounded by his college and pro scouting staffs in Mobile, along with director of football operations Russ Ball. Without replacing Wolf or Highsmith at this time, he’ll lean more heavily on director of college scouting Jon-Eric Sullivan for this year’s draft.
“It hasn’t been a lot different,” Gutekunst said. “Our process will continue to kind of stay the same. As college director and then director of pro personnel, it was my job to know all these players. That’s no different. I think there’s maybe some more distractions, but at the same time, once I get with these guys and stuff it’s just scouting.”
And once this year’s draft is over, he’ll likely add some help.
