The Green Bay Packers lost someone on Tuesday and the offseason hasn’t really even begun. Director of football operations John Schneider is leaving the team to take over as the Seattle Seahawks general manager.
What does that mean for the Packers? Well, not a whole lot.
Schneider was responsible for scouting, hiring coaches and working on trades, according to the Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein. However, he shared the same title as Reggie McKenzie with the Packers.
Schneider’s duties, or many of them, will likely fall to McKenzie, who has been with the Packers organization for 15 years and served 10 of those years as director of pro personnel. In other words, the Packers scouting and player evaluation department will survive in Schneider’s absence.
For Schneider, the move is a promotion.
It’s somewhat of a surprise Schneider got the Seattle job, though. Numerous reports indicated the job would go to Floyd Reese, the former general manager of the Tennessee Titans. In fact, it was widely believed that Schneider was out of the running. The Green Bay Press Gazette went so far as to print a story on Saturday, “Schneider staying with Packers.”
But enough about the idiocy of our local media outlets.
In Seattle, Schneider inherits a mess.
The Seahawks are lacking in talent on the field and are coming off two straight losing seasons. After finishing 4-12 in 2008, Seattle followed that up with a 5-11 campaign this season, finishing 21st in total offense and 24th in total defense.
Former Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell was let go before the season ended. The organization then fired coach Jim Mora Jr. and hired former USC coach Pete Carroll.
Most normal NFL franchises hire a general manager and then a coach, which tells you something about the amount of authority Schneider will have in Seattle.
Clearly, Scheider is someone who enjoys a challenge and he’s got a pretty big one on his hands in Seattle.
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