John Schneider Not Likely to Be Packers Next GM

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the fact that the Seattle Seahawks signed general manager John Schneider to a contract extension earlier this week.

That deal very likely takes him out of the conversation to be Ted Thompson’s replacement as the Green Bay Packers’ general manager.

Schneider, a former Packers personnel executive and a De Pere, Wisconsin native, had a clause in his previous contract that allowed him to leave his post in Seattle to take the same job in Green Bay.

The new contract? No such clause.

There’s good reason for that, of course. The deal reportedly pays Schneider close to $4 million annually. It makes him among on the highest-paid GMs in the league.

You’ve got to give something up in the negotiation to get that kind of money.

Schneider was considered to be part of a very short list to replace Thompson, whose current contract runs through the 2018 season.

The other prominent name on that list is Eliot Wolf, who has rapidly progressed through the ranks of the Packers organization. The Packers have stopped him from interviewing for other general manager jobs and promoted him to director of football operations earlier this year.

That’s the highest-ranking personnel position in the organization next to GM.

Those factors are a good sign that Wolf is the frontrunner to replace Thompson.

Schneider’s new deal runs through the 2020 season. If Thompson retires when his current contract expires, Schneider won’t be part of the replacement conversation.