Packers coach Mike McCarthy didn’t want Russ Ball to be the team’s next G.M. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers also reportedly wasn’t a fan of the franchise’s V.P. of football administration getting the ultimate in-house promotion.
They win.
With Brian Gutekunst securing the job, only five days after it officially was open, Ball’s candidacy has collapsed. Many believed he was the frontrunner for the job, based in part on a close relationship with CEO Mark Murphy.
The prospect of losing Gutekunst to the Texans apparently provided the nudge to hire him. Some had suggested that, if Ball had gotten the G.M. gig, Gutekunst would have received a title like “executive V.P. of player personnel.”
Gutekunst has been with the Packers nearly 20 years, joining the franchise in late 1998. He became the director of college scouting in 2012, and the director of player personnel in 2016.
It’s unclear what the development means for Ball or Eliot Wolf, the director of football operations and, technically, a superior to Gutekunst. Before today.
Chances are that someone (perhaps Bob McGinn) will have a detailed story regarding things done behind the scenes to help Gutekunst get the job, and things that will happen behind the scenes now that the Packers have a new football boss.