I woke up this morning to this.
http://www.jsonline.com/packer/news/jan05/292605.asp

Sherman may soon be out as Packers' GM
Harlan reportedly wants to hand off duties to Seahawks' Thompson

Green Bay - Green Bay Packers president Bob Harlan is poised to strip coach Mike Sherman of his general manager duties and pursue Seattle vice president of football operations Ted Thompson as his next GM, two National Football League sources familiar with the Packers said Wednesday.

Neither could say for certain that Harlan had informed Sherman of the decision, but they said it was widely known in league circles that he was prepared to split the duties and make a run at Thompson, a former Packers personnel official.

Harlan returned from an NFL owners committee meeting in New York late Wednesday afternoon and didn't return a phone message left at his office.

Thompson was scouting the East-West Shrine game in the San Francisco Bay area and was unavailable for comment. Sherman has been in staff meetings all week and unavailable. He is scheduled to hold his season-ending news conference Friday.

Harlan's intention since the end of the season has been to speak with Sherman before making an announcement on whether to split the duties.

He has long been in favor of having a GM with full authority over the head coach and football operation, but when his first GM, Ron Wolf, retired in 2001, he allowed Sherman, the head coach, to assume both positions. Sherman has been in charge of the football department for four years.

He has a 53-27 regular-season mark as head coach. However, the Packers have a 2-4 playoff mark under Sherman and there have been a series of questionable moves in free agency and the draft that have marked his tenure as GM.

One of the sources said it was his belief that Harlan would immediately target Thompson, who is under contract with the Seahawks until June but probably would receive permission to interview for the position.

The other source said it seemed a foregone conclusion that Thompson was the top candidate given his previous ties to the Packers organization.

Thompson served as pro personnel director and director of player personnel under Wolf from 1992-'99. He worked with all three of the Packers' top personnel men - personnel analyst John Schneider, pro personnel director Reggie McKenzie and college scouting director John Dorsey - while in Green Bay and still has a close relationship with them.

Schneider and Dorsey also worked with Thompson in Seattle.

Though they aren't considered close, Thompson was with the Packers when Sherman was an assistant coach in '97 and '98 and shares a close relationship with Sherman's mentor, Seattle coach Mike Holmgren. Both Thompson and Sherman are considered to be committed primarily to doing what's right for the organization, and they could be a good fit together.

Harlan faces a difficult situation with Sherman because he will be hiring someone with authority to make a coaching change. Sherman has one year left on a contract that pays him roughly $3 million to be both coach and GM.

Sherman's agent, Bob LaMonte, has been pushing for a contract extension, but Harlan probably will have to wait until the new general manager can assess whether Sherman is the right man for the coaching job. If Sherman isn't signed to an extension, he would be a free agent after next season and might look for a new team to coach before then.

One NFL source said Harlan had no choice but to wait until the new GM is on board to discuss an extension. He said Harlan might have to forgo the extension and risk losing Sherman after the 2005 season.

One Packers source said he doubted Sherman would not accept his new role willingly and work as hard as he could to get along with the new GM. His future in Green Bay might depend on how well his personality meshes with the new GM, however.

It probably won't take long for Harlan to replace Sherman as GM.

Harlan would have to get permission from the Seahawks to interview Thompson, but as long as Harlan offers Thompson full authority over the football operation - including the ability to hire and fire the head coach - the Seahawks can't prevent him from interviewing or taking the job.

Much still has to happen before the front office is settled. Thompson would have to have a good interview with Harlan and agree to terms on a contract. If a deal couldn't be worked out, Harlan would have to either promote from within or open the job up to a league-wide search.

Since joining the Seahawks in January 2000, Thompson has run the draft and advised Holmgren on personnel matters. Among the players Thompson is responsible for bringing in through the draft are running back Shaun Alexander, guard Steve Hutchinson, receiver Darrell Jackson, cornerbacks Ken Lucas and Marcus Trufant and safeties Ken Hamlin and Michael Boulware.

Alexander, a first-round pick in 2000, led the NFC rushing with 1,696 yards and 16 touchdowns. Hutchinson, a first-round pick in 2001, has made the Pro Bowl each of the last two seasons. Jackson, Lucas, Trufant, Hamlin and Boulware are all players who were instant contributors.

Thompson believes strongly in building through the draft and is not a fan of free agency. He joined Holmgren in Seattle after the 1999 season and has run the personnel department the entire time.

Holmgren had authority to make his own draft picks and sign his own free agents, but sources familiar with the team said he generally followed Thompson's recommendations. Holmgren was stripped of his general manager's duties last year, but Thompson remained as vice president of football operations.

Sherman's tenure as Packers GM has been rocky.

He hit the draft jackpot with wide receiver Javon Walker in 2002, but there have been lots of misses in the three drafts in which he was completely in charge. He has made numerous mistakes in free agency (Joe Johnson, Hardy Nickerson, Tim Couch, Mark Roman, Cletidus Hunt) and put the Packers in a tight salary cap situation heading into next season.

His worst draft might turn out to be his last one.

Of his six picks in 2004, the only one who showed promise was seventh-round center Scott Wells.

It remains to be seen how Harlan's decision affects quarterback Brett Favre, who has not committed to playing next season yet. Assuming Sherman stays to fulfill the final year of his contract, Favre might be willing to stick around to see whether the new GM can fix the defense and make a run for the Super Bowl next season.

If the new GM decides to rebuild, it would probably have an impact on Favre's decision.

Hmmmm...

Packers are my 2nd favorite team. All I gotta say is:

WAHOOO!!!!!

In your face biatch. I wish Warren Sapp beat the fuck out of you 2 years ago while he had the chance.

He could be worse, I mean, at least he's not Parcells.

-Sunny

Sherman will likely still stay on as coach, he's just having the GM duties taken from him. As far as the Sherman/Sapp incident...I don't think there's a coach in the league that stands up for his players more than Sherman does. It's one of his strengths.

It's about time.

Sherman as GM has pretty much set up his team for collapse once Favre retires or gets injured. Then we'll see him fired as coach soon enough.

Sherman only has one year left on his contract. So if his contract isn't extended as soon as the new GM is hired, I wouldn't be surprised if he does leave soon. Possibly even before this season.

Read this: http://www.geocities.com/sieckman6/draft.txt

-Sunny

Can't dispute the facts...that is some shitty drafting. But it should be noted that Ron Wolf was still in charge for the 2001 draft (in which the Packers drafted Jamal Reynolds, etc). Sherman had a little more input because he was being groomed to take over the GM role, but Wolf had final say. Either way our drafts have sucked for a long time now.

Sherman being removed as GM is long overdue. Next move is firing the entire defensive coaching staff.

it's official now

Ron Wolf said his biggest mistake was letting Andy Reid go, and not hiring him as coach. Thank you Wolf

Yeah, he went with Ray Rhodes instead.

....well Wolf couldn't get them all right.

I'm glad Sherman is out as GM. The thing that Geocities didn't mention was the Joe Johnson free agent signing. That was by far the biggest but of all. However, I don't pin that totally on Sherman. Most of the pundits that that was a great signing. The Pack should have learned their lesson though and never again sign marquee free agents over 30 years old for big contracts. Philly has proven that isn't necessary to be successful in this league.

Reggie White was 32 when he signed.

Right. Because Sherman's a giant douche for caring about his players.

i like this move, something needed to change. i like sherman as a coach, his record speaks for itself (not including playoffs ). but he was a bad GM. his draft picks sucked, and he had a horrible time in the FA market.

ted thompson sounds like the right guy. he was with the packers in the 90s, and has an impressive run of draft picks for seattle. plus, he shys away from free agency.

i also had concerns that if sherman was out entirely, it may effect favre's decision to return next season. he likes to sleep through team meetings, heh, and a coaching overhaul would really cut into his nap time.

i still don't have much hope for the packer's immediate future though. this can only make sherman a better coach, but can that really improve a no talent, no tackling defense and an offense that may lose key offensive linemen?

Well it's official now. Everybody up here in Green Bay is ecstatic.

Thompson accepts Packers GM job
Former Ron Wolf protege takes over half of Sherman's duties.

By TOM SILVERSTEIN
tsilverstein@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 14, 2005

Ted Thompson, a protege of Ron Wolf's during the 1990s, was named this morning as the new general manager of the Green Bay Packers.

Team president Bob Harlan made the announcement in a news release, ending speculation on the future of the Packers' heirarchy.

Thompson, pro personnel director and director of player personnel under Wolf from 1992-'99, and right-hand personnel man to Mike Holmgren in Seattle since 2000, will be Executive Vice President, General Manager and Director of Football Operations. He will have full authority over the Packers' football operations.

Mike Sherman, who loses his general manager title in the deal, will be executive vice president and remain as head coach.

Harlan will hold a news conference at 3:30 this afternoon at Lambeau Field, replacing the one that Sherman had planned. Thompson will meet the press at 11 a.m. Saturday, and Sherman will have his season-ending news conference on Monday.

"We feel this restructuring helps the Packers in two ways," Harlan said. "First, we are able to add to our staff a respected, 13-year National Football League veteran who is a proven talent evaluator and an efficient administrator. And, second, it will reduce Mike's workload and enable him to devote more time to coaching."

An NFL source familiar with Thompson said the Packers couldn’t have found a better fit and that Sherman would have no problem with him.

"This is a great hire," said the source, who requested anonymity. "Ted knows the tradition there and he knows how things operate and that’s a good thing. Mike Sherman is not a guy with an ego and Ted isn’t either. It’s two egoless guys. They would be a pretty good match."

Thompson began his scouting career with the Packers after a 10-year career playing linebacker with the Houston Oilers. Wolf hired Thompson as a pro personnel assistant in 1992 and promoted him to pro personnel director the next year.

In 1997, Wolf elevated Thompson to director of player personnel, giving him authority over the pro and college personnel departments. Throughout the middle ’90s, Thompson was thought of as Wolf’s right-hand man in the personnel department.

In 1999, Wolf hired his longtime friend, Ken Herock, and promoted him to a position higher than Thompson’s. Wolf seemed to be doing Herock a favor but to Thompson, it might have appeared as something different and he accepted an offer from Holmgren in Seattle in 2000 to be vice president of football operations.

Over the past five years, Thompson has guided Holmgren through the draft, doing much of the same work Wolf did as general manager in Green Bay. Thompson travels during the season to scout college talent so he can get a better feel of the players.

"He was the Ron Wolf of Seattle," former Packers and Seahawks offensive line coach Tom Lovat said. "He was Ron’s right-hand man in Green Bay. He leaned on him quite a bit.

"Teddy knows the business. He played in the league. He’s a football guy. He’s going to make sure he gets all the information before he makes a decision. He’ll do a real thorough job."

Lovat said Thompson had a strong relationship with Holmgren, with whom he worked in Green Bay as well as Seattle. Holmgren can be demanding of those who work for him, but Thompson fed him all the information Holmgren needed on personnel and the two made most decisions together.

Lovat said there was no question the Seahawks are a far more talented team than they were when they arrived despite their 8-8 record and first-round playoff ouster.

"I think when we went in, we overestimated the talent," Lovat said. "We had no quarterback and we really had to scratch and claw for a couple years. They’re better now. They still need some help on defense, but they’ve had a top offense for three or four years."

Nice to see your offseason start so quickly

The fun has just begun. Slowik will be shown the door very shortly.