Matt LaFleur did not have final say on hiring assistants

GBP4EVER said:
I think everyone within the team knows that Ball is Murphy lacky. Only thing I hope is that when Murphy retires that Ball's age plays against him because Ball will be 60 years old soon so if Murphy goes another 3-5 years the BOD might not want to promote a guy who could be there only a 5 or so years himself.
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I can only hope that is correct, because I fear Murphy handing Ball the keys to the kingdom.

Murphy’s power play platform is built on 3 pillars (IMO).

1. A HC lacking enough experience to do much more than coach.
2. An administrator who’s little more than a bean counter but thinks he knows how to evaluate NFL talent ands wants more power than he has.
3. A personnel guy who’s been in the scouting/evaluating trenches a long time (he understand kinesiology in a way Ball can only dream of), but does not possess the admin skills/experience to run the whole show like Wolf or Thompson.

So, none of the 3 pillars can stand alone on their own and need a connector/stabilizer to remain standing.

Murphy has set himself up as the only entity to make this structure work.

Kind of scary to think of it that way.
 
I think the Silverstein story is concerning but I always consider that in a story like this you generally only hear about the complaints and complainers because that makes the story. It's bad, but probably not quite as bad as the story portrays.

I think people here have pretty much covered the concerns pretty accurately. I suspect what we are seeing is due in part to Murphy over-responding after the BOD probably chewed on his ass a little about the whole Thompson thing.

The biggest concern right now for me is the whole Murphy-Ball situation. I actually think ML could be a fine coach and so far I don't see a reason for him to fail. Yes, Rizzi would have been a great hire, but did he make the Dolphins contenders last year, or any year he was there? Again, he would have been a great addition, but he won't be the reason the Packers don't win. IMO, ML is the make or break piece of this football staff.

Gutekunst, to me, is not in over his head. I've seen no evidence of that. He seems to have a plan and he;s executing it. He might very well fail, but I don't think it's because he's not capable. I think he could have run the whole show. Where he may get hurt is this odd relationship with Murphy and Ball.

Murphy is 63 and probably doesn't stick around too much longer. If indeed Ball is being groomed as his successor, that is troubling to me. Ball wanted Gute's job along with his own. Once Murphy is no longer the buffer, does Ball just strangle Gute and his ability to do his job by interfering even more than Murphy is now? Maybe he fires Gute and brings in his own puppet. That to me, that is when things fall apart. Hopefully the BOD will be smart enough to realize when the time comes that Ball is not the guy and someone outside the organization needs to be brought in. Maybe that person needs to be a little more hands on than perhaps Harlan was, but not so much as Murphy currently is. Heck if things go well, maybe we see a reset from Murphy in the next couple of years before he moves on.
 
dannobanano said:
3. A personnel guy who’s been in the scouting/evaluating trenches a long time (he understand kinesiology in a way Ball can only dream of), but does not possess the admin skills/experience to run the whole show like Wolf or Thompson.
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I agree he perhaps doesn't have a ton of administrative skills but I'm not sure Thompson had more skills in that area. He may have had a title of sorts in Seattle but ultimately in the end he was not much more than head of personnel and on-field operations head and seemed to leave the money stuff to Ball and other administrative tasks to others. I think Gute could have found himself a "money man" just like TT did.
 
57packer said:
I suspect what we are seeing is due in part to Murphy over-responding after the BOD probably chewed on his ass a little about the whole Thompson thing.
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My feeling is just the opposite. I think over the past couple of years the BOD anointed him to oversee the entire organization and has kept at arms length about the entire football operation. Titletown is up, local revenue was up (2018 report will be interesting) and until last year team was winning, bank account flush. Not to say the BOD does not care but Murphy has developed a Teflon sense to him.
 
As McCarthy was linked at the hip to Thompson even more so the success of Gute and ML is Murphy’s legacy. This FO paid out big $$$$ to free agents, extended Rodgers and had 2 first round picks to fill holes. Like if or not this is a 3 year window to win and if this group does not make a deep run in that period then the BOD will have to make some decisions that will in many ways impact their legacy.
 
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Packinatl said:
As McCarthy was linked at the hip to Thompson even more so the success of Gute and ML is Murphy’s legacy. This FO paid out big $$$$ to free agents, extended Rodgers and had 2 first round picks to fill holes. Like if or not this is a 3 year window to win and if this group does not make a deep run in that period then the BOD will have to make some decisions that will in many ways impact their legacy.
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Makes sense to me. They've been given an enormous amount of latitude to make things happen in this time frame, so it's time to fish or cut bait. Three years seems a fair field to make it happen.
 
My tc(

1.) If this blows up and turns into a complete podo( show, to me, that’s entirely on Murphy. It sounds like MLF was pretty much his hire. Murphy also bears responsibility for allowing Ted to stay 2 years too long. Murphy is the guy who created this “triangle”. And history is not on his side that these structures turn out well.

2.) MLF better grow a pair and quick. He seems like a nice young man, who is agreeable. Likely too agreeable. If Rizzi is who he wanted, he should have raised Hell if GB low balled him. It also sounds like he didn’t have much of a choice in keeping Pettine either (yes I agree with retaining Pettine but ultimately that has to be MLFs call). If Rodgers even sniffs at MLF being a push over or weak, this won’t end well. Rodgers will quickly assert himself as alpha male and do what he wants. I’m just crossing fingers MLF is ready for this gig.
 
TW said:
Makes sense to me. They've been given an enormous amount of latitude to make things happen in this time frame, so it's time to fish or cut bait. Three years seems a fair field to make it happen.
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The 3 year thing is in alignment with the contract of Rodgers (when cap hit becomes manageable) and the same with our FA signings, ML is a 4 year deal and Adams is a UFA in 2022.
 
Nobody has any idea how this will work out. Gutekunst/LaFleur can be Wolf/Holmgren or Braatz/Infante. We'll start finding out soon enough.
 
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