brain drain in the front office this offseason. The transition from Ted Thompson to Brian Gutskunst as the team’s general manager was hardly seamless Jason Spriggs Jersey , as two critical members of the personnel department departed for jobs with the Cleveland Browns.Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith took their substantial scouting abilities to Lake Erie, leaving Gutekunst with little time to rebuild a department that was suddenly his responsibility. The Packers did not add any outsiders to the front office in significant roles prior to the 2018 NFL Draft, instead promoting from within to maintain some level of continuity.However, we know that Gutekunst did try to bring in at least one outsider shortly after the draft. Milt Hendrickson, a Wisconsin native, a colleague of Gutekunst’s at Wisconsin-La Crosse, and a dyed-in-the-wool Packers fan, was one of his friend’s targets last May. However, Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome reportedly blocked him from interviewing for a job in Green Bay, according to Bob McGinn. At that time, he speculated that Hendrickson would be likely to join the Packers in the 2019 offseason Mike Daniels Color Rush Jersey , as Newsome would be unable to block him this coming year.Now, McGinn is reporting that the deal is all but done. The former Packers beat writer reports that Gutekunst will hire Hendrickson for a “prominent front-office position” when the two teams’ 2018 seasons conclude. The speculated title is assistant general manager, which would be a significant step up from his current role as a national scout for the Ravens.Hendrickson has worked in the Ravens organization since 2005, when he joined the team as a personnel assistant. However, he returned to his home state of Wisconsin in 2008, when he was assigned as an area scout in the Midwest region. He was promoted to national scout a few years later.Milt’s younger brother Marcus is also a personnel executive. He spent time with the Browns and Dolphins personnel departments before the University of Minnesota hired him as their director of player personnel in 2017.The personal connection between the elder Hendrickson and Gutekunst goes beyond simply friendship and their work together at UW-La Crosse. According to an article in the Dodgeville Chronicle from 2013, Gutekunst helped Hendrickson get an internship with the Packers’ personnel department in the summer of 2004, which apparently established his desire to work in personnel for NFL teams. After that internship finished, he was quoted as saying “I would be interested in getting a job someday for the Packers or for some other NFL organization — if the opportunity was ever there.”The opportunity is finally here. And if there is any question about why he wants to come back to work for the Packers, consider this: his son’s name is Hutson. After a decade of working behind the scenes, Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy took a major step into the spotlight in early 2018.Responding to a disappointing 2017 season https://www.thepackersfanshop.com/Jamaal-Williams-Jersey , Murphy moved Ted Thompson out of his general manager position, hired Brian Gutekunst to take his place, and retained Mike McCarthy as head coach.Normally, it wouldn’t be up to a team president to make a coaching decision, but Murphy gave himself that responsibility in a series of somewhat unusual (and more than a little contradictory) moves. The end result was a power structure in which the head coach and general manager reside on essentially equal footing, both reporting to Murphy.Now, as the Packers play out the string on another disappointing season, Murphy has a decision to make: will he make the call on McCarthy’s future himself or empower his general manager to make a call that almost every other team in the league leaves to their general manager?The ball is in Murphy’s court and the future of the Packers depends on it. Future of Packers coach Mike McCarthy should be GM Brian Gutekunst’s call | Packers NewsAddressing Murphy’s power over the Packers, Tom Silverstein argues Murphy should step aside on the question of who coaches the team next year, deferring to general manager Brian Gutekunst.On the hot seat: Mike McCarthy has highest odds to be next NFL head coach fired | Cheesehead TVNo matter who makes the call on McCarthy’s future, Vegas has decided the odds are good he’s going to be out of a job in the near future.What You Might’ve Missed: Close but not quite | Packers.com“Close but not quite” is a pretty good summary of half a dozen Packers games this year at least Dean Lowry Jersey , but as Mike Spofford shows here, it was especially true of this week’s loss to the Vikings.Davante Adams on pace to threaten Packers’ triple crown of receiving records | Packers WireAdams is top 10 in the NFL in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns and he’s closing in on Packers records in each of those categories. Pretty good!Finally, in addition to having a great name, Gerhard de Beer just seems like a nice young man. “People like to say ‘I brought de Beer.’ And people come back and say ‘Where’s the beer?’ So I’m like, ‘Oh, hello, sorry for the disappointment, but I am de Beer.’”