Packers Announce Promotions In Player Personnel Department
In the player personnel department of the Packers front office, the departure of former vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan for the general manager job in Miami left GM Brian Gutekunst without his No. 2. Addressing that concern, Green Bay announced a series of internal promotions throughout its player personnel department this week.
Filling the vice president of player personnel role left vacant by Sullivan will be Milt Hendrickson. Starting his NFL career as a training camp intern for the Packers in 2004, Hendrickson’s first full-time opportunity came in Baltimore, where he spent 14 years going from player personnel assistant to midwest area scout to mid-regional scout to national scout before finally making his way to Green Bay. He’s been with the Packers for the past eight years, working the last seven as director – football operations.
Formerly the co-director of player personnel, John Wojciechowski has been promoted into Hendrickson’s old role of director — football operations. Wojciechowski is in his 14th year with the Packers and his 31st in the NFL. He started as a player personnel assistant for the Steelers in 1996 and worked as a college scout in Jacksonville for five years and Dallas for nine more before ultimately landing in the same role for the Packers in 2012. He was promoted to director of pro personnel in 2017 before landing in his most recent role, which he held for the past eight years.
Richmond Williams will follow the same path as his predecessor, moving from his most recent role of director of pro personnel to director of player personnel. Williams is entering Year 19 in Green Bay. After serving as the team’s NFS scout covering the southwest region, Williams was named a college scout in 2012 and a pro scout in 2017, holding the latter role for only two years before reaching his most recent role before the promotion.
The chain of successive promotion broke up just a bit after that. According to the Packers, senior personnel executive Lee Gissendaner will add the title of director of pro scouting to his title. Matt Malaspina will also assume the title of senior player personnel executive after getting promoted from director of college scouting, and former assistant director of college scouting Pat Moore has been promoted to succeed Malaspina in the full director role.
Gissendaner has spent 25 non-consecutive years with the Packers, starting with the team in 1998 and taking a three-year sabbatical as a national scout with the Jets from 2015-17. He worked 14 years as an area scout before leaving for New York and was named a player personnel executive upon his return.
Malaspina has been with the team for nine years but is entering his 28th season of NFL experience. Starting with NFS in 1998, Malaspina worked with the Panthers for a year, Seahawks for five years, and 49ers for 12 years before landing in Green Bay and getting promoted to director of college scouting following a year as a college scout with the team. Moore held a series of collegiate coaching roles before turning to scouting with the Browns in 2013. He arrived as a college scout in Green Bay in 2018 before getting promoted to his most recent role in 2021.
Lastly, a trio of scouts earned promotions. Mike Owen, a former national scout in his 15th year with the team, was named assistant director of pro scouting, Sam Seale, in his 32nd season with the team, was promoted from national scout to senior national scout, and former college scout Luke Benuska was promoted to national scout in his 11th year in Green Bay.
Owen arrived in Green Bay in 2012 and held a role as a college scout for 13 years before getting promoted to national scout last year. Seale started as a college scout in 1995, became a west regional scout in 2012, and was named a national scout in 2018. Lastly, Benuska originally joined the Packers as a scouting intern in 2016, following recruiting work at his alma mater, TCU. He became a pro scout in 2017 before working the past eight seasons in the college scouting role.
Front Office Notes: Hinkie, Packers, Titans
Sam Hinkie developed an interesting reputation in the NBA, taking a unique path toward rebuilding the Philadelphia 76ers during his run as their GM. He set them on their current course via historic tanking over a years-long endeavor dubbed “The Process” — one that led to the team making several lottery picks, two of those becoming Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. Although Hinkie stepped down from his post in 2016, his work looks much better after those two prospects became stars and spearheaded Philly into the playoffs this season. And an NFL team took the time to pick his brain this week. Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic reports (subscription required) the Broncos brought in the 40-year-old executive for an analytics powwow. Hinkie spoke to the Broncos’ analytics department, as well as members of their scouting branch, football administration and conditioning staffs this week, per Jhabvala, on how to best use the data teams are now collecting.
Here’s the latest from some front offices around the league.
- Green Bay will go with a two-man setup in a key role under GM Brian Gutekunst. Jon-Eric Sullivan and John Wojciechowski will rise to the roles of co-player personnel directors for the Packers, the team announced. Sullivan previously operated as the Packers’ director of college scouting, doing so for two seasons, while Wojchichowski was the team’s pro personnel director in 2017.
- Gutekunst also made some adjustments to the team’s scouting staff. Matt Malaspina will rise to Sullivan’s old job. A 20-plus-year NFL veteran, Malaspina was hired as a Packers college scout in 2017. The Packers promoted Sam Seale to a national scouting role after he spent time working primarily as a west region scout, per PackersNews.com. Chad Brinker will now work as Green Bay’s assistant director of pro scouting and serve as a salary cap analyst, while Pat Moore will come over from the Browns and work as a college scout for the Packers. While former Packers exec John Dorsey is now the Browns’ GM, Moore spent five years in Cleveland working under previous regimes. Former NFL defensive back Brandian Ross will make greater inroads into the scouting world. The Packers are promoting the 28-year-old, who played for three teams from 2012-15 after coming into the league as a UDFA out of Youngstown State, to a college scouting role after he spent last year as a scouting assistant. Luke Benuska will also earn greater responsibility; he’ll work as a college scout after serving as a pro scout.
- The Titans made a few adjustments to their staff on Friday. Most notably, player personnel director Ryan Cowden will now serve as the franchise’s VP of player personnel, TitansOnline.com’s Terry McCormick reports (on Twitter). Tennessee brought in Cowden two years ago to that player personnel director role. Previously, he spent 16 seasons with the Panthers, finishing his years there as Carolina’s assistant director of college scouting. Additionally, Kevin Turks will now serve as Titans assistant director of pro personnel and Rob Reiderer will work as a scouting assistant.