<
        >

          NFL Nation

          Packers keep promoting Eliot Wolf; could GM job be next?

          play
          Will Wolf be Packers next GM? (1:07)

          ESPN Packers reporter Rob Demovsky talks about Eliot Wolf's recent promotion to director of football operations and the chances Wolf will one day be Green Bay's general manager. (1:07)

          • Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff WriterMar 21, 2016, 07:30 PM
            Close
              Rob Demovsky is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Green Bay Packers. He has covered the Packers since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2013. Demovsky is a two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the NSSA. You can follow him on Twitter at @RobDemovsky.
            Follow on X

          BOCA RATON, Fla. -- The way the Green Bay Packers keep promoting Eliot Wolf, there can’t be many titles left to give him without making him the general manager.

          Current general manager Ted Thompson promoted Wolf and another member of his scouting department, Brian Gutekunst, on Monday. Wolf, who turned 34 the same day his promotion was announced, now has the title of director of football operations. Gutekunst, the team's former college scouting director, was moved into Wolf’s old job of director of player personnel.

          Thompson wouldn’t say exactly what their new jobs entail, but for Wolf it was his fifth promotion since Thompson became the general manager in 2005.

          Here’s how Wolf has progressed through the scouting ranks since he joined the Packers:

          • Pro personnel assistant (2004-08)

          • Assistant director of pro personnel (2008-10)

          • Assistant director of player personnel (2011)

          • Director of pro personnel (2012-14)

          • Director of player personnel (2014-2015)

          • Director of football operations (2016)

          Could his next stop be general manager? Team president Mark Murphy told ESPN.com last month at the scouting combine that he knows how much longer Thompson, 63, plans to work and has a succession plan in mind. Neither Murphy nor Thompson would say at this week’s owners meetings what the timetable is for executing that plan.

          By regularly promoting Wolf, the Packers can perhaps keep him around until Thompson retires. Wolf’s name has been mentioned for GM jobs each of the last several offseasons, but Thompson denied the promotions were designed to keep Wolf and Gutekunst around.

          “No, it’s not done in defense, and I understand what you’re saying,” Thompson said. “What we try to do, and we’ve done this over the years, is try to identify where we are and make sure that we stay current in those titles and those kind of things. Like I said, those responsibilities have been done by those two gentlemen for some time.”

          Thompson currently has four protégés working as general managers around the NFL. Thompson can been seen standing next to them -- John Schneider (Seahawks), John Dorsey (Chiefs), Scot McCloughan (Redskins) and Reggie McKenzie (Raiders) -- in the annual GM photo at the NFL meetings.

          It would seem likely Wolf will join them one day, whether it’s with the Packers or another team.

          “He’s very capable,” Thompson said. “He’s doing a great job in a business that is hard to be on top of all the time. He’s a smart guy, as everybody knows. He really likes what he does, he’s been doing it for a long, long time even though he’s [still young].”