Packers: Top 15 what-ifs of the Ted Thompson era Part 3
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4. What if John Schneider never left the Packers?
What happened?
John Schneider was hired as the general manager of the Seattle Seahawks in 2010. Schneider, before joining the Seahawks in 2010, was director of football operations in Green Bay under Ted Thompson.
Schneider and Pete Carroll have gone on to win a Super Bowl in Seattle and have been a dominant force in the NFC for nearly the entire 2010s as a result of Schneider’s leadership.
The Seahawks have drafted great names under Schneider such as Russell Wilson, Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner and several others.
What if John Schneider never left the Packers?
If Schneider never left Green Bay I think it’s fair to say the Seahawks dynasty of the 2010s wouldn’t have happened.
I think Schneider staying in Green Bay would have really helped three teams out. Those teams are the San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers.
San Francisco would have advanced to two straight Super Bowls had Schneider not left Green Bay as they wouldn’t have had to face Seattle in the 2013 NFC Championship.
Denver would have won Super Bowl XLVIII over San Francisco as I believe the 49ers were the inferior team to the Seahawks in 2013. Peyton Manning would have three Super Bowl rings today had that happened.
The Packers’ drafting would have been better as well in the early 2010s. They would have had a great talent evaluator in Thompson at general manager, four people that are general managers today in their front office with Schneider, John Dorsey, Reggie McKenzie and Brian Gutekunst, as well as two top personnel guys in Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith.
They also would have played Dallas in the 2014 NFC Championship instead of Seattle, and they win Super Bowl XLIX over the New England Patriots as a result of the improved drafting that they would have had under Schneider.
If Schneider had stayed in Green Bay until Thompson retired, I think it would have been an Ozzie Newsome-Eric DeCosta situation with Schneider being the obvious GM in waiting.
Schneider would have been promoted this offseason and Gutekunst would have taken the job with the Houston Texans, which nearly happened anyway.