What is going on at 1265 Lombardi Avenue? Seems like nobody knows, not even the Packers’ brass. In an offseason of discontent, the ouster of team President John Jones just four days before he was replace Bob Harlan leaves the Packers looking like a rudderless boat in the vast Bering Sea. In fact, it appears Harlan is about to leave the Packers in the same position he assumed them, wondering aimlessly from year-to-year. Not good.

Packers’ fans have been calling for the head of general manager Ted Thompson ever since he forwent free agency and didn’t address the Packers’ woeful offense in the draft or trade for receiver Randy Moss. I’m not quite that far with the Thompson firing, but if the Packers go 4-12 this year it will be clear he has made the wrong moves, or should I say lack of moves, thus far this year. Of course, Mr. Harlan himself is as much to blame for this mess as anyone.

Harlan certainly is responsible for the hiring of Ron Wolf, which in turn brought a Super Bowl team back to Green Bay, and his work to save Lambeau Field ensures the Packers’ future in the NFL. However, his decisions to hire Mike Sherman as general manger and now his blunder with Jones all of a sudden has the Packers spiraling out of control it seems. All we need now is for some players to get arrested and we are right back where we started from.

Harlan now has one more decision to make, and boy, is it a biggy. If Harlan fails on this one, everything he built could be destroyed. In this day and age, the Packers will not survive 25 years of losing football games like they did in the 70s and 80s. Too much money is involved and losing teams do not generate revenue.

So who do I think he should hire? Mike Holmgren. If Holmgren would be interested in leaving the Seahawks after the 2007 season, he is simply the perfect choice to replace Harlan. The Packers wouldn’t miss a beat and I promise you Mike Holmgren would not allow a losing team on the hallowed grounds of Lambeau Field. Holmgren has all the qualities the Packers need, knowledge of the league as a coach, general manager and executive, not to mention his charisma, which is Harlan’s strong suit.

Certainly there is a good chance that Holmgren would not be interested in the job, Holmgren’s ego tells me there is no way he could resist it. If Holmgren has interest, the search begins and ends in the same place, at least in my mind.

Granted, saying the Packers are headed for NFL oblivion may be a bit premature, this offseason has not been one of the best. Especially when your star player, a three-time NFL MVP rips his teams’ lack of offseason moves. Thompson gives the impression that he doesn’t care what the media and public have to say and seems very comfortable with the way he is building the team. I can’t wait until training camp and preseason so we can finally see what exactly is going on here. It is going to be a long seven weeks, that’s for sure.

By Al Davis

Well here we are with June fast approaching and that can only mean one thing. OTAs will be starting and I wanted to give some thought on three different topics. The first being the management concerns which forced the Packers into making John Jones take a paid leave of absence. The second thing I would like to write about would be this years supplemental draft. The third thing that I would like to write about was brought up in my beginning statement, that being OTAs beginning in June.

There is no telling the effects what the Green Bay Packers decision would have been if the Packers organization would have left well enough alone and let John Jones take over just as planned by Bob Harlan and the rest of the organization over management concerns.

Mr. Harlan was and still is the person that single handedly brought the Packer organization out of no where back onto the NFL roadmap of respectable teams. Sweat and effort that he put forth in making a crown jewel in a place called Green Bay. Bob Harlan did that by resurrecting the Green Bay Packers stadium. No other CEO of an NFL organization would have fought that hard. They would probably back up some vans or 18 wheelers and moved everything in the night. Owners just go to a different city and not worry about the hassle of trying to find the money to upgrade their current stadium. Mr. Harlan knew he had to stick it out and fight what was right for the future of this organization. I can not thank his efforts enough in making the Green Bay Packer organization what it is today.

But does that mean John Jones would have done it the same way. John Jones had eight years to learn from Bob Harlan who believed John Jones was the right call for his successor but in the end he was not. To many questions not enough answers about this situation. Lets look at it in another way, everyone wants to leave their mark somewhere. Man has always been that way, just look at this organization for an example. You have a man call Vince Lombardi. To make his team it was his way or the highway. Same theme different people, Ron Wolf, Mike Holmgren to name a couple. The point I guess I am trying to make is that everyone will think differently on the hows, whens, and wheres to run a success NFL organization. If there isn’t a common understanding between the two regimes when the former hands over the control to the new guy, then many changes will be made. Which could cost this or any organization in the long run of obtaining their goal which is the Vince Lombardi Trophy. I just hope that Mr. Harlan and the excutive committee can come to a resolution that will be right for the Green Bay Packers. I would like to put my to cents in for Mike Reinfeldt for the next CEO of the Green Bay Packers.

The next topic of conversation is this years supplemental draft. The one player that the Green Bay Packers can use is available in this draft. That would be Paul Oliver cornerback from Georgia. He has a slim frame like Al Harris, that being 6-0, 185. But the reason for drafting Paul Oliver is amount of success he had against Calvin Johnson and as you know by now Calvin Johnson is a Detroit Lion, that is twice a year of covering this dynamite of a wide receiver. It would also help in the transitioning of the secondary from Charles Woodson/Al Harris to the next two shut down corners. The Packers need to get someone that can have success against Calvin Johnson and I believe that would be Paul Oliver.

The last topic is the OTAs coming up in June. In the rookie and mandatory camps held by the Packers a lot of positive things were found out. This upcoming training camp simply is going to be the most competitive since the mid 1990s. Lets first start with the running backs, Ryan Powdrell and Corey White did so well that coaches are thinking of moving Korey Hall back over to linebacker. He was drafted with the intention of him being a fullback/special teams ace. Not saying that Korey Hall did anything wrong but underlining that Powdrell and White did everything very well. Another bright spot is that Vernand Morency is now upto 220 pounds and is looking really comfortable in his knowledge of the offense. The coaches are looking for him to go to the next level of being successful. Everyone is impressed with rookie receiver James Jones. His ability to catch the ball, concentration to go after the ball, with hands extended have proved to be a welcome addition after everyone was saying James Jones who? The Packers are well stocked and are now ready to go after quality players instead of quantity of players in the coming years.

GO PACK!!

By Joe Blackwell