It was an offseason full of turnover on the Green Bay Packers staff. While the coaching side took a bigger toll, the front office also lost an impactful piece when vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan left to become the Miami Dolphins general manager.

After working two decades in Green Bay, Sullivan had become the most important person in the scouting department behind general manager Brian Gutekunst. Usually, executives wait until after the draft to make adjustments on the staff, so May should be a month where Gutekunst finds ways to replace what his group lost.

Replacement options

Usually, the Packers hire external pieces for lower-level or complementary positions on the staff, then promote from within to fill voids in higher positions. More likely than not, Gutekunst will choose one of his assistants for a promotion — or someone with knowledge of the Packer Way.

Top internal candidates

John Wojciechowski

Currently, he is the director of player personnel — technically, the new top guy under Gutekunst after Sullivan left. After being a personnel assistant for the Pittsburgh Steelers, then a scout for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Dallas Cowboys, Wojciechowski has been in Green Bay since 2012 — first, as a college scout. He was promoted to director of pro personnel late in Ted Thompson’s tenure, and then to director of player personnel once Gutekunst took over in 2018.

Milt Hendrickson

A director of football operations, Hendrickson is one of the closest assistants to Gutekunst. He spent 14 seasons on the Baltimore Ravens, and the Packers tried to hire him in 2018, but Baltimore blocked the move. Once Hendrickson’s deal expired, he signed with the Packers in 2019. His background scouting college prospects is enticing, and he could be a natural fit to replace Jon-Eric Sullivan.

Matt Malaspina

Malaspina is more likely to replace the executive who will replace Sullivan, because he’s a little bit lower on the staff. He’s been the director of college scouting since 2018, right after Brian Gutekunst took over as a GM, after one season as a college scout. He had previous experiences with the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. 

External candidates

Reggie McKenzie

A veteran, McKenzie is currently the Tennessee Titans vice president/football advisor. He spent almost two decades in Green Bay, from 1994 to 2011, as a pro personnel assistant, pro personnel director, and director of football operations before being hired as the Oakland Raiders general manager. The Raiders fired him after giving control to Jon Gruden, but he has a strong reputation as a scout. Over the past few years, he worked on the Miami Dolphins as a senior personnel executive before moving to the Titans in 2025.

Alonzo Highsmith

Right now, Highsmith is the New England Patriots senior personnel executive. He worked in Green Bay for six years, from 2012 to 2017, as a senior personnel executive, but had been around since 1998. When the Packers promoted Brian Gutekunst and Eliot Wolf left to the Cleveland Browns, Highsmith followed Wolf to Cleveland as a vice president of player personnel. Since then, he worked as a personnel executive for the Seattle Seahawks and GM of football operations at the University of Miami. When Wolf went to the Patriots, Highsmith followed him once again.