I grew up reading Bob McGinn, and coverage of the Packers hasn’t been the same since he left the beat six years ago. He’s the reason I started writing about the team back when only a few sites like this existed. It’s ironic that even in retirement, McGinn was able to break one of the biggest stories in years. Anyway, here are a few more thoughts that ran through my mind recently:
1) Green Bay hired Tim Lester as senior analyst last week. The 43-year-old, who compiled a 37-32 record at Western Michigan from 2017 to 2022, played quarterback at the school in 1998 and 1999, where he was backed up by Matt LaFleur. Don’t be surprised if this becomes a more important move than it appears at first glance. Lester is regarded as a good teacher and a bright offensive mind, so he could be positioned to eventually replace 69-year-old QBs coach Tom Clements or even coordinator Adam Stenavich, whose debut in that role didn’t go very well. Lester’s best season came in 2021 when he led the Broncos to eight wins and a trip to a bowl game. LaFleur continues to surround himself with familiar faces. In the past two years, he’s hired four assistants who worked with him at prior stops (Lester, defensive coordinator Joe Barry, offensive line assistant Ryan Mahaffey, and quality control coach Justin Hood).
2) Speaking of new assistants, LaFleur recently added Rob Grosso as an offensive quality control coach. It would be an understatement to say he’s been around. Since graduating from college, the Buffalo native has worked for five teams (Saskatchewan Roughriders, Arizona Rattlers, Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, and the Packers) in three different leagues. Did I happen to mention that this well-traveled and grizzled football lifer is 29 years old? Something else that makes Grosso interesting is his alma mater. He graduated from John Carroll, the same school that sent an amazing 41 coaches to the NFL in 2022, including Brandon Staley (Chargers) and Josh McDaniels (Raiders). The university’s most famous alumnus is Don Shula, who won a record 347 games and two championships in 33 seasons with Baltimore and Miami.
3) According to research done by FOX Sports, 126 quarterbacks have been selected in the first round since 1967. Only three started one or fewer games in their first three seasons, and astonishingly, all were drafted by the Packers. Rich Campbell (1981 by Bart Starr) is one of the biggest busts in league history, Aaron Rodgers (2005 by Ted Thompson) is one of the best players of all time, and Jordan Love (2020 by Brian Gutekunst) is almost certain to fall somewhere in between these two extremes. For those too young to remember, Campbell epitomized all that was wrong with Green Bay in the ’80s. He was a quarterback who, ironically enough, couldn’t throw the ball. To make matters worse, he was drafted right before linebacker Hugh Green (Buccaneers) and free safety Ronnie Lott (49ers), a pair of perennial All-Pros.
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Excellent research as always. Thanks for your articles!
Thanks
That’s a crazy stat about the three QBs. Unfortunately, I’m old enough to remember Campbell. He was a big QB with a little arm. It’s almost as though the Packers scouts never watched him throw a football. A year earlier, the Packers drafted Bruce Clark 4th overall, and he preferred playing in Canada to Green Bay. Those were the days.
Yikes, back when Green Bay was literally the Siberia of the NFL that NO ONE wanted to go to. It took a monumental effort by Ron Wolf to turn everything around. Even Jason Wilde commented last week that he was worried about the Packers returning to that horrible time of the 70’s and 80’s.
I sure wonder how McGinn got his information. Did he pay people to get it? Did he have dirt on someone? Why else would someone betray the organization that employed them by giving up team secrets to a reporter?
I predicted in 2020 that this regime would run the Packers into the ground by 2025, and I still feel that way, but I’m not worried about returning to the 70s and 80s. That level of sustained incompetence is really hard to achieve. Imagine hiring Dan Devine, Bart Starr, Forrest Gregg, and Lindy Infante/Tom Braatz back to back to back to back. There’s a better chance of winning the lottery.
Fair points. It’s just as hard to be exceptionally bad as it is to be exceptionally good.
Mentioning Rich Campbell and the 80’s gives me Robbie Bosco flashbacks.
The Packers went through a lot of sub optimal qb’s back then.
Only 6 years since Bob McGuinn left? Seems like a lot more than that, he’s definitely missed.