John Schneider's drafts and career history
by Stevo's on Jan 19, 2010 12:34 PM PST
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John Schneider has been Director of Football Operations for the Green Bay Packers since 2008. Prior to this he spent six years as Personnel Analyst to GM-VP-Director of Football Operations Ted Thompson.
Schneider describes his job in his own words in a 2009 interview, saying "My primary focus is working closely with our GM, personnel staff, and coaching staff in order to put the best product on the field to compete for a world championship year in and year out. I work closely with Russ Ball our cap guy as well. I scout both at the college and professional levels. I probably visit between 20 – 25 schools per year. In this current role, I tend to concentrate on strategy as well. I also work on trade negotiations."
Prior to his recent promotion, says Packers.com, Schneider's Personnel Analyst job included addressing and evaluating the needs of the team in both the draft and free agency, incorporating a long-range planning process that examined the Packers' roster, as well as the rosters of all NFL teams, and taking into account the potential effects of injuries and salary cap issues, and exploring possible trade scenarios.
Schneider has worked most of his career under Ron Wolf and/or Ted Thompson. Thompson should be familiar to Seahawks fans as the V.P. who oversaw Seattle's draft board with GM Mike Holmgren from 2000 through 2004.
Schneider began his NFL career as an intern with intern under Ron Wolf in 1992, and served as a Packers' Pro Personnel Assistant through the 1996 season when Mike Holmgren coached the team to its Super Bowl victory. After a three-year stint with the Chiefs organization, Schneider rejoined Thompson and Holmgren in Seattle in 2000 as Director of Player Personnel for the Seahawks, before leaving in 2001 to serve to be V.P. of Player Personnel under the Redskins' Marty Schottenheimer. When Redskins' owner Dan Snyder fired Schottenheimer a year later, Schneider was hired back to the Packers by Ron Wolf.
The Packers are the second-youngest team in the NFL, and this is no surprise once you look at their roster. Very few of their draft picks from the 2006 through 2009 drafts have washed out. They drafted 39 of the players that finished 2009 on the active roster or injured reserve list (3 others came through trades, 20 as free agents). On opening day 2009, 14 out of 22 Packers starters were players drafted by the club.
When Schneider was rejoined in Green Bay by GM Ted Thompson in 2005, they began a period of rebuilding. This period should be of most interest to Seahawks fans as Seattle's team is in a similar position.
As part of that rebuild, Thompson stockpiled draft picks. In the drafts of 2005 through 2008, Thompson made 14 draft-day trades, and all but one of these were trades down for more selections. He turned 31 picks into 43, while Schneider helped him prioritize the players to draft.
Their 2005 draft was stellar, including future Pro Bowlers QB Aaron Rodgers (2005/1) and S Nick Collins (2005/2), along with OLB Brady Poppinga (2005/4), and DE Mike Montgomery (2005/6).
Their 2006 draft was also strong, with 4 of the top 5 draft picks becoming starters, including OLB A.J. Hawk (2006/1), OG Daryn Colledge (2006/2), WR Greg Jennings (2006/2), and OG Jason Spitz (2006/3). The 2007 draft brought RB Brandon Jackson (2007/2) and WR James Jones (2007/3). 2008 brought WR Jordy Nelson (2008/2), and TE Jermichael Finley (2008/4).
2009 saw the Packers change their defense to a 3-4 alignment and seek to fill needs through the draft, selecting huge, run-stuffing NT B.J. Raji (2009/1), sack-master OLB Clay Matthews (2009/1), and OT T.J. Lang.
Throughout these drafts, Thompson and Schneider developed a reputation for ignoring pre-draft hype and often surprising the pundits and their own fans with selections of relatively unknown players.
When asked to name the most memorable moment of his NFL career, Schneider mused "watching Desmond Howard return that kickoff for a touchdown in the Super Bowl vs. New England." Yes, Schneider was a member of that Packers' Pro Personnel Staff that had targeted the free agent Howard the year before.
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yes, I posted this on another blog "hawknest12" last month, but that blog has been discontinued.
"Football players are temperamental. That's 90 percent temper and 10 percent mental." - Doug Plank
I knew I had read this before!
That sucks that the Hawknest is gone. It was a promising site, worthy of a bookmark.
by Mind of no mind on Jan 19, 2010 2:30 PM PST up reply actions
I can't wait to get this response from you
Being accused of plagiarism is probably the best compliment you can get :P
6/14/40. Sweet.
He would have had to plagiarize himself
I just noticed the phrasing was familiar and googling it brought up The Hawks Nest, and I can’t access that site. So rude as it may come off, I have to ask. This isn’t Bleacher Report.
I wrote it and published it
The blog I published it to has since been discontinued and taken down, that’s why you can’t access hawksnest. Its gone. But it is my work, and I don’t post to bleacher report.
"Football players are temperamental. That's 90 percent temper and 10 percent mental." - Doug Plank
I understand that now
You can see my confusion though. When strings of five or more words appear in identical order in separate places, it raises suspicion, and since I couldn’t access the site, I had to ask. I guess I could have done it privately, but it just seemed like a perfunctory clarification, not an accusation of plagiarism. Nothing I needed to be cloak and dagger about. I have to do this for almost any long post. It’s just editorial responsibility.
The Bleacher Report crack is not directed at you. It’s directed at Bleacher Report.
no prob at all.
I just thought this should be posted somewhere in case someone finds it interesting. Field Gulls is definitely the best Seahawks community these days, so I’d rather it be here.
"Football players are temperamental. That's 90 percent temper and 10 percent mental." - Doug Plank
Unless it's a Florio piece
Similar to your point, playing chess online and being accused of using a computer is a nice ego boost.
inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Now that authorship is out of the way
it’s a nice piece. An admittedly rebuilding team is more likely to start a young unproven player, so that skews the results.
Green Bay loves themselves some white linebacker! But this is a nice piece, it’s got depth and interesting background info.
Oh and I forgot to add
that I’m glad that more than just talent evaluation, balancing a roster and managing a cap, Schneider was part of strategy. Reading that word attached to Schneider for the third time, is music to my ears.
by jacobstevens on Jan 19, 2010 4:37 PM PST up reply actions
Stevo,
I was hoping you still had a copy of this. Thanks for the repost.
I'm gonna go calm submissive on your ass.
His most memorable moment involved Desmond Howard? Ugh.
I always thought Howard was a terrribly overrated and overpriced player (with the ’Skins too) who got a couple of breaks in the SB and lucked into the MVP. That is definitely not a plus for Schneider in my book.
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