Three Packers executives who could become general managers in the NFL

It's hard to climb the front office ladder in the NFL. You need to do a good job and relate well to people, which is something it's realistic to control. But growth also depends on other factors, like how willing your franchise is to give space for new people to develop and how lucky you are to be in a winning organization.

Brian Gutekunst, for example, was a scout in Green Bay from 1999 to 2011. Imagine that. Twelve NFL seasons without a single promotion. But when it happens, it might happen fast. Once the Packers saw the talent Gutekunst had to evaluate players, he was promoted to director of college scouting in 2012, director of player personnel in 2016, and general manager in 2018.

So, ahead of time, let's discuss three Packers front office executives who could eventually become NFL general managers.

Richmond Williams, director of pro personnel

Williams is certainly the most likely piece of his personnel group to ascend in the NFL. He had his first experience as a scouting intern in 2007, and then returned to the Packers on a full-time basis in 2012, as a college scout. He moved to the pro scouting side in 2017, and two years later was promoted to director of pro personnel .

Since he's been on the current job, the Packers have made awesome additions of veteran pieces, which includes linebacker De'Vondre Campbell for $2 million in free agency, signing cornerback Rasul Douglas off the Arizona Cardinals' practice squad, and grabbing Keisean Nixon to be a core special teamer.

In 2022 and 2023, Williams represented the Packers at the NFL's Coach and Front Office Accelerator , which reunites 60 diverse head-coach and general-manager prospects from all NFL teams.

Despite his background scouting pro players, Williams understands what really matters to build a strong roster.

"For us, everything starts with the draft," Williams said to Packers.com. "It's very important that you have your pro department intertwined with the entirety of the draft process. So when we go through our draft meetings, what I do in those meetings is listen. I enjoy listening to our guys talk about players."

Richmond Williams played college football as a cornerback at Iowa.

Jon-Eric Sullivan, vice president of player personnel

Sullivan had an internship with the Packers in 2003, and it changed his life. He had different scouting roles from 2004 to 2015, when his career really started to take off. In 2016, he was promoted to director of college scouting by former GM Ted Thompson.

When Brian Gutekunst took over in 2018 and Eliot Wolf left the team, Jon-Eric Sullivan became the second executive in the hierarchy of the scouting department, being promoted to co-director of player personnel — and his status was solidified in 2022, when he was named the vice president of player personnel.

A former college wide receiver, Jon-Eric is son of Jerry Sullivan, who coached football at the college and NFL levels for 40 years and retired in 2021.

Patrick Moore, assistant director of college scouting

Moore was a college coach for 16 years. But when he decided to switch to the personnel side, his career quickly ascended. He became a scout for the Cleveland Browns for five seasons, and Brian Gutekunst hired him away from there in 2018 to be a college scout to the Southeast region. His success led to a promotion within the Packers, and he was named the assistant director of college scouting in 2021. He works under director of college scouting Matt Malaspina, who could himself be on this list as well.

Moore is a good communicator, and usually talks to the media to explain the Packers' drafting process in later rounds. He played college football at Illinois Wesleyan.

Related: Packers GM explains thought process to avoid bad trades in the NFL