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In the past few off-seasons, the Green Bay Packers' front office has been raided repeatedly. Since 2010, three members of the organization have been hired away by other teams as their General Managers. It started in 2010 when John Schneider took the GM job with the Seattle Seahawks. Then, Reggie McKenzie was hired by the Raiders as their GM and John Dorsey went to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2013 for the same job.
Now there are rumblings that yet another Packer official is under consideration for a GM job. This time, it's Senior Personnel Executive Alonzo Highsmith, who is expected to interview with the Miami Dolphins for the job just vacated by the fired Jeff Ireland.
Unfortunately for Packers fans, Highsmith makes a lot of sense for the Dolphins. Despite firing Ireland, they kept Joe Philbin on as head coach. Of course, as the Packers' former offensive coordinator, Philbin already has a relationship with Highsmith, who was a scout during Philbin's time in Green Bay.
Highsmith also has personal connections to the city of Miami. He went to high school in Miami, then played running back at and graduated from the University of Miami, winning the 1983 NCAA Championship during his collegiate career.
Coincidentally, Highsmith's son, Alonzo Jr., signed with the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2013, though he was cut before the end of training camp. (According to Rotoworld, he recently signed a reserve/futures contract with the Kansas City Chiefs.)
While we wish Highsmith the best in his career, we as Packers fans still hope that he remains in Green Bay for the time being. He is certainly a valuable scout, and if he departs it would force the front office to replace yet another key member. There is no quantifiable measure to determine the impact of the departures in recent years, but each of the former Packer officials was well-respected among the organization and the league, and it is logical to imagine that their leaving Green Bay had some impact on the construction of the team in some way.
