The time has nearly run out on the Mark Murphy tenure in Green Bay. In July, Ed Policy will officially take over as the next President of the Green Bay Packers, as Murphy reaches the Packers' mandatory retirement age of 70 (imagine that! mandatory retirement age!).
There are going to be a number of Murphy tributes coming in the near future, and deservedly so. The man has left a permanent imprint on the franchise and the city of Green Bay.
If you were to ask me the top five things I will remember Murphy for, here they are:
5. The transition from Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy to Brian Gutekunst and Matt LaFleur.
The combination of Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy brought a lot of success to Green Bay. While both were hired prior to Murphy's arrival in town, the triumvirate of the two of them with Murphy brought some very good times to Packer fans, including, of course, a Super Bowl championship. Yes, there was also plenty of heartbreak, but this group won a whole lot more than they lost, and provided some memories for fans that will last a lifetime.
After the 2018 season, in which McCarthy was terminated mid-year (a first for the 100-year-old Packers), there were many who thought the Packers were heading for some dark times. Aaron Rodgers was coming off a season of relatively ineffective play, and what was essentially a season-ending injury the year before. He wasn't exactly getting any younger. The Packers had missed the playoffs for back-to-back years since 2005 and 2006, marking the end of Mike Sherman's tenure and the first year of McCarthy's. It was too early to know what to expect out of Gutekunst after just one year in the General Manager role.
But the way Murphy handled the transition was greatly impressive. At the time, there was a lot of criticism over how he changed some of the power structures/silos in the organization, but the strong record the team has had since indicates it was indeed the right way to remake the leadership of the franchise. With Gutekunst and Russ Ball splitting different GM duties and LaFleur coming in as a young first-time head coach, the team had several strong winning seasons and deep pushes right off the bat, and have had one of the league's best records in that time.
4. The transition from Aaron Rodgers as quarterback to Jordan Love.
Gutekunst and LaFleur deserve a lot of the credit here as well for having the guts to draft Rodgers' replacement and then stick with the plan to show faith in Love, but Murphy also deserves plenty of credit for the support he showed in the process. Yes, he had the awkward "he's a complicated fella" during that spring and summer of strife in 2021 where it looked like Rodgers was going to be gone. Once again, the Packers faced a situation where they were going to hae to move on from a generational, franchise-altering talent at quarterback, and once more, Murphy's solid, steady leadership help make that transition as smooth as possible.
[More on that first instance later.]
3. The development of the Titletown District.
It's not just the football operations of the Packers' franchise that have seen great benefit from Murphy's tenure. Consider also the team's financial position. The Packers have had a couple stadium remodels and stock sales under Murphy's tenure, but more importantly, the development of the Titletown District around Lambeau Field helped make Green Bay a year-long destination.
If you'd been to Packer games before Super Bowl XLV, you know the entire area around that stadium is completely changed, and it continues to see yearly enhancements. There's something for everyone; restaurants, hotels, entertainment, playgrounds, a sledding hill for Pete's sake! Without the Titletown District, the Packers almost certainly never sniff the NFL draft in 2025,. Murphy's vision in pushing forward this initiative helped set the Packers up for much greater economic stability and opened the doors to opportunities that the franchise could have only dreamed of in its first 100 years of operation. This is a legacy that will live on far past Murphy's time with the team.
2. The 2025 NFL Draft
This was the culmination of all of Murphy's economic development work with the team. There were so many naysayers who believed it couldn't be done, including many within the Packers fanbase and on this very site! The word "infrastructure" became one I had to gloss over as I was reading people who seemingly thought Green Bay still was dealing with 1950s technology and that the team and NFL might not take this issue under consideration.
The draft ended up being a massive, resounding success for Green Bay and for the NFL. And seeing Murphy get to go up, relish the moment, and announce the Packers' round one draft selection (a wide receiver no less) in front of the absolutely massive crowd that he made happen, AND also get the cheers he very much deserved... that was something special that will stick with me as a fan.
What an event, and what a way to encapsulate Murphy's time in Green Bay.
1. The transition from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers
In the summer of 2008, Mark Murphy was a new arrival to Green Bay, and Brett Favre was the king of Wisconsin. There are many other executives who would have folded in the face of the pressure Murphy faced from fans and media to allow Favre to come back to Green Bay after his March retirement. But Murphy chose to stand by the relatively untested Aaron Rodgers and by his coach Mike McCarthy, who had brought out Favre's best year in a long time and who, behind the scenes, had been helping Rodgers to rebuild his throwing mechanics and develop into a true professional.
If you weren't a fan or are too young to remember, it's difficult to understate exactly how much vitriol was spewed that summer toward the Packers. A sizable portion of the fanbase sided with Favre over the franchise, and Murphy quickly became one of Wisconsin's most hated sports figures. But Murphy stayed strong with his convictions, and Rodgers eventually proved him right to do so.
Murphy's steadiness amid a turbulent moment in franchise history set the tone for his career to follow.
What a career and legacy. Thank you Mark Murphy for everything you've done for Green Bay, and enjoy the final several weeks of work before heading into a much-