Eliot Wolf (right) is the son of former Packers GM Ron Wolf, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last summer. Credit: Associated Press

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Boca Raton, Fla.— In a likely sign that Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson is thinking about the team's future without him, he has promoted two key members of his personnel department, Eliot Wolf and Brian Gutekunst.

Wolf, the son of former general manager Ron Wolf, was promoted for the fourth time since Thompson took over in 2005 and as director of football operations now has the same title Reggie McKenzie, John Schneider and John Dorsey held before they became NFL general managers. The promotion is the final step for Wolf in following in the footsteps of his father.

"No question, no question," McKenzie said Monday at the NFL owners meetings here when asked if Wolf was going to be an NFL general manager. "It's going to be somewhere. If Green Bay doesn't do anything, somebody else will."

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Wolf, who turned 34 Monday, is the third-highest ranking official on the football side behind Thompson and Russ Ball, vice president of football administration/player finance. Wolf originally joined the Packers as a pro personnel assistant in 2004. He was promoted to assistant director of pro personnel in 2008, to assistant director of player personnel in 2011 and director of player personnel a year ago.

Wolf drew some interest this off-season from teams looking for general managers, but his age probably worked against him.

Thompson called the promotion for both Wolf and Gutekunst a reward for their contributions to the front office, but admitted their roles wouldn't be much different. It is a clear sign that Thompson is concerned about losing both in the near future and is hoping the promotion persuades them to stick around.

McKenzie said it was done to help them develop into general managers while at the same time capitalizing on their decision-making ability. He said the half dozen GM jobs that opened up around the NFL this season are examples of how quickly things can change and cause other teams to raid your staff.

"I don't think you do it because you don't want to keep them," he said. "It's not only keeping them, but keeping them happy because I'm pretty sure it came with a couple of dollars in the piggy bank."

Gutekunst is going from director of college scouting to director of player personnel. Ron Wolf brought Gutekunst to the organization in 1997 as a scouting intern and then hired him as a scout in '98. Thompson promoted him to college scouting director when Dorsey left to become Kansas City's general manager.

The promotions would seem like a clear sign that the 63-year-old Thompson is thinking about a succession plan. Thompson has three years remaining on the contract extension he signed after the 2014 season and appears to be both rewarding Wolf and Gutekunst for their work and setting them up to possibly replace him.

Thompson denied the moves are part of a succession plan, although he acknowledged it was part of the process of training them to become general managers.

"It has nothing to do with it," he said of succession. "It's just part of our organization and this part of the organization, the personnel part, fluctuates from time to time. As it's gone forward the 10 or 11 years I've been here, there's been times when you're a little bit top heavy in your personnel department and there's times when it lessens a little bit.

"And like I've said, we've been using these two guys in an advanced role for some time and now it's time we kind of acknowledged it."

Packers president Mark Murphy said Sunday that he and Thompson had discussed a succession plan, but that he didn't want to divulge what was said. He has not said that Thompson is thinking about retiring, but after Ron Wolf left in 2001, the Packers had to scramble some to find a replacement.

"We have a plan," Murphy said. "I think we're all proud of the success we've had on a consistent basis. Yes, we're disappointed we haven't won more Super Bowls but it's hard to win the NFL. I have great confidence in Ted and Mike and the working relationship that they have."

McKenzie said that Wolf would continue to grow as a respected voice in the personnel department and adviser to Thompson. McKenzie filled that same role before becoming general manager of the Oakland Raiders and said it's a sign that Thompson has put his trust in Wolf to help make critical organizational decisions.

Thompson still calls all the shots, but Wolf will be at his side when it comes to picking personnel.

"I would think he was leaning on him before he elevated him," McKenzie said. "He leaned on me. That's the way it should be."

In announcing the changes, Thompson said the promotions were rewards for expanded duties each man has been performing in both college and pro scouting. He said the changes in title were probably overdue and that with the draft coming up this was the right time to do it.

He said it was a natural progression for both men, who along with senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith form the same kind of triumvirate that existed when McKenzie, Schneider and Dorsey were together.

"What Ron taught me — and he was very good at it — was identifying talent within the personnel group or within the football group and identifying those guys, singling them out and making sure we try to take care of them and they're with us for the long term," Thompson said. "You're not going to keep an entire staff if they're any good for forever because there's going to be different guys who are going to go off and get well deserved jobs.

"But as much as you can you try to move the pieces so that No.1 your employees feel gratified that they're involved in the process."

Thompson would seem to be setting up Wolf to be the next general manager, but that isn't a given. It appears he's setting the table so that when he walks away Murphy will be able to choose between several well-qualified individuals for the job. It is probably very important to Thompson that whoever succeeds him builds on the legacy he and Wolf left.

However, it isn't something that needs to be addressed now. Thompson gave no indication he was thinking of retiring.

"I'm feeling good now and enjoying it," he said. "You wish these kind of conversations and questions would go away because it makes you feel old. I'm feeling good and we have a good crew. I like where we are."