There’s no waiting period for the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame like there is for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That’s probably a good thing for Ted Thompson. If he had to wait five years, he would no doubt be completely senile.
Thompson will instead get inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 2019. What makes this rare is Thompson technically still works for the team as an advisor, although not in any active capacity that we can tell. The Hall has also moved up their schedule for Big Ted. Traditionally, the Hall holds their induction ceremony in July. For Big Ted, they’ve moved it up to May 4.
It’s no secret we have never been a fan of Big Ted, but yes, this was inevitable. Thompson belongs in the Packers Hall of Fame if for no other reason than he drafted Aaron Rodgers. He also did some other good things.
Thompson signed Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett. He drafted Clay Matthews. He was pretty good in the second round and mid rounds of the draft, getting players like Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, T.J. Lang, Josh Sitton, David Bakhtiari, Aaron Jones and Blake Martinez.
Thompson really began to misfire in the last three years of his time as general manager of the Packers, though. The only player remaining from his 2015 draft class is linebacker Jake Ryan and he’s on injured reserve.
Last year, Thompson was visibly deteriorating mentally. So it’s obvious team president Mark Murphy kept him around a little too long. About three years too long, based on that dud of a 2015 draft.
It’s nothing personal against Big Ted. We just hated his stupid draft-and-develop philosophy and stockpiling of compensatory draft picks over signing free agents. Even his own free agents. Two of his biggest mistakes in free agency were letting Casey Hayward and Micah Hyde walk without even making an offer.
But constructing a Super Bowl roster buys you a lot of goodwill and plenty of room for error. Thompson did do that. Should have and could have been more than one Super Bowl, but you know the story.
Lastly, if you’re wondering how Big Ted is doing these days, it still looks like he’s having trouble putting a sentence together. Like we said when the Packers sent him out for press conferences last year, it’s pretty sad.
11 Comments
The Packers Hall of fame should be limited to players who have made 3 or more pro bowls, and to non-players who have won multiple league championships
For some reason, most people think Ted started “misfiring” in the draft the last 2 or 3 years, i guess that’s because Demovsky told them that. I say it was longer, but then again i like to do my own thinking.
So here we are, Ted is getting inducted in the Packer HOF. I concur with Joseph on most of his points, he earned it, on his work the first 5 years alone, he did a nice job.
Everyone knows how i felt about Ted being kept on so long, and the job i thought Ted did in the 2nd half of his time here. I probably won’t go down that road again. I think Ted has some serious issues he’s dealing with, and it’s just bad karma in life to beat a guy down who has issues. I have only small clues what those issues are, but it would be nice if the Packers stopped keeping secrets and let Packer Nation in on what’s going on. It’s a human issue, not a team issue. Like Joseph stated, moving the ceremony up tells me there is probably a good reason why.
I believe deep down most people are inherently good hearted and caring. I would only hope that if there are in fact serious problems with Ted, Packer fans should be made aware of them so they may send well wishes or what have you. Maybe Ted doesn’t want it known, or maybe i’m assuming too much. But, reasoning tells me something is going on there.
So Mr. Thompson, enjoy the honor they will bestow on you and Godspeed to your future.
Amen! Thank you Ted. Godspeed.
Well put and 100% agreed.
I fully believe the reason they seem to be rushing the announcement and ceremony (relative to past inductions) is to make sure Ted is able to absorb and appreciate it while he still holds on to his faculties. As much shit as we give the executive leadership here, this was a classy and respectful decision in conjunction with the HOF committee.
Kudos to Ted and the organization.
Ted, thank you for 2005-2011. Hell of a run.
Interesting how narratives slowly change with time till so it can better fit peoples deluded, self aggrandizing perception.
I can’t remember too many people complaining when Hayward and Hyde were released, Hyde especially – he was just offered a deal by the Bills the Packers couldn’t match. He was a back-up and offered starting salary by another team. He was miscast like, other players, but then that’s on the coaches and not TT is it not?
When he was released it was “thanks for everything and we wish you luck Micah” and now its “OMG how can you not retain a pro-bowl player wow you suck”.
These things happen, if Micah was still a Packer he would still be miscast and not a pro-bowler. He benefited from a different scheme that suited him so good for him that he escaped.
TT made a lot of mistakes but releasing Hyde is far from being one of the his worst faults.
TT was not fault free drafting guys out of position, but at the end of the day the responsibility is on the coaches to play him where he can best help the team. I think most Packer fans are aware of that.
The fact that this is becoming a quick process tells me something is seriously wrong with him. Like does he have something terminal? Once again leave it to this team to not communicate anything.
Kato do you remember at the 2018 NFL combine when John Schneider was asked a question about TT. Schneider got very emotional in his response. I said at the time people come and go all the time in the NFL. It was a sign that someone who is use to seeing players, staff, and friends leave positions would get so emotional. It said to me Schneider knew TT was not in good health and maybe was deteriorating.
I hope TT has a great time at the induction ceremonies.
Yeah I remember that. The fact that they arent even waiting till July is worrisome.
Keep in mind that….that yes, there could be other reasons for moving it up, like if he was moving, maybe had medical issues to deal with in a certain time frame, etc. It could be a lot of things. But it still could be something worse. WE…just don’t know so we assume, i’m guilty also.