This year marked first Green Bay Packers’ draft that wasn’t conducted by Ted Thompson in some time. However, Thompson was still in the draft room in some capacity, or at least his corpse was.
What was he doing there? No one knows!
The guy in charge now, Brian Gutekunst, will tell you Thompson was offering input and advice. What kind? Probably not the kind with any substance.
SI has a rundown of the Packers’ maneuvering in the first round. They traded down and then traded back up to land cornerback Jaire Alexander.
When it was all said and done, what did Thompson say to Gutekunst?
“[Thompson] offered his protégé three words after the Alexander pick was made: “Nice job, kid.”
“If you know him, he’s kinda understated,” Gutekunst says. “So that meant a lot.”
Hahahahahaha!
Classic Ted!
Clearly, Thompson is slowly being phased out. It’s about time, but the Packers have to keep him around for appearances.
What’s also clear is this is Gutekunst’s team to run, at least from a personnel standpoint.
When Mark Murphy decided to make both Gutekunst and coach Mike McCarthy report to him, we figured there would be meddling from Murphy and McCarthy. It doesn’t seem like that’s the case, at least not yet.