Mike McCarthy is toying with us.
McCarthy suggested the Green Bay Packers might actually be active in free agency this year. That, of course, would be a drastic departure from just about every other offseason that Ted Thompson has held the title of general manager.
“We’ll see how it shakes out,” McCarthy said Thursday. “We might shock you this year.”
If the Packers do indeed participate in free agency, we can only assume it was because of the frustration that boiled to the surface between McCarthy and Thompson back in December.
That frustration reportedly stemmed from Thompson’s reluctance to build the Packers’ roster in any other way besides the draft.
Thompson has signed just eight unrestricted free agents that actually made the Packers’ roster, in his tenure. The only two notable ones were Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett, who were both signed in 2006.
Thompson also signed Julius Peppers and Letroy Guion in 2014, but both players had been released by their former teams. Thus, they’re not considered unrestricted free agents.
Semantics, we know.
Essentially, Thompson has made four significant free agent moves in his 11-year tenure.
His last unrestricted free agent signing was center Jeff Saturday in 2012. That proved to be a disaster, as Saturday lost his starting job to Evan Dietrich-Smith late in the season and then retired.
And that’s why Packers fans expect nothing from Thompson. That’s what they’ve been given when it comes to free agency.
But hey, this is the year!