Ted Talks - Packers GM doesn’t know when he’ll call it quits

In one of his rare media press conferences, Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson gave a few insights into his mind and his thoughts about the preseason and training camp process.

One of the early topics of discussion was the Packers’ annual Family Night practice. Thompson enjoys getting a look at the players in a stadium setting, saying the value of the practice comes in “seeing them under the lights for the first time, in the uniform and going against people that they never went against before.” He went on to say that he appreciates the value the event holds for the organization and for Packers fans, then dropped a terrific Thompson quote: “I think it’s a good mechanism to see what you see and see what you don’t see, which is sometimes as important as what you do see.”

(As an aside, that quote came on the same day as Bears wide receiver Kevin White saying the following: “Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see..”)

Thompson then addressed the topic of trades and player acquisition during this phase of camp, acknowledging that he has phone calls with other teams all the time. “Sometimes it’s ‘you got anything we should be looking at’ for speculation,” he said; “but very few things actually come to fruition because a lot of things happen between now and the cut-down time.”

That cut-down time he referred to has changed a bit this year, as the NFL eliminated the 75-man cut-down in favor of having a single cut from 90-man rosters to the final 53. Thompson noted that he had been campaigning for that very rule change for a while: “I think it gives you more opportunity to see things, to weigh what you think you have against what other people might have. There’s a lot of mistakes that are made on the cut-down to 75 so we feel like it helps. It gives free agents, especially young guys — players of all ages quite frankly — it gives everybody another chance to show what they’ve got. And it gives you a chance to get through that last game better.”

Of course, when asked if he had ever made a mistake on the cut-down from 90 to 75, Ted smiled and said “I’ve never made a mistake on the 75.”

Thompson answered one question about suspended defensive lineman Letroy Guion’s situation and why he remains on the roster with a rather curt response: “Letroy’s made some mistakes, but we’re just not there yet.”

Finally, Thompson addressed speculation from the media about his future and tenure as Packers GM by simply saying “I don’t know. We’ll see. Stay tuned.” He also noted that the only time he gets asked about his timeline for retirement or his future are when he meets with the media. “When has somebody outside this group asked that question?” Ted opined. “I don’t constantly evaluate it and I don’t know (when he’ll know when it’s time to retire).”

A final golden quote from Thompson today: “I’m just going along humpty-do.”

Stay tuned to APC for more from Packers training camp.