We’re pretty excited here at Jersey Al’s AllGreenBayPackers.com today. Not only is the excitement of free agency in full swing, but we also managed to secure an exclusive interview with Packers GM Ted Thompson. In a shocking turn of events, he completely opened up about his free agency strategies, as well as revealed a truth we’ve never heard before.
We hope you enjoy reading it . . .
AllGreenBayPackers.com: Good afternoon. The start of free agency kicked off this week with teams scrambling to make deals and update their rosters. How busy have the Green Bay offices been these past few days?
Ted Thompson: You know, our philosophy with free agency has always been a “wait and see” approach. There’s no point in making crazy 24-hour or 48-hour offers, because then you just end up overpaying for guys. In fact, most of our front office staff is given time off this week, so it’s just me and a couple other guys in there right now.
ALLGBP: Wow. How do you manage everything so short-handed?
Thompson: Oh, it’s pretty easy, really. I take these days to sleep in and recuperate from our recent scouting travels. We don’t even open the offices until noon. My usual routine when I get there is to have some lunch, read the funny papers, and check Twitter for any updates on free agency. Pro Football Focus also has this really neat utility that tracks all the free agents – we love using it here.
ALLGBP: Umm, ok . . . So I’m guessing you’ve seen the news about Steven Jackson being signed by the Atlanta Falcons?
Thompson: He did? Well, I guess I must have missed that one.
ALLGBP: Weren’t the Packers interested in Jackson?
Thompson: We’re interested in keeping every free agent. Oh wait . . . I meant we’re interested in keeping all of our own players. But yes, I think we did put something out there about Steven Jackson. His agent Eugene Parker is such a close contact of ours, we wanted to do him a favor and drive up the price on Jackson. Plus, I hate the Packers and their fans. I love getting their hopes up on finally getting a running game, then crushing it to bits.
ALLGBP: Wait, what? You hate the Green Bay Packers? Since when?
Thompson: Since that whole Brett Favre debacle. You should have seen some of the hate mail I got. Do you think I enjoyed having to deal with that prima donna and his retirement waffling? It was a mess. Ever since that year, I’ve vowed to give the fans something to complain about if they couldn’t appreciate the bind I was in. So far, I think I’ve done a pretty good job. It’s great fun watching fans get so pissed off about our lack of free agent signings.
ALLGBP: So I guess that explains letting Greg Jennings go to the Vikings?
Thompson: Exactly.
ALLGBP: How do you explain the Super Bowl championship, then? Fans seemed to come around to you after that.
Thompson: Yes, that was something else, wasn’t it? Totally unexpected. I mean, who would have guessed they could back into the playoffs and win six straight road games? In hindsight, I should have just stuck with Brett Favre and let Aaron Rodgers go. At least then he might have ended their run with an interception. Heck, I even tried to deplete the roster that year when it looked like things were going too well. Do you know how much I had to pay Dr. McKenzie to give players a bad bill of health? I thought for sure losing all those guys to injured reserve would do the trick. Boy was I wrong.
ALLGBP: So all this time, you’ve just been putting on a façade for the Packers organization?
Thompson: Was it really much of a façade? Surely the fans must have figured out part of it. Matching Jarrett Bush’s free agency offer, keeping Shawn Slocum and James Campen around, signing A.J. Hawk to a new contract, giving Mason Crosby more than he was worth and then sticking with him. Not to mention coming up with this ridiculous “draft and develop” philosophy that some of you have bought hook line and sinker. It’s been a riot here in the front offices reading the fan comments on the internet, as well as the amateur bloggers and their “expert” opinions . . . no offense.
ALLGBP: None taken. This has been some shocking news, really. Have other Packers administrators been in on this?
Thompson: Of course. This is a group effort, after all. My biggest supporter has been Mark Murphy. His plans to increase ticket prices and sell those ridiculous pieces of paper for $250 each was pure genius. Yes, some fans are happy to throw their money away, but he has helped to slowly stir up the small majority who get cranky about sports teams making money. Soon we should have a fan base split that rivals what we had after the Favre trade.
Well, my apologies, but I have to cut this short. It’s my nap time. We’ve got to work on A.J. Hawk’s new contract this afternoon. It’s why we cleared the cap space by letting Woodson go, after all.
ALLGBP: Sure thing. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us, and good luck with the upcoming draft!
Thompson: My pleasure. Oh, and one bit of inside information . . . we’re looking to move up in the first round to take a big injury risk. (I hear Jarvis Jones has spinal stenosis.) It’s a move that’s sure to keep the fans riled up!
ALLGBP: And there you have it! Looks like some of you have been right all along. Ted Thompson really does hate the Green Bay Packers.
——————Chad Toporski, a Wisconsin native and current Pittsburgh resident, is a writer for AllGreenBayPackers.com. You can follow Chad on twitter at @ChadToporski
Follow @ChadToporski——————
Yeah, I’ve seen him throwing darts at the draft board while Murphy jogs his elbow.
Thanks for the laughs, Chad. 😀
My pleasure. 😉
Was that suppose to be funny or just a backhanded jab at TT?
Not the latter at all, actually…
Thanks for the much needed laugh this morning. 🙂
I don’t get the humor in that… It seems very accurate…
Some of it might be true, like the death threats. If he gets enough of them, they start wearing you down. And the fans were idiots on some of the blogs back in early Post-Favre days. It was a clever story you almost could believe, and I did for a while. If true? Throw the bum out on his ear
TT just needs a good swift kick in the ballsack and he will be fine…
Was that Satire? I thought it was a transcript.
I’m glad we don’t sign any expensive free agents.I would rather have a young and inexpensive back that runs outside in the cold like Bell or Ball instead of Jackson who is too fragile and old.
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Awesomesauce, great way to start my morning!
This is the time of the year where the scribes and Yoda types diminish anyone who criticises the roster moves the Pack are making. Truth of the matter is the Packers are a weaker team than they were at the end of last year. Will that change? Certainly. We have more free agency and the draft coming up. But the disconcerting thing is the Pack is expected to use up most of it salary-cap space to extend players they already have on their roster. This is great for the future (the wise thing to do)and for continuity, but does little for adding talent in 2013.
Are some of the other contenders who added FA or made trades better than they were last year? Don’t know for sure but probably. They’ll pay the price down the road. But as of today – the Pack have lost ground to their rivals.
Just for the record, I think there’s some valid criticisms to be made, but I just have to laugh at the people who take it to the extreme and think the Packers Apocalypse is near.
Agreed, the Pack are taking some hits this year, but it all makes sense for the future.
Somebody help me, what did Elway have before T. Davis at RB? And wasn’t he 5th/6th round? Let’s see what we have in D. Harris, not that I wouldn’t mind Lacy. S. Jackson would have been nice, and sure looks great next to the contract Atlanta gave him, but I still trust TT. Getting Hawk to restructure still doesn’t put him at back-up pay scale, but it was another great move.
Truth is, if TT acts like he’s desperate, that filters down to the coaches and players. TT is confident in himself and his philosophy and his coaches and his players.
Its all about having a philosophy and sticking to it. Otherwise your a rudderless ship in the sea.
There is absolutely no doubt Thompson has his philosophy. Some may critisize him cuz they want to see action, but sometimes the best action is no action, as is the case w/ Jenning, Crabtree, Brad Jones, none of which is a major setback. Packers still have alot of talent at WR, ILB and TE and now they have some cap room to resign the real difference makers on the team, Rodgers and Matthews. We even got some help in the DL in Jolly if he is anything close to what he was. Jolly will add some much needed toughness to the D that was sorely lacking last year.
good one! first thought was ‘The Onion’…the team isnt doing that bad under the Thompson/McCarthy program…lets hope for another good draft, return of injured plyers, improvement of young players already on roster, and , hopefully, a more impressive defense the next few seasons!
That worthless $250 piece of paper gives me the legitimacy to rant and rave. Seems like Thompson’s protégée in Seattle is the whole package excelling in the draft, trade market and free agency just like Ron wolf who built a complete Super Bowl champion w/both the #1 offense & D, which went into 2 SBs as a strong favorite as opposed to a big underdog who got hot at the right time w/a top QB & held their breath while rothlisberger missed a wide
The Thompson protegee in Seattle has the luxury of having a rookie, third-round starting QB and the associated contract. I get it that TT has to take care of AR and CMIII, but what I do’t get is why is it that Denver and New England can take care of their generational QB’s and other standouts and still find ways to sign and fit FA’s under their cap to keep their teams competitive.
I know TT does it through the draft and UFA’s, but maybe being able to seriously pursue those incremental FA’s that are the last bits to complete the Super Bowl puzzle might be the difference between rings and goodbye’s in the Divisional round.
Anyways, that and a quarter…
Here’s to hoping there’s another CWood out there for TT this year.
Open Wallace streaking by Peprah
This is a satire, you can do parodies and obviously done in the spirit of fun. The truth is he said his best friend is Mark Murphy, all you have at the top is but a few. I don’t have Ted’s vantage point but I am going to give him credit with 8 season in the NFL. I don’t believe he hates the fans and if there’s any truth to this it’s called steam. One last thing, Farve in 2005 threw a record 29 INT’as he was breaking down broken by lack of leadership with Rhodes and Sherman (fired end of ’05 season)as head coaches. Farve in the long run extended his view of what retirement for three more years (2008 with the debacle) should really look like and Ted Thompson got to build where Ron Wolf led off. I like Ron Wolf, and I like the 90’s PACK. But GM Thompson has a job to do, and “it’s his way.” There’s a song I recommend to any fan by Howard Jones “No one is to blame.”
As a fan I get excited about FA signings and was ecstatic to hear the reports about Jackson becoming a Packer. As a fan I run on adrenaline and emotion. But I appreciate that Thompson takes a longer view, just as you would want someone to do while running a business, country, or sports team. It can be frustrating, and I don’t always agree with everything he does, but I still prefer him over most GMs in the NFL.
Enjoyed the article.
I don’t see the humor in this posting either. You must be really bored….
Every year, TT take a wait-and-see approach in free agency. Every year, fans insist the Packers have lost ground to their rivals. Every year, fans rail against TT’s draft picks, insisting other teams improved their rosters and the Packers didn’t. Every year, the Packers compete for the Super Bowl, if they don’t actually win it, proving the fans wrong once again. Did these fans ever stop to think that maybe they don’t know what they’re talking about, and that their knee-jerk “sign anyone” approach is exactly the wrong way to build a roster? The problem with free agency is that, most of the time, you’re giving players their biggest paydays when their best years are behind them. So you get players as their careers are winding down, create resentment among your current players, stunt the development of the players you’ve drafted, and spend money you could be using to sign your own. Plus, these are almost always players whose former teams, which know them best, no longer think they’re worth a big contract.
TT pulled off arguably the best free agent signing of the decade when he acquired Charles Woodson. It’s hard to claim he sucks at free agency. But in Woodson, he saw a player who was undervalued by the rest of the league. Kind of tells me TT is savvy, not stupid. He just refuses to weaken his team by making stupid moves.
TT *takes
Packers will be much better this year compared to last due to returning MLB’s and returning and improving Nick Perry. The only free agents i wanted the packers to go after were MLB’s and a DL like Canty or Jenkins. Sure I would have loved to see Jenning’s resigned but TT drafts WR’s better than anyone. As long as we draft WR, OL, and LB’s as well as a CB to take Woodson’s roster spot, we’ll be one of the top teams in the NFL.
Every year there are a few big name free agents I would love to have on our team but all in all…..In Ted I trust!!
Chad, this is tops!
Al i keep reading here is that they need to save money to sign CMIII Rodgers and Raji. Which is all fine and dandy, but what the hell the good does signing those three do if you have no talent around them.
Anyone see that sieve of a defense last year. The non-exsistant run game and the joke of and O and D lines?
Please. they need much more than just those three guys. Free agency is not taboo use it.
Old article but clearly explains why TT is a piece of dung. I look at what the Panthers did the past year with their defense and just laugh at this guy. He takes all the credit for the Super Bowl in 2010? 6 years ago and our defense still plays only three quarters of ball. Dom Capers? Don’t even get me started. The guy is washed up. The Pack had two decent players of defense the last couple years. Peppers and Matthews(if you even want to call Matthews a Pro Bowler still). No changes, just more shitty draft picks who can’t tackle or cover receivers. When 2020 comes around lets just see what Ted says about Green Bays ten year Super Bowl hiatus. Ted may laugh at the fans because they want free agents, but Green Bay needs to try something new. Teds so called ingenious plans not working. Funny, I thought Ted was intelligent. When something doesn’t work, wouldn’t you try something new?