Green Bay Packers

Ted Thompson: The heat rises on Green Bay Packers GM

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 12:20 a.m. ET

Fansided, Raymond Rivard/FanSided via Lombardi Ave

Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson. Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Ted Thompson has been praised and vilified – sometimes in the same breath – for his insight, his vision and his dogged determination to draft and develop.

Since coming in to handle the Green Bay Packers football operations more than a decade ago, he has not followed anybody’s lead. His insistence on utilizing the draft and developing undrafted free agent gems has made him loved on one hand and hated on the other.

Like his team that rode the roller coaster of success and failure, the work of Thompson has ridden right along with the team.

When the Packers were sitting at 4-6 and the wheels seemed to have fallen off and been lost, many called for Thompson’s head.

Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson. Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

When the Packers won eight straight and made it to the NFC Championship Game through pixie dust and duct tape, as well as on the arm of Aaron Rodgers, Thompson was the man who built the ship.

When the Packers were decimated by the Atlanta Falcons in said NFC Championship Game, Thompson once again became the whipping boy everyone loved to hate.

Now that the season is concluded and the Packers’ offseason has commenced, it’s once again time to question Thompson’s motives and whether his methods actually work.

Yesterday, Bob McGinn, the senior writer for packersnews.com, launched a blistering attack against Thompson in print … basically saying that Thompson’s continued insistence on refusing to pick up established NFL veterans to help fill holes at the appropriate time has hurt the team – not only this season, but over the course of the past decade.

“Add one player here, another player there. Win home-field advantage and it’s easy to picture an NFC Championship Game at Lambeau Field turning out much differently than the one played last Sunday at the Georgia Dome,” McGinn begins his piece.

So, why hasn’t Thompson helped lift this franchise to the Super Bowl more than just once?

Let’s look a bit closer …

Will Ted Thompson change his ways?

McGinn is one to give Thompson his due, but he’s also one to point out where he believes Thompson has failed the franchise.

“Thompson is a good general manager with a long list of admirable qualities. If he were a great general manager, the Packers would have been in the Super Bowl more than once in his 12-year tenure, especially considering his quarterbacks have been Favre and Rodgers.

Thompson brought in the likes of Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett, as well as Julius Peppers … but he’s always done it on the cheap, never making a splash in signing guys to big contracts.

But that isn’t McGinn’s, nor others’ main beef against Thompson.

What irks most Packers fans most is Thompson’s unwillingness to be more creative in building his roster. When players go down, holes emerge and most question why Thompson doesn’t do more hunting of established players that he could bring in, instead of reaching into his own practice squad and promoting from within. After all, those guys are on the practice squad for good reason.

McGinn points specifically to Thompson’s handling of the cornerback situation that emerged this past season.

“No team ever can have enough corners, especially one like Green Bay with a No. 1 (Shields) that had four concussions, a No. 2 (Randall) who had gone straight downhill late in his rookie season, a No. 3 (Rollins) who looked raw but somewhat promising as a rookie and a No. 5 (Goodson) who was starting a four-game suspension.

By the time Chicago’s Matt Barkley got done passing the Packers silly (362 yards) on Dec. 18, it should have been apparent to the personnel people in Green Bay that a Super Bowl probably wasn’t going to happen with those cornerbacks.

Those are fighting words and a direct challenge to Thompson’s methods.

Thompson is under contract through the 2018 NFL Draft, which means that if he stays in his seat until then, he will have two more drafts with the team.

Jan 22, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) throws as he is hit by Atlanta Falcons middle linebacker Deion Jones (45) during the first quarter in the 2017 NFC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

McGinn and many other critics say the franchise can’t afford to allow Thompson to hang around that much longer and that it may be time for him to step aside and let the younger set (Elliott Wolf) take over.

As the Packers were entering the 2016 NFL Playoff chase, there were reports that Thompson was considering retirement, but not we’ve seen nor heard anything since then.

We do know that there may be a few changes in management and McCarthy’s coaching tree, but how this will all play out with Thompson is a mystery.

For McGinn, whose voice speaks for many, he concluded his blistering commentary on Thompson’s failures with these words:

McCarthy, presumably Murphy and probably Thompson can bury their heads in the sand and label a 12-7 record and annihilation in the NFC title game as success for a team that opened the season as the Super Bowl co-favorite and had Rodgers play nearly every snap.

That’s just noise from a podium from people hoping their loyal fan base forever and always keeps the faith and doesn’t judge 2016 for the missed opportunity that it was.

It wouldn’t have taken much to put the Packers over the top this season. It won’t take much for them to get over the top next season.

So the ball rests squarely in Thompson’s court. For Packers fans, it must be depressing to know it’s likely little or nothing will change in the way he puts the team together.

Hint: maintaining status quo isn’t the way to the Super Bowl.

Next: What about Eddie Lacy?

All of Ted Thompson’s draft picks, per packers.com …

2005

April 23-24, 2005; Drafted alternately 24th-26th-25th

2006

April 29-30, 2006; Drafted alternately 5th-4th-3rd-7th-6th

2007

April 28-29, 2007; Drafted alternately 16th-15th-14th-13th-20th-19th-18th

2008

April 26-27, 2008; Drafted alternately 30th-29th-28th

2009

April 25-26, 2009; Drafted 9th