Pete Prisco's Team Grades for 2017 Draft

[vince]

Those who were paying attention saw this offseason as shaping up very differently for Thompson. Ted managed it better than most by doing some of the heavy lifting last year getting rid of Sitton a year earlier than expected. Still there were a number of important pieces coming due who were at different turning points in their careers as Packers to varying degrees and for various reasons - Lacy, Lang, Peppers, Tretter, Shields, Cook, Perry, Hyde, Starks, Jones, etc. That's a ton of production to lose and/or have to pay up for all in one year.

Big changes were almost inevitable and I believe Ted stayed true to his way this year rather than "evolving."

Extra picks help Ted Thompson retool Packers roster

The beauty of general manager Ted Thompson’s draft-and-develop system is that the Green Bay Packers never should be in a rebuilding mode.

As long as Thompson is making the right choices 50-60 percent of the time with his draft selections, the warehouse never should run out of goods. Whenever items are pulled off the shelves because someone paid a pretty price for them or their expiration dates passed or they become damaged, newer merchandise fills their place.

Of late, Thompson hasn’t had to restock his shelves all that much.
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But after watching his team crumble under the weight of injuries and inadequate depth, Thompson went out to retool his roster in a way he hadn’t since 2006 when he signed Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett and finagled 12 draft picks.

Across the NFL, many of the front-office executives who help shape their teams' drafts have always viewed Ted Thompson as almost a God-like figure. He is, by some, literally worshipped.

They see the Packers' general manager as an OG, a genius, a model for how to run a team. They look at Thompson the way Starfleet captains look at James Kirk. Thompson's intelligence, his draft picks, his common-sense approach and the way he refuses to publicly pat himself on the back for some of the best picks of all time—like Aaron Rodgers—are just some of the reasons why he's so cherished.

This idea that Thompson has somehow "evolved" and risen from the depths of yesterday's game are a gross oversimplification and a misunderstanding of what's happened this year. While he necessarily signed more FA's this offseason, those moves were necessitated by the state of the roster not by some new approach. He was still characteristically judicious about not overspending or over-reaching.

Ted Thompson has always assessed the state of the roster and acted in ways he feels appropriate for maintaining balance between short-term needs and long-term health of the roster. That balance is different this year, which has driven the moves he's made but his strategic approach to building a team to win now and in the future remains the same as it's always been.