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FRIDAY, Sept. 8, 2006, 10:17 a.m.
What's Thompson thinking?
It's common among NFL owners, GMs, coaches, players, etc., to turn to people they have a history with or some connection to. Take Ted Thompson for example. After his playing career ended in 1984, he tried to get into coaching, but couldn't land a job. Tried the business world and didn't like it, and was drifting through life when Ron Wolf hired him as assistant director of pro personnel in 1992. Thompson's connection to the Packers? None other than that he played eight years in Houston with Mike Reinfeldt, who was the Packers' chief financial officer at the time and who had a history with Wolf.
Thompson climbed the ladder in Green Bay to director of pro personnel, then director of player personnel before joining Mike Holmgren and Reinfeldt in Seattle. When Thompson returned to Green Bay as general manager in 2005, it was largely because of his history with the Packers and that he was a good fit at a time when the organization was being reshuffled.
Nothing wrong with any of that. That's how the NFL works.
But twice in the last year, Thompson's judgment in reconnecting with people from his past was enough to at least raise eyebrows.
The first was when he interviewed his old coach, Wade Phillips, for the Packers' head coaching job before hiring Mike McCarthy. Had Thompson hired Phillips, fans and media would have reacted as though he just hired the second coming of Scooter McLean. Not that Phillips isn't a good football coach and that Thompson maybe couldn't learn something from the interview, but the perception is that Phillips is a retread.
So why bother with the interview?
The latest was when Thompson brought wide receiver Koren Robinson, a player he had drafted in Seattle who had recently been charged with drunken driving among other felonies, to Green Bay for a visit.
No GM wants to leave any stone unturned in the pursuit of talent. That was one of the keys to Wolf's success.
But, again, why bother in Robinson's case? Why alarm the good fans of Green Bay that this guy might some day be driving their streets polluted to the gills? Why suggest that with the return of losing so might the dark days of the 1980s when players were piling up more rap sheets than touchdowns?
In both cases, and particularly the most recent, Thompson raised questions about his judgment and instincts.
Why with so little to gain?
What's Thompson thinking?
It's common among NFL owners, GMs, coaches, players, etc., to turn to people they have a history with or some connection to. Take Ted Thompson for example. After his playing career ended in 1984, he tried to get into coaching, but couldn't land a job. Tried the business world and didn't like it, and was drifting through life when Ron Wolf hired him as assistant director of pro personnel in 1992. Thompson's connection to the Packers? None other than that he played eight years in Houston with Mike Reinfeldt, who was the Packers' chief financial officer at the time and who had a history with Wolf.
Thompson climbed the ladder in Green Bay to director of pro personnel, then director of player personnel before joining Mike Holmgren and Reinfeldt in Seattle. When Thompson returned to Green Bay as general manager in 2005, it was largely because of his history with the Packers and that he was a good fit at a time when the organization was being reshuffled.
Nothing wrong with any of that. That's how the NFL works.
But twice in the last year, Thompson's judgment in reconnecting with people from his past was enough to at least raise eyebrows.
The first was when he interviewed his old coach, Wade Phillips, for the Packers' head coaching job before hiring Mike McCarthy. Had Thompson hired Phillips, fans and media would have reacted as though he just hired the second coming of Scooter McLean. Not that Phillips isn't a good football coach and that Thompson maybe couldn't learn something from the interview, but the perception is that Phillips is a retread.
So why bother with the interview?
The latest was when Thompson brought wide receiver Koren Robinson, a player he had drafted in Seattle who had recently been charged with drunken driving among other felonies, to Green Bay for a visit.
No GM wants to leave any stone unturned in the pursuit of talent. That was one of the keys to Wolf's success.
But, again, why bother in Robinson's case? Why alarm the good fans of Green Bay that this guy might some day be driving their streets polluted to the gills? Why suggest that with the return of losing so might the dark days of the 1980s when players were piling up more rap sheets than touchdowns?
In both cases, and particularly the most recent, Thompson raised questions about his judgment and instincts.
Why with so little to gain?
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