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Much of the general manager’s 19½-minute speech today at Lambeau Field was a simple laundry list of players at each position group, with a short comment about a handful of them. But he also used some of an otherwise mundane talk to argue that his philosophy of heavily draft-oriented roster building is the smart way to do business in the NFL and not necessarily a slower path to becoming a winner than depending on free agency more heavily.
After reviewing the team’s 2006 season for several minutes today, the understated Thompson said he wanted to clear up what he considered a misconception: That he’s building with the thought of winning a couple years down the road.
“I want you guys to be clear on this because you’re my bosses,” Thompson said. “We want to win, and we want to win now. We like where we are, we are getting better, and like I said, through the individual growth of our team, some new additions and just toughness, I think we’re going to be fine. We’re going to win some games.”
Thompson alluded a couple of times in his speech to the fan unrest he’s perceived about his management decisions. When going over the defensive backs, for instance, he noted with a touch of sarcasm that Frank Walker, who’s in the running for the No. 3 cornerback job, was the lone player he signed in the Packers’ uneventful offseason in the free-agent market.
Also, the last time Thompson faced a large gathering of Packers fans, the crowd was far more hostile: at the Lambeau Field Atrium in late April, after he’d selected defensive tackle Justin Harrell rather than a receiver in the first round of the NFL draft.
Thompson, talking to a far more receptive crowd of more than 11,000 shareholders today, joked about the fans’ reaction that day.
“I was booed for it,” he said of the Harrell selection. “I think in the long run it will be OK, just relax. He’s a very good player, an outstanding human being, and he’s going to add some value to our group.”
Thompson also emphasized a point he’s been making all offseason, that he’s looking for significant improvement from within his young team to better the Packers’ 8-8 mark last year. Thompson has made that point repeatedly when speaking to reporters this offseason when explaining his general lack of interest in what he considered an especially weak free-agent class.
Last year, the Packers started two and sometimes three rookies on the offensive line (Daryn Colledge, Jason Spitz and Tony Moll), one at linebacker (A.J. Hawk), and another at receiver (Greg Jennings), plus two second-year pros on defense (safety Nick Collins and linebacker Brady Poppinga). This year they could have a rookie starting at halfback (Brandon Jackson), another at defensive line (Harrell) and other young players possibly moving into starting roles such as Marviel Underwood or rookie Aaron Rouse at safety.
“We’ve acquired over the last couple years a lot of young players, we spent a lot of time developing an offseason program,” Thompson said. “We’ve brought guys in, (training) specialists, to test every player on our roster, to pinpoint areas they need to improve, also improve areas where they might be overdeveloped and cause muscle pulls, things like that.
“We think this offseason has helped with our core (conditioning) dynamic, helped with our flexibility, and I think our players are going to be confident. We’ve always said the best way to build a team is to build from within, because you have these players already. Just to turn guys over and over and over every year doesn’t make sense.”
Thompson also briefly talked about the performance of Mike McCarthy, the coach he hired last year to replace Mike Sherman. The Packers closed the season with four wins and finished 8-8.
“First and foremost, I think Mike and his staff did an outstanding job of holding this team together,” Thompson said. “None of these (coaches) has ever been bowed or anything else when it comes to taking these young players and developing them. They relish it.”
Thompson made mostly perfunctory remarks when he went through the roster by position group. Probably his most expansive comment came at tight end, where veteran Bubba Franks could lose his starting job to Donald Lee. Three others — Zac Alcorn, Tory Humphrey and seventh-round draft pick Clark Harris — are in the running for three or perhaps four roster spots.
“At this position we do need more production,” Thompson said. “We expect this to be a good group when it’s all said and done. We have some guys here — Humphrey and Alcorn — that you guys might not be familiar with. They’re good athletes and they want to be good players and our coaches are working hard with them. We’ll see how it goes. Bubba’s been a good football player here for a long time. He had a down season last year, we look for him to have a comeback season.”
After reviewing the team’s 2006 season for several minutes today, the understated Thompson said he wanted to clear up what he considered a misconception: That he’s building with the thought of winning a couple years down the road.
“I want you guys to be clear on this because you’re my bosses,” Thompson said. “We want to win, and we want to win now. We like where we are, we are getting better, and like I said, through the individual growth of our team, some new additions and just toughness, I think we’re going to be fine. We’re going to win some games.”
Thompson alluded a couple of times in his speech to the fan unrest he’s perceived about his management decisions. When going over the defensive backs, for instance, he noted with a touch of sarcasm that Frank Walker, who’s in the running for the No. 3 cornerback job, was the lone player he signed in the Packers’ uneventful offseason in the free-agent market.
Also, the last time Thompson faced a large gathering of Packers fans, the crowd was far more hostile: at the Lambeau Field Atrium in late April, after he’d selected defensive tackle Justin Harrell rather than a receiver in the first round of the NFL draft.
Thompson, talking to a far more receptive crowd of more than 11,000 shareholders today, joked about the fans’ reaction that day.
“I was booed for it,” he said of the Harrell selection. “I think in the long run it will be OK, just relax. He’s a very good player, an outstanding human being, and he’s going to add some value to our group.”
Thompson also emphasized a point he’s been making all offseason, that he’s looking for significant improvement from within his young team to better the Packers’ 8-8 mark last year. Thompson has made that point repeatedly when speaking to reporters this offseason when explaining his general lack of interest in what he considered an especially weak free-agent class.
Last year, the Packers started two and sometimes three rookies on the offensive line (Daryn Colledge, Jason Spitz and Tony Moll), one at linebacker (A.J. Hawk), and another at receiver (Greg Jennings), plus two second-year pros on defense (safety Nick Collins and linebacker Brady Poppinga). This year they could have a rookie starting at halfback (Brandon Jackson), another at defensive line (Harrell) and other young players possibly moving into starting roles such as Marviel Underwood or rookie Aaron Rouse at safety.
“We’ve acquired over the last couple years a lot of young players, we spent a lot of time developing an offseason program,” Thompson said. “We’ve brought guys in, (training) specialists, to test every player on our roster, to pinpoint areas they need to improve, also improve areas where they might be overdeveloped and cause muscle pulls, things like that.
“We think this offseason has helped with our core (conditioning) dynamic, helped with our flexibility, and I think our players are going to be confident. We’ve always said the best way to build a team is to build from within, because you have these players already. Just to turn guys over and over and over every year doesn’t make sense.”
Thompson also briefly talked about the performance of Mike McCarthy, the coach he hired last year to replace Mike Sherman. The Packers closed the season with four wins and finished 8-8.
“First and foremost, I think Mike and his staff did an outstanding job of holding this team together,” Thompson said. “None of these (coaches) has ever been bowed or anything else when it comes to taking these young players and developing them. They relish it.”
Thompson made mostly perfunctory remarks when he went through the roster by position group. Probably his most expansive comment came at tight end, where veteran Bubba Franks could lose his starting job to Donald Lee. Three others — Zac Alcorn, Tory Humphrey and seventh-round draft pick Clark Harris — are in the running for three or perhaps four roster spots.
“At this position we do need more production,” Thompson said. “We expect this to be a good group when it’s all said and done. We have some guys here — Humphrey and Alcorn — that you guys might not be familiar with. They’re good athletes and they want to be good players and our coaches are working hard with them. We’ll see how it goes. Bubba’s been a good football player here for a long time. He had a down season last year, we look for him to have a comeback season.”
As for the dancing blonde, I've heard that a certain Packerrat was threatening to sue if he didn't take that down.
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