Ted Thompson is still the GM of the Green Bay Packers, but there’s been a lot of un-Ted-like things going on this offseason.
Who would have thought Ted would being in a personality as colorful as Martellus Bennett? Not me.
Would Ted have signed Ricky Jean Francois? Maybe. This does seem more like the kind of move Ted would make for a veteran role player.
Jahri Evans? Forgo giving reps to a developing young player to grab a veteran stopgap at a position of need? He brought in Jeff Saturday that one time (which should have taught him a lesson), but that’s not typical Ted.
Is Lance Kendricks a Ted type of… hey, wait a minute – this list of Ted free agents is way too long. We haven’t even got to Davon House, Justin McCray, Ego Ferguson, this goes.
This is highly irregular, Ted.
What about the draft? Not bad, made some Ted like moves (especially trading down for an extra 7th rounder), but a Deshone Kizer smokescreen to try to up the ransom for a pick? That’s not Ted stuff, Ted never lets a leak out. Ted wouldn’t waste the 7 seconds it took to utter a rumor if there was still D4 tape to watch for an 11th time.
So what gives? Has Ted, the most predictable GM in all of sports, maybe all of sports history, Mr. Roboto himself, suddenly changed his ways?
Or is there a more logical explanation?
The moves made so far have been pretty Teddish, but not exactly like the Ted we know. This feels more like how his disciples have functioned in Seattle, Oakland, and KC: smart, but a little different, maybe a little more aggressive, than Ted.
It almost feels like a Ted disciple is at the helm in Green Bay right now.
Could a Ted disciple actually be at the helm already?
I’m not gonna make some bold claim like Eliot Wolf is running the show from behind the curtain and pulling Teds strings while he twirls his mustache, but could he be getting more power, easing the transition to his eventual, seemingly inevitable, official rise to the GM position?
Ted has been called a glorified scout (which I don’t think is an insult). Could his role have been pared back to give him more time to do what he loves while Boy Wonder starts to grip the reins? Wouldn’t that be the type of gradual transition a program like the Packers would take at such an important post? They made Jordy Nelson sit the bench for three years, Mike Daniels had to wait and learn in rotational reps before he got his chance to shine – is Eliot Wolf in the same boat? Is he starting to get his rotational reps before cracking the starting lineup?
Given some of the things that have happened this year, it wouldn’t be a surprise.
Either way, I like how our offseason went and think when Wolf II takes over, the franchise will be in good hands for another couple decades.