Might as well start a thread on this.
In Indianapolis, TT and MM are having press conferences today. MM's is at 3pm EST. Here is a summary of Ted's, just completed, from the JSO blog.
Indianapolis - The following is a summary of Packers general manager Ted Thompson's comments during a morning press conference at the NFL scouting combine:
- (On combine) It's a lot different than it was 20 years ago.
- (On Davante Adams) He played well. He had a little bit more production down the stretch. We like him, like we do all our guys.
- (On WR class) Other than to say I can't critique these guys. I'm not supposed to say negative things or positive things. There's players, one day the receivers look great and one day they don't look great. It changes all the time.
- (On Richard Rodgers) Richard was one of those guys who had production going down the stretch. Looking forward to his contribution.
- (On Ron Wolf) He has an effect on how this team is run. When I screw up he doesn't think much of what we learned. But he does have a part of us. He's a historian and likes the history of the game. He went into the Hall of Fame and it's well-deserved.
- (On QB "it" factor) I think there's different it factors for different players. Lot of good ones out there. But there are moments in games, even on collegiate level you can see that this guy is different. They see things differently, they see things quicker.
- (On Rodgers) The game I keep bringing up is Cal playing USC. This was after everyone thought these guys would go high and we did some extra work and I kept going back to the USC game. His collective body of work was certainly sufficient.
- (On drafting RBs) I think it's just the way it goes. Whether it's this year or another year, it doesn't mean anything. It's cyclical.
- (On re-signing Cobb) We'd like to re-sign all our free agents.
- (On judging college QBs) They have to do a lot of things that have to be done on the professional level. Probably a little more running. Facing some of the same challenges.
- (On cap) We make all football decisions.
- (On McCarthy play-calling) Most of that was his own thinking. I was aware of his thinking.
- (On being surprised) A little bit. Mike does a lot of thinking. He examines to fine point to what he's going to present to the team. He's thinking in a macro sense how best to use his team. Where he'd like to inject his own attitude into the team. I think he wants to spread himself out.
- (On combine interviews) Always looking for a little bit of sparkle in a guy's eyes. That's difficult because they're going from 6 in the morning to 10 at night. Hard to be on all the time. We're not saying we can look inside somebody's mind. I like to think in 15 or 20 minutes find out if this guy is a good fit.
- (On Ndamukong Suh) I think he's the property of another team and I'm prohibited by rule from discussing that. I should give that answer more often.
- (On front office working together) I think a lot of it goes back to legacy of Ron Wolf. He set the organization up a certain way so football decisions would be made by football people, whether facilities or money, it would be a football decision, what is best for team. That put the organization in a better light. People around the league saw the Packers put their money where their mouth is. But it goes back to Ron Wolf.
