Green Bay - Not many general managers elect to stand pat after a 6-10 season, but Ted Thompson isn't like most.Thompson has four years left on his contract with the Green Bay Packers and the support of a club president, Mark Murphy, who repeatedly has offered unsolicited praise for the job that he is doing.
Entering his fifth season calling the shots in Green Bay, Thompson has everybody of substance returning other than backup defensive tackle Colin Cole and tackle Mark Tauscher, who might be back at a later date.
On Wednesday, Thompson met in a conference room with the Journal Sentinel's Bob McGinn and discussed his sit-tight philosophy, some issues critical to a turnaround in Green Bay and his often inscrutable leadership style.
Q. As a GM, you probably ask yourself all the time, "How are we going to be better?" How are the Packers going to be better in 2009?
A. I do like the scheme changes on defense. That will help us. I think we're a relatively young team and we're all one year more experienced. I think we're a good team.
Q. This team was a surprising 13-3 in 2007 and then a surprising 6-10 in 2008. Do you have enough to get back in the thick of things once again for the NFC championship?
A. Every season's different. It's exciting. We were 6-10. I've said over and over that was my responsibility. I think we're a better team than that, but you are what you are. I don't do much predicting.
Q. This is your fifth season, the Packers are 31-33 under your watch and have been to the playoffs once. Mark Murphy basically said the other day that you're doing a tremendous job. Do you think that you are?
A. I have a lot of people that tell me whether I am or not. I will leave it all to them. Fans. Shareholders. People in the building. We'd like to have a better record. We'd like to have won more games. So that's what we're going to do.
Q. You know better than anyone how things can change in this business. You were voted NFL executive of the year by your peers for 2007, now you're coming off a 6-10 and Year 5 of your program is approaching. Do you worry about losing your job, or are you so financially set now that those thoughts don't even enter your equation?
A. I'm not worried about losing my job and it doesn't have anything to do with finances. It was the same way when I was a rookie free agent with the Oilers. I don't think you can function properly when you think about stuff like that. I have a lot of faith in God about who I am, what I'm doing and why I'm here. The rest of it I will leave to Him.
Q. What drives you to do what you do?
A. Competition. Being involved in sports as a player allowed you to extend your childhood. In some respects, all of us get to extend that childhood. We're still trying to compete, still trying to play games. It's a wonderfully simple thing at times and it's wonderfully complicated at times. It really gets down to blocking and tackling. But if you get down underneath that, it's even more complicated.
Q. Last year the Packers lost seven games by four points or fewer, one shy of the NFL record since the merger. From a personnel standpoint, you essentially stood pat. Was that because you thought the team was a lot better than its record showed?
A. I do think we were better than we played last year. There were a number of reasons but at the end of the day we were 6-10. I didn't think it was worth burning down the house to try to rebuild the house. I think we have a good core foundation on this team. I think we have good quality individuals. Again, it's my responsibility and ours collectively to try to do better.
Q. When last season ended, did you feel the defensive staff had to go?
A. I hadn't really thought of it in those terms. Mike (McCarthy) and I had some conversations after the conclusion of the season and I think he brought the idea up first. We talked about it, and it was ultimately his call. It always is. While we liked the fellas a lot, those were good people and that's always a difficult thing, I think he felt like a change was needed. Rather than personality, it was more the scheme. He has a high regard for the 3-4 base package. He played against it a lot as an offensive coordinator. He liked the idea of causing a little bit more confusion on the offensive side.
Q. Was your response favorable when Mike McCarthy came to you with plans to fire the strength coach, Rock Gullickson, and also enact a change on special teams?
A. He came to me with the thought process. We talk through things all the time. And I was fine with whatever he wanted to do.
Q. You have spoken eloquently about the importance of the team concept in pro sports. Isn't it hypocritical for an organization then to make the unprecedented decision to can seven coaches and persuade another to retire?
A. I think you're always trying to do whatever you can to make the team better. If you feel like you can get better from a competitive standpoint, you try to do that. Sometimes that means letting people go. That's the hard part of our business. It will happen on cutdowns this year. It happens during the course of all of our lives. We're in positions that people that make those decisions make changes from time to time.
Q. The Packers have been the youngest team three years in a row. How can you truly build a team when the roster has been something of a revolving door?
A. In 2005 we desperately needed to kind of rework our roster. We were heavy on the older end. Over the course of the last few years we used draft choices primarily to add to the core of our team. I think we've done a pretty good job in that regard. I think we're going to be a little bit older and wiser this year. I doubt very seriously if we're going to be the youngest team in the league.
Q. From your perspective, what is the Dom Capers' system, the Pittsburgh system, all about?
A. The whole idea is you have a chance to create a little bit more confusion on the part of the offense. As you watch the practices, there's a different alignment on almost every play. We have to caution that is just the base package. The nickel and dime packages will be different looks, too, but those don't have anything to do with the 3-4. I think Dom is a very knowledgeable football guy and we're very lucky to have him. I think our players are pretty excited about it.
Q. Some football people have said that the transition from a 4-3 to a 3-4 is more major than it looks. Do you anticipate significant growing pains this season?
A. No. I think we will be in a learning phase. I think we have the capability and I certainly think we have the personnel to be effective in the base package 3-4.
Q. Bob Sanders and his staff didn't coach with a lot of emotion. With Kevin Greene on the sidelines, that probably will change. Is this a development you're happy to see?
A. I've had all kinds of different coaches as a player and most of our players have. Dom seems to be more of the intellectual, reserved type. Kevin obviously shows the passion that he had as a player. Mike Trgovac is similar in terms of his passion. I think the players like it. I think it certainly causes for more of an upbeat training camp. I don't know if there's advantages, but I think it's fine. I'm good with it.
Q. Last year opposing quarterbacks dropped back about 600 times and fumbled the ball away once. The pass rush other than from Aaron Kampman was weak and the blitz package was static and ineffective. Are the Packers positioned to be a better pressure team?
A. That's the whole idea about this. That's what we're trying to get to. It's difficult to play pass defense without pressure. On some of that, we can make excuses and say we had some of our best pass rushers hurt. At the same time, the scheme is kind of what Mike and I were thinking about the whole time.
Q. In the 3-4, the lion's share of the pass rush has to come from the outside backers. How do you feel about lining up there with Kampman, Clay Matthews and Jeremy Thompson?
A. I feel pretty good about it. Aaron is an accomplished professional and an excellent pass rusher and an excellent technician. Jeremy is a marvelous athlete with unbelievable flexibility and athleticism. Clay Matthews has proven, at least on the collegiate level, to be a very good fit at that spot.
Q. Murphy cited your decision on draft day to trade up into the first round for Matthews as a watershed moment in putting 2008 behind the organization. It probably was your boldest move ever in a draft. Has he encouraged you to take more chances in personnel?
A. No. He hasn't encouraged me not to, either. He's been very supportive and I appreciate it. He is involved on the football side. He sat in on the draft. I appreciated those comments. This is kind of going back to the old Ron Wolf thing. If you like a player and you have a spot for him, then just go get him.
Q. Murphy functions as the owner but he was a Pro Bowl safety who was regarded as one of the smartest defensive backs the Redskins ever had. What's it like having a guy like that for a boss? He probably knows the game almost as well as you.
A. It's nice. I do talk a lot about the team and I think he has an appreciation for that. He's been a very good source to be able to just go kick ideas around with.
Q. The 3-4 won't be successful unless the down linemen play stoutly and unselfishly. How does that group look to you?
A. Good. I like the talent and the versatility. And I think they're pretty excited about it.
Q. You can't get everything early in a draft, especially when you give up high picks to move up, so you didn't get a tackle early. Can you get by for another year with what you have at tackle?
A. We think so. We think we have several candidates. We've put a lot of investment in our offensive line. We're trying to see if one of them at right tackle is ready to step up and play. I'd like to get the core established and set. I have liked (Allen) Barbre for some time. He's a very athletic 310-pound guy that has some nastiness to him.
Q. Day after day you stand out on the field behind the offense operated by Aaron Rodgers. You see his mechanics, decisions, arm, confidence. He's 25. How good is he?
A. I think he's pretty good. Our offensive coaches went back and reviewed the season and he was one of, if not the highest-rated offensive player. Sometimes that wasn't always appreciated. Having a year of experience is going to help immensely.
Q. I asked Rodgers the other day if he ever thought of one day being recognized as the greatest quarterback in franchise history. Barring injury, does he have what it takes to do that?
A. That's a pretty bold step. We'll see. We're just starting out here.
Q. You like to say that you and your scouts talk about everything. Did you consider not paying Ryan Grant his roster bonus of $2.75 million in March? Are you satisfied with him as the featured back?
A. We talk about everything. Yes, we do. The answer to your question is no, we never considered that.
Q. Are you satisfied with Grant as the man?
A. Yes. He rushed for 1,200 yards last year on a team that wasn't functioning great. He's got a durability and a toughness and a determination that we like.
Q. Dome punter or not, Hunter Smith sure looked like the best available option at the position when the offseason began. His agent said he wanted either a decent signing bonus on a multiyear deal or a one-year deal, but that the Packers would do neither. Why would you let a modest amount of money or the length of a contract prevent you from signing him?
A. I wouldn't necessarily agree with the interpretation and facts of what happened there. But at the end of the day those are business discussions that we don't take beyond that. We go into free agency. We try to get guys. Sometimes we get them, sometimes we don't. And that's the end of it.
Q. Sometimes your unwillingness to explain decisions can be taken as an insult to the intelligence of the fans who support this team. There are decision-makers in the league who feel it's important to get their side of the story out there. Why don't you?
A. First of all, most of those kind of questions have to do either with a player that's not on your team or is on another team, or it has to do in some respects to money. Neither one of those things are appropriate to talk about.
Q. I don't think you're going to get in trouble with Commissioner Goodell for talking about this punter who happens to be in Washington. The league directive regarding not talking about players on other teams has to do with tampering during free agency or maybe controversial-type players, doesn't it?
A. Well, I try to stay consistent, if nothing else.
Q. Don't you care about the public perception of you? At the stockholders meeting you laughingly thanked people for coming to hear you say nothing. Why are you such a secretive person? Don't you want people from the outside to know anything about the team?
A. I think they know a lot about this team. I think our fans are a lot smarter than that. And I think they understand where I'm coming from. There's absolutely no reason for me to tell anything of a proprietary nature to a group of 15,000. Even though they're all fans, it's not going to remain a secret.
Q. Part of being an NFL GM is serving as the face of the franchise. Can you be an effective leader if you're uncomfortable in such a role?
A. I don't know. I think I've grown into that a little bit better. I've always been accessible (to reporters). I've probably not ever taken a phone call. Always answer questions. But if it has to do with business or money or something of a proprietary nature, I don't think it's appropriate to talk about it.
Q. Have you read many how-to books on leadership? What type of leader do you see yourself as?
A. I hope I'm a servant. I think in order to lead you have to serve first. Which means sacrificing, going above and beyond, trying to set an example, trying to be a good guy.
Q. Bill Walsh was a step ahead of just about everyone in the 1980s. Bill Belichick has been that guy this decade. If you've read their books, have you tried to apply some of their beliefs to how you operate?
A. Sure. You always try to get ideas, whether it be from sports leaders or business leaders or political minds. But it's got to fit you. You can't become somebody else. It has to come from you.
Q. Murphy promised an institutional review of the situation with Brett Favre in 2008 and I'm sure you were part of it. In retrospect, did you handle it properly? Did you do the right things?
A. We tried to. I don't want to get into specifics. I'm not going to talk about this very much. I'm sure there were mistakes made along the way, but it was a very volatile, complicated situation.
Q. You've been described by a former colleague as someone who shies away from confrontation. At one point Favre said he hoped to "stick it" to Ted Thompson. From gut level, what was your reaction to that?
A. None.
Q. Do you feel you were wronged by the so-called "national" media in its coverage of you and Favre?
A. I'll just keep that to myself.
Q. How much hate mail did you receive regarding Favre?
A. I have a wonderful assistant and I'm sure she does a very good job of weeding those out. (There were) enough. I don't think I did (read any). I think I got the gist. I think there were people who were upset, and that's fine. I understood that. You understand that coming in, that one day there might be a train wreck.[/b]
Q. You seem to ponder and anguish over decisions. Have you always been like that? Do you ever act impulsively?
A. From time to time. But I do think about things, especially when it comes to the Packers. Decisions that we make affect a lot of things. And the more you're in this job the more you have to think about the repercussions of every little thing that you might say or major decisions you might make. You're affecting people's lives.
Q. Do you anguish too much?
A. No. I don't take it home with me. I don't wake up in the middle of the night thinking about things. But I do go through a process. I have guys here and I trust their judgment. They were trained by Ron and they all have different ways of looking at things, and I appreciate that. You listen to your confidants, make decisions and move on.
Q. In terms of football, are you a man without regret?
A. Yeah, I am. I mean, I wish I had been a star player. I don't have time to look back (at decisions).
Q. This was a team that had the second most penalty yards in 2007 and the most in 2008. One year can be an aberration; two might be a trend. Does Mike McCarthy have to step up his game when it comes to delivering a disciplined on-field product?
A. We were both disappointed in that. That's something that we work on all the time. We have made some improvements. Certainly ball security was one. But penalties kill you in the NFL.
Q. How much do you still think about the loss to the Giants?
A. Not very much. But it was a painful loss.