GREEN BAY — When the Green Bay Packers decided to bring back Johnny Jolly after the suspended defensive end was reinstated by the NFL, it wasn't an easy decision, according to general manager Ted Thompson.

Although Jolly has been one of the feel-good stories of training camp so far and has plenty of Packers fans rooting for him to make the team, Thompson said in his first press conference of camp that he and his staff discussed the idea at length before bringing Jolly back with a one-year, minimum-salary deal.

"We thought long and hard on that and made a decision based off of our association with Johnny," Thompson said of Jolly, who played from 2006 through 2009 before being suspended for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons. "When he's been here and been on our team — I'm not going to speak for all the other stuff, I'm not going to try to judge — but when he's been here as part of our team, he's been a good teammate."

Thompson also said some of Jolly's former — and now current, again — teammates vouched for him during the team's decision process.

"He had some veteran players on this team speak up for him," Thompson said. Asked if it was unique for him to take in those player's input, Thompson replied, "I always consider other people's opinions but a lot of things weighed in on this. It wasn't a snap judgment. It's my responsibility and ultimately I made the call."

Asked why he felt it would be a gamble to bring Jolly back, Thompson replied. "Just the whole thing. We don't know what the psyche of guys is and we hadn't seen him in a long time and that sort of thing. I've been pleased at his attitude and so far we're doing fine."

Jolly still faces an uphill climb to make the roster, but he has come off as genuinely remorseful . He now has to prove he can still play.

"A lot of those guys (on the team now) don't know who he is," Thompson said of Jolly's long layoff. "Jolly has some natural ability to play the game. He does things very fluidly and instinctively. The game kind of flows to him. So far so good. (But) we have a long way to go."

Jason Wilde  wrote: