Thompson out as Packers GM
He agrees to take advisory role after dismal 7-9 season
GREEN BAY – For the first time in 13 years, Ted Thompson will not be in command of the Green Bay Packers’ football operation.
Two sources confirmed that team president Mark Murphy has reached an agreement with Thompson to step down and relinquish the general manager’s position to someone else.
The Packers did not release any information on the decision, but a source said it was Murphy’s decision to start the transition from the 64-year-old Thompson to new front-office leadership.
Thompson, whose contract is set to expire after this season, will move to an advisory position within the personnel department.
NFL Network first reported that Thompson would no longer be the general manager and a replacement would be sought. Other reports suggested the Packers would establish new roles for existing members of the department in a job-sharing role, but the source said
that was inaccurate.
The Packers will conduct a full search for a new general manager.
The search will not be limited to just in-house candidates, of whom there are several, including director of football operations Eliot Wolf, director of player personnel Brian Gutekunst, senior personnel adviser Alonzo Highsmith and vice president of football administration / player finance Russ Ball.
Murphy could seek the advice of Thompson to select candidates around the NFL, but Thompson might be loyal to his own people and want to promote them.
In that case, Murphy could employ a headhunter such as Jed Hughes of Korn Ferry, the same man who led the search for the Packers when Murphy was selected to replace Bob Harlan.
This will be by far the biggest decision Murphy will make since becoming president on Dec. 3, 2007.
And it could be a very tricky one. If Murphy decides to go outside the organization to hire a general manager, he risks losing Wolf, Gutekunst and Highsmith to other teams. All three consider themselves future general manager candidates. Wolf and Gutekunst have previously interviewed for GM jobs and will probably be candidates every year until they land a job.
Even if they don’t receive offers to be GMs elsewhere, any number of them could ask to be let out of their contracts and choose to work for new Cleveland general manager John Dorsey or former colleagues John Schneider (Seattle) and Reggie McKenzie (Oakland), who also are general managers.
Dorsey, Schneider and McKenzie, as well as all three Packers personnel men, are disciples of former Packers general manager Ron Wolf, Eliot’s father. Wolf developed a scouting system and style of management to which all of them adhere.
Only Thompson, who was hired by Wolf in 1992, has deviated from the former general manager’s aggressive style of team building.
Schneider, a Green Bay native, has long been thought of as a possible successor to Thompson, but he is under contract with the Seahawks through the 2021 season. He said at the time he signed a five-year extension in 2016 that he does not have an “out” clause that would allow him to leave for the Packers job.
If Murphy chooses Wolf, Gutekunst or Highsmith to be general manager, he’s less likely to lose the other two, since they have grown up together in the organization and believe in the Wolfstyle of team building. They have had to suppress their aggressive nature to fit in with Thompson’s conservative style.
Their respect for Thompson’s talent evaluation skills and leadership kept them from leaving the Packers for lateral positions.
If Murphy chooses Ball, whose primary duties are negotiating contracts but has been studying personnel evaluation under Thompson, he would almost certainly lose all three personnel men, a source familiar with the Packers front office said.
His hiring would signal to them that they had no chance of becoming general manager in Green Bay and would be better off elsewhere.
Another possibility would be to hire someone from outside. Among the hottest candidates for general manager positions are Minnesota Vikings assistant general manager George Paton, Baltimore Ravens assistant general manager Eric DeCosta and Philadelphia vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas.
Complicating matters is that coach Mike McCarthy is entering the final year of his contract. Murphy must decide whether to extend McCarthy’s contract regardless of the new GM hire. Thompson was fully behind McCarthy, but a new GM might not feel the same way.
Whatever the case, Murphy is going to have a hard time finding someone with the level of success Thompson has had. For as much criticism he has endured from Packers fans, he’s the one who drafted Rodgers despite having Brett Favre on his roster.
He is regarded around the NFL as a brilliant judge of talent and has been particularly good at picking wide receivers and offensive linemen in the draft. His weakness has been defensive linemen and tight ends.
When Murphy joined the Packers, Thompson was already in place as general manager and McCarthy as head coach.
The three men led the Packers through an unprecedented organizational run of eight straight playoff appearances, including a Super Bowl XLV title during the 2010 season. The Packers have played in three NFC Championship Games, won six NFC North titles and won 10 postseason games since Thompson hired McCarthy in ’06.
The Packers have a 131-78-1 record since McCarthy took over (including playoff games), which is the third-best winning percentage in the NFL over that span behind only New England and Pittsburgh.
The 2017 season, however, saw the Packers lose Rodgers for seven games due to a broken right collarbone and finish the season 7-9, its first losing record since going 6-10 in 2008. The Packers floundered under backup quarterback Brett Hundley and lost their last two games.
The Packers were decimated by injury, starting 10 different offensive line combinations and losing key members of their secondary as the season wore on. The loss of Rodgers exposed the lack of impact players and veteran depth the Packers had.
Thompson was the league’s fourthlongest-tenured GM (not counting the two owners who serve as GMs: Dallas’ Jerry Jones and Cincinnati’s Mike Brown). He had given no indication he was planning on retiring. And Murphy essentially had said that the job was Thompson’s as long as he wanted it.
Murphy is expected to speak to the media about the GM position Tuesday.