The Green Bay Packers have zero plans to rush Ted Thompson into retirement.
Team president and CEO Mark Murphy made that crystal clear Wednesday during a meeting with reporters in which he fully backed the club's 64-year-old general manager.
"Ted and I, we have a great relationship," Murphy said, per the Wisconsin State Journal. "As long as he wants to continue to work, and he's still doing a good job -- and I think he still does a great job for us -- we want him to continue to be our general manager. At a point he decides he doesn't want to do it anymore for whatever reason, then we would do a search."
For all of Green Bay's grand success under Thompson over the past 12 years, antsy Packers fans have critiqued him for traditionally ignoring free agency in favor of building through the draft.
Thompson was more active on the open market this offseason, going after tight ends Martellus Bennett and Lance Kendricks, while signing veteran guard Jahri Evans, defensive tackle Ricky Jean Francois and cornerback Davon House (a former Thompson draft pick who spent the past two seasons in Jacksonville).
That activity helped quiet whispers that coach Mike McCarthy was "fed up" with Thompson's conservative approach to free agency, with Murphy emphasizing the two "have a great relationship."
The Packers have watched both John Schneider and Reggie McKenzie leave Green Bay for successful GM assignments with Seattle and Oakland, respectively. It's fair to wonder if the team would eventually aim to promote well-respected director of football operations Eliot Wolf, but those plans are on hold for now.
Thompson is cemented in Green Bay as the front-office mind who has led the club to a 118-73-1 regular-season record, a win in Super Bowl XLV and eight straight playoff appearances. Too many of those postseason trips have ended in calamity, but Thompson's track record as a team-builder speaks for itself.
