Of the 90 players on the roster at the start of training camp, 64 were brought to Green Bay by GM Ted Thompson. Considering that he’s only been on the job for 18 months, that’s a truly staggering number. In contrast, only 15 players acquired by his predecessor, Mike Sherman, are still around. Considering that he was on the job for 44 months, that’s an equally staggering number. The remaining 11 players were brought in by Ron Wolf, who retired in 2001. “Thompson has turned over the roster in a hurry,” said a regional scout for another team. “Those numbers point out just how bad a job Sherman did as the general manager and why the Packers bottomed out last season. Just how good a talent evaluator Thompson is will determine how quickly things turn around.”Not to keep piling on, but only four of Sherman's players are projected as starters this season. The remaining 20 starters are split almost equally between Thompson (11) and Wolf (9). And it’s important to remember that Thompson worked closely with Wolf from 1992 to 1999. “I’ll give Sherman a lot of credit for Scott Wells, Aaron Kampman, Nick Barnett and Al Harris, but for the most part, it’s almost like his four years as GM didn’t exist,” said the scout. “In my opinion, it’s going to take Thompson about that long to get the talent level back to where it needs to be. So fans need to be patient. Thompson knows what he has to do and he’s doing it, but it’s going to take some time.”
