Thompson: 'An interesting time of year to be a scout'

Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson spent about 12 minutes speaking with reporters on Wednesday morning. It was his final time chatting with the media before NFL rosters are whittled to 53 this weekend. Here are the highlights from Thompson.

Opening statement:

Busy time for those of us scouts upstairs, trying to do the right thing, make the right decisions. It's important for some of these guys who have done a good job, and some of them are not going to be able to survive past the weekend. That's the hard edge of NFL football, I guess.

On input from position coaches:

Mostly, those conversations are conversations with just (coach) Mike (McCarthy) and I. He has a good feel for his staff and the likes and dislikes they've projected. Everybody has a say, and I think the personnel group is the same way with me. They're pretty open, and sometimes demonstrative. Everybody is trying to do the right thing.

On whether scouts have checked players from other teams:

Absolutely. Yes. And they have been since the start of the preseason. Most of it obviously done on tape with preseason games.

On how you evaluate players on other teams:

There are teams, personnel-wise you've studied them, and you know what players they're going to keep. Then you try to figure out the bubble players on those teams, and who would make a good fit here. It's an interesting time of year to be a scout. It's a lot of fun.

On how Aaron Rodgers' injury last season affects how many backup quarterbacks will be kept:

I don't know if that particular instance would change, but I think you learn from experience. What works, what doesn't, and not just that position but all positions. You try to be as prepared as you can be for any surprises.

On his relationship with McCarthy:

When we get down to the hard decisions – actually. I went to see him this morning just to say we're going to have a tough couple of days – we've got to keep the best interest of this football team and those young men down there at the forefront. We can't think about, "I thought this guy was going to be this kind of player, or this guy disappointed me." We can't do that. We've got to keep the best interest of the Green Bay Packers.

On his impressions of the team:

I like the makeup of the guys, I like the way they've been playing. It's a strange world. You never know. I think if we play well, we'll have a chance to win some games, which is always good in the NFL.

On benefits of GPS training:

My understanding of it is it's very good at tracking a lot of different things, but first and foremost the energy level and the distance between the output that an individual has done in a particular practice. It allows us to test the next practice based on that. In general, that's what I know is the layman of what's going on, and I think that's beneficial.

-- rwood@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @ByRyanWood