Ted Thompson’s Early Defensive Focus Doesn’t Pay Off

General manger Ted Thompson has had 12 first-round draft picks in his tenure with the Green Bay Packers. Nine of those picks have been defensive players.

Let’s go down the list.

2006: A.J. Hawk (5)

2007: Justin Harrell (16)

2009: B.J. Raji (9)

2009: Clay Matthews (26)

2012: Nick Perry (28)

2013: Datone Jones (26)

2014: Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (21)

2015: Damarious Randall (30)

2016: Kenny Clark (27)

Of the three years Thompson didn’t take a defender in the first round, he went for Brett Favre’s successor, Aaron Rodgers, after the quarterback inexplicably fell in his lap in 2005, and tackle twice — Bryan Bulaga in 2010 and Derek Sherrod in 2011.

In 2008, the Packers traded back and out of the first round. That…