Thompson's Last Defensive Class Integral to Packers' Future Success

For the first time since 2005, the Green Bay Packers have a new general manager. While Brian Gutekunst is now in charge of putting together the roster, it takes more than one offseason for a team to really reflect its GM. No matter how active Gutekunst gets in free agency this offseason, the Packers of the near future are still going to have Ted Thompson’s fingerprints all over them.

Not that that’s a bad thing, by the way. It’s not as though Thompson left the cupboard bare as he shuffled out of the GM’s office and into the darkened, secluded film room where he undoubtedly now spends most of his days. By many accounts, the Packers have plenty of young talent to work with.

But a lot of that…