Ted Thompson is currently not a popular figure with Packers fans. Look, I get it. He played a role in the Packers falling apart in the final few years. He should have likely stepped down from his job years ago as his health started to suffer. But there is some recent news where credit is due for him. Thompson caught all sorts of heat when he let T.J. Lang and Josh Sitton walk from this team. Both are great Packers and will find their way to the Packers Hall of Fame. But Thompson let both go which drew ire from the fans. In reality, he made the right move considering both players would be out of the league a few years later.

Green Bay shocked the world when Sitton was let go before the 2016 season. The move stunned Packers fans at the time. While Thompson should have sought a trade to move on from Sitton and get some value, he still did the right thing. Sitton lost a step, and he never gained it back in the two years playing for Chicago then the one year in Miami. He missed three games in 2016. Three in 2017 and then only played one game in 2018. Lineman are more like running backs than you think, and Thompson knew when to get out from Sitton and Lang.

After Lang signed his deal with the Detroit Lions, he played a grand total of 18 games. He did make a Pro Bowl in 2017, but Lang did not fulfill the expectations that the Lions wanted from him when they inked him to a five-year deal that included 19 million dollars of guaranteed money. That is a ton of cash for a guy who did not play much. He received one of the richest contracts in history for the guard position and did not live up to it. Packers saw the injuries that Lang went through in Green Bay and made the right decision to move on.

Even if they’re unpopular moves at the time, general managers usually have a good grasp on what they’re doing with their roster. Thompson didn’t always at the final stages of his career, but he did with these guys.

Charlie.