Packers General Manager Ted Thompson bailed out of the first round last night, and he wants to make sure everyone knows the top pick of the second round is available.
Via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com, Thompson made it clear tonight’s first choice (the 33rd overall) is very much for sale.
“Oh yeah, you can put that down,” Thompson said. “That will save us a couple of phone calls. We’re taking calls.”
The Packers bypassed the chance to pick 29th last night when the Browns had to have tight end David Njoku. For their troubles, they got the 33rd and 108th picks, giving Thompson the first picks tonight and tomorrow (when the fourth round begins).
What he’s hoping for is a bidding war to develop today. Whether quarterback DeShone Kizer, running back Dalvin Cook, left tackle Cam Robinson or others could trigger one remains to be seen.
“I think it’s very good strategy-wise,” Thompson said. “We know where we’re at and what we’re going to do. There’s a couple of different ways of looking at it in terms of being helpful to us. It could be that we highlight a player that we know we can get, and they can’t take him away from us, so we sit there and pick him. It could be that a team sees an opportunity to maybe trade up and get a player they didn’t think they could get and maybe it’s again a trade that works well for us. There’s a couple of different ways to look at it. . . .
“We wanted to add a little meat to shoring up the roster.”
If they don’t trade it, they could still address their need at cornerback, with Sidney Jones, Kevin King, Chidobe Awuzie, and others still available there.