The Packers way is to trade the backup quarterback

Ted Thompson references Ron Wolf, the architect of the successful Green Bay Packers teams of the 1990’s, multiple times when he got to the podium today at the scouting combine.

Thompson credited Wolf for much of what he’s learned in the industry, and pointed out that Wolf actually trained most of the staff he currently has working for him. One of the things Wolf did well was bring along quarterback, along with coach Mike Holmgren. The Packers made a habit of trading understudies to Brett Favre and getting far more than they invested.

Mark Brunell. Matt Hasselbeck. Aaron Brooks. All went on to successful careers after beginning in Green Bay. That, of course, brings us to the subject of Matt Flynn, a former seventh-round pick who performed so well in a loss at New England when a concussion sidelined Aaron Rodgers.

Could the Packers be fixing to go Wolf with Flynn and ship him to a quarterback hungry team?

“His future is to be on our team,” Thompson said. “That's our plan right now. Again, that would be some sort of hypothetical that some team would call and do this and that. We don't deal in those kinds of things. We assume he's going to be on our team.”

The next question was whether or not Flynn would need to be replaced first before being traded?

“It's a hypothetical question that somebody would want to trade for him or that we would be interested in trading him,” Thompson said. “He's on our team and I think people are trying to get ahead of themselves by saying, 'Well this is the logical next step.' That's not necessarily the logical next step.”

But Thompson learned from Wolf and for Wolf it was often the next step. Stay tuned.

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune

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