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Dnj: Welcome to our team, there was serious talk that you had agreed to take over the GM role in Lansing, so what happened to bring you to our team
Thompson: Thanks for the welcome. It is true that I verbally agreed to take on the role in Lansing as I was sold on trying to rebuild the franchise. It is worth noting that I was also in talks with
Dnj: So you were a man with options, are you someone we can trust having verbally said you were going toLansing lace? What happens if another job is offered to you..?
Thompson: That’s a fair question, when I was in talks
Dnj: Right what are your first steps as you take on this role?
Thompson: I am looking at the current staff and roster. Boyer as HC has lots of qualities I like in a person and we have spent time looking at the other coaches. OC Bauer is a decent man but he is getting older and we need to consider when we need to bring in someone younger.
Dnj: You haven’t mentioned the scouting area, is there a reason for that?
Thompson: Not really Favre leads a solid scouting team, the worry is that he is starting to age and they are at the higher end of the pay scale. So we are in talks but nothing has been decided at this time.
Dnj: What about the roster as punter Gepner and SLB Fryar are both out of contract. What are your plans regarding those two?
Thompson: I would have liked to have got one of them signed as I came aboard however the salary cap situation didn’t allow us to do that. I would like to keep both this season and may consider using the franchise tag on one of them. However we have 40 players currently signed and at this time we have 8 draft picks including the 4th and 17th overall. So we need to ensure we have enough cap space to add a minimum of 13 players to the roster, but in reality at least another 20 for preseason. If Gepner and Fryar can work with us re contracts then we would certainly like to bring them back.
Dnj: Regarding the players still on the roster, what are your initial thoughts?
Thompson: There is real quality here Peterson is an experienced QB who can still play at a high level, though we do need to start looking to develop a QB for the future. In fact this roster is full of quality, such as WR’s Hodel, Mulin and Neri however there is no youth coming through, so we need to make some decisions whether we look to go for it all over the next few seasons or whether we move on some experienced players and add some youth so restocking rather than rebuilding.
Dnj: The OL has no recognised LT is this of concern to you?
Thompson: Yes and no. I know what sort of answer is that! Nicol and Colley ensure we have two quality tackles on the roster so we can play one on the left. Would I like to add a top draw LT, of course this would give us depth and youth.
Dnj: What are your thoughts on the defensive side of the ball?
Thompson: Pretty much the same, at DE we have some quality but we need to decide whether Reinhard is the future LDE or not. If the answer is no then we need to add here, while the middle of the DL has quality and experience. LB is interesting as Barton is quality in the middle, but is either Cline or Shepard the future? Outside Bush is a lock at WLB while Sowers and Benson are interesting on the strong side. The secondary also has questions with Wilhelm and Pourdanesh decent CB’s learning from the experienced Mangum. It would be nice to be able to add another decent CB but safety is an area I worry about so will be one of the areas I concentrate on.
Dnj: Going through a few of the things you said already, does the fact you are looking to develop a younger QB mean that Peterson who is in the last year of his contract won’t be offered a new one?
Thompson: Not at all, Peterson is the starter here and I have no plans to change that. If we can agree a deal that benefits both sides then that is something we would like to do. We have a few players in their last year of their contract so we are going to make some decisions about them, the question is what will they cost to keep longer term and what are they worth in trade value. We will be looking to see who we want to keep here and who is worth moving on at this time.
Dnj: Well thank you for your time this morning. We look forward to talking again soon.
Thompson: My pleasure.
Well those are the words of your Mules GM. He has work to do and decisions to be made. It sounds like a number of players could end up on the trading block and if they do then the team may well be re-tooling for the future. If the trade block is limited then they are going to try and make a run for glory now. All in all these are interesting times we live in.
Thompson: Thanks for the welcome. It is true that I verbally agreed to take on the role in Lansing as I was sold on trying to rebuild the franchise. It is worth noting that I was also in talks with
Dnj: So you were a man with options, are you someone we can trust having verbally said you were going to
Thompson: That’s a fair question, when I was in talks
Dnj: Right what are your first steps as you take on this role?
Thompson: I am looking at the current staff and roster. Boyer as HC has lots of qualities I like in a person and we have spent time looking at the other coaches. OC Bauer is a decent man but he is getting older and we need to consider when we need to bring in someone younger.
Dnj: You haven’t mentioned the scouting area, is there a reason for that?
Thompson: Not really Favre leads a solid scouting team, the worry is that he is starting to age and they are at the higher end of the pay scale. So we are in talks but nothing has been decided at this time.
Dnj: What about the roster as punter Gepner and SLB Fryar are both out of contract. What are your plans regarding those two?
Thompson: I would have liked to have got one of them signed as I came aboard however the salary cap situation didn’t allow us to do that. I would like to keep both this season and may consider using the franchise tag on one of them. However we have 40 players currently signed and at this time we have 8 draft picks including the 4th and 17th overall. So we need to ensure we have enough cap space to add a minimum of 13 players to the roster, but in reality at least another 20 for preseason. If Gepner and Fryar can work with us re contracts then we would certainly like to bring them back.
Dnj: Regarding the players still on the roster, what are your initial thoughts?
Thompson: There is real quality here Peterson is an experienced QB who can still play at a high level, though we do need to start looking to develop a QB for the future. In fact this roster is full of quality, such as WR’s Hodel, Mulin and Neri however there is no youth coming through, so we need to make some decisions whether we look to go for it all over the next few seasons or whether we move on some experienced players and add some youth so restocking rather than rebuilding.
Dnj: The OL has no recognised LT is this of concern to you?
Thompson: Yes and no. I know what sort of answer is that! Nicol and Colley ensure we have two quality tackles on the roster so we can play one on the left. Would I like to add a top draw LT, of course this would give us depth and youth.
Dnj: What are your thoughts on the defensive side of the ball?
Thompson: Pretty much the same, at DE we have some quality but we need to decide whether Reinhard is the future LDE or not. If the answer is no then we need to add here, while the middle of the DL has quality and experience. LB is interesting as Barton is quality in the middle, but is either Cline or Shepard the future? Outside Bush is a lock at WLB while Sowers and Benson are interesting on the strong side. The secondary also has questions with Wilhelm and Pourdanesh decent CB’s learning from the experienced Mangum. It would be nice to be able to add another decent CB but safety is an area I worry about so will be one of the areas I concentrate on.
Dnj: Going through a few of the things you said already, does the fact you are looking to develop a younger QB mean that Peterson who is in the last year of his contract won’t be offered a new one?
Thompson: Not at all, Peterson is the starter here and I have no plans to change that. If we can agree a deal that benefits both sides then that is something we would like to do. We have a few players in their last year of their contract so we are going to make some decisions about them, the question is what will they cost to keep longer term and what are they worth in trade value. We will be looking to see who we want to keep here and who is worth moving on at this time.
Dnj: Well thank you for your time this morning. We look forward to talking again soon.
Thompson: My pleasure.
Well those are the words of your Mules GM. He has work to do and decisions to be made. It sounds like a number of players could end up on the trading block and if they do then the team may well be re-tooling for the future. If the trade block is limited then they are going to try and make a run for glory now. All in all these are interesting times we live in.
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