INDIANAPOLIS -- Ted Thompson helped Mike McCarthy think through his decision to give up play-calling duties, but the Green Bay Packers general manager said he did not influence his coach one way or the other.
"Most of that was his own thinking," Thompson said at the NFL scouting combine. "We had conversations. I was aware of what he was thinking and that sort of thing."
That was Thompson's answer during his combine press conference, and later in the hallway at Lucas Oil Stadium he expanded on what he meant when he said most of that was McCarthy's idea.
"We don't discuss things like that," Thompson said. "I say that, we discuss all sorts of things, but the minute details of the coaching and that sort of thing, I leave that up to Mike. I think that's a good decision on my part."
However, Thompson said McCarthy did bounce the idea off Thompson.
When McCarthy announced the change earlier this month, he said both Thompson and Packers president Mark Murphy expressed surprise when he broached the subject with them.
"He didn't come to me to be challenged, and I didn't try and challenge him," Thompson said. "We just talked it out, just like any two friends would. It's an important setup: how the team is treated, how the access to the head coach, what the different jobs of each one of the coaches is. That's a big thing to kind of work out. He worked it out, and we'll see."
Thompson seemed to think that McCarthy could one day return to play calling, saying "a lot of this stuff is not necessarily set in stone."
But listening to McCarthy talk this week, he doesn't seem to be looking back.
"I'm going to spend more time in areas I haven't spent time in," McCarthy said referring to special teams and defense. "That's the biggest change I'm going to make. And I'm not saying that just because I'm there it’s going to be 100 times better. I felt like I was really stretched this year. I felt really, really stretched."
