GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson mentioned more than once that just because he now owns the first pick in Friday's second round doesn't necessarily mean he has a specific player in mind.
In fact, he might not take anyone at No. 33 -- one of the picks he acquired when he traded out of the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night. Thompson would be open to another trade.
"Oh yeah, you can put that down," Thompson said. "That will save us a couple of phone calls. We're taking calls."
The trade with the Cleveland Browns meant Thompson not only has the first pick of Day 2 (when Rounds 2 and 3 are conducted), he also has the first selection on Day 3 (Rounds 4-7).
"We have something that's kind of unusual," Thompson said Thursday. "We have the first pick tomorrow and I think the first pick on Saturday."
For now.
If more than just a couple of highly ranked players remain on Thompson's board, he could be enticed to move back again. It's possible he lost only one or two players that he would have taken at No. 29, meaning he could have several that he still likes early in the second round.
The first pick on Day 2 could be of interest to any quarterback-needy team that wants Notre Dame's DeShone Kizer. Perhaps the New York Jets, who sit at No. 39 overall, might feel compelled to jump ahead of the Jacksonville Jaguars at No. 35 to take Kizer.
Whatever the case, Thompson seems to be inviting a bidding war for No. 33.
"I think it's very good, strategy-wise," Thompson said of owning pick No. 33. "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."
Added Thompson: "We wanted to add a little meat to shoring up the roster."
At this point, the Packers own nine picks in Rounds 2-7.