During Ted Thompson’s tenure in Green Bay, being selected by the Packers in the draft was akin to receiving a scholarship. As a young player, you’d have time to figure out the pro game with little fear that you’d have to move on within two, three, or even four years.

Clearly, there’s a new sheriff in town. Brian Gutekunst’s disregard for Thompson’s draft picks this weekend bordered on a vendetta, one that seemed aimed at purging the roster of once promising but underachieving players.

Thompson selected 25 player in his final three drafts as the Packers general manager. Including Jake Ryan on injured reserve, just 13 remain. Over the past week alone, Gutekunst has eliminated most of the rest:

• Quinten Rollins - waived from injured reserve

• Brett Hundley - traded

• Aaron Ripkowski - cut

• Kyle Murphy - waived from injured reserve

• Vince Biegel - cut

• DeAngelo Yancey - cut

• Kofi Amichia - cut

• Devante Mays - cut

Add Damarious Randall’s exit to the mix and it’s hard to read Gutekunst’s first offseason as general manager as anything other than an indictment of Ted Thompson’s late efforts with the Packers.

Farewell Vince, we hardly knew ye

Vince Biegel’s departure is one of the most surprising, but in hindsight perhaps it shouldn’t have been. Undersized for an edge rusher, he’s also one of the rare players whose draft status really didn’t do him any favors.

Biegel was acquired essentially for free, picked up with a draft pick acquired when the Packers traded out of the first round in 2017. Though his failure in Green Bay will always be (mostly unfairly) tied to T.J. Watt, Biegel’s washout isn’t much of a loss in a vacuum. There was no sunk cost to hold onto because he didn’t cost the Packers anything to begin with.

However, Biegel’s departure does leave the Packers with a dearth of bodies at the outside linebacker position, to say little of talent. It wouldn’t surprising at all to see the Packers scour the waiver wire for help as they did with Ahmad Brooks a year ago.

Eight wide receivers won’t last the weekend

If the Packers head into their Week 1 game with the Bears with eight wide receivers on the roster, I will print out this post and eat it. It’s simply an absurd roster configuration.

Though the Packers do have something of an extra roster spot thanks to the Aaron Jones suspension, they can’t justify keeping eight receivers. It’s something of a tough sell to get to seven. Whether it’s via trade or release, the Packers will make changes at receiver this week, perhaps as early as today.

Other surprises and thoughts

Though these may not merit full discussion, here are some other observations from cutdown weekend:

• Much like outside linebacker, it’s hard to see the Packers proceeding with their current group of running backs. Several interesting players were released over the weekend (including 2017 draft target Brian Hill) and it wouldn’t be a shock to see any of them make their way to Green Bay for a week or two.

• Though the Packers had the draft capital to snag Khalil Mack, it’s pretty obvious why a deal didn’t get done. Assuming the offers were equal, the Packers had to have balked at handing out another $90 million in guaranteed money. It would be borderline insanity to tie up nearly $200 million in guarantees in just two players.

• Quinten Rollins’ switch to safety didn’t save him, though his versatility may have made him a tougher out than anticipated. An injury ultimately did him in, but younger players like Raven Greene and Jermaine Whitehead did everything Rollins could do in addition to providing a bit more juice on special teams.

• Aaron Ripkowski was a worthy replacement for John Kuhn...in 2016. His 2017 season was disappointing (he played just 180 snaps and only twice was on the field for more than 14) and he’s limited athletically. If they can get fullback-like contributions from Lance Kendricks or another tight end, this won’t be much of a loss.