GREEN BAY — Ted Thompson is fond of describing the NFL as a "big-boy league," which is the Green Bay Packers general manager's verbal shorthand for doing what's best for his team, regardless of the bruised egos, hurt feelings or the reaction of the fan base at large that might come with it.

So it wasn't exactly surprising when Thompson said during his annual pre-draft news conference Monday that even though Aaron Rodgers is the team's new starting quarterback following Brett Favre's retirement, Thompson isn't afraid of picking a quarterback high this weekend — and that includes using the team's first-round pick (No. 30 overall).

"It's no slight on anybody. If we take a player at any other position, it's no slight on the players that we have at those positions (either)," said Thompson, who enters his fourth draft in Green Bay with eight picks, including three (No. 30, 56 and 60) in Saturday's first and second rounds. "Aaron, he's comfortable in his own skin. He understands the NFL is the NFL.''

So just to be clear: At No. 30, if the best player on the Packers' draft board is a quarterback — Louisville's Brian Brohm, for instance — Thompson will have no problem taking him?

"No," Thompson replied.

"We're going to take the best player, and if that happens to be at (the quarterback) position, that's what we're going to do. I don't think it's going to affect people the way you think. But I've been wrong."

In the next breath, however, Thompson said the Packers don't necessarily have to find a backup to Rodgers during the draft after not signing a quarterback in free agency.

"We don't have to," Thompson said. "We feel very good about Aaron. There are other ways to get quarterbacks as you go through the spring and the summer, so we don't feel compelled to do anything. But again, if we can create more competition, that's a good thing."

Rodgers did not return a message Monday afternoon.

To understand the issues drafting a quarterback early can create, Thompson needn't look far. Favre wasn't exactly driving the welcome wagon after Thompson picked Rodgers 24th overall in 2005, and even Thompson acknowledged after making the pick that he knew what the fallout would be. ("There were a lot of thoughts that went into my mind — and everyone else's mind — when you get ready to make a pick like that," Thompson said then. "Because you know all the things that are going to come with it.")

Then last year, the Philadelphia Eagles picked Houston's Kevin Kolb in the second round (No. 36 overall, the team's first pick after not having a first-rounder). Starting quarterback Donovan McNabb, who didn't speak publicly for about a week after the draft, said he was "shocked," and coach Andy Reid spent much of the year diffusing the quarterback controversy the pick had created.

So Monday, one reporter presented Thompson with the following scenario: The Packers take Brohm at No. 30, or Michigan's Chad Henne or Delaware's Joe Flacco in Round 2, and Rodgers and the Packers start the season 0-4. Undoubtedly, fans will begin calling for Rodgers to be benched in favor of the new guy.

"This is the National Football League, and everybody's got to stand on their own two feet. Aaron's been preparing for this time, and he's been hoping for this time to come — and now it's come," Thompson responded. "He's going to be our quarterback. If we take another guy at 30, we're not saying this other guy's going to be our quarterback. We're saying that we've gotten another guy to play the position. You can never have too many people, especially at the most important position in the National Football League."

NFL DRAFT

When: Saturday (rounds 1-2) and Sunday (rounds 3-7).

Packers' picks: Eight.

1st round, No. 30 overall.
2nd round, Nos. 56 and 60.
3rd round, No. 91.
4th round, Nos. 128 and 135.
5th round, No. 162.
7th round, No. 237.