GREEN BAY — With his words, Ted Thompson came close but didn't flat-out say that all that talk of legendary quarterback Brett Favre perhaps unretiring if the Green Bay Packers need him this season can officially be put to rest.

But with his actions — selecting Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm in the second round of the NFL draft Saturday and picking LSU quarterback Matt Flynn in the seventh round Sunday — Thompson made it clear:

A new era has arrived at quarterback, led by new starter Aaron Rodgers and with two more young'uns backing him up.

"I don't think you can ever say never. There's always what-ifs. Anything can happen, sure," Thompson said. "(But) we have to deal with the present. We have to deal with getting our team ready to play and fortifying that quarterback position."

Asked directly if he could envision Favre coming back, Thompson said, "I don't anticipate that, no."

Thompson wouldn't rule out signing a veteran quarterback — Daunte Culpepper, who visited the team last week, remains unsigned and an option — though he did say Craig Nall, last year's No. 3, probably won't be back now.

"If we could sign another guy, we would, but at least now we feel like we've got two young guys that can come in and compete to make the roster," Thompson said.

Thompson also said coach Mike McCarthy and quarterbacks coach Tom Clements are fine with having quarterbacks 25 and under — Rodgers (24), Brohm (22), Flynn (22), Jerry Babb (24) and Dalton Bell (25) — on the roster.

"Mike and Tom both are very comfortable working with young guys," Thompson said. "And we as a scouting staff and a coaching staff liked these guys (Brohm and Flynn) quite a bit."

Rodgers is the most experienced of the bunch, with 59 career regular-season NFL pass attempts.

Babb spent time on the Packers' roster last offseason but was waived before training camp, while Bell spent one week on the Packers' practice squad in September.

"We have some options," McCarthy said. "We'll just continue to try to make every position, particularly the quarterback position, as competitive as possible."

Thompson was surprised Flynn was still on the board in the seventh round after leading LSU to the national championship last season.

Flynn was the second-to-last quarterback taken, with 12 going ahead of him.

"We liked Matt quite a bit. He's a gamer," Thompson said. "He's the kind of guy that grows on you. And we think he's got a chance."

While Flynn's one year of starting experience hurt his draft stock, the fact that he backed up 2007 No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell — and came on in relief of an injured Russell in the Chick-fil-A Bowl as a sophomore and played quite well — is a sign that he might have the right mentality to be an effective backup.

"It was a tough situation, because we came in together and it seemed like every year we had a tight battle with each other. And at the end of each (year of) two-a-days, it was pretty close between me and JaMarcus," Flynn said.

"Hopefully that experience with JaMarcus and being behind somebody will help me in the overall scheme of things and learning and progressing as a quarterback while I'm sitting behind somebody."