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Green Bay -- We'll probably never know for certain the round inwhich the Green Bay Packers had Matt Flynn graded.
Suffice it to say that it was considerably higher than theseventh, which is where general manager Ted Thompson used the 209thoverall pick obtained in a trade with Minnesota to select thequarterback who led Louisiana State to the national championship inJanuary.
"I was shocked he was there," Thompson said a few days after thedraft. "But that happens. The guys that are looking forquarterbacks, once they take one, they're usually not going to takeanother. Only hard-headed people like me do."
During the one minicamp practice that was open to reporters,Flynn didn't seem much like a seventh-rounder, either. Performingwith the poise of someone who spent five years learning under Nick Saban and Les Miles, Flynn looked like a player who will be a factorbefore his days in Green Bay are over.
"Start from the bottom and hopefully over time and years work upthe hierarchy of quarterbacks and eventually become a starter,"Flynn said Saturday. "That's my goal. It's a crazy league. You neverknow what can happen."
Let's not get carried away here. Flynn was the 12th quarterbacktaken.
In the previous two drafts, only 11 quarterbacks were evenselected. The names of the last five 12th quarterbacks taken wereJames Kilian (2005), John Navarre ('04), Gibran Hamdan ('03), Seth Burford ('02) and Joe Hamilton ('00).
Almost all the attention in Green Bay this summer will be paid tothe other rookie, Brian Brohm, whom Thompson must have liked farmore than Flynn because he drafted him in the second round (56thpick).
Before the minicamp started, Thompson was asked if it wouldflabbergast him to see Flynn have a better career than Brohm.
"Oh, I don't know," Thompson replied. "I don't know ifflabbergasted is the right word. There are always surprises. Oncethey get here people compete on the same plane. Look at Tom Brady.Where was he picked?"
Ah, yes, Mr. Brady. He was the seventh quarterback taken in 2000,late in the sixth round by New England.
Some experts would argue that nobody ever has played the positionbetter than him.
OK, but Brady isn't the first and won't be the last late pick orfree agent to make it big at quarterback.
Msbehaving 
