I think that article is horsecrap, plus it's full of lies and mistakes.
Here's my rebuttal to it:
What a pile of bullschit.
Do you even believe this yourself? You must. Wow.
ERRORS and LIES. Nice journalism. Where to even begin? Well, let's start with:
#1-"He let 2 pro-bowl offensive leaders simply up & leave the team in favor of drafted talent. Both the newly drafted replacement players turned out to be pro-bowlers."
*FALSE. He let Marco Rivera and Mike Wahle go, two guards. Ted's replacements were crap at first, but have settled on Daryn Colledge and Josh Sitton. NEITHER of these guys have made a single Pro-Bowl. Our only Pro Bowl OL have been the OT's drafted BEFORE Ted got here, Clifton and Tauscher. LIES or ERRORS?
#2- "Signed a pro-bowl free-agent defensive end to a long term contract."
*FALSE. Who? Did he sign Julius Peppers as the Bears just did? Did he bring in Jared Allen like the Vikings did 2 seasons ago? What Pro-Bowl DE did Ted bring in as a free agent? Ron Wolf brought two in with Reggie White and Sean Jones, plus a Pro-Bowl DT in Santana Dotson. Our only Pro Bowl DE the past 10 years was Aaron Kampman, who was drafted BEFORE Ted Thompson came aboard. SORRY. ERROR.
#9- "Signed one of the best free-agent receivers in the game today."
*FALSE. Who? Donald Driver was drafted before Ted got here. He also drafted Jennings, Jones, and Jordy. Those are our 4 WR's. Our 5th WR is either Brett Swain, or the kid in Canada. He has not signed "one of the best free-agents receivers" period. SORRY, LIE AGAIN.
#5- "Has had great success with UDFA’s with 3 or more currently starting on the roster."
*BIG DEAL. In 6 off-seasons, he's got a total of 3? That's typical of NFL rosters. You don't think the Cowboys (Tony Romo and Miles Austin, Steelers (James Harrison), Colts, or even Cardinals (Kurt Warner) have as many?
#10, #11, and #12 are also FALSE.
Thompson has not signed any top OT's in the free agent market other than to bring back the 2 guys that were here already in Clifton and Tauscher.
He has not used FA to sign a top 5 safety. Our only possible top-5 safety is Nick Collins who was drafted. Bigby was undrafted and is not even a top-25 safety.
NICE SPIN THOUGH.
I bet you fooled some of the Kool-Aid drinkers.
Look, Ted has done a fine job. Rodgers, Jennings, Grant, Sitton, Jordy, James Jones, Matthews, Pickett, Collins, etc. This is a nice nucleus and the team might actually win a playoff game this year. But they haven't yet.
They've won ONE playoff game in the whole tenure of Ted Thompson.
Those are FACTS.