I love Ted Thompson

[HyponGrey]

I'm beginning to think that's the real Bus Cook here guys.

 

[Bus Cook]

What El Guapo said. So your definition of failure is if they didn't start last Sunday. LMAO.

You'd be best served reading the whole thead. It makes you seem more informed. The poster prior to my post said that Ron Wolf said that you should get three starters out of each draft to be effective. That's the part you missed.

I responded that we didn't have three starters from ANY of the referenced drafts, who started on sunday. That's the part you kind of caught.

Here's the approriate place for the LMAO.

 

[HyponGrey]

You'd be best served reading the whole thead. It makes you seem more informed. The poster prior to my post said that Ron Wolf said that you should get three starters out of each draft to be effective. That's the part you missed.

I responded that we didn't have three starters from ANY of the referenced drafts, who started on sunday. That's the part you kind of caught.

Here's the approriate place for the LMAO.

If 3 guys from each draft are starting, you have too many injuries, or aren't structuring your contracts right. Besides, there's still time for more guys to start.

 

[PFanCan]

... Most teams in the league would kill to have the kind of consistent success we've had in the past 20+ years...

Even the Packers from the 20 year timeframe previous to the past 20+ years would kill to have the kind of consistent success we've had in the past 20+ years.

 

[RockyRaccoon]

Even the Packers from the 20 year timeframe previous to the past 20+ years would kill to have the kind of consistent success we've had in the past 20+ years.

So true. Man, sometimes I feel so spoiled. My first real memory from a Packers game is Brett Favre jogging onto the field against Cincy in '92. My dad, who to this day is a big Majkowski fan, was saying, "Who the hell is this bum?" Timing is everything....

Then again, I'm a Cubs fan, so not so spoiled after all...

 

[PFanCan]

Other than that, I think you've covered all the apologies that are typically made for TT. The guy has whiffed on the last three drafts. If you are going to live by the draft, you can't miss for three straight years.

I agree. What a whiffer. He has driven this team into the ground. The Packers are the joke of the league and rated near the bottom. No one fears playing the Packers. It's like 1975 again. Our starters couldn't start anywhere and the guys we cut don't end up getting picked up by anyone. What is the Packer win-lose record since TT took over-- abysmal, right? We expect the Packers to lose every week, don't we? The team hasn't won any division titles for months! Only one SB victory. What a loser.

If only he could draft better players... Let's cut all these bums and get Favre back.

Geez, I think I am going to start cheering for the Vikings.

/sarcasm

 

[Bus Cook]

I agree. What a whiffer. He has driven this team into the ground. The Packers are the joke of the league and rated near the bottom. No one fears playing the Packers. It's like 1975 again. Our starters couldn't start anywhere and the guys we cut don't end up getting picked up by anyone. What is the Packer win-lose record since TT took over-- abysmal, right? We expect the Packers to lose every week, don't we? The team hasn't won any division titles for months! Only one SB victory. What a loser.

If only he could draft better players... Let's cut all these bums and get Favre back.

Geez, I think I am going to start cheering for the Vikings.

/sarcasm

Thank Farve it was sarcasm because it had nothing to do with my post. Mine was very limited to the last three drafts. I certainly hope that you hope that we do better in future drafts than those three. And if you disagree with three starters per draft, you beef is with Ron Wolf, not me, he said it.

 

[SpartaChris]

I do wish Ted would be a little bit more open-minded when it comes to free agency. I agree 100% with not giving aging veterans big money - that cripples a team, especially one from a small market. However, this stubborn insistence on being strictly a "draft and develop" team, is seriously starting to hurt us. Take the 49ers - they give up a 6th round pick - that's right, a 6th round pick, to acquire Anquan Boldin. Um ... if they don't have Boldin, we beat them last week. Period. This is just one example of giving up a meager 6th round pick, to get a veteran player with a reasonable contract, that helps your team win and the 49ers did exactly that. There's no sugarcoating this - it's all there in black and white print in the standings.

As for the Favre circus, I took Thompson's side from day one and I'll never waver on that.

I think he's plenty active in free agency, at least when it comes to kicking the tires on guys who can help us. However, Ted's not one to get caught up into a bidding frenzy for a guy, which is good. He knows there's a lot more to actually building a team than cashing in all your chips for one player. Also, there's a variety of factors fans aren't privvy to, like what kind of deals are needed to retain our own players, and whether said free agent actually wants to come here, or whether they are merely using our interest in their services as a bargaining chip to drive the price on their services up, i.e. Steven Jackson and Atlanta.

As for Boldin, simply saying he was had for a 6th round pick is an oversimplification. The Ravens told him they needed to restructure his contract, or they would cut him and make him a free agent. He chose the latter, so my guess is the Ravens called around the league to gauge interest, and took the best deal they could get.

 

[AmishMafia]

Thank Farve it was sarcasm because it had nothing to do with my post. Mine was very limited to the last three drafts. I certainly hope that you hope that we do better in future drafts than those three. And if you disagree with three starters per draft, you beef is with Ron Wolf, not me, he said it.

At some point you just need to actually try and think and ask yourself:

Consider the last place Team A, who has poor talent at many positions and has the top pick in the draft.
Now consider team B that wins a SB and the next year goes 15-1. They are loaded with talent at every position and select a player 31 picks AFTER the poor team mentioned.

Now ask yourself. Can I reasonably expect Team B to get as many starters as Team A out of the draft?

Does the lack of 'starters' in the first few years therefore necessarily reflect negatively on the GM of Team B?

This process is what some people refer to as 'thinking'.

 

[AmishMafia]

As for Boldin, simply saying he was had for a 6th round pick is an oversimplification. The Ravens told him they needed to restructure his contract, or they would cut him and make him a free agent. He chose the latter, so my guess is the Ravens called around the league to gauge interest, and took the best deal they could get.

Boldin may be a special deal as well. He went from one Harbaugh to another. He may never have been on the open market.

As far as FAs go, we extended 2 key players and 1 important player last year.

This coming year we have Raji, Jolly, Finley, Shields and a few others. We will have difficulty keeping some of these guys.

 

[Bus Cook]

Does the lack of 'starters' in the first few years therefore necessarily reflect negatively on the GM of Team B?

I assume that this was a rhetorical question. If your MO is to draft and develope, and the player you draft don't start, then it certainly will reflect negatively. I must have missed something here.

 

[SpartaChris]

Boldin may be a special deal as well. He went from one Harbaugh to another. He may never have been on the open market.

There's certainly that possibility. Never discount the power of nepotism. Regardless, the fact is there's a lot of unknowns, so saying he was merely had for a 6th round pick is an oversimplification. I mean, the whole league knew the Ravens were going to cut him anyway, so most teams with interest probably figured they'd just take their chances in negotiations, rather than give up a draft pick for him. Instead, the Ravens found a willing trading partner, and took what they could.

As far as FAs go, we extended 2 key players and 1 important player last year.

This coming year we have Raji, Jolly, Finley, Shields and a few others. We will have difficulty keeping some of these guys.

This is a very important point, often overlooked by our fans. We do a fantastic job at managing the cap and extending key players, BEFORE they become free agents, so in essence, we do sign free agents. They just happen to be our own guys.

 

[PackerFlatLander]

I think he's plenty active in free agency, at least when it comes to kicking the tires on guys who can help us. However, Ted's not one to get caught up into a bidding frenzy for a guy, which is good. He knows there's a lot more to actually building a team than cashing in all your chips for one player. Also, there's a variety of factors fans aren't privvy to, like what kind of deals are needed to retain our own players, and whether said free agent actually wants to come here, or whether they are merely using our interest in their services as a bargaining chip to drive the price on their services up, i.e. Steven Jackson and Atlanta.

As for Boldin, simply saying he was had for a 6th round pick is an oversimplification. The Ravens told him they needed to restructure his contract, or they would cut him and make him a free agent. He chose the latter, so my guess is the Ravens called around the league to gauge interest, and took the best deal they could get.

Good points. Again ... I like Ted a lot and I'm glad that he's our GM. I'm merely pointing out that he is far from perfect, just like any other GM. If I could name off some of the things that I have issues with ...

1. AJ Hawk - Great guy, but for the 5th overall pick in the draft ... poor choice. Vernon Davis would have been the wiser pick there, even if he didn't want to come to GB. Hawk is NOT a difference-maker or a game-changer. Call it what you want, but that's a problem.

2. Justin Harrell - What an utter disaster. The guy had a torn bicep, among several other various injuries in college. Ditto for Mike Neal and I'm a Purdue Boilermaker alumni - Neal was hurt in college several times, too and well ... he's been hurt most of his time here, has he not? There's a disturbing trend here, big time. Ted gambles WAY too much on stuff like this and frankly ... it's a problem because he's a terrible gambler. Ron Wolf gambled on some of his 1st round picks who didn't pan out either, BUT ... he covered his bets by finding true gems in later rounds, almost consistently. I can't say the same for Ted. The track record simply doesn't match up. I'm not blaming Ted because players get hurt or injured. But his gambling skills absolutely suck. The proof is in pudding.

3. How many draft picks did Ted (and Mike M.) waste on these useless, worthless ZBS prototype offensive linemen??? Josh Sitton is the ONLY o-lineman he's drafted, who we can truly label as "franchise, Pro Bowl-caliber". Good lord, man - that is a lot of misses, more than hits. Here's every Ted o-line pick since 2005 ... Coston, Whittaker, Colledge, Spitz, Moll, Barbre, Sitton, Giacomini, Lang, Meredith, Bulaga, Newhouse, Sherrod, Schlauderoff, Datko, Bakhtiari, and Tretter. I could throw up looking at this list. Giacomini has somehow panned out in Seattle, how, I have no f'ing clue. With the exception of Sitton and maybe Bulaga - these guys resemble discus and shot-put, javelin-tossin' pole vaulter track stars with ZBS quick feet, far more than they resemble bonafide NFL linemen. What a joke. The fact that Ted has never drafted a true franchise center in the 1st round, is a cardinal sin. Scott Wells? Eh, serviceable. Bringing in Jeff Saturday? Gambled and lost. ED-S now? We'll see, but he's gambling ... right?

So, that's my Ted rant. I do love having Ted - the picture of him holding the trophy, right next to Favre on a dartboard, hangs on my wall and it always will. But I'm merely pointing out that he does have some serious flaws, especially the fact that he gambles WAY too much and loses those gambles, far more than he wins them. I don't consider letting Favre not come back, a gamble. That had to be done, end of story there.

 

[Bus Cook]

This is a very important point, often overlooked by our fans. We do a fantastic job at managing the cap and extending key players, BEFORE they become free agents, so in essence, we do sign free agents. They just happen to be our own guys.

Wow. Do you really equate signing players that you already have to free agents. I'm sure that AR takes solice in the fact that, while the team greatly needs to protect him from being the most knocked down QB in the NFL, and could surely benefit by signing a FA Olineman, we resigned CM3 and Sam Shields.

I think most fans view FAs as a way to fill holes that your team has rather than resigning players that are a part of the team that has the holes.

I now wait for the obvious response about how TT did go out and get a FA in Jeff Saturday, as proof that TT does dabble in FA and it doesn't work.

 

[RockyRaccoon]

I'm sure that AR takes solice in the fact that, while the team greatly needs to protect him from being the most knocked down QB in the NFL, and could surely benefit by signing a FA Olineman, we resigned CM3 and Sam Shields.

Yeah Aaron must hate that we resigned two key young defensive players. I mean, what QB actually wants a solid defensive unit so he doesn't have to carry the team on his shoulders?

Are you implying that Ted should not have resigned Matthews and Shields?

 

[longtimefan]

Boldin trade

http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2013/03/19/anquan-boldin-trade-49ers-ravens-harbaughs/2001465/

According to that the two brothers did talk


http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9042930/anquan-boldin-says-shocked-trade-san-francisco-49ers

According to that Boldin didnt know he was going to be traded

 

[AmishMafia]

I must have missed something here.

Yes. Apparently you missed the rest of the post as well as the whole 'thinking' process I was suggesting.

 

[Bus Cook]

Yeah Aaron must hate that we resigned two key young defensive players. I mean, what QB actually wants a solid defensive unit so he doesn't have to carry the team on his shoulders?

Are you implying that Ted should not have resigned Matthews and Shields?

Is there no ability to read here? Many, IN THIS THEAD have discussed signing FAs. Someone came along and equated signing OUR OWN players to signing FAs. I pointed out the the lunacy of that. I never implied anything of the sort, but I will now. Sam Shield vs. picking up a FA that fills a glaring hole. No brainer. You do know that we have 15 million cap space. Its nice of TT to have bake sales every so often to keep the Packers solvent, but every so often there is the competing goal of making us more competitive.

 

[longtimefan]

Is there no ability to read here? Many, IN THIS THEAD have discussed signing FAs. Someone came along and equated signing OUR OWN players to signing FAs. I pointed out the the lunacy of that. I never implied anything of the sort, but I will now. Sam Shield vs. picking up a FA that fills a glaring hole. No brainer.

You do know that we have 15 million cap space.

The signing of FA of Shields, Clay and Rodgers is not accurate...They were not FA...However, the money to sign them has to be accounted for..They still count on the cap...So while technically not true FA, they are kept out of free agency..


You do know your 15$ cap room is wrong?

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/pack...p-decisions-to-make-b9997437z1-223720151.html

The Packers rank sixth in room beneath the cap at $10.89 million.

I hate how TT refuses to get a o-l in free agency...Other than that, I think he does a great job

 

[Bus Cook]

I'll post about this again next year. If AR finds the ground in 2013 to lead the NFL, I'll gloat right along with you that we signed Raji and Jolly, thus preventing some of our players from becoming FAs. AR will be tickled pink to know that we shored up our D so he can be a part of a balanced team.

 

[RockyRaccoon]

Someone came along and equated signing OUR OWN players to signing FAs. I pointed out the the lunacy of that.

It's a fair comparison. A player is player no matter how you obtain him.

I never implied anything of the sort, but I will now. Sam Shield vs. picking up a FA that fills a glaring hole. No brainer.

The biggest "glaring hole" on our team is the secondary's inability to cover. Shields is one of the best cover guys in that secondary. If Shields leaves, guys like House and Bush get more snaps. You're right, it is a no-brainer.

 

[Bus Cook]

It's a fair comparison. A player is player no matter how you obtain him.


The biggest "glaring hole" on our team is the secondary's inability to cover. Shields is one of the best cover guys in that secondary. If Shields leaves, guys like House and Bush get more snaps. You're right, it is a no-brainer.

Never said it was an unfair comparison, I said it wasn't the same thing and its not.

 

[Dan115]

If we fire Ted who would the Packers hire?

 

[NorthWestCheeseHead]

If we fire Ted who would the Packers hire?

Do people really have knowledge of perspective GM's and their capabilities?? I think that is a bit of a silly question because I don't think it is answerable. Just because there is no obvious replacement/ better option doesn't mean that they don't exist. That being said, I think TT is doing a great job overall.

Why does all the ire rest on TT's shoulders? Sure he is the guy at the top but there is a slew of people in the Packers org that assist in his decision making process.

 

[12theTruth]

It's a fair comparison. A player is player no matter how you obtain him.


The biggest "glaring hole" on our team is the secondary's inability to cover. Shields is one of the best cover guys in that secondary. If Shields leaves, guys like House and Bush get more snaps. You're right, it is a no-brainer.

Don't forget tackle. Shields, Williams, etc., get punked by bigger wideouts.

When Thompson does draft his next CB at some point he will be built. more like Richard Sherman than Sam Shields IMO.