I'm on your side HRE. The thing that I don't understand about TT is apprehension of filling gaps. The Peppers deal is good both financially as well as his place to add value on the roster. Just would like to see more of this.
He and McCarthy don't have the pressure that most NFL GM's and Head Coaches have. They have earned that. As a result, it just seems that TT looks out to far into the future--That's not bad if your drafts are consistently great. The issue is Rodgers is great now, let's do all possible to surround him with talent. For those who are going to hate, I do believe TT is attempting to do this. However, his desire to seemingly have the youngest roster and/or lowest payroll gets in the way sometimes.
Actually, I believe the way Thompson and Ball manage the cap is a check mark in the "pro" column. That the approach is value-seeking, relatively risk averse and oriented toward dead cap avoidance are virtues in my mind.
"Lowest payroll", like drafting for the "best player available player", is a trait commonly assigned to Thompson that is an exaggeration not borne out by the facts. As recently as the uncapped year in 2010 the Packers carried the second highest player expense in the league; as recently as 2012 Thompson drafted all-defense through 6 rounds to try address a serious talent deficit. Again, I have little argument with these approaches as borne out by the facts as opposed to the popular misconceptions.
Further, with cap being carried forward as of the new CBA as opposed to the old use-it-or-lose-it , the idea that over the long run cap will go unused is an obvious fallacy. Also, with the new CBA requiring a high average annual cash spend, over time there will be a small gap between the high-spending team and the low-spending one. In short, the rules prohibit Thompson from being the cheapskate some accuse him of being even if the facts don't bear out that accusation in the first place.
And I have not mentioned to this point that signing Peppers goes some way toward debunking another Thompson myth, a topic for another post.
My issue with Thompson, and the basis for my opinion that he is overrated, is that he has not, on balance, drafted well in recent years. I believe this is partially attributable to the brain drain in the scouting / player personnel departments, beginning with Schneider's departure. That Eliot Wolf is our highest ranking personnel man after Thompson gives me pause.
