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Q.Brett Favre will be 38 in October and is nearing the end of his legendary career. Yet, your major addition on offense was a second-round pick at running back. Why didn't you do more to provide some firepower for Favre in what might be his final season?
A. I think we try to do the best we can for the team. If our team gets better then that's better for Brett. We're trying to do the best we can. In the draft, the board works a certain way and that's the way we pick guys.
Q.Brett Favre is an all-time competitor and will no doubt do everything in his power to win this season. But after your team's failed bid for Randy Moss, he appeared to have lost faith in you and the organization. Have you had to mend fences with Favre?
A. No. Having played helps me a little bit. I don't have thin skin. I think it's good for players to voice their opinions. As an organization you'd like everybody to be happy all the time. I think Brett has earned the right to say what he wants to say, and he does quite often.
Q.Favre has never come across as a shrewd judge of personnel, but in his mind he saw Moss doing damage in Green Bay with Donald Driver and Greg Jennings. He wanted Moss and said Moss would have done the same reduced deal that he took in New England. Given the circumstances, why didn't you obtain Moss?
A. Randy Moss is a member of the New England Patriots now. That's the way it is. It's inappropriate for me to be discussing a player that's on another team.
Q.Ron Wolf and Bob Harlan almost always explained themselves to fans when given the opportunity in similar forums. Don't fans in this state deserve an explanation from the general manager three months after the fact?
A. Right. I still think it's inappropriate to talk about a player that's on another team.
Q.I don't recall Ron Wolf getting in trouble with the league office when he talked about players on other teams. Why aren't you more forthcoming?
A. I just don't do that.
Q.You're well into the third year of a five-year contract. No matter what you inherited, the team is 12-20 during your watch. Do you worry that your tenure might be short-lived if the team doesn't start winning this season?
A. Well, we would like to win this season. I've said that publicly and privately, saying we expect to win. I don't worry about things like, "Am I going to be here after this year?" That never enters my mind.
Q.The NFC North might be the weakest division in football, especially without an effective quarterback in Chicago, Minnesota and Detroit, and the NFC is easily the weaker of the two conferences. In your third year, do you think this team should be expected to win at least 10 games and make the playoffs?
A. I don't do much predicting. I expect us to win. I do think that we should be thinking about the playoffs. Once you get in the playoffs you never know what's going to happen.
Q.Are you maybe a much better team right now than the public perception?
A. I'm not a good judge of public perception, but I think we're a pretty good team. We're going to be stronger and deeper than we've ever been, certainly in the last three years. We're going to have very difficult decisions to make as we go through camp. We've got competition at every position. We're going to be better on special teams. We're going to be better on offense. We're going to have a really good defense. I think it's OK if we're being overlooked.
Q.You've traded down nine times in your first three drafts, accumulating a host of young players and improving the overall talent. But in the end does your future rest on the success or failure of Aaron Rodgers? Will it make any difference for your future and that of Mike McCarthy if Rodgers can't play?
A. Well, we have a lot of faith in Aaron Rodgers. But I don't think you ever think that the fate of an organization or someone's career rests solely on one person.
Q.In your mind, what happens if Rodgers proves that he isn't the answer?
A. Why I suppose then you'd move on. But we don't look for that to happen. We think whenever it does become his time, Aaron will be a good player. So we're not looking at it in terms of, "Oh my gosh, what if?"
Q.To what degree were you aware of sentiment in the building that John Jones was too abrasive and not fit to be the team's next chief executive officer? What was your working relationship like with him?
A. My working relationship was good with John. I wasn't aware of those things.
Q.What qualities would you like to see in the Packers' next leader and your next boss?
A. That's at a much higher level than I'm at. Be a good leader. Good judge of people. Probably the same things that would make you a really good CEO at IBM would make you a good CEO here. A person who gives credit to others. You're going to have to care about this organization and understand how it works and what it means to people. It's a hugely important decision going forward.
Q.As close friends with Mike Reinfeldt, and godfather to one of his children, does he want the job in Green Bay, which would be an obvious promotion from GM in Tennessee? How would he fare if selected?
A. Well, Mike has a job in Tennessee. Other than that I'd rather not speculate or talk about that.
Q.One personnel director said recently that if he ever got a shot like yours he would be aggressive, take chances and, if it didn't work, accept his firing without looking back. That certainly hasn't been your modus operandi. What is most near and dear to you building a football team?
A. We make lots of decisions every day. You try to make each decision the best you can and then you go to the next thing. I know I'm going to get criticism. I know people have passion and they care about this place. I do, too. Maybe to a fault I care about it. I want to do the right thing, and I gnash my teeth and I try to make sure we're doing it the way we should do it. But we try to err on the side of what's best for the organization as a whole. A quick fix or something like that, I don't think it's as important to Packer fans. I think they want to have good people here. They want people that represent the community well. Obviously, it's important to win here. This tradition has been established and re-established over time. We know we have to win.
What's near and dear to me is the team that takes that field, and the players that represent this place, these people that have supported them over all these years can be proud of them. That's where we're trying to get to.
Q.What do you count as the successes at the halfway point of your five-year appointment?
A. I think we've done a pretty good job building up the core of the team. I think when you have playoff runs like the Packers have had over a number of years you don't have maybe the normal turnover in a roster. You wind up getting a little top-heavy in terms of age. I'm not one of those people who tries to get young for the sake of getting young. It's just that it makes for a more healthy organism, really, if in fact you have a good mixture of veterans and youth. I think we've added competition. We haven't won enough games, and that's my responsibility.
Q.No one should have known Ahman Green better than you. Did you err in not getting him re-signed before the start of free agency?
A. We had some talks. Doing a contract is hard to predict. I would have liked to have kept Ahman. We just got bid out of the water.
Q.On the day after Green signed with Houston for $5.7 million per year and $8 million guaranteed, running back Travis Henry went to Denver for an average of $4.5 million, with $12 million guaranteed. You're sitting here now with about $15 million in cap space. Why didn't you go get Henry?
A. That's another example of someone that's on another team and I'm not really going to get into that.
Q.Some personnel people scoff at the idea that the Packers have a legitimate No. 1 running back. Having passed not only on Henry but also Michael Turner, Willis McGahee, Jamal Lewis, Chris Brown and others, isn't it safe to say that some of your reputation is on the line with what happens at running back this season?
A. I think my reputation is on the line at every position. But we feel pretty comfortable with the competition we're going to have at running back. We like these guys.
Q. Joseph Addai, the 30th pick last year, helped lead the Colts to the Super Bowl. Little Maurice Drew, the 60th pick in '06, had a great first year in Jacksonville. Do you like Brandon Jackson as much as them? What do you expect from him and Vernand Morency?
A. I don't know how to compare them. They're different running backs. I think Brandon Jackson is a good player. Vernand Morency came in and played a role last year and did a nice job. All the guys in the backfield can catch the ball. They have different running styles. We think it's going to be a good group. It may wind up running back by committee, or someone might establish himself.
Q.Do you expect another major addition at running back before Sept. 9?
A. I don't know that you can predict anything like that. Depends on if some other team is looking to do something.
Q.Wolf didn't even want small running backs around in a cold-weather locale like Green Bay. At 212, do you really think Vernand Morency and Brandon Jackson can hold up late in the year at Lambeau Field?
A. Yes. I just think they're pretty good backs. There are guys all over the league who played at 212 pounds. We'll see.
Q.The other day at the shareholders meeting you spoke about the overriding value of team. Sometimes that gets overlooked. Why do you think selling that to an organization is so critical?
A. Because I think that's what this place is. Football is the ultimate team sport, defense probably even more so than offense. I'm sure people in other sports would argue that. I just think, especially in a place like this, it's good to remind us all that this is a team sport and it's more special here than anywhere else.
Q. Did you love playing on those teams in Houston for a decade? Does your abiding affection for being part of a team affect your decision-making on players?
A. Loved it. Absolutely. It affects all of our decisions in personnel. It affects us when we're thinking about guys in the draft or free agency or tradable guys. The best time in football is not when you get a trophy for being an all-pro. The best part is looking around a winning locker room and knowing this guy over here did his part and you feel that collectively. The culture has changed a little bit. There's all this instant access and instant stardom or failure. I still think if you talk to the guys in this sport who have been renowned - Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Charles Woodson - and what their thrills are in life, I'll bet you it would be a team's success as opposed to an individual trophy. Not all players would agree, but I bet you the real ones would.
Q.Given that you didn't add much beyond the draft, you must be comfortable with your roster. Is this team pretty much where you hoped it would be?
A. Yeah. There's still a lot of unknowns. I believe in my heart the competition we have at every position will make our team better.
Q.What are the chances that this defense can put the fear of God into people and become a dominant force?
A. I don't know about the fear of God and all that. I think we have a chance to be a good defense. We have what I believe, 1 through 9 or 10, an excellent defensive line that works well together. I think our linebackers will be extremely strong, not only our starters but whoever wins in the backup areas. I think our secondary will be very good. We feel very comfortable with Charles (Woodson) and Al (Harris) at the corners. Nick Collins is coming into his own. Marquand (Manuel) didn't have a good year. We're going to be able to play nickel and dime packages. We're going to have depth. Now it has to happen. We have to come together. But I think we saw a little bit of it toward the end of the season.
Q.Sometimes the mark of a strong, confident leader is being able to admit mistakes. You know better than anyone when you've erred. What were some of your major miscalculations?
A. I don't do too much looking backwards. Probably the one that sticks in my mind is we weren't able to shore together the offensive line in 2005. We didn't do a very good job of that.
Q.The defense never would have been as good last season or perhaps this season without big-money expenditures on free agents Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett. So you enter free agency this year with the second-most room under the cap of any team and wind up with just Frank Walker. Why didn't you do more?
A. Sometimes we were in conversations with people and it just didn't work out. They preferred to be in a particular area of the country. Sometimes it had to do with money. In a lot of cases we felt like some of the players we had were just as good prospects.
Q.You had various degrees of interest in Donnie Edwards, Joe Horn, fullbacks Terrelle Smith and Justin Griffith, and Jimmy Wilkerson, only to back away at the end. Bob Harlan once said he encouraged you to spend more money. Do you just have trouble pulling the trigger? Do you have what it takes to pull off a major deal?
A. No. No, I don't. . . to answer your question (laughs). Free agency is free agency. In some of those cases we were trying to sign them and they signed with other places. In some cases they signed for less than what we offered. With some of those fellows we ultimately felt they wouldn't help us.
Q. Sometimes to do big deals you have to think big and have vision. Most turn out just to be pipedreams. There are GMs that think big all the time. Are you just a grinder and can't see blockbuster opportunities?
A. No, I think I can think of these things. I wouldn't necessarily characterize that as that. We have played in free agency. We have made signings in 2006. Sometimes a lot of things have to come together. The player has to want to come here. It's got to be a particular position we need help in. I don't think you go sign guys just to add depth to your team. I think you sign guys to play a role.
Q. Would you fault yourself for not thinking bigger? Being too caught up in the minutiae of your job?
A. No. It's difficult to give a self-evaluation on something like that. I don't consider that a problem, but now that you mention it I'll look into it. We have some grandiose ideas at times. A lot of people say we're not very flashy. There are a lot of things that we discuss that don't come to fruition. I have a lot of different personalities working with us. It's their job to bring ideas and thoughts and what-if this and what-if that.
Q.You've been around a room led by Ron Wolf in Green Bay and one led by Mike Holmgren in Seattle. Is the room now in Green Bay as vibrant and productive as those other two environments?
A. Yeah, I think so. There are obviously different dynamics of the room. My point to all the guys I work with is, that's their job. Let's bounce things off the wall. Let's talk about them. It doesn't necessarily mean we jump and run and do whatever it is, but we talk about those things. We have a pretty open forum. I think if you ask those guys, they'd say it was a pretty comfortable setting.
Q.Is there enough wisdom in the room?
A. You're always asking for more wisdom. I know I always do. I'm on my knees every night.
Q.You signed Koren Robinson and linebacker Rory Johnson this spring. Some GMs say they would never add players with such well-documented problems with drugs and alcohol. Isn't character as important to you as it appears to be to some others?
A. Yeah, it's very important. But you look at each person and each set of circumstances as carefully as you can. With Koren Robinson, obviously I had a history with him. I know that he's a good person. Yes, he made some mistakes. In Rory Johnson's case, he did make some mistakes in college. We have Shawn Slocum, who knows him from Ole Miss. This guy was certainly a good enough player to be drafted. We fixed it so we would not draft him. As a free agent, we feel like it gives the kid another chance. He's never harmed anyone. It's never been anything like that. As a free agent, we felt like it was less risk and see if the kid can fit in with a chance and be the kind of character guy we're looking for.
Q. You hand-picked Marquand Manuel to be the starting strong safety. Can this defense withstand another season with him in the lineup?
A. I don't think Marquand had as good a year as he would have liked. He can play better than that. We do have a lot of competition at safety. We'll see how it bears out.
Q.You defused a potential contractual problem with Al Harris and re-signed Scott Wells, Cullen Jenkins and Nick Barnett in the last nine months. Would you rather spend money there than in the free-agency market?
A. I've always felt like in free agency it's important to identify your core players and have conversations with them prior to their contracts expiring. Sometimes that works out and sometimes it doesn't. Yeah, I think it's good business for all NFL teams to concentrate on their own players. Those are the ones you know right there at that moment. Sometimes in free agency you don't know all the chinks in the armor. It's good for the locker room to let people know we will value your performance and, if you do the right things, we're going to take care of you.
Q.The re-signing that you could be criticized most for would be Bubba Franks in August 2005. Did you just miss on that one?
A. I don't know. Bubba has been a pretty good player here since before I got here. The last couple years haven't been good years for him. I look for him to have a bounce-back year. He's professional. He carries himself well. But the proof's in the pudding.
Q.Daniel Graham and Randy McMichael were some of the available tight ends. Why didn't you just go get another tight end?
A. Some of it has to do with timing and some on what we actually thought of those players in free agency.
Quite frankly, in a lot of areas we felt our young guys were as good or better than the players we could have acquired. But we'll see. We need to have some production there. It's an important position in our offense.
Q. Do you wish that fullback Vonta Leach, a player you cut last September, was still on your depth chart at what looks like a problematic position?
A. Once again, we like the guys that we've got. I thought Brandon Miree played well last year prior to his injury. These rookies we've got are going to be pretty good players.
Q.Brett Favre will be 38 in October and is nearing the end of his legendary career. Yet, your major addition on offense was a second-round pick at running back. Why didn't you do more to provide some firepower for Favre in what might be his final season?
A. I think we try to do the best we can for the team. If our team gets better then that's better for Brett. We're trying to do the best we can. In the draft, the board works a certain way and that's the way we pick guys.
Q.Brett Favre is an all-time competitor and will no doubt do everything in his power to win this season. But after your team's failed bid for Randy Moss, he appeared to have lost faith in you and the organization. Have you had to mend fences with Favre?
A. No. Having played helps me a little bit. I don't have thin skin. I think it's good for players to voice their opinions. As an organization you'd like everybody to be happy all the time. I think Brett has earned the right to say what he wants to say, and he does quite often.
Q.Favre has never come across as a shrewd judge of personnel, but in his mind he saw Moss doing damage in Green Bay with Donald Driver and Greg Jennings. He wanted Moss and said Moss would have done the same reduced deal that he took in New England. Given the circumstances, why didn't you obtain Moss?
A. Randy Moss is a member of the New England Patriots now. That's the way it is. It's inappropriate for me to be discussing a player that's on another team.
Q.Ron Wolf and Bob Harlan almost always explained themselves to fans when given the opportunity in similar forums. Don't fans in this state deserve an explanation from the general manager three months after the fact?
A. Right. I still think it's inappropriate to talk about a player that's on another team.
Q.I don't recall Ron Wolf getting in trouble with the league office when he talked about players on other teams. Why aren't you more forthcoming?
A. I just don't do that.
Q.You're well into the third year of a five-year contract. No matter what you inherited, the team is 12-20 during your watch. Do you worry that your tenure might be short-lived if the team doesn't start winning this season?
A. Well, we would like to win this season. I've said that publicly and privately, saying we expect to win. I don't worry about things like, "Am I going to be here after this year?" That never enters my mind.
Q.The NFC North might be the weakest division in football, especially without an effective quarterback in Chicago, Minnesota and Detroit, and the NFC is easily the weaker of the two conferences. In your third year, do you think this team should be expected to win at least 10 games and make the playoffs?
A. I don't do much predicting. I expect us to win. I do think that we should be thinking about the playoffs. Once you get in the playoffs you never know what's going to happen.
Q.Are you maybe a much better team right now than the public perception?
A. I'm not a good judge of public perception, but I think we're a pretty good team. We're going to be stronger and deeper than we've ever been, certainly in the last three years. We're going to have very difficult decisions to make as we go through camp. We've got competition at every position. We're going to be better on special teams. We're going to be better on offense. We're going to have a really good defense. I think it's OK if we're being overlooked.
Q.You've traded down nine times in your first three drafts, accumulating a host of young players and improving the overall talent. But in the end does your future rest on the success or failure of Aaron Rodgers? Will it make any difference for your future and that of Mike McCarthy if Rodgers can't play?
A. Well, we have a lot of faith in Aaron Rodgers. But I don't think you ever think that the fate of an organization or someone's career rests solely on one person.
Q.In your mind, what happens if Rodgers proves that he isn't the answer?
A. Why I suppose then you'd move on. But we don't look for that to happen. We think whenever it does become his time, Aaron will be a good player. So we're not looking at it in terms of, "Oh my gosh, what if?"
Q.To what degree were you aware of sentiment in the building that John Jones was too abrasive and not fit to be the team's next chief executive officer? What was your working relationship like with him?
A. My working relationship was good with John. I wasn't aware of those things.
Q.What qualities would you like to see in the Packers' next leader and your next boss?
A. That's at a much higher level than I'm at. Be a good leader. Good judge of people. Probably the same things that would make you a really good CEO at IBM would make you a good CEO here. A person who gives credit to others. You're going to have to care about this organization and understand how it works and what it means to people. It's a hugely important decision going forward.
Q.As close friends with Mike Reinfeldt, and godfather to one of his children, does he want the job in Green Bay, which would be an obvious promotion from GM in Tennessee? How would he fare if selected?
A. Well, Mike has a job in Tennessee. Other than that I'd rather not speculate or talk about that.
Q.One personnel director said recently that if he ever got a shot like yours he would be aggressive, take chances and, if it didn't work, accept his firing without looking back. That certainly hasn't been your modus operandi. What is most near and dear to you building a football team?
A. We make lots of decisions every day. You try to make each decision the best you can and then you go to the next thing. I know I'm going to get criticism. I know people have passion and they care about this place. I do, too. Maybe to a fault I care about it. I want to do the right thing, and I gnash my teeth and I try to make sure we're doing it the way we should do it. But we try to err on the side of what's best for the organization as a whole. A quick fix or something like that, I don't think it's as important to Packer fans. I think they want to have good people here. They want people that represent the community well. Obviously, it's important to win here. This tradition has been established and re-established over time. We know we have to win.
What's near and dear to me is the team that takes that field, and the players that represent this place, these people that have supported them over all these years can be proud of them. That's where we're trying to get to.
Q.What do you count as the successes at the halfway point of your five-year appointment?
A. I think we've done a pretty good job building up the core of the team. I think when you have playoff runs like the Packers have had over a number of years you don't have maybe the normal turnover in a roster. You wind up getting a little top-heavy in terms of age. I'm not one of those people who tries to get young for the sake of getting young. It's just that it makes for a more healthy organism, really, if in fact you have a good mixture of veterans and youth. I think we've added competition. We haven't won enough games, and that's my responsibility.
Q.No one should have known Ahman Green better than you. Did you err in not getting him re-signed before the start of free agency?
A. We had some talks. Doing a contract is hard to predict. I would have liked to have kept Ahman. We just got bid out of the water.
Q.On the day after Green signed with Houston for $5.7 million per year and $8 million guaranteed, running back Travis Henry went to Denver for an average of $4.5 million, with $12 million guaranteed. You're sitting here now with about $15 million in cap space. Why didn't you go get Henry?
A. That's another example of someone that's on another team and I'm not really going to get into that.
Q.Some personnel people scoff at the idea that the Packers have a legitimate No. 1 running back. Having passed not only on Henry but also Michael Turner, Willis McGahee, Jamal Lewis, Chris Brown and others, isn't it safe to say that some of your reputation is on the line with what happens at running back this season?
A. I think my reputation is on the line at every position. But we feel pretty comfortable with the competition we're going to have at running back. We like these guys.
Q. Joseph Addai, the 30th pick last year, helped lead the Colts to the Super Bowl. Little Maurice Drew, the 60th pick in '06, had a great first year in Jacksonville. Do you like Brandon Jackson as much as them? What do you expect from him and Vernand Morency?
A. I don't know how to compare them. They're different running backs. I think Brandon Jackson is a good player. Vernand Morency came in and played a role last year and did a nice job. All the guys in the backfield can catch the ball. They have different running styles. We think it's going to be a good group. It may wind up running back by committee, or someone might establish himself.
Q.Do you expect another major addition at running back before Sept. 9?
A. I don't know that you can predict anything like that. Depends on if some other team is looking to do something.
Q.Wolf didn't even want small running backs around in a cold-weather locale like Green Bay. At 212, do you really think Vernand Morency and Brandon Jackson can hold up late in the year at Lambeau Field?
A. Yes. I just think they're pretty good backs. There are guys all over the league who played at 212 pounds. We'll see.
Q.The other day at the shareholders meeting you spoke about the overriding value of team. Sometimes that gets overlooked. Why do you think selling that to an organization is so critical?
A. Because I think that's what this place is. Football is the ultimate team sport, defense probably even more so than offense. I'm sure people in other sports would argue that. I just think, especially in a place like this, it's good to remind us all that this is a team sport and it's more special here than anywhere else.
Q. Did you love playing on those teams in Houston for a decade? Does your abiding affection for being part of a team affect your decision-making on players?
A. Loved it. Absolutely. It affects all of our decisions in personnel. It affects us when we're thinking about guys in the draft or free agency or tradable guys. The best time in football is not when you get a trophy for being an all-pro. The best part is looking around a winning locker room and knowing this guy over here did his part and you feel that collectively. The culture has changed a little bit. There's all this instant access and instant stardom or failure. I still think if you talk to the guys in this sport who have been renowned - Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Charles Woodson - and what their thrills are in life, I'll bet you it would be a team's success as opposed to an individual trophy. Not all players would agree, but I bet you the real ones would.
Q.Given that you didn't add much beyond the draft, you must be comfortable with your roster. Is this team pretty much where you hoped it would be?
A. Yeah. There's still a lot of unknowns. I believe in my heart the competition we have at every position will make our team better.
Q.What are the chances that this defense can put the fear of God into people and become a dominant force?
A. I don't know about the fear of God and all that. I think we have a chance to be a good defense. We have what I believe, 1 through 9 or 10, an excellent defensive line that works well together. I think our linebackers will be extremely strong, not only our starters but whoever wins in the backup areas. I think our secondary will be very good. We feel very comfortable with Charles (Woodson) and Al (Harris) at the corners. Nick Collins is coming into his own. Marquand (Manuel) didn't have a good year. We're going to be able to play nickel and dime packages. We're going to have depth. Now it has to happen. We have to come together. But I think we saw a little bit of it toward the end of the season.
Q.Sometimes the mark of a strong, confident leader is being able to admit mistakes. You know better than anyone when you've erred. What were some of your major miscalculations?
A. I don't do too much looking backwards. Probably the one that sticks in my mind is we weren't able to shore together the offensive line in 2005. We didn't do a very good job of that.
Q.The defense never would have been as good last season or perhaps this season without big-money expenditures on free agents Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett. So you enter free agency this year with the second-most room under the cap of any team and wind up with just Frank Walker. Why didn't you do more?
A. Sometimes we were in conversations with people and it just didn't work out. They preferred to be in a particular area of the country. Sometimes it had to do with money. In a lot of cases we felt like some of the players we had were just as good prospects.
Q.You had various degrees of interest in Donnie Edwards, Joe Horn, fullbacks Terrelle Smith and Justin Griffith, and Jimmy Wilkerson, only to back away at the end. Bob Harlan once said he encouraged you to spend more money. Do you just have trouble pulling the trigger? Do you have what it takes to pull off a major deal?
A. No. No, I don't. . . to answer your question (laughs). Free agency is free agency. In some of those cases we were trying to sign them and they signed with other places. In some cases they signed for less than what we offered. With some of those fellows we ultimately felt they wouldn't help us.
Q. Sometimes to do big deals you have to think big and have vision. Most turn out just to be pipedreams. There are GMs that think big all the time. Are you just a grinder and can't see blockbuster opportunities?
A. No, I think I can think of these things. I wouldn't necessarily characterize that as that. We have played in free agency. We have made signings in 2006. Sometimes a lot of things have to come together. The player has to want to come here. It's got to be a particular position we need help in. I don't think you go sign guys just to add depth to your team. I think you sign guys to play a role.
Q. Would you fault yourself for not thinking bigger? Being too caught up in the minutiae of your job?
A. No. It's difficult to give a self-evaluation on something like that. I don't consider that a problem, but now that you mention it I'll look into it. We have some grandiose ideas at times. A lot of people say we're not very flashy. There are a lot of things that we discuss that don't come to fruition. I have a lot of different personalities working with us. It's their job to bring ideas and thoughts and what-if this and what-if that.
Q.You've been around a room led by Ron Wolf in Green Bay and one led by Mike Holmgren in Seattle. Is the room now in Green Bay as vibrant and productive as those other two environments?
A. Yeah, I think so. There are obviously different dynamics of the room. My point to all the guys I work with is, that's their job. Let's bounce things off the wall. Let's talk about them. It doesn't necessarily mean we jump and run and do whatever it is, but we talk about those things. We have a pretty open forum. I think if you ask those guys, they'd say it was a pretty comfortable setting.
Q.Is there enough wisdom in the room?
A. You're always asking for more wisdom. I know I always do. I'm on my knees every night.
Q.You signed Koren Robinson and linebacker Rory Johnson this spring. Some GMs say they would never add players with such well-documented problems with drugs and alcohol. Isn't character as important to you as it appears to be to some others?
A. Yeah, it's very important. But you look at each person and each set of circumstances as carefully as you can. With Koren Robinson, obviously I had a history with him. I know that he's a good person. Yes, he made some mistakes. In Rory Johnson's case, he did make some mistakes in college. We have Shawn Slocum, who knows him from Ole Miss. This guy was certainly a good enough player to be drafted. We fixed it so we would not draft him. As a free agent, we feel like it gives the kid another chance. He's never harmed anyone. It's never been anything like that. As a free agent, we felt like it was less risk and see if the kid can fit in with a chance and be the kind of character guy we're looking for.
Q. You hand-picked Marquand Manuel to be the starting strong safety. Can this defense withstand another season with him in the lineup?
A. I don't think Marquand had as good a year as he would have liked. He can play better than that. We do have a lot of competition at safety. We'll see how it bears out.
Q.You defused a potential contractual problem with Al Harris and re-signed Scott Wells, Cullen Jenkins and Nick Barnett in the last nine months. Would you rather spend money there than in the free-agency market?
A. I've always felt like in free agency it's important to identify your core players and have conversations with them prior to their contracts expiring. Sometimes that works out and sometimes it doesn't. Yeah, I think it's good business for all NFL teams to concentrate on their own players. Those are the ones you know right there at that moment. Sometimes in free agency you don't know all the chinks in the armor. It's good for the locker room to let people know we will value your performance and, if you do the right things, we're going to take care of you.
Q.The re-signing that you could be criticized most for would be Bubba Franks in August 2005. Did you just miss on that one?
A. I don't know. Bubba has been a pretty good player here since before I got here. The last couple years haven't been good years for him. I look for him to have a bounce-back year. He's professional. He carries himself well. But the proof's in the pudding.
Q.Daniel Graham and Randy McMichael were some of the available tight ends. Why didn't you just go get another tight end?
A. Some of it has to do with timing and some on what we actually thought of those players in free agency.
Quite frankly, in a lot of areas we felt our young guys were as good or better than the players we could have acquired. But we'll see. We need to have some production there. It's an important position in our offense.
Q. Do you wish that fullback Vonta Leach, a player you cut last September, was still on your depth chart at what looks like a problematic position?
A. Once again, we like the guys that we've got. I thought Brandon Miree played well last year prior to his injury. These rookies we've got are going to be pretty good players.
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