Grifith to the Raiders

hoos

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Chalk me up as another person that is skeptical about the amount of improvement we made last year. Yes it is true that we improved our win total to 8, but I believe that had more to do with having a healthier team and a last place schedule. Our run at the end of the year included only one win against a winning team that had nothing to play for. I'm not sure how much closer we are to being competitive. We still looked hopeless against the better teams in the NFL last year, and if anything, we've lost ground in the off-season so far.

Back on topic, I believe that money did have something to do with Griffith signing in Oakland. He signed a very modest contract with Oakland and cited wanting to be in CA and working with ex-coaches. Therefore, in order to land him we had to not only match what Oakland had to offer, but to also outbid them, and that is TT’s downfall. He is unwilling to sweeten the deal past market value, even for players that would fit our team perfectly. He is so gunshy about free agency, that he’s more willing to stick with the status quo and continue down his 5 year plan of rebuilding rather than overpay a little even when we have more than enough cap room to do so. In the free agency/cap era, it is wise not to overspend on players at the detriment of your future cap. However, it is also foolish to not max out your cap by the end of the year. You can’t take cap room with you and I’d rather overpay a little on a few players than waste the money altogether.
 

pyledriver80

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Chalk me up as another person that is skeptical about the amount of improvement we made last year. Yes it is true that we improved our win total to 8, but I believe that had more to do with having a healthier team and a last place schedule. Our run at the end of the year included only one win against a winning team that had nothing to play for. I'm not sure how much closer we are to being competitive. We still looked hopeless against the better teams in the NFL last year, and if anything, we've lost ground in the off-season so far.

Back on topic, I believe that money did have something to do with Griffith signing in Oakland. He signed a very modest contract with Oakland and cited wanting to be in CA and working with ex-coaches. Therefore, in order to land him we had to not only match what Oakland had to offer, but to also outbid them, and that is TT’s downfall. He is unwilling to sweeten the deal past market value, even for players that would fit our team perfectly. He is so gunshy about free agency, that he’s more willing to stick with the status quo and continue down his 5 year plan of rebuilding rather than overpay a little even when we have more than enough cap room to do so. In the free agency/cap era, it is wise not to overspend on players at the detriment of your future cap. However, it is also foolish to not max out your cap by the end of the year. You can’t take cap room with you and I’d rather overpay a little on a few players than waste the money altogether.


100% Agree, great post
 

DakotaT

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Chalk me up as another person that is skeptical about the amount of improvement we made last year. Yes it is true that we improved our win total to 8, but I believe that had more to do with having a healthier team and a last place schedule. Our run at the end of the year included only one win against a winning team that had nothing to play for. I'm not sure how much closer we are to being competitive. We still looked hopeless against the better teams in the NFL last year, and if anything, we've lost ground in the off-season so far.

Back on topic, I believe that money did have something to do with Griffith signing in Oakland. He signed a very modest contract with Oakland and cited wanting to be in CA and working with ex-coaches. Therefore, in order to land him we had to not only match what Oakland had to offer, but to also outbid them, and that is TT’s downfall. He is unwilling to sweeten the deal past market value, even for players that would fit our team perfectly. He is so gunshy about free agency, that he’s more willing to stick with the status quo and continue down his 5 year plan of rebuilding rather than overpay a little even when we have more than enough cap room to do so. In the free agency/cap era, it is wise not to overspend on players at the detriment of your future cap. However, it is also foolish to not max out your cap by the end of the year. You can’t take cap room with you and I’d rather overpay a little on a few players than waste the money altogether.

Hoos, you're not trying to say we didn't spend all our cap the last 2 years are you? You'll find that we did use all the cap space. Thompson is ultra ultra conservative, I agree, but after the cluster we had going on for over a decade of pushing money into the future, something had to be done. Otherwise we would have really crashed and burned. For reference, please see the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys.

I get discouraged just like everyone else in here when we don't sign players. Griffith seemed like the perfect fit. What intesifies the disappointment is that Thompson never speaks to the public, which is an outrage when you lead a publicly owned team.
 
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hoos said:
Chalk me up as another person that is skeptical about the amount of improvement we made last year. Yes it is true that we improved our win total to 8, but I believe that had more to do with having a healthier team and a last place schedule. Our run at the end of the year included only one win against a winning team that had nothing to play for. I'm not sure how much closer we are to being competitive. We still looked hopeless against the better teams in the NFL last year, and if anything, we've lost ground in the off-season so far.

Back on topic, I believe that money did have something to do with Griffith signing in Oakland. He signed a very modest contract with Oakland and cited wanting to be in CA and working with ex-coaches. Therefore, in order to land him we had to not only match what Oakland had to offer, but to also outbid them, and that is TT’s downfall. He is unwilling to sweeten the deal past market value, even for players that would fit our team perfectly. He is so gunshy about free agency, that he’s more willing to stick with the status quo and continue down his 5 year plan of rebuilding rather than overpay a little even when we have more than enough cap room to do so. In the free agency/cap era, it is wise not to overspend on players at the detriment of your future cap. However, it is also foolish to not max out your cap by the end of the year. You can’t take cap room with you and I’d rather overpay a little on a few players than waste the money altogether.


100% Agree, great post

The problem is that overpaying is bound to cause internal friction.

See Al Harris as the prime example. Woodson signed a high priced contract, and in the days soon after we had Al Harris saying he wanted more money.

Overpaying, or sweetening the pot a little so to speak, might be fine and dandy in the short term, but it will have long term problems when you try to sign your own players.

Prime example, let's pretend we are all Donald Driver. Moss comes over, and is paid about 9 million, even though he is #2 at best on the depth chart.

How do you feel? Certainly not happy. You've built your career on performing when there was limited help, and more importantly you've lived a very quiet off-field life that involves no team disrupting incidences. Yet you've got a player whose been a distraction where ever he has went, has been known to take plays off at will, and has been involved in off the field disputes making more than you.

You're in your 30s, and feel if a player like that is making more than you, you certainly should be making more money. You're not happy about it, that's for sure.

Now you (being Donald Driver) might not want a trade but your agent is certainly gonna advise you to ask for a better contract. This probably being your final contract, you want to put yourself in the best position after your football career is over.

And for those that suggest an agent doesn't have much influence over players, look no further than the effect Rosenhaus had on Walker.
 

hoos

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Two things:

1. I'm pretty sure last year we had some cap space left over that could have been used to extend contracts. I may be wrong on this, but I remember reading that we had room to use, and we didn't extend anyone's contract.

2. I understand that you don't want to grossly overpay players and create dischord in the locker room, but if we overpay the FB a little where is the harm? Is Miree going to cry foul? Plus, that is the nature of the business. Every year the salary cap increases, but the number of players on the roster does not. Therefore, contracts that are signed more recently will always be sweeter and create some dischord between the players. Harris got upset by Woodson's contract because he was being payed poorly, not because we threw too much money at Woodson. Sometimes these things happen, and I'm glad TT rectified the situation with Al.
 

hoos

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One last thing, the whole reason why I brought up the idea of cap waste is because I think Teddy is going to be hard pressed to use all of our money with the players remaining on the market unless he plans on getting Moss and then extending a few players.
 

DakotaT

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One last thing, the whole reason why I brought up the idea of cap waste is because I think Teddy is going to be hard pressed to use all of our money with the players remaining on the market unless he plans on getting Moss and then extending a few players.


Maybe Moss is his plan, of course we won't know that cause he never speaks! I want Barnett and Corey Williams extended this year, and Taush needs to be taken care of as well.
 

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1. I'm pretty sure last year we had some cap space left over that could have been used to extend contracts. I may be wrong on this, but I remember reading that we had room to use, and we didn't extend anyone's contract.

Donald Driver's contract was extended after the Draft.

Scott Wells' contract was extended during the season.
 

hoos

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hoos said:
1. I'm pretty sure last year we had some cap space left over that could have been used to extend contracts. I may be wrong on this, but I remember reading that we had room to use, and we didn't extend anyone's contract.

Donald Driver's contract was extended after the Draft.

Scott Wells' contract was extended during the season.

Yeah, I know we did these extensions, but I think we still had some cap room left over in December that we let expire, it wasn't a lot (couple of million), but it probably could have been put towards making Al happy.

Either way, I hope that TT is saving this money for a Moss trade and to extend Barnett, Corey Williams, and maybe Tauscher.
 

porky88

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porky88 said:
hoos said:
1. I'm pretty sure last year we had some cap space left over that could have been used to extend contracts. I may be wrong on this, but I remember reading that we had room to use, and we didn't extend anyone's contract.

Donald Driver's contract was extended after the Draft.

Scott Wells' contract was extended during the season.

Yeah, I know we did these extensions, but I think we still had some cap room left over in December that we let expire, it wasn't a lot (couple of million), but it probably could have been put towards making Al happy.

Either way, I hope that TT is saving this money for a Moss trade and to extend Barnett, Corey Williams, and maybe Tauscher.

We just gave Al Harris an extension a few weeks ago as well as Cullen Jenkins.

I agree with you. I hope the money goes to Moss, Barnett, and Williams. Barnett would be my first priority if I was Ted Thompson right now.
 

pyledriver80

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all about da packers said:
hoos said:
Chalk me up as another person that is skeptical about the amount of improvement we made last year. Yes it is true that we improved our win total to 8, but I believe that had more to do with having a healthier team and a last place schedule. Our run at the end of the year included only one win against a winning team that had nothing to play for. I'm not sure how much closer we are to being competitive. We still looked hopeless against the better teams in the NFL last year, and if anything, we've lost ground in the off-season so far.

Back on topic, I believe that money did have something to do with Griffith signing in Oakland. He signed a very modest contract with Oakland and cited wanting to be in CA and working with ex-coaches. Therefore, in order to land him we had to not only match what Oakland had to offer, but to also outbid them, and that is TT’s downfall. He is unwilling to sweeten the deal past market value, even for players that would fit our team perfectly. He is so gunshy about free agency, that he’s more willing to stick with the status quo and continue down his 5 year plan of rebuilding rather than overpay a little even when we have more than enough cap room to do so. In the free agency/cap era, it is wise not to overspend on players at the detriment of your future cap. However, it is also foolish to not max out your cap by the end of the year. You can’t take cap room with you and I’d rather overpay a little on a few players than waste the money altogether.


100% Agree, great post

The problem is that overpaying is bound to cause internal friction.

See Al Harris as the prime example. Woodson signed a high priced contract, and in the days soon after we had Al Harris saying he wanted more money.

Overpaying, or sweetening the pot a little so to speak, might be fine and dandy in the short term, but it will have long term problems when you try to sign your own players.

Prime example, let's pretend we are all Donald Driver. Moss comes over, and is paid about 9 million, even though he is #2 at best on the depth chart.

How do you feel? Certainly not happy. You've built your career on performing when there was limited help, and more importantly you've lived a very quiet off-field life that involves no team disrupting incidences. Yet you've got a player whose been a distraction where ever he has went, has been known to take plays off at will, and has been involved in off the field disputes making more than you.

You're in your 30s, and feel if a player like that is making more than you, you certainly should be making more money. You're not happy about it, that's for sure.

Now you (being Donald Driver) might not want a trade but your agent is certainly gonna advise you to ask for a better contract. This probably being your final contract, you want to put yourself in the best position after your football career is over.

And for those that suggest an agent doesn't have much influence over players, look no further than the effect Rosenhaus had on Walker.


With all due respect AADP, you have got to be kidding. This is just excuse #352 as to why TT is a tightass, and you are really digging deep.

First off, should we just go with a base salary for all players on the team to stop this so-called "jealousy". It's called life. Should I go into my job Monday and request to be paid as much as the other guy? Do I deserve it,maybe, but no sane person in the NFL or anywhere else thinks it works this way.

You get what you get and if you do not like it, go get another job. TT overpaid Woodson so Harris got pissed. Is it now ok for Dendy to get pissed because Harris got more money?

Using the phrase "overpaid" is getting stale anyways. All these guys are overpaid. These FA's get what the market determines there value is. If you want these guys you may have to overpay. Overpaying guys here and there is a given on any team and as long as you keep it under control you don't "risk your future".

So the idea is not to overpay Free Agents so we can have more money to overpay the guys already on our roster who get us the stellar record of 8-8?

GB is overpaying plenty of people on thier roster right now. Who cares if we overpay FA's or current players if our current guys can't even get us in the playoffs. Isn't that a failure?

We were 8-8 and have downgraded since then. Judging by whats left in Free Agency I don't seeus doing anything other than breaking even and WE HAVE THE ROOM TO UPGRADE!

It's not "risking the future", building Rome, or to create less friction in the locker room, it's a simple case of TT lowballing or ignoring potential upgrades. He can't get it done, sorry.

I at this point just want TT to do anything. Sign some more Earl Littles, Ray Thompsons, Manuals, O'Dwyers, Arturo Freeman's, Boerigters,Klemms, etc. Just do something to let me know your still breathing Ted.

Has anyone heard of TT leaving town for a few days? If you do thats a good thing because that means a FA will be visiting GB.
 

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the term 'overpaid' is getting stale? Have you been paying attention to free agency(we all know the answer is no)? 90% of the FA pickups have been overpaid, but yes, Griffith was not one of them. He signed elsewhere for different reasons, but lets not pay attention to facts. I wouldn't want to rock your boat.
 

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the term 'overpaid' is getting stale? Have you been paying attention to free agency(we all know the answer is no)? 90% of the FA pickups have been overpaid, but yes, Griffith was not one of them. He signed elsewhere for different reasons, but lets not pay attention to facts. I wouldn't want to rock your boat.

Yeah he chose to sign with the worst team in the league instead of the Packers. Have you ever seen a red flag?
 

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Have no fear Ted as long as you go 8-8 every year certain Packer fans will think your Jesus. Mediocrity is acceptable to some I guess.

I am not bummed I came to the realization along time ago that as long as TT is in charge we will be celebrating 7-9 and 8-8 seasons. You can't polish a **** Ted. Get off your wallet and spend some of that Jack, that makes you god for hording to some, and get some players in here that are capable of actually improving this team whle Brett is still around.

Ted Thompson is a disaster
Just started reading this thread from the start, and I came across this gem.

Pyle, you came to the realization last year that we would have lots of 4-12 and 5-11 seasons, but your realization was proved wrong, so you're upgrading your lack of optimism from **** to mediocrity. If we go 10-6 next year, you'll say "It was only Brett that got us here anyway. TT can never get us to a Super Bowl." If we go 4-12 next season, you'll say "I was right all along, we'll never even be mediocre with this hack as GM."

And you know it.
 

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i want to apologize for my last post... i was reacting in much anger towards the idiot post ive read on here today...

in truth i wanted him to be our FB this year too.. thought it made good sense and may have been a good move for the right money...

but for christ sake... its not the end of the world. in fact i dont think we will remember who justin griffith is by the time the season starts.
 

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i agree. i woulda liked that pickup. it didnt happen, and its not the end of the world. our starting FB is still on our team. lol.
 

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in fact i dont think we will remember who justin griffith is by the time the season starts.

Of course we will, because some of the friendly posters on this site will bring him up every month from here till 2009 in one of thier "I'm a better GM than TT" rants.
 

pyledriver80

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yep TT's 8-8 was definitely an upgrade over his amazing 4-12 campaign. I retract my previous statement. Going .500 is like winning the Super Bowl. Yee-ha this is 80's all over again.

I think I am going to rob a person of all there money then a year later give them 20 bucks back. AKA: "The Ted Thompson"

Let's be terrible than when we are average it will be a victory. Nice thinking!

I remember the days when 8-8 was a terrible year. My oh my nothing like dropping expectations to get gratification.

TT's record speaks for itself.
 
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yep TT's 8-8 was definitely an upgrade over his amazing 4-12 campaign. I retract my previous statement. Going .500 is like winning the Super Bowl. Yee-ha this is 80's all over again.

I think I am going to rob a person of all there money then a year later give them 20 bucks back. AKA: "The Ted Thompson"

Let's be terrible than when we are average it will be a victory. Nice thinking!

I remember the days when 8-8 was a terrible year. My oh my nothing like dropping expectations to get gratification.

TT's record speaks for itself.

I'm not sure what TT's record for W/L the past 2 years has to do with the fact that Griffith was not signed.

You want to bash TT for being a bad GM in this thread, then that is your prerogative. However it has to be kept relevant to Griffith, and not to the point where you are arguing TTs overall record.

That is what led to the ban of p@ck66, and eventually to your suspension a while back. You turned every post into an anti TT post that argued he was a bad GM based on every move he has made.

No one was really arguing whether TT was a bad or good GM in this thread until the last page, rather it was a discussion oriented on whether TT dropped the ball with regards to failing to sign Griffith.

GETTING BACK ON TOPIC:

I wonder if Griffith will hold a press conference... he is sure to outline the reason he choose Oakland. If Griffith mentions things like "great weather, great life, familiarity with the coaches" as his reasons then it is hard to blame TT for letting Griffith get away.

If Griffith mentions something along the lines of "Oakland made me the best offer, one I couldn't refuse" then TT deserves blame for being too cheap to sign Griffith.

However, early indications are that Griffith signed because of intangibles, and if this turns out to be the case then TT shouldn't be completely blamed for Griffith getting away.

I think it might be an interesting point to discuss whether more money would have attracted Griffith to GB if in fact he preferred the hotter weather/more clubs/familiar coaches of the Raiders.
 

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Back on topic, I believe that money did have something to do with Griffith signing in Oakland. He signed a very modest contract with Oakland and cited wanting to be in CA and working with ex-coaches. Therefore, in order to land him we had to not only match what Oakland had to offer, but to also outbid them, and that is TT’s downfall..

link to show Ted offered him less? Until there is proof of that I wish people would stop stating it as fact.
 

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