Personnel "chickens" coming home to roost

[net]

The folks at a website we're not supposed to quote had a story the other day that Sherman has taken much abuse because of the poor choices made over the years by the personnel department, i.e. Reggie McKenzie.

His name rarely hits the radar screen, but their argument is they recommend the players to the front office who makes a decision.

While their recommendations have worked out in some cases, the Joe Johnson thing, and some others could be indirectly blamed on poor personnel assessment.

The website also argued that the really poor analysis of current players put the Packers in a poor position when free agency came around. They did little to bring in quality 'mid-level' people like New England did.

It's worthy of some discussion. While it's easy to shoot at Sherman for some of this, their argument, to me, has some merit.

 

[Zero2Cool]

Does the website have a link? or is that answered by 'we're not supposed to quote'

 

[NDPackerFan]

The argument could be made but TT had the final say on those recommendations. Although I think guys like McKenzie need to shoulder some blame for the bad decisions GB has made, it was a group effort and shouldn't be placed solely on any one person IMHO, just like the credit shouldn't be given to one person.

 

[PackerTraxx]

If the Packers are organized to any degree it should be fairly easy to figure out who is reccomending players who turn out and who is reccomending player who do not turn out. If it points to one or two individuals they need to replace them. If it is evenly divided they may need a whole new department. :-?

 

[Greg C.]

An interesting theory, but if McKenzie or others were to blame for these bad decisions, Sherman should've fired them. He had the final say on all of these decisions as well as the right to hire and fire staff. Mark Hatley, who died last year, was an important part of this process too. I wonder what these writers say about him.

And to put it all into perspective, sure, there have been bad decisions, but Sherman's tenure as GM was not the disaster that some have made it out to be. The team has continued to play above .500, with important contributions from many of the players that Mike Sherman brought in. Sherman should also get credit for re-signing some of Wolf's picks, such as Chad Clifton and Donald Driver.

 

[Zero2Cool]

[Mason and Phil are surrounded by police] If you have any poo, fling it now.

 

[ORRELSE]

And to put it all into perspective, sure, there have been bad decisions, but Sherman's tenure as GM was not the disaster that some have made it out to be. The team has continued to play above .500, with important contributions from many of the players that Mike Sherman brought in. Sherman should also get credit for re-signing some of Wolf's picks, such as Chad Clifton and Donald Driver.

Sherman lived off of the roster that he inherited, and it has declined ever since he stepped into the GM role. His gaffs FAR, FAR, FAR outweigh his good picks/signings.
Before I get flamed--I realize that every draft pick and every free agent signing is a gamble. But Sherman really had some head scratchers while he was here. I'll name 2 or 3 of the biggest and I'd like to hear some justification for these moves because I can't figure it out, still to this day.

1. Completely jobs the Raidahs for 2 draft picks by trading "I can't tackle" Marques Andersen and then turns those 2 steal picks into another trade for R-Kal Truluck. WTF?
2. Moved up in the draft to take Hunter Hillenmeyer, then cuts him in camp for Torrance Marshall who never did $%@# for GB. Hillenmeyer now starts for a Bears defense that is far superior to ours. WTF?

That isn't even mentioning the guy he drafted (James Lee) who never started a game in college, but was drafted based on potential, or giving away a 3rd (or 4th, I can't remember right now) round pick for Terry Glenn, or had to overpay on contracts for Hunt and KGB because he put the wrong FA tender on them. It was stuff like that where Sherman just got schooled. I think he's an OK coach but his GM record is terrible.

 

[Greg C.]

ORRELSE: You say that the talent level has declined since Sherman has taken over. But he inherited an 8-8 team and since then they've gone 9-7, 12-4, 12-4, 10-6, and 10-6. We all know that Ray Rhodes was a poor coach, but still, the talent on that team was no better than 10-6 or, at best, 11-5.

Sherman has maintained the team at about the level it was at when he inherited it. Which, by the way, I do not consider to be good enough. That's why I was in favor of him losing the GM job and I think Harlan should've fired him from the coaching job while he was at it. I just get tired of hearing about this "decline" under Sherman, when actually it has been status quo.

 

[PackerTraxx]

The offense was set when MS took over, he only added Walker. He has had five years to concentrate and build the defense and has not been able to do that. uke:

 

[ORRELSE]

ORRELSE: You say that the talent level has declined since Sherman has taken over. But he inherited an 8-8 team and since then they've gone 9-7, 12-4, 12-4, 10-6, and 10-6. We all know that Ray Rhodes was a poor coach, but still, the talent on that team was no better than 10-6 or, at best, 11-5.

Sherman has maintained the team at about the level it was at when he inherited it. Which, by the way, I do not consider to be good enough. That's why I was in favor of him losing the GM job and I think Harlan should've fired him from the coaching job while he was at it. I just get tired of hearing about this "decline" under Sherman, when actually it has been status quo.

That's a pretty lame argument. Anyone can see this team was in decline.
If those 4 last minute wins last year were losses, we'd be 6-10 and shouting for Sherman's head in an instant.
They guy got schooled as a GM and I don't think there is any doubt about it. He was in over his head.

Strike that 8-8 record from the books as the team Sherman inherited because Ron Wolf was calling the shots as the GM then.
As P-traxx stated Sherman hit on about 3 or 4 draft picks while he was here. Walker and Barnett are the only ones that stick out. Did he sign a viable FA that wasn't a bust besides the guys Ron Wolf drafted?

You are fooling yourself if you think the team wasn't in decline.