The almost packer

[ivo610]

i told this story awhile back, but someone decided to write about it

http://mweb.cbssports.com/nfl/feature/24731294/ray-lewis-of-lambeau?v=1&vc=2

 

[El Guapo]

Of course it's a good story. The real question is whether we have more regrets over not getting Ray Lewis in 1996 or not picking Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas, or Deion Sanders in the 1989 draft instead of Mandarich.

 

[TJV]

I’ve mentioned this a couple of times too. El Guapo, IMO it’s in the same category as missing out on Ronnie Lott, or Barry Sanders/Derrick Thomas/Deion Sanders except in those instances no GM grabbed those players ahead of the Packers. The other sad thing is the players the Packers took instead. The Packers took Rich Campbell instead of Lott and of course took Tony Mandarich instead of the one of the three players listed above. As the story says they took John Michels after missing out on Lewis. It’s one thing to pass up or barely miss out on fantastic players but another to end up with the likes of Campbell, Mandarich, and Michels. The only good that came out of it for me was I was so upset about the Mandarich pick I started paying more attention to Packers drafts. I have a word document I created in the spring of 1990 that has every player drafted by the Packers from the 1990 draft to date. Of course that does the Packers no good.

 

[NOMOFO]

I don't get worked up over missed draft picks because every team has them and every team blows picks this bad once in a while. It's fun to play the "what if" game but everyone has them.

How many teams would wish they had the 2005 draft pick back to re-pick now?

 

[Bensalama21]

I don't get worked up over missed draft picks because every team has them and every team blows picks this bad once in a while. It's fun to play the "what if" game but everyone has them.

How many teams would wish they had the 2005 draft pick back to re-pick now?

We didn't get anyone good from that draft unfortunately ... That QB from Cal kept getting injured and the FS we got from that draft was awful too.

 

[OldSchool101]

Ah

I’ve mentioned this a couple of times too. El Guapo, IMO it’s in the same category as missing out on Ronnie Lott, or Barry Sanders/Derrick Thomas/Deion Sanders except in those instances no GM grabbed those players ahead of the Packers. The other sad thing is the players the Packers took instead. The Packers took Rich Campbell instead of Lott and of course took Tony Mandarich instead of the one of the three players listed above. As the story says they took John Michels after missing out on Lewis. It’s one thing to pass up or barely miss out on fantastic players but another to end up with the likes of Campbell, Mandarich, and Michels. The only good that came out of it for me was I was so upset about the Mandarich pick I started paying more attention to Packers drafts. I have a word document I created in the spring of 1990 that has every player drafted by the Packers from the 1990 draft to date. Of course that does the Packers no good.

Ahhhh.. That's where your name came from. It sounded familiar but before my time so I searched for it. Great man who died too young but left a great legacy for us. Nice

 

[PikeBadger]

I don't get worked up over missed draft picks because every team has them and every team blows picks this bad once in a while. It's fun to play the "what if" game but everyone has them.

How many teams would wish they had the 2005 draft pick back to re-pick now?

I'm just really really glad Thompson's phone didn't ring.

 

[Forget Favre]

Here is another angle to the missed draft pick of Ray Lewis.
He gets drafted by the Pack.
But he gets constantly frustrated by his QB Favre always throwing INTs in sure game winners and playoff games.
He then get traded to another team.
I mean, with the "Just throw it out there and hope that one of my receivers catches it" attitude of Brent does not guarantee wins no matter who is on the D-Fence.
Yeah, sure, it's a great "What if?" story but it's not really worth discussing when we have been back to and won an SB with the team we had at the time and we are still great.
If we were Cleveland Clowns fans, then yeah, that would be worth brooding over.
And if Lewis had been a Packer maybe he wouldn't have been a possible murderer.

 

[ivo610]

Of course it's a good story. The real question is whether we have more regrets over not getting Ray Lewis in 1996 or not picking Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas, or Deion Sanders in the 1989 draft instead of Mandarich.

drafting Barry sanders would have made us a consistent 8-8 team. Which would have led to us not hiring Ron Wolf, trading for Favre, or signing White.

Fans always talk about wishing they had Barry, but would you rather be the lions of the 90s or the packers of the 90s? At least with Ray Lewis you can have a fairly solid argument we would have won back to back superbowls with him.

Deion made it clear to the Packers he would rather play baseball full time than play in GB. Drafting him was not an option.

 

[Packerlifer]

Since we're playing the "what if" game here's one that doesn't get much attention. What if the Packers had hired any of these men as head coach, instead of the ones they did. How different does the history play out then?

1959: Forest Evashevski, Blanton Collier, Curly Lambeau, Jim Trimble, Otto Graham.

1971: George Allen, Joe Paterno, Frank Kush.

1989: George Perles.

1992: Bill Parcells.

2006: Sean Payton.

 

[weeds]

drafting Barry sanders would have made us a consistent 8-8 team. Which would have led to us not hiring Ron Wolf, trading for Favre, or signing White.

Fans always talk about wishing they had Barry, but would you rather be the lions of the 90s or the packers of the 90s? At least with Ray Lewis you can have a fairly solid argument we would have won back to back superbowls with him.

Deion made it clear to the Packers he would rather play baseball full time than play in GB. Drafting him was not an option.

Exactly. Sometimes, the gods punish us by answering our prayers.

 

[HardRightEdge]

Perhaps overlooked because it is unrelated to the Packer theme, there's an interesting collision of illusion and reality in this piece, in consecutive sentences no less, that look familiar:

Illusion:

"Even back then, Newsome adopted his now tried-and-true edict of taking the best player regardless of position, unless there was a tie of sorts in the grade, so as pick No. 26 approached and Lewis lingered, the decision was coming into focus.

Reality:

"Ray was the next-highest graded player on our board," Newsome said, "and it was a position of need for us. We needed young inside linebackers who could play now."

What is an "edict" exactly? That's a rhetorical question.

 

[HardRightEdge]

The story is interesting because it was a HOF player in a "just missed by a hair" drama, with the emphasis on the drama.

For the majority of picks, upper or lower round, you'll find a player taken lower down who turned out better.

The lesson here is not that the Packers missed on Lewis or either Sanders or Thomas...it's that we drafted Michels and Mandarich instead. It's the striking out, not the failing to hit a home run, that's so disappointing. Strike outs in the first round hurt and have a lingering affect.

Nobody should regret any solid line drive toward the gap...a single maybe stretched to a double. Good value for a pick is always a win. Consistently good swings will eventually yield a long ball.

 

[OCBP]

Here is another angle to the missed draft pick of Ray Lewis.
He gets drafted by the Pack.
But he gets constantly frustrated by his QB Favre always throwing INTs in sure game winners and playoff games.
He then get traded to another team.
I mean, with the "Just throw it out there and hope that one of my receivers catches it" attitude of Brent does not guarantee wins no matter who is on the D-Fence.
Yeah, sure, it's a great "What if?" story but it's not really worth discussing when we have been back to and won an SB with the team we had at the time and we are still great.
If we were Cleveland Clowns fans, then yeah, that would be worth brooding over.
And if Lewis had been a Packer maybe he wouldn't have been a possible murderer.

Always complaining about Favre.

 

[OCBP]

drafting Barry sanders would have made us a consistent 8-8 team. Which would have led to us not hiring Ron Wolf, trading for Favre, or signing White.

Fans always talk about wishing they had Barry, but would you rather be the lions of the 90s or the packers of the 90s? At least with Ray Lewis you can have a fairly solid argument we would have won back to back superbowls with him.

Deion made it clear to the Packers he would rather play baseball full time than play in GB. Drafting him was not an option.

Not with Favre tossing all those INT's

 

[OCBP]

Since we're playing the "what if" game here's one that doesn't get much attention. What if the Packers had hired any of these men as head coach, instead of the ones they did. How different does the history play out then?

1959: Forest Evashevski, Blanton Collier, Curly Lambeau, Jim Trimble, Otto Graham.

1971: George Allen, Joe Paterno, Frank Kush.

1989: George Perles.

1992: Bill Parcells.

2006: Sean Payton.

89 and 92 wouldn't have made a difference because they had a terrible QB

 

[adambr2]

I’ve mentioned this a couple of times too. El Guapo, IMO it’s in the same category as missing out on Ronnie Lott, or Barry Sanders/Derrick Thomas/Deion Sanders except in those instances no GM grabbed those players ahead of the Packers. The other sad thing is the players the Packers took instead. The Packers took Rich Campbell instead of Lott and of course took Tony Mandarich instead of the one of the three players listed above. As the story says they took John Michels after missing out on Lewis. It’s one thing to pass up or barely miss out on fantastic players but another to end up with the likes of Campbell, Mandarich, and Michels. The only good that came out of it for me was I was so upset about the Mandarich pick I started paying more attention to Packers drafts. I have a word document I created in the spring of 1990 that has every player drafted by the Packers from the 1990 draft to date. Of course that does the Packers no good.

Man...Word has really been around that long? I feel old