Thompson Back In Running For Salary Cap Trophy

[net]

NetNews-Green Bay (3/16)
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In the interest of competing for the little-known trophy for the most cap room left unused, Ted Thompson cut the entire Packers defense today, saying "we'll save a ton of money and we don't need a defense anyway".
Thompson waived 30 players, including future Hall of Famer Clay Mathews. Thompson signed the entire St. Norbert's college defense as their replacements. When asked why he made such moves, Thompson said, "We have the greatest offense in the league and we can outscore any one. So why pay for defenders? It puts us in a precarious position to not win the NFL Salary Cap trophy". When told by reporters that no such trophy exists, Thompson blurted out, "You're wrong!" and promptly left the room.

The news comes on the heels of the Packers starting corner Tramon Williams, signing with Cleveland, highly-regarded backup corner Davon House signing with Jacksonville. Thompson's season-starting inside linebackers are both gone, including A.J. Hawk, who signed a multi-million dollar deal with the Bengals. Both of the Packers defensive tackles are also unsigned.

Thompson came to the conclusion that a defense of professionals wasn't necessary. Thompson first asked the Green Bay cheerleading squad if they wanted to play defense, but they got defensive and said, 'no', in synchronization. The St. Norberts defense said they would if the Packers would pay their tuition and that was agreed to, putting the Packers nearly $100 million dollars below the salary cap.

A stunned Aaron Rodgers, now facing the prospect of having to score 100 points per game to win, simply said, "I'm leaving for L.A. right now with Olivia".

Matthews, as he was cleaning out his locker said he had just signed with the New England Patriots. Julius Peppers said he was returning to Chicago.

When informed about Thompson's decision, coach Mike McCarthy said, "we'll have to work on pad level and play calling".

Packer President Mark Murphy, once a Pro Bowl defender with the Washington Redskins said he would be available to suit up if Thompson called.

Brett Favre had no comment to the developments, remembering well what it was like to watch opponents score on his team at will after they had just scored.

 

[thisisnate]

quick peek out the window verified that the sky is still up there!

 

[longtimefan]

Surprise

The poster shows up ( lot of times) when he feels Ted is wrong

 

[GhostofCurly]

House and Williams are hardly the whole defense. At 21 million over 3 years Cleveland can have Williams. House only proved that he couldn't start in an average group of CBs. Hey I know let's spend half our cap on them. :facepalm:

 

[TJV]

net, with all due (diminishing) respect, here's part of the OP of a thread you started on September 22, after the Packers started last season 1-2:

Bob McGinn at J-S wrote a column about the Packers personnel. He talked with a personnel director who said the Packers largely have no depth in key positions. McGinn said early on the team was going to be 12-4. A better projection is 8-8, about where they were last year.
It is fairly clear the team is not what it was three years ago. It's a combination of things, but mainly other teams have figured out the offensive system and the defense, while good in spurts, isn't consistent enough.
What has evolved in Green Bay is a modern version of the Bart Starr coaching era. Mediocrity was rewarded with more money, and everyone was so busy praising themselves they didn't realize they couldn't play routinely with the good teams. ... I see a team in decline and I don't think a remedy will occur until they fall even more.

After more than one example of posts like this one, at some point you'll learn to have some perspective, right?

 

[Mondio]

After more than one example of posts like this one, at some point you'll learn to have some perspective, right?

I think it's obvious at this point, that people like this will never achieve that.

 

[Ogsponge]

Come on guys that was actually funny. Give the guy a little credit. I can understand being in complete disagreement if he was making an actual point but he is using humor to vent his frustration. And if you really found no humor in that then you really have no sense of humor and entirely too much faith in a defense that has been horrible for years and is apparently being fixed by letting people go and finger crossing.

 

[weeds]

Sorry Ops...the poster has a history of gloom and doom, and a seeming dislike for every person who has occupied Thompson's chair...going wayyy back...not just here...at a number of sites including the Milw. Journal comments area.

That's ok...there are some valid points to the angst filled posts...but...the constant negativity gets tiresome.

 

[Joe Nor Cal Packer]

Come on guys that was actually funny. Give the guy a little credit. I can understand being in complete disagreement if he was making an actual point but he is using humor to vent his frustration. And if you really found no humor in that then you really have no sense of humor and entirely too much faith in a defense that has been horrible for years and is apparently being fixed by letting people go and finger crossing.

Agreed. I don't know the poster's history but I thought the piece was some brilliant satire. And let's face, we are going south fast with this D. And don't get me started on STs. I'll give TT his due for keeping Cobb and Bulaga, but at this point it's reasonable for fans to ask if there is a plan for the D. House and Williams were way too expensive. Fine. What's the plan?

 

[Carl]

Agreed. I don't know the poster's history but I thought the piece was some brilliant satire. And let's face, we are going south fast with this D. And don't get me started on STs. I'll give TT his due for keeping Cobb and Bulaga, but at this point it's reasonable for fans to ask if there is a plan for the D. House and Williams were way too expensive. Fine. What's the plan?

The plan for Williams was put in place two years ago with Hayward.

 

[ivo610]

Surprise

The poster shows up ( lot of times) when he feels Ted is wrong

So mostly just the offseason and a 2 game stretch at some point during the season, then we wont see him for months.

 

[ivo610]

Hard to take this OP seriously when he ducked out of defending his "This team at best is going 8-8" post which was probably the most mocked post of the season last year.

He doesn't stick around and only shows up when its convenient to rip on the management, which is mostly just the offseason.

 

[Ogsponge]

Hard to take this OP seriously when he ducked out of defending his "This team at best is going 8-8" post which was probably the most mocked post of the season last year.

He doesn't stick around and only shows up when its convenient to rip on the management, which is mostly just the offseason.

Fair enough. I have not been around here for all that long so unaware of his history. I guess I just found it humorous as there are some rather legitimate concerns wrapped up in the satirical post. I have been fairly critical of the leadership and mental toughness of this team, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. As of this exact moment, the state of this defense is concerning as it appears we are going to be dealing with an awful lot of unknowns going into this season.

With that being said, dealing with some unknowns can't possibly be worse than some of the known factors the past couple of seasons, I hope.

 

[ivo610]

Fair enough. I have not been around here for all that long so unaware of his history. I guess I just found it humorous as there are some rather legitimate concerns wrapped up in the satirical post. I have been fairly critical of the leadership and mental toughness of this team, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. As of this exact moment, the state of this defense is concerning as it appears we are going to be dealing with an awful lot of unknowns going into this season.

With that being said, dealing with some unknowns can't possibly be worse than some of the known factors the past couple of seasons, I hope.

Last season the panic seemed to center around the center position. Obviously that worked out really well for us as we ended up with one of the best in the league (in my opinion). Did TT know what he was doing or was it just pure luck? idk, but it worked out. Every team has a weakness or multiple, and i expect us to as well. On offense it will probably be TE and defense it could be D line/corner/and or inside linebacker.

Special teams is really really hard to predict, as the coaching change could bring about improvement as could the roster itself.

TT should get some blame for his lack of aggression in FA over the years, but i cant blame him for letting Williams walk, at 7 mil for each of the next 3 seasons seems a little crazy to pay as he made it a habit of getting beat bad and is on the wrong side of 30

 

[Ogsponge]

Last season the panic seemed to center around the center position. Obviously that worked out really well for us as we ended up with one of the best in the league (in my opinion). Did TT know what he was doing or was it just pure luck? idk, but it worked out. Every team has a weakness or multiple, and i expect us to as well. On offense it will probably be TE and defense it could be D line/corner/and or inside linebacker.

Special teams is really really hard to predict, as the coaching change could bring about improvement as could the roster itself.

TT should get some blame for his lack of aggression in FA over the years, but i cant blame him for letting Williams walk, at 7 mil for each of the next 3 seasons seems a little crazy to pay as he made it a habit of getting beat bad and is on the wrong side of 30

we are in 100% complete agreement on the Tramon Williams matter. and I'm not panicking I am just as of this moment a tad bit concerned as to what is going to happen with this defense.

 

[net]

To Jack and all the rest: I recommend all of you go outside and laugh as loud as you can. There. Feel better? I wrote the piece as a bit of humor, but obviously, Packer fans don't like to laugh, or smile for that matter. Or do anything but...just...be....very.....firm.......and dour........sorry. Next time I'll talk about beating puppies...just...to...join...the...dour.....mood....

 

[Sanguine camper]

Packers will now carry a large wod of unused cap space into next season since the remaining FA players are no better than Williams with the exception of Hardy who has other issues making him off limits. Perhaps TT is thinking about splurging on the 2016 Packer free agents. Plan B for now is Goodson. They cut Jumal Rolle to keep him so they obviously have plans for him that go way beyond special teams. TT will likely sign a stop gap player or two before the draft like Guion last year but they won't dent the unused cap cushion very much

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Perhaps TT is thinking about splurging on the 2016 Packer free agents.

Mike Daniels and possibly Casey Hayward are the only 2016 free agents looking for a lucrative contract.

 

[ivo610]

Mike Daniels and possibly Casey Hayward are the only 2016 free agents looking for a lucrative contract.

Hayward is in the perfect position to make a ton of cash

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Hayward is in the perfect position to make a ton of cash

Before we talk about that let him prove he´s capable of being a starter in the NFL.

 

[Mondio]

who cares if they have cap space unused that will be carried forward. Why should they spend it just to spend it? Over paying is not the way to go. it rarely pays off in the short term and it never pays off in the long term. You can give me a list of 10,000 points of light and still the league history shows that overpaying for players usually results in buyers remorse in the near or not too distant future. Just the guys from big contracts a year or 2 ago are being released for their teams already. So i'm not having that debate.

With that aside, who this year should they have spent money on? Because almost all of the guys I thought would add something to this team, signed for twice as much as any real worth to their team could be. I'm glad we didn't sign them.

Sure it sucks when we have holes on the team we can see and we don't know the "plan" or even when they have waiting in the wings, if anything. We don't know the long term plan and all we see is players going to other teams and unused cap space, but you don't get ahead by being foolish with money. I suppose it's why gambling is so popular. Everyone waiting for that one big payout, never realizing they lose 10x's that amount every year, but that one time, they "won".

Daniels and Hayward might be the only "lucrative" contracts coming up, but Mason Crosby is also up next year. Mike Neal, who after early injuries, then massive weight loss and position changes, has turned into a pretty serviceable starter and great rotational guy. I'm guessing they'd like to keep him and I'm sure other teams will be looking him at well.

Nick Perry is also due next year too. He's overall been a disappointment to me ,mostly because of injuries, but he did play better last year. In fact I'd say his eventual development and availability is what allowed them to move Matthews to the middle and really shore up that part of the defense. are the injuries a thing of the past? will he continue to grow? if those answers are yes, we'll need some money to keep him around too.

Then we have Sean Richardson and Tolzien again. Time will tell what they're worth. As of now he's the only back up qb, i'm guessing they want to see what he does with another year under his belt. I doubt he'll break any banks, but still, a guy that will be getting another contract from somewhere. Richardson? he's a guy they've always liked. He's a 2nd tier guy, not going to get a huge contract unless something changes radically, but still, another guy that is coming due next year too.

what about 2017? Sitton, Lang and Bakhtiari, Tretter, Barrington, a guy named Eddie Lacy, Hyde, Datone, Peppers (though I suspect he'll be done by then), and others.

Lots of names coming up, that I'd rather not have to lose by overpaying for a Devon House today. How many of those guys would have to go so we could sign a Suh? a revis? Maxwell?, Cromartie and his 20 mil guarantee? Julius Thomas? You could pick a couple guys for each of those signings and say good bye. and obviously Suh is such a difference maker. Detroit has had one of the most talented defensive lines in football for at least 2 seasons and nothing. On the offensive side of the ball they have had more than enough weapons to be better than good. How many games has Suh taken over and won for them?

anyway, yes this team has some areas that definitely need to be addressed, but there's a lot more to managing a team then what is happening right now and people need to keep that in mind. Of course, those that know this, know this, and others will never seem to grasp that concept for whatever reason.

in 2012 the Tampa Bay Bucs were called FA winners. They got Vincent Jackson, an all pro guard and Eric Wright for the secondary. How'd that work out for them?

The 49er's, winners, how do they look now? how much hardware did they add to the trophy case?
Of course the redskins were "winners" and how does that work out for them every year? do they even make the playoffs? They called Seattle a "winner" too because they got Matt Flynn I'd say things worked out well for them, but then that can happen when you have a qb making a few hundred thousand dollars playing at a level of those eating 10+mil a year. and that qb came in the 3rd round of the draft, NOT FA.

in 2013 the winners?

Denver, Chiefs, Seahawks again, but this time for Percy Harvin funny how they keep making the list with guys that aren't even on their team. I'm thinking they're winning for other reasons, but that's just me. (and just wait till they have to pay a QB), Giants and the Detroit Lions. How did being a FA winner work out of them?

 

[ivo610]

Before we talk about that let him prove he´s capable of being a starter in the NFL.

I'm just talking about the position he is in. Chill

 

[Ace]

I'm just talking about the position he is in. Chill

With the money DB's are getting these days, does he really need to be all that good in order to get paid? Hasn't he already done more that House? They've both been injured throughout their careers, and Haywards rookie year was better than House's entire career to this point no?

 

[Deleted member 6794]

With the money DB's are getting these days, does he really need to be all that good in order to get paid? Hasn't he already done more that House? They've both been injured throughout their careers, and Haywards rookie year was better than House's entire career to this point no?

There´s no denying Hayward had a great rookie season. He has regressed since though so we´ll see how it works out for him in 2015.

 

[tynimiller]

I hate my fan base has idiots....