http://www.packersnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070426/PKR07/704260530/1959
ESPN SPORTCENTER MOCK DRAFT HAS PACK PICKING LYNCH. WHAT IS YOUR FINAL PREDRAFT DAY CHOICE?
Mike Vandermause column: Thompson follows guidelines of his mentor
It's been six years since Ron Wolf ran the Green Bay Packers' draft, but his influence lives on in General Manager Ted Thompson. While Wolf was building a Super Bowl champion as the Packers' GM in the 1990s, Thompson was watching and learning from the master. "Trust your board" was the best draft advice Wolf gave Thompson, meaning you always take the best player available, regardless of position. "I'm sure Ted learned that from me because he watched all the time," said Wolf, who admitted he sometimes strayed from his advice and got burned.
"The only time we ever screwed it up, and I did that several times, we spent all that time and effort putting the draft board together, then occasionally I would jump names," Wolf said. "Dang. That never worked." True to form, Thompson said he normally resists the temptation to draft a player based on need. "A draft is an investment in a player that's going to be here for a number of years, and when you don't take the best player, it'll just come back and bite you every time," he said.
Wolf and Thompson share so many draft philosophies that one reporter inadvertently called Thompson "Ron" at a pre-draft press conference earlier this week. In reality, it's sometimes hard to tell Thompson and Wolf apart on draft issues. Both believe in thorough preparation so there can be no surprises. Wolf called draft weekend the easy part. Thompson said he sleeps well the Friday night before the draft. "You can tear yourself up and drive yourself crazy, thinking, 'Oh my gosh, what if this happens?'" Thompson said. "But you can't do anything about it, and I'm not much of a worrier." Both believe in listening to as many voices as possible.
"There's a lot of people upstairs," Thompson said in reference to the numerous contributing scouts, personnel people and coaches. Even in the war room, Wolf had a listening ear. "We did not have people standing on chairs and yelling and screaming and stuff like that," Wolf said. "But we did not have a quiet room, either. There were a lot of people in there." Both believe a good draft generally produces at least three solid starters. "You'd like to hit on all your draft picks, but history tells you if you bat .300 or .350, just like in baseball, you're probably a pretty good hitter," Thompson said.
Both are well-versed in making draft-day trades. In fact, Thompson was Wolf's right-hand man when it came to determining trade value. "Ted did that for me, and he did a marvelous job of keeping track of that," Wolf said. There is one big difference between the two. Wolf traded up five times in nine years. "The key was, make sure you got the guy you wanted to get," he said. Thompson never has traded up, although in keeping in step with his mentor, he said he isn't opposed to the practice. "If you're in a position where you think there's one player you desperately would like to have … then it makes sense to try to move up," he said. Wolf couldn't have said it any better.
ESPN SPORTCENTER MOCK DRAFT HAS PACK PICKING LYNCH. WHAT IS YOUR FINAL PREDRAFT DAY CHOICE?
Mike Vandermause column: Thompson follows guidelines of his mentor
It's been six years since Ron Wolf ran the Green Bay Packers' draft, but his influence lives on in General Manager Ted Thompson. While Wolf was building a Super Bowl champion as the Packers' GM in the 1990s, Thompson was watching and learning from the master. "Trust your board" was the best draft advice Wolf gave Thompson, meaning you always take the best player available, regardless of position. "I'm sure Ted learned that from me because he watched all the time," said Wolf, who admitted he sometimes strayed from his advice and got burned.
"The only time we ever screwed it up, and I did that several times, we spent all that time and effort putting the draft board together, then occasionally I would jump names," Wolf said. "Dang. That never worked." True to form, Thompson said he normally resists the temptation to draft a player based on need. "A draft is an investment in a player that's going to be here for a number of years, and when you don't take the best player, it'll just come back and bite you every time," he said.
Wolf and Thompson share so many draft philosophies that one reporter inadvertently called Thompson "Ron" at a pre-draft press conference earlier this week. In reality, it's sometimes hard to tell Thompson and Wolf apart on draft issues. Both believe in thorough preparation so there can be no surprises. Wolf called draft weekend the easy part. Thompson said he sleeps well the Friday night before the draft. "You can tear yourself up and drive yourself crazy, thinking, 'Oh my gosh, what if this happens?'" Thompson said. "But you can't do anything about it, and I'm not much of a worrier." Both believe in listening to as many voices as possible.
"There's a lot of people upstairs," Thompson said in reference to the numerous contributing scouts, personnel people and coaches. Even in the war room, Wolf had a listening ear. "We did not have people standing on chairs and yelling and screaming and stuff like that," Wolf said. "But we did not have a quiet room, either. There were a lot of people in there." Both believe a good draft generally produces at least three solid starters. "You'd like to hit on all your draft picks, but history tells you if you bat .300 or .350, just like in baseball, you're probably a pretty good hitter," Thompson said.
Both are well-versed in making draft-day trades. In fact, Thompson was Wolf's right-hand man when it came to determining trade value. "Ted did that for me, and he did a marvelous job of keeping track of that," Wolf said. There is one big difference between the two. Wolf traded up five times in nine years. "The key was, make sure you got the guy you wanted to get," he said. Thompson never has traded up, although in keeping in step with his mentor, he said he isn't opposed to the practice. "If you're in a position where you think there's one player you desperately would like to have … then it makes sense to try to move up," he said. Wolf couldn't have said it any better.
