woodbuck27
07-25-2006, 01:04 PM
Comment: You've read it all before but it's told a different way.
Packers: Linebackers face extreme makeover
Written by Wire Services
Tuesday, 25 July 2006
GREEN BAY - Understand this about Ted Thompson: When it comes to negative critiques of players, he usually follows your mother's rule about not saying anything if you have nothing nice to say.
Because he spent 10 years playing linebacker in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers' general manager is particularly sensitive about what he says publicly about players. Heck, the guy wouldn't even rip epic disappointments Cletidus Hunt or Donnell Washington when they were released.
So when Thompson gave the following assessment of last year's linebacker corps during last week's shareholders meeting at Lambeau Field, it qualified as a major diss when graded on the Thompson Criticism Curve.
"It was a position that I felt like - and I'm not casting stones at the players that were here - but as a group, this was a position where we probably didn't play as well as we hoped for last year," Thompson told the stockholders.
Whoa, Ted. That's harsh.
Of course, Thompson's actions made it very clear just how he felt about the position.
He cut veteran Na'il Diggs, who started 80 games in six years in Green Bay but only six games during an injury-derailed 2005 season. He cut Robert Thomas, a former first-round pick who started nine games last year after being acquired in a trade from St. Louis. And he didn't try to re-sign utilityman Paris Lenon, who started 12 games last year and was a reliable-if-pedestrian backup for four years.
Thompson then chose Ohio State's A.J. Hawk with the fifth pick in the first round of the draft and Iowa's Abdul Hodge in the third round. They joined a mix of cornerstone middle linebacker Nick Barnett, the lone returning starter and the team's tackle leader each of his three years in the league; inexpensive free-agent signees Ben Taylor and Tracy White; promising youngster Roy Manning; and rehabilitating holdovers Brady Poppinga and Kurt Campbell.
That led Thompson to say what he said next:
"We felt like this position during the offseason and through the draft went from a position of concern to a position of strength," he told the crowd. "I think it has the potential to be a remarkable group of linebackers."
Remarkable is a pretty strong word, and while Thompson said after his speech that he didn't target linebacker any more than he focused on improving the other positions on the roster, it is now one of the positions on the roster he seems most confident in.
"I don't know if we focused on it any more than any other," Thompson said. "The way the draft fell, that we were able to get A.J. Hawk and then that Abdul Hodge was still there when we picked again in the third, obviously we felt that right there we helped out group.
"There will be some unbelievable competition. I couldn't tell you who the five or six or seven guys are going to be right now. I have my ideas, but I don't know that for certain. (But) I think as a group we have a chance to be pretty good. You never know. You get a few injuries and you might not be quite as good as you think. But we feel pretty good about it right now."
With Hawk set to start at will (weak-side) linebacker and Barnett established at mike (middle), Taylor, Manning, Poppinga and Hodge are the candidates at sam (strong-side).
Taylor got the most work with the No. 1 unit there during the organized team activity practices, although Manning also worked with the first string. Poppinga, who tore the ACL in his left knee last December, might challenge if his accelerated recovery allows him to practice sometime in camp.
Coach Mike McCarthy and defensive coordinator Bob Sanders said they've considered moving Barnett to the outside and starting Hodge in the middle, where he played for the Hawkeyes. For now, Barnett will stay put, but McCarthy didn't rule out moving him.
"We talked about that. I think you start moving guys around too much (because) you get excited about a guy (like Hodge), you end up hurting him more than you help him," McCarthy said. "There's merit to teaching a guy a position, letting him get real comfortable with that, and then move him over."
Hodge didn't work much at sam linebacker in the offseason but will work there in camp, Sanders said.
"We double-train as many guys as we can so they can do as many things as they can handle without messing them up," Sanders said. "If something happens to somebody, we want to be able to put our best three in the game. A.J. is very comfortable at will, because that's what he did at Ohio State. And surely Nick is comfortable where he's at. So to keep those guys comfortable, and to get guys going, we'll see where it goes."
Source: Jason Wilde - Wisconsin State Journal
Packers: Linebackers face extreme makeover
Written by Wire Services
Tuesday, 25 July 2006
GREEN BAY - Understand this about Ted Thompson: When it comes to negative critiques of players, he usually follows your mother's rule about not saying anything if you have nothing nice to say.
Because he spent 10 years playing linebacker in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers' general manager is particularly sensitive about what he says publicly about players. Heck, the guy wouldn't even rip epic disappointments Cletidus Hunt or Donnell Washington when they were released.
So when Thompson gave the following assessment of last year's linebacker corps during last week's shareholders meeting at Lambeau Field, it qualified as a major diss when graded on the Thompson Criticism Curve.
"It was a position that I felt like - and I'm not casting stones at the players that were here - but as a group, this was a position where we probably didn't play as well as we hoped for last year," Thompson told the stockholders.
Whoa, Ted. That's harsh.
Of course, Thompson's actions made it very clear just how he felt about the position.
He cut veteran Na'il Diggs, who started 80 games in six years in Green Bay but only six games during an injury-derailed 2005 season. He cut Robert Thomas, a former first-round pick who started nine games last year after being acquired in a trade from St. Louis. And he didn't try to re-sign utilityman Paris Lenon, who started 12 games last year and was a reliable-if-pedestrian backup for four years.
Thompson then chose Ohio State's A.J. Hawk with the fifth pick in the first round of the draft and Iowa's Abdul Hodge in the third round. They joined a mix of cornerstone middle linebacker Nick Barnett, the lone returning starter and the team's tackle leader each of his three years in the league; inexpensive free-agent signees Ben Taylor and Tracy White; promising youngster Roy Manning; and rehabilitating holdovers Brady Poppinga and Kurt Campbell.
That led Thompson to say what he said next:
"We felt like this position during the offseason and through the draft went from a position of concern to a position of strength," he told the crowd. "I think it has the potential to be a remarkable group of linebackers."
Remarkable is a pretty strong word, and while Thompson said after his speech that he didn't target linebacker any more than he focused on improving the other positions on the roster, it is now one of the positions on the roster he seems most confident in.
"I don't know if we focused on it any more than any other," Thompson said. "The way the draft fell, that we were able to get A.J. Hawk and then that Abdul Hodge was still there when we picked again in the third, obviously we felt that right there we helped out group.
"There will be some unbelievable competition. I couldn't tell you who the five or six or seven guys are going to be right now. I have my ideas, but I don't know that for certain. (But) I think as a group we have a chance to be pretty good. You never know. You get a few injuries and you might not be quite as good as you think. But we feel pretty good about it right now."
With Hawk set to start at will (weak-side) linebacker and Barnett established at mike (middle), Taylor, Manning, Poppinga and Hodge are the candidates at sam (strong-side).
Taylor got the most work with the No. 1 unit there during the organized team activity practices, although Manning also worked with the first string. Poppinga, who tore the ACL in his left knee last December, might challenge if his accelerated recovery allows him to practice sometime in camp.
Coach Mike McCarthy and defensive coordinator Bob Sanders said they've considered moving Barnett to the outside and starting Hodge in the middle, where he played for the Hawkeyes. For now, Barnett will stay put, but McCarthy didn't rule out moving him.
"We talked about that. I think you start moving guys around too much (because) you get excited about a guy (like Hodge), you end up hurting him more than you help him," McCarthy said. "There's merit to teaching a guy a position, letting him get real comfortable with that, and then move him over."
Hodge didn't work much at sam linebacker in the offseason but will work there in camp, Sanders said.
"We double-train as many guys as we can so they can do as many things as they can handle without messing them up," Sanders said. "If something happens to somebody, we want to be able to put our best three in the game. A.J. is very comfortable at will, because that's what he did at Ohio State. And surely Nick is comfortable where he's at. So to keep those guys comfortable, and to get guys going, we'll see where it goes."
Source: Jason Wilde - Wisconsin State Journal