motife
01-22-2007, 05:04 PM
Supporting cast
Talent around Favre explains team's success (or lack of)
Green Bay - In advance of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection meeting, the good people of Pro Football Weekly allowed me to come to their offices last week to research the late Joel Buchsbaum's ratings of NFL players.
Buchsbaum, who lived in Brooklyn, started rating draft prospects for PFW in 1978 and, soon thereafter, also started rating veteran players. In short time, he established sources across the league and probably was better connected with NFL coaches and personnel people than any member of the media. His ratings were generally viewed as a consensus of thought from around the league.
Bill Belichick has said that he attempted to hire Buchsbaum any number of times.
Buchsbaum died four years ago at age 48, but Pro Football Weekly has continued to publish annual ratings in the years since with assistance from general managers, coaches and scouts.
Anyway, the magazine's ratings are probably as credible as anyone's outside the NFL. And after completing my research on this year's Hall of Fame candidates, I spent time researching how the Green Bay Packers fared in Buchsbaum's ratings and those compiled by the magazine's editors since 2003.
One of my purposes was to see how others around the league have viewed Brett Favre's supporting cast over the past 15 seasons.
It was in 1993, after Favre's first season in Green Bay, that Buchsbaum began rating the top players in the game in addition to his position-by-position ratings. From 1993 through 1999, he rated the best players, anywhere from 20 to 50 in number. Starting in 2000, Buchsbaum rated the top 50 and the magazine has continued to so since.
Since 1993 here's where Favre rated among the best players in the game. Remember, the ratings were published before the season. Thus, the 1997 ratings, not 1996, would reflect Favre's standing after he won his only Super Bowl.
1993 - 33rd; 1994 - Not in top 20; 1995 - Not in top 21; 1996 - 10th; 1997 - 1st; 1998 - 2nd; 1999 - 1st; 2000 - 1st; 2001 - 12th; 2002 - 2nd; 2003 - 1st; 2004 - 31st; 2005 - 7th; 2006 - Not in top 50.
Four times in 14 years, Favre was rated the best player in the game. Four other times he was ranked in the top 10.
By comparison, over those 13 years, only eight of Favre's teammates were ever ranked among the best in the game.
Wide receiver Sterling Sharpe was ranked sixth in 1993 and eighth in '94. Defensive end Reggie White was ranked 9th in 1993, 13th in '94, 11th in '95, 12th in '96 and 24th in '97. Safety LeRoy Butler was rated 24th in 1998 and 9th in '99.
Running back Dorsey Levens was ranked 30th in 1998. Wide receiver Antonio Freeman was ranked 13th in 1999. Safety Darren Sharper was ranked 37th in 2001. Defensive end Joe Johnson was ranked 36th in 2002 before his first season in Green Bay.
Running back Ahman Green was ranked 28th in 2002 and '03, 12th in '04 and 24th in '05.
Favre also was ranked the best quarterback in the game six times and among the top five quarterbacks 11 times. By comparison, only three of Favre's teammates were ever ranked No. 1 at a position.
White was ranked the best defensive end in 1993; Butler, the best safety in '98 and '99; and Freeman, the best wide receiver in '99.
Here's a look at how the Packers finished in the position-by-position ratings.
Wide receiver - Sharpe was ranked second in 1992, '93 and '94. Robert Brooks ranked 10th and 13th in 1996 and '97. Freeman ranked 19th and 18th in '97 and '98 before being ranked No. 1 in '99. He dropped to 11th in 2000 and was never ranked again.
The only other receiver to be ranked in the top 20 was Javon Walker, at No. 12, in 2005.
Tight ends -- Mark Chmura was ranked in the top five - from third through fifth - four straight years from 1996-'99. Bubba Franks was ranked in the top 10 - from sixth through 10th - three straight years from 2003-'05. Jackie Harris was rated third in 1993 and second in '94. Keith Jackson was ranked 10th in 1995.
Tackles - Ken Ruettgers, Earl Dotson and Chad Clifton were each ranked in the top 10 at least once. Ruettgers placed 10th in 1996. Dotson finished eighth in 1997, ninth in '99 and 10th in 2000. Clifton was ranked ninth in 2004, eighth in '05 and fifth in '06. Ruettgers also finished in the top 20 four other times and Dotson twice.
Mark Tauscher has been ranked somewhere between 11th and 19th each year since 2002.
Guards - Rich Moran was ranked 10th in 1992; Harry Galbreath, eighth in '94; Mike Wahle, eighth in '02; and Marco Rivera, ninth in '04. Those were the only top 10 listings.
Moran also was ranked 14th in 1993; Galbreath, 16th in '95; Aaron Taylor, 18th and 17th in 1996 and '97; Rivera, 17th in '01; and Wahle, 12th in both '03 and '04.
Centers - Frank Winters was ranked in the top 10 four straight years from 1997-'00, but never higher than sixth. Mike Flanagan finished in the top 10 in 2003 and '04, but never higher than ninth.
Running backs -- Green has ranked seventh, seventh, fifth, fifth and eighth over the past five years. The only other running back to crack the top 10 was Dorsey Levens, sixth in 1998 and seventh in '00.
Fullbacks -- William Henderson ranked eighth in 1997 and '99; and 10th in 1998. Edgar Bennett ranked 10th in 1994. However, in some years, the fullbacks were ranked with the running backs.
Defensive ends - White was ranked first in 1993; and second in '94, '95, '96 and '97 before dropping to 19th in '98. Sean Jones finished eighth and 10th in 1994 and '95. Joe Johnson was ranked third and Vonnie Holliday, 10th, in 2002.
Holliday also placed in the top 20 from 1999-'01 and Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila in 2002, '03 and '05.
Defensive tackles - Gilbert Brown was eighth in 1997. Santana Dotson was 14th and 13th in 1997 and '98. Cletidus Hunt was 17th, 15th and 20th from 2003-'05. And Grady Jackson was 16th in 2005.
Middle linebacker - The Packers never had a middle linebacker rank in the top 10, but Brian Noble was 18th in 1992 and Johnny Holland was 13th in 1993 when the Packers were playing a 3-4 defense. As a footnote, middle and inside linebackers were ranked together.
Outside linebackers - Tony Bennett was listed 16th in 1992 and 14th in '93; Wayne Simmons, 16th in '96 and 17th in '97.
Cornerbacks - Terrell Buckley was 19th in 1993. Doug Evans was 20th and 13th in 1996 and '97. Craig Newsome was 20th and 17th in 1997 and '98. Mike McKenzie was 14th, 13th and 16th from 2002-'04. Al Harris was 19th and 12th in 2005 and '06.
Safeties - Butler finished in the top 10 seven times. He was first in 1998 and '99, fourth in '95, third in '97 and fifth in '00. Butler also finished 11th twice. That put him in the top 20 nine times in 12 seasons.
Darren Sharper was ranked second, fourth, fourth and third from 2001-'04.
Eugene Robinson was 19th in 1997.
Kickers - Chris Jacke ranked in the top 10 from 1992-'95. Ryan Longwell was in the top 10 in 2000 and '01.
Punters - Craig Hentrich ranked as high as second in 1999 and also placed in the top 10 in 1997 and '98.
Admittedly, those are a lot of numbers to digest. My apologies if there were too many.
But, in summary, what's most noteworthy?
Perhaps that in 15 years, Favre played with only five defensive players who ranked among the top 10 at their positions: White and Jones, Brown, and Butler and Sharper. Two defensive ends, a defensive tackle who made it once in a 10-year career and two safeties.
If you're looking for a reason why the Packers won only one Super Bowl in Favre's time that might be the place to start.
Top Tubs of lard
This week’s question was submitted by Martin Deutsch of the San Francisco Bay area: There have been many memorable tubs of lard in GBP history such as Leon Crenshaw and Morris Towns. If you had to pick an all-time tub of lard five-man squad, whom would you choose?
Although I wasn’t covering the team, I remember Leon Crenshaw well. As for Morris Towns, I don’t recall him ever being in the Packers’ camp. My suspicion is that you’re confusing him with Angelo Fields. Towns was an offensive tackle with the Houston Oilers from 1977-’83 and not too bad a player. Fields also played tackle for the Oilers from 1980-’81 before being traded to Green Bay.
Anyway, here would be my top five:
1) Royce Whittington – He was drafted by the Packers as a future in the 18th round in 1960 out of Southwestern Louisiana. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 265 pounds, he reported to camp in 1961 at 319 or 54 pounds overweight. He apparently thought he needed to beef up to play pro football. The night before practice started, Whittington stood on a scale with his curly hair slicked back – a Jimmy Dean do – and his short-sleeved, checkered shirt unbuttoned with his flab hanging over a belt that was holding up a pair of street pants. While former trainer Domenic Gentile was checking the scale, Vince Lombardi was peering from the doorway. The next morning, Whittington didn’t make it through the first practice. He was on his third lap around the practice field – running laps to start practice was a ritual back then – when Lombardi spotted him and screamed, “Out.†The story goes that Whittington pointed to himself as if to ask. “Me?†And Lombardi shouted back, “Yeah, you, out of here.†It was the shortest career of any draft choice in Packers’ history, at least as far as I know. As a footnote, Lee Remmel, who was covering the Packers for the Green Bay Press-Gazette at the time, said he hustled back to the newspaper and pulled the picture of Whittington before the day’s second edition.
2) Forrest “Chubby†Grigg – Listed at 6-2, 294, Grigg played in the old All-America Football Conference and two years in the NFL under Paul Brown in Cleveland. He went to camp with the Packers in 1952 and was cut. Former linebacker Deral Teteak told me that at halftime of an exhibition game at City Stadium, Grigg gave a water boy money to go buy six hot dogs. The water boy dutifully filled the order and Grigg hid in his locker devouring the hot dogs before the second half started. The late Tobin Rote once told me that Grigg would eat a light meal at the training table for overweight players then rush down to the bar and eat “a dozen hot dogs†and quaff “about eight or 10 beers†after dinner.
3) Angelo Fields – The Packers traded a third-round draft pick to Houston in 1982 to acquire Fields, who had been a backup there, although he started two games and a playoff game at the end of the 1980 season. When the Packers traded for Fields, he was listed at 6-6, 314. But the Oilers were said to have been fed up with Fields’ weight problems and peddled him for that reason. Coach Bart Starr praised Fields for his athletic ability and expected him to compete for the starting left tackle position. Fields injured his knee in camp and didn’t play a snap in 1982. However, in an exhibition game, he was in for no more than 10 plays, committed two holding penalties and was yanked from the field in the middle of a series. Anyway, while Fields was recuperating from his injury, he kept eating until he ballooned to close to 350 pounds. The Packers shipped him to the fat farm at Duke University where Fields dropped more than 50 pounds before camp started in 1983. Starr was so pleased that he brought Fields to his pre-camp press conference to show him off and praise him for his effort to lose weight. Six weeks later, Starr dumped Fields and criticized his attitude. In return for a third-round draft pick, the Packers wound up with a player who doesn’t even appear on their all-time roster.
4) Luis Hernandez – An 18th-round draft choice out of Texas-El Paso in 1963, Hernandez was a guard listed at 6-0, 245. I’m not sure what he reported at, but he lasted less than a week in camp and Lombardi apparently didn’t like his physique. Just prior to cutting him, Lombardi bellowed on the practice field, “Hernandez, you’re not only big and fat, you’re stupid.â€
5) Paul Hutchins – Drafted in the sixth round in 1993, Hutchins played in 16 games his second year and was ahead of Earl Dotson on the depth chart. In fact, the Packers gave Hutchins a signing bonus expecting him to be their starting right tackle in 1995. But Hutchins reported to camp at 381 pounds, if not more, injured his back and never played again. He essentially ate himself out of the league, but apparently not on a gourmet diet. Mark Chmura told sportswriter Bud Lea that Hutchins once rang up a $37 tab at Taco Bell after sneaking away from camp.
I’d put Crenshaw on my honorable mention list. He reported to his first camp in 1967 at 315 pounds, about 30 to 40 over his prescribed weight, but went on a crash diet and made an impression on Lombardi. The Packers farmed him out to the Lowell Giants, a minor league team, and brought him back in 1968. Crenshaw played 10 games that year as a defensive tackle, but was cut the next year.
The best of the Packers' drafts
This week’s question was submitted by Jeff Lenzen of Madison: If you had to rate the best Packer draft since you’ve been covering the team, what year would it be?
My fist year covering the team on a regular basis was 1974. In the years since, there have been 33 drafts.
This might surprise you, but I think the best of those 33 was the 1978 draft conducted by Bart Starr with input from Dick Corrick, his director of player personnel at the time. No. 1, the ‘78 draft produced a great player: Wide receiver James Lofton. He’s in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and might be the only player from those 33 drafts ever to make it. Linebacker John Anderson was another first-round pick that year and he played 12 years. Anderson was hampered by injuries early in his career, but wound up playing 146 games and was about as solid and steady as any defensive player in recent Packers’ history. If he had played with a better team and stayed healthy, I think he could have been another Jack Ham, a Hall of Famer for the Pittsburgh Steelers during their dynasty in the 1970s. The 1978 draft also produced Mike Douglass, another outside linebacker with some big-play ability, and Leotis Harris, an unsung guard who played six years. Douglass was drafted in the fifth round and Harris in the sixth. Cornerback Estus Hood, a third-round choice, was a much maligned player as a starter, but he lasted seven years.
Starr’s draft in 1977 was pretty good too. It produced two good starting defensive ends, Mike Butler and Ezra Johnson (both in the first round), and two good starting offensive linemen, Greg Koch (2nd round) and Derrel Gofourth (7th round). That draft also produced quarterback David Whitehurst (8th round).
If not the ’78 draft, three of Ron Wolf’s 10 drafts merit consideration. But not one of them produced a great player.
Here were the picks:
1993 - Wayne Simmons (1st), George Teague (1st), Earl Dotson (3rd), Mark Brunell (5th), Doug Evans (6th) and Bob Kuberski (7th). Probably the three best choices were Dotson, Evans and Brunell. Dotson and Evans started in Super Bowls XXXI and XXXII. Simmons also started in Super Bowl XXXI. Brunell never had a chance to play with the Packers and produced elsewhere.
1995 - Craig Newsome (1st), Darius Holland (3rd), William Henderson (3rd), Brian Williams (3rd), Antonio Freeman (3rd), Travis Jervey (5th) and Adam Timmerman (7th). That’s a draft that produced five Super Bowl starters: Newsome, Henderson, Williams, Freeman and Timmerman. Henderson, Freeman, Timmerman and even Jervey as a special teams pick played in Pro Bowls. But Henderson played a position where he didn’t have much impact. Neither Newsome nor Williams played more than 46 games for the Packers. And Timmerman’s best years were with the St. Louis Rams.
2000 - Bubba Franks (1st), Chad Clifton (2nd), Na’il Diggs (4th), Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (5th), Mark Tauscher (7th). Franks and KGB played in Pro Bowls. But the two best picks were Clifton and Tauscher, starters at offensive tackle since their rookie years.
I guess if I had to rate them, I’d go: 1) 1995. 2) 1993. 3) 2000. But I’d still take the ’78 draft over any of the three.
I think one could even make a case for the 1990 draft run by Tom Braatz. That draft produced LeRoy Butler in the second round and Bryce Paup in the sixth. Next to Lofton, Butler and Sterling Sharpe were the Packers’ two best picks over the past 33 years. And Paup was a Pro Bowl player as well. The first-round picks that year were Tony Bennett and Darrell Thompson. Bennett had some talent and registered a total of 26 ½ sacks in 1991 and ’92. And tight end Jackie Harris, a fourth-round pick, was another talented player who caught 97 passes in the 1992 and ’93 seasons. Again, I’m not so sure that the Packers didn’t obtain more quality in that draft than they did in any of Wolf’s drafts.
But the best Packers’ draft of all time?
Those both occurred before I started covering the team.
The best was 1958. First-round pick Dan Currie and fourth-round pick Jerry Kramer were Pro Bowl players; and second-round pick Jim Taylor and third-round pick Ray Nitschke were Hall of Famers. Guard Ken Gray, a sixth-round pick, was cut in training camp and became a perennial all-pro with the St. Louis Cardinals.
And the next best draft was 1956. It also produced two Hall of Famers, second-round choice Forrest Gregg and 17th-round pick Bart Starr; and two captains and solid starters during the Vince Lombardi era, fifth-round pick Bob Skoronski and seventh-round pick Hank Gremminger.
Lisle Blackbourn was the coach and Jack Vainisi was the talent scout for the 1956 draft and the first four rounds of the ’58 draft. Blackbourn was fired before the draft was completed in January, 1958.
Talent around Favre explains team's success (or lack of)
Green Bay - In advance of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection meeting, the good people of Pro Football Weekly allowed me to come to their offices last week to research the late Joel Buchsbaum's ratings of NFL players.
Buchsbaum, who lived in Brooklyn, started rating draft prospects for PFW in 1978 and, soon thereafter, also started rating veteran players. In short time, he established sources across the league and probably was better connected with NFL coaches and personnel people than any member of the media. His ratings were generally viewed as a consensus of thought from around the league.
Bill Belichick has said that he attempted to hire Buchsbaum any number of times.
Buchsbaum died four years ago at age 48, but Pro Football Weekly has continued to publish annual ratings in the years since with assistance from general managers, coaches and scouts.
Anyway, the magazine's ratings are probably as credible as anyone's outside the NFL. And after completing my research on this year's Hall of Fame candidates, I spent time researching how the Green Bay Packers fared in Buchsbaum's ratings and those compiled by the magazine's editors since 2003.
One of my purposes was to see how others around the league have viewed Brett Favre's supporting cast over the past 15 seasons.
It was in 1993, after Favre's first season in Green Bay, that Buchsbaum began rating the top players in the game in addition to his position-by-position ratings. From 1993 through 1999, he rated the best players, anywhere from 20 to 50 in number. Starting in 2000, Buchsbaum rated the top 50 and the magazine has continued to so since.
Since 1993 here's where Favre rated among the best players in the game. Remember, the ratings were published before the season. Thus, the 1997 ratings, not 1996, would reflect Favre's standing after he won his only Super Bowl.
1993 - 33rd; 1994 - Not in top 20; 1995 - Not in top 21; 1996 - 10th; 1997 - 1st; 1998 - 2nd; 1999 - 1st; 2000 - 1st; 2001 - 12th; 2002 - 2nd; 2003 - 1st; 2004 - 31st; 2005 - 7th; 2006 - Not in top 50.
Four times in 14 years, Favre was rated the best player in the game. Four other times he was ranked in the top 10.
By comparison, over those 13 years, only eight of Favre's teammates were ever ranked among the best in the game.
Wide receiver Sterling Sharpe was ranked sixth in 1993 and eighth in '94. Defensive end Reggie White was ranked 9th in 1993, 13th in '94, 11th in '95, 12th in '96 and 24th in '97. Safety LeRoy Butler was rated 24th in 1998 and 9th in '99.
Running back Dorsey Levens was ranked 30th in 1998. Wide receiver Antonio Freeman was ranked 13th in 1999. Safety Darren Sharper was ranked 37th in 2001. Defensive end Joe Johnson was ranked 36th in 2002 before his first season in Green Bay.
Running back Ahman Green was ranked 28th in 2002 and '03, 12th in '04 and 24th in '05.
Favre also was ranked the best quarterback in the game six times and among the top five quarterbacks 11 times. By comparison, only three of Favre's teammates were ever ranked No. 1 at a position.
White was ranked the best defensive end in 1993; Butler, the best safety in '98 and '99; and Freeman, the best wide receiver in '99.
Here's a look at how the Packers finished in the position-by-position ratings.
Wide receiver - Sharpe was ranked second in 1992, '93 and '94. Robert Brooks ranked 10th and 13th in 1996 and '97. Freeman ranked 19th and 18th in '97 and '98 before being ranked No. 1 in '99. He dropped to 11th in 2000 and was never ranked again.
The only other receiver to be ranked in the top 20 was Javon Walker, at No. 12, in 2005.
Tight ends -- Mark Chmura was ranked in the top five - from third through fifth - four straight years from 1996-'99. Bubba Franks was ranked in the top 10 - from sixth through 10th - three straight years from 2003-'05. Jackie Harris was rated third in 1993 and second in '94. Keith Jackson was ranked 10th in 1995.
Tackles - Ken Ruettgers, Earl Dotson and Chad Clifton were each ranked in the top 10 at least once. Ruettgers placed 10th in 1996. Dotson finished eighth in 1997, ninth in '99 and 10th in 2000. Clifton was ranked ninth in 2004, eighth in '05 and fifth in '06. Ruettgers also finished in the top 20 four other times and Dotson twice.
Mark Tauscher has been ranked somewhere between 11th and 19th each year since 2002.
Guards - Rich Moran was ranked 10th in 1992; Harry Galbreath, eighth in '94; Mike Wahle, eighth in '02; and Marco Rivera, ninth in '04. Those were the only top 10 listings.
Moran also was ranked 14th in 1993; Galbreath, 16th in '95; Aaron Taylor, 18th and 17th in 1996 and '97; Rivera, 17th in '01; and Wahle, 12th in both '03 and '04.
Centers - Frank Winters was ranked in the top 10 four straight years from 1997-'00, but never higher than sixth. Mike Flanagan finished in the top 10 in 2003 and '04, but never higher than ninth.
Running backs -- Green has ranked seventh, seventh, fifth, fifth and eighth over the past five years. The only other running back to crack the top 10 was Dorsey Levens, sixth in 1998 and seventh in '00.
Fullbacks -- William Henderson ranked eighth in 1997 and '99; and 10th in 1998. Edgar Bennett ranked 10th in 1994. However, in some years, the fullbacks were ranked with the running backs.
Defensive ends - White was ranked first in 1993; and second in '94, '95, '96 and '97 before dropping to 19th in '98. Sean Jones finished eighth and 10th in 1994 and '95. Joe Johnson was ranked third and Vonnie Holliday, 10th, in 2002.
Holliday also placed in the top 20 from 1999-'01 and Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila in 2002, '03 and '05.
Defensive tackles - Gilbert Brown was eighth in 1997. Santana Dotson was 14th and 13th in 1997 and '98. Cletidus Hunt was 17th, 15th and 20th from 2003-'05. And Grady Jackson was 16th in 2005.
Middle linebacker - The Packers never had a middle linebacker rank in the top 10, but Brian Noble was 18th in 1992 and Johnny Holland was 13th in 1993 when the Packers were playing a 3-4 defense. As a footnote, middle and inside linebackers were ranked together.
Outside linebackers - Tony Bennett was listed 16th in 1992 and 14th in '93; Wayne Simmons, 16th in '96 and 17th in '97.
Cornerbacks - Terrell Buckley was 19th in 1993. Doug Evans was 20th and 13th in 1996 and '97. Craig Newsome was 20th and 17th in 1997 and '98. Mike McKenzie was 14th, 13th and 16th from 2002-'04. Al Harris was 19th and 12th in 2005 and '06.
Safeties - Butler finished in the top 10 seven times. He was first in 1998 and '99, fourth in '95, third in '97 and fifth in '00. Butler also finished 11th twice. That put him in the top 20 nine times in 12 seasons.
Darren Sharper was ranked second, fourth, fourth and third from 2001-'04.
Eugene Robinson was 19th in 1997.
Kickers - Chris Jacke ranked in the top 10 from 1992-'95. Ryan Longwell was in the top 10 in 2000 and '01.
Punters - Craig Hentrich ranked as high as second in 1999 and also placed in the top 10 in 1997 and '98.
Admittedly, those are a lot of numbers to digest. My apologies if there were too many.
But, in summary, what's most noteworthy?
Perhaps that in 15 years, Favre played with only five defensive players who ranked among the top 10 at their positions: White and Jones, Brown, and Butler and Sharper. Two defensive ends, a defensive tackle who made it once in a 10-year career and two safeties.
If you're looking for a reason why the Packers won only one Super Bowl in Favre's time that might be the place to start.
Top Tubs of lard
This week’s question was submitted by Martin Deutsch of the San Francisco Bay area: There have been many memorable tubs of lard in GBP history such as Leon Crenshaw and Morris Towns. If you had to pick an all-time tub of lard five-man squad, whom would you choose?
Although I wasn’t covering the team, I remember Leon Crenshaw well. As for Morris Towns, I don’t recall him ever being in the Packers’ camp. My suspicion is that you’re confusing him with Angelo Fields. Towns was an offensive tackle with the Houston Oilers from 1977-’83 and not too bad a player. Fields also played tackle for the Oilers from 1980-’81 before being traded to Green Bay.
Anyway, here would be my top five:
1) Royce Whittington – He was drafted by the Packers as a future in the 18th round in 1960 out of Southwestern Louisiana. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 265 pounds, he reported to camp in 1961 at 319 or 54 pounds overweight. He apparently thought he needed to beef up to play pro football. The night before practice started, Whittington stood on a scale with his curly hair slicked back – a Jimmy Dean do – and his short-sleeved, checkered shirt unbuttoned with his flab hanging over a belt that was holding up a pair of street pants. While former trainer Domenic Gentile was checking the scale, Vince Lombardi was peering from the doorway. The next morning, Whittington didn’t make it through the first practice. He was on his third lap around the practice field – running laps to start practice was a ritual back then – when Lombardi spotted him and screamed, “Out.†The story goes that Whittington pointed to himself as if to ask. “Me?†And Lombardi shouted back, “Yeah, you, out of here.†It was the shortest career of any draft choice in Packers’ history, at least as far as I know. As a footnote, Lee Remmel, who was covering the Packers for the Green Bay Press-Gazette at the time, said he hustled back to the newspaper and pulled the picture of Whittington before the day’s second edition.
2) Forrest “Chubby†Grigg – Listed at 6-2, 294, Grigg played in the old All-America Football Conference and two years in the NFL under Paul Brown in Cleveland. He went to camp with the Packers in 1952 and was cut. Former linebacker Deral Teteak told me that at halftime of an exhibition game at City Stadium, Grigg gave a water boy money to go buy six hot dogs. The water boy dutifully filled the order and Grigg hid in his locker devouring the hot dogs before the second half started. The late Tobin Rote once told me that Grigg would eat a light meal at the training table for overweight players then rush down to the bar and eat “a dozen hot dogs†and quaff “about eight or 10 beers†after dinner.
3) Angelo Fields – The Packers traded a third-round draft pick to Houston in 1982 to acquire Fields, who had been a backup there, although he started two games and a playoff game at the end of the 1980 season. When the Packers traded for Fields, he was listed at 6-6, 314. But the Oilers were said to have been fed up with Fields’ weight problems and peddled him for that reason. Coach Bart Starr praised Fields for his athletic ability and expected him to compete for the starting left tackle position. Fields injured his knee in camp and didn’t play a snap in 1982. However, in an exhibition game, he was in for no more than 10 plays, committed two holding penalties and was yanked from the field in the middle of a series. Anyway, while Fields was recuperating from his injury, he kept eating until he ballooned to close to 350 pounds. The Packers shipped him to the fat farm at Duke University where Fields dropped more than 50 pounds before camp started in 1983. Starr was so pleased that he brought Fields to his pre-camp press conference to show him off and praise him for his effort to lose weight. Six weeks later, Starr dumped Fields and criticized his attitude. In return for a third-round draft pick, the Packers wound up with a player who doesn’t even appear on their all-time roster.
4) Luis Hernandez – An 18th-round draft choice out of Texas-El Paso in 1963, Hernandez was a guard listed at 6-0, 245. I’m not sure what he reported at, but he lasted less than a week in camp and Lombardi apparently didn’t like his physique. Just prior to cutting him, Lombardi bellowed on the practice field, “Hernandez, you’re not only big and fat, you’re stupid.â€
5) Paul Hutchins – Drafted in the sixth round in 1993, Hutchins played in 16 games his second year and was ahead of Earl Dotson on the depth chart. In fact, the Packers gave Hutchins a signing bonus expecting him to be their starting right tackle in 1995. But Hutchins reported to camp at 381 pounds, if not more, injured his back and never played again. He essentially ate himself out of the league, but apparently not on a gourmet diet. Mark Chmura told sportswriter Bud Lea that Hutchins once rang up a $37 tab at Taco Bell after sneaking away from camp.
I’d put Crenshaw on my honorable mention list. He reported to his first camp in 1967 at 315 pounds, about 30 to 40 over his prescribed weight, but went on a crash diet and made an impression on Lombardi. The Packers farmed him out to the Lowell Giants, a minor league team, and brought him back in 1968. Crenshaw played 10 games that year as a defensive tackle, but was cut the next year.
The best of the Packers' drafts
This week’s question was submitted by Jeff Lenzen of Madison: If you had to rate the best Packer draft since you’ve been covering the team, what year would it be?
My fist year covering the team on a regular basis was 1974. In the years since, there have been 33 drafts.
This might surprise you, but I think the best of those 33 was the 1978 draft conducted by Bart Starr with input from Dick Corrick, his director of player personnel at the time. No. 1, the ‘78 draft produced a great player: Wide receiver James Lofton. He’s in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and might be the only player from those 33 drafts ever to make it. Linebacker John Anderson was another first-round pick that year and he played 12 years. Anderson was hampered by injuries early in his career, but wound up playing 146 games and was about as solid and steady as any defensive player in recent Packers’ history. If he had played with a better team and stayed healthy, I think he could have been another Jack Ham, a Hall of Famer for the Pittsburgh Steelers during their dynasty in the 1970s. The 1978 draft also produced Mike Douglass, another outside linebacker with some big-play ability, and Leotis Harris, an unsung guard who played six years. Douglass was drafted in the fifth round and Harris in the sixth. Cornerback Estus Hood, a third-round choice, was a much maligned player as a starter, but he lasted seven years.
Starr’s draft in 1977 was pretty good too. It produced two good starting defensive ends, Mike Butler and Ezra Johnson (both in the first round), and two good starting offensive linemen, Greg Koch (2nd round) and Derrel Gofourth (7th round). That draft also produced quarterback David Whitehurst (8th round).
If not the ’78 draft, three of Ron Wolf’s 10 drafts merit consideration. But not one of them produced a great player.
Here were the picks:
1993 - Wayne Simmons (1st), George Teague (1st), Earl Dotson (3rd), Mark Brunell (5th), Doug Evans (6th) and Bob Kuberski (7th). Probably the three best choices were Dotson, Evans and Brunell. Dotson and Evans started in Super Bowls XXXI and XXXII. Simmons also started in Super Bowl XXXI. Brunell never had a chance to play with the Packers and produced elsewhere.
1995 - Craig Newsome (1st), Darius Holland (3rd), William Henderson (3rd), Brian Williams (3rd), Antonio Freeman (3rd), Travis Jervey (5th) and Adam Timmerman (7th). That’s a draft that produced five Super Bowl starters: Newsome, Henderson, Williams, Freeman and Timmerman. Henderson, Freeman, Timmerman and even Jervey as a special teams pick played in Pro Bowls. But Henderson played a position where he didn’t have much impact. Neither Newsome nor Williams played more than 46 games for the Packers. And Timmerman’s best years were with the St. Louis Rams.
2000 - Bubba Franks (1st), Chad Clifton (2nd), Na’il Diggs (4th), Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (5th), Mark Tauscher (7th). Franks and KGB played in Pro Bowls. But the two best picks were Clifton and Tauscher, starters at offensive tackle since their rookie years.
I guess if I had to rate them, I’d go: 1) 1995. 2) 1993. 3) 2000. But I’d still take the ’78 draft over any of the three.
I think one could even make a case for the 1990 draft run by Tom Braatz. That draft produced LeRoy Butler in the second round and Bryce Paup in the sixth. Next to Lofton, Butler and Sterling Sharpe were the Packers’ two best picks over the past 33 years. And Paup was a Pro Bowl player as well. The first-round picks that year were Tony Bennett and Darrell Thompson. Bennett had some talent and registered a total of 26 ½ sacks in 1991 and ’92. And tight end Jackie Harris, a fourth-round pick, was another talented player who caught 97 passes in the 1992 and ’93 seasons. Again, I’m not so sure that the Packers didn’t obtain more quality in that draft than they did in any of Wolf’s drafts.
But the best Packers’ draft of all time?
Those both occurred before I started covering the team.
The best was 1958. First-round pick Dan Currie and fourth-round pick Jerry Kramer were Pro Bowl players; and second-round pick Jim Taylor and third-round pick Ray Nitschke were Hall of Famers. Guard Ken Gray, a sixth-round pick, was cut in training camp and became a perennial all-pro with the St. Louis Cardinals.
And the next best draft was 1956. It also produced two Hall of Famers, second-round choice Forrest Gregg and 17th-round pick Bart Starr; and two captains and solid starters during the Vince Lombardi era, fifth-round pick Bob Skoronski and seventh-round pick Hank Gremminger.
Lisle Blackbourn was the coach and Jack Vainisi was the talent scout for the 1956 draft and the first four rounds of the ’58 draft. Blackbourn was fired before the draft was completed in January, 1958.