Packers' lack of moves keep Favre unhappy
John Czarnecki / FOXSports.com
Does Brett Favre really believe Ted Thompson is going to alter his approach?
Does he think waiting another day or another month to make a decision on his future means the Green Bay Packers are going to sign enough free agents to make him happy?
Favre should smell the coffee.
Thompson, now in his second season as general manager of the Packers, believes in rebuilding the Packers via the draft. Plus, Green Bay's roster is a shell of its glory seasons in the 1990s.
"For the last few seasons, we've still been working off Ron Wolf's old roster," one Packer executive told me this week. "Ted's style is very deliberate. He wants to build by drafting solid players."
Favre said he wouldn't tell the Packers this weekend whether or not he plans to play in his 15th season. He wants to see if Thompson can put together a competitive team to his liking. Thompson hasn't made a big splash, and he won't.
For the past month, Favre has been watching the transaction wires, and the Packers have passed on such top receivers as Terrell Owens, David Givens, Antwaan Randle El, Nate Burleson, Eric Moulds and Joe Jurevicius. Any of those players would have helped the Packers.
Green Bay needs a versatile running back, considering the injuries to Ahman Green, but they had no interest in one of the NFL's very best, Edgerrin James. The lowly Arizona Cardinals paid James, and now they are rated as possibly the second-best team in the NFC West next to the Seattle Seahawks.
Green Bay had the salary-cap space to sign James and even T.O. or Givens. And surely Moulds was worth a mid-round draft choice. They could have made all of those moves and still had money left over under the $102 million salary cap.
But that is not how Thompson does business. He is not going to spend freely in free agency. In fact, he isn't even prepared to make injured receiver Javon Walker happy. Walker wants a new contract or wants to be traded. Neither will happen, though Walker is Favre's favorite target when healthy. Who knows if Walker will even show for training camp?
The difference between Thompson and Wolf is that the latter utilized the draft, as well as trades and free agency. The Packers of the 1990s, who won one and lost one Super Bowl, were centered around two bold Wolf moves: trading for Favre and signing Philadelphia's Reggie White to the richest free-agency contract at the time.
Wolf also signed such productive free agents as tight end Keith Jackson, defensive end Sean Jones, receiver Andre Rison, receiver Don Beebe, returner Desmond Howard, defensive end Santana Dotson and kicker Ryan Longwell.
Favre, like a lot of Green Bay fans, longs for the good, ol' days. Well, with Thompson, the good, ol' days are a couple seasons away.
If Favre wants to continue playing, he must realize that the Packers are looking toward the future, not this season.
