An unbiased look at Thompson's job.

[PackerBlues]

Let me start off by saying, I am not trying to bash Thompson, or start an argument. While I am upset with the changes our team has gone through, and how slowly it is coming together, I admit that in a few more years, we will have a young and talented football team, that may well be dominating for years to come thereafter.


That being said, we have seen Thompson trade down to acquire more draft picks. It's sort of like a lottery, the more players he gets, the better chance he has of hitting on some talent to improve the team. That sums up his drafting technique. (other than "taking the best player available")

We also seem to see a trend with Thompson for his method of filling the holes in our roster that have not been addressed with his draft picks. When it comes to free agency and trades, I see 4 major criteria points that Thompson goes for.

1) The Player must be young.
2) The player must have potential, yet be unproven.
3) It must be a player that nobody else has ever heard of.(usually)
4) The player has to be very very very inexpensive to pick up.
(Yes, the one exception would be Woodson, a somewhat risky pick up that paid off in a great way)


After that, we have seen that Thompson has no qualms about going into the regular season with rookies and unproven players. We saw it in 2005 with the O-line after Thompson was quoted as saying "guards are a dime a dozen in the NFL", and we see it again this year with our WR and RB positions.

The "sink or swim" approach to determine a players ability to play at an NFL level, seems to be Thompson's method of finding starters out of all of his pick ups. He throws a bunch of rookies on the field, and lets them battle it out for the starting position. This method is a lot faster than trying to bring guys up slowly over time, and it makes Ted's job a lot easier. The team as a whole suffers for it in the short term though. I can only imagine what guys like Donald Driver must think, after having sat on the practice squad, and biding his time learning the position, and waiting for his chance to shine. For him and many like him to have to go into a regular season game with a bunch of unproven talent, it has to come off like a slap in the face. Knowing how much work he himself put in, while playing with guys who may not even belong on the same field as him.

The WR position is not bad itself though. Driver is our #1 guy, and him and Favre have trust in each other. Jennings has a full year under his belt, (minus time off for injuries), and can only be improved over last year. Jones looks to be a great upgrade from Ferguson, but just like with Martin and Holiday, we should expect to see some mistakes made. No knock against their talent, just a simple fact that they are still learning.

I myself cannot forgive Thompson's "RB by committee" idea. It reaked of the same mentality as "guards are a dime a dozen in the NFL." Many of us have been wanting to see a major upgrade at the position ever since Thompson let Green go. Instead, we have spent all this time since the departure of Green, being frustrated by the thought of going into the season with Morency, Herron, and Jackson. Now, we would probably see that as a luxury as opposed to what we now have. Now, we see our beloved Packers going into their first regular season game with Morency coming back from an injury, Herron on IR, and then what? Nothing to be excited or happy about, that is for sure.

Many of us have been pointing out that the RB position needed improving since the departure of Green, while getting blasted for saying it. In much the same way we complained about our O-line in 2005. It took two years to get our O-line to where it is now, and yet it is still questionable......improved since then, but questionable. Just as questionable as Thompson's statements that he would rather win now. A short time ago, one of the loyal Thompson supporters was mouthing off about how funny it was going to be comparing our running game to the Texans. The Texans have Green, Gado, and Ron Dayne. I do not think there will be anything to laugh at when comparing our running game to the Texans this year......... I think we may all end up feeling a bit of envy.


Not long from now, Favre will be retired. Our team will be young, but with experience. We will hopefully find ourselves with viable replacements for the old guys that we now have on our roster. Favre will be replaced by Rogers, and I am sure that Rogers will do fine. Our biggest worries will be at CB, and OT. By the time that Woodson, Harris, Taucsher, and Clifton are ready to leave though, I am sure Thompson will have found guys who can swim to replace them. We should all thank Thompson for providing us with something to look forward to in the future. A lot of you have been concentrating on that thought and I envy you for your ability to do so. I myself am still upset about the now, and have a hard time getting over how much better this team may have been this year with a couple of key free agent pick ups.

In the end, I think perhaps that is the biggest difference between those of us who question Thompson's every move, and those that support him openly. Some are willing to wait for that winning Packer team, and some of us are perhaps a little to impatient. We all want the same thing though, and that is what really counts.

[cheesner]

Let me start off by saying, I am not trying to bash Thompson, or start an argument. While I am upset with the changes our team has gone through, and how slowly it is coming together, I admit that in a few more years, we will have a young and talented football team, that may well be dominating for years to come thereafter.


That being said, we have seen Thompson trade down to acquire more draft picks. It's sort of like a lottery, the more players he gets, the better chance he has of hitting on some talent to improve the team. That sums up his drafting technique. (other than "taking the best player available")

We also seem to see a trend with Thompson for his method of filling the holes in our roster that have not been addressed with his draft picks. When it comes to free agency and trades, I see 4 major criteria points that Thompson goes for.

1) The Player must be young.
2) The player must have potential, yet be unproven.
3) It must be a player that nobody else has ever heard of.(usually)
4) The player has to be very very very inexpensive to pick up.
(Yes, the one exception would be Woodson, a somewhat risky pick up that paid off in a great way)

The title of the thread and the identity of the poster has given me quite a laugh this morning. Thanks.

I'll just address one issue:

Woodson is not the only 'exception'. What about Pickett? A former #1 draft choice, who was ranked highly as an available FA. Or how about Manuel? Yes, we could have done without him, but he was the starter on a SB team and played quite well. I don't see the 'haven't heard of' trend.

[Bretsky]

Yes, when I must admit when I saw unbiased and PB I was a bit concerned. But you make some good points in here. I'm very impatient and want it now and that helps formulate my view.

[RashanGary]

A lot of good points. This team is much stronger overall than the 2005 team so we're not counting on the RB comittee nearly as much as we counted on the OG's in 05.


Carroll, Robert Thomas, Paris Lennon, Kampman (not near the player he is now) C Williams (not nearly the player he is now), Barnett (Even he wasn't as good as he is now), Roman, Whittaker, Klemm, Wells (not the player he is now), Ferguson, Andre Thurmon, Antoio Chatman, Whoever that shitty punter was, Donnell Washington, C Hunt, ect. . . . .

This team is a very different team that the one of yesteryear. I can understand the RB angst, esspecially after experienceing 2005 but there are a lot of surrounding circumstances that make this situation very different. While I disagree to an extent on how bad it will be, I can defititly see where you are coming from with the RB doubt and teh post Favre doubt. I might be high on koolaid crack though, SOV may have accurately pin pointed me

[Bretsky]

Kool Aide Crack Man ?

[Rastak]

Kool Aide Crack Man ?

It's Krack with a "K"......JH leads the Krowd. LOL....

[Packnut]

Thompson has made a bunch of solid moves and a few good to great ones.
Where I differ is that he could have done even better. I fail to comprehend those who out of blind ignorance let Teddy off on his blunders or refuse to even consider their guy screwed up or failed to deliver and are willing to make excuses for it.

I'm sorry, but I hold the GM of the greatest football organization the world has ever seen to being responsible and good enough to give us the best team possible.


I believe Thompson has one fatal flaw and if he can correct it, he can be an outstanding GM. He has to check that massive ego at the door. This "I'm smarter than anyone else attitude" is holding us back right now. Harrell was an ego pick plain and simple. DL is not a position of need and at this point in time, it was not a good pick, not in terms of talent or potential, but in terms of what the GB Packers need.

His failure to understand the importance of the skill position of RB is brutal. If it was so easy to use the "plug and play" approach, every GM in the NFL would be doing it. There is a reason that since time began, (football time), GM's devote a large chunk of their payroll to the RB position.

Everyone of us knew we needed a replacement for Green. Thompson should have done whatever he had to do and if that included sacrificing draft picks, so be it. He should have made a trade with-in the last 2 drafts and found a Jones-Drew or one of the other backs. Now those of you who claim he did make an effort by drafting Jackson are wrong. I like Jackson, but anyone who watched Nebraska football last season knew Marlon Lucky was a much better back. It was a flaw in the Nebraska coaches that they did'nt realize it until later in the season.

[Scott Campbell]

Many of us have been pointing out that the RB position needed improving since the departure of Green, while getting blasted for saying it.

I don't remember anyone getting blasted for saying that - especially the way you say it here. I think nearly everyone agrees. People were getting blasted for saying Thompson is stupid, or Thompson did this because of his ego, or Thompson is did this to send Brett a message to retire.

[PackerBlues]

Many of us have been pointing out that the RB position needed improving since the departure of Green, while getting blasted for saying it.

I don't remember anyone getting blasted for saying that - especially the way you say it here. I think nearly everyone agrees. People were getting blasted for saying Thompson is stupid, or Thompson did this because of his ego, or Thompson is did this to send Brett a message to retire.

Yeah, I forget that some people only pick out the part of a post they don't like, and blast a person for that part of the post, and not critique on the entirety.

Irregardless, numerous times, people have mentioned that losing Green was HUGE and were expecting a viable replacement. Instead we end up with a group of guys who altogether (by committee?) couldn't lift Green's Jock strap.

After seeing the mess we have now, was Green really to expensive to keep? Should the Packers have spent the money in Free Agency to get a proven veteran for the RB position? Perhaps say, someone who has played the position in the NFL and shown the ability to handle the work load for the entire season?

I can understand saying that the TE position couldn't be upgraded because there simply were not any TE's available that were any better than what we had. However, for anyone to claim that there were no RB's available better than what we ended up with since the departure of Green.......... that goes beyond laughable and into idiocy.

[RashanGary]

Let's see how it plays out before we jump off a cliff. The oline should be a good notch better than last year and Jackson looks like he has a chance. There are a couple rookie RB's that get near 1,000 yards every year. It's just a position that guys can play well sooner.

Also, Ryan Grant was toted as a good player in NY. They had Tiki Barber for the last couple years so they know what a decent back should look like. He might suprise us and be a player. He's big, strong, fast. . . He might just need a chance.

We'll see how it goes. It's a tough situation made tougher by injuries but we ahve to let this thing play out before we start using words like idiocy to describe it.

[Scott Campbell]

Yeah, I forget that some people only pick out the part of a post they don't like, and blast a person for that part of the post, and not critique on the entirety.

Some people? There are lots of us that do this. We pick out the items that we disagree with, or are factually incorrect and comment on them. I don't think there is anything wrong with that practice, and it's not against any rules.

For instance:

I see 4 major criteria points that Thompson goes for.

1) The Player must be young.
2) The player must have potential, yet be unproven.
..........

You use the word "must". I think the word "should" would be more accurate because of the Woodson signing. It's not like I disagree with everything you say. But a subtle difference in the choice of words can significantly skew your intended meaning.

[wist43]

Many of us have been pointing out that the RB position needed improving since the departure of Green, while getting blasted for saying it.

I don't remember anyone getting blasted for saying that - especially the way you say it here. I think nearly everyone agrees. People were getting blasted for saying Thompson is stupid, or Thompson did this because of his ego, or Thompson is did this to send Brett a message to retire.

Yeah, I forget that some people only pick out the part of a post they don't like, and blast a person for that part of the post, and not critique on the entirety.

Irregardless, numerous times, people have mentioned that losing Green...

Like "Irregardless"??? Which isn't a word...

[falco]

Many of us have been pointing out that the RB position needed improving since the departure of Green, while getting blasted for saying it.

I don't remember anyone getting blasted for saying that - especially the way you say it here. I think nearly everyone agrees. People were getting blasted for saying Thompson is stupid, or Thompson did this because of his ego, or Thompson is did this to send Brett a message to retire.

Yeah, I forget that some people only pick out the part of a post they don't like, and blast a person for that part of the post, and not critique on the entirety.

Irregardless, numerous times, people have mentioned that losing Green...

Like "Irregardless"??? Which isn't a word...

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Main Entry: ir·re·gard·less
Pronunciation: "ir-i-'gärd-l&s
Function: adverb
Etymology: probably blend of irrespective and regardless
nonstandard : REGARDLESS
usage Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that "there is no such word." There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

[Scott Campbell]

Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

I think this was the operative portion of the entry Falco.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I don't know one way or the other, but is this a word that was added to the dictionary because it's used in spoken word a lot? It's happened a lot. They even put slang terms in many dictionaries now.

If I looked at a dictionary from 200 years ago, would this word be in it?

I love how they add words because people incorrectly use them in spoken word.

[falco]

Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

I think this was the operative portion of the entry Falco.

Agreed. But for some reason the other part looked better in bold.

[falco]

I don't know one way or the other, but is this a word that was added to the dictionary because it's used in spoken word a lot? It's happened a lot. They even put slang terms in many dictionaries now.

If I looked at a dictionary from 200 years ago, would this word be in it?

I love how they add words because people incorrectly use them in spoken word.

I remember three or four years ago, the word "doh" and the phrase "my bad" were both added to the dictionary because of their common usage. Language certainly evolves.

[Deputy Nutz]

Everyone will always have something to bitch about. If it isn't the running back situation it is the tight end position, and before that it was the defense, and before that it was the offensive line.

Building a team isn't like playing fantasy football or Madden.

Blah blah blah, no matter how you want to cover it or paint it, it is the same fucking story with Packerblues. Blah Blah Blah.

What about the defensive line? On Paper, and lets face it thats all we have to look at right now regardless of position, the Packers have one of the strongest d-lines in the game. You can ask any NFL personal in the game and they will tell you that a solid defensive line from top to bottom is the key to a strong defense and also a key cog to your football team.

What about Linebacker? agreed that the unit lacks depth, but the Packers had scraps at that position three years ago and Thompson has rebuilt the position to one of the tops in the league.

Aaron Rodgers was one of the most hated draft picks that I can remember, he is still a back up until Favre retires but he has improved and very few are now grumbling about Favre's replacement.

The secondary was weakened in 2005 and the Packers only had one starting caliber player in Al Harris and up and coming rookie Nick Collins. The Packers still have a ? at safety but Thompson did something that very few thought he was going to do and that was to go out and sign Chuck Woodson. Now some of you scoff at that signing, but he went out payed big buck for a player that has produced. He cut Ahmad Carroll and got rid of the dead weight.

The offensive line was a shell when Thompson allowed Wahle and Rivera go to free agency, and replaced them with walk throughs, but he spent a number of high picks in order to straighten out the line and although young, the line is on the upswing to being on the top line in the league.

Thompson had contact issues with Walker but took a stand and went after young high draft picks to try to solidify the depth at receiver behind Driver. Driver has been rewarded two years in a row for his hard work. Thompson has spent three first day picks the last three years on receivers along with a number of others in the second day. He brought in troubled but yet dynamic receiver in Koren Robinson, but his suspension kept him from contributing for the Packers.

now the two positions that Thompson is currently working to improve, Tight End and Running back.

Thompson, a two years ago gave Franks a huge contract. Money speaks, it is tough to look at that contract and release Franks knowing the cap hit your going to take. Donald Lee has been up and down in Green Bay, but yet Thompson has not used significant draft picks or free agents to improve this position. And yes other than Franks remarkable turn around in Pre-season many in the media and fans of the organization are still scratching our heads at what Thompson was thinking for this position in 2007. If this position hurts this team in 2007 Ted Thompson will be held directly responsible.

Running back Ted Thompson believes that Vernand Morency is a capable starter in the NFL, but realized that he may not be an every down work horse type back, and he entered the draft and spent a 2nd round pick on Brandon Jackson, and a 7th rounder on Wynn. Thompson did not seek any veteran players to compete with the younger backs. Regardless of what some think, Thompson has addressed the loss of Green, with younger talent, although unproven at this point. Running back is important position, but many teams have decided to go with younger talent rather than the more expensive veteran free agents. The Colts in 2006 made a decision to allow Edgrin James go who was the most productive back in the NFL, and go with a younger draft pick as his replacement. It is now common practice, and Green's time in Green Bay was up. The bottom line is that Thompson has had to deal with injuries to two out of his top three backs, and he has made adjustments with a trade and a waiver wire pickup, as I said earlier these moves weren't breakthrough deals but deals that needed to be done to stabilize the roster.

[PackerBlues]

OK then, regardless as to whether or not irregardless is a word......

numerous times, people have mentioned that losing Green was HUGE and were expecting a viable replacement. Instead we end up with a group of guys who altogether (by committee?) couldn't lift Green's Jock strap.

After seeing the mess we have now, was Green really to expensive to keep? Should the Packers have spent the money in Free Agency to get a proven veteran for the RB position? Perhaps say, someone who has played the position in the NFL and shown the ability to handle the work load for the entire season?

I can understand saying that the TE position couldn't be upgraded because there simply were not any TE's available that were any better than what we had. However, for anyone to claim that there were no RB's available better than what we ended up with since the departure of Green.......... that goes beyond laughable and into idiocy.

I understand what you are saying about my choice of words SC, point well taken.

JH, saying "We'll see how it goes, and that we have to let this thing play out", is what we have been hearing from those that support Thompson whole heartedly ever since Greens departure. Look at where it has gotten us. Also, I am not using the word "idiocy" to describe anything other than the idea that spending money on a proven veteran FA RB, would have been a waste. It should be obvious by now, that going that route would have shored up the RB position sooner, instead of going into the season with what we have now. Other than Morency, none of these guys we have now, know enough about the system / playbook to instill any kind of confidence that we will even be average in the running game this year.

[RashanGary]

This whole team is much stronger from top to bottom than the 2005 team. I don't think we are going to see a situation that is anything like that this year. Sure, it's a weakness but we don't know how good Jackson, Wynn or Grant can be. We had a bunch of question marks last year too. Poppinga, Jennings, Colledge, Spitz, ect. . . A few didn't pan out in 2005. A bunch did pan out in 2006. Now we have a much better team. If Jackson pans out, we'll have an average running back and a bunch of other good players.

It's a question mark. I'll definitly say that but nobody knows what is going to happen right now. That's why we watch the games on Sunday. Nothing is given.

If you guys go to the Philly forums you'll see a bunch of question marks but instead of young players that might step up like Jackson, they have old players that they know suck. It could be worse and it is worse on many playoff teams across the league.