BPA or Need - what did TT do?

[swede]

Cheesner and Bob Dobbs: Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

You have both nailed it. This situation was a possibility all along and had been carefully covered before the 9th pick came up. This was a close call with the edge going to the player type that was more rare and that would have a greater impact on the success of the team.

[Partial]

I think that without a doubt the best pure prospect on their board was da Crabman. I'm sure this was the case for every single GM in the NFL.

However, clearly need factors in. The Pack don't need a receiver currently. The needed a DE. They drafted a guy that can play DE and was a notch below Crabtree.

Solid tradeoff if Raji becomes a stud.

[sharpe1027]

Question: You always say you take the best player available, but you also filled needs? Did you tweak your approach at all?

Answer: No, we stick with it. I have never said need doesn't factor in, but we went into this draft feeling like we didn't have to draft anybody at any position.



I think that is what most people have been trying to say all along.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I think that without a doubt the best pure prospect on their board was da Crabman.

Of course, you do. Why? Because you want to believe that. I don't think anybody knows. It's kind of silly. Wouldn't the fact that Thompson took Raji over Crabtree prove otherwise? If the Packers knew they'd take Raji over Crabtree if both were available, wouldn't they just set up their board to have Raji ranked higher than Crabtree (or on the same level)? Or do you think they never thought about the possibility that both would fall to them?

[sharpe1027]

Or do you think they never thought about the possibility that both would fall to them?

They have said they expected both to be available once Cleveland traded out.

[CaliforniaCheez]

If you remember Ted's predraft press conference he said they run through different scenarios with the coaches.

If player A and B are available which do you like better?

If player B and D are available which do you like better?

They plan out some "tie breaking" scenarios.

Ted Thompson should never be booed for his draft.

[Bretsky]

"fan"atic homerism is more speculation than sources who cover the Packers

I don't buy that any of those guys saw the Packers board. If I had to guess, I'd bet both guys were near the top with little separating them. Thus, I don't buy the angle that Thompson bypassed his obvious best player available to draft need. I think need and BPA were pretty close on this one. I'm guessing that if Thompson really liked Crabtree a lot more, he would have taken him.

Who said they saw the Packers board; safe to say they had some access to inside members of the organization...possibly scouts

certainly better access to our homeristic speculation

[RashanGary]

Who said they saw the Packers board; safe to say they had some access to inside members of the organization...possibly scouts

certainly better access to our homeristic speculation

Sounds like you're in the minority here, B.

Raji looks like the best player. He's a brute. I think he's the best player in this draft.

[Bretsky]

Who said they saw the Packers board; safe to say they had some access to inside members of the organization...possibly scouts

certainly better access to our homeristic speculation

Sounds like you're in the minority here, B.

Raji looks like the best player. He's a brute. I think he's the best player in this draft.

Yes, as usual I'm taking the anti homer view so I'm in the minority

But I'm happy with Raji; we would have all been happy with Raji a few months ago when we speculated how dam cool it would be if a great talent at a position of desperate need.

[RashanGary]

Yes, I didn't even want to get my hopes up about Raji. I thought there was no way he'd be there.


"Raji can play any way he wants to play," said Bill Polian, president of the Indianapolis Colts. "He's probably more like Sapp in a 350-pound body. Raji isn't that fast, but he's fast. Or he would be a moving-type nose tackle."

"This guy is more athletic than Gilbert Brown," Polian said. "He gets tired but he can rush the passer when he's geared up and fresh. He's a freak. But keep in mind that he's got a weight problem and it's always going to be there."

The squatty Raji, who stands 6 feet 1½ inches and weighed 330 pounds a month ago, is the only legitimate candidate to play nose tackle in the draft, according to Phil Savage, former general manager of the Cleveland Browns.

"Raji has a low center of gravity and can move up and down the line of scrimmage," Savage said. "I was really impressed with him."



Yeah. Raji is rare and unique. He instantly changes this defense. I like what Polian said best. Right now, Raji is best when he's rested and going at the QB. The guy is going to be tough to stop inside, especially since we have Pickett to keep him fresh. It's going to be like Jolly/Corey Williams of a couple years ago. Pickett is going to play base and Raji is going to terrorize the QB. As Raji loses his burst and quickness, he'll settle into an elite plugger at NT. Right now, I think he's an elite pass rusher inside and should be used as such.

Polian calls him a "freak". He's obviously one of the elite physical talents in this draft and he's great at football too. Like I said, I think he's the best player in this whole draft.

[vince]

Who said they saw the Packers board; safe to say they had some access to inside members of the organization...possibly scouts

certainly better access to our homeristic speculation

Sounds like you're in the minority here, B.

Raji looks like the best player. He's a brute. I think he's the best player in this draft.

Yes, as usual I'm taking the anti homer view so I'm in the minority

But I'm happy with Raji; we would have all been happy with Raji a few months ago when we speculated how dam cool it would be if a great talent at a position of desperate need.

Your Crabtree homerism is forcing you to ignore the facts as they played out in reality.

No-one on the scouting staff is likely to leak real information to the press that could undermine waht the team actually wants to do one night before the draft. Believing that is either naivete or Crabby-envy.

[Bretsky]

Who said they saw the Packers board; safe to say they had some access to inside members of the organization...possibly scouts

certainly better access to our homeristic speculation

Sounds like you're in the minority here, B.

Raji looks like the best player. He's a brute. I think he's the best player in this draft.

Yes, as usual I'm taking the anti homer view so I'm in the minority

But I'm happy with Raji; we would have all been happy with Raji a few months ago when we speculated how dam cool it would be if a great talent at a position of desperate need.

Your Crabtree homerism is forcing you to ignore the facts as they played out in reality.

No-one on the scouting staff is likely to leak real information to the press that could undermine waht the team actually wants to do one night before the draft. Believing that is either naivete or Crabby-envy.

so all of these sources that reported these things pre-draft are making 100% of it up ?

[vince]

Who said they saw the Packers board; safe to say they had some access to inside members of the organization...possibly scouts

certainly better access to our homeristic speculation

Sounds like you're in the minority here, B.

Raji looks like the best player. He's a brute. I think he's the best player in this draft.

Yes, as usual I'm taking the anti homer view so I'm in the minority

But I'm happy with Raji; we would have all been happy with Raji a few months ago when we speculated how dam cool it would be if a great talent at a position of desperate need.

Your Crabtree homerism is forcing you to ignore the facts as they played out in reality.

No-one on the scouting staff is likely to leak real information to the press that could undermine waht the team actually wants to do one night before the draft. Believing that is either naivete or Crabby-envy.

so all of these sources that reported these things pre-draft are making 100% of it up ?

No. I think someone gave one of them a teaser to throw others off the Packer draft trail. Then the rest read or heard what that guy said and echoed it until it became a perceived truth - just as the Packers intended for it to become on the eve of the draft.

But that's obviously speculation. What we know for sure is that Crabtree was available and the Packers passed on him. If he was actually their "top guy on the board" as these "sources" said, that clearly wouldn't have happened. But it did.

[The Shadow]

I think Thompson and his staff are are savvy enough to keep their cards tightly in hand. A lot of reporter stuff presuming to have insight on 'inside' thinking is pure wishful thinking.

[vince]

I wouldn't be surprised in Ol' Wayne Larivee wasn't in on the charade. Don't the Packers own the Packer Radio Network? If so, he'd be paid by the team, so we know where his allegiance lies. Follow the money.

At minimum, if the information were real, he would likely feel a professional obligation not to be undermining the interests of the organization that pays his bills by blabbing freely through public media outlets about the Packers draft strategy the night before the draft.