Comparing the rosters (When TT took over to now)

[RashanGary]

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20100508/PKR07/100508022/1058/PKR01/Vandermause-Packers-better-now-than-05

[RashanGary]

Very interesting topic. Some of the reasoning is splitting hairs, but overall a well educated, reasonable opinion of both teams.



I think it's pretty easy to see Thompson has improved this team. I think the harder part to see, and the part that even this article didn't really do justice to, is how long most of our good players are going to be around for and how great our financial situation is.

Just comparing the two teams heads up, I agree we're better now. But I think this team is just barely scratching the surface, where that team was ready to cave. I think 5 years from now, Ted Thompson is going to be a hero in Green Bay. I picture a champion.

[RashanGary]

Several of our best players:

Aaron Rodgers
Greg Jennings
Nick Collins
Clay Matthews
Josh Sitton

These guys are going to be here for a long time.

Back then, Javon Walker, Aaron Kampman were the only two young players to turned into probowl talent that Sherman left. The rest was aging and the cap was a disaster.


And we have several more young players who could step into the top tier class over the next few years. None of Sherman's guys did.

Some people still don't see it and maybe I'm wrong here, but I think the Packers are on the brink. I don't know the other teams as well as I know our own, but I think there is a good chance we're the best team in the league and can be for many more years to come.

Barring bad camp injuries, I see this as being the year for the Packers. I've been optimistic in the past, but never thought we were SB caliber. This is the year I think we're elite.

[Pugger]

If you read the comments by readers of this article you'll find a good number of them still hate TT and think our roster today stinks. It is rather tiresome to read those bozos' comments most of the time.

[Fred's Slacks]

If you read the comments by readers of this article you'll find a good number of them still hate TT and think our roster today stinks. It is rather tiresome to read those bozos' comments most of the time.

I can't read those anymore. I found myself getting pissed off everytime I did. Finally I thought to myself, why do I read this garbage? So I stopped. That was probably about a year ago.

[Bretsky]

Hey, I think I just posted about same article in another thread....I think you beat him to the punch....I was just too lazy to click on the url in here earlier today.

I'd agree with the author with just about everything; future looks bright

[Fritz]

I liked Naill Diggs. I thought he was a pretty good linebacker.

You look at the rest of the defense and you wonder how they went 10-6. Kampman, Sharper, yes. But Hannibal Navies? Bawoh Jue? Mark Roman? Cletidus Hunt?

Ouch.

[Patler]

Overall I think it is a reasonably fair assessment, but you know me, I have to nitpick it at least a little!

Running back: Ahman Green was in his prime and coming off a fifth consecutive 1,000-yard season (1,163 yards, 4.5 average). Ryan Grant’s rushing numbers are similar (1,253, 4.4), but Green was a bigger pass-catching threat (40 receptions compared to Grant’s 25). WORSE

Green wasn't really in his prime, he was beyond his prime moving toward the end of the road. 2004 was the least productive of his 5 years in Green Bay in both rushing and receiving yards. He had nagging injuries, one of which culminated in the tear he suffered to end his season the next year. He was entering his 8th year and was never again the same, even though he managed 1000 yards in 2006. I'm not sure that Ryan Grant is that far behind the 2005 edition of Ahman Green that Thompson inherited.

Green was a better blocker and receiver, I will agree with that, but as a reliable back, not that much different for Green going in to 2005. Grant gets points for ball security over Green.

Left guard: Daryn Colledge hasn’t come close to filling Mike Wahle’s shoes. If Wahle was a size 12, Colledge wears a size 9. WORSE

Right guard: Thompson has been chastised for letting Marco Rivera go in 2005, but it was the right move. I favor a youthful Josh Sitton over a long-in-the-tooth Rivera. BETTER

I agree with the player discussions, but think these are non-comparable positions. Thompson did not inherit a team with Rivera on it. Rivera was a free agent. Technically, he inherited Wahle sort of, but with a roster bonus so sizable he had no way of paying it without renegotiations. Basically, Thompson took over a team that had no guards on it, because the existing ones were not under contracts for 2005, the cap made signing either an almost impossibility, and there were no backups in place. He was given nothing to work with, so he was really building from scratch.

[Fritz]

My biggest beef with the "Why didn't he keep Wahle" faction is that people forget that when Shermy signed Wahle to his last contract, the last year was one of those ridiculous years that get inserted to inflate the seeming value of a contract when it's announced.

From the perspective of paying for particular positions, it would not have done the team any good to pay what Wahle eventually got from Carolina as Thompson tried to impose some financial common sense on the team's salary structure. Had Wahle been the left tackle it might have been different.

I wanted them to try to keep Wahle, but understood that Thompson's hands were tied to some extent. Sure, they could have kept him, but at the expense of someone else who would not have been able to have been signed.

When I look at the rosters, today's version seems more talented with more upside. Let's hope year two of the Capers program will find the defense more comfortable with the system. Let's hope Underwood and Lee and Jones can step up. And let's hope the injury bug does not bite the Packers unduly.

[RashanGary]

And Darryn Sharper was in the same situation. He was due a huge salary in his last year.

Both players were perfect candidates to lock up a year early, but Sherman made it almost impossible with how he structured contracts and his reactive nature to building a team rather than proactive. That's partially Andrew Brandt's fault too.

[RashanGary]

I think we can all agree, Sherman inherited a good, young roster from Wolf, did everything he could to win during his 4 years. The price he paid? The price was that when he left, there was almost no good young talent, a horrible cap situation, a lot of aging talent about to fall off the cliff, some veteran talent with horrible contract situations and a photo of him sleeping at the combine to remember him by.


Not only is Thompson's team better now than the one's Sherman inherited from Wolf (what we're really looking at here), but it's poised to take off, not crumble (what we should be comparing if we look at Sherman and Thompson)

Can't wait to see the egg on the doubters faces. If they can't see what happened yet, they'll never see it.

[rbaloha1]

Sherman always overvalued roster talent and gambled too much with boom or bust players.

The Nazi back loaded too many contracts forcing a huge roster overhaul.

On the other hand, TT is much more practical and believes in building a solid roster with manageable cap space.

[mraynrand]

This is lame. Of course the current roster is better than 2005. Sherman only won 66.7% of his games as a GM. That's not good enough. You need to win championships. He had a win now, go for broke attitude, probably based on an over valuation of Favre. Perhaps that was just his mentality. It is unsustainable. Nevertheless, without the injury bug in 2002, he might have pulled it off. He blew a #2 pick to move up to get Walker, and (eventually) 2 #4s to get Glenn, and brought in Johnson to replace Reynolds who already was looking like a bust. At 8-1, the Packers were looking good and Favre was playing like an MVP, even with the loss of Taucher and Johnson. Losing Favre's knee, losing Glenn, Green, Davenport, and the final major blow of Clifton (effectively killing two positions - center and LT) finished the Packers off. But Sherman came to play. He just sucked at drafting and didn't look long term.

TT is great at drafting and looking long term. He may not have enough of a risk taker in him to make enough moves in one season to get over the hump. Woodson and Pickett (and Chillar - LOL) are not enough for 6 years of FA and pro player acquisitions. TT needs to do more to fill holes and win now. Although the 2005 Seahawks were mostly assembled through the draft, key players (notably Hasselbeck, Jurevicious, Engram, Dyson, Wistrom) were obtained through FA and trades. TT has to be willing to bring guys in for a season or two to make that Superbowl run. Can he do it?

[bobblehead]

I would dispute the cornerback ranks.

We should have compared al harris as the #1 back then to woodson now....slight improvement. then compared al harris now to carrol....improvement.

[RashanGary]

TT is great at drafting and looking long term. He may not have enough of a risk taker in him to make enough moves in one season to get over the hump. Woodson and Pickett (and Chillar - LOL) are not enough for 6 years of FA and pro player acquisitions. TT needs to do more to fill holes and win now. Although the 2005 Seahawks were mostly assembled through the draft, key players (notably Hasselbeck, Jurevicious, Engram, Dyson, Wistrom) were obtained through FA and trades. TT has to be willing to bring guys in for a season or two to make that Superbowl run. Can he do it?

TT's brought more impact through UFA than Shermhead ever did. Woodson alone is better than the combined UFA impact in Sherhead's whole GM career.