Thompson gets a C- grade

[HarveyWallbangers]

The Packers are 5-3 despite numerous injuries, and they give him a C-minus (all because he didn't sign any FAs). WTF! I'd argue that he's a big reason why we are 5-3 because the young guys he's acquired have filled in quite admirably. Personally, I think it's pretty pathetic.

http://packersnews.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20101105/PKR01/101105120/Defense-makes-the-grade-at-halfway-point-of-2010

Personnel Moves

Once again, General Manager Ted Thompson did nothing in free agency. His third-round pick, Burnett, opened the season as a starter. His first-round pick, Bulaga, moved into a starting role during the season. Second-round pick Mike Neal looked like a good addition to the defensive line but couldn’t stay healthy. Quarless, a fifth-rounder, looks like a promising prospect. He and his staff may have found gems in undrafted rookies Shields and Zombo. So it looks like he’s put together another good rookie class. The in-season addition of Green looks good, but failing to add a quality running back after Grant got hurt has crippled the offense. Thompson refused to bid enough to get former first-round draft pick Marshawn Lynch in a trade from Buffalo. Thompson’s former understudy, Seattle GM John Schneider, did it, and the Seahawks have been happy with his contributions.

Grade: C-minus.

[superfan]

Re: Thompson gets a C- grade

Agree, that's preposterous. For better or worse, this organization is getting victimized by preseason expectations.

Haven't read the entire article, but based on your quote here it seems ludicrous that TT is complimented on most of his draft picks and UFA signings, and the only negative comment is that the team failed to sign Marshawn Lynch, who hasn't produced any more than Brandon Jackson. Yet the sum of that somehow merits a C- grade. Especially harsh considering it's the hometown paper.

I'd give him a grade of a B+ at least, and probably should be higher if not for my own preseason high expectations.

If you want to give a C- grade for the overall season to date, that's somewhat understandable although highly debatable, but I don't see how you can give that C- grade to Thompson alone. He has built a roster that has managed to be competitive despite an amazing rash of injuries, and you can hardly blame him for three 3 point losses, two in overtime.

Let's also see a comparison of how other FA signings have panned out around the league before blaming him solely for not signing FAs.

[Cheesehead Craig]

I'd give my comments on this stupid article, but that would mean it would go into the F*ck thread.

This is a joke of a review.

[The Leaper]

Thompson deserves some criticism for his handling of the OL and for not trying to upgrade our overall talent at RB. Is it enough to give him an average grade as a GM? Of course not. The talent he brings in via the draft each year is consistently above average compared to other teams. He is easily one of the 5 best guys in the league at identifying college talent and projecting it forward to the NFL level.

The OL has been average at best for the length of Thompson's tenure. He has yet to really produce a high quality OL talent. Sitton is probably his best draft pick on the OL to date...and he's had far more duds than studs. Thompson has been very fortunate that Clifton and Tauscher have lasted this long. The lack of a strong OL is hindering this team...Rodgers keeps getting happy feet in the pocket, and the run game has never been able to establish confidence in short yardage.

To me, Thompson gets a solid B+ this season...he didn't hit any home runs, which I think are necessary to get up to that A level. However, he once again improved the roster's talent from top to bottom. Few GMs in the league do that as consistently as Thompson.

[Tarlam!]

Harv', Superfan, I agree with you guys.

[bobblehead]

the jes were very aggressive in the offseasn. they had 21 of 22 starters healthy. they were off a bye week. they were at home. which gm won the game again??

[Tarlam!]

the jes were very aggressive in the offseasn. they had 21 of 22 starters healthy. they were off a bye week. they were at home. which gm won the game again??

That was on me starting the gameday thread, and I'll thank everybody to remeber that!!

[AtlPackFan]

the jes were very aggressive in the offseasn. they had 21 of 22 starters healthy. they were off a bye week. they were at home. which gm won the game again??

That was on me starting the gameday thread, and I'll thank everybody to remeber that!!

Tarlam, I remember. Now do the same for the Cowpukes!

[RashanGary]

Thompson deserves some criticism for his handling of the OL and for not trying to upgrade our overall talent at RB. Is it enough to give him an average grade as a GM? Of course not. The talent he brings in via the draft each year is consistently above average compared to other teams. He is easily one of the 5 best guys in the league at identifying college talent and projecting it forward to the NFL level.

The OL has been average at best for the length of Thompson's tenure. He has yet to really produce a high quality OL talent. Sitton is probably his best draft pick on the OL to date...and he's had far more duds than studs. Thompson has been very fortunate that Clifton and Tauscher have lasted this long. The lack of a strong OL is hindering this team...Rodgers keeps getting happy feet in the pocket, and the run game has never been able to establish confidence in short yardage.

To me, Thompson gets a solid B+ this season...he didn't hit any home runs, which I think are necessary to get up to that A level. However, he once again improved the roster's talent from top to bottom. Few GMs in the league do that as consistently as Thompson.

This seems like a reasonable summary to me.

[Tarlam!]

the jes were very aggressive in the offseasn. they had 21 of 22 starters healthy. they were off a bye week. they were at home. which gm won the game again??

That was on me starting the gameday thread, and I'll thank everybody to remeber that!!

Tarlam, I remember. Now do the same for the Cowpukes!

Well, I think Mad set the record, which broke down when he startet a gameday thread on my pc during the first Rat Annual Game.

Tell ya what though, I'll be attempting my magic again tomorrow!

[PackerTimer]

Re: Thompson gets a C- grade

[quote="HarveyWallbangers"]The Packers are 5-3 despite numerous injuries, and they give him a C-minus (all because he didn't sign any FAs). WTF! I'd argue that he's a big reason why we are 5-3 because the young guys he's acquired have filled in quite admirably. Personally, I think it's pretty pathetic.

http://packersnews.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20101105/PKR01/101105120/Defense-makes-the-grade-at-halfway-point-of-2010

Personnel Moves

Once again, General Manager Ted Thompson did nothing in free agency. His third-round pick, Burnett, opened the season as a starter. His first-round pick, Bulaga, moved into a starting role during the season. Second-round pick Mike Neal looked like a good addition to the defensive line but couldn’t stay healthy. Quarless, a fifth-rounder, looks like a promising prospect. He and his staff may have found gems in undrafted rookies Shields and Zombo. So it looks like he’s put together another good rookie class. The in-season addition of Green looks good, but failing to add a quality running back after Grant got hurt has crippled the offense. Thompson refused to bid enough to get former first-round draft pick Marshawn Lynch in a trade from Buffalo. Thompson’s former understudy, Seattle GM John Schneider, did it, and the Seahawks have been happy with his contributions.

Grade: C-minus.

[/quote

Completely agree Harvey. The writer who wrote this is off his rocker. If it wasn't for Thompson putting together a deep and talented roster over the last four years this years team would end up being the 4-12 team from a few years ago. Similar injury situations but now that he's had time to makeover the team they can sustain those injuries and still compete. This season may end up not being as successful as we all hoped but it isn't going to be a disaster either. And on top of that the window is just starting to open so the Packers don't need to mortgage the franchise and trade picks for over the hill players. More times that not we have guys on our roster who are as good as anybody out there.

Take Brandon Jackson, over the last few weeks Jackson has been performing pretty well. As well if not better than Lynch has in Seattle. The one guy that cited in the article as being a potential in season upgrade hasn't been any better than what we already had. I know people have said Thompson overvalues his own guys. I don't think that is true at all. I think he puts the right value on his guys and doesn't overvalue others. He didn't think Lynch would be much of an upgrade and you know what, he was probably right.

I agree with JH and Leaper that there are things TT probably could have done a little better and a B+ seems like a fair grade. But a C- is below average and there is no way Thompson has been below average this year.

[Bretsky]

Thompson deserves some criticism for his handling of the OL and for not trying to upgrade our overall talent at RB. Is it enough to give him an average grade as a GM? Of course not. The talent he brings in via the draft each year is consistently above average compared to other teams. He is easily one of the 5 best guys in the league at identifying college talent and projecting it forward to the NFL level.

The OL has been average at best for the length of Thompson's tenure. He has yet to really produce a high quality OL talent. Sitton is probably his best draft pick on the OL to date...and he's had far more duds than studs. Thompson has been very fortunate that Clifton and Tauscher have lasted this long. The lack of a strong OL is hindering this team...Rodgers keeps getting happy feet in the pocket, and the run game has never been able to establish confidence in short yardage.

To me, Thompson gets a solid B+ this season...he didn't hit any home runs, which I think are necessary to get up to that A level. However, he once again improved the roster's talent from top to bottom. Few GMs in the league do that as consistently as Thompson.

[Bretsky]

the jes were very aggressive in the offseasn. they had 21 of 22 starters healthy. they were off a bye week. they were at home. which gm won the game again??

Pretty seleictive reasoning that can go the other way

The Bears were aggressive in free agency when both squads were relative healthy; which gm won that game ?

And I'm not arguing the Bears have anything special at GM

[Patler]

Quarterbacks: C+
Running backs: D+
Receivers: C+
Tight ends: C.
Offensive line: C+
Defensive line: C+
Linebackers: B+
Defensive backs: B
Special teams: C+
Coaching: B-
Personnel moves: C-

Spot on analysis. They really hit the nail on the head and have identified the reasons this team is tanking and is already out of the playoff hunt half way through the season. All those average grades identify why the team has been embarrassed when facing the better teams in the league and has just barely gotten by the poor teams.

Clearly TT deserves his lowest grade on the team. He has allowed injuries to ruin the season. The team has no depth, and once the top-line players are lost, no one steps up.



OK, turning off my sarcasm button for a minute, this is just absurd. The lowest grade goes to TT and his personnel moves because he didn't trade for Marshawn Lynch? Are you kidding me? The team has lost:
2 offensive starters out for the season
1 offensive starter out for half the games played so far.
1 offensive starter essentially out for the last two games, and out the next
3 defensive starters out for the season.
3 defensive first line backups out for the season.
1 defensive starter essentially out for 3 games.
2 defensive starters from last year not yet back from the PUP list.
The nickel corner missing two games.

That's 14 key players who have missed how many games of the 8 played so far?

Through all of that the team has a 5-3 record, beats the Vikings and Jets, loses two in overtime that could have been won, and TT gets the lowest grade given, a C- for his personnel moves, because he didn't pull off a trade for Marshawn Lynch? You could say he effectively replaced 13 of the 14 players, but gets a C- because he didn't trade for Lynch?

[wist43]

I agree with JH, I think this is a reasonable telling... however, I would give TT a pretty solid B.

I don't see us as a legit SB contender... but rather a 4,5,6 seed. Maybe we'll be seeded higher than that b/c the NFC seems to be down this year, but the bottom line is that we have some glaring weaknesses, and those weaknesses will show in crunch time.