Ted Thompson's best move as Packers GM

[vince]

Blasphemy! Chubby McChubsters can't even look a guy straight in the eyes. How can he be any good?

I'd go with Matthews. He spet a ton to go up and get his guy and it's paid off huge.

[gbgary]

His best move was getting rid of Faver.

Agreed...I love Favre but at the time that was the right call.

YUP...bf. AR fell to tt and it was a no-brainer to take him. after seeing what he could do, and feeling secure that he could do it on a regular basis, letting bf go was his best move. fixing the cap situation and scoring in the draft were/are in his normal job description. i wasn't always behind him 100% but am now...until he doesn't sign someone i like . lol

[gbgary]

Blasphemy! Chubby McChubsters can't even look a guy straight in the eyes. How can he be any good?

I'd go with Matthews. He spet a ton to go up and get his guy and it's paid off huge.

well, he can...with one eye.

[vince]

Favre is definitely one of Thompson's signature "moves," but when you look at the events that took place, I think Favre manipulated his way out of Green Bay more than Thompson got rid of him. There was a point of no return for Thompson in which he said the team had "moved on," and Favre was happy to put the "blame" on him, but without going back over the history, it's clear that he wanted out of town but didn't want to take the heat for leaving so he manipulated the situation into what it became.

If Favre wouldn't have "retired" he would have been the starting QB the next year.

[Little Whiskey]

I remember TT getting greif for drafting a QB when he wouldn't play. I, unlike, Harv and B was rooting for him to fall to the pack. Not because I am a draft guru or that i even care that much about college football, but because I knew they didn't have and answer for when favre would retire. I thought Rodgers could be that guy.

He was TT greatest move. coupled with letting favre go. If he lets Favre stay, then rodgers goes. wow, could you imagine the situation the packers could be in right now without rodgers? maybe they bring in Cutler or Young.

[sheepshead]

I remember TT getting greif for drafting a QB when he wouldn't play. I, unlike, Harv and B was rooting for him to fall to the pack. Not because I am a draft guru or that i even care that much about college football, but because I knew they didn't have and answer for when favre would retire. I thought Rodgers could be that guy.

He was TT greatest move. coupled with letting favre go. If he lets Favre stay, then rodgers goes. wow, could you imagine the situation the packers could be in right now without rodgers? maybe they bring in Cutler or Young.

TT knew what he had in Rodgers before we did.

[mraynrand]

Didn't someone want Logan Mankins over Rodgers?

[get louder at lambeau]

Favre is definitely one of Thompson's signature "moves," but when you look at the events that took place, I think Favre manipulated his way out of Green Bay more than Thompson got rid of him. There was a point of no return for Thompson in which he said the team had "moved on," and Favre was happy to put the "blame" on him, but without going back over the history, it's clear that he wanted out of town but didn't want to take the heat for leaving so he manipulated the situation into what it became.

If Favre wouldn't have "retired" he would have been the starting QB the next year.

Totally agree. I don't mean Thompson's best move was running him out of town. His best move was not letting him come back after the crying retirement presser. There was a TON of pressure on TT (and MM) to let him come back. They risked their jobs by taking such an unpopular stand against a star gone supernova, and it paid off. Legendary move.

[Scott Campbell]

Interesting how they don't have a "standing up to Favre" option on there, when a strong case can be made for that being one of his finest hours. I guess we're not quite ready for that yet.

It was his finest hour, and his most criticized hour. Lesser men would have caved.

[cheesner]

TTs best Moves:

1. CMIII. This is the best move because it was the riskiest and it paid off big time. TT gave up 3 picks to move up and grab him, that took a lot of guts and trust in his scouting. He was rewarded with a player that has a good chance at getting DPOY honors in only his second season.

2. AR: A better player and more important position (not by all that much) than CMIII. But, it was a very safe pick at the time. I won't call it a 'no-brainer' pick, otherwise AR would have been gone in the top 5. But there was little risk in the pick and the potential for high reward - which has paid off.

3. BF: This move was by far the most controversial. Only since the Pack have been listed as the favorites in the NFCC Game, have the calls for TTs head come to an end. This one move put TT in the crosshairs of criticism from a big chunk of Packer Nation. TT made the right call and must have understood the backlash he was to receive.

4. CW: Anytime you sign a big $ FA who comes in and becomes DPOY, you did good.

5a. GJ: Again, a big risk when TT traded down, allowing another WR (Chad Jackson) the consensus best WR available, to be taken. TT hung in there and scooped up GJ later in the 2nd round. Wolf recently described GJ as having HOF potential.

5b. Nick COllins. The collective response from Packer nation when NC was picked? WWWWHHHHOOOO?!?!?!?!??? My draft guide had him listed as a possible FA pickup. Ted took him about 200 spots higher than this ranking. Many sites and top player lists didn't even have him listed. Now, 5 years and he has developed into one of the better S in the league.

[vince]

Totally agree. I don't mean Thompson's best move was running him out of town. His best move was not letting him come back after the crying retirement presser. There was a TON of pressure on TT (and MM) to let him come back. They risked their jobs by taking such an unpopular stand against a star gone supernova, and it paid off. Legendary move.

I don't think Brett Favre ever wanted to come back - to Green Bay. It was a total manipulation job to get himself to Minnesota and blame Thompson for it at the same time.

[Joemailman]

YUP...bf. AR fell to tt and it was a no-brainer to take him. after seeing what he could do, and feeling secure that he could do it on a regular basis, letting bf go was his best move. fixing the cap situation and scoring in the draft were/are in his normal job description. i wasn't always behind him 100% but am now...until he doesn't sign someone i like . lol

In 2004, the Packers had the NFL's #3 offense, and #25 defense. Favre threw for over 4000 yards and had 30 TD's. Picking a QB was anything but a no-brainer. Picking Arod was his best move. Letting Favre go was just a continuation of that decision. I think TT drafted Rodgers knowing that someday he'd probably have to choose him over Favre.

[SMBASS]

TTs best Moves:

1. CMIII. This is the best move because it was the riskiest and it paid off big time. TT gave up 3 picks to move up and grab him, that took a lot of guts and trust in his scouting. He was rewarded with a player that has a good chance at getting DPOY honors in only his second season.

Not trying to be a smart-ass here Cheesner but we did not give up 3 picks for CMIII. We traded a 2nd and 2 3rd's in exchange for a 1st and a 5th. So in pure numbers we gave up 3 picks and got 2 in return. You can argue all day how the gross value of those picks compares using some convoluted, arbitrary points system but we did not give up 3 picks. I see people explain the trade like this all the time and it's just a little pet peeve of mine.

[Lurker64]

Not trying to be a smart-ass here Cheesner but we did not give up 3 picks for CMIII. We traded a 2nd and 2 3rd's in exchange for a 1st and a 5th. So in pure numbers we gave up 3 picks and got 2 in return. You can argue all day how the gross value of those picks compares using some convoluted, arbitrary points system but we did not give up 3 picks. I see people explain the trade like this all the time and it's just a little pet peeve of mine.

It's also worth noting that one of the picks traded to get Matthews was the pick they got from the Jets for Favre. There was absolutely no chance they would actually make that pick, they were going to trade it either to move up or for multiple picks when moving down. They absolutely did not want to saddle somebody with the label of "the player the Packers got for Favre."

[SMBASS]

the drafting of a-rod took some major balls IMO. first, at the time we really weren't that desperate for a QB, a lot more teams who had much bigger problems at QB passed on him thinking they didn't need him. ted didn't really need him, but he saw the potential. then he had the massive balls to make the switch from favre to a-rod which was not at all a popular decision

if thats 1a then mathews would have to be 1b

for being a "turtle" and hiding in his shell so much, he sure as hell proved he had a massive set when he made the move to get those two

I agree with your 1A and 1B assessment Red. It took some huge stones for Ted to select Aaron considering it was his first pick as our new GM and I'm sure he knew that picking a QB would piss of Faver along with all the ball washers. He could have easily tried to appease the masses by selecting either a D player or a receiver as a new toy for Faver but from the very start he pretty much told everyone, "I really don't care whose toes I step on. This is the way I think a team needs to be built and sink or swim I'm going to do it the way I see best." At the time I had no idea if he knew what he was doing yet but I did admire his moxy.