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Another great move that I don't think has been mentioned was standing firm against Javon Walker. He took a lot of heat at the time from the anti-TT crowd for that one. Packnut called it the worst move in history at the time as I recall.
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Yeah, but Packnut was just getting warmed up.Originally posted by vince View PostI can't run no more
With that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places
Say their prayers out loud
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
A thundercloud
They're going to hear from me - Leonard CohenComment
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He was a self described degenerate gambler. What I'd give to be his bookie.Comment
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TT's best move came in 2011 when he improved a team that just won the superbowl. He could have stood pat and mailed it in for a year, but he continued to work his ass off to improve the team through every means possible.The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary -- Vince LombardiComment
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If we win the SB this year, we will open the door to veterans wanting to be here. Asamoga is one example of a vet who will want to be here to win a SB.Formerly known as JustinHarrell.Comment
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Ted Thompson's five best moves as Packers general manager
By Pete Prisco
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
Ted Thompson's five best moves
1. Hiring little-known Mike McCarthy to be his head coach in 2006. When Thompson hired McCarthy, he was coming off a season as an offensive coordinator of a bad offense in San Francisco. Boy, has that move paid off.
2. Drafting Aaron Rodgers in 2005. The Packers had Brett Favre. Didn't matter to Thompson. There was too much value in Rodgers. He took him and put him on the shelf until it was time to play -- leading to his next biggest move.
3. Deciding to let Favre walk and play Rodgers in 2008. It certainly wasn't a popular move, but it was the right one. See Sunday.
4. Signing Charles Woodson as a free agent. Thompson's style isn't to sign free agents, but the value in Woodson, a top-tier corner, was too great to pass up.
5. Not trading for Marshawn Lynch. When Packers running back Ryan Grant went down for the season, there was a lot of pressure to acquire Lynch from the Bills at the trading deadline. Thompson passes in part because he has rookie James Starks on the roster. Starks has proven to be a valuable player in this Super run.Comment
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Those aren't bad for someone who is not a beat writer.[QUOTE=George Cumby] ...every draft (Ted) would pick a solid, dependable, smart, athletically limited linebacker...the guy who isn't doing drugs, going to strip bars, knocking around his girlfriend or making any plays of game changing significance.Comment
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Not bad, but there's no way trading up for Clay Matthews shouldn't be ahead of not trading for Lynch. Several of his draft picks (Jennings, Collins, Finley, Sitton) and street FA signings (Williams, Shields) are better than that move."There's a lot of interest in the draft. It's great. But quite frankly, most of the people that are commenting on it don't know anything about what they are talking about."--Ted ThompsonComment
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Not signing Travis Henry should be up there too, if they want to include non-moves.Originally posted by HarveyWallbangers View PostComment
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Exactly. What if he had not, not traded for Lynch (i.e. he had traded for him), Starks would still be there, and if he deserved to be playing ahead of Lynch, he would be.. TT would be out a draft pick for next year, but with Grant, Starks and Lynch he would have something to trade. If he had traded for Lynch, that wouldn't make them worse right now, but if he hadn't traded up to get Matthews, or hadn't signed Williams or Shields this team would be a lot different.Originally posted by HarveyWallbangers View PostComment
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Ice for your drink, Patler?--
Imagine for a moment a world without hypothetical situations...Comment
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But what if he had not not not traded for Lynch...?
Seriously, though, that was a good non-move for the future of this club. Who would want Lynch, Grant, and Starks (not to mention Jackson) trying to fit into the same backfield next year? Ugh. And you still have that third rounder at your disposal."The Devine era is actually worse than you remember if you go back and look at it."
KYPackComment
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Here's a good article from Peter King that hammers home the point Swede made about many of Thompson's best moves being inextricably intertwined.
Thompson's tough choice on Favre paved way to Packers' success
"Tell Ted to release me.''
-- Text message from Brett Favre to me, referring to Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson, July 28, 2008.
DALLAS -- A National Football League general manager needs to know players. He needs to know when to make a deal, and when to hold the line a little bit longer. He needs to know when to build for the long term, and when to build for the short. He needs to know not to be a slave to free agency, because free agency as a predominant team builder doesn't work. He needs to know he has to sometimes make a decision that will benefit the team two years down the road though it may hurt the team today. But the most important trait a general manager can have sometimes -- lots of times, actually -- is a thick-skinned patience.
Ted Thompson, perhaps wisely, shies way from talking about the end of his days with Brett Favre. What can be gained from rehashing the most sordid of divorces between star and team? When I asked Thompson two weeks ago about whether he'd ever questioned himself over choosing Aaron Rodgers over the waffling but all-time-great Favre as the Packer quarterback in 2008, he thought for a moment, shifted in his chair a bit and said, "I never touch this anymore. But no. We never questioned ourselves.''
How Thompson handled the Favre situation, in retrospect, should be the centerpiece in the textbook studied by all young personnel men in the GM 101 curriculum. And it's a huge reason the Packers stand on the precipice of their first world title in 14 years.
Thompson knew when to say when with Favre; he was tired of being on the will-he-play-or-won't-he seesaw every offseason. Thompson knew he had a first-round quarterback he trusted, Aaron Rodgers, who'd sat for three years and was bursting at the seams, ready to play. Thompson knew if Rodgers got held back one more year, he'd likely do everything in his power to get traded and not want to sign another contract again, ever, with Green Bay.
Thompson knows he had faith in the coach who'd told him time and again not to worry about the quarterback transition -- Rodgers could play. And though he saw the billboard BRINGBACKBRETT.COM as he drove the streets of Green Bay, and knew the "Bring Back Brett'' T-shirts were doing a land-office business in Wisconsin, and felt the "Thompson's over his head'' fan reaction all over the place ... Ted Thompson, personnel man at his core, team architect from the tree of the unemotional Ron Wolf, knew it was the right thing. He had to stand his ground. He had to go with Rodgers.
Two weeks before the thing exploded, for the only time I recall in the entire Favre drama, Thompson spoke on the record about it. The Packers were getting bashed locally at the time, because Favre wanted to return, and the court of public opinion was loud in his favor. I'll never forget it, because I was on vacation at the time, in a pool in Los Angeles, when my phone rang with the offer to talk about it with Thompson and McCarthy. The story fascinated me, so for two-thirds of a day, I came off vacation, talked to them, and wrote about it. Keep in mind there were few people around the league at the time who, once Favre said he wanted to return, thought Thompson should stick with his guns, keep Rodgers, and let Favre sit. As I wrote at the time:
"I talked to one GM the other day who told me, 'Ted's got no choice. If he doesn't take Favre back, he's an idiot.' Oh, really? And what if Favre plays one season, retires, and Rodgers tells the franchise to go fly a kite, and he's never signing another contract with the Pack? What kind of an idiot would Thompson be then? The village idiot, I'd say.''
So that was the environment Thompson was in that day, that week, that month. As we spoke, a crowd of about 100 fans were said to be half-demonstrating/half barbecuing in the Lambeau Field parking lot. Occasionally chanting, "Bring back Brett! Bring back Brett!''
"Well,'' Thompson said that Sunday in July 2008, "we're going to cross this river, and this is what we have to do right now. We're in a unique situation, obviously. I don't know who's ever had to face a situation like this before. We don't have the answers. I wish someone would call me with the right answer.''
But he knew the answer then. He'd held a conversation before ours with Favre, and told him where the thing stood. "Ted told me, 'Aaron's our starter,' '' said Favre. "I asked if I could compete for the job. He said, 'That is not an option.' He said, 'Coming up there obviously is not good. Things have changed. We've moved on.' ''
So, Favre said, give me my release. That was not an option either. He knew Favre wanted to go play for his old quarterback coach, Darrell Bevell, the Minnesota offensive coordinator. That wasn't going to happen. Thompson had to take the slings and arrows from Favre, and from his public, and -- anonymously -- from his peers. He knew they thought he was a rube for not welcoming Favre back. You don't know what you have with Aaron Rodgers. Favre just had a great season. Wake up, man!
Rodgers has thrown for 4,000 yards three years in a row. The passing totals of his first three years, in fact, are comparable with Favre's totals in his three-year MVP run in 1995 through 1997. Thompson doesn't gloat. He doesn't even comment. He doesn't need to. We all see it.
Postscript: When Thompson traded Favre to the Jets, Green Bay ended up getting a third-round pick in return, the 83rd pick in the 2009 draft. The Packers, on draft day 2009, had already taken B.J. Raji in the first round, and now, late in the round, were calling around, trying hard to find a pick to take one more player in round one. They began talking to New England, sitting at 26, and could give second- and third-round picks, the 41st and 73rd overall, but that wasn't quite enough. They needed to sweeten the pot with one more good pick. So Thompson threw in the 83rd pick ... the pick acquired from the Jets for Favre.
"There has been a trade, and with the 26th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft,'' Commissioner Roger Goodell said moments later in New York, "the Green Bay Packers have selected Clay Matthews, linebacker, USC.''Comment
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