Kiper - Packers quiet plan

[Fritz]

"What was changed was Rodgers’ ball carriage."

Ball carriage? I'd feel slightly insulted if someone told me my ball carriage wasn't quite good enough. I believe my ball carriage is rather proud and quite appropriate, thank you.

[Bossman641]

The funny thing is that "experts" like Kiper always overlook TT's drafts because they are boring, he goes for quantity over flashy players, and rarely trades up.

For the record, here is how Kiper has graded TT's drafts at the time.

2005 - C
2006 - B
2007 - C+
2008 - B-
2009 - A
2010 - B-
2011 - B+

[MJZiggy]

"What was changed was Rodgers’ ball carriage."

Ball carriage? I'd feel slightly insulted if someone told me my ball carriage wasn't quite good enough. I believe my ball carriage is rather proud and quite appropriate, thank you.

I volunteer to verify.

[Fritz]

I approve. You're the official verifier.

[Partial]

For the record, here is how Kiper has graded TT's drafts at the time.

2005 - C
2006 - B
2007 - C+
2008 - B-
2009 - A
2010 - B-
2011 - B+

Not a rationalization here, but nobody is gonna get all A's. Using a standard school grading scale, he's average 2.86, which is between a B- and a B. That technically is above average.

Shrug shoulders.

[Joemailman]

Overall I think those grades are fair. Where we may have really missed is the 2010 draft, which could be a lot better than B-.

SEL # PLAYER POSITION SCHOOL
1 23 Bryan Bulaga T Iowa
2 56 Mike Neal DE Purdue
3 71 Morgan Burnett SS Georgia Tech
5 154 Andrew Quarless TE Penn State
5 169 Marshall Newhouse T Texas Christian
6 193 James Starks RB Buffalo
7 230 C.J. Wilson DE East Carolina

[Bossman641]

Not a rationalization here, but nobody is gonna get all A's. Using a standard school grading scale, he's average 2.86, which is between a B- and a B. That technically is above average.

Shrug shoulders.

I wasn't trying to make much of a point, just thought it was interesting to see what he thought of the drafts at the time. The whole matter of grading a draft the day after is pointless anyways. I wish the draft experts would do more analysis years down the road like Kiper did this January when he did a 2005 re-draft and had Rodgers going 1 and Collins 11.

[Fritz]

The majority of the time the media preface their post-draft grades with "this is ridiculous and pointless and you really can't grade a draft right away, but...." as if they feel obligated. What if a writer or talking head just said the hell with it, I ain't grading the draft right after it happened. That's a stupid thing to do!

[vince]

Those grades are probably a bit low, but it does reinforce Kiper's main point of the article. The Packers have developed their guys better than every other team in the league. It's a lot more sexy and attention-getting to sign big name free agents, but the Packers' success is the result of boring hard work and daily grinding from the scouting department all the way through the coaching staff and players' daily workout regimens and offseason preparation programs. It's a macrocosm of Ted Thompson himself - boring, understated, and very effective. I'm not gonna hate on Kiper because he exaggerated a point a bit to make it a bit more interesting for a non-captive national audience.

[hoosier]

"What was changed was Rodgers’ ball carriage."

Ball carriage? I'd feel slightly insulted if someone told me my ball carriage wasn't quite good enough. I believe my ball carriage is rather proud and quite appropriate, thank you.

Fritz, your ball carriage is unnatural.

[Spaulding]

The funny thing is that "experts" like Kiper always overlook TT's drafts because they are boring, he goes for quantity over flashy players, and rarely trades up.

For the record, here is how Kiper has graded TT's drafts at the time.

2005 - C
2006 - B
2007 - C+
2008 - B-
2009 - A
2010 - B-
2011 - B+

I know it's all a crap shoot when it comes to rating a draft immediately but one would think given that Kiper and McShay are wrong far more than they are right that at some point ESPN would find somebody (thinking maybe Pat Kirwan) else to see if they could do any better. Heck, TT would obviously is better at evaluating talent then Thing 1 and Thing 2.

In hindsight, the above drafts brought the following:

2005 - Rodgers and Collins (any draft with Rodgers in it get's an "A")
2006 - Hawk, Colledge, Jennings (one solid starter and one star - "B" sounds about right)
2007 - Harrell, Jackson, Jones, Hall, Bishop, Crosby (if it wasn't for the two 6th rounders this draft would be grim)
2008 - Nelson, Lee, Finley, Sitton, Flynn (pretty good draft, at least a B+ and more likely an A- or A)
2009 - Raji, Matthews, Lang, Wynn, Brad Jones (doesn't get much better than this - easily an A)
2010 - Bulaga, Neal, Burnett, Quarless, Newhouse, Starks, Wilson (if Neal and Newhouse pan out, could be TT"s best draft and although too early to tell, definitely the makings of an A)

I didn't mention the 2011 draft as without the OTA's and less than half a season to rate, way too early to speculate on a rating.

Simply amazing when I compare TT's drafts with other teams in the NFC North (have to chuckle when I look at Angelo's drafts).

The rich keep getting richer it seems. Guess that puts the Packers in the 1%

[pbmax]

The funny thing is that "experts" like Kiper always overlook TT's drafts because they are boring, he goes for quantity over flashy players, and rarely trades up.

For the record, here is how Kiper has graded TT's drafts at the time.

2005 - C
2006 - B
2007 - C+
2008 - B-
2009 - A
2010 - B-
2011 - B+

Funny how that draft grading seems to correlate with winning and not so much the actual draft class.

[mraynrand]

Funny how that draft grading seems to correlate with winning and not so much the actual draft class.

I was thinking it's an inverted relationship. Usually - unless Matt Millen is involved - the worst team gets high picks, selects some of the better college players, so they tend to get a better draft grade. (Even with Millen involved, I'd be willing to bet Detroit has gotten great draft grades over the past decade)

[woodbuck27]

Another CFL coach who will be a great Off Coordinator in the NFL is Kent Austin. Currently head coach at Cornell, he has developed a fair amount of qb talent and is great at designing to a players strenghts. Love to see him as a coach at some level for teh Pack

We've got 'the Man' IMO, here in Montreal. He's 'just' awesome. Such respect from the Montreal Alouette HC and he will return one day to the NFL and excell.

Anyone know his name?

P A C K E R S !

[woodbuck27]

The funny thing is that "experts" like Kiper always overlook TT's drafts because they are boring, he goes for quantity over flashy players, and rarely trades up.

For the record, here is how Kiper has graded TT's drafts at the time.

2005 - C
2006 - B
2007 - C+
2008 - B-
2009 - A
2010 - B-
2011 - B+

If we award an 'A' as 9.5; 'B' as 8.5; 'C' as 7.5.

2005 - C = 7.5
2006 - B = 8.5
2007 - C+ = 7.75
2008 - B- = 8.25
2009 - A = 9.5
2010 - B- = 8.25
2011 - B+ + 8.75

That is 58.5 devided by 6.5 seasons = 9 or ... an A Minus ( an excellent average )

58.5 devided by 7 = 8.35 or a B. (a very solid Average)

P A C K E R S !!