Aaron Rodgers Draft Pick

[pbmax]

Its funny with hindsight, but no one should be compared to Rich Campbell in the story about your debut GB press conference.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/203123971.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[sharpe1027]

"I just think when you look back five years from now you'll say, 'This was a hell of a pick,' " Thompson said after making Rodgers his first selection making the draft-day calls in Green Bay.

Yes, that was a hell of a pick.

"I think we tried to put the interests of the Green Bay Packers first. It wasn't necessarily that comfortable taking that position maybe as some other things we'd like to have done, but you make draft choices and draft-day decisions based on the long-term best interests of your organization. I think that's what we did today."

To me, this is why I like TT's approach. If you do what is best for the team long term, you risk getting fired short-term. There is so much pressure to win now that it must be very tempting for new GMs to implement a win-now strategy.

[Fritz]

I kinda understood the pick at the time but was still a bit dumbfounded. I hoped TT would trade that pick away to someone eager for Rodgers, pick up a boatload of picks, and draft defense. Remember that the Packers were coming off a very good season, and just needed a bit better of a defense.

Hmmm. Apparently I always want the Packers do draft defense early. You can tell I grew up in the 70's.

Ted Hendricks was my guy. It was yet another stupid 70's move when the Packers traded him away. Man, he was good. Big, long, arms - he could get into passing lanes, and he was rough and a little crazy.

[Patler]

I kinda understood the pick at the time but was still a bit dumbfounded. I hoped TT would trade that pick away to someone eager for Rodgers, pick up a boatload of picks, and draft defense. Remember that the Packers were coming off a very good season, and just needed a bit better of a defense.

Hmmm. Apparently I always want the Packers do draft defense early. You can tell I grew up in the 70's.

Ted Hendricks was my guy. It was yet another stupid 70's move when the Packers traded him away. Man, he was good. Big, long, arms - he could get into passing lanes, and he was rough and a little crazy.

I'll have to stir up the memory banks here a bit. The Packers didn't really "trade" Ted Hendricks. His contract had expired and he could sign with any team he wanted to, as long as the team was willing to subject themselves to the Commissioner's decision on suitable compensation to his former team (The "Rozelle Rule"). Oakland was willing to do that, and I think the Packers got a couple first round draft picks for Hendricks.

The whole Hendricks deal was confusing, because he had signed a futures contract with a WFL team, but they folded or something. At any rate, Baltimore saw the writing on the wall and sent him to GB for another very good linebacker, Tom MacLeod, and, I think, some draft picks. With his contract expiring, he didn't seem long for the Packers, just a rental player who was so good that he would be able to move himself in what then amounted to the NFL's version of "free agency", if he wanted to.

I don't remember who the Packers got for the draft picks from Oakland, but Tom MacLeod,who they sent to the Colts, was a very good linebacker who played a number of years for the Colts (I think was All-Pro one year), but, as I recall, sustained the kiss-of-death injury to NFL careers in those days, a significant knee injury.

[Bretsky]

Mea Culpa

I hated the Aaron Rodgers Draft Pick; I wanted TT to draft immediate help at defense

[TravisWilliams23]

I remember a few posters had a hard on for Logan Mankins that year. NE picked him up at the last spot in the first round and he's been a really good guard for them for years. I remember thinking with the yearly retirement fiasco the team was put through each year, TT was right in taking a chance on Arod because he just fell into his lap and Aaron could very well have been the 1st pick of the draft that year and GB was going to eventually have to find a replacement for #4.

Patler, thanks for the trip down memory lane on the Hendricks deal. I kind of remembered that GB was going to lose him but didn't recall the exact reason why. That's the kind of bad luck the 70's and 80's teams usually ran into.

[Patler]

With all the predictions in 2004 that the Packers were intent on drafting Losman and Sherman as much as admitting he would have taken him if Buffalo had not traded up to snatch him away, with Favre doing his annual "I might retire" dance, and with AR having been seen by some as the possible first pick in the draft, I was hoping AR would continue to fall and that TT would draft him. It just seemed like the right time for the Packers to get a decent prospect to prepare for replacing the guy who insisted that he would never hang on longer than he should, and would prefer to retire too soon rather than too late. I really did expect Favre to retire at any time back then.

[George Cumby]

I was watching that draft in a hotel room. I was incredulous as Rodgers dropped through the first half of the round and then increasingly hopeful as he continued to fall. I was screaming "pick him! Pick him!", along with Berman when the Pack came up. Good times.

[Pugger]

Thanks Ted!!!

[woodbuck27]

Mea Culpa

I hated the Aaron Rodgers Draft Pick; I wanted TT to draft immediate help at defense

My first thought after that pick was announced was >>> Brett Favre.

Certainly 'and again' the Headline's:

No Help For Brett Favre

No Help For HC Mike Sherman's Packers

Forecast... Exit Brett Favre postscript ...... Bye Bye Mike Sherman

I was stunned. It was like 'the burning bush'.

Hello !!

A famous David Bowie song began to play inside my head. 'Changes'.

GO PACK GO!

[pbmax]

From Jason Wilde's Sulia account:

On this date in 2005, the #Packers drafted QB @AaronRodgers12. Here's what Ted Thompson said that day:
"It sounds silly to keep repeating myself, but we really and truly wanted to take the best football player on the board," Thompson said. "And we felt like (Rodgers) was the best football player on the board.

"We look at the draft as a long-term view, but we would like some help initially, yeah. The guys we picked today, they're good football players. And I'd expect all those guys to help us this season."

"We stuck with the board today. We picked the best player on the board. We literally took the highest-rated player on the board today -- every time."