Eliot Wolf staying in Green Bay

[ptisme]

Well we keep getting people "stolen" from our front office and we keep replacing them. And the people we replace them with get "stolen" also. So we must have an incredible amount of talent in our front office and the ability to retrain our new hires. To me that suggests a well run machine by TT.

Or, we have an all world quarterback once again carrying his team on a playoff run...

[ptisme]

TT's draft and develop philosophy works everywhere!

??? Dorsey, McKenzie and Schneider have ALL used free agency and trades to varying degrees to build their roster...

[ThunderDan]

Or, we have an all world quarterback once again carrying his team on a playoff run...

GB is a hell of a lot more than ARod. Sure, I wouldn't want any other QB in the league to lead our team.

If it truly was ARod, why would any other team want someone in our front office? There is only 1 ARod and the chance of finding another is slim.

Look at what those 3 have done for their franchises. All 3 made the playoffs this year. Sea is on a multi-year playoff run and a Super Bowl win. McKenzie has turned Oakland from the laughing stock of the league to a contender.

[pbmax]

Philip Rivers should be proof enough that it takes more than a QB.

[woodbuck27]

They like Highsmith a lot and he is connected back to Wolf, who hired him. Alonzo gets a thumbs up from me for finding Sam Shields and having the best Packers Twitter account (which has suffered as he climbed the org ladder).

Eliot is getting another job title and promotion (and more money) and Bobbo mentioned another guy they like* stepping up to replace Gutenkunst.

There is also a rumor that former Packer scout Trent Baalke is coming back. He's from Rosendale, the greatest speed trap in Wisconsin.


*Jon-Eric Sullivan, their director of college scouting, http://www.packersnews.com/story/spo...-job/96779258/

" There is also a rumor that former Packer scout Trent Baalke is coming back. He's from Rosendale, the greatest speed trap in Wisconsin."



Trent Baalke is getting the 'H' out of there and besides the coffee shops suck.

[texaspackerbacker]

GM is the kind of job that a lot of people can do successfully just by going with the flow. The exceptional case is when somebody applies stupidity or whatever and screws things up. Luck or circumstance or one decision that turns out great can make a GM's reputation and that of a whole slew of his "descendants" for decades. Arguably, Aaron Rodgers MADE the reputation of Ted Thompson as well as the reputation of Schneider and Dorsey and the rest of them. I'll stop short of saying Ted lucked into getting Rodgers, but he certainly was presented with the circumstance and made the obvious decision at the time. Other than that, he has been pretty mediocre. The most similar thing I can think of to the Aaron Rodgers phenomenon is the coin flip where the Bucks got Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul Jabbar. That and the trades deriving from it kept the Bucks near the top for over 20 years. The only difference is that instead of trades parlaying a team into continued success after the big lucky break, it has been personnel people getting considered for jobs based on Ted's success.

Who among us, though, given a full time effort and a staff of scouts, couldn't roll the dice and make adequate draft picks, negotiate and sign our own players (or not), maybe go after and get (or not) other people's free agents or off the street?

[ThunderDan]

Who among us, though, given a full time effort and a staff of scouts, couldn't roll the dice and make adequate draft picks, negotiate and sign our own players (or not), maybe go after and get (or not) other people's free agents or off the street?

You!

[pbmax]

but he certainly was presented with the circumstance and made the obvious decision at the time.

This is patently false, unfortunately our records here don't stretch back that far. No one wanted a QB, they wanted Defensive help of skill position players.

QB was not high on the list and despite the value, people were not convinced of Rodgers and immediately everyone started complaining about drafting for the future and not for Favre's window.

The best that can be said of the public reaction is that by and large people did think this was a value pick.

[RashanGary]

This is patently false, unfortunately our records here don't stretch back that far. No one wanted a QB, they wanted Defensive help of skill position players.

QB was not high on the list and despite the value, people were not convinced of Rodgers and immediately everyone started complaining about drafting for the future and not for Favre's window.

The best that can be said of the public reaction is that by and large people did think this was a value pick.

Fans hated ted for that pick. Arrogant, stupid, as good as gone...... that was the least obvious pick I ever remember.

[vince]

GM is the kind of job that a lot of people can do successfully just by going with the flow. The exceptional case is when somebody applies stupidity or whatever and screws things up. Luck or circumstance or one decision that turns out great can make a GM's reputation and that of a whole slew of his "descendants" for decades. Arguably, Aaron Rodgers MADE the reputation of Ted Thompson as well as the reputation of Schneider and Dorsey and the rest of them. I'll stop short of saying Ted lucked into getting Rodgers, but he certainly was presented with the circumstance and made the obvious decision at the time. Other than that, he has been pretty mediocre. The most similar thing I can think of to the Aaron Rodgers phenomenon is the coin flip where the Bucks got Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul Jabbar. That and the trades deriving from it kept the Bucks near the top for over 20 years. The only difference is that instead of trades parlaying a team into continued success after the big lucky break, it has been personnel people getting considered for jobs based on Ted's success.

Who among us, though, given a full time effort and a staff of scouts, couldn't roll the dice and make adequate draft picks, negotiate and sign our own players (or not), maybe go after and get (or not) other people's free agents or off the street?

You have to be joking with this.

I guess this level of ignorance of the knowledge, skills and abilities required, along with the extreme demands of the job, is why so many fans think they could do better than those that have dedicated their professional lives to learning their profession and still most don't ultimately rise to and/or succeed at the highest level.

It's all who you know and a bunch of tosses at the dart board eh? Sign all the best free agents, that's it.

[pbmax]

Aaron Nagler @AaronNagler 11h11 hours ago
Ted Thompson, who drafted Aaron Rodgers, is lucky to have Aaron Rodgers. My timeline.

TIME IS A FLAT CIRCLE

[vince]

Luck is the explanation people give for the success of those they don’t like or understand.

Was Ted lucky Rodgers was available? He had the unique vision to accurately recognize an opportunity, and the significant will to take advantage of it in the face of what he knew would be vocal opposition.

None of the GM's who selected before him - almost all of whom had stronger needs at the QB position - possessed any of that. And has been mentioned before, very few pundits/fans/etc. did either. He was roundly criticized but stuck to his vision in spite of overwhelming public pressure and criticism.

Lucky indeed.

If Ted wasn't so good, he'd be bad. Therefore he's bad.

[texaspackerbacker]

This is patently false, unfortunately our records here don't stretch back that far. No one wanted a QB, they wanted Defensive help of skill position players.

QB was not high on the list and despite the value, people were not convinced of Rodgers and immediately everyone started complaining about drafting for the future and not for Favre's window.

The best that can be said of the public reaction is that by and large people did think this was a value pick.

That's exactly the point; Nobody, including Ted, wanted a QB in the first round or anywhere near it. However, when you're at #21 (or near it) and one of the two guys projected to be the best player/top pick in the whole draft falls to you, it's 1. a fortunate circumstance and 2. an obvious decision to make.

True, none of the GMs picking earlier chose him - that's fortunate for us. It's also possible those other teams had more pressing needs and the Packers really didn't.

It's also possible that it really wasn't a very good decision to make, but Aaron Rodgers just turned out to be so damn good - better than anybody expected - that it became a super decision.

Anyway, my original point was, being a good GM is a lot more luck and circumstance than skill and wisdom.

[pbmax]

That's exactly the point; Nobody, including Ted, wanted a QB in the first round or anywhere near it. However, when you're at #21 (or near it) and one of the two guys projected to be the best player/top pick in the whole draft falls to you, it's 1. a fortunate circumstance and 2. an obvious decision to make.

Twenty-two teams disagree with you. That they were proven wrong argues against your anyone could do it theory.

[bobblehead]

True, none of the GMs picking earlier chose him - that's fortunate for us. It's also possible those other teams had more pressing needs and the Packers really didn't.

More pressing needs then the best player in the draft. More pressing needs than a hall of fame QB. If the draft were held tomorrow and ARod entered it, would he go #1 no matter who was holding that pick? Since the answer is YES, what you mean is that nobody thought he was good enough to draft ahead of their pressing needs. (since no one ever has more pressing needs than a 10+ year starting hall of fame QB)