Are there HOLES in our LEADERSHIP that are concerning ???

[texaspackerbacker]

He was 50/50 to be the overall top pick. I'd definitely call it luck that those 23 other teams passed on him. Give Ted credit, though, for not being #24. I'm just saying the great majority of Packer fans probably woulda done the same at that point.

[sharpe1027]

Doing a better job of evaluating talent and picking a player passed up by other teams is the core job description for a GM. It's not luck.

[Sparkey]

He was 50/50 to be the overall top pick. I'd definitely call it luck that those 23 other teams passed on him. Give Ted credit, though, for not being #24. I'm just saying the great majority of Packer fans probably woulda done the same at that point.

Good thing Ted was using his head and looking long term and not drafting for right now or the last 13 years would be something less than what they were.

[sharpe1027]

I'm just saying the great majority of Packer fans probably woulda done the same at that point.

Hardly. Plenty of Packers fans were pissed they wasted a first round pick on a QB instead of giving Favre more weapons.

[smuggler]

So, smuggler. what you were trying to say is that I under-appreciate Packer leadership? That may be true, but the fact is, they have performed like far from the best of the best. The record the past two years and really the past thirty or so years? Getting Favre, which I suppose wasn't luck, and getting Rodgers, which definitely was luck had more to do with that success than anything else.

Your entire stream of consciousness concerning this topic is so lacking in perspective as to almost fully rely on its self-contradictory basis of existence that that you're just going to have to stubbornly live with people thinking you look like a dumbass for keeping it.

Fritz, I have a lot of respect for most teachers, and based off what little I know of you, I believe you'd fit into that category

[jklowan]

Hardly. Plenty of Packers fans were pissed they wasted a first round pick on a QB instead of giving Favre more weapons.

You can count me as one, think I threw a remote into my TV that draft

[Spaulding]

He was 50/50 to be the overall top pick. I'd definitely call it luck that those 23 other teams passed on him. Give Ted credit, though, for not being #24. I'm just saying the great majority of Packer fans probably woulda done the same at that point.

I don't think Rodgers as 50/50 being the first choice overall is correct. Way too many concerns on the Tedford QB's and delivery (which improved greatly under McCarthy). Media had no actual clue and it was painful to watch Rodgers squirm on draft night due to all the wrong projections. He was definitely a project and sitting behind Favre for at least two years was the best thing.

If he was honestly thought of being a 50% chance overall, there is no chance he falls past the next 23 teams to land with the Packers.

It was a QB weak class and teams weren't inclined to reach given the prior failures of Tedford's Kyle Boller, David Carr, Joey Harrington and I though Akili Smith but could be wrong. There might be others as well but all were high picks that greatly failed to live up to expectations.

That TT pulled the trigger is a testament to his scouting department, sticking to his board and the right situation for AR to grow into the QB he is today.

That's an organization success story if ever there was, much like Wolf seeing something in Favre that compelled him to give up a 1st rounder for prior year's 2nd rounder that hadn't shown anything yet beyond his college play.

Whether Love is a success story or not is obviously not know. The odds are against it but if any team has a good recipe for QB development it does seem that the Packers are playing with house money.

[th87]

Who cares whether it was luck or skill. It was 17 years ago. Being awesome then has covered up a lot of not awesome decisions subsequently.

I agree that anyone of above average smarts, grit, and love of the game could be a fine GM if they start young and know the right people. So many of these sports jobs (including coaching) are given out to friends in the game - very few are these insane visionaries they are portrayed to be. It's more who you know, and right place right time.

[texaspackerbacker]

No matter how much some people might want to paint Ted Thompson as smart for taking Rodgers when he did, the fact is, it was extreme luck that he even had that choice to make - that all those other teams, several of which had a greater need for a QB than the Packers, passed on Rodgers. Like th87 said, it's water over the dam now - 17 years ago, and Ted and what has followed made "a lot of not awesome decisions subsequently". I have to admit to being one of those who didn't like picking Rodgers in 2005. Ever since then, though, I'll state unequivocally that I could have done a better job with personnel than Thompson or Gutekunst - they really didn't set a very high bar.

[sharpe1027]

The draft is a competition. There were no dice rolls in the draft. The individuals making decisions at each team that passed on Rodgers based on basically the same set of information. The Packers didn't pass. That's not luck, it's being better than your competition.

[Bretsky]

The draft is a competition. There were no dice rolls in the draft. The individuals making decisions at each team that passed on Rodgers based on basically the same set of information. The Packers didn't pass. That's not luck, it's being better than your competition.

Well to be fair it was somewhat lucky a HOF QB fell into our laps at 24 and TT had the stones to take him.

[sharpe1027]

Well to be fair it was somewhat lucky a HOF QB fell into our laps at 24 and TT had the stones to take him.

Two different things. That ARod ended up being a HOFer was very lucky. No way anyone could guarantee that at the time. That others passed they picked him was not luck.

[th87]

The draft is a competition. There were no dice rolls in the draft. The individuals making decisions at each team that passed on Rodgers based on basically the same set of information. The Packers didn't pass. That's not luck, it's being better than your competition.

So they were that year. And then definitely weren't when picking AJ Hawk over Ngata, Nick Perry over Harrison Smith, Worthy over Lavonte David, Datone Jones right ahead of Hopkins, HHCD over Dee Ford, King over Watt, etc.

What competitive advantage were they not using when they made these poor choices?

The point is that every team has the ability to hit or miss. We were just fortunate that our hit was huge at the most important position in football.

[sharpe1027]

So they were that year. And then definitely weren't when picking AJ Hawk over Ngata, Nick Perry over Harrison Smith, Worthy over Lavonte David, Datone Jones right ahead of Hopkins, HHCD over Dee Ford, King over Watt, etc.

What competitive advantage were they not using when they made these poor choices?

The point is that every team has the ability to hit or miss. We were just fortunate that our hit was huge at the most important position in football.

I'm responding to the assertion that picking Rodgers should be discounted because they were lucky he was available. I disagree. They weren't lucky. Other teams didn't rate him as high as we did. That's not luck. It's a simple, easy to understand explanation.

What I'm not saying is they were perfect or that whether a pick hits or misses is ever a certainty. As I also said, we were lucky with how good Rodgers ended up. Nobody could have guaranteed that result.

[Fritz]

Good thing Ted was using his head and looking long term and not drafting for right now or the last 13 years would be something less than what they were.

How true that is.

And before the Packers completely kowtow to Rodgers and throw the next five years away on an overly large, terribly burdensome contract - remember, one bad injury to the 37-year-old not-as-nimble-any-more QB and it's all over - wouldn't it be nice to get a little more information on Jordan Love and what he might offer?

And that's the problem - Rodgers know the Packers need to see what they have and in their fantasy world they'd have Rodgers for two more seasons and then, if they like Love, they move on, and if he doesn't pan out, they then give Rodgers another two seasons.

Rodgers feels slighted by that - kinda like the husband that is going to keep his wife around - unless he can find a younger, just-as-hot woman.