Quick hits from Thursday nights practice

[RashanGary]

I simply don't believe it because the big thing with him is he is strong as an ox. Strength shouldn't be one of his issues. Nor should playing with leverage. Time will tell, but I think he'll be a very solid starter by the end of camp.

I think he'll do a pretty good job, but I don't think he's ready to take Williams or Pickets job just yet.

[woodbuck27]

I simply don't believe it because the big thing with him is he is strong as an ox. Strength shouldn't be one of his issues. Nor should playing with leverage. Time will tell, but I think he'll be a very solid starter by the end of camp.

I think he'll do a pretty good job, but I don't think he's ready to take Williams or Pickets job just yet.

I appreciate all the information and the frankness JH.

It's time as a board we all try to get there for the future good of our team.

Forget the ego's and naivete.

[packrat]

Great reports. You make this the best board going right now. Focused on FOOTBALL, not gamesmanship between posters trying to cut each other down.

[woodbuck27]

Great reports. You make this the best board going right now. Focused on FOOTBALL, not gamesmanship between posters trying to cut each other down.

Yes.

This is a solid Packer home. It gets a tad testy at times, esp. just after the draft through to TC. A lot of that is because it's so slow. It certainly has been that way if your a Packer fan.

Then there's the real stuff to focus on. The roster.

Come here often packrat. It's a great learning environment and you'll get to know the members in time.

It's a safe place to be a Packer fan.

[woodbuck27]

I simply don't believe it because the big thing with him is he is strong as an ox. Strength shouldn't be one of his issues. Nor should playing with leverage. Time will tell, but I think he'll be a very solid starter by the end of camp.

I think he'll do a pretty good job, but I don't think he's ready to take Williams or Pickets job just yet.

Harrell does OK in drill

First-round draft choice Justin Harrell was OK but nothing special in one-on-one pass rush drills.

Harrell didn't beat anybody badly enough to get a sure sack, but he did get decent push on two of his three repetitions.

In two reps against guard Travis Leffew, Harrell was able to get decent penetration. But on a third rep against guard Adam Stenavich, Harrell was essentially stopped.

— Pete Dougherty/pdougher@greenbaypressgazette.com

[woodbuck27]

Harrell has looked pretty bad. He's just not as powerfull as I had hoped. He's obviously a rookie and he's going to have his struggles, but he's definitly a guy who needs a year to get stronger and more technically sound.

I think he's about eqaul to Cole right now. For a rookie it's not bad, but he's a high pick so you want him to eventually be a probowl type DT.

I hope you are wrong about Harrell; TT really liked the guy, enough to turn down Cleveland's second and a future first round draft pick so I'd hope he'd be par with our starters. Cole, to me, is one of Wist's "just a guy" players.


I noticed you have not mentioned Robert Ferguson, which is music to my ears. With the additional WR's does he look like a pedestrian now ?

Have you noticed much of Spitz ? He's my main concern on the OL.

http://www.packerpalace.com/links.html

An Offer He Couldn't Refuse

I just read this in a month-old piece by Jason Wilde on this year’s NFL draft:

Ted Thompson turned down a trade with the Cleveland Browns that would have given GBP the Browns first rounder in 2008 and flip-flopped the team’s 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounders this year

(all to GBP’s great advantage, because the Browns were the 3rd worst team in football last year) in exchange for our 1st round pick this year.

We improve our position on four draft picks for a pick we used on a player with a scary injury history.

As Wilde points out, the Browns aren’t going anywhere with a rookie QB and rookie left tackle next year. So the 2008 pick would have been quite high.

Wilde asked Thompson, who’s traded down in all of his 15 draft-day deals, why he wouldn’t consider taking a future pick:

“I don’t know (why). I’ve never really been able to figure that one out, quite frankly,” Thompson said when I asked him about it.

“I normally don’t do that.”

[CaliforniaCheez]

The Cleveland deal was intriguing. There was the second TE in the draft and 4th Safety available in round two. Who knows with Cleveland's first rounder next draft.

Something pre-injury showed well on film for Harrell. That was 2 years ago.
He is a pick for the future.

Aaron Kampmann said it best. "The guy is coachable and sincerely wants to get better. With those two things you know he is going to improve."

I did not see the draft as I was at the biggest HS track meet in the country that weekend. I did not see the alleged booing.

Why are people supportive of Rodgers whose few career meaningful snaps will be exceeded by Harrell's in his one rookie season?

Yet Harrell is not given the courtesy of a chance?

Perhaps one of the booers will explain.

[Cheesehead Craig]

I agree we need patience with Harrell. We're not relying on him to be our savior in the middle this year. The guy needs to get into football shape and he's getting there. I wasn't expecting much out of the guy except to be in the rotation to keep everyone fresh during the game this year. He'll get to where he needs to be.

[PackerBlues]

Conditioning for the NFL, has to be quite a step up from conditioning at the college level. You see it every year. While everyone was very high on Jennings last year, and Jennings did show a great amount of talent and production for a rookie, I am sure that I am not the only one that thought that he could use an extra 15-20 pounds of lean muscle mass added to his frame. I am sure that Harrell will be fine. His conditioning may have him ready by the start of the season, and there is a chance that it may take him the better part of the season to really understand where he needs to be conditioning wise.

As I have said before. You always hope that the first round pick will be a starter, from the first game of the season to the last. You hope, but its not a definite thing. If the second round pick plays as a starter at all during his first year, its a good thing, but not really expected. After that, any pick that turns into a starter is a rare gift.

[Packnut]

Harrell

Rookies have little effect in the NFL so it's a mute point about his conditioning. He could have started in shape and still would'nt be better than the 2 guys ahead of him.

[CaliforniaCheez]

Harrell like many who dominate at the college level seemed to have done it on strength.

At the NFL level everyone is strong and well versed in technique.
Harrell will be learning technique this season and a full off season of strength and conditioning in Green Bay will help him greatly.

He was drafted for his potential. It takes time to get there.

[The Leaper]

I can't fault Thompson too much. Chances are reasonable that Cleveland would have a top 10 pick next year, but it isn't a lock. If Cleveland manages to go 7-9 or 8-8, then the trade really benefits Cleveland...who gets their mid round 1st selection a year in advance. With a young team like Green Bay has, you are looking to continue to build the roster NOW to have a strong contender by 2008 or 2009.

Teams after Green Bay are ones who should be taken to task even more. I would expect they all got the same deal...and no one accepted it until it got down to Dallas. By pick #20 or so, the deal became very advantageous for the Browns' trading partner.

[RashanGary]

Re: Harrell

Rookies have little effect in the NFL so it's a mute point about his conditioning. He could have started in shape and still would'nt be better than the 2 guys ahead of him.

I agree 100%. Hawk was a good player but that is very rare. Our Olineman for as promising as they looked for rookies were still rookies and in the grand scheme, the sucked compared to good vets. Harrell is going to be a solid backup this year, that's it. Next year if he's struggling we should all start to worry.

[Partial]

Re: Harrell

Rookies have little effect in the NFL so it's a mute point about his conditioning. He could have started in shape and still would'nt be better than the 2 guys ahead of him.

I agree 100%. Hawk was a good player but that is very rare. Our Olineman for as promising as they looked for rookies were still rookies and in the grand scheme, the sucked compared to good vets. Harrell is going to be a solid backup this year, that's it. Next year if he's struggling we should all start to worry.

Disagree with both completely. 1st round draft picks are supposed to step in right away. He'll be in shape sooner than later.

[woodbuck27]

I can't fault Thompson too much. Chances are reasonable that Cleveland would have a top 10 pick next year, but it isn't a lock. If Cleveland manages to go 7-9 or 8-8, then the trade really benefits Cleveland...who gets their mid round 1st selection a year in advance. With a young team like Green Bay has, you are looking to continue to build the roster NOW to have a strong contender by 2008 or 2009.

Teams after Green Bay are ones who should be taken to task even more. I would expect they all got the same deal...and no one accepted it until it got down to Dallas. By pick #20 or so, the deal became very advantageous for the Browns' trading partner.

That deal would likely have given us another top 5 pick. Plus we would have advanced in rounds 2-4 to the third pick per round (ahhemm, before TT traded down with one of them or more,of course).

He could have had a TT picnic !!

If we wanted to improve our depth. That move would have set just that up. We get two first round picks in round one 2008, and the way I see it there is a strong liklihood that both would be top ten picks.

If that was to be the case in reality, then again there was more offered to TT. It was just simply a win-win win. . .for our team.

TT may rightly be scratching his head over that one because such a move would have actually fit who he is.

He just flat out can't think on his feet. He has a ton to learn ( the man's in his mid fifty's and set in his ways) and do we have time for TT to look back on some of his errrs admit them and change? Assuming he could even go there.

Ever notice how red he can get? What's up with that?

Maybe he suffers high anxiety or hyper tension? Why does he act so tight when he comes out of his comfort zone ( his thinking closet ). . . and all that burping ! What's that about?

I good burp is necessary at times but not in public or before the press and camera's.

Am I the only person here that wonders or see's that stuff?

As a forum (board) we are very kind and patient with Ted Thompson. Most people here are very decent sorts. We'er solid people and Packer fans.

12 -20 spells patient.

I check around for all I can find on TT that reflects a poor opinion of his style of managing, just out of curiosity. There are Packer fans of an insulting opinion of his ways. What. . and the way or manner that they express their disenchantment with TT is brutal.

I actually feel terrible for the guy.

When he says it's time to win. . now !! It's very difficult to believe that he's being forthright. Does he really believe he did enough for 2007?

Because, he didn't.

He didn't ( sorry about that, but it's time we get off the glue). He makes every stall or excuse to not apply himself to meet our needs. He has to be our GM active in improving our team every day. BUSY !!!

We need badly at RB. We need at TE.

TT almost shrugs his shoulders and is perfectly content with the status quo. What other GM would act that way isn't a question but why does our's always seem to go just there?