Interesting article on TT...oh no you di'int

by TrevorR on Oct 29, 2009 11:40 AM CDT Comment 8 comments

"There's no way the Packers could've won this thing, no matter how it came out," says former Green Bay general manager Ron Wolf, who traded for Favre 18 years ago. "And it will always be attached to Ted. That's just the nature of the game and the business."

I would love to hear Wolf's entire take on it...both when it happened and now just to see how he would have handled it. For all we know he may have done the same thing, Wolf put the team before the players too...remember he trained TT. Either way, I think Wolf was spot on. If we brought Favre back it would have been at the expense of Rodgers. If we let Favre go its at the expense of some of the fans. Not a decision that would have been fun to make...that much I know.

The biggest influences in TT life according to him are: Titan GM Mike Reinfeldt, Wolf, Phillips, former Packers and Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, and his own parents. In fact Bum Phillips said TT is one of the few people he would trust his life with.

Thompson is known for being a shrewd evaluator of talent, some here will argue that but his record in Seattle spoke for that and he was key to Wolf in his years here. His first job with us was as a scout. He'd sit in a dark room for hours watching tape of players. He was successful and became director of pro personnel before Holmgren lured him away in 2000. Who knows, if he hadn't TT might have been Wolf's successor years earlier.

I think this right here though is the one thing that will make or break his time here...

Thompson is always looking five years into the future. He collects picks, and believes that the core of a team should come from the draft. He scoffs at the draft-day notion that a franchise would lock itself in according to need; sometimes, if the talent is still out there, you have to grab it.

I don't think he's ever going to just sit there and make a play for just this year. He runs this organization like the Twin in baseball. Make sure the team is always relevant and stocked for the future. Build through the draft and develop the talent and reward those that succeed.

Read the full article though, its very interesting and helps you learn more about TT and stuff. Its long but well written.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?page=hotread7/TedThompson

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Great Read

Whether you like Thompson or not it is definately worth the read to get a better feel of who the man is.

by Dogg Pound on Oct 29, 2009 12:54 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

TT is on the right track

As history states Ron Wolf was scoffed at for giving away a first round draft pick for a third string QB on the Falcons bench. We all (me included )scratched our head and said Favre who? Well the rest is history. Once Favre was added Majkowski became expendible. Even though the turn of events were different , Majkowski got injured and Favre retired. Once Rodgers was drafted Favre became expendible.
TT is following the Ron Wolf hand book by the letter, After all he is a Ron Wolf protege.
And number 1 on the list is secure your franchise QB and build a team around him. Favre made his descision making easy when he retired. If Favre had a major injury the results would of been the same I’m afraid. The only difference is TT didn’t have to send a 1st round pick away.He must have been salivating when Rodgers fell in the draft to 24.
This is the nature of the buisiness as cruel as it sounds. TT wanted a young gun to go with his young team. TT also likes to saturate the draft like Wolf by trading away upper picks to get more picks in the 3rd through the 5th. Granted I don’t totally agree with everything TT has done but our team is young and we have plenty of cap room to keep them signed and maybe a few free agents. So give him a chance if things don’t change in 2-3 years then its time for a change.

by cheddarhead on Oct 29, 2009 4:51 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I think TT made a huge leap in progress this past draft...

The past few years he has been drafting for the future. He would send our low 1st, 2nd, or 3rd round picks to add a few more selections later on. However, this past draft he made a huge step in the draft. IMO. He traded up!!! The trade up landed us Clay. Clay is now a starting OLB and has a real shot at Defensive Rookie of the Year. Now I dont expect him to do this from now on, but doing that showed me he is trying to win now and build for the future at the same time. Hopefully he can do something like that this offseason with some OL help!

by bizzle4 on Oct 29, 2009 7:39 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

good take…I hadn’t thought about that before but you are probably right on there.

by TrevorR on Oct 30, 2009 8:49 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

First of all...

I am not sold on Grant as a long term answer…I think we will look long and hard this offseason for an upgrade either through the draft or free angency. I still believe that building the lines through the draft is vital for long term success, so I don’t see any big moves this offseason for line help.

V/R
Ted Thompson, GM
Green Bay Packers
1265 Lombardi Ave.
Green Bay, Wisconsin 54304
Tel: 920-569-7500

by Ted Thompson on Oct 30, 2009 4:23 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Grant

Grant was signed during the whole Favre fiasco and although I completely disagreed with the compensation he recieved, I understand why TT wanted to avoid another mini-media frenzy. Grant will never be great, but he is serviceable. I’d rather have any handfull of talented backs sitting on the bench for other teams than Grant. That being said, he’s the best we’ve got.

The line, well that, I’m dissapointed in. We’re going to need a serious free agent pick up to protect Rodger’s blind side.

by Smeefers on Oct 30, 2009 7:53 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think we all forget though, it was a very incentive laden deal. He has to perform to get his money so it was a well done contract even though I wasn’t a big fan of Grant then or now.

by TrevorR on Oct 30, 2009 8:50 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs