I recently gave GM Ted Thompson a lot of credit for drafting QB Aaron Rodgers for the Green Bay Packers when nobody else would. He made the right move when he gave him a well deserved first round grade, and pulled the trigger despite having a durable starting quarterback already on the roster. But he found himself without much of a choice. A war room recollection from Andrew Brandt at the National Football Post:
And I remember that fateful day in 2005 when, with the 24th pick, were left with one name above our first round line: Aaron Rodgers. There was debate about taking him as we had the most durable quarterback in the history of football. Finally, I called Aaron and his agent, Mike Sullivan, and get him on the line. I then kept Aaron waiting another ten minutes -- he had already been waiting 6 hours in that lonely green room -- to see if we got an offer for that pick (we didn’t). I often think about how history would be different had any of those players we targeted hadn’t been taken or had we received an offer to move back.