I had some options for this space.
I could talk about some of the rules changes the NFL just instituted. Gene kind of covered that with his OT post, though. There are other changes, of course, and we’ll likely get to them – and how they effect the Green Bay Packers - at some point soon.
I could do some draft stuff. But, while we’ve had a ton of fun with our mock drafts (new mock next Wednesday, by the way), we’re not quite ready to roll out our balls-to-the-wall draft coverage. Soon enough, dear readers. Soon enough.
I could go out of my way to mock Brett Favre and/or the Minnesota Vikings. But, hey, it’s only March. We’ve got plenty of time left to do that!
Instead, I’ve decided to write about something that’s been bothering me lately: The fact that, no matter what he does, a sizeable percentage of Packers fans will always despise Ted Thompson. To them, he’s the opposite of “The Golden Boy” – “The Man of Rust”, if you will.
I just don’t get it. I happen to think he’s pretty damn smart and a great football mind. Now that doesn’t mean I agree with everything he does. But at the end of the day, I’m glad he’s running the show over at 1265 Lombardi Avenue. I sat through the Mike Sherman era. I’m not looking for a repeat of that. Thompson is a lot of things, but Sherman he is not.
(Oh sure, I could insert some sort of comparison between Sherman/Thompson and George W./Obama here, but we don’t get political at OBOD.)
Anyways, after I thought about it for a bit, I came up with the following four reasons as to why these people hate Thompson so much.
And here they are (strap in, kids, this is a long one):
- He’s cheap
Some of their examples: His near-total lack of involvement in free agency and his unwillingness to re-up players like Marco Rivera (yes, some people are still upset about that, believe it or not) and Mike Wahle.
They hate him when he doesn’t spend money. They say he’s a penny-pincher, more focused on the bottom line than he is on winning. The money’s no good if you don’t spend it, Ted.
My response to that: Yes, sometimes it is frustrating to see Thompson stay completely on the sidelines while some teams doll out money in an attempt to improve. But then the season starts and most of these “big fish” free agents end up being majorly overpaid busts. Upon getting their dough, many of them simply mail it in, wrecking their new teams’ cap in the process. Look at the Washington Redskins. Winning in April means almost nothing come September. The stats prove that, if you don’t believe me.
And you know who else handed out big cash like it was candy? That’s right: Sherman. And that got him what? Joe Johnson, that’s what.
The truly hysterical part about these people is that, when he does spend money (see: the re-signings of Chad Clifton, Mark Tauscher, Nick Collins and Ryan Pickett), they say he overpaid. $20 million for Clifton? What’s Ted DOING?!
Which is it, guys? Make a choice.
- He doesn’t really know how to draft
Some of their examples: Justin Harrell, A.J. Hawk, Justin Harrell, Brian Brohm, Justin Harrell and Pat Lee. Did I mention Justin Harrell?
They will also mention that some of his other fairly high picks (players like James Jones, Jordy Nelson and Brandon Jackson, for example) haven’t lived up to the spot in which they were selected.
My response: Aaron Rodgers, Nick Collins, Greg Jennings, Jermichael Finley and Clay Matthews.
But I won’t simply give you those five names, either. In fact, when I broke down Thompson’s 50 draft selections - a highly subjective process, I’ll admit – I determined 22 of them to be either great, very good or solid picks (by solid, I mean to say that they have contributed a decent amount of good things at one point or another).
The great Ron Wolf has always said if you can hit on one-third of your picks – and, by “hit” he didn’t mean one-third of your picks go on to be All-Pros - you’re doing a good job. By my math (I did go to a Big Ten school so my math isn’t great), 22 of 50 equals 44 percent. That’s much higher than 33.33333333 percent.
In other words, he does know how to draft. He’s just had some spectacular failures. But what general manager hasn’t? At least he didn’t draft B.J. Sander in the third round, for God’s sake.
- He’s, well, kind of a jerk
Our first two reasons focused on on-field issues (re-signing players and drafting). The final two reasons – the REAL reasons I think people hate Thompson - deal with off-field stuff.
Thompson haters will point to his guarded, sometimes snide/arrogant stance with the media and his overall persona – the opposite of a people person – and say he’s not a “Packer Person.” In their minds, “Packer People” apparently should be friendly, outgoing and totally willing to share all team news with the media.
Tell us who we’re going to draft, Ted! Tell us!!
And, of course, we can’t leave out the portion of Packers fans – we all know this is true – who look at 57-year old Thompson, still unmarried, and use that as evidence to say he’s gay. If you don’t believe me, check out the “comments” section on sites like ProFootballTalk.com. The homophobic comments aimed at Thompson are truly alarming sometimes. They do the same thing with Rodgers, even though they have absolutely no proof on either of the two. It’s ridiculous.
My response: I don’t care if he’s not always nice. I don’t care if he’s snide or arrogant. You know what I care about? Winning. I’m a fan like that.
Some people aren’t all about shaking hands, kissing babies and providing Parcells-like quotes. Thompson is one of those people.
And I REALLY don’t care if he is, in fact, gay. I’ll take a team of gay winners over a team of straight losers any day of the week. But hey, that’s just me.
- He got rid of Favre
The true No. 1 reason right here. Even more so than Thompson’s personality, these people just can not get over the fact that he finally cut the cord on Favre, the childish, pathetic object of their affection. They point to Favre’s success with Minnesota last season as proof that he can still play at an elite level. Had he been allowed to come back to Green Bay, the Packers could have had similar success, if not more, they say.
My response: Favre was a jerk, a man who truly put himself over the other 52 guys on the team in every sense of the word. He spent years hanging the organization out to dry while he waffled like a five-year old on whether or not to play. Draft plans had to be altered. Free agency approaches had to be altered. All for one old, selfish diva with a knack for throwing back-breaking picks.
(I guess I WAS able to take some shots at Favre, after all, huh?)
Finally, after Favre himself retired, the organization moved on. What more did you want them to do?
And as for his “success” with the Vikings, sure, he looked great in the regular season/divisional game, but who was the last offensive player to touch the ball for them in the NFC Championship Game? Oh yeah – Favre, with yet another game-killing interception. He’s a loser in the clutch. Sorry, Favre lovers, it’s the truth.
So, when you add it all up, here’s what Thompson is: A man who doesn’t throw cash around like it was Monopoly money at players who don’t really deserve it. A man who hits on 44 percent of his picks. A man who focuses more on winning than he does on being nice. And, finally, a man who makes players stick to their word when THEY say THEY are quitting.
Sounds good to me.
-Chris Lempesis
Don’t forget Justin Harrell.
One thing has bugged me for a long time. Why would someone take video of themselves watching the draft?
I follow the Pack from many thousands of miles distance – a whole different continent, in fact – so a lot of the more “political” stuff passes me by. I do try to keep up with a lot of blogs, though …. and this is one of the best articles I’ve read in a long time.
Thanks!
Why didn’t you mention Justin Harrell?
I think Ted’s biggest shortcoming is successfully drafting/acquiring talent for the O-line and, to some extent, the defensive secondary. Otherwise, I’d rate him almost as good as Ron Wolf.
Justin Harrell. Justin Harrell. Justin Harrell.
Love your blog.
On Farve, I agree entirely with your comment “great season/divisional game.” “He’s a loser in the clutch”. Looking past the NFC championship games, how many Thanksgiving holidays were ruined because he could not get past Dallas. The Lions and Bears were money in the bank, but he often choked up in big games. Any big game we had, we could never count on which Farve was going to show.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the Farve years. I am old enough to remember years prior to him. Third and 10 usually meant – punting soon. Farve brought excitement and the possibility of big gains. As you stated, the season was good, but always came down to huge dissapointment in the “big game” playoffs. Philadelphia anyone? The Packers needed to move on. They needed to find, or develop, someone who could get beyond the NFC championship game. It must have taken alot of courage for TT to make that decision, but I agreed with it from the start. I for one am in TT’s court, and am happy with how he has handled the team.
Whenever I read the Farve / TT argument I rarely see this element in it. Thanks for bringing it up.
Agree with your analysis.
Believe that most fans compare TT to Ron Wolf, not to Sherman. TT suffers when his personality is compared to Wolf. Wolf was much more entertaining, while not telling us very much. draftwise I believe they are fairly equal. Both have made some 1st round mistakes as well as some great late round picks.
Times are different in regard to free agency. GM’s have figured out free agency and the few quality FA’s that become available are way overpriced.
Believe that a major reason TT does not spend in free agency is not to upset the salary structure of the team. Bringing in a free agent who wasn’t as good but was paid as much as or more than Woodson, Barnett, Collins at their respective positions would potentially create too many problems.
This year with Kampman leaving and the Packers likely in line for a 3rd round comp pick next year I expect only street free agents to be brought in.
Chris, all good points I just hope when you threw in the part about comparisons to M Sherman/T.Thompson and G. Bush/and whats his name the order in which you listed the presidents weren’t the same as the GM’s! Oh thats right we are not talking politics!
You’re right on when you put #1 on the TOG argument. Too many TOG fans will never forgive TT for that, even though he was absolutely right in going to Rodgers. A lot of those same “fans’ would have little to say if it weren’t for Harrell, who may yet contribute. If somehow TT succeeds in this draft as in the last, he should go down as least as good as Wolf.
Hey gang,
Thanks for all your comments. I really appreciate feedback, be it positive or negative. I’ll try to respond to all your comments (in the appropriate order, of course):
Rich – Why would someone film themselves watching the draft? My best guess is that ours is a sick, fame-obsessed culture where everyone must get their 1:15 on YouTube. “I must be filmed!!”
York – That’s awesome that you follow both us and the Packers from a different continent. We’ve had people from all sorts of places (UK, Australia and Norway, for example) check out our site and it’s always exciting and humbling.
Jim – You’re right on Ted’s o-line failings. Ultimately, though, that’s not that different from Wolf (who has admitted this several times) sayiing that his biggest failure was never drafting great receivers for Favre. Every GM has one bad area, I guess.
Kenne – How many Thanksgivings did Favre ruin? I don’t know. I only have 10 fingers to count on.
bd – Not much to say other than this: YOU NAILED IT!
Mike – Fear not. In our just over one-year of existence, I believe that’s the first time we’ve mentioned anything political. I highly doubt we’ll do so again.
-Chris Lempesis
And retiredgrampa, I couldn’t agree with you more!
-Chris Lempesis (again)
Chris,
Couldn’t agree with you more. Great article. Just to throw in my two cents though, I wish TT would add some “mid-level” free agents for depth and consistency purposes. Injuries killed us on the O line and secondary last year, and the D line and linebackers the year before. That would not be the case so much if we had more capable, proven vets in a rotation with our young draftees.
Also, I think someone else already said it, but O line – Come on Teddy! Memo: All SuperBowl caliber squads have at least good LT’s. We don’t. Get one.
Finally – Punter. And. Jarret. Bush. ‘Nuff. Said.
TT is a Good GM. Certainly the best in our division (although that’s not sayin much). Not as good as Ron Wolf, but he’s no slouch either, and he certainly does not deserve all the hatred he gets.
Chris – Free Agency is my answer – when TT actually went after a couple guys (Pickett and Woodson) how did that work for him? There is more out there than the draft. AR was the last offensive Packer player with the ball during the AZ playoff game, was it his fault they lost the game? He’s a loser in the clutch according to your theory.
So, 4gpp, you are mad at TT because when he did enter free agency, he did so well and you are mad at him that he didn’t do it more? I would hate to smell your cologne, because if a little is good right? Wouldn’t the more logical answer be that TT had done well in FA because he was selective?
globalpack – No he hasn’t been selective – just not willing to go in that direction for some reason, maybe it’s because of Matt O’Dwyer, Adrian Klemm, Rod Gardner, Marquard Manuel, Ben Taylor and Frank Walker. 50 picks, 5 “above average” studs – that’s good?
So you are saying that TT has only drafted five players that are “above average?”. Please name them this select list.
My response: Aaron Rodgers, Nick Collins, Greg Jennings, Jermichael Finley and Clay Matthews.
Maybe 6 with Jolly. Who would you add global?
Are we talking “above average” or are we talking “stud” because there is a definite difference. So, when you used the term “above average stud” it was a pretty moronic phrase. You can’t qualify something that is exceptional like Stud, with something run of the mill like average. It would be like discounting Elizabeth Bank’s hottiness, because she is not “an above average hottie.”
So, if we are asking it TT has drafted “above average” guys I would say the list expands. We have an “above average” full back group, Josh Sitton is definitely above average as well and T.J. Lang is above average for a player with one year under his belt. James Jones is better than your average W.R. in this league. Raji and Brad Jones played well last year, certainly above the average players, especially adjusted for rookies. As much as Hawk has been a disappointment, he is certainly an above average player. Even though Colledge and Spitz didn’t live up to the 2009 expectations of us, if they had not been tendered, other teams would have lined up at the door to get at them.
But I think that even despite the draft, which TT is widely credited for being very good at, TT is a pretty good judge of talent. Players like Bigby, Havner, Tramon Williams, Don Lee, these players were all cut from other teams, but TT was there to pick them up. Ryan Grant, he was able to zero in on him and get him for what a sixth round pick.
In conclusion, I can say that TT has put together a pretty good roster because teams are trying to pull players from Green Bay’s rejects. Last year, I can name three players that wouldn’t have made the Packers 53 man roster, but were plucked through waivers to make another teams 53 man roster. It’s a good thing.
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Globalpack. Nicely done.
-Chris Lempesis
Sooooooo when is Marshawn Lynch expected to land in Green Bay? Oh he’s not? He miss his plane? Oh, he was traded to the Seahawks? Seahawks probably gave WAY to much. Oh they didn’t? a 4th and a conditional 6th!? What a joke. October 5th 2010 nullifies argument for TT being a great GM. He does not care if Green Bay wins a superbowl, all he cares about is keeping Green Bay in a good financial standing(which is a good thing) and doing just enough to keep his job and keep his draft picks.