I have never been a fan of Ted Thompson. I have the post history to prove it... The guy got off on a bad foot with me when the Packers lost Mike Wahle and Marco Rivera, Darren Sharper and Javon Walker. I was REALLY unhappy when he failed to execute the Randy Moss trade. The Justin Harrell pick still has me scratching my head. There are other dubious moves to be sure...</p> But lo and behold, Ted Thompson may have actually known what he was doing. Greg Jennings and James Jones have our receiving corps looking good for a long time. Donald Lee was recycled from Miami. Atari Bigby was a practice squad one off. Charles Woodson is proving that he still has some gas left in the tank. The shotgun approach Ted took with offensive lineman the past three years has paid off with Colledge, Spitz and Moll. And getting Ryan Grant from the Giants with a sixth round pick? That's looking like that might end up being a steal... No one liked the Aaron Rodgers pick, but he's looking better every year. </p> When Favre does finally retire, the team looks to be set up to not plunge immediately in the toilet, because even with Favre at age 38, the Packers are the youngest team in the league. Hmmm...</p> Am I ready to say 100% that I was wrong about Ted Thompson? Not yet... But maybe soon. =)</p> Time will tell...</p>
I'm not giving Thompson a pass for this year. We're winning in spite of him. LOL. He's got a long ways to go before I hold him in high esteem.</p>
Thompson has surrounded Favre with a lot of talent no doubt and he's done it via the Draft. Johnny Jolley, A.J. Hawk, Greg Jennings, Jason Spitz, Tony Moll, Michael Montgomery and Daryn Colledge are all starters or key players for us. That's just from one draft class too. Nick Collins, Junius Colston, and Brady Poppinga all have been contributing from the 2004 draft class. Rodgers looked great this off season too though he's still very much an unknown. Now we're getting help from Aaron Rouse, James Jones, and Mason Crosby. I'm not sold on Jackson or Harrell but I have a hard time doubting our drafts. Not to mention he hired Mike McCarthy when he was under a lot of pressure to hire Jim Bates. McCarthy is now off to the best start in Packer Coaching History.</p> I also don't think Thompson was to blame for the tough 2005 season. Thompson let go of Sharper, Wahle, and Rivera because of the cap situation Green Bay was in. The previous GM, Mike Sherman, gave ridiculous contracts to Joe Johnson, Robert Ferguson, and Cledius Hunt to name a few. All those players were major busts for the Packers. On the flip side, Thompson has given extensions to Nick Barnett, Aaron Kampman, Cullen Jenkins and Al Harris. All 3 of those players are playing at a high level and good enough to be in the Pro Bowl in my opinion. Charles Woodson also received a huge contract and he has 12 INT's and 3 touchdowns since joining the Pack. Ryan Pickett has also been a solid pickup for the Pack.</p> You look up and down that roster and he really cleaned house with a lot of poor players brought in by Mike Sherman. Guys like Donell Washington, Mark Roman, Hannibal Navies, Ahmad Carroll, Kenny Peterson, and Joey Thomas.</p> The more your look at the rosters of the Sherman era, the more you see that Sherman benefited from moves Ron Wolf had made and his past drafts. The depth of Wolf's drafts are still around today but were an even bigger factor in 2000 to 2004. Nearly 70% of Sherman's draft picks are out of the NFL now. So I give Thompson credit for sticking with his plan. All of a sudden, Green Bay is 9-1 and we're in a good situation with our cap room.</p>
