Mistake # 1-The Green Bay Packers drafted lousy college players in the 1st round of the NFL Draft. Mistake # 2-The Packers were guilty of clinging to a former Green Bay player-turned-head-coach for far too long and Mistake # 3-The Green Bay Packers traded away valuable future draft picks for an aging veteran past the prime of his career.
PackersTalk wrote:
I put a lot of blame on Judge Parins, he had control over the team much of this time.
I don't think it's fair to put too much blame on Starr. Yes his teams struggled, but he took over in the aftermath of Dan Devine's "Lawrence Welk" trade and had to build the team up with no free agency and few draft picks. He built a great offense too, it was merely the defense that struggled. The Packers made the playoffs again in '82 after they started to be able to draft players again, but then dropped back in '83. If they would have kept Starr another year, they would have definitely made the playoffs in '84. Granted Dickey was getting old and even less mobile, but they could get it done on offense.
Let's also look at Eddie Lee Ivery. That dude was a once in a generation talent, but he tore up his knees on the shitty turf in Philly and Chicago, iirc.
Also, I don't know about Tagge, but as I recall Bob Schnelker messed Rich Campbell up. Campbell wasn't a bad pick, it's just that they messed with his throwing motion, so his fundamentals and mechanics got discombobulated. You need that for proper accuracy. The opposite of this happened with Aaron Rodgers. Mike came in and made him a player.
As for Mandarich, hind sight is 20/20. Even a great GM like Ted hits a clunker once in awhile. People forget, Mandarich came back and played well for the Colts. He followed former Packers coach Lindy Infante over there. Yeah he was juicing, but alot of players juice. Problem was, he got amoebas from drinking swamp water in Upper Michigan on a hunting trip, so he was sick. Without all that, he was probably a better pick than Brent Fulwood or Bruce Clark.
Terrell Buckley was another pick about which people talk shit. He also went on to have a nice career.
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