I thought that six+ million was AFTER the Daniels re-signing?
I understand the need to keep a fund for during-season/injury-replacement signings. Yet with all the injuries the Packers had, they still didn't use that much?
I think the point others are making is that this is not a one-time thing for Thompson. How many years have the Packers had "money left" despite having lots of injuries? How many years have they had *more* than $6-7 left?
Any financial manager worth his/her salary knows the importance of saving for contingent risks. But any financial manager worth that salary also knows that too much saving is also a bad thing. Any financial manager knows you also have to take risks, some of them substantial.
The real question is where do you draw the line. I don't think anyone has argued that Thompson should be taking the risk management approach that Dan Snyder does. That would be like your financial adviser telling you to put all your money into naked option trading. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
But there is a difference between conservative and TOO DAMN CONSERVATIVE. Which is the argument that many Ted Thompson critics are making.
But the last isn't my argument, though. Me, I think the more damning argument against Thompson is that he doesn't diversify enough against the big risks he does take. Putting as many of his personnel investment eggs as he does into the "draft and develop" basket means he isn't gaining the diversification insurance that comes from splitting that personnel investment into assets that are different in kind (and so less correlated with each other's return).
In the way he apportions his buying between draft and free agency/trades, he's a riverboat gambler. A different sort of gambler than Snyder, but a serious gambler nonetheless. Snyder is a high-stakes pot limit Omaha player in Las Vegas. Thompson is a medium stakes limit stud player somewhere in New England I don't want him hanging out in Vegas. But I do wish he'd spend a little more time than he does at the higher stake limit games at the Bellagio. With his bankroll, and his general high level poker abilities, he would actually reduce his overall risk by doing so.
I think if Ted actually put his full range of skills to work he would have all the people who currently rave about his excellentness still raving plus have a lot of us bitchers on his bandwagon as well. Because when it comes down to it, Thompson is going to outperform Daniel Snyder regardless. If I had $150 million to bankroll one GM/owner in poker, and Thompson agreed to vary his game more, I'd put him against anyone in the league except maybe Belichek.
John Elway has been outperforming Thompson in my opinion. But if Thompson agreed to diversify his approach among draft-and-develop, free agency, and trading more, everything else he brings to the table means he'd blow that arrogant b*stard from Stanford/Denver out of the water. Year after year.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)