When the Green Bay Packers hired Ted Thompson as general manager in 2005, several scouts and front-office executives who had worked with him agreed to off-the-record interviews about his personnel philosophies.
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When free agency came up, one laughed, said Thompson disdained the mostly overpriced open market, and shared Thompsons stock answer for most discussions about specific players.

I can find better in the draft, hed say.

That hit Thompson spot on, wouldnt you say?

While its hard to argue with Thompsons time-proven philosophy no team has bought a Super Bowl in the free-agent era, but several have spent their way to oblivion his overly strict adherence to it probably has hurt the 2009 Packers.

One-quarter of the way through Thompsons fifth season as GM, its a decent bet that if the Packers had gone outside the draft to get a little better at tackle theyd be 3-1 right now, maybe even 4-0.

I think (Thompson) does a great job, I think hes done a great job with the draft and all that, said a scout whose teams of responsibility include the Packers. But you have to have some balance to your program. If he just had a little balance in that program, the skys the limit with what he has surrounding it.

Balance doesnt mean jumping into the big-time free-agent market, where the prices can be ridiculous. Thompson never has stuck his toe in those waters and probably never will. But it does mean signing more of the Brandon Chillars of the world to go with his usual bargain-basement moves.

For instance, going into this season, the Packers felt OK about their tackles. But with a new, young starter on the right side, and a beat-up veteran on the critical left side, there were risks, and the backup plans were inadequate for a contending team if things went wrong.

Sure enough, things went wrong. Right tackle Allen Barbre, though improving, hasnt been ready for prime time. Left tackle Chad Clifton, at 33 a health risk coming off arthroscopic surgeries on both shoulders and knees, got hurt.

So one quarter of the way through the season, the 2-2 Packers biggest problem is their offensive line. With Barbre suffering more than his share of defeats while growing on the job, and guard Daryn Colledge forced to replace the Clifton the last 2 games, the Packers run game has been mediocre and their pass protection little short of a disaster.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been sacked 20 times and is on pace for 80, which would be the second-most allowed in a season in NFL history.

Yes, Rodgers has held the ball too long several times, but the bigger problem is the line. Thompson is admitting his high level of concern with his impending signing of right tackle Mark Tauscher, who hasnt played football since blowing out his knee last Dec. 7.

I have a lot of respect for how (Thompson) is trying to build something, the scout said. But my god, theyre so damn close. Youve wasted two years trying to build an offensive line when you could have signed somebody off the street.

Thompsons thinking now that hes rebuilt his roster is clear: use the draft to develop backups and competition for as many positions as possible. But that didnt work, at least not on the offensive line.

Third-year pro Tony Moll didnt pan out as a backup left tackle and was traded at the end of this years training camp. Neither Barbre nor 2008 fifth-round pick Breno Giacomini was ready to start this year. Now the Packers are scrambling to find a rhythm for an offense that has weapons in the passing game.

Maybe (Thompson) thinks theyre better than they are. It happens all the time. We do it ourselves, the scout said. Misevaluate. You put too much faith in the development of your own players, whereas sometimes youre better off bringing (a free agent) in and pushing everybody down. Thats how you create depth. Bring somebody in over the top of what youve been working with the last few years, and now all of a sudden the guys youve been playing are backups. Thats how you get over the top. Instead of working everything from the bottom up, once in a while you take somebody and smash em down. That forces depth, forces competition.

And yes, it means making mistakes, enduring the criticism and spending money on some players who end up being no better than what you had.

On the offensive line, the three inside spots were fine going into the offseason with Daryn Colledge, Jason Spitz and Josh Sitton all Thompson draft picks along with backup center Scott Wells. But both tackle positions were on shakier ground.

Maybe the problems get corrected.

Maybe Clifton stays healthy the rest of the year.

Maybe Barbre is a much better player in a month than he is now.

Maybe signing Tauscher helps.

Maybe rookie T.J. Lang gets a shot and come through.

But there were other options before it got to this point.

As late as final roster cuts, former Jacksonville right tackle Tony Pashos, a seventh-year pro who has 54 starts at right tackle, was released after he refused a pay cut from his $4.3 million salary. Two days later, San Francisco signed him to a one-year deal worth $1.2 million as a fallback starter, and hes been splitting time with Aaron Snyder as the 49ers No. 1 right tackle.

The strange thing is, despite his aversion to free agency, Thompson has scored some big hits on the open market. His three most expensive signings cornerback Charles Woodson, defensive tackle Ryan Pickett and Chillar, a linebacker were good to exceptional moves.

Hes also swung and missed, but none of those signings was costly. In 2005, he paid an $800,000 bonus to offensive lineman Adrian Klemm, who played his way out of a starting job in half a season. In 2006, Thompson paid safety Marquand Manuel $2 million in bonuses and he ended up a bust, and he paid receiver Marc Boerigter a $182,700 bonus just to cut him at the end of training camp. In 2007, Thompsons lone signing was cornerback Frank Walker, but that was only a $50,000 mistake.

In the end, Thompson probably needs to try some more free agents in the Klemm-to-Manuel price range, and be willing to risk a poor return.

Yes, hell get ripped for the mistakes and accused of blowing money on players who arent any good, but you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince, or at least a frog you can live with.