How many starters were acquired by Ted Thompson in trades or via free agency?
Woodson and Grant? Bigby was a free agent, iirc. So was Pickett. Tramon Williams? Jolly? Jenkins was drafted, iirc. Tauscher was a free agent. Green. Not necessarily a starter though.

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Raji? What are you basing that on? Potential? Because I'm pretty sure that you can add some more on the list by that philosophy.

One I'd maybe add it Finley. Not this season, but he has shown that he can do it.

I actually like his drafting. Of course his drafts haven't made that much impact just yet. Half of the guys he has drafted just came into the league. They're progressing. Finley being a prime example of that.

Had he signed a Reggie White and Brett Favre, his drafting all of a sudden wouldn't look that important. I mean, Ron Wolf wasn't a draft genius. It's just FA, which Ted Thompson is barely using, that could get us from a decent team to a great one.

Salary cap started in 1994, so yes, he had to deal with it for most of his tenure.

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Free agency was a different beast back then. Ron did most of his damage in FA in the first few years of it. After teams started figuring it out, he had less success with FA.

His drafting was pretty close to Ted. Wolf's best draft was 2000 when he got Clifton,Tauscher,Franks.

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Yeah, but those early FA moves got him a lot of his success.

Don't get me wrong, he was a successfull GM throughout his career, but a lot of his 1st rounders, for instance, where out of GB in 3 years and then hopped from roster to roster.

And yes, 2000 was a great draft. Obviously for the 3 guys you mentioned, but Steve Warren seemed ok before his injury. Na'il Diggs was a decent OLB and, of course, we got the best pass rusher, behind White and Davis, our team ever had in the 5th round. KGB.

It still amazes me that Tauscher has not been an all-pro or pro-bowl player in his entire career.

"The team will never get finished from the draft alone."

Right there is all that needs to be said!!!! Big +1

This team is never going to be an "elite" team if Ted Thompson continues to "build through the draft".

Everyone expects draft picks to automatically come in and play their best from the very first day.

Reality is that most need 2 or 3, sometimes more years to develope into solid NFL players.

The problem with continually relying on your draft picks is that as guys do get some experience, some just never play to their potential, there are career ending injuries, and complete busts.

Without proven free agents, some holes never seem to get filled(see O-line) Ted Thompson went out and did get a few really good FA's his first 2 years, but has been way to quiet the last 3.

So here we sit, looking at another season of probably :500 or worse.

If Ted Thompson does not want to change his ways, then it is time for The Packers "to go in another direction". JMHO

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That's not true, not true at all. If we ONLY use the draft to build the team, it'll fail.

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I stand corrected, pretty much what I said, only it took me more than 1 line to say it. :icon_smile: :icon_smile:

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lol :)

I think the draft is very important, but also I think adding free agents is equally important.

Think of it like this.

Would you want 30 plus kids running around without any parents or big brothers helping them?

I think our team needs some big brothers to teach some humility to our younger guys.

Kampman, Harris, Woodson, Barnett, these guys need to be better leaders, more vocal.

Rodgers, Driver, Clifton, Tauscher, Green, need to be better leaders and make teammates accountable for their actions.

Why? Because our coaches sure as hell aren't doing it.


I'd like to see us bring in some guys. Hell, when we brought in Hardy Nickerson, I was happy. Not because I thought he had years left in him, but because I felt he was a good leader and could teach the kids something.

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Great post Porky, but I was wondering what you mean by this:



This is the one thing I can't stand about Thompson, he replaces mediocrity with mediocrity. We were all high on Abdul Hodge, Aaron Rouse because they were talented back up. They didn't pan out after a couple years, so we replace these late round picks with more late round picks (Bishop) or cheap pick ups (Martin).

At some point you have to make a move.

Fixing the pass rush:
Sign Shawne Merriman to provide a pass rush, it is unlikely San Diego will try to keep him.

Fixing the O-line:
Sign Jamal Brown or Bushrod from the Saints to play LT.
Sign Trueblood from the Bucs to play RT.
Sign Logan Mankins to play guard.
Let Sitton and Lang battle it out for the other guard position.
Get a solid veteran center that can move people back and won't fumble the snap every other game like Justin Hartwig.

Fixing RB:
Use a first round pick on a RB

Fixing the ST:
Trade a late round pick for Ted Ginn
Sign guys from teams with elite STs: Raven, Bears, Chargers, etc...

Where will this money come from?
Dump underacheivers: Clifton, Colledge, Spitz, Wells,

Let go of those who we have adequate replacements for: Hawk, Donald Lee, Kampman and Pickett.

Who we need to keep?
Collins, Bigby, Jolly