I don't think these concepts are necessarily mutually exclusive. Ted Thompson arguably did his best work early in his tenure. It's entirely possible both that the accolades he received were well deserved and that a lot of the products he put on the shelf are approaching or past their expiration dates, and that the larder is rapidly going bare. It's not an either/or situation
Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel
Yeah it's Thompson latest drafts that have seemed to be a lot of strike outs... when he has reportedly had more medical problems and delegated more duties out... They were in the NFC Champs game a couple of time, so there was talented there not long before these recent drafts.
Also despite the tightwad teddy label, they surely spend all but 5 million of their money which they keep rolling over year to year (so they 5 million is really from like 2007, so it's not a current waste)... and the contracts they signed were just getting to be too much with the talent they were getting out of them. I think over paying their own, might of been their biggest problem, with guys like Randall Cobb being over paid and not quite delivering.
But I'll still say, I don't believe Thompson followed a strictly BPA as some say... because it took a while but I did notice a pattern... under Thompson the Packers often drafted for need, especially with their 2nd round pick... it's just they looked at 2 year plan needs... and they often drafted/filled next year's need with an important guy going into a contract year. Which fans didn't noticed as a need at the time, because we just assumed that player would be resigned. Using that method, I surprised myself and correctly predicted that in 2017 the 2nd round pick would be a Safety (Burnett/Haha contracts were coming up).