Well done article just posted at the GBPG on Thompson's success in the draft.
An article sans FF? Count me in!
"It's the kind of draft magic Thompson routinely conjures"
See, he doesn't know what he's doing. He has to use magic and lap fallers to draft successfully.
Perhaps using the inside linebacker position was not the best example to give of Thompson's draft prowess.
The big takeaway might be confirmation of Buddy Nix. The Titans, Texans and somewhat even the Bills grade out better in multiple categories than teams they regularly finish behind but have better QBs.
And now for something completely different...
Grantland has an article up on The Beginning of the End... in New Orleans
First part of article focuses on the folly of signing Junior Galette to a huge deal, but the rest of it goes into detail on just how poorly Loomis has managed the cap, how awful Brees' contract is and all the dead money they are carrying in 2015-2017
The Cut & Gut is just around the corner in the Big Easy and most of these players and front office guys won't be around much longer. They already had to move Jimmy Graham because of $$ issues
https://grantland.com/the-tria...-end-in-new-orleans/
The Saints won a Superb Owl in 2009, but since then they've been chasing their tails and spending unwisely. Contrast that to the Packers who won a Superb Owl in 2010, and are primed for another run with the entire offense under contract, gobs of cap space and the best QB in the league with a manageable deal. The contrasts couldn't be more striking in terms of how to run an NFL team
Thanks Ted
I've always thought Russ Ball must have the mother of all spreadsheets buried somewhere on his hard drive, behind triple encryption or some such thing.
Never sees the light of day except when he has to put it on greaseboard acetate for Ted. Then disposed of, old school.
Russ does a awesome job with his spreadsheet- and properly valuing players is such a huge part of the Packers' success. Too many front offices end up in an adversarial situation with their players and agents and that leads to unhappiness and distrust
Having Brandt on board for a decade surely helped - he was a former agent and a business school savant. They didn't lowball anybody and rarely had hard feelings
Russ has continued in that vein, standing on the shoulders of the guys who came before him and taking it to another level.
Drafting Ootball players and upstanding citizens really fits their strategy too. It sounds strange, but I think they do consider the chances of signing a guy to his 2nd contract on draft day. For a team that lives by draft & develop, you can't invest valuable picks in a me-first guy who is likely to leave for a few more bucks.
And then of course there is the brain-washing component as noted by Gerg. 
Go Packers
The many moods of Ted Thompson:
Happy:
Thoughtful:
Angry:
Stoical:
Pensive:
Regretful:
Oh $hit I forgot to lock my sedan!
Suicidal:
you two
According to Packer Notes, Pack opened training camp with 88 players under contract. Guess how many played a game for another team in the National Football League? The answer is 3. How amazing is this? Well, as of Thursday morning, no other team in the league has fewer than *16 such players.
Ted you are ridiculous.
Originally Posted by antooo:
It's all because of his stroke.
I think it's from praying the away the gay.
Uncle Teddy pre-gay extraction.
None of it matters without the QB. He got the most important one right.
I didn't realize Kuhn played a regular season game for the Stillers. Guion has never player for another NFL team. He was on the Vikings.
Kuhn won a Super Bowl ring with the Steelers.... Then beat the Steelers for his second ring.
He played a much more prominent role for that second ring by the way...
Guion had 53 tackles for Minny before he put that clown show in the rear view mirror.
That's right. Kuhn has 2 rings. The Queens are not an NFL team.
Here's another example of the Packers front office prowess:
Kevin Seifert talks about the Packers strategy of having many very good WRs instead of 1 Dez Bryant or 1 Calvin Johnson. This fits perfectly with coach MM's tactic of finding and winning match-ups. MM paints a target on the back of the weakest link and then Rodgers pummels that poor bastard into submission.
http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnat...he-aaron-rodgers-era
It also makes it easier for Russ Ball to pay the WRs; no egos, nobody sitting on a pedestal and thinking they are bigger than the team.
And finally, it makes it much harder on defenses to take away what you do best - we all saw how Devante Adams beat the Cheats and the Cowboys - our # 3 WR is way better than your # 3 corner.
Go Packers
Not sure GL
His sister said that he was really really set on being The Man and that wasn't possible in the egalitarian world of Green Bay WI.
You can't get your head out of the cookie jar unless you let some of the ego go.
a CONTRARIAN VIEW FOUND on the internet: There is only one drafted player left from the 2011 draft. There are three players left from the 2012 draft, two of which have had injury plagued careers (Perry and Hayward) and two undrafted free agents. There are currently 22 undrafted free agents being evaluated for roster spots. Why does TT covet draft picks when the Packers seem to have more success with undrafted free agents , than with draft picks? Or to phrase it another way, why does a draft and develop team like the Packers draft so poorly, given that that is their principle approach to player personnel?
Originally Posted by YATittle:
a CONTRARIAN VIEW FOUND on the internet:
Originally Posted by YATittle:
Or to phrase it another way, why does a draft and develop team like the Packers draft so poorly, given that that is their principle approach to player personnel?
That's a very sweeping conclusion based on two admittedly poor drafts. I view it as nothing more than a bit of a slump by TT which he's now very clearly emerged from.
How many steps does it take to form a stupid opinion & get a $hitload of responses to my post
- Cherry pick stats
- Focus ONLY on result of 1
- Wordsmith my way through the english language using only negative thoughts
Awesome! I did it in 3 steps. I'm like the Owl trying to get to the center of a tootsie pop.
Please point me in the direction of 1...just ONE team that has a great draft every single year. TT & the Packers are right at the top year after year all while drafting near the end of the round year after year. The Ravens are another team that consistently drafts well. I'd say if the other 30 teams were smart, they'd follow the Packers & Ravens lead.
House would be a starter right now if he didn't follow the money to Jax.
Taylor was a good scrappy STer while he lasted.
My favorite - TT flipped Schaluderhaff (sp?) for a draft pick...his rookie year!
Not TT's best draft but clearly the collateral damage has been minimal.
I'm curious why sometimes you can post a link, and other times you cannot.
Originally Posted by YATittle:
a CONTRARIAN VIEW FOUND on the internet: There is only one drafted player left from the 2011 draft. There are three players left from the 2012 draft, two of which have had injury plagued careers (Perry and Hayward) and two undrafted free agents. There are currently 22 undrafted free agents being evaluated for roster spots. Why does TT covet draft picks when the Packers seem to have more success with undrafted free agents , than with draft picks? Or to phrase it another way, why does a draft and develop team like the Packers draft so poorly, given that that is their principle approach to player personnel?
Link?
Originally Posted by michiganjoe:
That's a very sweeping conclusion based on two admittedly poor drafts. I view it as nothing more than a bit of a slump by TT which he's now very clearly emerged from.
IIRC there was a big exodus from TT's senior staff after the SB win. Reggie McKenzie, John Schneider, John Dorsey (Ted's top three guys) all left for GM jobs. In hindsight its not surprising the 2011/2 drafts were subpar by recent standards. But I think its crystal clear that the past few drafts have shown a helluva lot of mojo.