TT's biggest mistakes?

Frank Nova · Post #1 » by **Frank Nova** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 4:22 pm

This is certainly no rip on TT as I think he is awesome and definitely in that upper echelon of great GMs in the league. But there's a few blunders here and there that are questionable at the very best.

My top 3 TT mistakes are:

3rd - drafting Sherrod
2nd - drafting Harrell
1st - paying Brad Jones starter money.

I honestly despise Jones. He's easily my least favorite Packer on the roster, has been now for a few years. I hate that TT paid him and didn't just let him walk. He's a league minimum salary guy at best but probably shouldn't even be in the league anymore IMO. I mean the guy just f*ck*ng blows.

So, what is the consensus of TTs biggest mistakes? I sure hope that I'm not the only 1 that thinks re-upping Jones is atleast 1 of TTs top 3 biggest mistakes as GM... Jones hasn't earned even 1$ of that new contract he signed and he's still our starting ILB, it's honestly a complete joke at this point.

Thoughts?

SeaLORD_0318 · Post #2 » by **SeaLORD_0318** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:17 pm

Fully agree with Jones. With Sherrod you can't predict injuries and so far this year while being healthy he's looked good. Harrell was a risky pick due to his history of injuries, wouldn't of made that pick if I was in Ted's shoes.

Post #3 » by **ReasonablySober** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 5:54 pm

Being born.

//Godgers.

WeekapaugGroove · Post #4 » by **WeekapaugGroove** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:25 pm

Not being more of a prick to spoiled whiney segment packer fans.

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Mags FTW · Post #5 » by **Mags FTW** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 6:57 pm

Not wanting to pay a 3rd rounder for Moss.

WiscoKing13 · Post #6 » by **WiscoKing13** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 7:00 pm

Pretty insignificant list for a guy who's held the job for almost a decade.

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WiscoKing13 · Post #7 » by **WiscoKing13** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 7:02 pm

Only winning one sb. Funny how Ron wolf walks on water and people hate TT. Same amount of rings.

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Post #8 » by **humanrefutation** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 7:41 pm

Mags FTW wrote:Not wanting to pay a 3rd rounder for Moss.

Yeah. That was a bad decision. It's not like our WRs weren't good enough in 2007, though.

There are a few things on defense that I would cite as mistakes that were more problematic, though:

1. Not finding a safety to replace Collins. I know it's hard to replace a Pro Bowl safety like Nick, but he was injured in 2011 and we're still waiting for his replacement going into 2014. Hopefully, Dix/Hyde can pick it up. But Burnett was not good last year, and Jennings was absolutely awful.

2. Continuing with that theme, the middle of the defense was soft overall - Hawk was good in 2013 but was overpriced and replaceable beforehand. Bishop wasn't replaced - and it's questionable whether he's found someone to replace him yet. The line struggled - Raji was terrible since 2010, Harrell gave us nothing (really bad pick), no one else really stepped up. That really cost us more than anything. Hopefully, Daniels, a rejuvenated Raji, Jones, etc will shore up the line.

3. Failing to find another pass rusher on the other side of Clay. That's been a problem throughout Ted's tenure, but was magnified after Jenkins left.

On offense:

1. Failing to get a running game going prior to drafting Lacy. The last good back we had was 2009-10 Ryan Grant. We had a couple good games from Starks during the playoff run, but overall, the position became an abomination until we drafted Lacy.

2. On a lesser note, not having a capable backup for Rodgers. This was ego on everyone's part. I know it's not a major priority, but it becomes a season-threatening issue when it arises. They thought they could turn Graham Harrell or BJ Coleman into something serviceable. It wasn't happening.

That's what comes to mind, in my view. Overall, I think TT has done a very good job, though.

eagle13 · Post #9 » by **eagle13** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 8:46 pm

1. Harrell - everybody saw that coming
2. Resigning Hawk to big $ - he finally had a 2nd good year last season (his other good yr was his rookie yr) but that contract was stupid
3. Resigning Brad Jones
4. not re-signing Cullen Jenkins
5. not replacing Collins

these first 5 are still being dealt with today with our soft interior defense

6. not giving up 3rd for Lynch / or getting a running game
7. cutting P Jon Ryan
8. not replacing Flynn with decent backup QB
9. not having an upgrade or even decent option to replace wells when tt let scott walk
10. not giving up 3rd for Moss (and empower and satisfy Brett)

WiscSports1 · Post #10 » by **WiscSports1** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:59 pm

Not re-signing Cullen Jenkins has to be VERY high up there. We had a legitimate chance to repeat, but we had no pass rushers.

Drafting Harrell hurt, but it's not his worst mistake. That draft wasn't anything special.

Godgers · Post #11 » by **Godgers** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:25 pm

Biggest mistake for me was not trading for Lynch.

SeaLORD_0318 · Post #12 » by **SeaLORD_0318** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 1:37 am

TT does one hell of a job walking the finance line. Far too often teams get hamstrung with poor contracts and too many max deals. His drafting is more hit then miss...and tbh its way to easy to play armchair gm after draft classes shake out.

BUCKnation · Post #13 » by **BUCKnation** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 1:40 am

Harrell. Was a reach when we took him and he has produced nothing.

Continuing to rely on Jones and Hawk after Bishop went down is another that sticks out clearly.

Ayt · Post #14 » by **Ayt** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 1:55 am

I think the substandard DL play has been the biggest problem over the years. A defense simply can't function with poor play up front and that is what we have had for a variety of reasons.

chuckleslove · Post #15 » by **chuckleslove** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 2:04 am

Ayt wrote:I think the substandard DL play has been the biggest problem over the years. A defense simply can't function with poor play up front and that is what we have had for a variety of reasons.

I agree this has been his biggest weakness, for a while I also included OL as a weakness but that has greatly improved over the last several seasons.

slappyg · Post #16 » by **slappyg** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 3:53 am

Mags FTW wrote:Not wanting to pay a 3rd rounder for Moss.

you beat me to it. that's my answer too

El Duderino · Post #17 » by **El Duderino** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 5:52 am

chuckleslove wrote:
Ayt wrote:I think the substandard DL play has been the biggest problem over the years. A defense simply can't function with poor play up front and that is what we have had for a variety of reasons.

I agree this has been his biggest weakness, for a while I also included OL as a weakness but that has greatly improved over the last several seasons.

DL certainly has been an area which Ted has struggled to acquire enough quality players. I'd also include the LB position overall besides Clay. Ted certainly hit a home run there, but since drafting Matthews, there hasn't been much other quality/talent at OLB. That's such a key position in a 3-4 scheme and Clay has had mostly fringe players and scrubs on the other side of him. At ILB, Ted has had pretty much only pedestrian talent. Bishop had moments of being a playmaker before getting hurt, but we've been running the 3-4 scheme for awhile now and most years it's just been very mediocre AJ Hawk and spare parts starting next to him.

No surprise then why the defense hasn't been better during most of Thompson's tenure.

HKPackFan · Post #18 » by **HKPackFan** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 6:04 am

eagle13 wrote:1. Harrell - everybody saw that coming
2. Resigning Hawk to big $ - he finally had a 2nd good year last season (his other good yr was his rookie yr) but that contract was stupid
3. Resigning Brad Jones
4. not re-signing Cullen Jenkins
5. not replacing Collins

these first 5 are still being dealt with today with our soft interior defense

6. not giving up 3rd for Lynch / or getting a running game
7. cutting P Jon Ryan
8. not replacing Flynn with decent backup QB
9. not having an upgrade or even decent option to replace wells when tt let scott walk
10. not giving up 3rd for Moss (and empower and satisfy Brett)

Overall I still think he's done a good job, not really a complaint, just more pointing out areas of need that haven't been met. No GM is perfect, Wolf missed on a ton of guys too. Every GM misses guys, the difference is if you have more hits then misses, TT is definitely a net positive.

This is a good list. And I think losing Bishop/Jenkins/Collins has screwed this defense since 2010. TT hasn't replaced anyone of those pieces properly the last 3 years. Hopefully now he has with the depth at safety, a completely new Dline (which has truly underperformed)...And hopefully I pray SOMEONE passes Brad Jones on the depth chart.

Lattimore? Joe Thomas? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?

Please! Anyone but BRAD JONES!!!!!!!!!! :nonono:

JEIS · Post #19 » by **JEIS** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 1:08 pm

WiscoKing13 wrote:Only winning one sb. Funny how Ron wolf walks on water and people hate TT. Same amount of rings.

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Right...and how some people actually think Dan Marino was a better Qb than Trent Dilfer. Some people are just silly.

Newz · Post #20 » by **Newz** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 1:30 pm

I think TT is a fantastic GM. Not sure there is a guy in the NFL that I would take over him right now. However, every GM has their flaws. The moves that have proven to be the worst for me are:

1. The big extension for AJ Hawk. (Drafting Hawk where we drafted him has also ended up being a pretty big mistake)
2. The extension of Brad Jones. (Though this one is still undecided, he could bounce back... he was pretty good the year before he got his deal)

MLB tends to be one of the 'easier' positions to get good players at and we are overpaying two guys who aren't all that good at that spot. Definitely his biggest weakness as a GM, IMO.

Those are honestly the only two things that really bothered me. I don't necessarily view letting Jenkins go as some major mistake. Yeah, he continued to be a good player for a couple of years, but he was asking for something like $10+ million out of us... then he settled for what we were offering him with another team.

I'm still happy we didn't do the Moss or Lynch trade, personally.

I think he has had some big misfortunes with injuries as well. I can't really say if Harrell or Sherrod were "bad picks" because they never got much of a chance to see the field. I will also say that the career enders to Nick Collins and Des Bishop, the consistent injuries to Matthews and the random decline out of nowhere from Raji have been (IMO) the biggest factors as to why our defense has declined in such a big way.

We should still have an all-world safety (Collins), an above average ILB (Bishop) and a legitimately good NT (Raji). Losing two of those guys in their primes and having one of those guys just totally disappear is huge. That's three legitimate star players from the Super Bowl team who should still be quality players, but are now either out of the league and/or are just not any good.