RealGM

whoo hoo

Well deserved IMO.[/url]

MM is next

There were some things Thompson did/didn't do as our GM that i wasn't thrilled with, but i'm a bottom line type of person and it would be pretty damn hard for anyone to figure out a logical complaint given the results.

Thompson made a ballsy and great hire in McCarthy along with improving the talent on the roster, a 13-3 season only two years removed from a 4-12 season has been the result. Ted deserved the bump in pay just as McCarthy will also be getting very soon.

This is very well deserved.

The funny part about this is that when introducing this story, the local station here (Green Bay, I think channel 2) said, "Well, don't expect any big free agent splashes over the next 5 years..."

I agree.

Drafting Hawk was a smart move. He found gold when he hired an unknown in McCarthy. He also signed Woodson, managed to keep Harris here, re-signed Aaron Kampman, signed Ryan Pickett, and a lot more....

The only dumb move he made was cutting Mike Wahle, and the jury's still out on Aaron Rodgers and Justin Harrell.

But other than that he's done an outstanding job as GM.

Without a doubt its deserved. All GM's make mistakes, but TT has a pretty damn good batting average if you ask me.

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www.firetedthompson.com

I also notice there aren't many new signatures since the season started over at www.firepackersgm.com

I was on TT's case his 1st year over the OL and in an article this summer he admitted he made a mis-judgement there then. But he's been mostly great since then. When I read his admission I was impressed he could acknowledge a mistake and I was completely on board.

Other than 1st yr OL his only other 2 significant gaffes -
Resigning Franks to big $ was marginal IMO at the time.
Not offering Javon some creative roster/rehab bonus to defuse situation early as I suggested also was probably an error - as evidenced by his change in tactics with Harris, etc.

Signing Manuel was a waste but he was cheap and few including me objected at the time or predicted the negative outcome.

It took them too long to play Jenkins at DE as I saw it way earlier but thats more on coaches than TT.

Rodgers, Harrill, Jackson, Colledge and Hodge are incomplete.

McCarthy hire was supreme.
Trading for Grant incredible.
Signing woodson & pickett was right on.
Drafting Crosby inspired.
Drafting Jennings & Jones was astute.
Showing he could learn and change as he did in contract renegotiation policy is impressive.
Mid to low round draft guys like Jolly, Moll, Hall, Montgomery, Blackmon, Poppinga, Costin have been productive.
Koren signing was smart.
CFL Punter Ryan was a good find.
NOT over-spending on mediocre FAs this past off-season was correct!
NOT purging Clifton & Tauscher was wise.
Staying with Brett was the right thing.
Randy Moss? TT stated he maybe was over aggressive with Davis. OK - let's move on.

All in all TT has done darn good!

Congratulations Ted and thank you!

Here is to 5 more drafts with people screaming and yelling "WHAT" to his picks!

Should be fun!

What ??? another boring TT draft??? I 'm not sure I can take it.

I'm still not sure if the packers won because of TT or in spite of him. TT didn't acquire Grant with the intention of starting him. Grant was supposed to be a fall back injury option. And Grant didn't immediately start. The only reason grant played was because of injuries and failures of our other RBs that TT acquired previously. Should we really give TT credit for picking him up? or should we give credit to Grant for making his way through a bunch of mediocre running backs that TT had traded for and drafted? Ithe end result was nowhere close to TT's vision when he acquired Grant. I won't give TT credit for pulling off this great trade, because the end result was nowhere close to TT's vision when he acquired Grant. I will give TT credit for realizing Ahman Green's career was basically over. Houston's GM is not looking very smart today.

giving TT credit for drafting hawk is kind of weak. All TT did was do what the media and fans and mel kiper all said would be a safe pick. hawk has been exactly as predicted. it didn't take massive intelligence to make that pick.

Jennings was a smart draft choice. I'll give TT props for picking jennings. Wit h the packers' offense, they don't need a 4.3 speed burner wide receiver. jennings' speed is plenty good enough.

I will give credit to the players and coaching staff- especially the coaching staff. and I will admit TT hired the coaching staff and acquired the players. TT has kind of stepped back and allowed the players and coaches to do their stuff without meddling.

Although I'm not a TT fan, I will give him credit for the bottom line. The packers had a dismal team last year but somehow finished 8-8. The packers' first two picks this year contributed very little, but the packers pulled off a 13-3 record. Whether I like him or not, I've gone on record in many different forums as saying the only stat that counts is the W. And TT has found a way to produce the W. So I'll give him his props and say he is deserving of his extension.

But I'm not going to look forward to this year's draft of another bunch of no name players. What ? he drafted a guy from Purdue? is he kidding?

MajorDad wrote:What ??? another boring TT draft??? I 'm not sure I can take it.

Oh god yes, please spare us from another productive draft with 3-4 productive guys that are only going to get better and have created an insane amount of depth. Rodgers was called out early but looks like he could be a stud and I think Harrell is going to end up being pretty good in a year or two.

I'm still not sure if the packers won because of TT or in spite of him. TT didn't acquire Grant with the intention of starting him. Grant was supposed to be a fall back injury option. And Grant didn't immediately start. The only reason grant played was because of injuries and failures of our other RBs that TT acquired previously. Should we really give TT credit for picking him up? or should we give credit to Grant for making his way through a bunch of mediocre running backs that TT had traded for and drafted? Ithe end result was nowhere close to TT's vision when he acquired Grant. I won't give TT credit for pulling off this great trade, because the end result was nowhere close to TT's vision when he acquired Grant. I will give TT credit for realizing Ahman Green's career was basically over. Houston's GM is not looking very smart today.

I also will not give Ron Wolf credit for trading for Brett Favre. Obviously he was supposed to just be the fall-back option and got lucky with a Majkowski injury.

Are you crazy? TT realized that Grant had a good pedigree but was just overlooked in many locations. Tiki Barber was high on Grant to be his predecessor. You have to give a GM credit for making a trade, if he didn't think that Grant was going to be good he wouldn't have bothered phoning the Giants in the first place. He got him for a freaking 6th round pick, that is train robbery.

TT's strategy all along was to bring in 3-4 obtainable backs and see who emerged from the pack. Grant was brought in a bit later because he was with the Giants for preseason, so that is why he got the late start in his emergence. Wynn was decent when not hurt, Jackson has shown flashes they could still be very solid, and Morency is great as a 3rd down back. You are probably somebody that wanted to keep Gado for sentimental value, though.

His only other option past what we got was trading up in the draft for Lynch or signing Travis Henry...I'll take the extremely productive back for a future 6th round pick and a minimum contract, thank you.

giving TT credit for drafting hawk is kind of weak. All TT did was do what the media and fans and mel kiper all said would be a safe pick. hawk has been exactly as predicted. it didn't take massive intelligence to make that pick.

I'll agree here for the most part.

Jennings was a smart draft choice. I'll give TT props for picking jennings. Wit h the packers' offense, they don't need a 4.3 speed burner wide receiver. jennings' speed is plenty good enough.

You should add Jones here too. 2 WRs that would be high-level starters on most teams for their careers(I'm being a bit optimistic here with Jones, but you can't complain about what he did and I think he has a bright future) in the mid-rounds, and he did it knowing he would be under fire from all the idiot fans we have that wanted to hear that we drafted a receiver from Tennessee or Florida or something.

Although I'm not a TT fan, I will give him credit for the bottom line. The packers had a dismal team last year but somehow finished 8-8. The packers' first two picks this year contributed very little, but the packers pulled off a 13-3 record. Whether I like him or not, I've gone on record in many different forums as saying the only stat that counts is the W. And TT has found a way to produce the W. So I'll give him his props and say he is deserving of his extension.

Let's see:

2005 in his first year: Salary cap hell. Aging team. Full of injuries and players that cried and moaned about contracts all day. All of which he inherited from Sherman. 4-12.

2006: Brought in all-pro corner Woodson for cheap, cut a decent amount of the fat, had a team that was a few plays away from making the playoffs.

2007: 13-3. 2nd youngest team in the NFL. Top 5 fininancial situation in the NFL.

I see that you did say you support the extension but you basically made a bunch of excuses of why you do. Look at every position on the field and other than QB, CB, and T all are pretty much assured to be great for years to come and all of the guys on this team have great character. QB should be OK with Rodgers, we have time to fill in the CB slots, and T we will just keep drafting a stable of youngsters for when Clifton/Tauscher's knees collapse.

But I'm not going to look forward to this year's draft of another bunch of no name players. What ? he drafted a guy from Purdue? is he kidding?

Look at all the top teams in the NFL. They built through late round picks and many of their guys are from smaller schools. I guess LT was a bad high-round pick because he played for a somewhat irrelevant TCU at the time. Bruschi, Vrabel, Troy Brown, Kevin Faulk, Tom Brady were all sure-fire superstars as well at their time of draft.

MajorDad wrote:
But I'm not going to look forward to this year's draft of another bunch of no name players. What ? he drafted a guy from Purdue? is he kidding?

Thompson did a hell of a job turning a pretty inconsistent defense into one of the best in the league. Thompson signed Charles Woodson to create one of the best, if not the best, cornerback duo's in the league. He signed Ryan Pickett and matched the Vikings offer to Kampman , with these two being the anchors of our d-line. He brought in Atari Bigby who has been a hard hitter, though his coverage game is questionable which is why he's been blitzing more on 3rd downs.

Thompson also did a good job drastically improving our Special Teams. Crosby I feel will prove to be the best kicker the Packers ever have had because of his ability to boot the ball in the cold weather of Wisconsin as well as being very clutch. Ryan has been a good punter who has been very good this season (minus a Chicago game) and also shows toughness and guts that most kickers don't have (at Vikes his run for a 1st down). Blackmon and Robinson have shown to be great return men while we also have Woodson and Traemon Williams who can fill in. Tracy White , Jason Hunter, and others have been amazing on special teams coverage units this season.

He got Korey Hall to play FB along with signing Kuhn who have formed a great duo as well as special teams players. Finding Donald Lee also has been nothing short of amazing as he has been one of our most consistent performers on offense and has been a major upgrade with his athleticism at the TE spot over Bubba. Finding Grant was luck, I really don't think Ted really had any idea this is the level Grant was capable of playing at. Thompson also found gems in Greg Jennings and James Jones who have been great and much more affordable weapons for Favre then what most probably thought we could get.

Thompson's biggest strength has been his ability to keep players here happy and get rid of potential team cancers. He gave Harris, Driver, and Barnett new contracts while getting rid of Javon Walker. He also did not foolishly bring back guys like Longwell, Marco Rivera, Darren Sharper (yea he's a good center fielder but he has no tackling ability and is a big primadona) or Ahman Green which has allowed us plenty of cap flexibility.

Thompsons biggest failures thus far has been building a consistent and steady Offensive Line and finding a consistant safety combo. Colledge , Spitz, and Coston have not been consistent enough to be a starting and none of them seem to have shown much improvement from their rookie years. Nick Collins is very inconsistent and shows flashes of brilliance but also can just be flat out bad and overbites on play action passes. I love the addition of Bigby but he's a much better run defender and blitzer than he is a coverage safety. I love the Rouse pick though.

Other random thoughts on Thompson moves:
- I love the addition of Koren Robinson, I think he's gonna be huge for us in the playoffs
- Not sold on Justin Harrell and I still wish we would've drafted Reggie Nelson
- McCarthy was a great hire, he's a great leader and though I worry sometimes about his actual game management, I think he's a real good hard work over talent kind of coach who is always hungry and never satisfied

Thompson deserves this extension, just as McCarthy does once he signs his.

I thought the Ted Thompson hiring was a mistake during his first year. It was a miserable season, and it looked like we were headed straight into the long term tank. I started to come around last year, when I saw the young guys developing. Thompson has a long term plan, and sticking with it is paying off handsomely. While his FA passiveness still drives me crazy at times, I can't argue with the results.

Thompson has earned this extension. McCarthy will also be rewarded this off season, and he is just as deserving. They took an old, salary cap ruined team, and have created one of the best long term situations in the league. We still have mediocre safeties, and a muddled offensive line, but given the situation he started with in 2005, Thompson has done a very good job.

Couldn't be happier. He deserves it for turning this team around so quickly. I wasn't a supporter of his but I love the job he's done with this team. I also wasn't sure of his hire of MM but I'm glad to be eating crow for that hire.

notoriousTJ11 wrote:Finding Grant was luck, I really don't think Ted really had any idea this is the level Grant was capable of playing at.

Again, I had heard/read that Thompson had his eye on Grant for a while. Sure, I'm sure he didn't tell the other guys in the office "hey I will put all my money on this guy Grant running for 900+ yards in just over half the season for our 6th round pick." You have to give credit where it is due, though. If Thompson didn't think he had a chance to be a solid contributor he wouldn't have bothered to even make the deal.

Like I said before, if you want to take away credit on Thompson's find of Grant, then Ron Wolf deserves no credit for bringing in Favre. After all, Wolf probably thought he would have a chance to compete for a starting job some day but I'm sure he didn't assume Favre would own every QB record when it was all said and done.

Maybe I'm totally wrong and Thompson honestly only wanted to bring an extra body in but I'm pretty sure he had expectations that Grant could contribute and maybe become the featured back...I really don't think he would have offered the Giants a pick for him if he didn't think Grant could contribute considering the reason the Giants did the trade is that they were going to cut him anyways. If Thompson just wanted to throw Grant in the mix and expected that he'd just be an extra practice guy or the 3rd string back then I don't think he would have bothered jumping on a trade for Grant before the rest of the competitors tried to pick him up for a minimum contract.

I can honestly say I have been a TT support all along. I just love the way he drafts and rewards and promotes players from with in. Like many I always hope for a splash in free agency but Thompson always seems to come out on top. He has managed this team to success and it is hard to see holes in this team that a FA signing could improve for next season. I'm glad to see his vision has come to life and that he has been rewarded for it.