Grade the Draft

[MajorDad]

TT mentioned before the draft that he planned on bringing another punter into camp to compete for the position. I was kind of surprised TT didn't use a 7th round pick to secure a punter and that he hasn't signed one as a free agent.

the article about the Colts and steelers is a little misleading. While all of the Colts' all pros have been ones they drafted. they have been active players in the free agent market and have signed several free agents who became valued starters for their championship contending teams. the same applies to the Steelers. How did the Steelers obtain their back-up QB? Not through the draft ! the Patriots represent a great mix of using the draft, making trades and free agency.

i've never advocated that the packers go hog wild and spend all their money foolishly on free agents. But I do believe TT should be a more active and aggressive player in the free agent market. i could not believe his lack of effort and lackadaisacal attitude displayed this off season when players said they were interested in the packers and TT decided to go on vacation instead . admittedly these guys were no reggie White, but as a GM, you should at least ACT like you're interested.

[aaprigs311]

The Bengals cut both their punters to give their rook a shot. Maybe Larson and/or Plackemeier get a shot here. Reggie Hodges also was released this week. He's got pretty decent numbers and he's a black punter which would be a nice change of pace.

[Wade-A-Holic]

TT mentioned before the draft that he planned on bringing another punter into camp to compete for the position. I was kind of surprised TT didn't use a 7th round pick to secure a punter and that he hasn't signed one as a free agent.

the article about the Colts and steelers is a little misleading. While all of the Colts' all pros have been ones they drafted. they have been active players in the free agent market and have signed several free agents who became valued starters for their championship contending teams. the same applies to the Steelers. How did the Steelers obtain their back-up QB? Not through the draft ! the Patriots represent a great mix of using the draft, making trades and free agency.

i've never advocated that the packers go hog wild and spend all their money foolishly on free agents. But I do believe TT should be a more active and aggressive player in the free agent market. i could not believe his lack of effort and lackadaisacal attitude displayed this off season when players said they were interested in the packers and TT decided to go on vacation instead . admittedly these guys were no reggie White, but as a GM, you should at least ACT like you're interested.

It's not as if Thompson hasn't gotten us contributors (or even starters) via free agency, though, which isn't true at all. Pickett, Woodson, Donald Lee, Ruvell Martin, Brandon Chillar, Tramon Williams, Atari Bigby, and Jason Hunter are all Thompson signings that have become important contributors on this team. Half of those signings were ones that everyone disregarded at the time and now look like finds, and guys like Alfred Malone, Fred Bledsoe, Joe Porter, Anthony Smith, Kregg Lumpkin, Dan Lansanah, and Nevin McCaskill are all guys who could stick and contribute as well.

[eagle13]

It's not as if Thompson hasn't gotten us contributors (or even starters) via free agency, though, which isn't true at all. Pickett, Woodson, Donald Lee, Ruvell Martin, Brandon Chillar, Tramon Williams, Atari Bigby, and Jason Hunter are all Thompson signings that have become important contributors on this team. Half of those signings were ones that everyone disregarded at the time and now look like finds, and guys like Alfred Malone, Fred Bledsoe, Joe Porter, Anthony Smith, Kregg Lumpkin, Dan Lansanah, and Nevin McCaskill are all guys who could stick and contribute as well.

For the record...
TT has done well with Pickett, Woodson, Donald Lee, Ruvell Martin, Brandon Chillar, Tramon Williams, Atari Bigby.

But so far Hunter is nuthin but a 1 yr STs ace that got worse at that last year. And guys like Alfred Malone, Fred Bledsoe, Joe Porter, Anthony Smith, Kregg Lumpkin, Dan Lansanah, and Nevin McCaskill are all guys who will probably get cut unless injuries occur to players ahead of them. Only Lumpkin has shown anything. Malone may be decent. We'll see about Preston.

[Wade-A-Holic]

For the record...
TT has done well with Pickett, Woodson, Donald Lee, Ruvell Martin, Brandon Chillar, Tramon Williams, Atari Bigby.

But so far Hunter is nuthin but a 1 yr STs ace that got worse at that last year. And guys like Alfred Malone, Fred Bledsoe, Joe Porter, Anthony Smith, Kregg Lumpkin, Dan Lansanah, and Nevin McCaskill are all guys who will probably get cut unless injuries occur to players ahead of them. Only Lumpkin has shown anything. Malone may be decent. We'll see about Preston.

Hunter was still one of our better special team guys last season, and he'll be better this year considering he'll be at a much more comfortable playing weight for him.

I wouldn't be so sure that all of those guys get cut. I think Anthony Smith has the inside track for a roster spot, and they really like Lansanah a lot (so does the Tuna in Miami, who tried to steal him off our practice squad). Porter is a ridiculous athlete who they like a lot, too. He's going to give Bush a run for his money. McCaskill is every bit as versatile as Preston. One of those two will probably make the team. Regardless, ALL of this points to how competitive Thompson has made the back end of the roster, and he's done it via the draft AND free agency.

[MajorDad]

and woodson signed with the packers because he only had two choices - the packers or switch positions and play safety for the Bucs. Woodson wanted to play cornerback more than Tt wanted to spend the big bucks to sign him. i give Tt zero credit for signing Woodson. if Tt had his way, woodson would be playing safety for the bucs.

but the record shows Woodson signed as a free agent with the packers , so the less informed think TT actually reached out and agressively pursued Woodson. when in reality, Tt did the same thing to Woodson that he does to all free agents. here's my card . if you can't get a deal anywhere else give me a call.

it would be nice if just once, Tt actually went out of his way and agressivey pursued a quality free agent and was able to close the deal and sign him. tt would make an outstanding real estate broker, but he'd be fired as a real estate agent. he has zero salesmanship/marketing closure skills.

[ReasonablySober]

and woodson signed with the packers because he only had two choices - the packers or switch positions and play safety for the Bucs. Woodson wanted to play cornerback more than Tt wanted to spend the big bucks to sign him. i give Tt zero credit for signing Woodson. if Tt had his way, woodson would be playing safety for the bucs.

I never read your posts but this one caught my eye for some reason. Seriously, you're like sigra with your twisted distortion of reality.

[Wade-A-Holic]

and woodson signed with the packers because he only had two choices - the packers or switch positions and play safety for the Bucs. Woodson wanted to play cornerback more than Tt wanted to spend the big bucks to sign him. i give Tt zero credit for signing Woodson. if Tt had his way, woodson would be playing safety for the bucs.

but the record shows Woodson signed as a free agent with the packers , so the less informed think TT actually reached out and agressively pursued Woodson. when in reality, Tt did the same thing to Woodson that he does to all free agents. here's my card . if you can't get a deal anywhere else give me a call.

it would be nice if just once, Tt actually went out of his way and agressivey pursued a quality free agent and was able to close the deal and sign him. tt would make an outstanding real estate broker, but he'd be fired as a real estate agent. he has zero salesmanship/marketing closure skills.

Oh give me a break. If Woodson had lowered his price, he would have found more suitors. Give credit where it's due. The fact that everybody thought Woodson's tank was empty and that he was a nuisance is a credit to Thompson, who doesn't sink sizable monetary investments into guys unless he really wants those players, since Woodson has proven everybody wrong on both accounts.

It's the same as how nobody gives Thompson credit for drafting Aaron Rodgers. Everybody looks at that pick as a no-brainer and that Rodgers just fell into Thompson's lap when the reality is that picking a QB in the first round is ALWAYS a big risk, and there was a reason everybody else passed on Rodgers, most of whom would kill to have Rodgers now.

[automatic44]

it would be nice if just once, Tt actually went out of his way and agressivey pursued a quality free agent and was able to close the deal and sign him. tt would make an outstanding real estate broker, but he'd be fired as a real estate agent. he has zero salesmanship/marketing closure skills.

What are you talking about? It sounds like you're just one of those people who is pissed off that TT didn't acquire Canty, even though 1. Canty didn't want to play here, and 2. He came at an outrageous price. If I recall, he had to lure Woodson from TB, who have a city that is more appealing to players than GB, and his former coach at Oakland, Gruden. We were in an open competition with several teams for Chillar last season, most notably Arizona, even though we couldn't guarantee him a starting spot like other teams were promising him.

[eagle13]

if Tt had his way, woodson would be playing safety for the bucs.

he does to all free agents. here's my card . if you can't get a deal anywhere else give me a call.

You sound pretty irrational. Like all of us with some topic. But you are reaching into delusion here and your hate of TT is nauseating even to me. IF your going to attack - have some substance or logic. You have neither here.

[emunney]

So who got their way? The Bucs?

[MajorDad]

drug bust - you contradick yourself. if you never read my posts , why did you quote me? Obviously you've read a few of my posts- past and present.

as for the rest , i suggest you start reading other newspapers other than the Green Bay Gazette, Milwaukee Journal and TT's press releases. You may become more objective and knowledgeable. there is always more than one side to every story, and it's very doubtful those three sources are ever going to provide you with anything negative about the Packers.

The tampa and st pete papers and national web sites painted a totally different picture of the Woodson signing with Green Bay. Who is telling the truth? the milwaukee journal whose editorial sports writers like Hunt who copies our posts and then calls them his own original thoughts ? or the tampa tribune who probably had sour grapes because Woodson refused to sign with the bucs? it's a tough choice who to believe. The MIl journal's and TT's credibility after last Summer are not very high.

The best thing you can do is look at the existing facts and try to speculate the truth rather than taking everything you read in the Mil journal and from TT as the gospel truth. Saying positive things about the packers sells newspapers and tickets. revealing the truth does not.

the facts are two teams offered Woodson a contract: the packers and tampa bay. The rest of the league thought Woodson was asking for too much money and was close to being washed up. and the rest of the league had already spent their available money on other free agents. Tampa already had two cornerbacks , and wanted Woodson to play safety. the two tampa Cbs were all pro Ronde Barber and 3 year starter Brian Kelly. Tampa bay didn't want Woodson to play CB. Woodson signed with the packers on 26 April, 2006 - three days before the 2006 NFL draft. the packers also offered Woodson more money than tampa did. Woodson had a choice- take more money and play CB for the packers, or take less money and switch to playing safety for the Bucs. it was a tough choice. Woodson chose to take the money and remain a CB.

Look at the facts. look at the signing date . Does that look like Tt aggressively pursued Woodson or just gave him his number and said call me if you don't get any other offers? You could speculate that part of the reason Tt signed Woodson was to keep favre happy who had threatened to retire two months earlier unless TT signed some quality players. one could speculate favre forced TT to sign Woodson or else he'd retire and leave TT with a lot of egg on his face. Did TT agressively pursue Woodson? it sure doesn't look like it to me.

I know you won't believe me. so here's a couple of links. I know one is ESPN the favre network. Like I said earlier, look at the facts. it's not ESPN's job to tell the truth either.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2423159

or maybe you want a bucs' perspective: the y thought green bay grossly over paid Woodson and were not even going to offer him close to that amount.
http://www.bucstats.com/?m=200604

the real facts are nobody really wanted Woodson other than tampa bay and green bay. green bay's offer was a lot more than tampa's. if Woodson had gone to tampa he would have been the nickle back or the safety and his contract would have been a lot less. Woodson felt he was still a quality CB and a starter. So he signed with the only NFL team that gave him that opportunity. it turned out to be a great deal for the packers. But how much credit do i give TT for getting it done? ZERO. It seems like he was coerced to offer Woodson the contract by favre threatening to retire. if TT really wanted to sign Woodson, one would tend to think he would have signed him at the begining of the free agent period, not the end of it.

Woodson had two offers on the table. he followed the trail to the most money.

any of these names look familier ? they may be your own.

http://forums.kffl.com/archive/index.php/t-166685.html

http://forums.kffl.com/archive/index.php/t-168985.html

look at the facts and then try to tell me that Tt agressively tried to sign Woodson. Every other NFL team by 26 April had already spent their cap money. the only reason Woodson chose the packers was because he would have a chance to start at CB. And the MONEY. it was a no brainer for Woodson to pick green bay over tampa bay. Tt had very little to do with Woodson's decision to become a packer.

[Wade-A-Holic]

Wow, so to summarize: Woodson followed the money/playing time (which was offered by Thompson and was a substantially bigger monetary offer than Tampa Bay's), but Thompson had very little to do with signing him? And Thompson gets NO credit for recognizing (while NO other teams did) that Woodson was still worth that amount of money?

Also, what in Thompson's past would indicate to you that anything Brett said had any affect on his decision making in regards to personnel? Half of Packer nation hates Ted's guts BECAUSE he wouldn't bend over backwards for Favre.

[emunney]

That's a completely ridiculous post, Reed, even for you. Your job is definitely not to think or be smart. And my job is not to patronize your horrible reasoning. Goodnight.

[TheMachine]

i've never advocated that the packers go hog wild and spend all their money foolishly on free agents. But I do believe TT should be a more active and aggressive player in the free agent market. i could not believe his lack of effort and lackadaisacal attitude displayed this off season when players said they were interested in the packers and TT decided to go on vacation instead . admittedly these guys were no reggie White, but as a GM, you should at least ACT like you're interested.[/quote]


MajorDad,

I don't think you truly understand the complexities involving free agency in the NFL. It is a very dicey situation when it comes to salary structure within an organization. Overpaying for free agents has a trickle down effect on the whole roster and not just a particular position. By overpaying for talent you just set the bar higher for your whole roster when it comes to contract extensions, etc.
It can cause a very toxic and tumultuous lockerroom. You can get away with overpaying for Hall of famers (Reggie White), or multiple pro-bowlers (Woodson), or top QBs at times, but when you start overpaying for other free agents there can be some bad fallout.

For reasons most already know, it is generally agreed upon that Green Bay has to at least slightly overpay for outside free agents. This makes the task of making good FA signings that much more difficult, if not impossible at times. It's not nearly as simple as "we need a DE, lets pay Canty, Igor, or whoever, whatever they want", wrong. There are "other prices" to pay for signing a FA.

[Newz]

So what it comes down to is that you hate Thompson... So you are going to try and give Favre (a player) credit for signing another player?

What?

[trwi7]

Why are you guys even responding to Reed? He makes about as much sense as MBBOT.