I'll say what no one wants to say - TT is an average GM

[Wilford Brimley]

I'll say what no one wants to say. The elephant in the room. The thing no one wants to admit:

TT is an average GM. He isn't great, he may not even be good. Let's go position by position, and you will come over to my view. Each position will get either a passing, failing, or incomplete grade.

Offense

QB - Pass - Barely. Rodgers was a gift (lets be honest), Flynn was a great backup, but aside from him, Ted hasn't been able to shore up the back up spot.

RB - Fail - Grant is the only back with any long-term success. DeJuan Harris is cute, a 2nd string back at best. Brandon Jackson was a huge bust. I wish Benson could have stayed healthy. Passing on Lynch was a massive miscalculation.

FB - Incomplete - Kuhn is just a guy who the fans love for some reason. Vonta Leach is tearing it up in Baltimore. To be fair, the FB isn't something we integrally use.

TE - Incomplete - We all know the story about Finley. Quarless and DJ Williams are incomplete. Ryan Taylor and Crabtree are nice #3 guys.

WR - Pass - No explanation needed

LT - Fail - If Clifton doesn't have the game of his life in the Super Bowl, we probably lose. Newhouse is awful. I hope Sherrod can return.

LG - Pass - TJ Lang is sufficient, I think. But we let Wahle go.

C - Incomplete - We'll see what EDS brings. Saturday was a bust. In hindsight, Wells should have been resigned. This is close to a fail.

RG - Pass - Sitton has struggled a tad, but I like him.

RT - Pass - I like Bulaga. I know some people don't but I do.

Defense

DT- Incomplete - Aside from Raji, what do we have here? This is close to a fail.

DE - Fail - Pickett was a great signing, but the rest are just bodies. Neal? Wilson? Blah.

ILB - Pass - I like Bishop (though I think he was a Sherman pick?) and DJ Smith. Cutting Barnett over Hawk was a mistake, but oh well.

OLB - Incomplete - Matthews is Matthews, but he has yet to find a guy opposite him.

CB - Pass - Love our corners

S - Incomplete - We really miss Collins, but after him, Ted hasn't been able to find much. Burnett is okay, I guess.

Special Teams

K - Pass - Crosby has struggled, but i'll give him another year before i really want him gone.

P - Pass - Love Masthay


Pass: 9 positions
Fail: 3 positions
Incomplete: 6 positions


As you can see, a lot of incompletes, and some fails at important positions. GMing is the draft AND free agency, and Ted seems to completely avoid the latter like the plague. Guys like Walden, and DeJaun Harris are cute, but you can't build a championship team with UDFAs.

You can't cut Cullen Jenkins, and replace him with DPs.

You can't cut Scott Wells, and replace him with crap.

You can't cut Chad Clifton, and replace him with crap.

You can't cut Jon Ryan, and not replace him for several years.

You can't keep trading down and getting a bunch of average players, hoping one of them pans out. We've reached the point where he's just replacing his draft picks with more draft picks.

You can't have a defense ranked in the bottom 5, and retain your defense coordinator.

You can't have a massive amount of injuries, and not look at your strength and conditioning coach, and the way your players train.

You can't have a small ass offense line, then wonder why your team gets shoved around.


At this point, I have no faith we'll actually be any good next season. A brutal schedule combined with the fact that I am absolutely positive Ted does not have the ability to fill the holes of this team. We have seen it year in and year out.

I like our coaching staff, our GM is just okay. This isn't a reaction to the SF loss, its something I've been thinking of for a long time.

At this point, I would welcome a new GM.

Thoughts welcome.

[ReasonablySober]

You're right, we should expect really good players at every position.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

You can't give TT a "barely" pass when so many other teams passed on AROD and you knew the storm you would get with Favre and having a 1st sit on the bench for years.

Also, this team has plenty of talent and in decent cap shape. He is not a god like many proclaim on here but waaay better than average.

[emunney]

I would encourage you to look around at the rosters of other teams. You aren't going to find many that grade out as well or better than the Packers roster. I mean, if TT is average, what does that make the GMs of the Lions, Vikings, Bears, Eagles, Cowboys, Redskins, Rams, Chiefs, Bills, Titans, Bucs, Browns, Panthers, Saints, Jets, Jaguars, Chargers, Steelers, Cardinals, Bengals, Colts and Dolphins? All those teams have more substantial holes than we do, not to mention less depth. And most of them have been picking before us every year.

[chuckleslove]

[crkone]

Injuries. And not conditioning injuries. FREAK injuries. Broken hip, broken leg, wrist ligament, torn hammy from people falling on Bishop, one career ending injury to a neck.

[zmanishere11]

My frustration w tt is that he doesn't seem to want to take any chances outside of the draft.

I read earlier this week we had the CFls top olineman in, declined to offer him a contract because of some pretty common heart meds he's on, then went on to say hell "definitely get an offer from another team, we just didn't want to take the risk." Wtf? You mean the risk of paying the guy the same amount you're paying Kuhn w likely minimum guarantees?

I've generally loved his strategy in fa, but there are some serviceable guys out there we could get on decent deals right now at positions of serious need for us (specifically rb and de).

Think we're really going to regret taking nick perry over Doug Martin last year. I was a huge muscle hamster fan. Took him in all 4 fantasy drafts......

Injuries have just killed the last few draft classes.

I'm not going to totally agree w u, but its not way off base either

This conversation is not happening if sherrod and bulaga come back to solidify the oline, perry and worthy come back and help the pass rush significantly, and smith bishop come back as studs in the middle.

This discussion is far from over. He has a big decision on Raji coming up. I say only him because Rodgers and cm3 aren't major decisions , they're no brainers (u pay them). Woody is a question mark too.

I'm just hoping we can walk away from this draft w 2 difference makers on either side of the ball, and we plug some holes w lower end fas for the short term.

[Bucksfans1and2]

Wilford, you're smarter than this man. We're two years removed from a super bowl. Get a fricking grip.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

FireTedThompson.com

[chuckleslove]

Wilford, you're smarter than this man. We're two years removed from a super bowl. Get a fricking grip.

And back to back losses in the divisional round and back to back division champions.

Yes, we all want to win more Superb Owls but this is just flat out panic and emotion talking.

[emunney]

My frustration right now is that our last two first rounders had season ending injuries, plus our 3rd last year and our 2nd this year. Sherrod, obviously, has missed more than a full season with his, so it's hard to say if he'll ever be physically where he was. I typically don't expect draft picks to come into their own as difference makers until year 2, but when these guys aren't getting the benefits of their rookie year and that first offseason, it's hard to know what kind of growth to expect.

It's kind of crazy, but we're a draft and develop team and our last three first rounders were all out with season enders this year. That has to have a huge impact.

[eagle13]

R U serious or just bored?
TT currently grades out as a B+ in my book. Whether he makes A or drops tp C depends on results of PUSHES below and if Pack wins another SB.

SUCCESSES
Assembling a team that won a SB.
choosing Rodgers over Farve was wise & took guts
FA signing woodson
trade up for Matthews was brilliant.
Keeping salary cap flexibility
having zero big $ FA flops
hiring mccarthy as hc
trade up for Hayward was also.
hitting on every receiver drafted 3rd or higher
taking unknown collins & jennings in 2nd rd from small schools
FA signing pickett
getting tramon & shields as street FAs
being patient w/ finley
finding Masthay

FAILS
drafting Justin Harrill in 1st rd
drafting Hawk over Davis
cutting barnett & keeping Hawk
not getting Lynch for 4th+
not getting Moss for 4th+
cutting P Jon Ryan

PUSHES
The OL could be better but injuries to Sherrod & Bulaga skewed results.
Just like Rodgers needs weapons - Matthews needs / deserves help at other OLB to be able to really shine. Nick Perry's injury skewed results. He or rookie drafted this year needs to be at least B+ performer in all phases - run containment, tackling, pass rush, pass coverage.

NOTE
Bishop was a TT pick in 6th rd. With Wells & Clifton gone last year and now Driver retiring there are no Sherman players any longer. Entire roster is TT acquired
.

[BUCKnation]

This is bad, especially the part about cutting people. I'll give you Ryan that was stupid, but the rest had extenuating circumstances around them. Jenkins being upset, Clifton being old, Wells being average and asking for top dollar.

Also, injuries. I really wish someone would do an in depth article about our training staff. What other team in the league has had this much bad "luck" with injuries the past few years.

[Ayt]

At this point, I have no faith we'll actually be any good next season. A brutal schedule combined with the fact that I am absolutely positive Ted does not have the ability to fill the holes of this team. We have seen it year in and year out.

I like our coaching staff, our GM is just okay. This isn't a reaction to the SF loss, its something I've been thinking of for a long time.

At this point, I would welcome a new GM.

Thoughts welcome.

So below .500?

[trwi7]

QB - Pass - Barely. Rodgers was a gift (lets be honest), Flynn was a great backup, but aside from him, Ted hasn't been able to shore up the back up spot.

Stopped reading here. One of the most ridiculous things I've ever read.

[Ayt]

QB - Pass - Barely. Rodgers was a gift (lets be honest), Flynn was a great backup, but aside from him, Ted hasn't been able to shore up the back up spot.

Stopped reading here. One of the most ridiculous things I've ever read.

Trading Favre to open up the spot for Rodgers was also a no-brainer.

/green

[humanrefutation]

This is a moronic thread. Sorry WB, but you don't understand the first thing about putting together a football team if you think TT is an average GM.

[MickeyDavis]

Fifth youngest team in the league (youngest defense), perrenial contenders.

I'm quite happy <shrug>

[dedned]

Like I've said before I think he should be fired if our defense is **** again next year. Only because he's keeping Capers around. Although he should probably get Capers better players.

[UWM_Brew_Buck]

I stopped reading at

QB - Pass - Barely.