Ted Thompson

[stillgotgame]

Hated him when he dumped Favre, loved him when he built a winning team, but what is the guy's real objective? He has a GREAT eye for rookie talent, but he's always shuffling the deck to stay younger and cheaper. Why?
I don't think we win another title with Rodgers, cause of TT. I hope I'm wrong.
Clearly Josh Sitton is a quality player, albeit on the decline. Why not keep him for the year, go for it, AND get compensatory picks.

[GBPackers47]

Hated him when he dumped Favre, loved him when he built a winning team, but what is the guy's real objective? He has a GREAT eye for rookie talent, but he's always shuffling the deck to stay younger and cheaper. Why?
I don't think we win another title with Rodgers, cause of TT. I hope I'm wrong.
Clearly Josh Sitton is a quality player, albeit on the decline. Why not keep him for the year, go for it, AND get compensatory picks.

I get the TT hate. People usually either like him or hate him, so I won't fault anyone for thinking one way.

But to your point, I think there's a lot that goes into the Sitton situation, especially behind the scenes. For the sake of this conversation, because no one really knows about anything behind the scenes, let's look at what we do know.

We have several FA coming up after this season: Julius Peppers, T.J. Lang, Datone Jones, Nick Perry, Eddie Lacy, Jared Cook, David Bakhtiari, J.C. Tretter, Micah Hyde, Jayrone Elliot, Mike Pennel, etc.

Every single one of those players is going to get significant time this year on the field, and five players on that list (Lang, Lacy, Cook, Bakhtiari and Tretter) are all every down players (with the exception of Cook possibly coming out for Rodgers are times). The other six out of the eleven will play significant time in various sub packages.

The point I'm trying to make is I think TT is going to evaluate those players in the first few weeks and try to get an extension done mid season with a few of them before they get too expensive next year. The Sitton money just makes it easier to extend more midseason than if we held onto him and went for it.

Again, to your point, the depth behind Sitton isn't great and it makes the line worse than if he was here, but someone on that line will step up to fill the hole. I hope it's Taylor, but if not, next man up.

We're set to lose some crucial FA this offseason, and I think the Sitton move is TT's way of trying to stay ahead of that problem. I know people get upset with TT a lot, but you can't deny the fact that the guy really knows how to manage the financials of a football team, and it's the reason we've been so fortunate to be a contender every year. The success of a GM should not be measured on winning a Super Bowl. It should be measured on how competitive his team stays AFTER winning a Super Bowl. A lot of the "hot" teams the media likes to talk about (Panthers, Seahawks, Cardinals, etc) will come across the same problems the 49ers dealt with. When teams play well, the players will want to get paid. I don't know enough about the GM situations for any of those teams I mentioned, so I don't want to assume they will all eventually tank, but you get my point. Ted Thompson has kept this team competitive since Super Bowl 45. Would I like to have won another Super Bowl? Of course, but we haven't missed the playoffs since the Super Bowl and there's something to be said about that.

[Mags FTW]

OP, that is certainly a profound statement that deserves its own thread.

[MickeyDavis]

The TT moves are all discussed in ongoing threads. After the season we can have a TT and an MM thread to dissect their careers.