wpr
  • wpr
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11 years ago
It is very apparent the Ron Wolf was not afraid to go out into the FA market and sign big names to fill specific needs.


C Frank Winters, 1992: Signed in Plan B free agency, he played a huge part in quarterback Brett Favre's development.

WR Kitrick Taylor, '92: Also signed in Plan B, he jump-started Favre's career with a game-winning catch.

DE Reggie White, '93: Helped return Green Bay to a place championships could be won.

OG Harry Galbreath, '93: Gave coach Mike Holmgren a shot of athleticism he needed upfront.

S Mike Prior, '93: Core special teams player who did his best to fill in at safety despite lack of speed.

DE Sean Jones, '94: Sack artist who made it tough for teams to double-team White all the time.

DT Santana Dotson, '95: Turned coordinator Fritz Shurmur's defensive line from good to great.

KR/PR Desmond Howard, '96: Broke an NFL punt-return record and won a Super Bowl MVP.

OT Bruce Wilkerson, '96: Critical piece of Super Bowl XXXI team, filling void at left tackle late in the year.

WR Don Beebe, '96: Perfect for a young receiving corps even if his contribution was limited.

P Sean Landeta, '98: Had a superb year at age 36 and should have been re-signed.

Others: OG Tunch Ilkin, WR Mark Clayton, WR Mark Ingram, NT Bill Maas, RB Reggie Cobb, S Pat Terrell, OG Guy McIntyre, LB Fred Strickland, LB Ron Cox, OG Raleigh McKenzie, RB Raymont Harris, DE John Thierry, LB Mike Morton and NT Russell Maryland.



Ted often appears to be afraid that he if spends the bucks of a high profile player at top dollar and it doesn't work out that he will be criticized. He prefers to shop in the discount department so if it doesn't work out he can act like the FA wasn't really apart of his plans after all.


CB/S Charles Woodson, 2006: Turnover-causing machine and defensive MVP won a long-awaited Super Bowl.

DT/DE Ryan Pickett, '06: Resurrected his career and is the most under-rated of all Thompson personnel moves.

S Marquand Manuel, '06: Washed-up player who couldn't earn the respect of his teammates and was ineffective.

CB Frank Walker, '07: Tough, scrappy corner who should have been kept around longer.

LB Brandon Chillar, '08: Versatile backup who knew how to blitz and cover tight ends.

DE Anthony Hargrove, '12: Couldn't overcome four-game suspension he was facing and was cut in camp.

C Jeff Saturday, '12: Big drop-off from Scott Wells and was benched before end of the season.

Others: OT Adrian Klemm, OG Matt O'Dwyer, LB Ben Taylor, WR Marc Boerigter, OL Duke Preston, DE Phillip Merling, DT Daniel Muir.



source 
Wolf gets a B+. Thompson a C-
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steveishere
11 years ago
I highly doubt Ted makes his decisions based on how much he will possibly get criticized. If the guy has shown me anything it's that he doesn't give a shit what people think of his ideas.

How often do you hear him make an excuse for a bad move or pat his own back for a good one? Whether it's criticism or praise he usually sticks to his "we don't discuss personnel" philosophy.

More likely is he doesn't feel shelling out huge amounts of cash to high calibre free agents is a move that usually pays off for teams.
DakotaT
11 years ago
Both guys had success and failures with free agency, but Wolf put the Packers into cap hell, whereas Thompson is very fiscally responsible. I know that is not glamorous and the average fan only cares about the final product on the field, but without fiscal responsibility, the Packers quickly become the Washington Redskins or Dallas Cowboys. I'd rather be a ten win team year in and year out and have a chance at the Lombardi every year.
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PackerTraxx
11 years ago
Differnt league, different rules and different era when Wolf was GM. I don't believe he would do as well as Ted Thompson at this point.
Why is Jerry Kramer not in the Hall of Fame?
nerdmann
11 years ago

Differnt league, different rules and different era when Wolf was GM. I don't believe he would do as well as Ted Thompson at this point.

Originally Posted by: PackerTraxx 



Agreed.

Wolf wasn't as good in the first round as Ted.

And as I've stated before, Ted unearths gems like Sam Shields, DuJuan Harris, Dez Moses, Don Barclay. He consistenly picks up dudes off the street who can play.
“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don't do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”
wpr
  • wpr
  • Preferred Member Topic Starter
11 years ago

I highly doubt Ted makes his decisions based on how much he will possibly get criticized. If the guy has shown me anything it's that he doesn't give a shit what people think of his ideas.

How often do you hear him make an excuse for a bad move or pat his own back for a good one? Whether it's criticism or praise he usually sticks to his "we don't discuss personnel" philosophy.

More likely is he doesn't feel shelling out huge amounts of cash to high calibre free agents is a move that usually pays off for teams.

Originally Posted by: steveishere 



Never said he did. I know he is going to use the same line all the time. That is his style. There are no doubts at all he doesn’t want to shell out large sums for FA. He has proven that many times.

Point is this team could have been more competitive in the playoffs if he would have picked out one or two big names.

Both guys had success and failures with free agency, but Wolf put the Packers into cap hell, whereas Thompson is very fiscally responsible. I know that is not glamorous and the average fan only cares about the final product on the field, but without fiscal responsibility, the Packers quickly become the Washington Redskins or Dallas Cowboys. I'd rather be a ten win team year in and year out and have a chance at the Lombardi every year.

Originally Posted by: DakotaT 


Very true.
The cap woes came about because Wolf liked resigning his veterans while Ted cuts them loose as we have seen this week.
Totally true I don’t care if Uncle Teddy ever signs a FA if they win 5 SB in his tenure. But a key QUALITY addition from time to time is more likely to help than not. To revise your line I would rather win 5 SB in 10 years interspersed with 2-3 down years while they reload than to have 10 years of first or second round losses.

Differnt league, different rules and different era when Wolf was GM. I don't believe he would do as well as Ted Thompson at this point.

Originally Posted by: PackerTraxx 


I expected this to be mentioned.

Agreed.

Wolf wasn't as good in the first round as Ted.

And as I've stated before, Ted unearths gems like Sam Shields, DuJuan Harris, Dez Moses, Don Barclay. He consistenly picks up dudes off the street who can play.

Originally Posted by: nerdmann 



No one said he wasn’t. This was about signing FA not draft picks. And as you pointed out getting street FA certainly has helped the team.


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Wade
  • Wade
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11 years ago
There is a big range of approaches to free agency between Ted Thompson (never go after high tier names and never never go after them early) and Daniel Snyder (always go after them and always go early).

I think what Wayne is saying -- and if he isn't, then I'll say it -- is that the Packers would be better if he *occasionally* took a Tier 1 kind of risk. No one is arguing he should start acting like Snyder or Jones or the idiot in Miami.

But look at that list again. The only two names on that list that were Tier 1 players were Woodson and Pickett. And they were seven years ago. And if Tampa hadn't had its head up its ass (another idiot owner/management team), Woodson wouldn't even have been sniffable with Ted's approach.

Pickett was an amazing pick up, and so was Woodson. That kind of quality is almost never there late in free agency. Look just at 2006 ("two home runs in one year, Ted!") and its amazing judgment on his part. But look at the long term ("twice in eight years") and you see there just isn't going to be much there. Role players, yes. But Tier 1 impact. You might as well leave it to the craps table.

You want to add that quality to your team, you gotta take more risk and you gotta take it earlier in the process.

Everyone keeps saying that Wolf and Thompson were different eras. Sure. Get that.

But you don't think doing what he did to get Brett Favre and then Reggie White wasn't a major risk? Forget Jones, Dotson, and all the other FAs. Assume they had never happened. If Wolf hadn't taken the Favre and White risks, we'd be talking about 40 years in the desert not just 30. And salary cap or not, White's contract would have hamstrung the Packers' budget for years.

People here will say, I predict this, that "no OL is worth the contract Jake Long or Ryan Clady just got from team X." But you know what, not a single lower tier "affordable" OL free agent Ted has picked up in eight years has been worth the contract. Not one. And with the exception of Josh Sitton, not one Packer OL drafted in the fourth round or earlier in the Thompson era has yet realized a potential that would make him worth his contract either. We're still holding out hope on some of them, but as yet its still about potential rather than about proven value.

Ted, you're fantastic at skill position drafting. But you're mediocre at best at drafting OL. Maybe that Shilts OLOLOL! guy's been wrong. Maybe what you need to do this year is go skill position instead of OL in the high rounds. Instead go after and get one of those stud OL that will be available for a couple days in March.

Maybe its time to take a Reggie White risk on a free agent for that left side. Put a second proven stud there to protect the franchise and let the rest of those servicable lunch bucket brawlers do what we know they can rather than hope for this year to be different from all the other eight and potential to finally be realized.

Never happen of course.




And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
steveishere
11 years ago
Pickett wasn't really a huge risk type of signing they only gave him 3.5m/year. I don't really see the big tier 1 guys even occasionally working out too well. Lately those guys have been terrible decisions (M. Williams, Asomugha etc..) overpaying big for even 1 player in FA is stupid.

Woodson while they gave him a good size contract wasn't exactly a day 1 pick up. Only 1 other team was even interested in him and they didn't offer him a contract.

If you want quality on your team jumping into FA big and early even occasionally isn't the way to do it. How often do you see perennially successful teams doing that? Look at Pittsburgh, NYG, Baltimore, New England. How often do those teams overpay for any FA? Ted isn't the only one who does things his way.
porky88
11 years ago
If I recall correctly, Woodson was an April signing. The only teams interested were Tampa Bay and Green Bay. I believe he wanted to play cornerback and the Packers were willing to play him at corner. The Bucs wanted to convert him to safety. I also believe the Packers offered the most money, so it was one of those circumstances where the player fell into Green Bay's lap.

For what it's worth, the Packers made an effort to get Randy Moss. They wanted a two-year deal and New England gave him a one-year deal. They also made an effort to get Marshawn Lynch, but Seattle had a better offer. I might need some fact checking there, but I think the Packers were in on both players. In fact, I know they were close on Moss. Reggie McKenzie admitted as much on television.

Thompson just failed to close those deals on two high-profile players. There’s no telling whether Ron Wolf would’ve done the same thing or gone in a different direction. There’s no telling Ron Wolf would’ve even been interested in either player.
wpr
  • wpr
  • Preferred Member Topic Starter
11 years ago

If I recall correctly, Woodson was an April signing. The only teams interested were Tampa Bay and Green Bay. I believe he wanted to play cornerback and the Packers were willing to play him at corner. The Bucs wanted to convert him to safety. I also believe the Packers offered the most money, so it was one of those circumstances where the player fell into Green Bay's lap.

For what it's worth, the Packers made an effort to get Randy Moss. They wanted a two-year deal and New England gave him a one-year deal. They also made an effort to get Marshawn Lynch, but Seattle had a better offer. I might need some fact checking there, but I think the Packers were in on both players. In fact, I know they were close on Moss. Reggie McKenzie admitted as much on television.

Thompson just failed to close those deals on two high-profile players. There’s no telling whether Ron Wolf would’ve done the same thing or gone in a different direction. There’s no telling Ron Wolf would’ve even been interested in either player.

Originally Posted by: porky88 



Good point. However there is no telling what FA got away from Wolf as well. So we just have to use the list we have or if Wolf would have been the one to ante up a little more to bring them on board.
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