I defended Ted Thompson 7 or so years ago when a lot of people were down on him, then when I came to this forum, I was surprised to find the rock-ribbed loyalty to him. The truth is, he has done a lot of things right, and fallen short in a few other areas.
I wholeheartedly agree with the not signing of big name free agents from other teams except for the few exceptions noted. I also strongly agree with the theme of the article: cutting ties when that was needed - he, of course, did a good job of knowing when to open up the treasury too - with Rodgers and Matthews and a few other lesser cases. There will be some really interesting decisions this off-season too - Shields has been great, but the question becomes "how high is up?". If he decides to go for the max, it could take too much money to sign him - and we are, of course, pretty loaded now at Corner. Raji is one guy I really really really hope Ted Thompson does not re-sign - unless the cost is extremely lower than it probably would be. Quality-wise, Raji reminds me of Darryn College - as the article said, mediocre. Finley tops them all as a question mark. Assuming he comes back in a few weeks and resumes playing the way he did before the injury, what then? It will take a helluva lot of money, and even though he showed new-found maturity, and the hands problem seemed to be mostly a thing of the past, both of those things could come up again, not to mention any potential recurrence of the neck thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Ted Thompson does re-sign Finley, but for a lot less than it might have been because other teams are scared off by his situation - either that or there is some kind of wording in the contract to protect the Packers, certainly in the case of the neck.
Obviously Ted Thompson has done great in the lower half of the draft and UDFAs. My gripe, if it even is that, is the high end - but you always have to say "other than Rodgers, Matthews, and maybe now Lacy". Also, bad luck of injuries has been a factor. Still, as I have said, Aaron Rodgers cures a lot of ills. IMO, he - Rodgers - makes the Packers the top 5 or top 3 or absolutely top team that they are, and heaven help us if he went down - I really see weakness in almost every area other than QB. Hopefully we will never have to test that theory - that Ted Thompson has not put together a very good team without Rodgers, but to me, THAT is the bottom line. However, we really do have Aaron Rodgers - Thompson gets the credit - along with the 20 or so teams who did not draft him hahahaha, so let's just enjoy the ride.
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