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.



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.


source
Wolf gets a B+. Thompson a C-

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yes, Pickett and Woodson were both bargains.
And yes the Packers went after Moss ... but only at a bargain price.
(I don't know about Lynch.)

My point is that those kind of FA pickups -- high tier players who also are available late or at a bargain price -- are few and far between. 2 or 3 every 8 years, if you will.

My point is that if you want to get "enough" help in free agency, you ought not to limit yourself to bargain hunting and close dealing. You need to take major buck risks once in a while.

Not several times a year. Not every year. Not even every other year. But once in a while.

And Ted Thompson has never taken that risk. He's never risked a first round draft choice on another team's backup. And he's never taken the financial risk that an early Tier 1 (or even most tier 2 signings) requires.

Wolf did both. What Packer fan thought Favre was a good trade when it was made? And lest we forget, Reggie White was already 31 when he joined the Packers.

I don't want him to become Dan Snyder or some of the other clowns in the Spoiled Billionaire's Club. But I do wish he'd take a bigger risk in FA every so often.

But I don't ever expect him to.

and he only has a Superbowl title and one of the winningest teams in the league since he became the GM to show for it...

I never meant to infer that I think you hate Ted. A little judiciousness could just as likely have led to 3 years completely missing the playoffs as 3 Superbowl appearances. Ted believes in his system and his system works, that's all I'm saying. That's why several of the top teams in the NFL run things that way. I completely disagree that you should even occasionally pay for the "big" FA. You definitely do not NEED to take "major buck risks" every once in a while. Consistency is what is needed. You have to be a great team every year to have a shot at winning a couple titles. Not put all your eggs in one basket every so often.