Packers have business to take care of

The brilliance of being Ted Thompson...idiot. Looking over the total list of looming free agent starters and non-starters (total of 15 players), you realize the Packers are about to lose guys like Kampman and Pickett. Nice job going for that window of opportunity before it closes Thompson. I thought the goal of every NFL team was to win the SuperBowl, not just try and make the playoffs for a few years in a row. The Packers are the youngest team 3 years in a row and counting. Just goes to show that Thompson the 'football guy' is only thinking about the business side of things...keep the small-market Packers competitive so they keep making money, but more accurately, so he keeps his job. It's obvious that that's the real prize for him, and NOT the Lombardi Trophy. What a gutless chump.

Yan, you couldn't be further off if you tried. Oh dear, they might lose a 30+ year old nose tackle? What on EARTH will they do? Thompson has the team perfectly placed to compete for championships for the next dozen years and fans like you are worried that their favorite players might have to be let go.

The point of being the youngest team three years in a row was to build a talent base that had been eroded by the previous management while they were busy chasing that elusive 'one guy' via FA and trading up in the draft, all the while not realizing they were destroying the core talent level of the team. Thompson has the Packers perfectly positioned now to let guys like Pickett (and even Kampman, if he doesn't show well in the new scheme) walk and to be able to replace them with younger guys. It's not accident that Raji and Matthews were drafted and guys like Smith from PIT were brought in via FA. Raji in for Pickett, Matthews in for Kampman, Smith in for Collins or Bigby. Draft, develop your talent, lock up your star players. Thompson is following the same road the Steelers and Colts have traveled over the course of the last decade, a road much more successful than teams that overvalue the guys on their roster, which is exactly what you are guilty of doing above.

I think they're not sure if they'll even want Nick Collins in the new system

Yeah, Yan. And guys like you that post garbage like that on the internet aren't gutless chumps...................

thank you cheeseheadtv....well said.

Jan's man-love of Favre is showing through. Guarantee if his boy #4 was still on the team, Thompson would be a genius. Guys who don't see the big picture like Jan are a dime a dozen. It amazes me how many dumb people there are who can't see the forest for the trees.

hey jan stenerud!!! did u just copy and paste your comment from profootbaltalk.com or did u just steal that comment from someone else?? i love how idiot tt haters forget the salry cap hell mike sherman put the team thru. TT has done a great job, its just that you all just love #4 so much and think he should wear a halo and not a helmet.

Such credible insight from a "true" Packers fan that can't even spell Stenerud's first name right. It's Jan, not Yan. You are sooooo correct in the fact that Thompson has no aspirations of winning the Super Bowl. I'm sure those were his thoughts in Seattle scouting and developing all those players that finally made Seattle a credible team year in and year out. Hmm, kinda funny that now Ted is no longer in Seattle they've kinda tanked a bit and we've beaten them year after year. Yes everyone in NFL does not want to win the Super Bowl. Glad you pay attention to what Ted says or have such insider knowledge of him not wanting to win the trophy. I think he felt that way too scouting all those players back in the 90's too that made the Pack a powerhouse.

What kills me about this topic is that most of next year's FA guys are flat out replaceable. Collins and Kampmann are the only truely gifted players of the bunch - some of the rest are solid, like Colledge and Spitz and Pickett but we aren't exactly talking superstars. About 7 of the projected FA for next season aren't even locks to make the roster this year. You want ugly? Check out of the FA list for the Pats next year. The Vikes, Ravens and Giants are all in this boat as well. That's why Thompson was smart enough to keep a large amount of cap room to deal with it.

My only knock on Thompson was the 2-3 year clusterfudge offensive line we had, but that seems to be finally ending. He tried so many pieces there, but I think with Barbre, Lang, Giacomini, Sitton, Spitz, and Colledge, we've got a solid young nucleus again. If we manage to get a good young left tackle soon, our offense is in good hands for the foreseeable future.

Jan: "Just goes to show that Thompson the 'football guy' is only thinking about the business side of things...keep the small-market Packers competitive so they keep making money, but more accurately, so he keeps his job. It's obvious that that's the real prize for him, and NOT the Lombardi Trophy. What a gutless chump."

A gutless chump trying to keep his job would have kept Favre and not rocked the boat. A guy with guts going for the Super Bowl trusts his instincts that Rodgers would surpass Favre in 2008 and 2009 and make the move - better a year too soon than a year too late.

Yan,
You are totally off base! TT has taken a team that was lacking talent into a contender.
Heck, if McCarthyhad the guts to insert Rodgers in the 2nd half of the NFC Championship game, they would have been in the Super Bowl!

Yan, you seem to forget that two seasons ago TT had his NFL's youngest team playing at home in OT for the right to go to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, the team's oldest player tossed up another crunch time pick.

This is a big year for TT and MM. Both need a winning season and development on defense. Gonna be a fun season.

VinnyMac,
Boy, you may be right. I was at the championship game and remember thinking how bad Favre was looking during the entire second half. There are probably only a handful of coaches that would have done it, but inserting Rodgers at that point would have been the right thing to do. Of course, hindsight is 20/20...

i like how every time someone says anything bad about tt , you tt lovers start bashing favre and say we cant get over the fact that favre is gone. yes favre is gone and we are still packer fans but your beloved tt has already cost the pack 1 superbowl and now instead of hoping to go to the superbowl we pray for playoffs but we know 8 and 8 may be a reach.

In addition to the previous comments to "Yan" (is this the Chinese version of Jan?) is the fallacy of the GBP as a small-market team. This is not baseball, and GB is a state-loved, even national-loved team. GB is well in the top 10 of all team revenue not shared by the TV deal, not in the bottom 10.

Thompson has been an average GM at best. He has one winning season since his arrival. His only winning season and non-losing season came via the bane of all you Thompson fans, Brett Favre. Last year's team was basically the same team that went 13-3, minus Favre and C-Will and the team went 6-10. What do you Thompson fans have to say to that? Let me guess, "Guys got hurt". Well if that is your excuse for Thompson, then to that I say, isn't it Thompson's job to have capable back-ups and good depth if a starter is injuried?

Thompson doesn't even bring in a vet to back-up A-Rod last year. I am sure all the Thompson fans were jumping for joy on that spectacular move. It was like going with 3 rookies at QB last year. I can bet the Packers would have won or at least had a better chance to win the game versus the Bucs if a vet was the back-up?

His best draft pick thus far is Greg Jennings. I cannot understand why it took this long to extend Jennings. He is the Packers only impact player. Thompson extended A-Rod after only seven games,who at the time was an unproven commodity.

Thompson has drafted two complete bust in Harrell and Hawk. Harrell is Humpty Dumpty, he is broken and all the king's men can't put him back together again. Hawk for being the 5th overall pick, is average. By now, Hawk should be mentioned among the top LBs in league. He isn't even close to holding Demeco Ryan's jock( a LB drafted in the 2nd round the same year Hawk was drafted). Oh yeah, Ryan was the Defensive Rookie of the Year.

I give Teddy credit for building for the future, but the building has to be completed sometime soon. You just can't keep propping up the building with pole supports and hope the building stays up for now. It's like the 3 little pigs syndrome. There has never been a championship team that was also one of the youngest teams in the league. Developing the younger talent and keeping them in fold, along with quality vets is the foundation to a championship team. Please see the Steelers of last season.

I will just say it like this, the Packers play a 8-8 schedule and go 13-3. The following year, the Packers play a 13-3 schedule and go 6-10. Not even close to being a contender.

NUFF SAID.

"There has never been a championship team that was also one of the youngest teams in the league" The Colts were one of the youngest the year they won the Super Bowl.

Also, just wanted to point out that in my original post above, I did not once mention Favre.

Cheers.