Show me the Sizzle
A look at the pros and cons of Ted Thompson, and what he must change for the Packers to take the next step.
by
Max Gross
The draft came to a close Sunday night, and the typical post-draft events got underway. In 32 press rooms around the country, coaches, owners and general managers sold the press corps on their selections. The common phrases include, "we can't believe _____ was still there," and "we had been targeting ______ all along." Not only is each pick justified and talked up, but the overall process is defended. Philosophies such as "taking the best player available," as well as "we took the guys who we felt could best help our team" are espoused. Mistakes are not acknowledged. As far as the team representatives are concerned—at least when talking to the press—everything went according to plan. They took a plan and stuck with it, and they're absolutely thrilled with the results. It's the same old lines every time.
Then there's this: "I'm disappointed—not speaking about anything specifically—I'm disappointed a couple of times on some things that we were working on and didn't work out," followed shortly by "I think we have a chance. I think we have a pretty good group of guys, here." Wow. That's quite the endorsement. That was Ted Thompson speaking on the players the Packers didn't get in this weekend's draft. It's certainly a striking contrast from most post-draft rhetoric. So much so that these 30 seconds stuck out glaringly in a 20 minute press conference.
Many likely assume that Thompson was speaking of his inability to land star receiver Randy Moss. However, taken at his word that he was referring to nothing specifically, this sentence has an even broader-reaching meaning. Thompson is looking back at his draft class and thinking of what could have been, much like the fans. A number of players that could have drastically helped this team now sit upon opposition rosters around the league.
Regardless of to what, specifically, Thompson was referring, one thing is clear: he has no one to blame but himself. Before advancing that thought, it's first necessary to see where Thompson is coming from. He learned from the best in the business, working closely with Ron Wolf in Green Bay, and Mike Holmgren in Seattle. Lesser-known names and co-workers from Thompson's past (and friends, still) are currently the general managers of the San Francisco 49ers and the Tennessee Titans. He's learned many things along the way. Thompson values the draft and views it as the best way to build a team. He can wheel and deal, maximizing his picks. He gets the best possible value according to his draft board. He views drafts as long-term answers, while needs are merely short-term problems.
He is meat and potatoes, with 6 of his last twenty-three picks being offensive or defensive linemen. A common theme to his drafts includes football players above measurable skills. He builds teams from the ground up, and in three offseasons, he has transformed over 70% of the Packers' roster. But there are lessons that he failed to acquire from his previous mentor. When querried on his biggest draft regrets, the revered Ron Wolf answered, "The most obvious is when we passed up Randy Moss… If we'd been able to add Moss to that [team], wow, what a team we would have had…That was kind of idiotic, now that I think about it." More generally, Wolf urged that if you see a player that you want, it doesn't matter if you give up too much to get him—you have to go and get him.
That is precisely what Thompson is lacking: the willingness to take a risk. That flair for the dramatic—both in making a move off the field and in the type of players he adds on the field. While his ability to acquire extra draft picks and his cautious free agency philosophy have allowed the team to re-vamp their roster in a short amount of time while maintaining financial sustainability, it makes it difficult to add those elite players. By drafting safe, solid football guys, Thompson is passing up players with a big-play spark. He refuses to take risks himself, or to place risk-takers on his team. He undervalues players in the draft, in trades and in free agency as a defense mechanism: so long as he can fall back on the excuse that the price is too high for Player X, then he can justify by-passing them. And so the team ends up with James Jones, not Randy Moss.
"I have sizzle. I just don't show it that much," Thompson quipped after another draft full of "pretty good football players." Well, Ted, you have built a solid base for the team and injected youth into the roster. There is only one free agent of significance after the 2007 season. The pieces are in place to take the next step, and the waning days of Favre's career are upon us, with the developmental days of the Rodgers era on the horizon. The time for sizzle is now. We're waiting.
