And Now For The Rest Of The Draft

After all the wheeling and dealing the Ted Thompson/Brian Gutekunst Collaboration did on Day One and Two (acquiring 9 draft picks and trading away eight, including the Damarious Randall trade before the draft) the Packers had  eight picks in the final four rounds.

According to most pundits the Packers were looking for cornerbacks, linebackers, offensive linemen, wide receivers. I added a pass rusher and a safety.

In the past the local kiss-ass media has revered Ted Thompson for his drafting prowess on Day Three of the draft, so you would expect Saturday to be an overwhelming success, but we’ll see.

Draft: Day Two: Déjà Vu All Over Again

Day Two of the Ted Thompson/Brian Gutekunst Collaboration Arrangement was second verse same as the first – a blast from the past (and not that far past) that turned out to be a major disaster.

Let’s step into Mister Peabody’s Wayback Machine to April 30, 2015 and Ted Thompson the Magnificent – the Know All and Be All – was conducting his 11th draft with a need to rebuild the secondary. Sound familiar. Day One Ted Terrific drafts Damarious Randall, a safety he will convert to an All-Pro cornerback to replace Tramon Williams, who was let go. On Day Two in the second round he drafted cornerback Quinten Rollins, to add to the competition and then added wide receiver Ty Montgomery to help rebuild that position.

Now back into the Wayback Machine to today, Day Two saw the TT/BG two headed monster draft, wait for it, wait for it, a cornerback (wow, who could have seen that). This time it wasn’t Quinten Rollins the Second or at least we hope not, it was Josh Jackson the First from Iowa.

At that point the Packers could put their feet up and wait out the rest of the 2nd round because “Gute” had traded away the Packers only 3rd round pick to get the first cornerback Jaire Alexander on Day One. But, noooooooo, “Gute” who likes his new found power of wheeling and dealing saw his version of an inside linebacker continue to fall, so he jumped with both feet and traded away his top pick in the 4th round (#101) and his 2nd pick (acquired on Day One in another trade) in the 5th round (#147) to get the 88th pick in the 3rd round to draft Vanderbilt linebacker Oren Burks. But don’t worry the theme of wide receiver will make a comeback times 3.

Draft Day One: The Long and the Short of It

Overview:

Green Bay Packers new General Manager Dynamic Duo (Brian Gutekundst and Ted Thompson) pulled off a great trade Thursday night trading away the No. 14 pick in the first round along with the 76th pick in the 3rd round and the 186th pick in the 6th round to get the 18th pick in the first round as well as the 147th pick in the 5th round, the 248th pick in the 7th round and, and this is great part, a 1-32 pick in next year’s draft.

The trade was also great because the Packers ended up getting the player they wanted and the player almost all the pundits said the Packers would draft at 14 and all it cost was losing a 3rd round pick altogether dropping 71 picks with the pickup of the 147th pick in the 5th round and losing a 6th round pick dropping 62 picks with the pickup of the 248th pick in the 7th round.

Pre-Draft Analysis

The roster former General Manager Ted Thompson left the new guy left a lot to be desired if the Green Bay Packers are to return to the Super Bowl while Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback.

The “Tedders”, who worshipped Ted Thompson and the local kiss ass media who are just as delusional still can’t see the forest for the trees and for some delusional reason think the return of Aaron Rodgers is the only thing that needs to be done this season to return to Super Bowl contention.

I hate to break your bubble (actually I love to break your bubble) the Packers haven’t been in the Super Bowl for the last seven years when Rodgers was the best quarterback in football and Jordy Nelson was one of the best wide receivers, Eddie Lacy was one of the best backs, Clay Matthews was the best pass rusher, Tramon Williams and Sam Shields were the cornerbacks, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was an up-and-comer and Josh Sitton and T. J. Lang were the Pro Bowl guards.

None of that except for Rodgers is still happening, but what is is that Ted Thompson and his cheap-ass ways turned a budding Super Bowl dynasty into the “Just Good Enough” Packers built around failed top draft picks and undrafted free agents. Ted Thompson and his enablers have wasted the prime years of the best quarterback in the game and will never see another Super Bowl unless the current management cuts the ties to Thompson and takes some chances.

Position Evaluation: Secondary

Cornerback is the position former Head Honcho Ted Thompson (or is he, but more on that later) worked on the most in his final years and the position that was the least improved and the main reason, in addition to Dom Capers, the Packers defense sucked for the last several seasons.

Cornerback has been a major disaster after the loss of Tramon Williams and Sam Shields, despite being filled by three high draft choices. Thompson began to rebuild the unit by drafting Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins No. 1 and No 2 in 2015 and then Kevin King No. 2 (he was actually Thompson’s top draft pick when he traded out of the 1st round) last season. In addition, he drafted Demetri Goodson No. 6 in 2014.

Position Evaluation: Linebackers

The linebackers for the Packers are average at best. Former All-World Pass Rusher Clay Matthews is a shadow of his former self and in my opinion should be cut. He is entering the final year of a 5-year, $66,000,000 contract. He began his career with 50 sacks in his first 5 seasons earning Pro Bowl berths in his first four seasons, but missing his fifth when he fell to 7.5 sacks playing with a broken thumb.

The 1st year after the signing of the contract, which was justified at the time, Matthews spend half the season at outside linebacker and the last half at inside linebacker and rebounded with 11 sacks returning to the Pro Bowl.

In his 1st 6 seasons Matthews had 61 sacks, but the last 3 seasons have been below par. In 2015 he was named to the Pro Bowl, but that was on reputation alone because he only had 6.5 sacks. In 2016 he appeared in just 12 games with 9 starts because of hamstring and a more serious shoulder injury finishing with 5 sacks. Last season he was a situational player with 7.5 sacks sitting out half the downs and key moments in the game when he would normally be playing.

Watching him play last season was pitiful. He no longer had his burst to the quarterback and routinely missed the quarterback when he got there. It’s time to move on.

Position Evaluation: Defensive Line

Under former Defensive Coordinator and Head Coach Mike McCarthy’s coaching mentor Dom Capers the defensive line was the red-headed step child of his defense. While he was officially listed as running a 3-4 scheme in practical terms he really had only two defensive linemen on the field most of the snaps.

FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS, PART ahh33

(This time it’s in Texican because the NFL Draft is in Arlington, Texas)

SUBLIME OR RIDICULOUS (YOU MAKE THE CALL)

Danica Patrick and Her Super Bowl Trophy

The continuing saga of Aaron Rodgers’ love life made another famous turn when Mr. Rodgers finally replaced his former actress Tiger Lady Olivia Munn on a permanent (we’ll see) basis for the most high profile female in sports former race car driver Danica Patrick.