Green Bay Packers: Grading General Manager Ted Thompson Over the 2010 Season
Green Bay Packers GM Ted Thompson Grades Out High After Super Bowl Season
In the modern age of the NFL, general managers are usually lightning rods for controversy.
Fans are very rarely happy with the job their GM is doing, and there are always plenty of armchair GMs who think they can run the team better than the man getting paid to do the job.
For the Green Bay Packers, the man who takes those hits is Ted Thompson.
Over the course of his time in Green Bay, Thompson has been heavily criticized for blowing up the roster before 2005, trading away a living legend in Brett Favre and shying away from spending money in the free-agent market.
However, the hoards of Thompson critics were quieted (for the time being) on Feb. 6 when the Packers won Super Bowl XLV.
With the Lombardi Trophy back home, how did the work of Thompson grade out before and during the 2010-2011 season?
Draft Class
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While it's hard to judge a draft after just one season, this new class of Packers certainly made an impact.
By the time the Packers kicked off the Super Bowl, Green Bay had three rookies starting—tackle Bryan Bulaga (first round, No. 23), tight end Andrew Quarless (fifth found, No. 154) and running back James Starks (sixth round, No. 193).
Safety Morgan Burnett (third round, No. 71) would have likely joined that trio in the starting lineup had he not torn his ACL in a Week 4 game against the Lions, and he's still projected as the Packers starter next season.
Mike Neal (second round, No. 56) had made such an impression on the Packers coaching staff before his shoulder injury that he would have played a significant number of snaps at defensive end and could have possibly started as well.
C.J. Wilson (seventh round, No. 230) played in 15 games and contributed more than even the most optimistic outlook could have predicted.
Marshall Newhouse (fifth round, No. 169) never saw any game action, but he was awarded a year to mature mentally and physically and the Packers see him as a potential answer along the offensive line.
While Thompson's 2010 draft class doesn't have a discernible star, could the Packers have won the Super Bowl without them?
Grade: B+
Undrafted Free Agents
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It's still somewhat hard to believe, but the Packers had two players—Sam Shields and Frank Zombo—featured in huge roles on their defense despite being passed over in the 2010 draft.
Shields was a revelation at cornerback, intercepting four passes in 18 games and establishing himself as a nickel corner the Packers could count on.
Quietly, Shields got better and better as the season progressed, and his two interceptions in the NFC Championship game were huge plays on the road to the Super Bowl.
His emergence also made sure Jarrett Bush didn't see the field much in a covering role, and that allowed Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers to be considerably more aggressive in his blitz schemes in year two.
Zombo filled in admirably when a string of injuries put Brad Jones, Brady Poppinga and Brandon Chillar on injured reserve for the season.
While not the most explosive athlete, Zombo finished the season fourth on the team in sacks with five—including one in the Super Bowl.
Guard Nick McDonald was the final undrafted pickup, and his name should be watched closely this summer if the Packers need to find a replacement for free agent Daryn Colledge.
Grade: A
Free Agents Signed (Prior to Season)
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Thompson rarely scours the free-agent market to find big names, and he stuck to that strategy during this past offseason.
However, he did find two players during free agency who contributed during the season.
Charlie Peprah was re-signed after a year in Atlanta to provide depth for the Packers safeties, but he took on a much larger role than that.
Injuries to Morgan Burnett and Atari Bigby opened the door for Peprah to start, and he took advantage of it. He was unspectacular but solid, and he played well enough during the year for the Packers to give him a two-year, $2.5 million contract last week.
The Packers punting situation was a mess in 2009, and Thompson brought in both Tim Masthay and Chris Bryan to fight for the roster spot.
Masthay ultimately won the job, and despite a few shaky performances to begin the year, he looks like a guy the Packers can finally count on at punter.
Grade: B
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Players Re-Signed (Prior to Season)
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After their playoff loss to Arizona, Thompson and the Packers made quick work of re-signing their three main targets—Chad Clifton, Mark Tauscher and Ryan Pickett.
Clifton was given a three-year deal, and he repaid the Packers with a Pro Bowl season at left tackle.
He still had his ups and downs, but the job Clifton did during Green Bay's six-game winning streak to end the season cannot be understated.
The Packers gave Tauscher a two-year deal, but he struggled mightily.
He was beaten more in the first four games than at any other point in his career, and a shoulder injury ended his season before Week 5.
Pickett was given the franchise tag while the Packers negotiated a four-year, $24.95 million deal for the defensive lineman.
That's a hefty price tag, but it's worth it for the hefty weight Pickett brings to the Packers defensive front.
Grade: B+
Players Let Go or Not Re-Signed
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It's possible the Packers made an attempt to re-sign Aaron Kampman, but neither side was too serious about coming to an agreement.
Kampman sometimes struggled making the transition to outside linebacker in the 3-4, and his desire to play defensive end in a 4-3 ultimately brought him to Jacksonville. In eight games with the Jaguars, Kampman recorded four sacks and played well before tearing up his knee.
While the Packers will get either a third- or fourth-round compensatory pick for Kampman, they never truly filled the hole he left opposite Clay Matthews.
Al Harris, another long-time Packers veteran, met a similar fate as Kampman.
Yet when Harris was scheduled to come off the PUP list, it seemed that the Packers would find a spot for him to contribute in their defense.
Thompson had other plans for the 36-year-old, and after Green Bay's Week 9 game vs. Dallas, the Packers cut Harris. His release opened up room for Shields to grow into the nickel back—a move that paid off down the stretch.
The Packers also released Matt Giordano, Jeremy Thompson (neck) and Michael Montgomery at various points in the season, and they elected not to re-sign Ahman Green, Jeremy Kapinos and DeShawn Wynn.
Grade: B
Players Signed During the Regular Season
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Thompson was forced to do more than his fair share of dealings as the Packers saw 16 players go to the injured reserve throughout the season.
The 360-pound Howard Green was brought in before the Packers' Week 8 game in New York, and he ended up playing a significant number of snaps from that point on.
Also, his pressure of Ben Roethlisberger in the Super Bowl directly caused Nick Collins' interception return for a touchdown.
The Packers also signed four linebackers—Matt Wilhelm, Erik Walden, Diyral Briggs and Robert Francois—but only Walden gave the team any production. Walden's 11-tackle, three-sack game against Chicago in Week 17 was one of the most impressive performances of the season.
Running back Dmitri Nance was signed off Atlanta's practice squad after Ryan Grant's injury in Week 1. However, he only rushed for 96 yards on 35 carries and is a long-shot to make the team in 2011.
Both Spencer Havner and Evan Dietrich-Smith were signed after being cut before season, but Havner got hurt almost immediately and Dietrich-Smith spent all fives games on the inactive list.
Grade: B-
Players Traded for or Not Traded for
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The only trade swung by Thompson was for safety Anthony Smith, who had previously been in Packers camp in 2009.
The Packers sent a conditional seventh-round pick to the Jaguars in exchange, but it's unlikely that Smith hit any of the playing-time criteria needed to materialize the draft pick for Jacksonville.
However, the bigger news on the trade front was the deal that Thompson didn't make.
When Grant went down in Week 1, the rumor mill was filled with talk of the Packers acquiring Bills running back Marshawn Lynch.
While Thompson offered a fourth-round pick, there was no way that was going to be enough. The Seahawks gave a sure-to-be higher fourth-rounder and a conditional pick, and Lynch was sent packing for Seattle.
It might have cost Green Bay intermediately during the middle portion of the schedule, but Packers management obviously knew what they had in rookie James Starks.
It's unlikely that Starks (or Lynch, for that matter) would have had the same impact in the playoffs if the Packers had made the deal.
Not trading for Lynch was a calculated risk, but one that paid off for Thompson in the long term.
Grade: B+
Current Packers Extended
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Prior to or during the season, Thompson extended the contracts of Nick Collins, Tramon Williams, Donald Driver, Desmond Bishop and Brett Goode.
Williams earned every penny of his five-year, $38 million extension with his improvement throughout his career. He's now one of the top cover corners in the NFL and his contract is still a bargain price.
Both Collins (four-year, $26.75 extension) and Bishop (four-year, $19 million) earned their raises, and they figure to be long-term fixtures in the Packers defense.
Driver, while slipping a little with age, got a three-year, $17.2 million extension that doesn't exactly break the bank.
Goode, the Packers long snapper, was extended by three years and $1.9 million.
If there is one thing that Thompson has always been consistent with, it's paying players who have earned their money.
These extensions go a long way in keeping the Packers' core together in the future, and each player rightfully earned their pay increase to stay in Green Bay.
Grade: A-
Overall Report Card
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Draft Class: B+
Undrafted Free Agents: A
Free Agents Signed (Prior): B
Players Re-Signed (Prior): B+
Players Let Go or Not Re-Signed: B
Players Signed During Season: B-
Players Traded For (or not): B+
Current Packers Extended: A-
Thompson's Overall 2010 Grade
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It probably goes without saying that the 2010 season was the best effort of Ted Thompson's career.
It all started with the deep and talented draft class that saw three of the seven rookies starting in the Super Bowl—a remarkable number for a championship team.
But it didn't end there.
Thompson succeeded with his two free-agent signings (Peprah and Masthay), struck gold with Shields and Zombo and the letting go of Harris and Kampman would make even Nostradamus blush.
Finding injury answers in Walden and Green was also instrumental in keeping the Packers defense afloat, and it seems all the extensions were fair contracts that were given to players that needed to be kept around long term.
Overall, Thompson made very few mistakes and hit on nearly every one of his moves. Despite all the injuries, he never overreacted, and the Packers came out of the mess unified and ready to take on bigger things.
And that's just what they did. The Packers won the Super Bowl on the arm of Aaron Rodgers, but it was Thompson who perfectly played a game of Jenga with the Packers roster.
While blocks were consistently being taken from the Packers tower, confidence in its structure never wavered. In the end, the Packers' tower rose above the entire NFL because of Thompson's steady handling of all the pieces involved.
Thompson's Overall 2010 Grade: A
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