Green Bay Packers' GM Ted Thompson's Biggest Mistake Since Justin Harrell

If you watched any of the Packers-Saints game last night, you probably couldn't help but notice what happened to the Green Bay defense (or general lack thereof).  During their stretch run last year, Dom Capers' defensive unit stood tall and helped guide the Pack back to the Lombardi Trophy.  Last night, Clay Matthews and Co. hardly got in Brees' face and gave him ample time in the pocket to make plays, however, this lack of a pass rush didn't have to be.

During the post-lockout free agency period, Packers general manager Ted decided to re-sign WR James Jones and let emerging DE Cullen Jenkins walk.  In my opinion, this will be a decision that will haunt the Packers during the same season which finally saw the release of former first-round bust DE Justin Harrell (perhaps Thompson's worst draft pick to date). 

After the first round of offseason moves across the league, the Packers were a little over $10 million in cap space after the release of a handful of veteran players (including LB Nick Barnett and LB Brandon Chillar).  Granted, they needed some of that space for the re-signing of G Josh Sitton and the upcoming re-signing of TE Jermichael Finley. 

This appears to have left the Green Bay front office with a decision on which of their two, biggest free agents to pursue.  With Jones, the assumption was that another team was going to pay him starter money and the Packers were not going to match it, however, the first wave of free agency came and went with Jones still available.  With Jenkins, he was on the market for approximately five days until the Eagles landed him as part of their late-July shopping spree.  It doesn't appear that the Packers made serious attempt to retain Jenkins' services and instead turned to Jones whose contract demands had come down a bit.

The issue essentially lies within the depth at each position.  Basically, the Packers loaded with pass catchers and further solidified their ranks with the selection of WR Randall Cobb in the second round of the NFL draft in April.  Quite simply, Green Bay didn't have much of a need for Jones' return (one catch for one yard last night, by the way). 

On defense, the Packers are thin at DE and supposed Jenkins replacement Mike Neal has been injury-plagued to this point and can't get onto the field.  This has thrust backups C.J. Wilson and Jarius Wynn into more significant playing time.  To compensate, Dom Capers has toyed with using B.J. Raji on the outside with Ryan Pickett or Howard Green at DT.  Re-signing Jenkins could have alleviated these issues.  Without another pass-rushing presence outside of Matthews, the Packers are going to find themselves in more shootouts against any team with a competent QB. 

Let's face it, questioning a GM's decision on who to sign, who to draft, who to trade for and who to let go is pretty easy in retrospect.  Also, who is anyone to question a GM that molded the roster for a team that just won the Super Bowl?  However, in my opinion, the decisions made this past offseason were something that didn't make sense then and definitely doesn't make sense now.