Ted Thompson (pictured above, protecting precious 4th round draft picks) wouldn't give up a second round pick for 3 years of Tony Gonzalez.
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According to Bob McGinn:
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This was another example of Thompson’s unwillingness to pull the trigger on a blockbuster trade to obtain another weapon on offense.
In 2006, Thompson had the chance to send a high draft choice to San Diego Chargers for running back Michael Turner.
A year later, Thompson didn’t push hard enough to get wide receiver Randy Moss under contract and watched the New England Patriots acquire him from the Oakland Raiders for a fourth-round selection.
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He'll probably find a guy better than Tony Gonzalez in next year's 2nd round.
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I know I just broke my self-imposed ban on Packers posts, but I couldn't pass up the chance to use the mother hen analogy.
20 comments:
ted is the anti-dang quesadillas.
Getting Gonzalez for a 2nd rounder was such a great deal that...nobody did it.
Another good non-move by TT. Other smart organizations (Giants, Philly) also refused to overpay and trade a 2nd. And in the Giants case, probably a really low 2nd.
Tight End is not the source of problems in Green Bay.
I do like the monther hen refernce, though.
I agree, a 2nd rounder for Tony G was so appleaing that 31 other teams didn't want to do it.
I would have liked to see him do it though, but oh well. Our offense isn't the problem we could have used a Def lineman, or a pass rush.
I trust TT he brought Aaron Rodgers into my life and for that I love him.
I'm up in the air on this one. I like TT's philosophy on building basically through the draft...but I wonder if his conservativeness is so strong he'll never "go for it" with any particular move in a given year.
Still, you can't blame him though...it's not like he didn't try. He offered a 3. They said no.
With Gonzo, our offense goes from slightly above average to almost dangerous. And like Austin Powers, I like to live dangerously.
Still trust in TT
You could say TT's "go for it" move was bringing in Woodson for big money. I was skeptical of that one at first, but it has obviously paid big dividends.
Honestly, a second rounder was a bit much. But I can't believe the Chiefs were not willing to take a third. Gonzalez is reportedly pissed. That is going to work well in KC. I see 1-15 in the Chiefs future.
I do also like the mother hen analogy.
Besides the Gonzo deal, 31 other teams didn't trade for Moss in 2007 (in that case because he sucked in Oakland) and 31 other teams didn't trade for Turner in 2006 (in that case because SD wanted like 2 first round picks or something insane).
That mooney is better spent on guys who are already here. Rodgers is going to need to be signed. Jennings looks like a superstar and is going to want to get paid soon. I'd rather keep those guys than a past his prime TE. If he could've found a stud defensive player like another D Lineman for that price, he should've done it. But that's not the case. Passing offense is like #76 on the list of Packer problems right now.
TT made the right call in this situation. That said, our running game sucks, our O-line looks like crap, and our secondary sucks. We're lucky we play in the NFC North where having Aaron Rodgers might be good enough to win us the division.
Haha.
But yeah, I don't want Gonzalez for a 2nd round pick.
I would have given a first round pick. Specifically Justin Harrell.
I think you people, like Ted, overvalue draft picks. They are a crap shoot, as Justin Harrell proves every day that he collects a paycheck.
matt, every other gm in the NFL must as well.
the 31 other GMs argument is misguided.
we're only talking about, probably, 5-7 GMs who actually need a TE or need to upgrade this year in order to be competitive.
for example, the saints have shockey. the cowboys have witten. the chargers have gates. skins have cooley. and so on.
now, the lions aren't going to win a game, so they don't need to do anything. same for the raiders. and houston. and the bengals. and so on.
so, really, we're talking about green bay, the eagles and a handful of other teams that NEED a tight end and it would make sense for them to move a draft pick for gonzalez, who is 4th among NFL TE's in receptions - even though they have a three-headed mediocrity throwing the ball out there.
whether that's worth it for the pack or not, well, matt says yes. others, not so much.
That's well said, WV. Saying that TE is not the problem for the Packers is also not convincing. Yes, the defense is a problem. But with no superstar defensive players on the trading block, isn't a move that would help GB more effectively outscore teams the second-best option?
Anonymous, based on that Roy Williams trade, I'm pretty sure Jerry Jones doesn't overvalue draft picks.
Enjoy your 6-10 season, Packers fans. Hopefully you gain comfort in knowing that you still have that 2009 2nd round pick rather than a 1st ballot Hall of Fame TE with something left in the tank.
Sure its a crap shoot, but so what? I mean, I'd rather roll the dice than trade for an aging great who's got to learn a new system. I mean who's done THAT in the past 6 months? Oh wait...
But seriously, I think Donald Lee fills in well. I don't think the hole in the position is so large that a trade like that is necessary this season. If it was a 3rd round pick, I might be able to dig it.
Matt - Good to see you upped your 4-12 prediction to 6-10. With Gonzalez, what you guess? 7-9?
Teams seemingly as good as, or better than, Green Bay who could use a tight end. Especially a "1st ballot hall of famer with something left in the tank."
Nobody traded for him.
Minnesota
New York Giants
Philly
Arizona
Atlanta
Tampa Bay
Carolina
Jacksonville
Buffalo
New York Jets
Indy (Clark always on injury report)
New Orleans (Same for Shockey)
Just want to point out that Michael Lombardi, who if you haven't read writes pretty interesting stuff and is a former front office man of several NFL teams, believes that because of how draft picks salaries are determined 2nd round picks are more valuable than 1st round picks. You are able to get them cheaper not only for their first contract but for their second as well. (See Larry Fitzgerald vs. Anquan Boldin)
So the point is, a 2nd round pick is not worth it, especially when you can use the extra cap space to resign Jennings and Rodgers to longer term deals.
Also according to Lombardi...Gonzalez can't block the chair your sitting in. The Packers already have plenty of guys who can catch the ball. They need to improve their running game on offense.
Doesn't WV's same "misguided" argument go for the Cowboys trading for Roy Williams too? I'm confused by this short list of teams that could use someone who's as good at the TE position as people are saying here.
72 hours ago, would anyone here say that Dallas is a team that needed a big time WR to help their passing game? No, probably not. If someone would've put a list together of teams that needed a trade for Roy Williams, where would Dallas have ranked on that list? #27?
Dallas needed defensive help too, it wasn't available, they went with the "try to outscore your opponent" approach. Fine. Good for them. It works for some (Colts), and not for others (Cardinals). But this trade shows that every GM had every opportunity to trade for Gonzo, and they all thought it was a bad idea. This isn't the first time Gonzo has been trade bait; the Chiefs just want the world for him.
Saying that only 7 teams want Gonzo is ridiculous, if he's truly a "hall of fame talent with something in the tank". The fact is he's not that. Like, at all. RIGHT NOW he's not much different from a lot of guys. Anyone who plays fantasy football can tell you it goes Witten, Cooley, Gates, and then a list of like 45 guys who are all similar to each other. Owen freaking Daniels is as good as Gonzo right now. Some of those comparable TE's also play with crappy QB's too. (Bo Scaife has more yardage and one less reception than hall of famer to be Tony Gonzalez. Kerry Collins throws him the ball.)
Should the Brewers trade Escobar for Andruw Jones? Rookies are a crapshhot anyway, right? The Brewers are sitting on their young players like a mother hen. Andruw Jones is a "gold glove" talent right?
"Nobody is going to trade a second (-round pick) for a 32-year-old tight end."
Tony Gonzalez (Oct 15th, 2008)
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8677684/Gonzalez-angered-and-baffled-by-non-trade
TT and Gonzalez obviously agree. A 2nd is too much. The one thing that is consistent with TT is that he determines player value completely without emotion, and relative to team need.
That last point is important in the case of Gonzalez, as the Packers are currently needing their TEs to block. A star, pass-catching TE would be wasted in Green Bay until their O-line gets "cleaned up."
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