About a week ago, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a piece about Ron Wolf being impressed with the job that Ted Thompson has done since becoming the general manager in 2005. On top of being impressed with Thompson, the similarities between Wolf and Thompson are striking….not to mention freaky.
November 1991, Ron Wolf became the general manager of the Green Bay Packers. His first three big moves were firing Lindy Infante, hiring Mike Holmgren, and trading a 1st round pick (19th pick in the following year) for Brett Favre. After he assembled his nucleus, on April 6th of 1993, Reggie White signed a 4 year 17 million dollar contract with the Packers.
Jan. 14, 2005, Ted Thompson became the general manager of the Green Pay Packers. His first three big moves were firing Mike Sherman, hiring Mike McCarty, and then drafting Aaron Rodgers with his first round pick in the 2005 draft. Just like Wolf, after Thompson built his foundation, on April 27th of 2006, free agent Charles Woodson signed a 7 year 52 million dollar deal.
Ron Wolf said that the general rule to build a Super Bowl caliber team was that at least a third of the team had to be impact players. He mentioned that 18-20 players needed to contribute in order to win a Super Bowl. Wolf used a ‘color system’ to identify impact players. Players that are labeled ‘blue’ are Hall of Fame type players, players that are labeled ‘red’ are perennial Pro Bowl type players, and players labeled ‘gold plus’ are starters with Pro Bowl type potential.
So, taking Ron Wolf’s advice, I decided to make a 1265 list of Wolf’s color system. For players that fall in the ‘blue’ criterion, I wanted to be extra careful because actually becoming a Hall of Fame player requires consistent stats over a period of years and a certain bill of health.
Blue:
Charles Woodson, Aaron Rodgers *, and Clay Matthews *
Asterix means that they are on their way to becoming Hall of Fame type players they just need to consistently produce and above all stay healthy.
Red:
Chad Clifton, Greg Jennings *, Tramon Williams, Desmond Bishop, Ryan Pickett, Nick Collins, B. J Raji, Josh Sitton, and Cullen Jenkins.
Gold Plus:
Bryan Bulaga, Sam Shields, Scott Wells, and Donald Driver
The list consists of 16 players that fall in Wolf’s color system. Also, the Packers suffered an abundant amount of injuries. Of the players that are injured, there are six players that need to be recognized:
Red:
Jermichael Finley, Nick Barnett, Ryan Grant, Mark Tauscher, Mike Neal *, and Morgan Burnett *.
Asterix means that I have only seen a small sample size of Neal and Burnett, but they are tremendously talented, and should be impact players if they can stay healthy.
Out of the list that I supplied, Wolf identified Sitton, Shields, Jenkins, and Raji as players that have pushed their talent over the top, especially in the playoffs. He compared the aforementioned players to Adam Timmerman, Santana Dotson, and Brian Williams of the 1997 Super Bowl winning team that helped the Packers.
Wolf said, “When you look at what you have to do to be successful, just look at what Ted did when he came in there. He built that team up.” It’s pretty interesting to see Wolf and Thompson’s timelines coincide with each other. When Wolf took over as GM, he was scrutinized with his instant makeover, he also was slaughtered by the Packer media for his inability to draft well. Wolf also wasn’t afraid to spend money. Well, Thompson has obviously been scrutinized. He took a tougher road. He stuck to his philosophy of finding players in the draft rather than over paying for free agents. Wolf took over for the Packers in 1991, it took him 5 ½ years to win the Super Bowl with a 27 year old quarterback in Brett Favre. Thompson took over in 2005, it has taken him 6 years to get to the Super Bowl with a 27 year old quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. The Road to the Super Bowl for Wolf and Thompson are strikingly similar. The only thing that is missing is a Super Bowl win for Ted Thompson.
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