Green Bay Packers: They must make changes
Ted Thompson’s legacy
When you point a finger at Ted Thompson, someone is always willing to bite. We all know his quirks, build through the draft, keep homegrown talent, and don’t waste time in the free agency.
For the most part, it’s hard to argue. The Packers haven’t missed the playoffs since 2008 when Aaron Rodgers took over the helm. Most teams would be envious of that.
The Packers aren’t most teams.
The Packers fit an elite profile of teams that are expected to make the playoffs every year. But the misses in the draft and lack of new talent have taken a toll on this Packers squad.
When Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb went down in the preseason the Packers were proactive by signing veteran and familiar face, James Jones.
However, as the injuries mounted, the Packers’ lack of talent and lack of depth started to show its face. We all know the story on our failures at the receiver position, but one of the worst failings was our offensive line.
Don Barclay proved to be a sieve at the tackle position, as was Josh Walker and Lane Taylor. The poor line play also reflected on the running game with Eddie Lacy having little room to run in most situations.
The Packers also failed to add a playmaking tight end that can stretch the field. Richard Rodgers is a great pass catcher, but moves at the speed of a lineman on the field, which limits his ability to be dynamic in the passing game.
While injuries didn’t plague the defense as bad as the offense, they also were weak in certain areas as well.
Clay Matthews had to be moved from his natural edge rushing position to inside linebacker calling the plays after Sam Barrington went down with a season-ending injury.
Fortunately, Matthews really excelled in his new role and was our best cover linebacker and still was quite effective as a pass rusher. The influx of talent next to Matthews was questionable, at best. Nate Palmer proved to be incompetent in coverage, the same could be said for Jake Ryan and Joe Thomas.
The front seven also proved for another year that they were unable to stop the run as they kept the same rotation of talent from last season, even with the huge improvement in Datone Jones as well as Mike Daniels‘ elite rise.
One area where Ted Thompson went all in this off-season, was the secondary. The Packers let Tramon Williams and Davon House walk, as well as Jarrett Bush but doubled down in the first two rounds with Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins.
This strong act by Thompson did pay off as the secondary was the best unit on the defense finishing sixth against the pass.
The last place Thompson let his guard down was at the punter position.
Tim Masthay finished 28th in punt average, 15th in net average, and 30th in punts inside the 20. Beyond the stats it almost seemed like Masthay had at least one “shank” punt per game, putting the Packers defense in a terrible position.
With so many punters available every season in the draft as well as free agency it was almost laughable that the Packers didn’t at least try out extra punters during the season.
Whether it’s the players, the coaches, or the general manager, the Packers failed to reach the Super Bowl and were left wondering “what if” for the second straight season.
The NFL is a reactionary league that is always changing with the times.
I think it’s time that the Packers join the rest of league and get on board with at least a little change.