I like your added parameters. Because to add one more Super Bowl appearance as a front office executive in 1996 and another win as VP of Football Operations two years out of your parameters might have made your argument less strong. Not to mention Super Bowls as your only parameters for rating a GM. Because while he's only won one Super Bowl in that time period which already qualifies him in the strong minority, him dominating the NFC North year after year is apparently worth nothing. Interesting.
I see where you could have interpreted my argument as straw man though, because these guys have gone unsigned. Though I think there still remains a correlation between veterans and their athletic ability dropping off. At least personally it has me thinking, what if a guy like Reggie Wayne or Frank Gore had to line up for a 40 time, how would they do today? Or even a guy like Darren McFadden who once ran it at 4.33 and was just signed? A.J. Hawk ran his combine 40 at 4.59 and I'd be very much surprised if he could have even cracked 5.0 in the last few years. Which is also the same time period in which he's become irrelevant on the football field. While a rookie coming in will certainly struggle in some areas where a veteran succeeds, I would take athletic rookie A.J. Hawk over veteran A.J. Hawk every day of the week. This is not even to mention the added addition of things like a rookie cap scale and compensatory picks into the equation. Hopefully this cleared my argument up.
Your presentation is factually inaccurate.
Thompson was Director of Pro Personnel from 1993 - 1996. There should be some obvious irony in that fact given that the current regime relegates Pro Personnel to advance scouting of the current season's opponents. A "win" as VP of Football operations? Where was that supposed to have happened? Seattle went to the Super Bowl the year after Thompson returned to Green Bay besides actually losing the game. In both instances, Holmgren was the man.
And nobody remembers who finishes second, at least not in a good way, particularly when playoff losses are accomplished in dramatic and historical ways.
Wouldn't we all have preferred the rookie Hawk over the veteran Hawk...after the 2011 season. Or the rookie Raji over the vet Raji...after the 2011 season. Pickett might have been the slowest player in the NFL as of the 2012 season and had to be moved to NT with Raji out of position at DE.
Thompson is not just about youth. He's also about playing his own vets beyond their sell-by date when there's a lot of dead cap in their contracts. While there's some merit to this approach, judiciously applied, when considering the net cap cost of replacement, this point is never observed but nonetheless true. And it has been costly on the field. It's a risk averse approach that's become increasingly pronounced since the last CBA that provided for cap carryover. It's about managing cap for the next year, the unknown, at the expense of the current year's product. Always becoming, never being.
Thompson becomes increasing insular with each passing season.
I understand your viewpoint. It's commonly held. It's positives (youth) are commonly exaggerated while the negatives (sticking with his own beyond their time) are ignored.
Wayne, Gore, McFadden...who suggested those guys? We've been talking about reasonably priced NTs and ILBs to fill gaping holes. And even if we did sign one of those guys you mentioned with a lot of mileage, how is it different from playing Hawk in 2014 after what he showed in 2013?