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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TOPHAT" data-source="post: 147183" data-attributes="member: 781">DRAFT REVIEW<a href="http://www.madison.com/tct/sports/packers/index.php?ntid=131644&ntpid=2" target="_blank">http://www.madison.com/tct/sports/packers/index.php?ntid=131644&ntpid=2</a>Mike Lucas: Looking for inspiration from Thompson, Packers? SorryThere was an uninspiring exchange last week between the uninspiring Ted Thompson and the media corps, always on the lookout to document any semblance of inspiration from the uninspiring Green Bay general manager.  During an uninspiring news conference, leading up to what turned out to be an uninspiring draft for the Packers, there was this uninspiring concession on the urgency to upgrade an uninspiring stable of running backs. "We don't feel particularly bound to do anything at that position," said Thompson, who has been anything but a source of inspiration. And you thought Mike Sherman was uninspiring?Thompson may know what he's doing, but you'd like a little bit more proof. Especially since the Packers would seem to be treading water with Brett Favre, who not so long ago -- April 2006 -- was holding a non-news debriefing on the Cottonwoods Golf Course in Tunica, Miss., and wondering what the big fuss was all about regarding his future plans. Favre really didn't have any news or anything to say about his commitment, or lack thereof, to playing another season.  Ted Thompson, Green Bay Packers executive vice president, general manager and director of football operations, talks about the Packers first round selection in the National Football League draft Saturday in Green Bay, Wis. The Packers picked Justin Harrel, a defensive tackle from Tennessee, with the 16th overall pick.  But he made it clear that he felt the Packers needed to be aggressive in their attempts to improve the product, like they were under former general manager Ron Wolf. Was Favre crying wolf at the time? Or was he serious when he invoked the free agent signing memory of Reggie White and implored Thompson and the Packers to "make a statement again. You have to stay up with the NFL, and teams are making statements. Sometimes you hit on them and sometimes you don't. I think we have to do that."  Think again, unless the uninspiring Frank Walker, a free agent cornerback not to be confused with Cordell Walker (Texas Ranger), qualifies as "making a statement" to your thinking. Consider the irony of the non-aggressive Thompson signing Walker, who was accused of being too aggressive by Tom Coughlin, his former coach with the New York Giants. Also consider the irony of Thompson taking a quarterback in the 2005 draft -- the plummeting and totally uninspiring Aaron Rodgers -- when he would have been in a position to grab another plummeting quarterback (Notre Dame diva Brady Quinn) with maybe a higher value in the 2007 draft.Thompson's increasingly annoying mantra ("We don't draft based on needs, and I know that's boring") is beginning to fall woefully short with a Green Bay fan base that has to be growing more and more skeptical about his decision-making and the direction of this franchise. Not that Thompson should be in the business of appeasing the fans. Or outsiders. But what kind of message is Thompson sending his own players, particularly his older players like Favre, with his lack of urgency in addressing needs? When Thompson was asked last Monday about the prospect of signing free agents after the draft, he said, "We don't have any definite plans about doing anything."Now that's inspiring. In his defense, he did qualify the remark by also noting, "If you have some flexibility, which we try to keep, then sometimes you can act upon those opportunities." Or, sometimes, you just act too late. And that seems to sum up Thompson. For example, New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum moved up in the first round of the draft to select Pitt cornerback Darrelle Revis and then moved up again in the second round to take Michigan linebacker David Harris.  The latter move was executed with the help of Thompson, who traded that No. 47 pick (Harris) and the 235th overall to the Jets for No. 63, No. 89 and No. 191. So while Tannebaum was aggressively filling needs with Revis and Harris -- "To get those two players, we were willing to pay the price," Tannenbaum told the New York press -- Thompson was "adding core value" to the Packers. Mind you, instead of moving up to ensure themselves a shot at Cal running back Marshawn Lynch, they settled for the No. 16 pick and Tennessee's Justin Harrell, an injury-prone defensive tackle. When Thompson was pressed on whether he could have possibly moved down and still gotten Harrell, he said, "We had calls from I think five different teams and none of them was warranted in terms of taking that risk."Risk? Wasn't it risky for the Packers to be reaching for Harrell when they did? In retrospect, the risk was in thinking that Thompson knew what he was doing in "soft playing" Randy Moss. Or so it sounded after New England acquired Moss in exchange for a fourth-round draft choice. The transaction was contingent upon Moss reworking his contract, something he may not have been inclined to do for a Green Bay mailing address. Nonetheless, even the most passionate Moss-haters would have to feel like they had been "mooned" again, a statement on their own uninspiring GM.</blockquote>

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