The Packers IR player to return is....

[Deleted member 6794]

While I think Thompson should have done a better job with both predicting the potential problems with the secondary and reacting when those problems manifested themselves, I also think that things could have easily gone the other way. If Shields and Randall had remained healthy, I think it is entirely possible that the Packers record might be much better. They would not really be that much better of a team, but I don't think they would neeed to be to have won a few more of their games. The offense has been scoring points, just a few more defensive stops at the right time might have changed a few games.

The Packers seemingly entered this season with one of the most talented secondaries in the league therefore there was no reason for Thompson to make a move. Unfortunately he has been slow to react to unforseeable stuff happening over his tenure. He deserves to be criticized for doing nothing to make up for the loss of the team's top three cornerbacks aside of relying on undrafted rookies to replace them.

 

[yooperpackfan]

The Packers seemingly entered this season with one of the most talented secondaries in the league therefore there was no reason for Thompson to make a move. Unfortunately he has been slow to react to unforseeable stuff happening over his tenure. He deserves to be criticized for doing nothing to make up for the loss of the team's top three cornerbacks aside of relying on undrafted rookies to replace them.

If the Packers brass didn't know, they should have known that Shields with his concussion history was a huge risk.
They also should have known that Randall and Rollins weren't quite "there" yet.
Having nothing but scrubs to fall back on is how Ted Thompson blew it.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

If the Packers brass didn't know, they should have known that Shields with his concussion history was a huge risk.
They also should have known that Randall and Rollins weren't quite "there" yet.
Having nothing but scrubs to fall back on is how Ted Thompson blew it.

I'm convinced the coaching staff expected Randall and Rollins make that much talked about second year jump but unfortunately that didn't happen. It's true Thompson made a mistake in evaluating Hyde, Gunter, Goodson and Hawkins resulting in the Packers not having any depth at the position.

 

[yooperpackfan]

I'm convinced the coaching staff expected Randall and Rollins make that much talked about second year jump

There is that much talked about "second year jump", but there is also that much talked about "sophomore slump"
They expected the jump, but got the slump.

 

[Mondio]

Those things happen though, there is absolutely zero fool proof method to building a team. And expecting a person to get every decision right isn't going to happen. Once it became apparent Randall was hurt worse, Rollins was just able to get out there, and Shields was put on IR, I'm not sure there were a lot of guys left worth a crap. I keep hearing names like Browner and Cromartie and actually trading a pick for Tramon? Come on.

But also at the time, our defense was playing pretty well, especially up front. From everything we saw the young guys looked like they could play, I'm not blaming them for going with them. So far it's shown there is too much inexperience on the field at one time and it's been bad for us. But quit acting like it was the only outcome possible. So they trade some big picks for Hayden. It doesn't mean this ends well either. Sure he's a much better player, but there's a hundred different things that could happen to make it worse too, like an injury and IR for him once he got here. So now we have 2 big contracts on the bench, less draft picks, and no cap carry over. Or he could have come in and played wonderfully, shutting down an entire side of the field.

Nothing is guaranteed in this league. Sometimes things don't work out. But why do you think they "should have known" everything when you didn't? and if you didn't know then, why should we believe you know now? I don't think they were wrong in thinking Randall and Rollins have all the talent in the world to be a very good tandem for this team. They might not ever be, but I don't think it will be because they didn't have the talent to do so.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Those things happen though, there is absolutely zero fool proof method to building a team. And expecting a person to get every decision right isn't going to happen. Once it became apparent Randall was hurt worse, Rollins was just able to get out there, and Shields was put on IR, I'm not sure there were a lot of guys left worth a crap. I keep hearing names like Browner and Cromartie and actually trading a pick for Tramon? Come on.

But also at the time, our defense was playing pretty well, especially up front. From everything we saw the young guys looked like they could play, I'm not blaming them for going with them.

We've discussed about it before and it's pretty obvious we disagree about the possible upgrade a veteran cornerback would have presented. I wonder about when the Packers young CBs looked like they could perform at a decent level in a meaningful NFL game though.

 

[Mondio]

i'm not disagreeing about a better corner back helping. that's thing about young guys, they don't get to play in meaningful games, until they get to play in meaningful games. Until then, you base it off what you see. They were all over their competition in the preseason. Many of those guys played against 1,2's and 3's. They looked like they belonged then when our top guys were sitting out. It's all we can base it on. and I think had they only had to subsititue 1 or 2 at a time in, and put them in various situations to give them that experience, all would be well, or at least better.

But it's not the situation we found ourselves in. I know a better DB would have helped us, but would it have been enough? I'll never buy that Cromartie, Browner or Williams was going to do anything other than be different. We'd still have problems. Those guys still need to be covered up with help because they are not good anymore. But when was that better one supposed to have been gotten? Training camp? maybe, but hardly anybody saw this coming then and they were going with Shields and his big dollar contract and were invested in1st and 2nd round draft picks to round out our top 3. and if later in the season, when? and who was available, and at what cost? at one point, we would have needed 2 or 3 other DB's and there is no team 6 deep with starting DB's.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

i'm not disagreeing about a better corner back helping. that's thing about young guys, they don't get to play in meaningful games, until they get to play in meaningful games. Until then, you base it off what you see. They were all over their competition in the preseason. Many of those guys played against 1,2's and 3's. They looked like they belonged then when our top guys were sitting out. It's all we can base it on. and I think had they only had to subsititue 1 or 2 at a time in, and put them in various situations to give them that experience, all would be well, or at least better.

But it's not the situation we found ourselves in. I know a better DB would have helped us, but would it have been enough? I'll never buy that Cromartie, Browner or Williams was going to do anything other than be different. We'd still have problems. Those guys still need to be covered up with help because they are not good anymore. But when was that better one supposed to have been gotten? Training camp? maybe, but hardly anybody saw this coming then and they were going with Shields and his big dollar contract and were invested in1st and 2nd round draft picks to round out our top 3. and if later in the season, when? and who was available, and at what cost? at one point, we would have needed 2 or 3 other DB's and there is no team 6 deep with starting DB's.

Aside of Hawkins the other cornerbacks on the depth chart behind the starters already played in meaningful games but the front office made mistakes evaluating Hyde, Goodson and Gunter.

I agree that the Packers secondary would most likely still have had problems after adding a veteran cornerback during the season but he might have eased them a bit.

 

[Mondio]

I never liked Goodson. Hyde and Gunter are what they are, and they are guys that round out all sorts of rosters in the league. They are your nickel and dime guys and guys that cover the lesser receiving targets or you play them in tandem with help somewhere else. But now they are "the" guys. They aren't meant to be, nor evaluated to be "the" guys. Everyone back there needs help and they don't let us have enough positions on the defense to help them all out. Couple them with a defensive front that can't get to a QB blitzing or straight up, we have problems.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

I never liked Goodson. Hyde and Gunter are what they are, and they are guys that round out all sorts of rosters in the league. They are your nickel and dime guys and guys that cover the lesser receiving targets or you play them in tandem with help somewhere else. But now they are "the" guys. They aren't meant to be, nor evaluated to be "the" guys.

Absolutely agreed but that's the reason Thompson should have made a move for a veteran cornerback once it was obvious both Shields and Randall will miss significant time.