Ted Thompson has taken untold amounts of grief in the last three years for how he has chosen to build the Packers roster through the draft almost exclusively. Mostly fans, but a few media members as well, have taken Thompson to task for eschewing free agency completely (which, of course, he hasn’t really, signing Woodson, Pickett, Manuel ect last year) and not bringing in ‘big’ names to add to an offense with sparse play making ability.
Well, it would seem the owner of the Colts, (you know, the high-powered, Super Bowl champion Colts) Jim Irsay thinks that Thompson’s approach is the way to go, after watching his team get burned by the signing of Corey Simon. (Which, I have to add, leads to the subject of why teams ever, and I mean ever, sign players that the Eagles want to get rid of. When was the last time the Eagles let a player walk or traded him and he went on to star for a new team?)
Free-agency, as Thompson has stated, can be an ocean with dangerous waters to navigate. There’s a reason those players have been allowed to leave their last team. Buyer beware. And while building through the draft may not get you lots of headlines in the off season, it’s the best way to make sure you get better every season. And that’s what Thompson is trying to make sure the Packers do.
