Imagine if Thompson picked any of the guys 6-17 (except Ngata) instead of Hawk? Yuck.

Or imagine if he took Devin Hester. Or imagine if he took Brandon Marshall. Or imagine if he took DeMeco Ryans.
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You could argue that all of these players would have given more of a benefit to the Packers than Hawk has. Does that mean he should have taken then with the 5th overall pick? No. There was absolutely no way, at that point in time, to project that any of those players would have done better than Hawk. As I've stated 100 times before, the ONLY other player that the Packers would have selected instead of Hawk was Vernon Davis. The Hawk pick, given all of the information available at the time, was 100% the correct pick.
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This is the fundamental flaw with the way decisions are judged. Everyone looks at the outcome of the decision. The reality is that people should be looking at the decision making process. If the correct decision was made with the information available, then it is a good decision. You cannot use new information to judge an old decision. It serves absolutely no purpose. There's a reason that every GM drafts players who turn into busts. That doesn't mean that they are necessarily bad GM's, just that they didn't have all of the information necessary to make a better pick.
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PS. I feel that I am qualified to make these statements because I'm a statistician. I'm highly sensitive to people making assumptions about decisions based on new information.

What if the Packers had Rex Ryan as their defensive coordinator last year instead of Sanders?

If only Thompson would have played D line for the Oilers instead of linebacker...

Sorry about that Aaron, like I said, I'm a bit sensitive to people attacking decisions based on information that wasn’t available at the time. And I'm really tired of people saying that Hawk is a bust, considering he had over 100 tackles in '06 and '07. I know, tackles aren't everything, but he really isn't a bad player, and I don't understand why people keep saying "bust" just because he's not bound for the HOF. If he’s picked 10 picks later, everyone thinks it’s a great pick, because just about every player selected ahead of him is awful. Or if Favre never tries to come back, half of Packers “fans” don’t hate Hawk just because he’s a Thompson pick.
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Now, I know that you study film a lot more extensively than most people, so I trust you when you criticize Hawk, but I just think it’s way to early to say that Bishop is the better choice. While Bishop has been considerably stouter at the point of attack, he’s pretty much the only guy really blowing people up right now. When the team gets into a preseason game and there isn’t the fear of injuring your own teammates, if Hawk is still apprehensive, then I’ll buy your argument. After all, a lot of people were predicting good things from hook based on his first two seasons. If he hadn’t gotten hurt (and there weren’t a hundred injuries to all the players around him) I doubt we’re even having this conversation now.
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PS. Who knew “stouter” was a word?

I hope AJ proves us wrong this year...

OR..... if GB had drafted Barry Sanders instead of Tony Mandarich in 1989.
That would definitely have been a history changer.
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Aaron
You're not allowed to have fun. With some of your recent blogs, it's difficult to tell if you're being serious....You must have been a left-fielder in your little-league days. LOL.

"Remind me never to try to have fun when Jayme’s around"

haha, I was going to say something similiar. I haven't given up on hawk yet though. Hopefully he is poised to have his best year yet this year.

Jayme, there were people saying Hawk was an overrated meh LB at the time, and they weren't all Michigan fans. I didn't like the pick when it was made, and i like it less now.

I was in love with Ngata on draft day and when I saw the Ravens took him, I just thought to myself, "a great defense just got better." He is an animal - constantly double- and triple-teamed. At the time, however, Hawk appeared to be a dream pick and it seemed to suit our needs perfectly. I am still a believer in AJ, but this is not an endless well of hope, either.

Mr. Optimistic, who did you want to pick @5?

GBP 4 LIFE

Was there a better LB available at #5? Even with hindsight? No. Only DeMeco Ryans and AJ Hawk have actually produced of the 31 taken.