First off i am stoked about your Oakley sponsorship! Not a big fan of the glasses anymore due to where they are made now..cough cough...however I love this site, its 2nd to none, and I want you to be successful so you stay online and as active as you are!~

That out of the way let me be the first to say THANK YOU for your perspective on this subject. I agree with you and its something noone wants to talk about, or just doesnt. I thought for sure you were going to bring up the tired old dribble that is "we never gave Aaron Rodgers enough weapons!!!" So tired of that argument! Every time some Packer fan yells that at me or the web I have to throw facts at them. You know the facts that showed during Rodgers career in Green Bay we were always in the TOP of the league in offense. That he won 4 MVP's with his "limited" weapons. That most people cant name one pro bowl receiver other than Randy Moss who played with Tom during his 5 Super Bowl wins.

Our terrible choices in the Defensive backfield after the loss of Woodson has far more to do with our failure to win championships and really its a damn shame. How much of that was bad luck and how much of it was poor scouting who knows. I do know if the FO had just stayed away from attempts to develop college players in positions they werent known for in college, we might have had more success.

This is pretty gross. I think you should also deep dive on the pass rushers we've had since 2010. I always felt like TT never had enough ammo beyond Clay Matthews (with the exception of the Julius Peppers years).

Without a doubt, there was very much that went wrong in the drafting, developing , and retaining process of many of those players! On flipside though, say you make all the proper calls on who to keep, and then wind up drafting all these great players that we could've had, through hindsight. In the end you'd have to pay big bucks to retain, say Hyde and Heyward. I guess what I'm trying to say is you win some you lose some, and maybe you lose a Davante or even Rodgers, earlier in their careers due to salary cap. What ifs are always fun and thanks for your hard work! If only we would've taken Barry over Manderich?

The "next man up" mantra stuck around for a few more seasons than it should have in regards to the defense. Sure it was a nice rallying cry during the 2010 season when injuries were rampant however the packers had alot of good depth throughout the roster.
Flash forward a few seasons and the roster depth on the defense had been depleted. Matthews was getting banged up smashing helmets with 300 plus tackles. Woodson was let go and they had lost Nick Collins to a career ending injury. Sam Shields getting concussions.I feel like TT should have looked around in free agency to add some veterans in there to help steady the defense. Maybe then we wouldn't have had to watch Ladarius Gunther try in vain to guard Julio Jones one on one in the NFC championship game. Maybe the defense doesn't completely collapse in Seattle. All I can say is there had to be better options out there. But Andy is right though,that better option may already have been on the roster. The guys TT was drafting were no good(Q. Rollins,Goodson) or Playing out of position(Randall,Hyde) or not playing much at all(Hayward).
To end this long rant I will say that one thing I can respect about Gutekunst is that if he believes a guy he drafted isn't going to work out or provide any meaningful contributions, he will move on fairly quickly to free up space and try again.he has no qualms doing that. TT drafted players that had no business sticking on the roster as long as they did. (Montravious Adams,Dimitri Goodson Q. Rollins,M.D. Jennings, Mike Neal, Datone Jones). Props to the late TT though. I don't want to bash him because he did have some great drafts. It just so happened that some of his more sub par talent acquisitions happened in the last few years of his tenure as I cant help but notice all the players above were on the roster at the same time.

I have three packers jerseys in my closet that I bought over a decade ago. One is a throw back Rodgers jersey(blue with the brown circle) which I have never really liked. One is a home Clay Matthews jersey that is ok. But my favorite and most worn is my away Charles Woodson jersey. I no longer wear it because I treat it more like an artifact. I was so bummed when he was released. I figured at some point he would have to go to safety but unfortunately the packers got rid of him before he could. He along with Reggie White are probably my favorite Packers players. Charles for some reason didn't get the respect he deserved early in his packers career. I think one year he had 8 picks and a td or two but Al Harris was picked to go to the pro bowl. He should have been an all pro and or a pro bowler almost every year except his last when he was mostly injured.

The defense gave Rodgers multiple turnovers against Tampa Bay and Seattle. Where were the TDs? This is just more Rodgers apologetics.

Andy, I've mulled this over numerous times but I never connected all the dots the way you did. Cutting present and future great talents, poor draft picks, missed opportunities in the draft, far above and beyond the odds that plague any draft king. And I don't see this as picking on TT, because he had to rely on the judgment of coaches and scouts and the head of player personnel. Who did we lose in terms of scouts and personnel evaluators through that stretch of time, and what was the impact there of losing guys who went to Cleveland, Seattle, etc. I wonder?

What kills me is the kind of talent GB could have brought in if it wasn't throwing all those high draft choices at the defensive backfield.

I think Gutey is doing a more balanced job in his drafting, and the genius they have in Pro Personnel is delivering unexpected gifts.

GPG

Nice, Andy.

Some of this has to be put on the plate of the coaches. They had Hayward to coach and while PFF loved him, those coaches couldn't find snaps for him (just 426 snaps in 16 games in 2014). Indeed, when LAC signed him for just $5M AAV (not much for a CB and most of the guaranteed money was paid in year one), it appeared that the NFL had him pegged as a guy who could be good only if used in the right situations.

GB started Burnett at FS and played MD Jennings and McMillion 970 snaps at safety in 2013 (Hyde's rookie year, during which he got 426 snaps). HHCD locked Hyde out of FS snaps in 2014 and Burnett moved to SS. They moved Hyde around and he still got 700 snaps. In 2015, still locked out of FS, and even with Burnett missing 5 games, Hyde's snaps went down to 647 snaps despite playing in all 16 games and starting 11. Just to illustrate that PFF is not gospel, PFF rated HHCD solidly above average every single year he played in the NFL. Heck, HHCD was a pro bowler in 2016 and won 2nd team All-Pro that year.

Woodson was going to turn 37 in 2013 when he was suddenly released by GB. He was scheduled to earn over $11M. Woodson earned about $11M over three additional seasons in Oakland. Woodson continued to play well, so your point stands and we all remember Woodson publicly stating that GB never made an offer to him. I imagine asking him to take a 65% pay cut wouldn't be a fun conversation. Woodson was out for the rest of the season in 2012 after he broke his collarbone, and ended up missing the final 9 games and all of the playoffs.

If the GM has a blind spot for a certain position, sometimes it can make sense to trade a 2nd or a 3rd while also having to pay the piper as well. For example, Sherman traded a 2nd for Al Harris in 2003, though GB got a 4th in return.

It's not just the defensive backfield that they screwed up royally. AR12 is gone, but the fact that he saw this destruction does not mean he's a "diva;" he was right about the fact that the FO made lots of poor choices. We'll never know what might have resulted in another title, hopefully the development phase goes well till week 1 ...

Andy, I have a question for you:

please go back one year and explain for us that soul crushing 2011 season, returning SB champs with the best ever 15-1 record, and one and done in the playoffs. So many records set! Such high GB expectations.

WHY!?!?

We've all had our speculations from football gods to rabbit's feet, but perhaps this is the first year any of us can even think about this rationally since there are basically no expectations on the team this year. (We all secretly want to see them make the playoffs and get at least one win, knock on wood and GPG)