[tps_title]Hello, Charles Woodson and Ryan Pickett[/tps_title]
These were also the heady days when it was expected that the Green Bay Packers would sign guys in free agency. Ron Wolf set the bar by doing so in the 1990s and early 2000s. Then, when the Packers inexplicably gave Sherman the power of both coach and GM, he followed suit (although not quite as successfully).
So of course Wolf’s protege Ted Thompson would build the Packers through free agency as well, right? Well, in 2006 he did, making the best (and probably the second best because he hasn’t signed anyone else worth a shit) free agent signing of his career.
Woodson didn’t sign with the Packers until late April. Teams were wary of him because he had a history of injuries and because they thought his skills were in decline. The Packers and Buccaneers were the only teams to make a legitimate push to sign Woodson. It’s well known Woodson had no desire to play for the Packers, but they managed to wait him out until he essentially had no other choice.
We’d later learn that’s primarily because Tampa wanted to move him to safety.
Pickett was a little easier, but signings like this would become an aberration in the coming years.