The Green Bay Packers have the best draft run over the past five years, according to Matt Maiocco of Comcast Sportsnet.
The team still has 57 percent of the players they’ve chosen on their roster (27 out of 47) — only five teams have more. The rankings also consider how many star players, busts and how many players contributed to wins were drafted, among other things.
Maiocco sites linebacker [intlink id=”454″ type=”category”]Clay Matthews[/intlink] as [intlink id=”20″ type=”category”]Ted Thompson[/intlink]’s best pick and, not surprisingly, defensive lineman [intlink id=”100″ type=”category”]Justin Harrell[/intlink] as his worst.
The nucleus of their Super Bowl-winning team came through the drafts of the past five years with half of their starters and many other key contributors coming during that period. It’s a group on offense that includes receivers Greg Jennings and, non-starter, Jordy Nelson, as well as three starting offensive linemen. General manager Ted Thompson and his crew also bolstered the other side of the ball with Matthews, the runner-up NFL Defensive Player of the Year, nose tackle B.J. Raji and the team’s top two tacklers during the regular season, linebackers A.J. Hawk and Desmond Bishop.
What’s perhaps even more impressive when considering the Packers’ drafts in the Ted Thompson era is quarterback [intlink id=”25″ type=”category”]Aaron Rodgers[/intlink] was drafted six years ago, so that choice wasn’t factored into these rankings.
The [intlink id=”234″ type=”category”]New Orleans Saints[/intlink] finished second in the rankings followed by the [intlink id=”196″ type=”category”]Indianapolis Colts[/intlink], while the [intlink id=”35″ type=”category”]Minnesota Vikings[/intlink] finished seventh, the [intlink id=”13″ type=”category”]Chicago Bears[/intlink] 16th and the [intlink id=”126″ type=”category”]Detroit Lions[/intlink] 19th.
Ted Thompson is incredible. Always supported the guy, even when haters were hating at their most hateful.
same here, McCarthy too. Champions
so im suppossed to take anything this Matt maioccoo says but he said that Clay Mathews was Ted Thompson’s best pick…..look he a good Pass Rushing OLB…. but there will be 15 players of his talent and impact drafted before there is another player with as much talent and impact as Aaron Rodgers……complete joke right from the start i agree, but Clay not the best pick…and you cant blame a GM for a guy having freak back injuries that nothing can cure…..and to sit here and say you “always” supported thompson is rediculous nobody always supported thompson when Walker was let go everyone wanted him fired same with Green and Favre…..everyone with favre…but he has done good lets see if he can continue the sucsess