Aaron Rodgers might be in a group of four with that stance. Him, Mark Murphy, Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy.
There are a lot of different ways you can look at this one. A lot of people use the phrase, “the Green Bay Packers are wasting Aaron Rodgers’ prime.”
Because how can you have just one Super Bowl title when that guy is your quarterback? A once-in-a-generation-talent.
I look at it this way. The Packers’ organization, through being overly thrifty and non-participants in free agency, haven’t surrounded Rodgers with enough talent often enough. The overall philosophy — draft and develop — only works when you’re able to hit on a high percentage of your draft picks.
That’s the only way a team that drafts and develops can acquire as much talent as a team who uses all methods of player acquisition. And like every other general manager in the league, Ted Thompson hits on probably 50 percent of his picks.
Regardless, I wouldn’t say the Packers embrace mediocrity. That’s the wrong word. The Detroit Lions are mediocre. I’d say the Packers embrace “good enough.”
Making the playoffs is good enough.
“Of course you hear about it,” Rodgers said. “I get asked about it, I got asked about it last week—this idea that the Packers embrace mediocrity. I think what we’ve done the last eight years`making the playoffs, there’s only a couple other teams that have ever done that. New England, actually, currently is on the same streak as us, making the playoff for eight straight years. That’s tough to do, especially with the parity of this league and how they pair up division champions each year to play each other in the same conference. We’ve sustained success, we just haven’t sustained it on the top level. We haven’t won more than one Super Bowl. We’ve also been to three NFC championship games and none of them at home. So that’s how we look at it. We’ve got to get one of those at home, because we are tough to beat at home.
“I don’t feel like our window is closing here. I feel like this window is going to be open for a while. And in order for some of that stuff to go away, the outside noise, we’re going to have to win another Super Bowl. It would be disappointing if we were only able to win one in my time here. Hopefully we can get one of those done.”
Yes, hopefully.
Rodgers certainly has enough years left in his prime to win multiple titles. It most definitely would suck if he didn’t win more than one — for him, his legacy, his teammates, the organization and fans.
The question is, will the Packers bother to surround him with enough talent? It seems like they’ve at least tried to do that this year, for a change.
Although there was a lot of talent that walked out the door in free agency, the Packers did add Martellus Bennett, Lance Kendricks, Jahri Evans, Davon House and Ricky Jean Francois. They invested heavily in defense — their constant Achilles heel — in the draft, using their first four picks on defenders.
Things definitely look nice on paper, but time will tell if the investment was enough.