Safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was the first one to whine about it. That is, the Green Bay Packers’ draft-and-develop personnel philosophy, which was “perfected” under Ted Thompson.
“I think that’s exactly what it is,” Clinton-Dix said. “We go from our starters to basically [street] free agent players. Sometime that can hurt as we’ve seen through the years that I’ve been here, that we don’t have the guys behind us that we had. Jarrett Bush [was] here when I was a rookie. We don’t have the Micah Hydes that can step in, we don’t have the Chris Banjos or the Sean Richardons that can step in and be held accountable. I think that’s the biggest thing we’re missing.”
Receiver Davante Adams joined the chorus on Thursday.
“I mean, it’s a clear thing,” Adams said. “You see it around the league. The more veteran, I don’t want to say backups, but when you have your two-deep [depth chart]. You start looking into your depth and the more veteran guys you have available the better off you can be. Not taking anything away from the Packers and how they draft and develop or anything like that because we have a very good team and we have some solid depth as well. But having those veteran guys that have seen it before and they’ve been out there for a little while definitely gives you a better chance to win the game.”
Clear to everyone except for Ted Thompson.
We’ve long railed on the draft-and-develop philosophy.
No. 1, why not use all avenues available to you to improve your football team? It’s like owning a Mustang, a Ferrari and a Toyota Corolla, but you only drive the Corolla because it’s better on gas and safer.
No. 2, draft and develop only works if you draft well. Thompson had some great success early on with picks like Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, Nick Collins, Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, etc. In recent years, he has not hit on picks at the same rate or who produce the same impact.
And yes, I know the list of hits — David Bakhtiari, Mike Daniels, Blake Martinez… the success rate simply isn’t what it used to be.
Hopefully, the Packers’ new general manager sees the light and isn’t a draft-and-develop guy. I’d like to see a return to the Ron Wolf way of doing things. Acquire good players, regardless of method.
EN 
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They had a good free agent signing in Jared cook, of course on a 1 year prove it deal because what else would TT do. Then when it came to resigning him discount Ted, or whoever they have doing contracts there, said piss on all that and signed the cancer that is Martellus Bennett instead. Forget the year Cook spent in this system, the positive chemistry he built in the locker room, his catches in the playoffs. Somehow the egocentric nomad Bennett is the better option. Boy did that blow up in their face. Cook said he never turned down any contract offers. So did they not even offer him a contract before signing Bennett? What a way to say thank you for your time and effort. Sorry, but we’ll go with the headcase who only puts in effort when he feels like it.
News flash. Nothing is going to change as long as Murphy is CEO!
I dont have problem with draft and develop philosophy. I have a problem with developing good football players and letting them leave.
Two clowns down, DC and TT. Two to go and they both have the same initials, MM and MM.
Problem is…DC was probably the least clownish of the bunch, I’d put TT and Murphy at the top in a dead heat.
Yep, said the same thing in another thread. Dom and the defense seem to be the least of the problems after all this shit.
Yes, the players that weren’t around before draft and develop worked 2005-10, are not going to like it, they are a product of their present environment. Draft failure.
If you look at that list of early picks, it’s filled with pro-bowlers and All-Pros. The latter picks, all are All-Pros, but only in slurpers mind’s.
Think the loss of the two John’s and Reggie had an impact? Now here’s the kicker. Ball gets installed as GM, look for a repeat of the brain drain, as Highsmith, Wolf and Gutekunst flee, but in one year instead of over several.
Good times.