Lists, baby! Lists! Bleacher Report has one, where they try to pick the biggest mistakes of the past 10 years for each NFL team. They chose the selection of Damarious Randall in 2015 for the Green Bay Packers.
Randall was somewhat of a head case and that eventually got him shipped to the Cleveland Browns, earlier this year.
The Packers’ biggest mistake there may have been trying to make Randall a cornerback. Coach Mike McCarthy has publicly stated that the Packers didn’t use Randall where they should have, which was at safety. It’s the position he played in college.
The problem with the logic behind Randall as the Packers’ biggest mistake in the past 10 years is twofold. First, Randall did play some decent football for the team from time to time, particularly as a rookie. Second, their argument is that the Packers could have had All Pro safety Landon Collins instead.
Yeah, the Packers could have had Barry Sanders or Derrick Thomas instead of Tony Mandarich too. These things happen, so let’s throw that argument out the window.
In 2015, the Packers didn’t need a safety. They already had Morgan Burnett and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. So why would they pick Collins?
They needed a cornerback at the time, after having let Tramon Williams and Davon House walk in free agency. Randall would be that cornerback. And the Packers went hard to replenish the position in that draft, choosing Quinten Rollins in the second round.
Neither of those guys have been great, but biggest mistake?
I think that’s a reach.
How about defensive lineman Jerel Worth in the second round in 2012?
Ted Thompson traded up to make that selection. What did he get?
Worthy was a stud at Michigan State, but there were questions about his work ethic coming out. Worthy had a total of 15 tackles and 2.5 sacks in two seasons with the Packers. Not one to give up on his own draft picks, Thompson gave up on Worthy after just two years. That’s an admission of a mistake.
Worthy was traded to the Patriots for a conditional late-round pick. Conditional on Worthy making the Patriots’ roster, which he did not.
So the Packers got nothing for this particular mistake.
You could also throw quarterback Brian Brohm into this conversation. Initially, it was thought that Brohm might compete with Aaron Rodgers to be the starter in the post-Brett Favre era. Thompson spent a second-round pick on Brohm in 2008.
The pro game was too fast for him. He was beat out for the No. 2 quarterback job by seventh-rounder Matt Flynn. Brohm lasted only one season with the Packers and is out of football.
How about Derek Sherrod, who was a first-round pick in 2011? Granted, he suffered a knee injury that killed his career. Sherrod started just one game in his three-year career.
Unfortunately, this discussion is limited to 10 years.
However, Thompson’s biggest gaffe has to be choosing defensive lineman Justin Harrell in the first round in 2007. Three years, 14 total games played, two starts, 28 total tackles.
Harrell was injured when he came out. Nothing changed in the pros.
So you go ahead and pick the biggest mistake in that group. I say it isn’t Randall.
I hesitate to say Sherrod. It was a freak injury and bigger guys like him struggle to come back to full power following an injury like that. I would say the Worthy or Rollins picks were probably the worst of the past ten years. As an honorable mention, I would say maybe Raji. Yeah, he was pretty impactful for his first few years, but when you take a nose tackle in the top ten, you expect them to be a defensive cornerstone for a decade. Of course the 2009 draft was full of big misses
It sucks that he broke his leg, but Sherrod was terrible before he got injured. He was pretty good for hanging out at Baba Louie’s in Depere though.
Yea good call, i was going to say the same thing, then i went off about Ted and forgot….lol.
Randall was picked because Ted was going to outsmart the other GM’s. Ted’s words, not mine. Randall was drafted to play out of position. How many times has that happened? How many times has it worked?
I don’t really give a shit which pick was his worst because every time a higher draft pick failed, it set the team back further. The ramifications will still be felt after Ted leaves the building.
Speaking of which……………… oops, i almost forgot, Ted gets to sit back in his easy chair and collect some more paychecks.
Fine job you’re doing Mr. Murphy.
While there are plenty of high draft picks that haven’t amounted to much, the article is about the biggest mistake the Packers have made over the past ten years. You could argue that the biggest mistake was keeping Capers around for so long. Or Ted, or Shawn Slocum. Heck, even Murphy.
Or you could say the biggest mistake was telling Jared Cook to piss off and picking up Martellus Bennett. At least they got something out of Damarious Randall despite him playing out of position. They got nothing out of Bennett. NOTHING. Not even a full season. Wasted what, $6-8 million in the process? And they missed out on Cook. Brilliant.
How about the CB situation. They let Tramon and House walk in order to draft a conversion project and a one year wonder/ basketball player. Then, they let Hyde and Hayward walk without even a contract offer in order to start the conversion project and basketball player. Since then, Hyde and Hayward have gone All-Pro because their new D-Coordinators knew how to use them. The first round conversion project is gone after only three years and the second round basketball player is on his way out the door as well. Neither will finish their rookie contract in Green Bay. Meanwhile, both Tramon and House have been brought back in the twilight of their careers because they’re still a better option than Rollins and Randall. Admission of a mistake? Lol. Maybe that whole draft was a mistake. Once again, more reason to argue keeping around TT or Capers around too long as well.
As far as i’m concerned, when the team goes to and wins the Super Bowl, i don’t remember any mistakes, but that was pre-2010.
Since then, we could discuss ALL the mistakes made, but there are just so many hours in a day, just so many days in a week, just so many weeks in a year, ain’t nobody got time for all that.
Harrel was a mistake. I can think of a few. But when you make the right free agent signings, draft a few pro bowlers, you can afford to make a few big mistakes. Even Belichek has had some pretty bad ones. Good post though PF4L
And Cheese
I firmly believe that keeping the Buffoon has been the worst mistake Green Bay has made. He kept Capers around, Slocum around. McGlurpy would then get rid of well performing coaches to take heat off of his worthless ass. Kept around useless lickspittle ass-kissing coaches, played favorites, holds grudges (think Sitton for one). Very poor player assessment skills (hell, while OC in San Fran. did not want S.F. to draft Rodgers!) His play calling was atrocious, and got worse every year. Piss poor game-time management skills. All this and more while under utilizing potential and assuring (even during important playoff games) that his “OCD’s” were accounted for (total running plays that he had to hit immediately comes to mind). Would allow certain players an inordinate amount of “fuck ups” while giving others the boot, the bench or both after ONE MISTAKE. I could go on . . . Fuck this wanna-be poser of a coach. With A. Rodgers as QB1, he should have been to the SB 3 or 4 times by now. What an over-rated POS.
The problem for the Packers in 2015 was that they needed a cornerback and 2015 was a really bad year for corners. Jalen Collins, the first corner taken after Randall was a bust for the Falcons. A few picks later Eric Rowe was taken and he was a bust for the Eagles and like Randall was traded to the Patriots, where his career was resurrected. The next corner taken was Ronald Darby, who the Bills traded to the Eagles and now the Eagles are looking to trade him again. Senquez Golson, the next corner taken, has been on 3 teams.
I just think there were only a couple good corners, the Packers knew that, and they were gone before the Packers picked.
That problem was pretty much self inflicted.
The Packers didn’t offer House a contract offer after the 2014 season. Instead, Ted let House test the market, The Jags made him a decent offer, still House listened to a Packer offer late in the 11th hour because he wanted to stay. That is, until he saw the Packers offer, then promptly signed with the Jags.
They’ve been looking for a corner ever since. I’m just wondering what corner they will take in the 1st round of the 2019 draft.