Ted Thompson to transition into a new role within the organization. GB will begin a search for a new GM.

[{Family Ghost}]

Just now, MantyWrestler said:

Can’t figure nd the tweet again but one of the best writers on cbssports just posted a similar comment about an hour ago. 

Enlighten me on his extensive evaluation experience. He’s their cap man not a scout. 

Do a google search for some articles on Russ Ball from last year around this time.  Press gazette did some in-depth stuff on him.  

[AlexGreen#20]

3 minutes ago, MantyWrestler said:

Can’t figure nd the tweet again but one of the best writers on cbssports just posted a similar comment about an hour ago. 

Enlighten me on his extensive evaluation experience. He’s their cap man not a scout. 

Start with the basics. Ball has experience across a ton of NFL departments. 

http://www.packers.com/team/staff/russ-ball/b42d75d1-310e-4916-9f4e-7567ed7712e0/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Ball

[incognito_man]

3 minutes ago, MantyWrestler said:

Can’t figure nd the tweet again but one of the best writers on cbssports just posted a similar comment about an hour ago. 

Enlighten me on his extensive evaluation experience. He’s their cap man not a scout. 

Quote

 

Ball started his days early and ended his nights late. He arrived at the facility long before practice began to interact with players and learn more about their lives. He spent his evenings holed up watching film. Sometimes he watched alone; sometimes he shadowed scouts or assistant coaches to see how their jobs were done.

“He was always pushing that envelope of trying to learn more to try and develop players,” Edwards said. “ … He gets a lot of respect from the players and agents alone because of what he’s done to get there. He wasn’t given the job (in Green Bay). He actually had to work for it. He ain’t part of the family that owns the team and guess what, 'Wanna learn how to be a scout? OK, you can go over there and learn.' No, no, no, no, no. He had to earn it. He was on the back end of it. He was in the weight room.”

 

http://www.packersnews.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2017/05/29/wis-0530-packers-ball-part-1/349589001/

Quote

Ball’s experience with different facets of an organization allowed for a complete understanding of the Saints’ franchise, according to Doug Marrone, who took over as offensive coordinator in 2006 and is now the head coach in Jacksonville. Ball knew the game well enough to hold his own in football discussions with players and coaches. He also flashed the requisite business savvy to run the financial arm of a professional team.

Quote

 

“We’ve talked about it,” Ball’s oldest brother Rick said. “The only thing that’s ever knocked him and he’s been underestimated on is his ability to recognize talent. He’s even concentrated more on talent the last probably five or six years, just so that he does know that (it) isn’t a hindrance to him.”

Ball’s heightened emphasis on talent evaluation has included more time observing practice, more attention to the on-field portion of the NFL scouting combine and more direct contact with players, his brother said, “even though that’s not his job.” He often works until 9 or 10 p.m. regardless of the time of year.

 

etc

[{Family Ghost}]

Russ Ball story from May.  

http://www.packersnews.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2017/05/29/wis-0530-packers

[MacReady]

The celebration over this one is kinda sickening.  I don't think people know how difficult it is to do half the things Thompson has done here.

I'm not upset about it at all because I believed this would be Thompson's final offseason as our GM anyway, but it's a very scary and serious time for this team.  Get the wrong GM and Aaron's career really will be wasted. 

I think people are going to be in for a very serious shock when they realize that a new GM will not change our free agency habits.  They're going to complain about the next guy for not signing enough free agents just like they complained about Thompson because, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, they still believe that free agency is the key to Super Bowls. 

Hope it works out.  This is the scariest and most exciting offseason of my life as a Packer fan.  This year makes or breaks the Packers for the next 5-8 years. 

[MantyWrestler]

2 minutes ago, {Family Ghost} said:

Do a google search for some articles on Russ Ball from last year around this time.  Press gazette did some in-depth stuff on him.  

I just read his bio on packers.com. The only remotely player related position he’s held haS been strength and conditioning. The rest of his jobs have been administrative. 

[TheOnlyThing]

1 minute ago, {Family Ghost} said:

I was happy to read this .. pretty much means he was not satisfied moving forward with the status quo.  I would think that if he orchestrated this move he has a pretty good idea of what he'd like to see happen already.  Now he's got to do his due diligence and go thru the interview process.  

Got to give Murphy credit.

The be careful what you wish for when it comes to change/hey Ted won us a SB donchya know crowd will no doubt be peeved if he forced TT out.

Thrilled to learn the team President (apparently) does not believe that winning a few NFC North titles (although not in 2 of the last 3 years) and flaming out before the Super Bowl ought to be celebrated with Aaron Rodgers at QB.

[incognito_man]

probably left out the best quote from that article...

Quote

Those efforts align with Thompson’s yearly assertion that Ball is involved in personnel and draft meetings to absorb as much information as he can. But it’s clear Ball is proactively seeking more knowledge on his own, just as he has done throughout his career.

 

[{Family Ghost}]

4 minutes ago, HorizontoZenith said:

The celebration over this one is kinda sickening.  I don't think people know how difficult it is to do half the things Thompson has done here.

I'm not upset about it at all because I believed this would be Thompson's final offseason as our GM anyway, but it's a very scary and serious time for this team.  Get the wrong GM and Aaron's career really will be wasted. 

I think people are going to be in for a very serious shock when they realize that a new GM will not change our free agency habits.  They're going to complain about the next guy for not signing enough free agents just like they complained about Thompson because, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, they still believe that free agency is the key to Super Bowls. 

Hope it works out.  This is the scariest and most exciting offseason of my life as a Packer fan.  This year makes or breaks the Packers for the next 5-8 years. 

I have read that Thompson is the conservative guy, and these other fellas are expected to be far more aggressive.  There have been rumblings that the underlings present Ted with stuff all the time only to have it not acted upon.  I think we will now be much bigger players in free agency. 

[AlexGreen#20]

1 minute ago, {Family Ghost} said:

I have read that Thompson is the conservative guy, and these other fellas are expected to be far more aggressive.  There have been rumblings that the underlings present Ted with stuff all the time only to have it not acted upon.  I think we will now be much bigger players in free agency. 

No guarantee that's the case though. A lot of situations you have young guys coming up with a lot of ideas, not all of them necessarily good. 

[{Family Ghost}]

4 minutes ago, incognito_man said:

probably left out the best quote from that article...

 

When those articles came out last year I started to wonder if they were being fed to the press to almost warm us up to the idea of the eventual change that was coming. 

[MantyWrestler]

Fair enough incognito_man. But just learning how they do their job doesn’t mean he’s a good talent evaluator, does it? He wants to learn all facits of the organization that’s great but I’d prefer the person who is the best evaluator of talent UNLESS he gets the GM job, keeps the organization super organized, which is his expertise,  and gives someone like Wolf or Gunt the reigns to acquire talent since that appears to be their line of expertise. 

[cooters22]

1 hour ago, squire12 said:

After pondering these 3 candidates for the last few hours, here would be my preferred order

1.  Brian Gutekunst   Son of a coach, played D3, was a D3 assistant coach.  Nearly 20 years of scouting and experience

2.  Russ Ball   Played FB, worked in a variety of roles in his 30+ years in college and NFL

3.  Eliot Wolf   Been around the game since a teenager

 

Ideal scenario is Gutekunst is GM,  with Russ Ball as current role + Director of College Scouting ( this until further notice to convince me otherwise)

Gosh I truly wish John Dorsey was still a FA. But I've always been a Wolf guy, but wouldn't be disappointed at all in Gutekunst. Russ Ball I don't think has enough experience in scouting. I'd be shocked because I never knew he was this high on our list. 

[TheOnlyThing]

6 minutes ago, HorizontoZenith said:

I think people are going to be in for a very serious shock when they realize that a new GM will not change our free agency habits.  They're going to complain about the next guy for not signing enough free agents just like they complained about Thompson because, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, they still believe that free agency is the key to Super Bowls. 

This is the scariest and most exciting offseason of my life as a Packer fan.  This year makes or breaks the Packers for the next 5-8 years. 

I think people are going to be shocked by how quickly the new GM will ditch Ted's policies of disdaining free agency and refusing to make player trades.

"Dorsey, Schneider and McKenzie, as well as all three Packers personnel men, are disciples of former Packers general manager Ron Wolf, Eliot’s father. Wolf developed a scouting system and style of management to which all of them adhere.

Only Thompson, who was hired by Wolf in 1992, has deviated from the former general manager’s aggressive style of team building"

http://www.packersnews.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2018/01/01/packers-replace-gm-ted-thompson/994801001/

 

[skibrett15]

1) McCarthy Should absolutely NOT be the GM and HC.  There is so much that goes into both of those jobs, and for him to assume that responsibility would be a crippling decision for this team.  There is so much risk with that decision, and no upside that I can see.

2)  Based on what we're hearing it sounds like Ball is the guy.

3) Ball has seen what worked and what didn't as far as gaps between FO and the coaching staff.  I like that.

4) It would be EXTREMELY irregular for the team to SIGN/EXTEND two free agents and then choose a GM outside of the organization.  To me, we can rule out anyone outside the organization for that reason.

5) This is FAR AND AWAY the best GM position in the NFL for the past decade, maybe longer.  We could have had absolutely anyone we wanted, and yet we are moving forward with an in-house candidate.  Very strange process and order of operations here.