The Packer Pundit

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PACKERS TURN BACK TO BLACK AND BLUE
Ted Thompson is making over the Green Bay Packers, and they’re taking shape of a defensive-oriented team built to finish the NFL season in the harsh Wisconsin winter. Saturday’s especially eventful draft day saw the team’s general manager make a major move to stock a defense that’s been mediocre or worse since the late 1990s, though the Packers also took a major hit on offense with the inevitable trade of receiver Javon Walker.

Thompson decided about three weeks ago that he wanted Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk with the fifth overall pick. That meant passing over, among others, Maryland tight end Vernon Davis, whom Thompson determined also will make an immediate and perhaps profound impact in the NFL. Even knowing he probably was going to unload Walker, Thompson rated Hawk as the better player and fit for a team that has floundered on defense for years. Combined with several offseason signings, notably that of cornerback Charles Woodson, Thompson clearly has focused on defense with his team in his second year as GM. Selecting Hawk reflects the influence of Thompson’s mentor, retired GM Ron Wolf, who emphasized building a team to play well in the winter at Lambeau Field. (Read More Here)

THOMPSON SEES FAIR VALUE IN WALKER TRADE
Fair value or not, the Green Bay Packers got about as much as they could hope for in their trade of receiver Javon Walker on Saturday afternoon. Though General Manager Ted Thompson said he was prepared to hold onto to Walker if he didn’t get fair value, he would have taken a huge risk in keeping the disgruntled receiver on the roster. That likely would have meant having a potential cancer in the locker room, or enduring a divisive holdout that probably would have ended with Walker hardly playing this season and leaving the team in free agency next year, with no compensation to the Packers.
So Thompson traded Walker to the Denver Broncos for an early second-round pick in Saturday’s NFL draft, the No. 37 selection overall. (Read More Here)

FOR SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR THOMPSON GAINS PICKS
Ted Thompson started the day with seven selections in the draft but by the time Saturday was over, the Green Bay Packers general manager had 11. For the second straight year, Thompson maneuvered to trade down instead of up and will have six picks today in rounds four through seven. Last year, Thompson turned seven picks into 11. It appears he’ll have at least that many this year depending on whether he makes any more deals today. During Thompson’s two years running the Packers’ drafts, he has never traded up.

“I don’t necessary like to (trade down), but I do it when I have a number of players available that I’d consider and know I could go back and still get one of them,” Thompson said. “I won’t sacrifice a player to move down.”
(Read More Here)

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THOMPSON'S PRAYERS ANSWERED
Green Bay GM had Targeted Hawk
General manager Ted Thompson didn't come right out and say it Saturday, but it's quite possible the Green Bay Packers got their favorite player in the entire National Football League draft with the fifth selection. A.J Hawk, a linebacker from Ohio State, was everything the Packers wanted in the first round.

"If everything's exactly the same you would probably always take the big people just because they're harder to find," Thompson said. "The shutdown corner is hard to find. But all things weren't equal here. This is a special kid."

As much as Thompson liked defensive end Mario Williams, who went No. 1 to Houston, Thompson conceded that Williams didn't play the game as well as Hawk at this point in their careers. The Packers took about 13 of their allotted 15 minutes before turning in the card with Hawk's name on it. There was no discussion about choosing between Hawk and tight end Vernon Davis. That had been decided three weeks ago when Thompson zeroed in on the linebacker. Thompson wasn't willing to say Hawk played the game better than Davis. He also said coach Mike McCarthy and offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski felt comfortable with their tight-end depth chart of Bubba Franks, Donald Lee and David Martin.

"Still, you get a chance to get a great player," Thompson said. "We weren't afraid to take Vernon Davis. You can do a lot of different things with him. Even though they're both really, really good football players, we just felt like A.J. Hawk was the best fit." The Packers were so intent on Hawk that Thompson said he wouldn't have swapped picks with No. 6 San Francisco even though the Packers probably could have picked up an extra fourth-round choice by doing so. (Read More Here)

"All five of those guys are what I consider, we as a group consider, real football guys," GM Ted Thompson said. "Tough guys. Smart guys. I told my scouts three months ago to remind me every 15 minutes that we need real football players and not to get caught up with 40 times."

"We trusted our board," coach Mike McCarthy said. "We peeled them right off."
(Good Article with analysis of all 5 first day choices - Read More Here)

VINCE LOMBARDI WOULD HAVE BEEN PROUD
No-frils Linebacker Hawk a Bit of a Throwback
In four seasons of college football, A.J. Hawk never missed a game. Or a practice. Or a workout. The Ohio State linebacker is just solid, as a tackler, a teammate, and as a leader. He is a B-average student who wants his degree, a patriotic American and a quiet leader uninterested in being in the spotlight. There was no way he was going to fly to New York this weekend so they could stick cameras in his face as the Green Bay Packers picked him as the No. 5 overall pick in the NFL draft. Instead, he remained at home to share the day with 30 members of his family.

Is this 2006 or 1966?

"Oh, Vince Lombardi would be proud," said Ohio State coach Jim Tressel on Saturday. "All of us who are middle aged like I am remember the glory years of the Packers. Wouldn't it be neat if he could help spark those again?" Indeed, the thought is tempting. Draft weekend is a dangerous time because general managers, coaches and analysts proclaim men in their early 20s to be the next great thing. All over the country, every team got their man, and every player has a great work ethic.

And yet there is something retro about Hawk's game and no-glitz lifestyle that harkens the olden days of Ray Nitschke to make those claims in Green Bay seem genuine. "Quite frankly, I had my heart set on this guy," said Packers general manager Ted Thompson. The first reason for that has to be Hawk's dedication to the game and discipline to improve his talent. Hawk takes the expression "every down player" literally. Tressel said that even as the Buckeyes were leading Northwestern, 48-7, in the final home game in Columbus last season, Hawk fought the coaches who wanted to pull him "so that 105,000 could salute him." (Read More Here)