The Packer Pundit

Thompson finds his money man
Ball to replace the departed Brandt
As a general rule, the people who negotiate contracts for National Football League teams hail from business backgrounds, not football backgrounds. On Wednesday, the Packers announced the hiring of Ball as vice president of football administration / player finance, essentially the same job that he held for the last two years of a six-year stay with the New Orleans Saints.

"He knows the football side of it, he knows the coaching side of it and he obviously understands the administrative side, the business part and the negotiating," said Jim Haslett, the defensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams who worked alongside Ball from 2002-'05 as the Saints' head coach. "Heck of a football guy. I'm just telling you. You're not going to get a better person. That is a great hire for the Green Bay Packers. They're doing it right." [More]


McCarthy gets his reward
Deal richest for a coach in Packers' history
Mike McCarthy has a new five-year contract making him the highest paid coach in Green Bay Packers history mainly because club management was completely sold on his abilities and didn't want to risk losing him. "We wanted to try to lock him up," team President Mark Murphy said Tuesday. "The respect that the players have for him is very evident. In a very short period of time he's gotten the team into a pretty good position for the future." McCarthy, who was making about $2 million per season, will be making about $4 million now after signing the deal Friday. The team announced it Tuesday. [More]