The Making of a Genius: The NFL Way
by Lenny "the Schneid" Woodson
You've all worked for a boss like that, a guy who has to make sure you know he's above you in the hierarchy, in every step of the process, that the most important thing about the work is that he's responsible for it as long as it's viewed as exemplary. This is not a "we're all in this together" sort of individual. The overwhelming motivation behind his every action and decision is to leave no doubt that he is, indeed, a genius.
Geniuses such as this are rarely successful in the actual work itself. However, they often thrive because of two skills they have mastered. The first is an ability to take credit for the success of others no matter how serendipitous or how little they contributed to the accomplishment. The second is an uncanny ability to evade responsibility for and to downplay the impact of bad decisions.
Much has been made recently about just such a genius in the business of professional football. Even though the man and his work have been little more than borderline incompetent, he has parlayed the two skills outlined above to the extent that commentators, sportswriters, and oblivious fans alike have anointed him a genius.
Here's the oblivious fan, sportswriter, and sports commentator fallacy: Packers are in the Super Bowl, therefore: GM is a genius
Even cursory scrutiny of the situation would lead an informed observer to amend this to:
Packers, with a totally mediocre GM, are in the Super Bowl, therefore: the Coach and his staff must be truly outstanding
How does this sort of fellow get labeled a "super genius" (say it like Wile E. Coyote in the Bugs Bunny cartoons).
Well, for one such individual, he started by tearing down all that was in place before he got there. If he doesn't do that, he runs the risk that any success he might have will be attributed to his predecessor. So, he fires the former coach, refuses to re-sign veteran players (Darren Sharper, Ryan Longwell, Mike Wahle, Mike Flanagan, Na'il Diggs) and rebuffs the remaining ones expecting them to retire. Then he sought out the least likely candidate for head coach, Mike McCarthy who had coached the 49ers offense to a 32nd finish out of 32 teams. He is the perfect choice to make certain the Packers hit rock bottom. He also is a guy who will do as he's told, won't rock the boat, and if he needs to be fired who could blame the genius for dumping that guy.
To plan, the Packers go 4-12 and 8-8. Then despite a disastrous 2006 draft (led by the mind-boggling Justin Harrell selection) which produced not a single every down starter and the only free agent the genius added was journeyman DB Frank Walker, his plan is still de-railed by a gritty core of veterans (led by Favre, Driver, Kampmann and Al Harris) who overcame the odds to post a 13-3 season. Despite drafting only six of the Packers' 22 starters, the genius is given credit for much of the team's success and receives a few executive of the year accolades based again on the oblivious fallacy.
However, faced with the prospect of a similar occurrence in 2008, the genius realizes he will never be viewed as the sole architect of greatness if an already great quarterback is still around hogging all the credit. So, he pressures Favre with ultimatums, deadlines, and retirement bribes until the loyal fan-favorite who has been unable to take a hint until now, relents and retires too early. What follows is a debacle which reveals no one to be a genius. That badly killed horse will not be kicked again here, beyond pointing out the obvious: The ultimatums and deadlines were total subterfuge. The Packers had no pressing need to know his decision early. They already had Aaron Rodgers who could just step right in. (That's what they told us when he stepped right in. You can't have it both ways.) They didn't need to change any of the offense because Favre was or wasn't there. As far as their concern for Favre, they knew he had proved time and again that he didn't need extensive work in OTAs or his 18th pre-season.
Now, all was in place for the genius to reach his lofty expectations, to watch his architecture of greatness return to him the veneration he so desperately wanted and so richly deserved. There was only one obstacle, himself. Ted Thompson was not very good at the actual job of general manager. After another sub-par Thompson draft and only a journeyman LB Brandon Chillar to speak of from free agency, the Packers struggled to a 6-10 record.
2009 is a "make or break" season for the tottering genius. Miraculously, after another marginal draft and virtually no free agent signings, he is saved from his own travesty by the coming of age of Mike McCarthy as a very good NFL coach, and McCarthy's addition of Dom Capers as defensive coordinator, a move McCarthy had to convince Thompson to let him do. The genius wanted McCarthy to wait and interview assistants from playoff teams. The schedule is incredibly generous as the Packers win 11 games, only three of which are against teams with winning records when they played them.
Of all the "Thompson is a genius" rhetoric being bandied about in recent weeks, the most difficult to fathom is the widely accepted belief that he is a draft wizard who eschews free agency to build great young teams. Once again, a mere cursory review of the Packers' recent draft history blows that misapprehension out of the water. In all the articles espousing this myth, only a couple names are used as examples, Clay Matthews and B.J. Raji. However, when judging a draft pick, becoming a starter is not the only criteria. As good as Matthews may be, he was an incredibly and unnecessarily expensive draft pick. Thompson gave up three draft picks (two 2nds and a 3rd) for Matthews and a 5th. Matthews was the fourth USC LB coming out that year. He had never been a starter and no other team was likely to take him until after the other 3 had been taken which was pick 104. So, who might he have gotten with those two 2nds and a 3rd he gave up? How about a Pro Bowl OT like Sebastian Vollmer of the Patriots or Eben Britton on the Jaguars or a quality DB like Patrick Chung of the Patriots or Jarius Byrd of the Buffalo Bills. Think how good the Pack would with Byrd and Matthews on the same defense. Instead you end up with T.J. Lang who has some potential was drafted way too early in the 4th round and has yet to establish himself as a starter.
This is a long established pattern with Thompson, taking less regarded players too early and wasting draft picks on players he could have gotten later in the draft or as undrafted free agents. Aside from the notorious Justin Harrell 1st round pick, the most baffling is the case of Josh Sitton, a Packer starter now at guard who was taken in the 4th round of the 2008 draft. He wasn't in the top 20 among guards on any other team's draft board. He wasn't in the top 50. He wasn't in the top 100. So, give it to the genius for finding that diamond in the rough, an NFL starter ranked #132 on other teams draft lists. The only problem is, the Packers could have signed him as a free agent after the draft. They could have gotten him and a really good player with that 4th round pick. How about a DE like Kroy Bierman of the Falcons who would be perfect in the 3-4 or a Super Bowl starting guard like Carl Nicks of the Saints, or a top notch fullback like Owen Schmidt of the Eagles instead of Quinn Johnson who still can't figure out who to block or run the right pattern so he can catch a pass out of the backfield.
Although I'm not going to comment on every pick, this pattern is the rule not the exception. Sheesh, Mike Neal in the 2nd round? He wasn't even in the top twenty among Big Ten DTs. Who could forget David Clowney, Breno Giacomini, Cory Rodgers, Allen Barbre, Ingle Martin...
Even on the 2010 team, less than half of the 25 starters including punter, kicker and long snapper are Thompson draft picks. And he gets credit for the likes of Brandon Jackson (another 2nd round pick wasted) and James Jones (a suspect 3rd rounder) who weren't even starters on their own college teams and wouldn't be starters on most other NFL teams.
So, next time you hear someone say or you yourself are tempted to say "Wow, look how good the Packers are doing. Ted Thompson must be a genius." Rather think, or better yet say: "Wow, with so little help from his GM, Mike McCarthy must be an awesome coach!"
To be fair, McCarthy still needs work on his game management and his short yardage calls and Thompson has made a couple really good picks (even a monkey pulling marbles out of a jar...) like Greg Jennings, Jermichael Finley, Matt Flynn, and possibly James Starks.
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