Best and Worst of Ted Thompson's Drafts and Draft Picks (By Round)

Best First-Round: Aaron Rodgers, QB, 24th overall in 2005.

Say all you want about the young athletic QBs of the NFC West. Rodgers is in that Brady/Manning/Manning class of top NFL quarterbacks, a guy most GMs would kill to have. Drafting him at No. 24 was a stupendous coup. Runner-up: Clay Matthews III

Worst First-Round: Justin Harrell, DT, 16th overall in 2007.

The 2007 draft class was mostly a wash, as we’ll see, but the Packers couldn’t get even limited production out of Harrell. Constantly on the injured reserve list with back problems or ACL tears, the former first-rounder recorded just 28 tackles in four years and never made a sack.

Best 2nd-Round: Nick Collins, S, 51st overall in 2005.

 This was extremely close between Collins and Greg Jennings, but the safety wins out; wide receivers, even those of Jennings’s caliber, are easier to find than free safeties with center-field, 4.4 speed, tremendous instincts, great hands and at least passable hitting ability. The defense still hasn’t recovered from losing Collins in Week 2 of 2011. The Packers let Jennings walk in free agency because they knew he was replaceable. Runner-up: Jennings

 Worst 2nd-Round: Brian Brohm, QB, 56th in 2008.

 It wouldn’t be fair to stick Thompson with Terrence Murphy, who had undiagnosed spinal stenosis that limited him to a four-game career, so we’ll go with Brohm. You know a QB is terrible when the Packers don’t think he’s worthy of more than a year with one of the premier quarterbacks coaches in the game; they booted him after one year in which he never threw a pass. In two seasons with the Bills, Brohm started two games and threw five picks; he’s now with the Las Vegas Locomotives. Runner-up: Patrick Lee

Best 3rd Round: Jermichael Finley, TE, 91st in 2008.

I typed James Jones first in this space because Finley just hasn’t played to his potential consistently enough, but when he’s on, he is on. I still remember the Ravens game and the Arizona games in ’09, and he was dominant enough in early 2010 and at times in 2011—remember that three-TD Bears game?—for me to give him the pass. There’s also the effect he has on a defense, drawing double coverage and whatnot, to consider. I just wish he was vaguely interested in blocking. Runner-up: Jones

Worst 3rd Round: Abdul Hodge, ILB, 67th in 2006.

This was a weird move from the beginning—a highly drafted ILB to back up Nick Barnett, the best player on the Packers’ 2005 defense, at a position there’s only one of at a time? Hodge never started a game behind Barnett and showed little later in his career as a Cincinnati Bengal. Runner-up: Aaron Rouse

Best 4th Round: Josh Sitton, G, 135th in 2008.

 The well-paid, very solid, should-be-Pro-Bowl guard might be the Packers’ best offensive lineman. If not for injuries, he might have started the whole 2008 season as a rookie; stepped into the lineup in 2009 and hasn’t relinquished his spot yet. Power spot on a mostly finesse offensive line. Runner-up: T.J. Lang

 Worst 4th Round (tie): Cory Rodgers, WR/KR, 106th in 2006 AND Allen Barbre, G/T, 119th in 2007.

You have to be pretty terrible to not even make the roster as a fourth-round pick, which Rodgers failed to do in 2006 (on a roster that had Jennings and Donald Driver and not much else at receiver, too). But Allen Barbre might be even worse. He had two years on the bench to learn his trade and still nearly got Aaron Rodgers killed in 2009 when the coaches gave him his shot at right tackle.

(Note: There are no worsts for fifth-round and later, because that’s hardly fair—who expects much out of those rounds?)

Best 5th Round: Marshall Newhouse, T, 169th in 2010. I know. There’s really nobody else, though, so Newhouse takes it over the likes of Breno Giacomini and David Clowney. He at least played every snap last year, and he’s protected Rodgers’ blindside (albeit imperfectly) for the last two years, so that’s something. Runner-up: Andrew Quarless

 Best 6th Round: Desmond Bishop, LB, 192nd in 2007. Languished behind Nick Barnett for three years, with occasional disastrous stints as a spot starter, until Barnett went down with a knee injury in 2010 and he blew everyone away with his blitzing and hitting ability. Great run-stopper. The defense sorely missed him in 2012.

Best 7th Round: Brad Jones, LB, 218th in 2009.

Jones isn’t a terrific linebacker, but he can fill in at any position. He’s here to stay, too, judging by his new three-year contract. Long and lanky with a surprising willingness to hit, Jones survived a move to ILB and a huge glut of ILBs on the roster to start and even thrive in 2012.

All Draft Grades (2005-2010)

2005: A-

Finding two All-Pro talents in the first two picks did much to offset what was otherwise an awful, awful draft. Besides Rodgers and Collins, only one other player (LB Brady Poppinga) ever started. Second-round pick Murphy was gone after four games and nobody else offered much. Relying on seventh-round pick Will Whitticker to hold down a starting guard spot remains one of Thompson’s worst mistakes.

2006: A 

This draft produced five starters (Daryn Colledge, Jason Spitz, Greg Jennings, A.J. Hawk, Johnny Jolly), including one All-Pro in Jennings, and a return specialist in Will Blackmon. Although Colledge and Spitz were only average starters, Colledge was good enough to win a Super Bowl with and Spitz was a good sixth man. It was just what a rebuilding team with a ton of holes needed.

2007: C+

 This has to be Thompson’s worst draft to date. Top pick Harrell was a bust, and both third-rounder Aaron Rouse and fourth-rounder Barbre were just awful. Only one player, the sixth-round Bishop, ever started by choice. Second-round RB Brandon Jackson developed into a good third-down back and James Jones became a good third receiver, but this draft never made the impact it was supposed to. It also produced Mason Crosby, a thoroughly average kicker.

2008: B

At the end of the 2008 season, this draft looked like an F. Josh Sitton hadn’t played, Jermichael Finley was a physical freak with no on-field production to show for it and Jordy Nelson was the league’s highest-drafted No. 4 receiver. Four seasons later, each is an above-average offensive starter. Other than that, the draft is barren. Second-round picks Patrick Lee and Brian Brohm were busts, which brings the grade down a bit, and fourth-round DE Jeremy Thompson (Ted Thompson’s first-ever trade-up pick) saw his career ended by spinal stenosis. QB Matt Flynn was impressive in relief.

2009: A

It’s hard to do any better in the first round than finding an All-Pro pass-rusher, Clay Matthews, and an above-average starter, B.J. Raji. The draft also produced starting guard T.J. Lang and backup/starter Brad Jones. Nobody else did much, although Jarius Wynn stuck around for a few seasons.

2010: A-

No huge talents here, but not a single bust either. Bryan Bulaga is a solid right tackle, Morgan Burnett is a solid safety, Marshall Newhouse is an okay left tackle and Mike Neal is a good rotational player. Seventh-round DE C.J. Wilson starts in base, James Starks is a rotational player and Andrew Quarless is rehabbing a blown ACL. Every single pick from three years ago is still on the roster, an impressive feat for a deep team like Green Bay.