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Trader Ted was in trade-down mode Friday night in the NFL draft.

Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson traded out of the third round on Friday during the second night of the NFL draft.

Thompson initially traded the 88th overall pick to San Francisco for the 93rd pick and the 49ers’ seventh-round selection. Thompson then moved the 93rd pick to the Dolphins for their fourth-rounder (No. 109 overall) and Miami’s fifth- and seventh-round picks.

Confused? So am I. You are probably eating Fruity Pebbles and watching Saturday morning cartoons right now and would rather not have to think too hard about this kind of stuff. So, to make it easy for you, here is where the Packers will be picking on Saturday:

• Round 4, pick 12, 109 overall
• Round 4, pick 25, 122 overall
• Round 5, pick 13, 146 overall
• Round 5, pick 26, 159 overall
• Round 5, pick 34, 167 overall
• Round 6, pick 5, 173 overall
• Round 6, pick 25, 193 overall
• Round 7, pick 10, 216 overall
• Round 7, pick 18, 226 overall
• Round 7, pick 26, 232 overall

All of this wheeling and dealing happened after Thompson traded down in the second round — once again with NFC rival San Francisco, this time for an extra seventh-rounder — and selected Alabama running back Eddie Lacy. Packers fans were also still digesting the news of Aaron Rodgers’ five-year, $110 million contract extension.  Read more... (328 words + 1 image, estimated 1:19 mins reading time)

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Packers QB Aaron Rodgers

According to the team’s official website, the Packers have signed quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a multi-year contract extension.

The move was announced Friday by Packers general manager Ted Thompson. Rodgers is now the highest paid player in league history after signing a five-year extension worth $110 million. Reports are that the contract calls for Rodgers to be paid 40 million in the first year and 62.5 million in the first three years (500K more than Joe Flacco). His salary cap number will never exceed 21M.

“Aaron is a true professional and a special player,” Thompson said, per Packers.com. “He works hard, is humble, and is focused on his actions, on and off the field. He is an excellent teammate and pushes himself and others to be the very best. We are happy to reach an agreement to extend his career with the Packers.”

Rodgers had two years remaining on his previous deal, but the new contract will keep him in Green Bay for the foreseeable future.

Thompson spent his first draft pick as Packers general manager on Rodgers, the No. 24 overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. After sitting behind Brett Favre for three years, Rodgers took over as the team’s starting quarterback in 2008.

In his first season as the starter, Rodgers threw for 4,038 yards, 28 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. His 93.8 passer rating was the lowest of his career, as he’s posted a rating of at least 101.2 in each of the past four seasons.  Read more... (387 words + 1 image, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

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Desmond Bishop is one player the Packers have drafted and developed.

An interesting discussion about the Packers draft and develop philosophy broke out in the comments section of this post the other day.

The basic question that came out of the discussion was this: What does draft and develop mean to you?

Draft and develop might mean different things to different people. The various meanings appear to include:

• Having players on the roster who can immediately and adequately fill in when a starter is injured.
• When an upper-echelon player leaves the team (for whatever reason), there’s another player on the roster than can immediately play at a similar level of the departed star.
• Accumulating as much young talent as possible.

There is no right answer to the question, but if I had to select one of the above, I’d select the third option. However, that answer is a little broad. There isn’t a team in the league that doesn’t want to accumulate as much young talent as possible. That franchise goal isn’t unique to the Packers.

Perhaps I need to add a fourth option: Accumulating as much young talent as possible and having the patience to stick with that philosophy and actually make it work.

Draft and develop has paid off for the Packers because they didn’t ditch it at the first sign of trouble. It’s also worked because the front office appears to be on the same page as the coaching staff, which is a lot more rare than we think. (It’s also worked because the Packers have Aaron Rodgers.)  Read more... (481 words + 1 image, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

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GM Ted Thompson

Welcome to NFL Draft Week.

It’s the week many Green Bay Packers fans have been waiting for.  General Manager Ted Thompson will finally wake up from his offseason hibernation and will get to work setting the Packers up for another Super Bowl run in 2013.  As usual, he largely ignored free agency and will rely on the draft to restock Green Bay’s shelves with fresh talent.

This offseason has been one of some discontent for some Packers fans.  Donald Driver retired, Charles Woodson was released and Greg Jennings signed with the Minnesota Vikings.  That’s three veteran leaders that Green Bay won’t have this year, not to mention three fan favorites as well. The Packers also hung onto Jermichael Finley, which drew considerable scorn from fans also.

Fear not, Packer faithful. It’s not all bad.  Clay Matthews signed a five-year contract extensions and all signs point to Aaron Rodgers having his extension done before training camp.  As long as Matthews and Rodgers are in Green Bay, the Packers should remain in the upper echelon of teams in the NFC.

That said, Thompson realizes both those players need talent around them to get Green Bay from being one of the best teams to THE best team and he will do that through the NFL draft.   One could almost say, in recent years anyway, the draft has become Thompson’s personal playground.  Read more... (812 words + 1 image, estimated 3:15 mins reading time)

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Evan Dietrich-Smith ended up back in Green Bay.

When the Packers only offered the original round tender to restricted free agent Evan Dietrich-Smith — as of now, the team’s leading candidate to start at center — I was a little puzzled.

In Dietrich-Smith’s case, “original round” meant any team that wanted to sign him would not have to surrender a draft pick as compensation since Dietrich-Smith was undrafted out of Idaho State.

I thought for sure some other team would take a run at Dietrich-Smith, but I was wrong. He signed his tender for $1.323 million last week and will be in Green Bay for the offseason conditioning program starting Monday.

Is it concerning that the guy slated to start at center for the Packers was unable to even draw a minimal offer from another team?

I know the free-agent market has been dry for both centers and restricted free agents this spring, but you’d think someone would be interested in signing the likely starting center for a Super Bowl contending team with the best quarterback in the league.

Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy have had nothing but praise for Dietrich-Smith since he became the starter last season. I know a teammate and coach will never come right out and say one of their teammates/players is no good, but you can usually read between the lines to get the true sense of how a player is viewed.  Read more... (428 words + 1 image, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

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Thanks to Aaron Rodgers, and the guidance of Mike McCarthy, the Packers are set at QB.

Packers quarterbacks:  That Aaron Rodgers guy is pretty good. Should he ever get hurt for an extended stretch (God forbid), things could go south in a hurry. Most teams are in the same boat as the Packers when it comes to quarterback. If the starter gets hurt, they’re screwed. Fans like to get all worked up over the backup quarterback. “Bring in a good backup,” they yell. “I want someone with experience,” they cry. Well, if the backup QB was good, he probably wouldn’t be a backup in the first place. And bringing in a veteran? I’ll take a low-cost young guy with a high ceiling over someone with experience who is overpriced, washed up, and probably no good, anyway.

Where are we now:

Here are the current suspects;

Aaron Rodgers (1st round)
Graham Harrell (7th round)
B.J. Coleman (7th round)

Listen to expanded coverage of this topic using the player below or download the podcast from the Packers Talk Radio Network on Itunes.

Aaron Rodgers: The most physically gifted quarterback in the game. By now, we all know what Rodgers is good at. If we wanted him to be even better, I suppose we could point to his tendency to hold the ball and ignore underneath receivers. Sometimes it feels like Rodgers is almost too talented for his own good. He’s always trying to wriggle around the pocket and keep his eyes downfield, hoping a receiver comes open deep for a bomb. Sometimes you want to shake Rodgers and tell him that there’s nothing wrong with a “normal” five-yard pass every now and then. That’s getting really nit-picky, though. It’s not like Rodgers never throws underneath and always holds the ball too long.

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After a two days of voting, the fans have had their say and the Packers’ Final Four players have been chosen. As a reminder this was a vote for the Packers’ BEST pure football players, not those with the most value to them.

I’ve also listed the top 20 vote getters along the way, in order – so these represent the players our readers consider the best 20 on the Packers roster.

1.  Aaron Rodgers
2. Clay Matthews
3. Randall Cobb
4. Josh Sitton
5. Casey Hayward
6. Jordy Nelson
7. James Jones
8. BJ Raji
9. Bryan Bulaga
10. Sam Shields
11. Desmond Bishop
12. Ryan Pickett
13. Tim Masthay
14. Jermichael Finley
15. Tramon Williams
16. Morgan Burnett
17. T.J. Lang
18. A.J. Hawk
19. C.J. Wilson
20. John Kuhn

Close but didn’t quite get there: Brad Jones, Jarrett Bush, Mason Crosby, Davon House, DuJuan Harris.

Any surprises for you?

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Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.

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