richardson q&a

Woodson wasn't elite when Green Bay signed him. He was coming off an injury and missed 10 games the year before. I don't remember a lot of competition for his services.

Brees was elite but was coming off of shoulder surgery.

I'm not saying these guys were not elite players at one time but when their present teams signed them there were issues that could have just as easily gone the other way and gotten GM's fired for pulling the trigger.

When it turns out you were right about a guy you're a genius and a dumbass when you're wrong.

History has shown that a very good team can be built through the draft or free agency and a mixture of the two in varying degree. Based on the people around you and how well you evaluate players a team builds in the fashion that they feel most comfortable with. I do think that teams build through to many FA's tend to burn bright and flame out quickly like the early Panthers teams or more recently, the Jets.

Jerry has been burned with a lot of free agency players in the past so I can understand his opinion. I even agree with it. I don't recall us really going after an "elite" player though.

 

Actually, Green Bay signed Woodson for $52 million over seven seasons in 2006, which was one of the biggest contracts for a defensive back at that time.

There's usually some risk involved, otherwise why would the previous team let an elite free agent get away?

Jerry has been burned by having a dumbass GM who doesn't know which free agents to pursue, and who then dramatically overpays the ones he goes after. Magnus and I are just random football fans on a message board and yet we've (mostly) accurately identified which free agents would have good seasons. Not adding significant pieces in free agency is holding this roster back.

 

fox/hurney hit it big w/ davis and jake and thought it wasn't luck, evidenced by the next few yrs. i think we all figured out that was dumb luck.

 

Ted Thompson saw an previously elite player with some injury concerns getting ready to turn 30 in Woodson. He thought he still had a lot of game left in him that others didn't see. He gave him a huge contract that caused a lot of other GM's to wonder what the hell he was doing. Turned out he was right.

Even Woodson himself has said that at that time there wasn't very many teams that wanted him.

Exacly. Most teams feel more comfortable (especially financially) building through the draft. With "elite" free agents it's many times a big time risk. Like I said, great when it works out. Might get fired if it doesn't.

I don't disagree but I don't think it has to or maybe even should be "elite" free agents. They just have to be ones that work. I really wanted us to get Rogers last year. That would have worked and not broke the bank.

In the draft or free agency the bottom line is the Panthers need to have more hits and less misses when picking talent.

 

exactly ...

 

Charles Woodson is not the reason the Packers won the superbowl. They would have won it without him.

 

Because of the asking price. There weren't that many teams willing to meet Brees' price either.

Of course he's not "the" reason they won, but saying they would have won it without him is utterly ridiculous. That's just an incredibly absurd thing to say given that he and Clay Matthews were the team's two best defensive players.

 

didn't woodson get hurt in the 1st half of the SB?

 

Yeah, but they wouldn't have made the playoffs without him.

 

I dont think so either... Weren't they like a 5th seed? Woodson had more than a few game changer plays...