Ted Thompson probably tells great fish stories. Because he sure is a master of the one that got away.
Only with Thompson, it’s not fish. It’s NFL players.
The Green Bay general manager added another tall tale to his repertoire over the weekend. With his Packers desperately needing to rebuild their defensive front seven, particularly with personnel who can run coordinator Dom Capers’ new 3-4 scheme, defensive end Chris Canty was high on Green Bay’s list of free-agent targets.
But not only did Green Bay miss out on Canty, it appears the Packers didn’t even submit a firm offer to Canty’s agent. This despite the fact that Green Bay was a finalist for Canty’s services. In fact, Thompson reportedly never actually talked to agent Brad Blank, delegating the task to people lower down the chain of command – negotiator Russ Bell and co-director of football operations Reggie McKenzie.
Now is that any way to tell someone you love them?
“If they were really interested I would have heard from Ted,” Blank told Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “If I could have gotten something in an e-mail then at least I would have a number. But they wouldn’t commit anything.”
And what’s more important in a relationship than commitment?
You want to know how to show a player you care? Check out how the New York Jets went after Baltimore linebacker Bart Scott, per Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback column. Three Jets coaches, including head coach Rex Ryan, showed up unannounced in his driveway 15 minutes after the free agency window opened. Which happened to be at midnight. Then they had an airplane waiting to fly Scott to Jets headquarters at 8 a.m.
Or Thompson could just look closer to home and follow the example of the Brew Crew’s pursuit of Trevor Hoffman. General Manager Doug Melvin didn’t just submit a very generous offer, he recruited Hoffman like he was some high school Parade All-American. He had players Mike Cameron and Jason Kendall call Hoffman to sing the praises of life at Miller Park. He had manager Ken Macha do everything but send Hoffman text messages. The only thing missing was a tour of Miller Park hosted by the Diamond Dancers.
But Thompson couldn’t be bothered to send an e-mail to the Canty camp? Was he too busy updating his Facebook page?
Understand that you can’t get too upset with Thompson over Canty signing with the New York Giants. Given his final price tag – the G-Men are on the hook for $7 million a year over six seasons and a guaranteed $17 million – Canty may well prove to be overpriced. It’s doubtful that Thompson would go that high.
What should bother Packers fans, however, is the apparent nonchalant manner in which Thompson “pursued” Canty. What should bother them more is that it’s become par for the course. Too often, the Packers seem slow on the draw when given the chance to acquire impact players. See Moss, Randy or Gonzalez, Tony, and that’s just the last couple of years.
King goes into great detail about Canty’s free agency journey, and while the Packers certainly don’t star in the saga, they were definitely on the stage. And while Green Bay started out as No. 8 on Canty’s list of nine destinations, guess who the No. 9 team was. That’s right, the Giants. So yes, Green Bay could definitely have contended for his services.
But the Packers never gave themselves a chance, and 100 percent of the shots you don’t take won’t go in.
“They acted like the Packers always do,” Blank told the Associated Press. “They said ‘Good luck with (the Giants), and if it doesn’t work out we’re interested.’ ”
Sounds awfully arrogant to me. Like Icarus flying too close to the sun. And Thompson’s wings are perilously close to melting. Because with a reputation like that, is it any wonder the Packers can’t attract free agents?
You don’t close sales when your main pitch is ‘We’ll take you only if nobody wants you.’ Nor do you win games with the players that sales pitch attracts. Now Green Bay is left to improve its defensive front with draft-day prayers and backups cast off by other teams. How do you think Dom Capers feels about that?
Yeah, probably something like this.
Cole Reality
Give Thompson credit for not chasing one free agent – his own.
For some reason, Seattle gave Colin Cole $21 million over five seasons. That’s very large payday for a very large backup, and Green Bay was right not to try and match the offer.
Can Marquette Regroup?
Marquette certainly deserves some credit. Stung by the monumental loss of point guard Dominic James, the Golden Eagles still looked feisty in losses to Connecticut and Louisville. They sounded feisty, too.
“We should have won,” Wes Matthews said after the Louisville game. “That’s how we feel.”
The question is, can Marquette go from being feisty to winning games again?
Sure they can. There’s still two weeks before the Eagles head to the NCAA Tournament, and that’s enough time to get back on their feet.
But against Louisville, it looked like Jerel McNeal was trying to take on too much of the load in James’ absence, and he paid for it with a 3-for-19 shooting performance. That has to change.
The overriding sense you get from the Eagles, however, is that they still have plenty of faith in themselves. As well they should.
Nobody picked this team to be too special early in the season, but they proved a lot of people wrong. Why should things be any different now?
“I thought that the character of our players was revealed again,” coach Buzz Williams said after Louisville.
And what exactly was revealed?
“We’re a group of fighters,” Matthews said.
These days, they can’t afford to be anything else.
Tune in every Tuesday morning during the 6 o’clock hour when I join Doug Russell and Mike Wickett on SportsRadio 1250 AM for Tuesdays with Howie. You can also find the segments in their Audio Vault. I’ll also chat with Mitch Teich on WUWM’s Lake Effect on Friday at 10 a.m. And don’t forget to check out our new fitness column, Training with Tim.
