TT doesn't sign free agents

[realitybytes]

So, I get 7.  I truly thought I would get more.  And that is if you give me all the WR's versus San Frans #2.  But if you look at #2 and #3 corner, we have them.  So, I have to agree with your statement above.

...And you didn't mention coaching.  Big plus on their side for that one....

They have so much more talent than us, and yet there we were, a mere 12-13 defensive stops and 4-5 blown coverages away from pulling an upset on the road against the mighty 49ers.

 

[Pugger]

ARod > CK
Gore > Harris
Miller > Kuhn
Crabtree > Jennings
Cobb > Manningham
Davis > Finley
Davis > Bulaga
Sitton > Boone
Goodwin > EDS
Iupati > Lang
Staley > Newhouse
McDonald = Pickett
Raji > Sopoaga
Smith > Wilson
Brooks > Perry/Walden/Zombo/Moses
Willis >>>> Hawk
Bowman > Bishop
Matthews = A. Smith
Rogers > T. Williams
Shields >  Brown
Whitner > Burnett
Goldson > Jennings
Lee P > Masthay
Crosby = Akers -- they both stink

I have 5 Packers being better than their Niner opposites and 3 being equal out of 24 positions.

I'd like to see if the 49ers can win their division if their past 3 first round draft picks were on IR.  Last season besides J. Smith they were ridiculously healthy.  This cannot be overstated.  Plus over the past few years because SF was so lousy they were picking in the top half of each round  so they better find great players.  We really aren't that far away.  We need to get a few guys back off of IR and plug in a couple of spots and we'll be just as dangerous as they are.

[JimATX]

"We feel very strongly that our best policy is to draft the best player. This isn't fantasy football."

"I know (people) don't believe me, but we're always active in free agency. There have been a couple years here in a row that we haven't actually signed anybody. It doesn't mean we weren't active pursuing leads, trying to understand the market, doing all that. In the case of Jeff Saturday we were able to address a specific need that we felt like we needed to address because we were unable to sign Scott ( Wells)."


Ted Thompson

[AldenRoche]

"We feel very strongly that our best policy is to draft the best player. This isn't fantasy football."

"I know (people) don't believe me, but we're always active in free agency. There have been a couple years here in a row that we haven't actually signed anybody. It doesn't mean we weren't active pursuing leads, trying to understand the market, doing all that. In the case of Jeff Saturday we were able to address a specific need that we felt like we needed to address because we were unable to sign Scott ( Wells)."


Ted Thompson

If by being "active" in free agency TT means he makes sure to monitor which free agents sign with other teams in case there are some dogs left over who no other team wants, then I don't see how anyone can claim he is not active in free agency.

I mean while he has not signed a player of note since Woodson/Pickett way back in 2006, who can forget immortal free agents like Frank Walker and Anthony Smith who TT snagged several years ago?

And how could anyone accuse TT of not being "active" in free agency when he landed Hargrove, Muir, Merling, Benson, and, the cherry on top of the ice cream, Jeff Saturday just last offseason. What a sterling quintet of free agents they turned out to be.   

[TAYLORBOY]

I'd like :

Desmond Bryant, DT, Raiders: He didn't get the attention that Richard Seymour and Tommy Kelly got on the Raiders line, but this 25-year-old is coming off a nice season. He had four sacks and the tape showed a lot of him collapsing the pocket. He is going to get a nice deal from a team looking for a young power player.

Height/Weight:6-6/311
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Birthdate:12/15/1985
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Age:27
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Hometown:Shorewood, IL, USA
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School:Harvard
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NFL Experience:3
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Awards:

[cpk1994]

TT doesn't sign many name FAs but he isn't opposed to signing UDFAs.  We've found a couple of gems this way (Sheilds and Barclay e.g.).

TT has not signed any NAME free agents since 2006 (unless you count an obviously over-the-hill Saturday or past his prime Benson, both of who had NAMES but came on the cheap). TT also has not traded for a single NFL veteran player since 2007 (when he got Ryan Grant for a 7th round pick).

The record reveals TT has an aversion to adding NFL VETERAN talent to the team.

I certainly agree that he does, however, seem to relish signing undrafted/street free agents like Shields, T. Williams, D. Harris, D. Barclay and E. Walden.

The record also shows he had the highest offer on the table for Lavar Arrington and Adam Vinitieri, but they took money elsewhere. 

Also, not trading for players isn't a big deal because it is a rarity in the league as a whole. Ron Wolf didn't trade that often either.

[cpk1994]

If by being "active" in free agency TT means he makes sure to monitor which free agents sign with other teams in case there are some dogs left over who no other team wants, then I don't see how anyone can claim he is not active in free agency.

I mean while he has not signed a player of note since Woodson/Pickett way back in 2006, who can forget immortal free agents like Frank Walker and Anthony Smith who TT snagged several years ago?

And how could anyone accuse TT of not being "active" in free agency when he landed Hargrove, Muir, Merling, Benson, and, the cherry on top of the ice cream, Jeff Saturday just last offseason. What a sterling quintet of free agents they turned out to be.

This is pure nonsense.  You don't have to sign someone to be "active" in FA. You have no idea what FA TT is actually interested in. As he has said, when evaluating FA it has to be the right fit and he isn't going to get in a huge bidding war. But to sit there and claim that he must be sitting on his hands doing nothing because he doesn't sign anyone is incredibly short-sighted and is blatantly false.

[AldenRoche]

If by being "active" in free agency TT means he makes sure to monitor which free agents sign with other teams in case there are some dogs left over who no other team wants, then I don't see how anyone can claim he is not active in free agency.

I mean while he has not signed a player of note since Woodson/Pickett way back in 2006, who can forget immortal free agents like Frank Walker and Anthony Smith who TT snagged several years ago?

And how could anyone accuse TT of not being "active" in free agency when he landed Hargrove, Muir, Merling, Benson, and, the cherry on top of the ice cream, Jeff Saturday just last offseason. What a sterling quintet of free agents they turned out to be.

This is pure nonsense.  You don't have to sign someone to be "active" in FA. You have no idea what FA TT is actually interested in. As he has said, when evaluating FA it has to be the right fit and he isn't going to get in a huge bidding war. But to sit there and claim that he must be sitting on his hands doing nothing because he doesn't sign anyone is incredibly short-sighted and is blatantly false.

And neither do you have no idea what veteran FAs, if any, TT is interested in. However, the FACTS reveal (a) that TT has not signed many free agent since 2006 and (b) the FAs he has signed since 2006 have had almost no impact.

I know some Packer fans considered last year's signings of Muir, Hargrove (neither of whom played a down in the NFL last season), Merling (who played about 20 snaps in GB and then was out of the league), Saturday (an obviously washed up and unqualified replacement for Wells), and Benson (who was such a hot commodity he remained unsigned when training camps opened in July) to constitute "significant" free agent activity. Maybe for TT but not by NFL standards.

Anyway, I certainly never said TT was sitting on his hands as I have repeatedly pointed out the 5 free agent signings above that TT made last season. I merely pointed out that Packer fans getting excited about top or even mid-tier FAs are looking at the wrong pool of players. They should instead be focusing on this year's Daniel Muir or Anthony Smith or Frank Walker or Duke Preston or Jeff Saturday. In other words the bottom of the barrel type players TT has signed since 2006.

[AldenRoche]

TT doesn't sign many name FAs but he isn't opposed to signing UDFAs.  We've found a couple of gems this way (Sheilds and Barclay e.g.).

TT has not signed any NAME free agents since 2006 (unless you count an obviously over-the-hill Saturday or past his prime Benson, both of who had NAMES but came on the cheap). TT also has not traded for a single NFL veteran player since 2007 (when he got Ryan Grant for a 7th round pick).

The record reveals TT has an aversion to adding NFL VETERAN talent to the team.

I certainly agree that he does, however, seem to relish signing undrafted/street free agents like Shields, T. Williams, D. Harris, D. Barclay and E. Walden.

The record also shows he had the highest offer on the table for Lavar Arrington and Adam Vinitieri, but they took money elsewhere. 

Also, not trading for players isn't a big deal because it is a rarity in the league as a whole. Ron Wolf didn't trade that often either.

Did Ron Wolf trade for Brett Favre? Did he trade for Keith Jackson? How about Eugene Robinson?

How was the guy who caught two TDs for the Ravens Anquan Boldin acquired? Couldn't have been via trade could it?

[realitybytes]

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/packsid16-5n8q0r5-191497901.html

[Twain]

Comparing TT to Wolf doesn't seem fair to me. 

Wolf was there at the start of the free agency phenomenon, an I believe was a classic "early adopter" of the change.  He figured it out and exploited it before others figured it out.

It is a different situation now.  In some ways, TT may have figured out the dangers of free agency better than others.  I understand that SF and Baltimore have had success with it, but the thing we aren't talking about is the number of losing teams that use free agency and still are losers.

Sure, I would like to see us score a home run on free agency.  I just think it is harder to do these days.

[Pugger]

Comparing TT to Wolf doesn't seem fair to me. 

Wolf was there at the start of the free agency phenomenon, an I believe was a classic "early adopter" of the change.  He figured it out and exploited it before others figured it out.

It is a different situation now.  In some ways, TT may have figured out the dangers of free agency better than others.  I understand that SF and Baltimore have had success with it, but the thing we aren't talking about is the number of losing teams that use free agency and still are losers.

Sure, I would like to see us score a home run on free agency.  I just think it is harder to do these days.

I'm with you.  Except for a couple of guys who will cost a fortune there is a reason why most FAs are available.   

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl-mock-draft/2013/1/29/3926974/super-bowl-2013-rosters

[realitybytes]

Comparing TT to Wolf doesn't seem fair to me. 

Wolf was there at the start of the free agency phenomenon, an I believe was a classic "early adopter" of the change.  He figured it out and exploited it before others figured it out.

It is a different situation now.  In some ways, TT may have figured out the dangers of free agency better than others.  I understand that SF and Baltimore have had success with it, but the thing we aren't talking about is the number of losing teams that use free agency and still are losers.

Sure, I would like to see us score a home run on free agency.  I just think it is harder to do these days.

I'm with you.  Except for a couple of guys who will cost a fortune there is a reason why most FAs are available.   

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl-mock-draft/2013/1/29/3926974/super-bowl-2013-rosters

i'm not sure i understand the relevance of that link to your comment. the article that you linked to shows that the ravens have 14 players and the 49ers have 17 players who originally played for some other team. only four packers on the 2012 roster ever played a significant number of snaps for another team.

[Pugger]

 

Comparing TT to Wolf doesn't seem fair to me. 

Wolf was there at the start of the free agency phenomenon, an I believe was a classic "early adopter" of the change.  He figured it out and exploited it before others figured it out.

It is a different situation now.  In some ways, TT may have figured out the dangers of free agency better than others.  I understand that SF and Baltimore have had success with it, but the thing we aren't talking about is the number of losing teams that use free agency and still are losers.

Sure, I would like to see us score a home run on free agency.  I just think it is harder to do these days.

I'm with you.  Except for a couple of guys who will cost a fortune there is a reason why most FAs are available.   

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl-mock-draft/2013/1/29/3926974/super-bowl-2013-rosters

i'm not sure i understand the relevance of that link to your comment. the article that you linked to shows that the ravens have 14 players and the 49ers have 17 players who originally played for some other team. only four packers on the 2012 roster ever played a significant number of snaps for another team.

Unless I read that article wrong it appeared most of the players on these rosters were built along the same lines that TT advocates.   

[AldenRoche]

Comparing TT to Wolf doesn't seem fair to me. 

Wolf was there at the start of the free agency phenomenon, an I believe was a classic "early adopter" of the change.  He figured it out and exploited it before others figured it out.

It is a different situation now.  In some ways, TT may have figured out the dangers of free agency better than others.  I understand that SF and Baltimore have had success with it, but the thing we aren't talking about is the number of losing teams that use free agency and still are losers.

Sure, I would like to see us score a home run on free agency.  I just think it is harder to do these days.

I'm with you.  Except for a couple of guys who will cost a fortune there is a reason why most FAs are available.   

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl-mock-draft/2013/1/29/3926974/super-bowl-2013-rosters

i'm not sure i understand the relevance of that link to your comment. the article that you linked to shows that the ravens have 14 players and the 49ers have 17 players who originally played for some other team. only four packers on the 2012 roster ever played a significant number of snaps for another team.

http://forum.packerchatters.com/Themes/Packers_2/images/bbc/underline.gif

Unless I read that article wrong it appeared most of the players on these rosters were built along the same lines that TT advocates.   

MOST players on every team in the NFL arrives via the draft or as undrafted/street free agents -- the same lines TT advocates.

Where the Ravens and 49ers (and Patriots and Giants) deviate from TT's approach to roster building is that in addition to the draft and UDFAs they sign UFAs and even make trades for veteran players. Ravens Super Bowl starters (not backups) who were acquired this way included LT Bryant McKinnie, C Matt Birk, FB Vonta Leach, WR Anquan Boldin, S Bernard Pollard, and CB Corey Graham. Throw in 3rd WR and kick return Jacoby Jones (who saved the Ravens in the Broncos game and returned the all-important 2nd half kickoff for a TD in the Super Bowl) and it is apparent the Ravens built their squad differently than TT has built the Pack.

As for the Niners, UFAs who started the Super Bowl included Randy Moss, C Jonathan Goodwin, DE Justin Smith, CB Carlos Rogers, and S Donta Whitner. The kicker Akers also arrived via free agency while the kick returner Ted Ginn came to SF through a trade. Again, I think it is pretty clear the 49ers have built their roster by acquiring more veterans who played for other teams than TT does.

With Saturday and Woodson gone and Benson only 50-50 to return, the Pack is done to just one player (Ryan Pickett) who has spent an appreciable amount of time with another team.