Was watching the FOX pregame show and I think it was Jay Glazer that said Al Davis is going around saying there's a fire sale going on, for anyone you want.

So, anybody on Oakland you'd want to see in Green Bay?

Asomugha (or however you spell it)? Michael Bush? Michael Huff for some safety help? Richard Seymour or Greg Ellis? But boy, would I feel bad sending Kampman to the black hole.

They don't have much, but knowing Davis, you can probably have these guys for pretty cheap.

Davis probably wants draft choices. Afterall, he has done so well with recent high picks.

People will say that TRhompson will not make a trade, but he was close last year to obtaining Gonzalez from KC. People will bring up the Moss (non) trade, Ok, let's get this straight, when it came to Gonzo, the Packers wanted to make sure he played for at least 2 or 3 more years because the Cheifs wanted a 3rd rounder in the 09' draft for him, he wouldn't give the Packers that commitment, so the deal, which was agreed upon, didn't go through. THAT didn't fall on Thompson's shoulders.

When it came to Moss a deal was agreed upon the night before the 2nd day of the draft, but when Moss wanted a new deal that would pay him $9 million and the Packers offered a deal that was $3 million plus easily made incentives to make the deal almost $12 mill per year, HE said he would NOT report to Green Bay. They tried all morning, but the Pats called his agent and the Raiders and that was that.

The Raiders OL SUCKS! If you read the article it clearly says that all players are available except: "The only exceptions? The "really young talented guys." which means McFadden (and in Davis' eyes Nhamdi, D-H-B, Russell, Seymore, Morrison and Thomas).

A few Raiders players I would like are Michael Bush, Huff, Morrison, Thomas, Seymore and Mcfadden. NO OL from that team, they are JUST as bad as the Packers OL, if not worse

Skipping the Raiders for a sec, Joe did I read you right? The Packers were'nt ready to part with a lousy 3rd round draft pick for a Hall of Fame TE unless they got a 2 or 3 year commitment?

Yes. They would have gave up a 3 in 2009 for Gonzo if he had commited for 3 more years or it was a 4th if he didn't. Peterson tried to raise the price with about 10 minutes to go at the deadline and the Packers declined. Gonzo thought he was going to be a Packers to the point he started to clean out his locker.

Remember that 3rd rounder got them Clay Matthews Jr. in the 2009 draft.

Actually from everything I read Gonzo wanted to be traded and was willing it was KC former GM that did not want to trade him. When he asked for a third and GB offered it he moved it to a second at the last second knowing GB would not offer it.

Face it, Thompson blew it. Either of those players could be in Green Bay right now but Thompson didn't commit or didn't do enough to get them here.

Wahle, Rivera, Sharper....... <insert free agent name here>, just to name a few.....

We need to really stop giving Thompson a pass on not doing his job.

We are losing games and we have a poor football team and a substandard coach. Until we start making changes at the top, we will suffer more of the same.

Wahle was the ONLY mistake here. Rivera was out the NFL 2 years later w/ a bad back. Sharper is having a good year NOW, but was not and IS NOT the same player he was in Green Bay.

Thompson has done his job. He got the Packers out of "cap hell", brought in Woodson and Pickett at very good prices, drafted Rodgers, Collins and Jennings. Is it "Madden 10" where he signs every BIG NAME FA, No, but he has a theroy to build through the draft and add FA's when neeeded and he has NOT gort the job done there (for the most part).

My list of Raiders I would want, in order:

1. Nnamdi Asomugha- CB (He will NOT be moved. Davis loves him and he is to good to trade)

2. Kirk Morrison- MLB

3. Thomas Howard- OLB

4. Darren McFadden- RB

5. Richard Seymore- DE

6. Michael Huff- S

7. Michael Bush- RB

Really?? Look at the year he is having RIGHT NOW and the year after Thompson blew him out the door. I think he was pretty solid in Minnesota. In fact he would be a welcome addition to our team, right now.

What did Thompson do to replace him? He went to the scrap heapand plugged in a bunch of slugs and prayed for the best. The latest scrap heap reject is Bigby and he is injured....again!



Thompson has NOT done his job at all. We have a losing record since he came on board and we have more holes to fill on our team now than we have had since before Wolf came on board.

And enough with the "we were in cap hell" nonsense. We could have easily signed Wahle and Sharper and made some better moves to keep our winning tradition alive. Instead, Thompson gutted the team in brought in about 50 scrap heap slugs to try and gleen some "diamond in the rough" to fill holes left by Pro Bowlers.

I want to see you post some real numbers on our "cap hell". Frankly, I would rather have cap space issues and keep winning. But hey, thats just me.




Unless they come for free or beg Thompson for a job, none of these guys are coming to Green Bay. Thompson will probably give them the "you're not our #1 guy, ya know!" speech and leave them hitching a ride from the airport!.

He drafted a PRO BOWLER in Collins to replace Sharper. it was the SS spot that has been a pain in the butt (ever since Butler retired).

I Sharper plays the same position as Collins and I may be in the minority here, but would rather have Collins, who is near the top at the FS spot and entering his prime, then an aging Sharper who is past his prime.


I don't have the cap numbers because it was so long ago) but I am sure someone here does and knowing the smart people on PC, will post them.

Oh, and my list, well they are most likely the guys Davis WON'T trade. Those are my "top 7 Raiders", but I also know the Raiders well enough to know those guys won't be traded.

Butler would still be playing if Thompson hadn't have run him out of town.

He should have kept Sharper to mentor the new guy coming in. Or maybe Sharper could have moved to Free Safety.... like he is currently playing in New Orleans.

2 good starting Safeties is better than 1.

Sharper was and is a free safety. Same as Collins. Strong safety has been the issue.

I'm glad their 2 careers didn't overlap. Butler was and is a class act.

A theme Packer fans know all to well, "It is always somebody else's fault..."

We don't have anyone fast enough to trick Oakland in a trade with Blackmon hurt. How bout sneaking in a trade with Buffalo? Send Ryan Grant and Kampman to the Bills for Terrell Owens, Fred Jackson, and a swap of draft positions in the first round of next years draft. With Owens we could focus on quick throws and more rollouts. Also, give Jennings one on one opportunities as teams struggle to cover Owens and Driver. I just think maybe he could give us more electricity on Offense, even though he doesn't have it in Buffalo. That is something he has in relation to Favre. I would say top ten players in no particular order in modern football who influence their teams just by mere presence are.
Reggie White
Brett Favre
Terrell Owens
Adrian Peterson
Ray Lewis
Brian Urlacher
Tom Brady
Peyton Manning
John Elway
Deion Sanders

People have to get it through their heads that it was TT fault for cutting Wahle. It was NOT his fault. It was the inept GM Mike Sherman. Wahle had a 11 million dollar cap number and knew the Packers where up against the cap and he would be cut. Wahle also knew he could collect big on the open market which he did. I think at the time he got the largest deal for a OL at the time. So it is unfair to blame TT for Wahle when it was Sherman fault for being a inept GM.

Another theme is it's always Thompson's fault. I could give you a pretty long list of where Thompson screwed up, starting with the horrible decision to have no back-up left tackle this season, but not everything is his fault.

IMO, not resigning Rivera was the 100% correct move. Not resigning Whale was OK but the piss poor job of replacing him has been an ongoing mistake. I think he made the correct call on Favre and while not perfect, I think he handled the transition about as well as he could have. I think he got out maneuvered by the Patriots on Moss but I think the Chiefs are to blame for Gonzalez not being traded. I think his free agent successes (Woodson, Pickett, Chillar) have far out weighed his mistakes (Klemm, O'Dwyer, Mannuel) but I think his reluctance to add any more help through this route is a mistake. I like how he has handled resigning players. The extensions for Clifton, Kampman, Barnett, Jennings, Rodgers, Harris, Jenkins and Driver (i am doing this from memory so please forgive me if I am wrong about a few of these) - outweigh the bad ones for Franks, Grant & Wells.

I do have a real problem with complaints about Sharper. I was a big Sharper fan when he was in Green Bay and I clearly remember fans hating this guy. He was blamed for almost every big play the secondary gave up and the post game shows were filled with calls about his poor tackling and bad coverage. Most fans that I heard or talked to wanted him cut. IMO, Thompson made the right decision to cut Sharper and he did a good job of replacing him.

I think in the draft he has been slightly better than average but certainly not among the top GM's in the league. I think that Harrell was a bad pick because his problems were foreseeable but Hawk, while a disappointment, was the right pick - he just hasn't panned out. He has hit on few impact guys - Rodgers, Collins & Jennings and has keep the amount of wasted picks at what I would guess is around the league average. Yet, he hasn't been able to fix the O-Line thru the draft and since this is the only place he has tried, it must be viewed as a failure.

The only real question mark for me is his hire of McCarthy. I am still unsure about how good McCarthy is, I like a lot of what I see but then again the penalties and the O-Line should have been figured out by now.

All in all, I think he has done OK but not well enough to withstand a loosing season. I just don't understand why everything has to be so black & white when it comes to Thompson.

GBP4EVER,

I saw a TV interview and read an article that stated Wahle was willing to redo his contract and stay in Green Bay, but Thompson cut him without even brining him in to talk to him first. To me, that is not good business at all! Even Thompson admitted he made a mistake in letting Wahle get away.

I had a link to it a few years back but I can't locate it now.

As far as Riviera goes, he played like 30 games in Dallas before getting hurt. Almost 2 years! I'll take 2 years with him instead those other slugs we tried to slap in there!!

I don't like seeing Sherman getting the blame for stuff that Thompson could not get done. Face it, Sherman never had a losing season until Thompson gutted the team. Sherman may have not have built the team into a winner, but he certainly didn't tear it down and destroy it. He was smart enough to keep the foundation in place, then attempt to build on it. He did well despite not getting us to a Super Bowl.

I will say that winning seasons and trips to the playoffs are far better than what we have now. It is starting to look like Thompson had one good year and a lot of his draft and Free Agent selections and "non selections" are below average. The result is a losing record with a terrible team.

Also remember, in 2007, we still had a below average line and it was our passing game that carried the team through most of that season. We were far from a powerhouse football team but were playing well inspite of our shortcomings.

The cap number for the last year of that contract could have been easily spread out over the life of a new contract...easily...

EDIT. Sorry I miss-read this. He started all 16 games in 2006. LINK, he played through injury in both seasons in Dalls.

According to Wikipedia LINK, it was 14 games in 2005, nothing in 2006 and he was cut in 2007.

The team was never in CAP HELL, sure they had some decisions to make but so does every team in the NFL

Funny how he gave Atlanta that committment

In 2005, he started 14 games and in 2006, he started all 16 for a total of 30.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/R/RiveMa01.htm

According to this site.....

EDIT: I just saw your edit! We are on the same page!

It always seemed we had about $10 million. Every year you would see available cap for teams and Sherman had the Packers at the bottom of the list all the time.

And that's what a lot of people forget. Thompson had to get some of these contracts out of here to get some breathing room.

But I like his strategy. He's following the Rooney family of the Steelers. The Rooney's "grow" their own players and reward them for excellence. They rarely spend money in free agency.

If Thompson would've been more hit then miss when it comes to offensive lineman, I seriously doubt we're having this conversation right now, because the team would be in much better shape. But his seat is heating up a bit, that's why he's going out and bringing in Tauscher, and why I believe he'll target a big name veteran OL in free agency.

This is pretty much a spot on summary of Thompson. He's not a top 5 GM, but he's not a bottom 5 either. He's fairly average right now, with strengths in some areas and weaknesses in others. He does a lot of the behind the scene stuff very well (cap room, when to let a guy go, who to lock up, etc.), and doesn't tend to make big, stupid decisions. Yeah, we could fire him and go for someone else, but who's to say it would be better? Could be a lot worse. So far, TT has straddled the fence of success/failure just well enough to keep his job. Could change over the next year or two. I think if we don't get to the playoffs this year or the next, he's gone. But I certainly don't see him going anywhere this year unless the Packers completely #### the bed.

Back to the topic at hand. . .

There's only two guys that the Raiders might consider trading that the Packers should even be remotely interested in and their contracts might make that difficult.

FS: Michael Huff has not lived up to his draft hype and he's been relegated to a reserve role this season. He also happens to have played under our current DB coach Darren Perry. He would represent an upgrade over Martin/Giordano and would probably push Bigby for playing time as well. We'd lose some in terms of run support, but would hopefully gain some in pass coverage.

T/G: Robert Gallery has also not lived up to his draft hype. He struggled as the Raiders LT for years, but has played fairly well since switching to a zone-scheme and moving inside to OG. He's injured right now, but should recover soon and be able to contribute. He played LT in college for our current OC Joe Philbin, and if any team can get him to successfully transition back to the outside, I think that it could be the Packers. It's a gamble, but at the very worst he's a solid starting OG and a better than average reserve OT. I'm not sure about his contract issues, but he's currently under contract through 2012.

I wouldn't pay very much to get either guy, but I'd certainly take the call and see if I could add them for a reasonable price. Both guys have been coached by members of our team and if anybody is in a position to address their strengths and weaknesses it would be those individuals. One or both of them should represent an improvement to the roster at their positions which in turn improves the overall team depth.

I don't think the Raiders would be willing to part with anyone worth the draft pick we'd need to give up (Gallery's the most solid player I can think of, but he's nowhere near worth the contract we'd have to assume if we traded for him).

I didn't think that they'd part with Moss for less than a 2nd and he was barely had for a 4th round pick. They are capable of doing anything, so I'd at the very least look into the possibility. Like I said, the only two that I think they might be willing to deal that would even be worth consideration are Gallery and Huff. I think that both of those guys are one the block right now.

And Bart Starr too!

Definitely no to Gallery but if I were the Packers I'd definitely consider these three guys:

Asomugha: Secondary's really banged up, having a star CB like Asomugha would really help out. We could then have the ability to move Woodson to safety. I know he's been flashy this year at CB with his picks and everything, but all the other factors at the CB position, Woodson hasn't impressed me to much in those other categories. I'd rather have a Harris/Asomugha/Woodson/Collins secondary then what we have now.

Huff: Huff hasn't lived up to his draft potential but he's an average safety and better then Martin, and he could be better then Bigby. Wouldn't hurt to add him for competition.

Bush: Bush is better then McFadden from what I've seen so far. I would definitely take Bush over him any day. But since they've got all that money tied up in McFadden, Bush could probably be had much easier.



I think you forget who you'd be dealing with here. Al Davis is crazy. If you offered a 4th rounder for Huff or Bush, he'd probably take it. And looking at it, a Huff or Bush is the type of player you'd like to see from a 4th round pick.

Packers should at least give the Raiders a call. They don't have much. But there are some players that could help, and if the price is right, why not?

LOL, that's a good point... Maybe we could throw in a tube of aspercream to sweeten the deal -- at least it'd come in handy the next time Cable decides to assault one of his coaches.

Again though, the trouble with Huff is that he's in the third year of a six year, $43 million contract that includes $16 million in guarantees. As I understand it, the Packers would have to pick up that contract as well -- that's a lot of money for a guy who might work out or might turn into the next Ahmad Carroll.

I did not say it was soley his fault, but whenever the Pack misses out on a player, some feeble excuse comes floating out a day, a week, or a month later.

There is on one Director of Player Personnel and they are responsible for bringing in the talent until the trade deadline. You get the deal done then you go to bed.

I hear ya and I don't like excuses either but I do think it is important to understand how things happened before assessing blame. Let's take the Gonzalez trade. From everything I have read or heard about the Gonzalez deal, Green Bay met KC's demands but it was KC who changed the parameters at the last minute. This makes me place the blame for this falling though on KC and not on Green Bay. Perhaps Thompson should have just paid the new price but in this case I do not fault him for not submitting to KC's demands. Is this making an excuse for Thompson or looking at the facts (limited as they are) and deciding that this is just a trade that fell though. In this case, I think it is a trade that fell through.

On the bright side. This should at least prove that ridiculous notion that "Thompson blew the Moss trade to push Favre out" to be false. If that were true Gonzalez would be a Packer.

You've got to be kidding me right. That is like saying, "Yeah Adrian Peterson would really help out." "Maybe Troy Polamalu would really be nice on our team". You can forget about the Packers acquiring the best and highest paid CB in the NFL. The guy is in the first year of his 3rd year $45 Million contract. It would absolutely destroy the Raiders financially to trade him in his first year. I bet that would be a cap hit of around $20 Million this year. Its not going to happen. The NFL is a business not a video game. It would be quite costly to acquire Asomugha and if you ask me our absolute biggest needs are an OT and a proven pass rushing OLB. If we had a solid guy or a stud at either of these positions this team would be undefeated right now. I don't know why some are so focused on giving up a 1st, multiple picks and a player to acquire a player at a position that we currently have two Pro Bowlers starting at. Our pass coverage from the secondary has been solid except against Minnesota but you can't give Favre 8 sec. to throw the ball and not expect to get burned in coverage. DBs can only cover so long. This is the NFL.

Please keep the sarcasm in check - it's not necessary

CMON TT, offer a 1st rounder. We all know u suck at drafting in the first round anyway. Asomugha Asomugha Asomugha Asomugha Asomugha. DO IT....

I'm sure even TT would do that deal in a heartbeat. But even the Raiders aren't THAT stupid.

REALLY?

Asomugha will be available by the time Woodson/Harris retire. We can get him then.

(Asomugha's current contract stipulates that the Raiders can't franchise him when it expires)

I dunno, man -- some of the stuff other GMs have pulled on Al Davis lately seem like they verge on elder abuse.

Not true. He made my fiancee cry.

I'll bite. How did he make your fiancee cry?

I live in Dallas and watched all those Rivera games. TRUST ME, he was TERRIBLE. It's a running joke between me and some of my cowboy-fan buddies down here that Green Bay really tricked Dallas on that one,.

We went to a little deal at Culvers where he was signing autographs and such for charity. Paid like 20 bucks ostensibly for donation to whatever charity he was pushing at the time. Asked for his autograph in a specific way and he said he couldnt do it - he could only sign his name. Then he made fun of Texas for a bit (which us Texans cant stand of course) and was just generally very rude. Then he just sat there like he was king of the 5'10" people of the world and made us feel really stupid for asking for his autograph. The fiancee was so upset she cried.

I took my stupid autograph home and just gave it to my downstairs neighbor. (I didnt tell him the whole story though so it wouldnt ruin his perception of Butler too)

Moral of the story? Never meet your childhood heroes.

I once worked at a Legends signing and I agree, Butler was kind of a jerk. He was on his phone a lot making people wait, and would not engage in conversation, smile or give eye contact. He was also late for the signing. He got really pissed when he had his head down and someone said, "hey Leroy"!! then snapped a picture of him just as he looked up. It kind of freaked him out. Some of these people are vultures at these signings, but its an easy way for these players to make some money. They are treated pretty good.