QB John Hadl

Would you want a veteran that’s ready to go? A guy who could help out in quarterback meetings, and on the sidelines during games?  Who do you want warming up if Rodgers gets hurt, or if he has cost the Packers, say, 4 losses in a row?

Would you consider trading two #1 picks, two #2 picks, and a #3 pick for the Cardinals Kurt Warner? Of course not. The Buccaneers Jeff Garcia? You wouldn’t mind having Garcia, but never at that price.

How about the Eagles Donovan McNabb? Ah, no. Never. You’d never give up that many draft picks for any player. Period. Right?

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Green Bay - - If you were the Packers general manager today, what would you do at the quarterback position to back-up 24-year-old Aaron Rodgers?

(Rodgers, by the way, is in Alaska this week, posing as a dog sled driver. I’m not kidding.)

Would you want a veteran that’s ready to go? A guy who could help out in quarterback meetings, and on the sidelines during games?  Who do you want warming up if Rodgers gets hurt, or if he has cost the Packers, say, 4 losses in a row?

Would you consider trading two #1 picks, two #2 picks, and a #3 pick for the Cardinals Kurt Warner? Of course not. The Buccaneers Jeff Garcia? You wouldn’t mind having Garcia, but never at that price.

How about the Eagles Donovan McNabb? Ah, no. Never. You’d never give up that many draft picks for any player. Period. Right?

Hell, Ron Wolf got Brett Favre for one #1 pick from Atlanta. And at the time, there was some concern Wolf was making a risky trade.

Two 1’s, two 2’s, one 3? Crazy!

But that’s exactly what your Green Bay Packers did after a couple of years of struggling to replace another legendary franchise quarterback, Bart Starr.

GREEN BAY PACKERS; THE "GORY YEARS" 

Starr said farewell to football at the end of 1971. After slipping into the playoffs in 1972 with Scott Hunter calling signals, then Packers Head Coach Dan Devine struggled with guys like Nebraska star Jerry Tagge, and Jim Del Gaizo at quarterback.

In 1974, the Packers were off to a 2 & 2 start, with wins over the Colts and Lions, but losses to the Vikings and Bills. Buffalo crushed the Pack  27 – 7 at Lambeau Field.

Tagge wasn’t cutting it. Former Bears QB Jack Concannon was on the bench.

Devine came close to making history. In late October of ’74, he almost got a 25-year-old benched quarterback in a trade with the New Orleans Saints, until their starter, Bobby Scott, went down that weekend against Atlanta with a knee injury. So the Saints had to call off the deal with Green Bay, and kept the benched QB.  His name was Archie Manning. Hall of Fame. Sons Peyton and Eli.

After talks with several other teams went nowhere, the now desperate Devine picked up the phone, called the Los Angeles Rams GM Don Glosterman, and made the deal that will kill the Packers for the next 3 to 5 years. Killed them.

He traded for John Hadl.

Hadl, 34, had made his name at quarterback in the 1960’s with the San Diego Chargers. He would later move to the Rams. Incredibly, he had been benched by Rams Head Coach Chuck Knox at Milwaukee County Stadium just 3 weeks before Devine called them for the trade. Hadl was 6 for 16 for 59 yards in the Rams 17 to 6 loss to the Packers. Knox replaced Hadl with James Harris, one of the league’s first African American QB’s.

The Packers ventured into the mid 70’s with Hadl. The Rams went on with James Harris, who went to the Pro Bowl, former USC star Pat Hayden, and Ron Jaworski, who later took the Eagles to a Super Bowl.

DEVINE SHOWN THE DOOR

Devine got fired after the 1974 season, finishing 6 & 8. The Packers hired Bart Starr as head coach. A bumper sticker campaign to support the team featured the slogan “A Fresh Start With Bart”.

1975 was not so fresh. 4 wins, 10 losses.  So Starr traded the Hadl, 36, and cornerback Ken Ellis to the Houston Oilers for Dan Pastorini’s back-up, 26-year-old Lynn Dickey, who became the starter in Green Bay for the next 10 years, (minus several games missed due to injury.)

WHAT WILL TED THOMPSON DO AT QB?

I predict Thompson will eventually get a guy who could play for 5 or 6 years or more. A guy who could replace Aaron Rodgers if he has a career ending injury.  Or just be ready as his back-up for the next half - decade. More like Charlie Batch was when he went to Pittsburgh. Less like Mark Brunell. Not a player who has one year left.

Let’s begin with who the Packers currently have on the roster. (By the way, Favre’s name finally taken down from the team’s roster on the web site Monday. Man, the Hutson Center is going to look empty with him not out there in Mini Camps this May.)

After Aaron Rodgers, there is Jerry Babb and Dalton Bell. Both barely better than the ball boy at practice. Just bodies to get through the rotations at practice.

What happened to Paul Thompson, who was in training camp last summer, and played a little in preseason? He was signed January 9th by the Tennessee Titans. Thompson beat out Ingle Martin, at 5th round pick in 2006 by the Packers who had a horrible training camp in 2007 in Green Bay and was cut. Martin was also picked up by the Titans, signed to their practice squad.

Craig Nall, who returned last November to Green Bay as a third quarterback, told 1250 WSSP-AM last week he still had not heard from the Packers. Nall, who turns 29 in April, threw a touchdown in clean-up duty during the Packers final 2007 regular season game against the Lions.

Todd Bowman, 36, who worked with Mike McCarthy in New Orleans, and was brought in by Green Bay as a back-up in 2006 when Rodgers broke his foot against the Patriots, is now with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

2007 Free agent back-ups Cleo Lemon (Jaguars), Trent Green (Rams), Joey Harrington (Falcons), all just signed in the past 10 days.

Then there is Quinn Grey, who will turn 29 in May. 6-foot-3, 254 pounds. A strong arm, big upper body. He started four games last year in Jacksonville, and finished with a passer rating of 88.5 points, 10 TD’s, 5 picks, 55.6% accuracy. Grey has been the Jags #3 QB for five years, and was in Green Bay for a visit this week, according to the NFL Network.

Expect Ted Thompson to once again trade down and get additional draft picks. Then expect him to draft a quarterback for future development.

But the guy Ted Thompson wants is currently on somebody’s roster. And he will either have to trade for that player the weekend of the NFL Draft, giving up a player and/or a draft pick. Or he will wait until after training camp is over.

WAITING FOR THE BACK DOOR TO SWING OPEN

After observing Packers GM Ted Thompson now for three years, here is how I predict he will proceed, not only for the quarterback position, but any position on the 53-man roster.

There is free agency, the NFL Draft. And then there is what I like to call “the back door”.

The back door is September and October. Teams are heavy at a position, and either need to cut players at the end of training camp to meet the 53 - man required roster limit, or they have several injured players at a position, and they need to move people around to get through a crisis. Guys get cut they really hate to part with.

Thompson has found some good players at the start of the season. In 2005, the Steelers were heavy at running back on their way to their Super Bowl season, so Thompson picked up Noah Herron. Not a bad 3rd or 4th string running back. Ruvell Martin got cut twice by the San Diego Chargers, on their way to the post-season in the AFC. Martin now a reliable 4th or 5th wide receiver for Green Bay.

In 2005, the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets both had safety Atari Bigby in their camps, but cut him. The Jets released him September 3rd, at the end of training camp. By December 2007, the Packers starting strong safety Bible was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Month.

In 2006 speedy Tramon Williams went from getting cut by the Houston Texans, to Green Bay, as a versatile punt and kick returner, and a defensive back ahead of free agent Frank Walker in nickel and dime packages.

RYAN GRANT? WHO IS RYAN GRANT?

Then there was the running back situation in 2007. Thompson let Ahman Green go in February the opening weekend of free agency. He went into camp with Vernand Morency, a guy he had acquired an even swap with Houston the year before, in exchange for Samkon Gado. Morency went down the first day of training camp with a knee injury. Second round pick Brandon Jackson was overwhelmed. Seventh round pick DeShawn Wynn was always hurt.

So Saturday night, Labor Day weekend, Thompson made the best trade in the NFL in 2007. A 6th round draft pick to the New York Giants (who went to the Super Bowl) for running back Ryan Grant.

The Giants Jerry Reece, perhaps one of the nicest, most approachable GM’s in the league, told me flat out at Super Bowl XXII, “we knew Ryan was good. Clearly we didn’t know he could be that good.”

And other good players along the way. Fullback John Kuhn got picked up after being waived by the Steelers. A nice addition behind rookie Korey Hall. 

Tight end Donald Lee. Cut by the Dolphins. Signs an extension with the Packers. On and on the list goes.

The downside is you don’t have these players in mini camps, OTA’s, and training camp, so your coaching staff has to work overtime to indoctrinate these new players into your system during the regular season.

At the very least your special teams improve as you acquire these players that other teams can’t hold on to, or under-valued. Packers special teams coordinator Mike Stock said at the Packers Fan Fest that in most categories, the Green Bay improved from around 22nd to 7th in the league in special teams in 2007, primarily because of the acquisition of young players in the draft and off the street.

The Packers will pick up some QB’s and enter camp with as many as 4 or 5 guys. But wait until after final roster reductions before you think they have settled on the 3 finalists at QB.

Last year the Packers began the season with just two QB’s, Favre and Rodgers. In late November they signed Nall, after Favre got banged up in Dallas. To make room on the 53-man roster, Thompson released former draft pick safety Marviel Underwood (ACL in 2005) who was back only for a week.

Perhaps this year he won’t replace that spot on the defensive line left open after trading Corey Williams to Cleveland, leaving a spot for three QB’s on the roster, and 10 instead of 11 defensive linemen, like he had last year.

THE TODD COLLINS STORY

Consider Todd Collins. Drafted by Buffalo in 1995, and served as a back-up. Started 14 games in 1997. Moved to the Kansas City Chiefs in 1998, where he never touched the field the first 3 years. In 2006 he gets picked up by the Redskins. In 2007, when Jason Campbell goes down, Collins, at age 36, lights up the Redskins offense in December, and gets them into the playoffs. He just resigned a 3-year deal with Washington worth $9 million.

I don’t know anyone who is at home, been out of football a year or two, that would be brought in. Vinny Testaverde, 44, is done.

THE TOP SECRET BACK-UP PLAN

So be prepared to wait until early September before you see what looks like a solid corp at running back, tight end, and at quarterback behind Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.

And what if Rodgers gets seriously hurt, say Halloween weekend? What could the Packers always do?

Call the 601 area code. Mississippi. Three rings. “Hee-yellow?”

“Hello, Brett?”

- Mike Clemens