Don't be the Packers Atrium

[Packfntk]

A memory just popped up on my facebook page. It was from 2008. My buddies and I would always go to the draft party at Lambeau. Every year, angry Packer fans would go and complain about the picks. It honestly seems like there will never be a correct pick that the brass can make, and people will be fine with. Whether it is to take care of a need that they see, provide depth, BPA, or draft what they want for the future, to maintain a winning program for years.

Here is the memory. In 2008 the Packers drafted a WR out of K-State, and people were outraged. Throwing hands up in the air, immediately shouting cascades of Boo's among the entire Lambeau Field Atrium. People yelling, "Do you even know what the hell you are doing?" People yelling, "Fire them, fire them all!" It was awful. I threw my hands up in the air, looked back and said, "What are you doing?" My buddies golf clapped. Immediately the Journal Sentinal ran over to me to interview me (Not the intention), because I was one of the only people not upset about the pick, Jordy Nelson.

Give the picks time, they know what they are doing, trust the process.

[go pak go]

This is awesome. I love too how everybody now says things like,

"Drafting Rodgers was different. We all knew Favre was close to retirement. I supported the pick"

"We loved Jordy Nelson. We were excited for him."

"I always wanted Kenny Clark."

Yeah....okay.


I think the more of these drafts I see, the more I am convinced the draft is an egotistical contest amongst fans. Because if the player they "know and love" is picked at the position they see as a need, it validates that they know football. Plus, it just makes it easier to assign value to someone you have already assess value on.

I mean I can't help but admit my ego was shot a little when it sounds like Gute basically said my guy Mims as worthless too the Packers when I loved him.

[YoHoChecko]

Absolutely GREAT post

I was reluctantly on board with Rodgers; an early adopter on Nick Collins (particularly because the Ravens told the packers they were going to pick him, and Ozzie Newsome had a track record that TT did not yet have). I quickly got excited about Greg Jennings once we read about him.

But MAN, I lost it with Jordy Nelson. My complaint, which lasted relentlessly for I think 3 years? He wasn't Desean Jackson. I remember it well, and I hope to keep it as a lesson, keeping me a little more level-headed when I prefer one layer to another.

I also really wanted Clay Matthews to be Connor Barwin. Thought we wasted tons of draft capital to take one when we could have just waited and taken the other. Barwin missed his rookie year to a camp injury. By the time he was any good, Jordy was emerging, Clay Matthews had emerged, and I was learning to trust the process.

[Yoop]

This is awesome. I love too how everybody now says things like,

"Drafting Rodgers was different. We all knew Favre was close to retirement. I supported the pick"

"We loved Jordy Nelson. We were excited for him."

"I always wanted Kenny Clark."

Yeah....okay.


I think the more of these drafts I see, the more I am convinced the draft is an egotistical contest amongst fans. Because if the player they "know and love" is picked at the position they see as a need, it validates that they know football. Plus, it just makes it easier to assign value to someone you have already assess value on.

I mean I can't help but admit my ego was shot a little when it sounds like Gute basically said my guy Mims as worthless too the Packers when I loved him.

fans have every right to complain when a GM picks a guy they don't like, if the heat is to hot in the atrium, don't go, Fans own this team, Fans pay the GM's salary, when Ted picked the preverbial always injured Harrel fans said we don't approve with there boo's, and the fans where right, Harrel was a bust, sure fans can be ignorant, but they are still paying for the freight.

Fans where upset with the Jordy pick for two reasons, 1. they didn't know him, and two. ted traded out of the first to later part of 2nd to take him, the 2nd reason already had the fans ire, not expecting the fans to be upset Nick was yours.

[Yoop]

Absolutely GREAT post

I was reluctantly on board with Rodgers; an early adopter on Nick Collins (particularly because the Ravens told the packers they were going to pick him, and Ozzie Newsome had a track record that TT did not yet have). I quickly got excited about Greg Jennings once we read about him.

But MAN, I lost it with Jordy Nelson. My complaint, which lasted relentlessly for I think 3 years? He wasn't Desean Jackson. I remember it well, and I hope to keep it as a lesson, keeping me a little more level-headed when I prefer one layer to another.

I also really wanted Clay Matthews to be Connor Barwin. Thought we wasted tons of draft capital to take one when we could have just waited and taken the other. Barwin missed his rookie year to a camp injury. By the time he was any good, Jordy was emerging, Clay Matthews had emerged, and I was learning to trust the process.

ya, but your not the AVERAGE fan, I doubt many of us here are, we know more, we investigate players in the draft, even so we rarely argue positional picks ( players of same position) because lets face it we can't know for sure that Mathews was a better choice then Barwin ( unless our name is Mike and we subscribe to Gil Brandts draft daddy report ) or Jackson over Nelson, sure we read as much, watch as much as possible, but we don't scout all the games, so obviously we are still vastly more limited then a team scout, heck for instance if Guty had taken Reager over Auiyk what could I possibly say to refute that choice between the two, nada, it would be foolish of me to object, so we stick to liking this position over another based on our perceived team needs, thats about the best we can do, one of the requirements to be a GM is to be thick skinned enough to not only take the fan whip lash, but also to realize the ignorant fan has every right to crack that whip, it goes with the job.

[Packfntk]

fans have every right to complain when a GM picks a guy they don't like, if the heat is to hot in the atrium, don't go, Fans own this team, Fans pay the GM's salary, when Ted picked the preverbial always injured Harrel fans said we don't approve with there boo's, and the fans where right, Harrel was a bust, sure fans can be ignorant, but they are still paying for the freight.

Fans where upset with the Jordy pick for two reasons, 1. they didn't know him, and two. ted traded out of the first to later part of 2nd to take him, the 2nd reason already had the fans ire, not expecting the fans to be upset Nick was yours.

Well, the funny thing is that we as fans think we know all the answers. Fact is, that 99.9% of us know nothing about building a team, maintaining a team, or drafting rookies. We like to think we do, but we don't. The Packers have been winners over the last nearly 30 years. As fans we should be grateful for that.

[Waldo]

Fans where upset with the Jordy pick for two reasons, 1. they didn't know him, and two. ted traded out of the first to later part of 2nd to take him, the 2nd reason already had the fans ire, not expecting the fans to be upset Nick was yours.

That and face it, white dudes didn't exactly have a track record of success at skill positions in the years prior. There was always the token white dude (Bill Schroeder I believe) that every single white WR was compared to, no matter how dissimilar. Might have been Wes Welker. Jordy became that guy once he broke out, but in the process he did shatter the glass ceiling that had formed a bit in his era. Few thought a white dude at WR was going to amount to much of anything.

[British]

Fans where upset with the Jordy pick for two reasons, 1. they didn't know him, and two. ted traded out of the first to later part of 2nd to take him

This perfectly sums up why football fans are often quite stupid.

By now Packers fans should have a bit more humility and have some faith in the TT-tree.

[Yoop]

Fans where upset with the Jordy pick for two reasons, 1. they didn't know him, and two. ted traded out of the first to later part of 2nd to take him

This perfectly sums up why football fans are often quite stupid.

By now Packers fans should have a bit more humility and have some faith in the TT-tree.

stupid I suppose could be confused with simply not knowing.


why? because the FO allowed the last GM in the office 3 years longer then it should have, or because the Pres. gave a boat loaded contract to a QB 2 years before he had to, then fired the only NFL coach the guy ever had for a coach with a plan the aging, but still very good QB had never played in, why should the fans have faith in a GM who gives a QB with only 1 impact receiver, 3 very raw mid round receivers that have shown very limited progress in 2 full seasons and then drafts his replacement with the first pick, why would any fan have faith, or really any more blind faith in this GM, just look at what he did with the 12 slot last year, Gary barring some bad luck will never be a starter herre in his first contract without picking up the 5th year option, so excuse me British my faith is run short.

[British]

Fans where upset with the Jordy pick for two reasons, 1. they didn't know him, and two. ted traded out of the first to later part of 2nd to take him

This perfectly sums up why football fans are often quite stupid.

By now Packers fans should have a bit more humility and have some faith in the TT-tree.

stupid I suppose could be confused with simply not knowing.


why? because the FO allowed the last GM in the office 3 years longer then it should have, or because the Pres. gave a boat loaded contract to a QB 2 years before he had to, then fired the only NFL coach the guy ever had for a coach with a plan the aging, but still very good QB had never played in, why should the fans have faith in a GM who gives a QB with only 1 impact receiver, 3 very raw mid round receivers that have shown very limited progress in 2 full seasons and then drafts his replacement with the first pick, why would any fan have faith, or really any more blind faith in this GM, just look at what he did with the 12 slot last year, Gary barring some bad luck will never be a starter herre in his first contract without picking up the 5th year option, so excuse me British my faith is run short.

The reason the atrium loudmouths should have kept quiet is because they should realise that on the whole fans don't know crap compared to professional GMs. While we're all doing our 9-5 they are doing this stuff full time. And they've risen through the ranks at a decent organisation like the Packers for a reason. That's why any fan should give any draft pick at least 2, probably 3, years before writing them off as a bust.

Sure, if you have a mad owner doing consistently bad stuff like the Bengals or past-it Al Davis, you have grounds for complaint. But the Packers? The most consistently excellent team in the NFC for the past 20 years? I think we fans need to be a bit more humble.

[Drj820]

This is awesome. I love too how everybody now says things like,

"Drafting Rodgers was different. We all knew Favre was close to retirement. I supported the pick"

"We loved Jordy Nelson. We were excited for him."

"I always wanted Kenny Clark."

Yeah....okay.


I think the more of these drafts I see, the more I am convinced the draft is an egotistical contest amongst fans. Because if the player they "know and love" is picked at the position they see as a need, it validates that they know football. Plus, it just makes it easier to assign value to someone you have already assess value on.

I mean I can't help but admit my ego was shot a little when it sounds like Gute basically said my guy Mims as worthless too the Packers when I loved him.

fans have every right to complain when a GM picks a guy they don't like, if the heat is to hot in the atrium, don't go, Fans own this team, Fans pay the GM's salary, when Ted picked the preverbial always injured Harrel fans said we don't approve with there boo's, and the fans where right, Harrel was a bust, sure fans can be ignorant, but they are still paying for the freight.

Fans where upset with the Jordy pick for two reasons, 1. they didn't know him, and two. ted traded out of the first to later part of 2nd to take him, the 2nd reason already had the fans ire, not expecting the fans to be upset Nick was yours.

Very cool picture and post OP.

I do more agree with Yoop though. We invest emotion into the team, we do research, i spend money to board a plane and travel to one game a year (live in the south), and i arrogantly think i know quite a bit about football (analyzed days worth of film in college for the linebackers coach as a student assistant)...I got no problem with fans booing or giving hot takes about draft picks. I dont automatically think a GM is a genius. Just look at the bears moving up to draft trubisky or other historically dumb moves. If people dont like this draft, they dont have to assume a GM knows something they dont. They can get mad and whine about the picks...my only request is admit you were wrong if it turns out you were wrong.

For me, my biggest miss of the Gutey era is i was actually mad we moved back and didnt get Josh Jackson in the first round of the draft, then was excited again when we were able to get him later. I didnt like Jaire because he was small and had spent alot of time injured at Louisville. Obviously i took some egg to the face on both fronts.

[Labrev]

Okay, I will admit to having been disappointed with the Clark and Jordy picks.

I was true neutral on Rodgers.

[YoHoChecko]

I think there's a balance.

Obviously part of being a fan is the highs and lows. Rooting and being excited. Being disappointed and frustrated.

For games it's kind of easy; you need only wait 3.5 hours before the results are known.

For offseason moves it's more difficult. Free agency and draft have long runways, lots of build up. In a blink, they're over... but the results aren't known for a minimum of months, but more likely years.

Fans should be humble. I've littered my posts with acknowledgements that GMs generally know more than fans and than the media. That I don't have access t the same resources or information. And that the Packers are a VERY successful franchise that doesn't deserve such scorn and vitriol.

But we CAN have feelings, need some time to cool off. We can be disappointed or frustrated. We can rant. We can second guess. We can make our preferences known. And if the booing happens in good fun, and you don't hang onto it for 3 years like I did with Jordy, that's just sports--entertainment. It's all part of the fun.

It's problematic to me when this turns into anger. It's problematic when it is coupled with arrogance that you, the fan, know better than the team or the whole NFL. When the frustration or disappointment overrides the need or desire to wait and watch it all play out. Put your frustration and opinions in the proper context, try to enjoy the upcoming season. The Packers had a GREAT, and unexpected year last year with this GM, with this coach, with this QB, with these receivers.

The 2019 season is the most fun I've had watching the team in years. Rodgers, for his case, said the same--that football was fun again last year.

So wishing that the draft went another way is perfectly normal. It's perfectly acceptable. We're on a forum to serve as an outlet for all of our Packers thoughts. Let it out. But don't let it override your feelings for the team, which should be overwhelmingly positive this year, this decade, this 20-years. Don't let it override your feelings about a GM who changed the fate and fortune of the team last offseason with 4 free agent signings and 2 All-Rookie draft picks.

Vent. Complain. Suggest alternative realities. State your preferred players and even point out, over the years, when the players you really wanted succeed or fail. I think a TON of posters are doing a really good job of that. But it's not just "Am I happy or am I sad?" "Am I optimistic or am I frustrated?" It's also the tone, it's the context and willing to be humble with where we fit int hat context. And it's the absolute truth, that nothing we have seen this offseason has had any impact yet on the football field; no outcome has been determined. The ONLY thing we can do about it is wait. We're all entitled to our feelings, but the anger and arrogance needs to take a step back.

[Yoop]

fans have every right to complain when a GM picks a guy they don't like, if the heat is to hot in the atrium, don't go, Fans own this team, Fans pay the GM's salary, when Ted picked the preverbial always injured Harrel fans said we don't approve with there boo's, and the fans where right, Harrel was a bust, sure fans can be ignorant, but they are still paying for the freight.

Fans where upset with the Jordy pick for two reasons, 1. they didn't know him, and two. ted traded out of the first to later part of 2nd to take him, the 2nd reason already had the fans ire, not expecting the fans to be upset Nick was yours.

Well, the funny thing is that we as fans think we know all the answers. Fact is, that 99.9% of us know nothing about building a team, maintaining a team, or drafting rookies. We like to think we do, but we don't. The Packers have been winners over the last nearly 30 years. As fans we should be grateful for that.

well sure, and truth be told I dont know many fans that aren't grateful, sure they bitch an complain about almost everything, specially when it just happens like at the atrium , later once they realize they over reacted, most accept they may be wrong and come to there senses, if there is any one thing I've learned (self included) is that people take time to adapt to change or unexpected stuff, I'am probably a poster child for that as you have plainly been a witness to

I've had a bunch of employers that made a ton of mistakes, and I considered most of them far smarter then me, yet I new before hand there decisions would lead problems, I bet we all have experienced that, so just because Ted/Guty or othe r Packer FO people are smart and know there jobs, doesn't make them infallible, course some fans (me ) rely in that infallibility so we can jump, scream, and holler at the atrium when they pick a Willard Harrel luv ya Buddy