The Packers selected QB Aaron Rodgers with the 24th pick in the 2005 NFL draft.
Two years after he co-founded the Packers with Curly Lambeau, George Calhoun began writing a piece called The Dope Sheet, which served as the official press release and game program from 1921-24.
Honoring Calhoun, the first publicity director, the Packers are running this weekly feature as their release, which is being made available to fans exclusively on Packers.com.
A complete edition of the Dope Sheet will be available each week during the season in PDF format, located in the Packers.com Game Centers.
Here are some highlights from the Pre-Draft Dope Sheet:
THOMPSON PREPARES FOR SECOND PACKERS DRAFT: Ted Thompson doesn't want history to remember him the way fans remember Harry Glickman.
-Faced with a Top 5 draft selection, each general manager - Thompson and Glickman - was given a choice: Draft for obvious need or take the best player available, regardless of position?
-Twenty-two years ago, Glickman assessed his roster, reviewed trusted feedback from his scouting and personnel staffs, and came to a highly logical conclusion. The team had an obvious void in the middle of its lineup. Plus, it already had all-stars at the position in which the best player available happened to play. So, with the No. 2 overall pick, Glickman drafted for need.
-He drafted Sam Bowie and passed on Michael Jordan.
-Like the Portland Trailblazers in 1984, the Packers in 2006 have obvious starters at assorted positions, and obvious needs at others. But while Thompson may not uncover a five-time MVP destined to lead his club to six world championships, rest assured, Thompson believes in drafting the best player available.
-"You have to do what you think is best for the organization," Thompson said. "You have to take the best player available. And I think history will bear me out in that when you stray from that, that's when you make mistakes."
A WEEKEND TO SOLIDIFY THE FOUNDATION: Ted Thompson, a former NFL linebacker, serves as the engineer for a seventh NFL draft this week. And to Thompson, the 18 hours in which teams are on the clock Saturday and Sunday represent the 18 most important hours of the league year.
-Are the Packers in rebuilding mode? Every NFL team who believes that its nucleus is built on draft weekend is in rebuilding mode.
-While every team approaches the draft as an opportunity to land impact players, Thompson heads into the weekend looking to build depth, too. The Packers set a goal to develop depth because, in the era of free agency and the salary cap, starter turnover happens every year.
-The search for players who not only fit, but also can contribute, is a never-ending process.
THEY HAVE TO GET AN ANSWER FROM BRETT, RIGHT?: Actually, no. Before Brett Favre and after Brett Favre, Thompson always has and always will view the draft as a tool to build for the future more than the present. Therefore, he honestly feels fine entering the draft without knowing whether the future Hall of Fame quarterback will be under center Sept. 10. That unknown will not affect the Packers' decisions this week.
-"I don't think it can or it should," Thompson said. "Now, you might think about it, but the draft as I've said before, it's a long-term thing. It's a long-term process for your organization. It's an investment in the future and I don't think you can look at it from a short-term point of view. You have to look at it from a long-term point of view.
-"The way I look at this is, Brett is an outstanding player. We want him to be our quarterback. There will come a day and it probably won't be too far from now when he will decide he doesn't want to play anymore, he wants to retire. We know that day is coming. So, again, draft decisions are based on what's best long-term for the organization, so it doesn't have an effect on what we're going to do Saturday and Sunday."
DON'T GET CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A BRATWURST: Wisconsin is known as America's Dairyland. And as any local in the agriculture business knows, red sky in the morning, farmer take warning. The rising sun that bounces off western clouds usually means rain.
-As sure as those red clouds over Minnesota are to bring at least one shower, any Packers draft weekend is sure to bring at least one trade.
-In fielding trade offers, Green Bay can consider the value of one impact player against multiple players of combined equal value.
-"It depends on how you have the players rated," Thompson said. "In my view, if you have a chance to get a remarkable player, you take the player. If you have an opportunity to get a similar player moving backward, then that makes it a little bit easier, but it's our view that we're going to have a chance to get a pretty good player no matter how it falls."
-Thompson wouldn't comment on specific offers, including whether the Packers have taken calls regarding WR Javon Walker, but he did say he expects to speak to each of the 31 other clubs up to and throughout this draft. Circumstances play an obvious role in any potential trade, including who is still on the board when the Packers are on the clock with the fifth overall choice at approximately noon Saturday. But at this point, Thompson expects to keep that selection.
-"I do, for a couple of reasons," he said. "No. 1, I think there's a high probability, in fact it's almost a certainty, that there's going to be a really good player there for us at No. 5. The second is, people that want to trade when they're at the top of the draft and want to trade backward, it's difficult to do because you have to have somebody that really wants to come up there and to come up there, you have to realize that the price of playing poker has gone up, the salary and the pressure and that sort of thing. So, there's not that many people that want to come up."
-But once that fifth-overall card is at the podium, the price of poker becomes a little more affordable.
-"I think with most teams, the more picks they have, they would feel better," Thompson said. "There are several teams that have a lot of picks right now and they're happy that they have them. There are some teams like us, or teams that have fewer picks than us, and wish they had more. Yeah, in a perfect world you would wind up with more picks, but I would think more times than not, we would probably just pick right where we pick."
-Whether they're successful or not, the Packers will at least attempt to increase their selections (they went from seven to 11 in 2005). So to all those media and fans new to following draft weekend at Lambeau Field, a friendly word of warning: Don't let your hair down after a Green Bay selection. Keep your eyes and ears open for trade alerts.
HEADLINES DON'T WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS: "I think our philosophy, our way of approaching the building of a team, is trying to be consistent by using the draft as a foundation. I don't think you can build a team through free agency. You can plug a hole here and there, but the foundation has to be to built through the draft and to try to bring in the kind of player, not only talent-wise, but character-wise, that can come in and contribute to the team and be a positive influence in the locker room. Those are the keys for us."
-Ted Thompson was not the source of that quote. It was Pittsburgh's Art Rooney II last month after winning The Sporting News 2005 George Young Executive of the Year award. That consistent Steelers philosophy, also shared by the New England Patriots under Bill Belichick, has reaped obvious rewards.
-Earlier in this decade, the Packers were as aggressive in free agency as most any team in the league.
-Now, they're following the Steelers and Patriots examples. Thompson subscribed to that school before he came to Green Bay. In fact, his build-through-the-draft philosophy while orchestrating the Seahawks' drafts from 2000-04 provided Seattle its foundation for a berth in Super Bowl XL opposite Rooney's Steelers.
ON THE RECORD ON FREE AGENCY: Green Bay is among league leaders in available room under the salary cap. So why does Thompson refuse to sign big-name free agents?
-"That's a mischaracterization of my view on free agency," he said. "I think free agency is a very interesting tool to use to help you patch some holes and do some things.
-"There's no reluctance on our part. We do try to make certain that what we do is not just fantasy football. We're investing in a player that's got to come in and play a particular role. If we don't think that player can perform to that contract, then it doesn't make sense for us to do it just to say, 'Look what we've spent.'"
-In other words, the team won't spend money just because it can. Compare that philosophy to buying a house. Packers fans wouldn't pay $150,000 for a home in which the market values at only $130,000. Similarly, Thompson isn't willing to overspend on free agents.
-However, when used properly, he does see free agency as a valuable tool. The team has high hopes for unrestricted free agents Marquand Manuel, whose premature Super Bowl XL departure played a role in the Steelers' success, and Ryan Pickett, who led NFL defensive linemen in tackles last year.
THEY'RE NOT SITTING ON THEIR FLIPPERS: This offseason, the Packers were aggressive financially in the stakes for Adam Vinatieri, regarded by many as the top clutch kicker in league annals. Likewise, Green Bay pursued LB LaVar Arrington. In the end with both players, the team lost out probably for reasons out of its control. The Colts offered Vinatieri an indoor home field, ideal for kickers, and the Giants offered Arrington the opportunity to live close to his hometown and twice a year play familiar foes from the NFC East.
-Thompson said the Packers are still in discussions with CB Charles Woodson and that no one in Arrington's camp told him that Favre's status had anything to do with the linebacker's decision to sign with the Giants.
-"There's all kinds of reasons why people will come to a team or stay with their original team," Thompson said. "I haven't gotten that indication, that someone has decided not to be here because of the indecision on Brett's part."
