BY CHRIS HAVEL
Write it down. Save it for posterity. Take it to the bank.
Years from now, Packers’ fans will reflect on this past week, smile and be reminded that the football operation simply wasn’t in good hands.
It was in Ted Thompson’s hands.
At the conclusion of an epic week in which the Packers’ top two stars were re-signed to record contract extensions, and the GM conducted the draft like a maestro, the NFL’s top story was this: Jets release Tebow!
No problem with that in Green Bay. Here, the GM seeks no praise – which probably explains why he receives so little. That seems fine with him, and it seems OK with Packers’ fans, too.
The longer Thompson runs the Packers – it is nine drafts and counting – the more Green Bay’s fans have come to understand and appreciate their GM’s understated but effective style.
Consider how smooth this offseason has gone despite major shakeups.
Early in the offseason the Packers said good-bye to icons Greg Jennings and Charles Woodson. Those decisions would have created uproars in most NFL cities. The GMs would have been assailed with demands by media and fans wanting to know how those stars would be replaced.
In Green Bay, it was offseason business as usual. The fans and everyone else essentially trust that Thompson will find a way to get it done. Meantime, the Packers tried to keep several of their own free agents and signed a few (linebacker Brad Jones, for example) to new contracts.
Now, think about the past week in the NFL’s tiniest town.
The Packers signed their top two stars at the NFL’s most important offensive and defensive positions to record-breaking extensions.
Neither received an abundance of national attention.
Clay Matthews announced his deal via Twitter. Aaron Rodgers held a hastily called news conference and humbly talked about leading the team to greatness.
What would have been earth-shattering news in most NFL cities was greeted with a Thompson-like understated, matter-of-fact approach.
It is why Green Bay remains one of the NFL’s most enduring and endearing stories. It takes care of its business, and it contends for titles. No drama here.
That goes for the draft, too. In fact, the draft reflects much of what makes the Packers’ football operation among the league’s finest.
Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy provide terrific leadership.
That’s where it starts.
Both allow their scouts and/or assistants to do their jobs. McCarthy’s ability to communicate his football vision, and Thompson’s ability to grasp it and apply it in the draft, is what keeps Green Bay competitive.
The Packers were wise to sit tight with the 26th pick.
Datone Jones, the 6-foot-4, 285-pound defensive end from UCLA, gives Packers’ defensive coordinator Dom Capers athleticism and versatility. Both of those attributes were painfully absent in Green Bay’s 45-31 loss at San Francisco in the NFC Divisional Playoffs in January.
Jones should be on the field in the base 3-4 and most sub-packages.
Alabama running back Eddie Lacy, the Packers’ selection at No. 61, is an interesting pick. The 5-foot-11, 230-pound back was seen as a late-first round possibility. However, Lacy fell for a variety of reasons. One report suggested he has a toe fusion, which allegedly could cause injury issues in the future. Another suggested he was out of shape.
The Packers, who are renowned for their due diligence, were comfortable with Lacy’s health and chose accordingly. Instead of taking him at No. 55, they traded back six spots and still got him.
The selection of Lacy, in addition to UCLA running back Johnathan Franklin, provides a much-needed infusion of talent to the unit. After Day One, when Thompson left both on the board, fans wondered, “How will the running game improve?”
That question has been answered with a dual response.
Lacy should provide a tough inside-outside threat that may force defenses to bring eight in the box. Franklin, who runs a 4.4 40-yard dash, is a legit home run threat that has been long absent in Green Bay.
Thompson sat out the third round, collected picks and attacked in the fourth by taking a pair of offensive tackles. Colorado’s David Bakhtiari (6-4, 300) and Cornell’s J.C. Tretter (6-4, 307) are athletic linemen with basketball/tight end backgrounds who could play guard and/or center.
The Packers’ logic in these selections is sound.
Left tackles frequently are their college team’s best lineman, so it makes sense that they should be the best NFL prospects, regardless of position. Whether Bakhtiari (an early entry) and Tretter (a former tight end) play tackle, guard or center, at day’s end they are tough, athletic, 300-pound plus linemen with solid backgrounds, great work ethics and intelligence.
They should upgrade the competition in the entire offensive line. That can only hasten the running game’s growth while lessening the times Rodgers is sacked.
The Packers added toughness, size and defense in the final six picks.
I will focus on those in next week’s column. Meantime, consider the past week’s place among the most significant in the team’s offseason history, and think about how fortunate Packers’ fans are that GM Ted Thompson is running the show.
Chris Havel is a national best-selling author and his latest book is Lombardi: An Illustrated Life. Havel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4-6 p.m. CDT on WDUZ FM 107.5 The Fan, or on AM-1400, as well as Fan Internet Radio (www.thefan1075.com). Havel also hosts Event USA’ MVP Parties the evening before home games.

Tall, athletic defensive end figures to add speed, versatility to Green Bay front seven
By CHRIS HAVEL
GREEN BAY – With the 26th pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, the Green Bay Packers chose Common Sense, embodied by a tall, athletic defensive end from UCLA named Datone Jones.
Jones – whose first name is pronounced DAY-tone – thus the nickname, Da Tone Setter, is at once an obvious, exciting and encouraging pick.
The obvious, of course, is that the Packers’ need at defensive end could not be overstated. Four of the top five – including B.J. Raji – are in the final year of their contract. Clay Matthews, the league’s highest-paid linebacker, needed a pass rushing counterpart not named C.J. Wilson.
The exciting part is that Jones (6-4, 280) looks like he can play.
His energy and versatility stand out on film.
So does his ability to get the edge, and more important, to close in a flash once he does. It’s merely the blink of an eye, but it’s often the difference between a sack and a touchdown pass.
Jones, who will wear No. 95, is going to be given ample opportunity to win significant playing time. He’s likely to line up at the “five” technique in the base 3-4. He’s also going to be an inside pass rusher in the Packers’ four-man fronts in sub-packages.
With Matthews and Pickett on one side, and a healthy Nick Perry and Jones on the other, the Packers’ defense should be much-improved.
The encouraging aspect is that Thompson stayed true to his philosophy.
The Packers’ GM sat tight at No. 26 and let the first round play out.
It’s a strategy that requires patience, vigilance and trust in the scouting department. Frankly, most NFL owners tend to be impatient, easily bored by details (they pay people for that) and neither know nor care about the trials, travels and tribulations of an NFL scout.
Thompson gets it because that’s who he is – a former NFL player who became a scout and eventually was entrusted to run the show.
Talk of Green Bay taking a running back at No. 26 was a pipe dream.
The Packers are a passing team. A running back that high just doesn’t make sense for a team whose stock-and-trade is an aerial attack.
Consider the New Orleans Saints and the 2011 draft. The so-called experts said Drew Brees and Co. would be unstoppable if only they had a bona fide running game. So the Saints drafted Alabama running back Mark Ingram with the 28th pick. In two seasons, Ingram has rushed for little more than 1,000 yards and the Saints haven’t won a playoff game.
Wisely, Thompson avoided any temptation to draft Alabama running back Eddie Lacy with the 26th pick. When the Giants rolled up 37 points in the 2011 playoffs, and the 49ers notched 45 in the 2012 postseason, the Packers didn’t lose because they lacked a running game.
What they lacked was a will to run, perhaps, but more important they lacked a defense capable of stopping Eli Manning’s Giants and Colin Kaepernick’s 49ers.
Thompson knew it and has attempted to do something about it.
Furthermore, Thompson seldom selects skill players in the first round. In his nine drafts, he has chosen one skill player in the first round – quarterback Aaron Rodgers with the 25th pick in 2005.
In 2008, Thompson traded out of the first round rather than reach for a receiver he coveted. Patiently, almost inevitably, he ultimately landed the receiver he wanted all along: Kansas State’s Jordy Nelson.
Thompson wasn’t taking a back, tight end or receiver then in the first round, and he wasn’t going to take one Thursday night.
The only question when the Packers were on the clock was, “Do they take Jones or North Carolina defensive tackle Sylvester Williams?”
Thompson chose the end over the tackle. He chose speed over size. He chose a player whose relentless style was patterned after none other than Reggie White, the Packers’ Hall of Fame defensive end.
“Reggie White played one way: with maniacal effort and just with complete hunger, no matter who he lined up against,” said Jones, who volunteered to reporters his admiration for White. In fact, when he saw “Datone Jones” and “Packers” together on the TV screen, he said, “I almost fainted, man. This is like a dream come true.”
Reggie White had Sean Jones. Now, Matthews has Datone Jones.
It makes for an interesting Day Two.
Look for Thompson to trade into the second round – likely before their pick at No. 55 – to acquire their highest-rated safety or interior offensive lineman. Then, with the 55th pick, look for the possibilities to include a tight end or running back.
Florida International’s Jonathan Cyprien and South Carolina’s D.J. Swearinger are intriguing safeties, San Diego State’s Gavin Escobar is a tight end possibility and UCLA running back Jonathan Franklin might be reunited with fellow Bruins star Datone Jones in Green Bay.
Stay tuned.
Chris Havel is a national best-selling author and his latest book is Lombardi: An Illustrated Life. Havel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4-6 p.m. CDT on WDUZ FM 107.5 The Fan, or on AM-1400, as well as Fan Internet Radio (www.thefan1075.com). Havel also hosts Event USA’ MVP Parties the evening before home games.

By CHRIS HAVEL

To them the schedule is the straw that stirs the drink. Weddings, vacations, reunions and perhaps funerals are planned around the Packers’ game dates – both home and away. It is why there is such an uptick in all things Packers when the schedule is released.
Local businesses plan much of what they do around the Packers. Whether they are diehard Packers’ fans or closet Bears’ fans they understand and accept that the dates are integrated in people’s lives.
The schedule’s release enables Packers’ fans to plan their future.
When fans print out the 2013 schedule they likely will acknowledge that it is a brute. They also are apt to find more W’s than L’s when they check out the dates and opponents.
The Packers open Sept. 8 in a nationally televised 3:25 p.m. start at San Francisco, the site of their most recent playoff embarrassment.
To suggest the Packers are seeking revenge is to forget January’s nightmare. Forget revenge. The focus is on competing, challenging and winning – none of which the Packers did to any great extent in bookend losses to the 49ers in 2012.
“Opening day is always exciting,” Packers head coach Mike McCarthy said. “Playing the San Francisco 49ers is obviously a challenge that we look forward to.”
The Packers play host to Washington and quarterback Robert Griffin III in their Sept. 15 noon opener at Lambeau Field. That’s two read-option teams in as many games, so we’ll find out early if the Packers’ defensive staff learned anything from its off-season trip to Texas A&M.
An early bye week (Sept. 29) is offset by a Thanksgiving Day game at Detroit against the Lions. The four-day turnaround from a Nov. 24 home game against Minnesota to a Nov. 28 Thanksgiving game is tough. The bright side is it gives McCarthy and his team a second “bye” in that players should get four or five days off before the four-game stretch run.
The Packers’ first quarter of the season is difficult in that it begins with three games against playoff teams (49ers, Redskins and Bengals), including two on the road.
After wrapping up the first four games with a home contest against the Detroit Lions Oct. 6, the Packers travel to Baltimore to face the defending Super Bowl-champion Ravens Oct. 13.
The season’s fourth quarter is even more challenging than its first.
It begins with a Sunday night game at Lambeau Field against the Atlanta Falcons on Dec. 8. The Falcons have adopted a “Super Bowl or bust” mentality. Undoubtedly this game will have significant playoff implications.
After that, it’s on to Dallas to face the Cowboys Dec. 15. Then it’s back home to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers before a Dec. 29 regular season finale at Chicago against the Bears.
While fans’ lives revolve around the schedule the Packers’ draft is the lifeblood of the team.
No other NFL team places as much emphasis on it.
The Packers’ financial situation dictates that they spend wisely, if sparingly, in free agency. The Packers’ “draft and develop” philosophy has served them well, and GM Ted Thompson and his scouts widely are considered among the best in the league.
The draft gives hope to fans whose team doesn’t play in free agency. Every pick is potential starter. Every draftee is a possible Pro Bowler; every pick is gold waiting to be mined.
Most Packers’ fans like their chances at San Francisco in the opener, and they love their chances in the draft.
Meantime, they’ve got a great deal of planning to do. Weddings, vacations and reunions will wait only so long.
Chris Havel is a national best-selling author and his latest book is Lombardi: An Illustrated Life. Havel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4-6 p.m. CDT on WDUZ FM 107.5 The Fan, or on AM-1400, as well as Fan Internet Radio (www.thefan1075.com). Havel also hosts Event USA’ MVP Parties the evening before home games.

Furthermore, Favre said he never believed Packers GM Ted Thompson was wasting his later years by building for the future.
“I just find it hard to believe that a GM or a head coach would be concerned about the next era when their job is on the line today,” Favre told the station. “That has happened. I think you do have to look to the future a little bit in, for example, drafting Aaron Rodgers. (I’m) perfectly OK with that. But you do have to be concerned about winning now, unless you’re looking forward to getting a high pick or whatever.
“But I think for me it (retirement contemplation) was the timing. I had played I don’t know how many games straight in ‘05 at the end of the year. … If we didn’t win it at the end of the year, which 19 out of 20 we didn’t, then it was a disappointing year for me. Later on in my career, it just got more and more disappointing. Even though I might’ve had a great year, the last thing I wanted to think about was football.
“So when I was asked that question of playing or not playing, I could have easily said, which I probably should’ve, ‘We’ll see you in July. At this point I can’t commit to a team, I’m burned out.’ Which was true. That’s not to say that in July I wouldn’t be recharged. It’s kind of like when you go on summer break from school. You can’t wait. But then the first day of school, you’re kind of looking forward to it again. And that’s the way I was.”
Favre’s comments raise more questions than they answer. There’s really nothing new in that. The important thing is that he seems comfortable discussing his departure and is open to a return.
Fans are divided on the topic. Some want to see his number prominently displayed inside Lambeau Field. Others say they hope it never happens.
The reality is that it is going to happen. The question is, “When?”
Ultimately, that’s up to Favre and nobody else.
Packers’ president Mark Murphy repeatedly has said the team will retire Favre’s No. 4 “when the time is right.”
Since the football is in Favre’s hands, right where he wants it, the future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback ought to take his time.
Unlike a play, there’s no rush here.
Fans are enjoying the Packers’ success with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. That alone makes it easier to live in the present, rather than to long for the good old days.
Furthermore, it’s been just two years since Favre was out of the NFL. That’s like a blink of an eye given his two decades in the league. The record-setting quarterback’s stature isn’t going to diminish.
In fact, as Favre’s election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame draws near – he will be eligible in the summer of 2015 – memories of his incredibly powerful right arm and legendary toughness will be rekindled.
If Favre wants to patch things up with Packers’ fans he may have disappointed or offended, he merely needs to make that return trip to Green Bay before he goes into Canton.
The gesture would go a long way toward healing old wounds. It would be wise for one of the greatest Packers to make Green Bay his first stop, and then continue on his way to Canton in the summer of ’15.
It would be a sign of respect to the team that he represented so terrifically for all those seasons. If it happens sooner in Green Bay, so be it. But to really embrace everything that is going into the Packer Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Favre should do it right, and in that order: Green Bay and then Canton.
Based on Favre’s comments to the Dallas radio station his wounds have healed. Now he can think about doing some mending for his fans.
Chris Havel is a national best-selling author and his latest book is Lombardi: An Illustrated Life. Havel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4-6 p.m. CDT on WDUZ FM 107.5 The Fan, or on AM-1400, as well as Fan Internet Radio (www.thefan1075.com). Havel also hosts Event USA’ MVP Parties the evening before home games.

GREEN BAY – Green Bay Packers fans never fail to amaze me.
Whether it is free agency, the draft or an upcoming game they have an opinion, and generally they also have the Packers’ best interests at heart. The most recent example involves cameras and the locker room.
The NFL has ordered teams to place cameras inside the locker rooms with video to be shown only on stadium scoreboards this season. Commissioner Roger Goodell hailed it as a way for the league to further enhance the in-game experience for its fans.
NFL vice-president of business operations Eric Grubman said the cameras will provide unique content
“I can see cameras in locker rooms or tunnels or coaches’ facilities before games,” Grubman said. “Fans want it, and clubs can do it.”
Certainly clubs can and will do it. But do fans really want it?
The league will closely monitor the content, so the potential for inadvertently showing inappropriate video is next to impossible. Or is it?
Several Packers fans called into Sports Line to express their desire NOT to have cameras in the locker room. Their thought was twofold:

1. The locker room is the coaches’ and players’ private sanctuary, and that it should be respected as such. They said they didn’t need to see and hear everything that goes on, including the head coach’s pre-game speech, which is really just between him and his team.
2. Why risk having inappropriate video somehow leaked to the media? They point out that it’s not like THAT never happens.

Numerous Packers fans put their team’s best interests ahead of a chance to get an enhanced, in-stadium experience – at least in terms of cameras in locker rooms.
One caller used a “for instance” – suppose Packers’ coach Mike McCarthy is in the midst of a passionate pre-game speech and for whatever reason the video shows several players’ rather salty response?
Will NFL coaches begin to “play to the camera” because they know it is being videotaped and then broadcast inside the stadium? Will this require the “official” pre-game speech, followed by the one that is piped into the stadium?
Some simply wonder where and when the line will be drawn between “enhanced experience” and “invasion of privacy.”
Interestingly, Dallas owner Jerry Jones has been using locker room cameras in this fashion. It is where the league got the idea. Now, it is coming to Lambeau Field and beyond.
My guess is fans will grow to like it, while coaches and players will merely learn to tolerate it. Most important, the league better make darn sure it knows exactly who, what and where when it comes to the videos.
On another video note, the league is requiring all available replays be shown at stadiums during a video review. Home teams can’t simply choose to play video that may be favorable to their team.
 
Woodson still waiting to hear from teams
Who is slower in pursuit? Is it Charles Woodson trying to chase down a fleet young receiver, or the 32 NFL teams who have shown zero interest in signing the 36-year-old free agent safety
Woodson told the NFL Network last week that he believes teams think he’s too old to play.
“I’m 36, so of course I’m considered ancient in the game right now, and teams are looking for younger players and trying to make their rosters younger,” he said. “If you’re an older guy, they kind of push you to the side, and they’ll maybe look at you much later on down the road, when I guess they figure they can get you much cheaper.”
Woodson is absolutely correct. More and more teams – the Packers were among the first – are willing to make an offer to a veteran free agent, let him shop it around, and return if there’s nothing better out there.
James Jones is the classic, recent example. The Packers let Jones test the market, and they re-signed him when he received unsatisfactory interest. No hard feelings. It’s just business.
Jones did exactly that and upon his return elevated his game. Now, he’s a starting receiver on one of the NFL’s most potent passing attacks.
Woodson’s albatross, of course, is his age. Jones (27) was entering his prime when he became a free agent. Woodson (36) is well past it.
If he figured in the Packers’ plans, I suspect he’d already be back. Unless the desire still burns hot, Woodson might be wise to walk away with a NFL Defensive MVP Award and a Super Bowl XLV ring.
Rodgers’ contract estimates keep growing
The most recent numbers have Aaron Rodgers’ contract extension in the neighborhood of six years, $125 million, with $60 million of it guaranteed money.
That’s an awfully nice neighborhood, to be sure, but it’s also the cost of doing business. If the Packers are going to be perennial contenders they need an elite quarterback. It’s that simple.
More than that, Rodgers is a leader. When he spoke about being an explosive passing attack without Greg Jennings, he was accepting responsibility and displaying confidence in himself and his teammates.
Rodgers says what he means, he plays at a high level and he wins.
Rodgers gets the money, but Packers’ fans get the prize.
Seventeen days and counting until the draft
The closer the draft, the more impossible it is to predict who, what and where the Packers will select in the NFL draft on April 25-27.
The Packers’ perceived needs have been well-documented. They include running back, tight end, center, defensive tackle, defensive end, inside linebacker and safety.
Well, that certainly narrows it. Based on the old-fashioned formula, and GM Ted Thompson’s history, the Packers will select:
** Big over small (offensive or defensive line);
** Defense before offense (Packers’ defense still the weaker unit);
** Immediate impact versus developmental player;
** Need and best player intersect;
The Packers are likely to sit tight and select at No. 28, then trade up and execute two second-round selections. That means three players in the first two days who should be counted on to contribute this season.
That means a defensive lineman (nose or end), a safety and either a running back or tight end in the first two days of the draft. Like I said, it’s impossible to predict, but too intriguing not to try.
Chris Havel is a national best-selling author and his latest book is Lombardi: An Illustrated Life. Havel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4-6 p.m. CDT on WDUZ FM 107.5 The Fan, or on AM-1400, as well as Fan Internet Radio (www.thefan1075.com). Havel also hosts Event USA’ MVP Parties the evening before home games.