Why Ted Thompson should be Patriotic!

I was talking earlier this week with one of the other writers of this blog and we were discussing how there are certain teams that are very active in free agency every year, and others, like the Packers and the Bears, who do virtually nothing. And there were a couple of things that jumped out at me. First of all, we notice how active the New England Patriots are in Free Agency and we compare that to their relative dominance so far this decade. Being Packer fans, we had to compare their offseason strategy with ours and some of the other teams in the NFC North.

It seems that every year the Patriots pick up a good amount of players through free agency. The pick up a lot of veterans and value players that will fit into their system and add depth at their position. Perhaps this is why they have been Super Bowl contenders for the last 5 years. In comparison, the Packers and the Bears never seem to pick anyone up in Free Agency, and maybe that explains why the NFC North was one of the weakest conferences in the NFL last season and why the Vikings went to the Playoffs.

You can say whatever you like about Bill Belichick and whether he is a cheater or whatever, but in my mind, there is no questioning that he is one of the best, if not the best coach in the NFL. Whether you like him or not, I would suggest reading "The Education of a Coach" by Bill Belichick and you will see the time and thought that he puts into not only being a coach, but also in the front office and in understanding the Salary Cap system. All I know is that I would love for the Packers to be in a similar position as the Patriots, and maybe the hands off approach to free agency isn't getting the job done.