Draft rememberance

With the draft coming up, draft picks from days gone by come up. The one that comes up the quickest in most fellow Packer fans minds is that of Tony Mandarich. I know, many fans quickly spit at the sound of his name, as he's been labeled as one of the biggest busts in draft history. However, I would like to present him in a different light than he is commonly viewed in.

At the time he was drafted in 1989, Mandarich was THE dominant LT in the college game. He was hyped up by the media as a HOF lineman before he was even drafted. It was a no-brainer for the Packers to take him. There are always star QB, RB and DL but a LT who played how Mandarich did in college was a rarity. In this draft was also, Barry Sanders, Deion Sanders, Derrick Thomas and other players who became superstars.

Mandarich eventually busted out and many have wondered what would have happened if we had Barry Sanders to go with Brett Favre. Well, had we drafted Barry, it's not a guarantee we ever would have gotten Brett. Let me explain.

The GM at the time was Tom Bratz and although he did many good things for the Packers, was terrible at player eval and had the misfortune of hiring Lindy Infante, who was an awful coach. Both of these guys were not all that great in putting a quality product on the field. Therefore, a poor to mediocre team was inevitable.

Had we drafted Barry Sanders, the Packers likely would have been a mediocre team flirting with being in the playoffs each year, much like the Lions were who drafted Barry. This would have led to both Tom and Lindy being in charge longer than they should have.

When Mandarich busted, they were both exposed as the poor talent evaluators that they were and thus were fired. Bratz's replacement was Ron Wolf who was the grand architect of some of the best draft picks and free agent signings in the team's history. Ron Wolf's first actions were hiring Mike Holmgren and trading for Brett Favre. Holmgren was the perfect fit to hone Brett's talent and thus give us the QB that we all know and love. It was Ron Wolf who was also able to bring in Reggie White, which was one of the best FA signings ever and a major coup at the time. The rest is history.

So you see, Tony Mandarich did more for the Packers as a draft bust than he ever could have done as a draft success. With him busting, he ushered in the era of Ron Wolf who brought in Holmgren, Favre and White. I daresay that him being a bust and the laughter that came to the Packers because of this was well worth it, don't you think?