2004 Green Bay Packers Draft: A Look Back

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Mike Sherman and Ahmad Carroll
Ahmad Carroll was Green Bay’s first-round selection in the 2004 draft

If there isn’t enough proof that the NFL draft needs to hurry up and get here, it’s this piece.

With news about the Green Bay Packers on the slower side this week and with all of the attention that soon-to-be former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is getting, I thought I’d take a look back at some Packers history.

And what better time period to focus on than the 2004 NFL draft, which took place just over 10 years ago?  Actually, there are plenty of better time periods to look back on in Packers history but for the next few minutes, let’s go back a decade and remember what was.

Coming into the 2004 season, Packers fans were still reeling from what I still say is the most gut-wrenching loss in the time that I have followed the team.  Notoriously dubbed the “4th and 26” game, the Packers were stunningly bounced from the divisional round of the 2003 playoffs by the Philadelphia Eagles after it looked like a magical playoff run was underway.

The expectations of the 2004 team were high.  Brett Favre would  be back at quarterback, despite some media rumblings about when he would eventually retire.  Head coach and general manager Mike Sherman and his staff were returning and most of the Packers roster would be back.  Besides Favre, the Packers were coming off of one of the best seasons by an individual running back in team history.  Ahman Green amassed over 1,800 yards in 2003 and the Packers had a legitimate dual-threat offense.

Heading into that draft, the expectation was the Eli Manning was going to be the first player chosen by the San Diego Chargers.  The drama surrounding that story was the fact that Manning made it known that he wouldn’t play for San Diego, at the urging of his father and former NFL quarterback Archie Manning.

The quarterback position dominated the conversation and with those rumblings about Favre, some started to wonder if the Packers might be looking for a quarterback to start grooming for the future.

You may recall, Sherman was promoted to head coach and general manager in 2001 to replace the outgoing Ron Wolf, although Wolf actually handled the 2001 draft himself.  Having left the team after the 2005 seasons, Sherman handled three drafts for the Packers.  In looking back, drafting was not one of Sherman’s strong suits.

Let’s look at the Packers’ 2004 slate with some notes about each selection:

Round 1:  CB Ahmad Carroll

Notes: Carroll was taken with the 25th overall selection.  I didn’t know a thing about Carroll at the time and the pick confused me a bit, as the Packers had two solid outside cornerbacks in that of Al Harris and Mike McKenzie.  Maybe Sherman knew that McKenzie would gripe his way out of Green Bay at the start of the 2004 season and that the team would need a replacement.  As with any Packers draft choice, I had to be hopeful that it would pan out.

Pan out, it did not.  Carroll played just over two seasons with the Packers, recording three interceptions and a lot of boo’s from fans.  Let’s put it this way, if he were a pitcher, Carroll’s ERA would have been off the charts.  He was atrocious and I have longed for the day when I could share those sentiments with the masses and express my sheer frustration at Carroll’s ineptness and yet another of Sherman’s head-scratching draft picks.

Just before Carroll, the St. Louis Rams selected running back Steven Jackson.  With Green entrenched as Green Bay’s starter, it’s uncertain if the Packers would have selected Jackson if he had been available.  After Carroll, the most notable names in round one were Jason Babin, Chris Gamble and Ben Watson.

It’s revisionist history but Gamble would have been the better selection.  He went on to have a successful career as both a cornerback and a punt returner over nine seasons with the Carolina Panthers.  He recorded 27 interceptions during his career.

Round 3CB Joey Thomas

Notes:  Another cornerback having just chosen one and with other areas to address?  Perhaps Sherman was truly sticking to his board and going best player available.  That player, Thomas, played one full season for the Packers in 2004 and was released shortly into the 2005 season after a reported rift with Sherman.  Thomas played a few seasons in New Orleans, was out of football for a few years and played sparingly for the Miami Dolphins in 2008 before retiring.

The Packers passed on defensive tackle Randy Starks, who was chosen by the Tennessee Titans one pick later.  Starks went on to have a stellar career with the Titans and Miami Dolphins.

Round 3:  DT Donnell Washington

Notes:  Washington was taken just two slots after Thomas.  Washington never played a single snap in the NFL.  He was injured in 2004, missing the entire season.  In 2005, he wasn’t able to return to the team and he was let go shortly after current Packers head coach Mike McCarthy arrived.

The Packers needed a defensive lineman and unfortunately, Washington wasn’t the answer.  Sherman chose Thomas over Starks just prior to that and that made this one of Sherman’s worst picks.  Ironically, Randy wasn’t the last Starks that one could argue haunted the Packers in that draft.  Offensive tackle Max Starks was taken after Washington in round three and with the Packers set at the position on both sides of the offensive line (Mark Tauscher, Chad Clifton), Washington was the choice.  Max played six seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Three picks, three busts for Sherman so far.  Maybe current Packers general manager Ted Thompson studied up on this Starks debacle when he decided not to pass up on running back James Starks in the 2010 draft, despite an injury that forced Starks to miss his senior year of college.  Not that Thompson will ever share that information or answer that question, but I digress.

Round 3:  P B.J. Sander

Notes:  In Sherman’s defense of pulling a minor “Al Davis” (the late, former owner of the Oakland Raiders selected kicker Sebastian Janikowski in round 1 of the 1999 draft), the Chargers drafted kicker Nate Kaeding with the first pick in round three, 22 spots ahead of Sander.

Still, that hardly justified the pick nor constituted a run on kickers and the selection of Sander has been a sore subject for many Packers fans ever since.  Sander played in NFL Europe in 2004, appearing in zero games for the Packers.  He appeared in just 14 games in 2005 and was released by McCarthy just prior to the 2006 season.  4-4 is great in baseball, bad for Sherman in this case.

Because the Packers did not have a fourth or fifth round pick, here are the notable players passed up in favor of Sander that year:  Shaun Philips, Jerricho Cotchery, Nathan Vasher, Will Allen, Robert Geathers, Jared Allen, Michael Turner, and Matt Schaub.  In the case of Schaub, Sherman actually could be credited with setting the Packers up for their latest championship.  By passing on Schaub, the Packers had a need at quarterback that would be filled the following year with Aaron Charles Rodgers.

Round 6:  DT Corey Williams

Notes:  It took until the sixth round for Sherman to hit on a pick.  I use the term “hit” in a relative sense, given how the previous choices panned out.  Williams played four seasons and effectively manned the middle of the team’s 4-3 scheme for the Packers before being franchise tagged and later traded to the Cleveland Browns in 2008.

In looking at the rest of the names after Williams in that round, Williams still seems like the best pick at the time.

Round 7:  C Scott Wells (compensatory pick)

Notes:  Better late than never, Wells was another good pick up by Sherman.  Wells played seven seasons in Green Bay, five as a starter, before departing in free agency in 2012.  Wells was a member of the Packers’ Super Bowl XLV winning team and was, by far, the best pick of this draft.  He was fifth to the last player taken in that draft.

 

In less than a week, the Packers and current general manager Ted Thompson will get another chance to upgrade the roster when round one of the draft finally arrives.  Thompson has nine drafts with the Packers to his credit and while he certainly has not hit on all of his picks, he has managed to keep the Packers competitive and fiscally sound.  Rarely have they had to let a player go that they really wanted to keep because they couldn’t afford him.

I don’t know about you and say what you will about the current front office in Green Bay, but after that stroll down memory lane, it’s hard not to appreciate who the Packers currently have in charge of their future.

 

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Jason Perone is an independent sports blogger writing about the Packers on AllGreenBayPackers.com

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22 thoughts on “2004 Green Bay Packers Draft: A Look Back

  1. Nothing like a little history perspective to make you appreciate where you come from. Mike Sherman was not the man to hand the keys to. While I can’t say that I know a lot about the guys that TT picks, I do know that he loads the shelf with the best talent available. If we have fallen, it has been because of injuries to our draft picks. If Ted has another draft like 2013 and we get our injured back, the Packers will be tough to beat this year.

    Thanks for the painful but sober review.

  2. Jason – very nice follow up to your previous article on TT. One can only imagine what the critics would have said about Mike Sherman if this blog existed back then. I probably would have been among them. For those who wish TT gone, remember, we could be back to the Mike Sherman days in a heartbeat. The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know. As I have said before, given TTs record I’m fine with sticking with him. Waiting too long for this year’s draft. Go Pack Go! Thanks, Since ’61

  3. Thanks guys. It became more painful as I was writing and researching too. But in the end, it was that whole “you have to remember where you’ve been to appreciate where you are now” thing. I’ll take “now” over what this turned out to be!

    1. …thanks for reviving those well-repressed images of Ahmad Carroll in trailing, “flailing arms” coverage, by the way.

      I need a beer.

  4. Nice article one of the worst drafts in packers history. Am I mistaken but wasn’t Williams eventually traded for a 2 nd round pick from Cleveland??????

  5. Yes you are correct!!!! He was actually tagged and then traded for a 2.

  6. Thanks for the article. Yes, I remember this draft and cringed as I read through it too. What in the world was Sherman thinking?? The first several picks were AWFUL and a PUNTER in the 3rd round?! Wow, just wow….no wonder Sherman got axed the next year!

    1. Not only did Sherman suck as an evaluator, but he managed to put the team into cap-hell at the same time. When you think about it, that’s hard to do considering he was not drafting players worth giving big contracts to. He sucked in free agency too.

  7. The selection of Sanders was jaw-dropping. Not only taking him in the third round, but trading-up to do it! The other teams in the NFC North must have been heartbroken when they finally dumped Sherman. It was like he didn’t give a $hit about the draft. He was the worst GM in the NFL during his tenure. He was a decent coach though.

    I found this from “Bill” posted in 2006 “Here’s some good stats, Sherman had 4 drafts in which he drafted 27 players, nine of which are still with the team, three of those nine are starters. Wolf who hasn’t conducted a draft in 6 years has 6 of his picks still starters yet.”

    As much as I like Harlan, I would say promoting Sherman to GM was the biggest black-mark on his time with GB.

  8. Holmgren was Wolf’s only good hire. Rhodes, Sherman and Thompson have all been disasters.

    1. I know you’re not a TT supporter and no issue with that, but Thompson was hired by Wolf as a scout, not as GM.

      You may or may not see Wolf as having been good at acquiring personnel, but Thompson was a part of his process.

      As a GM, Thompson was hired by Bob Harland. Thompson wasn’t working for the Packers at the time. You can’t put that choice on Wolf.

    2. Archie, your comments have given yourself away, your last name has to be Pelosi, you are living in an imaginary world.

  9. Jason….one could say we’re better off with TT than with this blivot. Compared to this particular draft, TT’s debacles pale in comparison. Did he ask you to run this in order to stop the hate mail? They do have something in common. Both had teams that won because of the qb’s and in spite of their horrendous personnel strategies. They also share the same bubbly outgoing personalities. Sherman gets some slack because of the lead poisoning contracted by sucking on those pencils……….TT get some slack for. Ah, never mind.

    1. Well, I have claimed that Ted secretly reads our stuff so maybe he’s doing that mind control that Jesse Ventura says is being used on the masses and planted the idea in my cranium!

  10. Sherman and TT are brothers. Lots of similarities between the two. They even look alike. They are both legends in their own mind.

    1. This is like hearing some one. Constantly professing that the world is flat. The evidence is in. You are just wrong.

      The persistance is at first humorous and then, after a while it becomes sad. Either you are trolloing or don’t know the difference between good and bad.

    2. This is like hearing some one constantly professing that the world is flat. The evidence is in. You are just wrong.

      The persistance is at first humorous and then, after a while it becomes sad. Either you are trolloing or don’t know the difference between good and bad.

  11. Great look back, I will never forget the picture of Carroll with boxing gloves on in practice to ride him of the tendency to hold, that has to be an NFL first. Sherman had a solid record as head coach but as a GM he was awful (only 2 decent picks were Barnett & Wells). The biggest reach ever was Washington who looked like Tarzan and played like Jane. Just a reminder on 4th & 26, few remember that only got us to overtime, first series in overtime, Favre through a balloon into triple coverage and was picked – the defense didn’t loose it like most people think. Again, nice look back 10 years ago.

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