Be a nice guy all the way up to the sideline. Get on the field and be dirty, rotten, mean and nasty. Be nice and shake hands after the game. A true Packer team captain.

I'm your captain, I'm your captain
Though I'm feeling mighty sick
Everybody listen to me
And return me my ship

I've said this before, and I'll say it again.

When it's the 4th quarter on a cold day, and you're on the road, and you're playing hurt, and the refs are boning you, it isn't your talent that's going to carry the day, it's your character.

Some people think that good character is somehow synonymous with choir boys. Not at all. The guys who went ashore at Normandy and Iwo Jima had plenty of character, but they were definitely not school boys.

One of the often repeated themes with some of these picks was how many of them were former team captains. This is a young team which just may be getting a little bit younger. I'm not at all opposed to seeing how this intangible metric of potential maturity, work ethic, and leadership skills plays out. It is just one other quality that has played out for these guys up to this point and it might be a valuable one.

Too many times we have seen across the league the draft choices who brought low impulse control to the field of play. These are the guys who will draw the 15 yarder at the most inopportune time. These are the guys who lose their head and get ejected from games (maybe more than once) . They will make you gasp, facepalm and say, "Why?" Football gets intense and emotional for all players but the ones who can keep their heads aren't going to be your hanky magnets.

So, that being said it will interesting to see if there is there, there, when factoring in some of this past captain strategy when it comes to how these guys will pan out. More steady? Better team player? Keeping their pissed off fingers away from social media postings, etc. All things which could affect a younger less experienced player in the league.

Could be a little bit of a something.

Bart Starr has 5 rings because he could lead. Not because of his great arm or mobility or RAS scores or anything. A man who can lead other men to victory is a pretty rare commodity, whether in sports, business, the military, or any other arena.

I always find the mantra of these types of articles interesting. Small market Green Bay, fighting against pervasive moral decay to field teams of men who are not merely talented football players, but men of integrity and high character. With our Midwestern values, we will not tolerate less. God, family and the Green Bay Packers, right? Ask Aaron Jones how much character matters in Green Bay. Character is vital until it isn't, and that's the way it always has been.

Winning covers a multitude of character defects especially if they're alcohol-related because, well, because Wisconsin. Going full Mossy Cade or James Lofton will get you a ticket out of town, as will too much weed or smacking your woman. But, hey, drink a little too much too often, it's all good as long as you catch/throw those TD passes on Sunday. No purple drank, though, that'll draw unwanted attention and upset the Martha Circle at Our Savior's Lutheran. IxNay on the infidelity, too, or at least be discrete. Hands off the TV anchors is a good rule of, um, thumb?

The NFL League Office is morally bankrupt and completely bereft of character. It's a place where profit rules. Must. Grow. The. Business. Safety of and care for human beings comes in very near the bottom in any short or long term decision. There are, after all, an unlimited supply of players. That one's broken? Worry not, we have another right here! Those crippled old-timers? Don't look at them! Here, look, a shiny new slogan in the endzone and on the goal post. See? We salute service *and* will end bullying! God Bless America!

Turn your focus to the list of NFL team owners if you'd like to see a group with less character than The Ginger Hammer et al in NYC. If you can make it past Jerry Jones, David Tepper, or Ziggy Wilf without dry heaving, kudos. But, yeah, hey, those high character guys in Green Bay, now they are truly the salt of the earth. Good people, great players, and vital teammates in a winning culture, until they're no longer useful.

Many interesting comments and insights by our posters .... Yet

STILL WE WATCH...

Character is what you do when no one is watching. High character creates trust. It foreshadows good decision making. It is a necessary ingredient for leadership.

The Packers are drawn to prospects with a thick resume of consistent college production, who are good athletes, and possess high character

These three are linked and increase the odds of getting a solid ROI in the costly investments in players. If any of these three are lacking, the player is probably unlikely to be a Packer.

And, the more of these men you have in your locker room, the greater the collective character of the team. And when a character "issue" surfaces, the greater likelihood the players themselves get it resolved.

Recruiting players with solid character is just good business.

Actual teambuilding is a highly undervalued aspect in the NFL. Too often and with too many people the 'talent' aspect that people put on players rules out. If 'talent' was the most important thing with winning then the perennial losers in the NFL, (Bears, Jets, Raiders, Browns) would be the best teams, but they're not. Why? It's because the intangibles matter. Things like character, work ethic, attitude and intelligence matter. Why do the Packers and Steelers win every year? They always draft at the end of drafts, they always pick players that 'surprises' everybody in the Draft Industrial Complex. They care about Teambuilding. The difference between players talent in the NFL is pretty miniscule. What separates players is those intangibles.
I was an HR Executive for many years and have hired hundreds of technical and leadership, as well as thousands of entry level employees. I can tell you that the most important thing you look for is hints about character. Your resume gets you in the door but your character gets you hired and paid. I would rather hire someone with the attitude to continuously improve than someone who has all the boxes checked on their resume. The Packers have their thresholds which gets players in the door, but to get drafted they need to show those intangibles. It's a strategy that works in business and clearly works in the NFL.

“God, family and the Green Bay Packers “

All one has to remember in Green Bay is the James Lofton-Mossy Cade trials to remember what can happen when personal actions run the team even more off the tracks.

The Packers have long memories. We had an ultra-talented player at a key position recently and when that person's antics were removed from the team the Packers had a remarkable season.

I taught High School for many years and what a person in the future would be like many times manifested on very early to what to expect them to be like. Many did not disappoint either on the bad or good. By far fortunately turned out to be great people, leaders and parents. Happy to say the vast vast majority of those people were great, like most Packers are and have been. There are always those........................

"When it's third and ten, you can take the milk drinkers and I'll take the whiskey drinkers every time."