Peter King of Sports Illustrated.com said Monday on ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption” that he believes Brett Favre will retire this offseason.

From Rotoworld.com:

King says Favre knows he can still play, but likely “won’t play if he can’t play where he wants to play.” King also said Favre isn’t willing to have doctor-recommended surgery on the torn biceps in his throwing arm he played through last year. The Jets will probably go with Kellen Clemens as their starter if Favre retires. They could also bring in a high pick to push Brett Ratliff and Erik Ainge for the backup job. The free agent QB market isn’t enticing.

I understand that it was King who said that Favre, “won’t play if he can’t play where he wants to play,” but if Brett truly has that line of thinking than that’s ridiculous. Favre is an NFL legend – one of the best to have ever played the game. He’ll go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history and his career has been nothing short of brilliant. But he’s still under contract with the Jets and unless they don’t want him (which they might not), than he should play in New York next season if he doesn’t retire.

Comment fodder: Should great players at the end of their career get to choose where they want to finish? In other words, has Favre earned the right to play where he wants to next season just because he’s Brett – even though he’s still under contract with the Jets?

Hurry up and get in line – the Brett Favre retirement talk merry-go-round is ready to kick off again.

Favre said he’ll meet with general manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Eric Mangini soon after the season because he doesn’t want things to drag on and get ugly, as they did last season in Green Bay.
Favre talked about how he has had a great career and he’s not going to chase ghosts, meaning another shot at the Super Bowl.

And, Favre dropped a bombshell, revealing that his shoulder doesn’t feel quite right and he’s looking forward to his exit physical and an MRI to find out if there’s any damage.

Though Favre said it’s premature to talk about retirement, he sounded as if he can’t wait to get back to his hometown of Hattiesburg, Miss., and go hunting. But first, the Jets (9-6) meet the Dolphins (10-5) on Sunday in an AFC East clash with playoff implications for both teams.

If the Jets win, they could win the AFC East if the Patriots lose to Buffalo or earn a wild-card berth if the Ravens lose to Jacksonville.

“This very well could be my last game,” Favre said Wednesday. “I’m aware of that. I’d like to make it a memorable one. .¤.¤. It’s been a great career. This year was a gamble, a risk, whatever you want to call it. It’s been good and bad times as far as our season has gone, but I’m glad I came. I made the right decision.

“It’s been fun fighting with these guys. Whatever happens after this happens. Mike and I and I’m sure Eric, we may talk about (plans) this week, just more or less set a time, if we’re not in the playoffs, talk about it the first part of next week.

“I don’t want to go through what happened last year, for me and for everyone else. And physically, that has something to do with it as well.

This is the same thing he’s been saying for years – he loves the game, but doesn’t know if he can physically play anymore and therefore he’s leaning towards retirement. Then he’ll proceed to change his mind 900 times and eventually come back.

Or maybe this is it for Brett. I don’t know. Nobody knows – not even him. The guy lives and breathes football and if he can physically play, then he should. It’s his decision, although he needs to make one quickly this time around. If the Jets miss the playoffs, there might be major turnover within the organization and it’s only fair to them for Brett to make a quick decision so they can figure out which direction they want to go in.