Category: Fantasy Football (Page 244 of 324)

Love him or hate him, Peter King writes for Sports Illustrated, and he doesn’t think this Brett Favre story is going away anytime soon.

We are early in what I can guarantee will be a very tumultuous month in the recurring Brett Favre will-he-or-won’t-he saga, and what I can tell you for sure is this: Number 4 wants to play football again, and the Green Bay Packers desperately do not want him to.

I fully expect Favre’s agent to send a letter to the Packers within the next 10 days, stating that Favre, 38, wants to be taken off the National Football League’s reserve/retired list. At that point, the team will have no choice but to re-admit the league’s most accomplished statistical quarterback ever back to football, and general manager Ted Thompson and McCarthy will have a decision to make that you can be sure is keeping them up nights. They can take Favre and his $12.8-million cap number back onto the team and give him his starting job back, or they can trade him, or they can release him.

Every one of those options makes the Packers wretch.

Can you imagine what [Aaron] Rodgers would think if McCarthy came to him this week and said, “I know you’ve been working hard getting ready to start for us, and we’ve promised you the starting job, but we’re going to bring Brett back for one year. Or two. Or three.” If I were Rodgers, and I’d already waited through three years without starting a game, and Favre returned, I know what I’d tell McCarthy. That’s fine, Mike. But I will never sign another contract with the Packers. After 2009, whatever happens, I’m gone.

Say they accept Favre back, then try to trade him. They’re going to get, what, a third-round pick from Tampa Bay or the New York Jets or Washington for him? They’ll forever be known as the men who sent the greatest Packer packing.

Say the Packers allow Favre his freedom, which I think ultimately is what Favre wants if he doesn’t get his starting job back in Green Bay. Overwhelmingly the team that makes the most sense to sign Favre for a couple of years is Minnesota.

Imagine Favre in purple. It’s an absolutely vomitous scenario for the Packers, imagining Favre playing for their arch-rivals — and imagining Favre charging out of the tunnel at Lambeau Field for the opening game of the 2008 season. Lambeau Field, “Monday Night Football,” the night Favre was supposed to have his number retired for the Packers.

Which is why I believe the Packers, even though they desperately want Favre to stay retired, will take him back if he presses the issue.

I keep hearing Favre was pushed into retirement by the Packers demanding an early decision this off-season, or by Thompson not showing him enough love. He might feel that way, but I think it’s nonsense. Favre stood up in front of the world six weeks after he played his last game and said he was finished. If he’s not, the Packers are not to blame. He is. He’ll have to take the consequences for returning, either in Green Bay (where he shouldn’t expect a hug from Rodgers) or elsewhere. But right now, I believe the heart is telling Favre to play, and what the heart wants, the heart usually gets.

As a Packer fan, this whole situation is disheartening. It was tough enough dealing with Favre’s retirement, but this is turning into a nightmare. Trade Brett Favre? Release Brett Favre? Brett Favre playing for the Vikings? The mere thought of these things sends a chill up my spine.

If the Packers bring him back, and let him wear the green and gold, this story is going to follow the team around all year. If he doesn’t have a great year, the question will be a constant – should he have come back at all? If they do bring Favre back, forget about Aaron Rodgers ever playing quarterback for (or re-signing with) the Packers. He’ll want a fresh start, and I don’t blame him, not after all of this.

Everything goes back to Favre’s decision to retire in the first place. He was coming off a terrific season and his team almost made the Super Bowl. Why retire?

It sounds like he’s asking himself the same question.

I hesitate to even post this, because the “article” doesn’t cite any real source, but ProFootballTalk.com is “reporting” that Brett Favre’s agent Bus Cook is “privately” saying that Favre wants to play for the Carolina Panthers.

For his part, Favre tried to squash the rumors yesterday saying that there was nothing to the reports that he wanted to come back, but this is the internet age, so the rumors won’t die… especially if they’re true.

Only time will tell.

ESPN is reporting that “sources close to the team and player” say that Brett Favre may be getting the “itch” to play again as a result of his family “tugging” him to return to the Packers.

Favre has communicated his potential desire to coach Mike McCarthy but talks have not advanced to a substantive stage, a Packers source said.

The source said the Packers would be reluctant to open the door for Favre because “Brett retired for the right reasons, even though I know his family is tugging on him [to play].”

However, Favre’s agent downplayed the likelihood that the quarterback could un-retire or that he was prepared to report to camp July 28.

“As far as I know, right now, Brett Favre is retired and until he tells me something different, that’s what it is,” James “Bus” Cook, Favre’s agent, said.

If Favre decides that he absolutely wants to play this season, the Packers could be confronted with a sensitive issue. The entire offseason has been spent preparing Aaron Rodgers to play quarterback to the point where “the offensive scheme has evolved” and, psychologically, closing the door on Favre’s legendary 17-year career.

If the Packers resist a stronger push by Favre to return, sources speculate that the quarterback could press the team to release him from his contract so that he could seek a job with another team. A league official said that Favre could force a decision by asking the Packers, in writing, to reinstate him to active status. The team would have to comply or release him.

Regular readers know that I’ve been a Packer fan since I learned how to walk and I’d love to see #4 under center again. But I have mixed feelings about this. Psychologically and emotionally, I just recently got over the fact that Favre retired and that we have a new quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, to rally around. What would Favre’s return do to his state of mind? By most accounts, Rodgers has looked great in the minicamps, so it would have to be demoralizing for him to take a back seat to a guy who can’t decide whether or not he wants to stay retired.

Are the Packers a better team with Favre under center this season? Probably. Are they a better team two or three years down the road? I’m not so sure. As much as I’d like to see Favre come out of retirement and lead Green Bay to the Super Bowl, chances are that’s going to happen. Maybe it’s time to move on and see what this kid Rodgers can do.

Honestly, I’m really torn about this news.