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.
