The Brett Favre saga seems to be growing more dramatic by the day. The future Hall-of-Fame quarterback has admitted to retiring immaturally, and he wants to come back. However, the Packers seem to be heading in an all new direction by building for the future with their young quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. But, of course, the situation is much more complicated than that. Favre still has three years remaining on his contract with the Packers worth $39 million. He was set to earn $12 million this upcoming season with the Pack, $13 million next year, and $14 million during his 20th season in the league. Green Bay has made it very clear that they don't want Favre anywhere near the Packers' headquarters, which is interesting, considering that Favre is a legend in Wisconsin. He's only started 275 consecutive games and thrown for an NFL record, 61,665 yards and 442 touchdowns during his career. He also led the Packers to their first Super Bowl win in nearly 3 decades during the late 90's. But despite all the records, Green Bay has made it official, they are done with the Brett Favre era, and they want a divorce. In fact, they're even willing to offer the quarterback a $20 million dollar severance package over the next 10 years to stay retired.
In my opinion, Favre has been fairly selfish about the issue. He retired back in March. The Packers needed to fill his void, so they gave his job away to Rodgers. Now he wants back in? Just a month before kickoff to the 2008 season? While I understand Favre's legendary status in the NFL, the league will endure well beyond Brett Favre's career, and the Packers are intelligent enought to realize that. They want a quarterback for the future, and Favre is only a temporary solution. He bailed, and now he must earn his job back. If he still wants to play, he might consider coming back with a new team that is amidst rebuilding. Unfortunately, for him, he only wants to play in the NFC North, and I don't see that happening. How can the Packers let Favre play against Green Bay wearing a Minnesota Vikings uniform? The franchise would be run out of town. If the divorce is finalized, Favre must play in the AFC. You can't let the guy come back to Green Bay and beat you.
That being said, let's play the devil's advocate for a moment. It would be great to see Favre either traded or released and picked up by the Vikings considering that the team's season opener is in Green Bay on Monday Night Football. And, the Packers are scheduled to retire Favre's jersey in front of a sold out Lambeau Field. Wouldn't that be primetime television at its best?! It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds, but it's hard to blame the Packers in this situation considering that Brett just needs to make up his mind.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
When you consider what Favre means to the organization and to the Green Bay community it’s inconceivable that they would not want him to lead the team for another season, “un-retired” or not.
At his age, it’s easy to say that the game may have passed him by or that he’s lost a step, but that line of thinking goes out the window when you consider his statistical accomplishments from last season. Granted, he threw a couple ugly interceptions against the Superbowl Champion New York Giants, but hey, those same Giants defeated the only undefeated regular season team in NFL history, so it’s not like the Giants were a bunch of slouches stealing a game from the old-timer.
The only question that the Packers organization should be considering is just this: who is best poised to lead this team and win now? Not tomorrow. Not in the future. And not maybe. Now. I can’t see anybody fitting that bill for Packer Nation other than the real “Iron-Man,” Mr. Brett Lorenzo Favre.
Let’s call a spade a spade. Who are the best QB’s in the NFL right now? Peyton Manning and Tom Brady for sure, Drew Brees, Matt Hasselbeck, most likely, but isn’t it arguable that Brett Favre could be included in a group of the top five, top ten at least? And one thing’s for certain, we can all be sure of one QB who’s most assuredly not in that top five bunch…
Aaron Rodgers has been named Packers starting QB by Coach Mike McCarthy. He must be looking pretty damn stellar to beat out a first-ballot Hall of Famer coming off one of his best seasons ever without even a head-to-head competition in Packers Training Camp, considering he’s never started a game or played in much meaningful NFL action.
The idea that Rodgers is going to seamlessly replace a legend, pick up where the team left off, and lead the Packers to the playoffs is ludicrous. Sometimes, you never a replace a legend. Don’t believe me? Ask the Denver Broncos. Or the Miami Dolphins. A notable exception is the San Fransisco 49ers; but in their case Steve Young had already proven himself while Joe Montana recuperated from injuries.
What was at first unthinkable — dealing him to a Division rival — has now become a genius strategem. Instead of granting Favre’s release so he could sign with a Division rival and get nothing, how about trade him to a Division rival, get something in return, and damage that team all at the same time? In exchange for a draft pick or two the Packers will get this monkey off their back, unload a very expensive contract, and modestly debilitate their rival’s future draft, thereby weakening them as a franchise for years to come. Machiavelli himself would be proud.
What amazes me most is the phenomenon of revulsion against Favre by fans and media that we are witnessing right now. Just three months ago, those same fans and media were eulogizing his retirement with wall-to-wall television retrospectives and nearly passing around a collection jar to come up with airfare to Canton to witness his enshrinment as the official Football Emeritus in Perpetuity.
What’s odd are the expectations we have for public figures like Favre. We all expect him to be cordial, thoughtful, sensitive to poor Aaron Rodgers, and to display sound judgment in areas completely unrelated to the “simple” task of leading a football team. If Brett Favre were media savvy and polished in the ways of negotiation like a management consultant, he probably wouldn’t be a professional football player; he would be I don’t know, a former press Secretary for the President or something who now runs a Manhattan-based PR company. No wait - that’s Ari Fleischer, former Bush talking head who was inexplicably invited by Packers Coach Mike McCarthy to give a “pep talk” to his team on the finer points of media relations. (Now I really know who to root for in this whole thing).
Brett is a quarterback in the NFL. He’s pretty good at winning, he’s proven himself to be a risk-taker, and he’s never been afraid to lay everything on the line to achieve the goal in sight. Brett is simply acting like Brett and everybody’s expectation for him to handle this whole thing like a diplomat negotiating peace in the Middle East is frankly out of touch with reality.
www.monkeyinmymind.com
Post a Comment