ESPN: Brett Favre considers returning

[Merlot Joe]

Well with the opening of the NFL training camps only a few weeks away Bret Farve is making nosie about coming back. If he does will it be with Green Bay or someone else?

Joe

ESPN: Brett Favre considers returning to football

1 hour, 28 minutes ago

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Brett Favre is considering coming out of retirement, according to an ESPN report. ESPN's Chris Mortensen said Wednesday that a Packers source told him the 38-year-old Favre told coach Mike McCarthy in the past two weeks that he has the itch to play.

"The Packers have no reaction," team spokesman Jeff Blumb told The Associated Press.

Favre's agent, James 'Bus' Cook, didn't return a message seeking comment. Packers general manager Ted Thompson and McCarthy were on vacation.

Favre retired March 6 after a 17-year career.

Cornerback Al Harris said on ESPN's "NFL Live" that Favre made similar comments to him.

"I know he has the itch to come back and play," Harris said. "If he will or not, I don't know

LINK[/size]

[Merlot Joe]

Look like thing might get interesting in Green Bay.

Rally held to pressure Packers to reinstate Favre

By CARRIE ANTLFINGER, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 14 minutes ago



Brett Favre's fans came to his defense Sunday, rallying outside Lambeau Field to pressure the Green Bay Packers to reinstate him as the starting quarterback. The crowd of more than 100 chanted "We want Brett," and carried signs reading, "Favre for President" or "Favre Forever." Many in the parking lot wore No. 4 jerseys, tossed footballs and grilled.

"We've always appreciated the passion of our fans," the Packers said in a statement. Team spokesman Jeff Blumb said there would be no other comment.

The rally in Green Bay, Wis., was the brainchild of brothers Adam and Erick Rolfson, who on Friday tried to think of a way to keep Favre in Green Bay. Another rally is planned for Monday night in suburban Milwaukee and every Sunday thereafter at Lambeau Field until Favre is back.

The brothers also are demanding an emergency meeting of stockholders "to help control the fate of our quarterback," Erick Rolfson said.

A message left for Favre's agent, James "Bus" Cook, wasn't immediately returned Sunday.

Favre retired March 6 after 16 seasons with the team. He changed his mind and asked for his release because it appeared the Packers were not receptive to having him play again.

On Saturday, general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy said they didn't plan to grant Favre's request. And while Thompson said Favre could rejoin the team in a "different role," the Packers were committed to going with Aaron Rodgers as their starter.

"We wanted to create a forum for fans' voices to be heard," Adam Rolfson, 36, told The Associated Press by phone. "I don't understand how you deny somebody that threw for 4,000 yards (last season) a starting position. I can think of at least 25 teams in the NFL that would jump at the opportunity to have Brett Favre be their starting quarterback."

They had hoped Sunday's rally, only a day in the making, would have attracted more people.

Packers fans are divided on the 38-year-old quarterback. While Favre clearly has his supporters, others seem weary of another offseason of retirement-related drama.

In a poll on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Web site, 47.2 percent of fans said they wanted Favre to play for the Packers next season and 46.5 percent said he should "retire already." Only 6.3 percent of the 17,000-plus fans who voted in the poll as of Sunday afternoon wanted to see Favre play for another team.

The Packers said if Favre wanted to play for them, he had the chance when he told them a few weeks after his tearful goodbye news conference that he was having second thoughts. With Thompson and McCarthy preparing to fly to Mississippi and seal the deal on a comeback, all Favre had to do was say yes. He didn't.

"Ted always wanted Brett back," McCarthy said. "We always wanted Brett back."

In an interview with the AP on Saturday, Thompson called the situation "gut-wrenching."

"We understand where the fans are coming from," he said. "This is a hot-button issue that surpasses anything I've ever gone through."

The brothers, from the Milwaukee suburb of Pewaukee, started making random phone calls Saturday from the Green Bay white pages urging people to attend Sunday's rally and visit their Web site www.bringbackbrettfavre.com.

At the rally, they asked fans to vote on whether they wanted the team to make Favre the starter, whether Favre or Rodgers gives the Packers the best chance at the Super Bowl and whether Thompson should be fired if he trades or releases Favre.

The Web site is selling "Favre 08" shirts, bumper stickers and yard signs. Erick Rolfson, 32, plans to turn his Wauwatosa mortgage company into "Favre '08 Headquarters."

"Last time we checked," he said, "Green Bay is a publicly owned franchise and is owned by the people in the community and by the stockholders, not Ted Thompson."

___

[Ardbeg... innit]

I cannot believe Farve is doing this, I know he loves the game, but always took him as the type to make a decision and stick with it.

[wareagle]

Jul 15, 2008 6:14:06 GMT -6 Ardbeg... innit said:

I cannot believe Farve is doing this, I know he loves the game, but always took him as the type to make a decision and stick with it.

His wife had breast cancer a few years back and I don't think she's out of the 5 year window yet. It's just a thought but even with his millions he may feel he has to keep working.

[Merlot Joe]

Heard on the radio this morning is the reason he wants the release is that he feels he was pushed out the door by Green Bay last year.

I think that bullshit.

Joe

[Ardbeg... innit]

Brett Favre's stock may be dropping faster than Fannie & Freddie's, in Green Bay at least. He may have pulled one of the most stupid moves in sports history, contacting the Minnesota Vikings from a Green Bay Packer issued cell phone. I would have LOVED to been in the offices in GB when that cell phone bill arrived. How do you toss a career of being loved and adored by fans in a small community to being on the verge of being run out of town... follow the Brett Farve model

Link

It's not as poetically idiotic as Chris Henry getting arrested while wearing his own jersey, but this one's in the same neighborhood.

Remember those tampering charges that the Packers filed against the Vikings? And remember how I thought it would be difficult for the Packers to prove that Favre had made inappropriate contact with the Vikings?

Well, that assumed that Brett Favre wasn't using a Packers-issued cell phone to make those calls to the Vikings. As it turns out, Favre may have done exactly that.

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

...Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had an interesting bit of information in a piece he wrote about the quarterback today.
McGinn writes that a source said Favre had continued to use a Packers-issued cell phone and that when the team checked the phone records it found “repeated calls to coach Brad Childress and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell.”
The possibility of Favre having used a phone issued by the Packers had been speculated on last week after the Associated Press reported that Green Bay informed the NFL it felt “an investigation of the phone records would show more than ‘normal contact’ between the Vikings and Favre, even before he formally asked for his release to play for another team.”

In fairness to Favre, it should be mentioned that any phone calls he made to the Vikings were made in a gunslinging fashion, and through the entire conversation, he looked like a kid out there, just having fun.

Say this turns out to be true, and tampering by the Vikings can be proved. And say that the Packers do what they're expected to do, and block Favre from playing for the Vikings. Favre could end up costing the Vikings draft picks and fines while never playing a down for them, while also putting the Packers in this miserable position.

Give him a couple more weeks, and he might just find a way to tear down the entire NFC North.

[pixiedust]

I am a Brett Farve fan but that was a really asinine move!! Under the heading of "stupid things I have done" that would be about #1 for him.....got to admit that my stock has dropped a bit for him.

[Merlot Joe]

I think his stock is fall all around the league. The only place he may be a hit is to whatever team he lands with if the Packers trade of release him.

This could be the beginning of an ugly end to a brilliant career. What a shame.

Joe

[edie2u]

Jul 24, 2008 6:29:53 GMT -6 pixiedust said:

I am a Brett Farve fan but that was a really asinine move!! Under the heading of "stupid things I have done" that would be about #1 for him.....got to admit that my stock has dropped a bit for him.

Ditto....

[Ardbeg... innit]

I would GLADLY retire and stay retired if GB offered me significantly less than $20 million, $5 million should do, thus saving GB $15 mill.

All I can say is, if Farve does come back and play, he better produce. If he ends up having a sucky year, he will have to sneak out of town disguised and in a Yugo, because the entire town will be out for blood.

Link

Packers still have plenty of Favre options
The strangest game of chess and/or chicken that the NFL, and possibly pro sports, ever has seen has moved on to the next level.

Unretired Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre has been reinstated, effective 1 p.m. Monday, and is heading to Green Bay on Sunday, landing just as the team is to scrimmage before a packed house at Lambeau Field.

So what does it all mean? We've all learned over the past month that the Favre-Packers story doesn't contain a simple formula. The only predictability is unpredictability, and it's becoming more and more clear that Favre secretly loves the chaos he has created and the attention he has garnered for himself.

Here is how this story could evolve over the next several hours/weeks:

1. The Packers could cut Favre

... and Jeffrey Dahmer soon could be playing ice hockey in his current spiritual residence.

The only sure thing in all of this is that the Packers are committed to not cutting Favre in the near term, because it almost certainly would lead to him signing with the Vikings or perhaps the Bears. After all, the Packers play host to the Vikings in Week 1. Why should the Packers make it any easier for the Vikings to get Favre ready for that game?

Then again, it could be that the Packers realize once Favre shows up that keeping him around for the next several weeks or possibly longer simply isn't an option. Or NFL commissioner Roger Goodell could squeeze the Packers to let Favre go if they can't find a trade partner.

Still, Favre getting his release before the end of August is unlikely.

2. Favre could take the money

The decision to hop a plane from Hattiesburg, Miss., to Green Bay on Sunday could be Favre's final power play in forcing the team to cave regarding whatever sticking points remain in the negotiation on that non-bribe bribe that presumably would preclude Favre from playing. (There have been conflicting reports regarding whether such a deal would allow Favre to play in 2008, but knowing the Packers' position it would be surprising if the $20-plus million "marketing" deal would allow him to play this year.)

ESPN has reported that Packers officials believe Favre has been bluffing. ESPN also reports that Favre thinks the team has been dishonest with Favre and with the fans. If the latter report is accurate, it sounds like Favre won't be taking any deal from the club.

3. The Packers could trade Favre against his wishes

Now that Favre has been reinstated, the Packers can trade his rights to any NFL team, regardless of whether he agrees to the transaction. And so a team like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could, for example, give up a seventh-round pick that becomes a third-round pick if/when he reports and a first-round pick if/when he leads the Bucs to the Super Bowl. A team like the Buccaneers also could pursue some of Favre's original signing bonus money if he refuses to report to Bucs camp and re-retires, just as the Buccaneers did after they acquired the rights of quarterback Jake Plummer in 2007.

The broader question is whether there's another team out there willing to turn this thing into a full-blown three-ring circus. And whether the GM who'd be pulling the trigger on such a deal is sufficiently secure in his position to withstand any public relations fallout, and/or sufficiently inclined to try to help the Packers get out of a tough spot.

4. The Packers could continue to work on a trade Favre will accept

Lost in the developments of the past few days is that GM Ted Thompson has been trying to swing a deal that Favre would deem acceptable. Presumably, that process ended when the Packers either asked for too much in trade compensation other teams didn't offer enough and/or Favre wasn't interested.

Still, if Favre truly wants to play for the Vikings, Bears or Lions -- he has said he only wants to play in the NFC North -- the best outcome in the short term would be for the Packers to trade him to one of those three teams. If, again, Favre will accept such a move.

5. The Packers could squat on Favre

Another possibility would be for the Packers to keep Favre around for the rest of training camp, preseason and regular season. To do so, however, they'd have to be willing to pay him $12 million to hold a clipboard, and they'd need to bury him so deep on the depth chart that he wouldn't be the guy to take the field if/when Aaron Rodgers sustains an injury, even if he is knocked out for only one play.

Really, once Favre is back on the field, it'll be nearly impossible to get him off it.

So it's highly unlikely that the Packers will keep Favre on the roster once the regular season begins.

6. The Packers could hold Favre until the eve of Week 1

The most likely option at this point is that the Packers will welcome Favre back, make him the fourth-string quarterback, minimize his reps in team drills (a season-ending injury would force the team to pay him $12 million) and then cut him as late as they can before his $12 million salary becomes guaranteed.

By cutting him as late as Friday, Sept. 5, Favre's $12 million salary for 2008 would evaporate and he'd have to negotiate a new deal with a new team and try to get up to speed on their playbook as soon as possible. As a practical matter, it would make it difficult -- if not impossible -- for Favre to play for the Vikings in Week 1 at Lambeau. By the time the Packers and Vikings get back together on Nov. 9 in Minnesota, however, Favre would be ready to take a piece out of the Packers.

There could be other permutations and possibilities, and this story has been sufficiently bizarre to suggest that the final act currently is on nobody's radar. Regardless, the simmering standoff between player and team exploded Sunday. Where everyone will be when the debris settles is anyone's guess.

7. The Packers could give Favre a shot

This option appears to be, for now at least, the one the Packers will employ: Give Favre a fair shot at reclaiming the starting job that was handed to Aaron Rodgers, who in three NFL seasons has yet to start a game.

It makes the most sense, but why didn't the Packers commit to this approach when Favre asked more than a month ago to return? They say that it's better for wisdom to come late than not at all, but it's hard to believe a team that was poised to pay Favre more than $20 million on Saturday had an epiphany once Favre boarded a plane.

The competition could be a way for the team to buy even more time. If Favre looks good in camp, and if other teams think the Packers are serious about keeping him, a trade market might emerge.

Or maybe Favre can't overcome the one-week head start Rodgers has received, and the Packers then decide on the eve of the regular season to grant Favre his release, which as mentioned above would limit Favre's ability to get up to speed with the Vikings, Lions or Bears.

Or maybe Favre will overcome the head start, but coach Mike McCarthy will decide that Rodgers is still the better option, and Favre will be cut before his $12 million salary becomes guaranteed at the start of the regular season.

The biggest risk the Packers are taking, apart from a fractured locker room and negative P.R., is that a season-ending injury to Favre will cost not $20 million over 10 seasons, but $12 million over one. or now, however, the Packers seem to be willing to take that risk--primarily because they have no other option.

[Merlot Joe]

IMHO they are not going to trade him to a contender. IMHO he is also not goinmg to go play for some celler dweller.

I think he will be the starter again.

Joe.

[Merlot Joe]

Man was I wrong. Farve off to the NY Jets. I can't picture him in Jet green.

Don't know if he will help them or not. Time will tell.


Joe

[Ardbeg... innit]

The "Broadway Joe" for the new millennium

[DT]

Me thinks it’s the right time for him to walk away and apparently so does he, but me also thinks he will have regrets almost immediately, and definitely once training camps open. It will be interesting to see if a warmer-climate team is interested in August. With a chance at a Super Bowl run. With some great receivers.

psssst....We’ll see what Favre does.

When you have a HUNCH, BET a BUNCH!!!!!

[DT]

And the saga continues.....

"NEW YORK (AP)—Brett Favre informed the New York Jets on Wednesday he will retire after 18 seasons, ending a record-setting career in which he was one of the NFL’s premier quarterbacks."


pssssst....... Me thinks for real this time. (and rightly so)

[wareagle]

Feb 11, 2009 11:24:16 GMT -6 DT said:

And the saga continues.....

"NEW YORK (AP)—Brett Favre informed the New York Jets on Wednesday he will retire after 18 seasons, ending a record-setting career in which he was one of the NFL’s premier quarterbacks."


pssssst....... Me thinks for real this time. (and rightly so)

Sugar Ray Robinson was one of my favorite boxers but he kept going back into the ring time after time and when he was way past his glory days and just before he fought Jerry Quarry I remember a writer that covered boxing asked Sugar Ray Robinson why he kept on fighting. His answer was "It's like being in love with a woman you know is wrong for you but you just can't help yourself."

I think Brett Farve may be of the same mind set.

[♥ COVID-19♥]

Hopefully, it's for real this time and also hopefully, if it's *not*, then he'll attempt another comeback with a different team. It's time for the Jets to move on to another QB.

[Merlot Joe]

If he is not in uniform when the season begins I will believe it. Until then........................

Joe

[DT]

Feb 11, 2009 13:04:24 GMT -6 ♥ COVID-19♥ said:

Hopefully, it's for real this time and also hopefully, if it's *not*, then he'll attempt another comeback with a different team. It's time for the Jets to move on to another QB.

And it's time for the Bears to move on to another QB. (two almost QB's does not make a whole)

[Ardbeg... innit]

BUMP

If the Colts or Patriots already have a playoff berth clinched and Peyton Manning or Tom Brady go down for the rest of the season, do we seriously think Favre wouldn’t come back if he got the call? .. maybe even Detroit... that would be about their style... after benching their #1 pick go with Farve... sounds right.

The New York Jets have released retired future hall of famer Brett Favre on Wednesday which means Favre is a free agent and would be free to sign with any team in the league if he comes out of retirement.

“Nothing has changed,” Favre said in a statement. “At this time, I am retired and have no intention of returning to football.”

[Merlot Joe]

Look like Brett is going to go and talk too the Vikings. This is going to be a disastrous end to a magnificent career.

[Ardbeg... innit]

If he does that, he should seriously consider being sick the weekend the Vikes play in GB... seriously

[Merlot Joe]

That would be a rather smart move.

Joe