For those that don't follow Brett Favre, he was the star (legend?) of the Packers as their starting quarterback since 1992. On March 4th, 2008, Favre, who is 38 years old, announced he was retiring from the NFL. This retirement news actually was sort of shocking, considering that after last season Favre and the Green Bay Packers made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game, where they lost to the eventual Super Bowl Champions, the New York Giants. Nevertheless, though, NFL fans said good-bye to him, and thought that he had sailed off into the sunset and we would later hear from him when he would get inducted into the NFL Hall-of-Fame in a couple of years....Boy, were we wrong about that.
Favre, just 4 months after his retirement announcement, has announced that he would like another shot in football. Unfortunately, though, the Packers have already started getting Aaron Rodgers (the former back-up to Favre) ready to go this season. The Packers then offered Favre an "undefined position" with the team. Favre denied this, saying that if he decides to come back in the NFL, he wants to be starting quarterback again and not anything else.
When Favre realized he would not be starting for the Packers now, he asked the Green Bay Packers to let him go on an unconditional release, which would let Favre shop around to different NFL teams. The Packers have denied Favre's request, probably because if they are going to actually lose Favre to a different team, they might as well make a trade out of it and get something out of this whole dramatic soap opera. As of now, Favre and the Green Bay Packers currently are in a standstill, waiting for the next event to in this story to happen.
Now, here's my points on this, because (yes...I'm still supporting Favre; I love Brett Favre just as much as John Madden does) I think the Green Bay Packers organization are at fault here.- Forced Into Retirement -- With the free agency period starting and the NFL Draft approaching back in March, Favre was forced to make a decision to either go 100% with the Packers or retire. Now, after spending 15 years in football, giving your best every week during an NFL Season, and just losing in the NFC Championship Game, the possibility of retiring from football is going to seem better than returning to the game. It's just the mentality of getting done a NFL season; it strains you, both physically and mentally. Favre even admitted to an AP Reporter that he was guilty of "retiring too early." The Packers forced him to make a decision immediately and he chose what he thought was going to be the right thing to do for him and his family.
- No Aggressive Moves By The Pack -- This primarily stems from two years ago, when star wide receiver Randy Moss was available on the trading block. Favre, who knew that his team had some possibilities, pleaded with the Packers to go after him. Favre even said he would give up some of his own salary to pay for Moss to sign with the team. What did the Packers do? Offered a crappy deal, and let Moss go off to the New England Patriots. Favre has a right to be pissed off at the Green Bay Packers: they don't go after star players, and instead rely on their rookie talents and NFL Draft picks to become better (which actually worked last season, until their inexperience was shown in the playoffs). Well, Favre doesn't have the years left on his career for it, so I think he knew he would have to get out of Green Bay eventually.
- Favre Is Still Not Certain -- Favre stated that although he "has the itch" to come back into the NFL, he realizes that "the bottom line is that I might not play anywhere." So, maybe all of this hoopla is for nothing, but nevertheless, he wants to keep his options open but the Packers are closing them by not releasing (or trading) him. Favre wants to see if it would be worth it for him to return to the NFL, which is something the Packers don't want Favre to view at all.
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