Favre says Thompson begged him not to return

[jviers77]

"If Rodgers can't handle the pressure of Favre's presence and open competition for the job in July, what makes you think he can handle the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in December? But Thompson doesn't want the best man to win. He wants his man to win. So no quarterback bake-off."
--Gene Wojechowski, ESPN.com

I'm a Packer fan first, but this is getting ridiculous. If I'm Ted Thompson, how could I not want Favre to come in and compete to start. At worst, it forces Rodgers to work harder to earn the spot. As of right now, he's getting the starting spot gift wrapped for him by TT. Favre didn't want to make a decision when he did, regardless what TT and MM say at the pressers. He's been trying to come back since about 2 weeks after the retirement announcement. They rushed setting a jersey retirement ceremony to try to force Favre to stay retired. Brett Favre is the only Packer in history to have his number retired this quickly. Every other Packer, White, Starr, Hornung, whomever you choose, had to wait the standard 4 years. Let's face it, TT wanted to prove he could win with "his guy" and has wanted Favre to retire since he drafted Rodgers. What is Thompson going to say when the Packers are 1-3 after the first month? I hope it doesn't happen that way, but I'm afraid it will.

The bottom line is Favre gives the Pack the best chance this season to reach the Super Bowl. Ted Thompson needs to knock off this dog and pony show and do right by Brett. Either trade him to a team he would play for, or let him compete for the QB job in GB. I think the team owes him that much.

[mnstinks]

The bottom line is Favre gives the Pack the best chance this season to reach the Super Bowl. Ted Thompson needs to knock off this dog and pony show and do right by Brett. Either trade him to a team he would play for, or let him compete for the QB job in GB. I think the team owes him that much.

Favre DOES NOT want to play for the Packers. I think he's made that much clear.

[MajorDad]

I haven't liked Tt since his arrival. he's more concerned about $$$ than winning. The last few years, the packers have saved more cap money than any other team. and now we hear the pack is still $30 million under the cap?

favre and Tt have never agreed about anything. many posters have stated in the past that if you have a guy like favre in the twilight of his carreer , you should go out and add some veterans for that last harrarh and try for one last run at a title. Their run last year was more luck than an actual preseason plan. Since TT's arrival, he has done the exact opposite of favre's requests.. When the opportunity has presented itself , he has gone out of his way not to add the veteran favre has put in a good word for. Driver's probablty hoping Favre will ask him to be traded and Tt will keep him to spite Favre. . His first decision as GM was to allow both of the packers starting guards leave (Rivera and Whale). he had enough money to keep at least one of them, but he saved the money using the ever popular Selig phrase - we need to maintain financial flexibility. TT has allowed veteran punters and kickers leave and replaced them with rookies. why? $$$ We all know about the Moss fiascal. Tt could have had him for a 4th round pick. but he went to bed and woke up the next morning finding out moss was a patriot. favre wanted Moss bad. real bad. it was a slap in the face to both favre and moss. favre wanted mariuchi to replace Sherman, so TT hired McCarthy instead. it's as if every time favre makes a suggestion to TT, he does the exact opposite just to show Favre who's the boss. We all know kobe and lebron like to play GM and tell their owner what to do and who to acquire. favre is much the same way. the exception is the NBA owners bow down to their star player's demands, while Tt does even more to annoy the star.

Listening to one interview from favre last year, and he said he was shocked with the players they had, that they won so many games. he was kind of taking a swipe at Tt for not providing him the veteran talent he asked for - Moss.

listening to MC Carthy this week, he said he has often had diagreements with players. he's had many come to his office complaining about something or another. it comes with being the head coach. That sounds like he and brett were not always on the same page.

with as much mud that is being thrown right now, i have to wonder how much more problems exist between favre and the packers' management that is not being said. As an outsider, it has looked like Tt has tried his best to nudge brett out the door since his arrival. and when brett announced his retirement and went out the door, TT bought a new set of locked and won't let brett back into the house. What this really is, is a celebrity divorce. it's like when Sonny divorced Cher. although growing old, She still had old fans who adored her. What would her fans say if Miley Cirus left Disney and refused to be Hannah Montana? Wha t if Zach Ephra m graduated high school early and couldn't make it for high school Musical 3? what if the jonas brothers announced to the world they were not brothers? What if mick jagger gained some weight? or better yet did jenny Craig commercials telling people to just smoke weed and lose 50 pounds? What if the republican presidential candidate was more liberal than the Democratic candidate? Would we be calling librerals good? What if gas prices declined to $2.99? This whole favre / Tt divorce has thrown the entire planet a kilter.

[Reddeye]

Peter King's article from today.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/peter_king/07/28/mmqb/index.html

[crkone]

Wojechowski is not thinking straight. Rodgers could handle the pressure, I'm just not sure that the rest of the team wants to deal with the media circus thats already going on there. How would you like to answer twice a day, "So who looked better in today Favre or Rodgers?" or "Who would you rather have as your quarterback?" I love that he says it no big deal with the added fan scrutiny and media pressure. I hope he realized how f'd up the locker room will be with Favre supporters and Rodgers supporters each on their own sides, destroying the great chemistry we had this past year. I would love to see the Pack turn in the the '07 Milwaukee Bucks. He almost completely ignores Favre's "waffling" after his announcement of retirement, and when he does acknowledges it, he says it okay since they wanted him back before and nothing should have changed in 3 months. Newsflash, nothing besides the draft, OTAs, and the hoping that the drama is over so it doesn't spill out into the locker room and public. The one thing he has right is that TT should just get the best deal for Favre, no matter who it is to.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/ ... ortCat=nfl

[jviers77]

TT has been trying to force Favre out since he drafted Rodgers. Why else would he wait until after Favre retires to draft a receiver with some legit speed? TT has had a rep of wanting to win with "his guys" whether it works or not. He's done great through the draft, I'll give him that, but he's so afraid to spend money on free agents it's hurt the team a bit. Why not go out and get a star player for a couple years when you're $30 mil under the cap? I hope Rodgers is as good as TT thinks he is. I want the Packers to win, but I think Favre gives them the best chance to do so. And, he DOES want to play in GB, but if it comes down to it, he wants to play, period, and if TT doesn't want him in GB, he'll play elsewhere.

[ReasonablySober]

TT has been trying to force Favre out since he drafted Rodgers. Why else would he wait until after Favre retires to draft a receiver with some legit speed? TT has had a rep of wanting to win with "his guys" whether it works or not. He's done great through the draft, I'll give him that, but he's so afraid to spend money on free agents it's hurt the team a bit. Why not go out and get a star player for a couple years when you're $30 mil under the cap? I hope Rodgers is as good as TT thinks he is. I want the Packers to win, but I think Favre gives them the best chance to do so. And, he DOES want to play in GB, but if it comes down to it, he wants to play, period, and if TT doesn't want him in GB, he'll play elsewhere.

Sorry, I couldn't make it past that sentence.



Meet Mr. Jennings.

[MickeyDavis]

I don't buy the whole TT wants to win with "his guys" argument. The team went 13-3 and there was no talk about how many guys were "Sherman guys" and how many guys were "Thompson guys". I think it does take 3-4 years to really judge a GM though. So far he's made some moves that have turned out well, some that haven't, and some that we don't know yet.

[ReasonablySober]

Bottom line is this team was stripped down and won 4 games three years ago. Then it won 8. Then it won 13 and was an overtime from the Super Bowl. I think Thompson should be cut some slack.

[LUKE23]

Bottom line is this team was stripped down and won 4 games three years ago. Then it won 8. Then it won 13 and was an overtime from the Super Bowl. I think Thompson should be cut some slack.

Bingo.

This roster was aging and was an absolute cap disaster when TT got here. He got rid of the cap problems and the veterans, and everyone, including TT knew they would have a rough season in 2005. Fast forward to today, and we have one of if not the youngest roster in the NFL, along with a team that is cap friendly as is growing together instead of trying to piece together outside FA's.

Complain about how he's handled the Favre situation all you want (I'm on TT's side on it), but the guy knows what he is doing.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

I'm a Packer fan first, but this is getting ridiculous. If I'm Ted Thompson, how could I not want Favre to come in and compete to start.

Would you really want the circus to continue all the way through the start of the season and carry on throughout it? Look at MM and the players they already looked tired of it and divided. Try this with 2 more months.

The bottom line is Favre gives the Pack the best chance this season to reach the Super Bowl.

Some would say favre some would agree with TT and MM. If they thought favre was the answer why would they be willing to risk there jobs not to let him back

He's been trying to come back since about 2 weeks after the retirement announcement.

Yea, but he also said he didnt want to come back after the Packers said he could be the starter so dont say he wanted to come back since 2 weeks. He was still undecided for a long time.

They rushed setting a jersey retirement ceremony to try to force Favre to stay retired. Brett Favre is the only Packer in history to have his number retired this quickly.

You may be right on this one but Favre could be considered a special case.

[paulpressey25]

Two interesting takes:

Steve Czaban this morning seemed to think Favre was probably enticed out of retirement by the Vikings. Competitive team, Darrell Bevell, Peterson at RB to take the heat off him and most importantly, no bad weather or cold games in the dome.

Cris Carter on with Tirico: "Favre is mentally ill as all the great ones are. He needs to be removed from the game kicking and screaming because he'll never be able to retire himself."

[MickeyDavis]

I always hated Cris Carter, more so since he retired and popped up on TV.

[Shoot it FatBoy]

Bottom line is this team was stripped down and won 4 games three years ago. Then it won 8. Then it won 13 and was an overtime from the Super Bowl. I think Thompson should be cut some slack.

Bingo.

This roster was aging and was an absolute cap disaster when TT got here. He got rid of the cap problems and the veterans, and everyone, including TT knew they would have a rough season in 2005. Fast forward to today, and we have one of if not the youngest roster in the NFL, along with a team that is cap friendly as is growing together instead of trying to piece together outside FA's.

Complain about how he's handled the Favre situation all you want (I'm on TT's side on it), but the guy knows what he is doing.

Agree with everything in this post. To answer the bolded section, the Packers DID have the youngest team in the league last year, and that was INCLUDING a certain 38 year old QB.

[El Duderino]

Two interesting takes:


Cris Carter on with Tirico: "Favre is mentally ill as all the great ones are. He needs to be removed from the game kicking and screaming because he'll never be able to retire himself."

One thing i see affecting Brett is both having nothing else to do and his own self professed fairly recluse personality. Many great football players that retire find a way to stay in the game via some job in the media. Look at Strahan, he retired and then took a job on TV. Favre i'm sure found himself sitting at home thinking, i'm getting bored and what the hell am i going to do the rest of this year while the football season is going on? Then mix in that from what i've read, Brett no longer is a hang out with the buddies type of guy, he probably was thinking he's kinda lost without football to take up time and provide the rush he's used to.

[paulpressey25]

I always hated Cris Carter, more so since he retired and popped up on TV.

I heard the interview. I don't think Carter was meaning it in a bad way. He many times said that what Favre has is what all the great players have.....a desire to always play and always compete.

What I took away from is that the Favre will have to deal with "retirement" at some point here....he can't escape it. And he's got to come to peace with that, whether now or in two-years.

[El Duderino]

The one thing he has right is that TT should just get the best deal for Favre, no matter who it is to.

That sounds good in theory, but it's not completely realistic. No team out there is going to seriously consider trading for Brett unless he is ok with going to that team. Say the Jets make the best offer, but Favre refuses to play in New York, the Jets are going to withdraw their offer.

This is largely going to come down to a business decision and test of will for both sides.

If the Packers don't get Brett to a team that he is ok with, regardless if Thompson likes the offer from that team, Ted has some choices to make.

1. Allow Brett to come to training camp and thus the team deal with the distractions and incredibly intense media barrage that would surely follow.

2. Lock Brett out from entering the facilities, but i don't think that would go over well and i see that as the least likely conclusion.

3. Accept a trade offer that Thompson may not feel is fair


What i've yet been unable to see for sure is if Favre has completely refused to tell Thompson of any teams he'd be willing to accept a trade to outside of the NFC North. The media has implied that this is the case and it very well could be true, but they also wrongly said that Brett was making calls from a Packers cell phone.

If Favre is entirely intent on playing for the Vikings if the Packers won't let him compete with Rodgers, then i see no real chance this gets resolved anytime soon since Ted obviously won't do anything that could get Favre on Minnesota. Then all i can imagine happening is Brett showing up at Packers training camp. If that does happen, i have no clue how exactly McCarthy and Thompson end up handling it since it's so obvious they don't want Brett around training camp.

[randy84]

The one thing he has right is that TT should just get the best deal for Favre, no matter who it is to.

That sounds good in theory, but it's not completely realistic. No team out there is going to seriously consider trading for Brett unless he is ok with going to that team. Say the Jets make the best offer, but Favre refuses to play in New York, the Jets are going to withdraw their offer.

This is largely going to come down to a business decision and test of will for both sides.

If the Packers don't get Brett to a team that he is ok with, regardless if Thompson likes the offer from that team, Ted has some choices to make.

1. Allow Brett to come to training camp and thus the team deal with the distractions and incredibly intense media barrage that would surely follow.

2. Lock Brett out from entering the facilities, but i don't think that would go over well and i see that as the least likely conclusion.

3. Accept a trade offer that Thompson may not feel is fair


What i've yet been unable to see for sure is if Favre has completely refused to tell Thompson of any teams he'd be willing to accept a trade to outside of the NFC North. The media has implied that this is the case and it very well could be true, but they also wrongly said that Brett was making calls from a Packers cell phone.

If Favre is entirely intent on playing for the Vikings if the Packers won't let him compete with Rodgers, then i see no real chance this gets resolved anytime soon since Ted obviously won't do anything that could get Favre on Minnesota. Then all i can imagine happening is Brett showing up at Packers training camp. If that does happen, i have no clue how exactly McCarthy and Thompson end up handling it since it's so obvious they don't want Brett around training camp.

The Packers can't lock Favre out of the facilities. Tennesee tried to do this with McNair and it was determined that this is not permissible. They ended up trading him to Baltimore, not quite a division rival, but in the same conference.

Favre isn't going to accept a trade to a team he doesn't feel can make the Super Bowl. That's why I think the Jets and T.B. are out of the picture.

Basically, I think that the Packers are going to have to take him back and keep him on the bench. The best answer is if Rodgers or Favre gets hurt in training camp, then the whole situation blows over.

[MajorDad]

Didn't a team trade for a player who was retired a couple of years ago with the hopes that they could convince him out of retirement? I thought it was the Bucs and i thought it was a former Denver QB not named Elway. how did that work out?

[ClassicJack]

I was firmly on the organizations side when this mess started but Thompson is really starting to blow it. He lost a lot of credibility by letting Brett call his bluff on the whole coming to training camp thing. This situation has already killed the Packers '08 season, IMO, and the longer it goes on its going to kill the program that Thompson has built for the long term success of this team. For the first time I see a legitimate possibility that this could be the beginning of the end for Thompson. I just can't see this young leader-less team recovering from this mess.


It's becoming clearer and clearer that in the end as he's accustomed to Brett will get his way.