All I keep hearing is that the Packers just need more time to come to a resolution. They need time to make a trade. Favre contacted the Packers on June 20, 2008, to inform them that he was seriously considering coming back.
It has been five weeks, going on six. Why has no progress been made? This isn’t baseball, where Favre has a no-trade clause. Call a team, propose a deal, and trade him already.
The answer to that question is very simple.
Ted Thompson doesn’t want Brett Favre to play for the Green Bay Packers. However, he doesn’t want Brett Favre to play for another team. The best answer for the Packers is for Brett Favre to stay retired. The Packers are so steadfast in that position that according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Packers are willing to pay Favre $20 million over a number of years for him to stay retired and play for no one.
That isn’t a fair position. If the Packers don’t even want him in their camp, he deserves to be able to play with someone that does want his services.
People will say that nobody had sympathy for Chad Johnson when he wanted out of Cincinnati. Why should Favre be allowed to just leave Green Bay?
Again, the answer is very simple.
The Bengals want to put Chad Johnson on the field as their starter. Johnson wanted to go to another team. Brett Favre wants to be allowed to come to camp. He wants to play for the Packers, but the Packers don’t want him. However, they don‘t want him in anyone else‘s camp either. That’s ludicrous.
The Packers are hoping that if they bury their head in the sand, that when they pull it back out, Brett Favre will have gone away. It isn’t going away. He has filed reinstatement papers and has said he would for the last month. It is time to take meaningful action.
3) The Packers are demanding a first-round pick as compensation
Who are the Packers kidding?
The Packers publicly stated that they can’t change course because the team is committed to Aaron Rodgers and are past the point of no return. This is the path they have chosen and they need to stay on it.
Favre has played 253 consecutive games and the Packers are past the point of no return, but if he were to go to a new team and a new offense, he would be worth first-round compensation?
This is sound reasoning.
No team is going to give up a first-round pick for a 38-year old player that has never been in their system and may only want to play one more year. The Packers are not dealing from a position of strength.
The other 31 teams know the Packers are in a bind. They know the Packers will tire of this headache. The Packers are out of their mind if they think they are getting first-round compensation, and Ted Thompson knows this.
He is asking, in Favre’s words, for a “king’s ransom”, hoping that the problem will just go away on its own. This is nothing more than a public-relations stand so that the Packers can plead with their fans that they tried to trade Favre but couldn’t find a deal.
That also leads to another point.
If Aaron Rodgers is that good and Brett Favre doesn’t have anything left in the tank, then why are the Packers willing to pay Favre $20 million to play for nobody? What is he really going to do to you on another team? What are they that afraid of?
If it’s worth $20 million to have him stay retired, it should at least be worth $12.5 million to keep him on your team and compete for the starting job.
The Packers' contradicting positions when it comes to wanting to start Rodgers vs. their view of Favre’s value in compensation and fear of playing for another team are such polar opposites that it boggles the mind as to what is going through the collective heads of the Packers' management.
4) The Packers flip-flop on wanting Favre back
We're going to send you the most entertaining Green Bay Packers articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
4 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete