Brett Favre: 5 NFL Teams Hoping Favre Will Return for One More Season

That collective grumbling you just heard was the national reaction to the rumor that Brett Favre had been in contact with the Miami Dolphins about possibly coming out of retirement (again) to play quarterback in south Florida.

At this point, the notion of a Favre retirement tends to draw more laughs than a comic book death with similarly entertaining results.

Even Bus Cook, Favre's agent, got in on the comedic action with his response to the gossip going about, telling ESPN:

"Brett Favre's retired; that's all I can say. He's like Elvis now. People just won't let go."

Really, "people" won't let go? Chances are, it's Favre who's having trouble letting go of the game he spent 20 years playing in the NFL. Like so many all-time greats in retirement, Favre has shown a reluctance to go quietly into that good night, so to speak.

Not that everyone in the football world would necessarily want him to. There are plenty of teams out there with major question marks at the quarterback position who certainly wouldn't mind plugging in a surefire Hall-of-Famer under center.

Even if he will be 42 by midseason.

Here, then, are five teams that will have their phones handy if and when Favre gets restless in Mississippi.

Miami Dolphins

The latest word on Brett Favre un-retiring for the third time originated with the Miami Dolphins, and for good reason.

The Fins are thin at quarterback, unless, of course, anyone actually thinks Chad Henne is the right guy for the gig. Miami tried to make a deal with the Denver Broncos for Kyle Orton but ultimately failed in that pursuit, spurring some fans to chant "We Want Orton" at the team's practice facility.

While Henne was on the field.

Ouch.

Clearly, there's something fishy going on in south Florida, where Matt Moore and Kevin O'Connell have already been brought in to fill out the Fins' depth chart under center.

Not that either of those guys really provides much useful depth at the position. 

Now, Favre wouldn't be any more thick-skinned than Henne, who's already been shaken by the chants of his own team's fans, but he does have a proven ability to sling the ball downfield and make something out of nothing.

For an offense that was among the least effective units in the NFL last season, that sort of creativity and productivity would be more than welcome to light up the scoreboard at Sun Life Stadium.

Washington Redskins

Favre's most recent retirement saw him call it quits with the Minnesota Vikings, who essentially replaced him this offseason by trading for Donovan McNabb from the Washington Redskins.

With turnabout being fair play and all, wouldn't it then make sense for Favre to take McNabb's place in DC?

Such a proposition is much easier to stomach when considering who Mike Shanahan has under center right now.

Speaking of stomachs, incumbent 'Skins starter Rex Grossman appears to have let himself go just a bit during the lockout, which won't likely bode well for his chances of holding onto the gig ahead of John Beck.

And if you're an NFL quarterback and you can't beat out John Beck, should you really be, well, an NFL quarterback?

I'll answer that one: probably not.

All told, Washington's situation under center leaves much to be desired, especially if Shanahan's team is going to improve on last season's disappointing 6-10 finish. Favre won't solve their problems in the long run, but he'll at least help them paper over their serious deficiencies for a season while allowing the front office to figure out a better plan moving forward. 

Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks are similarly unsettled with their signal-callers in a way that is all too familiar to Favre.

Pete Carroll lost long-time Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to the Tennessee Titans via free agency and subsequently brought in Tarvaris Jackson to compete for the starting gig with Charlie Whitehurst.

Favre fans will recall that the ol' gunslinger "outslung" Jackson when the two were in Minnesota, nearly leading the Vikings to the Super Bowl while potentially stunting Jackson's growth as an NFL quarterback in the process.

Jackson may yet have a solid future in the league, though not if he keeps getting flung aside in favor of Favre.

That being said, a 41-going-on-42-year-old Favre would still be better than either Jackson or Whitehurst at this point, and thus, would bolster the Seahawks' chances of repeating as division champs in the up-and-coming NFC West.

Cincinnati Bengals

There would've been no quarterback controversy in Cincinnati had Carson Palmer not decided to retire rather than rot with the rest of the Bengals franchise.

Then again, there still might not be any controversy, assuming rookie Andy Dalton has done well with the reins of Cincy's offense in his young hands.

Of course, few teams know the value of keeping a first-year quarterback under wraps quite like the Bengals, who kept Palmer sidelined for an entire season before he came on to be a solid signal caller in Cincinnati.

Say what you will about Palmer, the guy was and still is a talented and capable QB, perhaps more so than Dalton is or ever will be.

However, there's no doubt that Favre would make for a better tutor for Dalton than Jon Kitna was for Palmer. No offense to Kitna, but a guy who's been a second-stringer for most of his career can't exactly hold a candle to one of the greatest players to man the position in the history of professional football.

As such, Marvin Lewis would do well to send a goodie basket down to Mississippi if Favre decides (once again) that he has another good year of football in him. 

Carolina Panthers

If Dalton goes bust, at least the Bengals can brush him off as a poorly-chosen second-rounder.

If Cam Newton crashes and burns in Carolina, the story will be juuuust a bit different.

The Panthers, with first-year coach Ron Rivera in charge, brought in Derek Anderson to compete with Jimmy Clausen and Newton for the first-string job in Charlotte.

Neither Anderson nor Clausen, however, grades out as a particularly good positional role model for Newton, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 NFL draft. It's no secret that Newton isn't exactly ready for prime time just yet, having spent just one year as a starter in a spread option offense in college.

The Panthers haven't exactly ruled out the possibility of their most important investment seeing the field as a rookie. That being said, Newton could certainly use someone like Favre around to show him what it means to not only survive in the NFL, but thrive at the highest levels of competition.

Scrubs like Anderson and Clausen don't exactly have the requisite resumes to hold the attention of such a highly touted prospect. Favre, on the other hand, carries the kinds of credentials that can't be beat.