The NFL regular season has been over for less than a week but the speculation over New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre's future has already begun.
Favre said when he spoke to Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum on Monday, he told him "it may be time to look in a different direction" at the quarterback, Peter King of SI.com reported. King spoke to Favre on Friday about his plans.
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"I'm going to do like Mike [Tannenbaum] says -- give it a few weeks and make a decision,'' Favre told King.
Hungary Jack wrote:It doesn't sound as if the Jets would be throwing him a party if he decides to hang up his cleats. They might have a party, but he won't be invited.
I wouldn't be surprised if the GM was encouraging him to retire in a way. Or saying "Look, if you don't think you wanna do it anymore, just let me know. It's natural."
All while showing him pictures of his wife and kids.
All signs point to former Jets QB Brett Favre returning to NFL with the Vikings
Brett Favre eventually will go back to Green Bay, make peace with the organization that humiliated him when it didn't want him back last summer and traded him to the Jets, and retire as a Packer. But he didn't need the Jets to release him last week from the last two years of his contract for that to happen.
So, let's connect the dots and see where they lead:
• Favre retired in February, but the Jets refused his request to release him, wanting to keep his rights in the event he changed his mind and wanted to play again - he is prone to flip-flop, of course - and Kellen Clemens and Brett Ratliff stunk up their new $75 million practice facility in the offseason.
• The Jets traded up to get Mark Sanchez in the draft last weekend and the text-messaging between GM Mike Tannenbaum and Favre intensified. Favre still wanted to completely cut his contractual ties with the Jets. Three days later, the Jets released him. Sources say Favre, who will be 40 in October, wants to keep his options open. Favre released a statement saying, "At this time, I am retired and have no intention of returning to football."
The three key words: "At this time."
• The Vikings are a quarterback short of being a Super Bowl contender, and they need to sell tickets and have been trying for years to get a new stadium.
If Favre was planning to stay retired, why would he even request the Jets cut him? The dots? They lead right to Minnesota, exactly where Favre wanted to be traded last year. The Vikes have Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson, meaning Favre can step in and try to write a better ending to his career after he ran out of gas with the Jets and stick it to the Packers at the same time.
One NFL source insists Favre can't peacefully retire until he finds a way to get revenge on the Packers. He wants back into the NFC North so he can face the Packers twice. The Bears traded for Jay Cutler and the Lions drafted Matthew Stafford. Hello, Minnesota.
"Favre can't stand Green Bay," the source said. "He wants to play Green Bay and say, 'I told you so.' His bitterness is creating this. I think he's calling Minnesota. I think Minnesota is talking about this as we speak. You haven't heard the end of Favre. No way. He is bionic. As long as somebody will let him in, he will play."
The Jets did Favre a huge favor by cutting him now. They were under no obligation to let him go. But Favre actually had the Jets in a vulnerable position and ultimately they would have no choice but to cut him if he came out of retirement:
I don't think he's coming back. But that's just my opinion. If he does, I think he'll look quite ravishing in purple. I still like him, but this whole thing is wayyyyyyyyyyy past my interest.
