Questions still linger after Favre’s decision
Favre’s commitment sparks new questions for Packers
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
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Posted: April 26, 2006
The fire still burns in Brett Favre's belly and for that reason he will play another season with the Green Bay Packers.
No one could say that definitively Wednesday, a day after Favre informed general manager Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy, who were both in a draft meeting when Favre called, that he was on board for the 2006 season. Favre made his commitment short and sweet to McCarthy over the telephone Tuesday morning.
"He just said, 'Mike, I'm in,' " McCarthy said.
According to both Thompson and McCarthy, Favre did not specify that this would be his last season with the Packers even though in at least one interview during the off-season he said if he came back it would only be for one more year.
During the conversations the two men had with Favre, they did not speak much about the future beyond 2006.
"We did not talk about that," Thompson said. "He said he was looking forward to playing. We just got past this point, I think we're OK for now. It took us long enough to get to where we are. I think we can address the other part another time."
The truth of the matter is that if Favre, 36, has some success this season there's no reason to believe he won't come back for another year. His trepidation with returning in 2006 was that the team would go through another miserable 4-12 season and he would play as poorly as he did a year ago.
Favre wanted Thompson to do a lot more to improve the team during the off-season, but ultimately his desire to play football and not Thompson's inactivity in free agency swayed him to return. Through the 113 days it took for Favre to make his decision, the Packers felt all along that his passion for the game would rule over all else.
"I always felt he was going to play," McCarthy said. "A lot of days I had my doubts, but I always thought it would come to this conclusion. I have no experience in this area, so I didn't know for sure. But I think he finally got to a level of comfort where he could say he was coming back."
Thompson wouldn't divulge much about his conversations with Favre regarding his return and wouldn't speculate on what it was that turned the tables in the Packers' favor. It was curious that Thompson allowed the Favre camp to let the cat out of the bag Tuesday night about his phone call to the Packers, but only in that it didn't do much to serve the team's fans.
Mostly, it was consistent with Thompson's approach with Favre. He has refused to buckle under to his demands to build the team through free agency and has downplayed the effect Favre's indecision has had with the team at every turn. He apparently felt it wasn't necessary to announce that one of his players was coming back to fulfill another year on his contract.
In some ways, Thompson appears to be drawing a line in the sand between the general manager and the players, something former coach and general manager Mike Sherman had difficulty doing. There has been speculation that Thompson and Favre don't see eye to eye and that Thompson would have preferred Favre retire.
That, according to the Packers, simply isn't true.
"In talking to fans, they kept saying that Ted and Mike didn't want him back," team president Bob Harlan said. "That's not true at all. They told him to his face that they wanted him back. There were telephone calls and a lot of them were initiated by Brett. I think Brett was just taking his time to make a decision and Ted was giving him that time.
"Brett was calling Ted and I don't think he would be calling if he thought he wasn't wanted."
Thompson said that despite Favre's strong comments that the Packers weren't doing enough this off-season to improve the team, he did not have a problem with the veteran quarterback. He said there was no reason for the two to discuss Favre's comments or Thompson's off-season plan when Favre comes to town for a minicamp next week.
"We don't have anything to patch up," Thompson said.
As a result of Favre committing to a 15th season as Packers quarterback, much of the uncertainty regarding next season has been removed. The Packers know who their quarterback will be and they don't have to use their No. 5 pick on one of the so-called Big Three - Southern Cal's Matt Leinart, Texas' Vince Young and Vanderbilt's Jay Cutler.
What's more, the players can now go into McCarthy's first minicamp as head coach of the Packers with some certainty about their offense.
"There's been so much change in what we're doing here there hasn't been much time to think about it," tackle Mark Tauscher said. "I don't know what it's been like for everyone, but it's not like we've been sitting around waiting for Brett to make a decision. In some respect, everyone feels better now that he's coming back. If he retired, it wouldn't have come as a huge shock. Everybody is pretty excited he's coming back."
Said running back Ahman Green, "We can mentally start preparing for the year from this step forward. We have the draft this weekend and minicamp after that. This right here, leading into that stuff, is big. We don't have to worry about it."
Favre has yet to speak publicly about his decision to return and probably won't hold a news conference until the team's minicamp May 5-7. From most accounts, he has kept himself in excellent physical condition and should be able to do whatever McCarthy needs him to during the three-day camp.
As for his comments regarding the team, players don't seem to be insulted that he felt there wasn't enough talent to compete next season.
"He's got the right to speak his mind," Tauscher said. "He's got the right to say what he's got to say. We're coming off a 4-12 season and from a personnel standpoint there hasn't been a big change. Obviously it's caused some concern on his part what we have done. But no one has felt he was taking it out on them."
