What Will the Packers Do?
By Editorial Staff
Green Bay is in a third and long situation and their down late in a ballgame. But wait, who is the quarterback? Aaron Rodgers? Brett Favre?
This is where it gets interesting. The third down and long situation was a metaphor to describe what’s going on in Green Bay right now with the Favre situation reaching its peak. When commissioner Roger Goodell finally reinstate Favre the Packers will have 24 hours to release, trade, or welcome back the 16 year veteran.
Only one of those is in the Packers plans.
No trade has even been close to shipping Favre somewhere else, ala Joe Montana late in career when he went from San Francisco to Kansas City. The Jets and Buccaneers seem to be the only interested parties.
If Favre isn’t released then the Packers will be in a very tough situation. He will be eligible to return to Green Bay’s training camp as early as Friday and if he does then this spectacle will turn into a circus.
I don’t like the way Favre handled this. He shouldn’t expect the Packers to just welcome him back after retiring suddenly after the season and not giving one inkling that he would be interested in returning.
Or should be?
Favre is bigger than the Packers themselves and he’s got a legion on fans that will follow him wherever he ends up. He has devoted his entire career to Green Bay and has set so many records that it isn’t even funny at this point.
The problem for the Packers is this. If they stick with Aaron Rodgers and then they open the season 0-3 then the critics will be yelling louder than ever, shouting how they should’ve went with Favre from the beginning. If he’s still on the roster then that’s no problem at all because they can just swap the depth chart around, but if they trade him then Rodgers will be their longterm starter.
For me the toughest thing is believing that the unproven Aaron Rodgers can take Green Bay farther than Brett Favre can. Last year Favre took the Packers to the NFC Championship game, and if Rodgers can’t do that as the starter in Lambeau then Ted Thompson will hear it.