Favre Thinks About Playing for Minnesota

Brett Favre might not be done with football after all. The elderly quarterback will meet with Vikings coach Brad Childress next week.

Though the Jets didn't return a call last night, it is believed that when they granted him his release, Favre promised them that if he returned it would be only to play for the Vikings -- not a competing AFC East team with a vacancy caused by major injury.

Favre, who had a torn biceps tendon when the Jets collapsed from an 8-3 start to a 9-7 finish, has had surgery to repair the injury. There have been reports that he's been working out in Mississippi to ready for a possible return.

When the Jets picked Mark Sanchez in the first round of last month's draft, they had their new face of the franchise, and thus opted to clear the books of Favre, who since that release has publicly stated he had no intention of playing again.

A lot of people are tired of hearing these stories so they will think with emotion and say Minnesota should steer clear. The fact of the matter is their quarterbacks are Gus Frerotte and Tavaris Jackson. Favre is still better than either of them. The Vikings run the West Coast Offense, which Favre engineered for all of those years in Green Bay. If he is willing to go to get into a rigorous conditioning program and go through training camp, this would be a great move for Minnesota. He showed a year ago he can still be an elite player in any single game. His complete lack of offseason conditioning caught up with him in the end. With their running game and defense, they would be instant Super Bowl contenders. Favre wouldn't have to carry the load like the Jets inexplicably expected him to do.

What is becoming evident is the Jets made a misstep releasing him. Drafting Mark Sanchez officially turned the page. Brett would never start in green and white again. However, the team had full knowledge of how indecisive Favre has been through the years. Holding onto him would have cost nothing. It would have,however, allowed them to collect compensation in a trade after a decision to return. Would he have the stomach for the PR hit after a long standoff? The answer is probably not. 

I know there is a clause in the trade with Green Bay that the Jets would have to surrender multiple first round picks if they traded Brett to Minnesota, but it is not as if Favre can hold the team hostage to force the Jets to trade him there if he returned. Gang Green could have move him anywhere it wanted. This is not Green Bay. Most Jets fans do not like the guy. The team only would need to deactivate him and work out a deal elsewhere.

You might say his $13 million cap number would be too high. It might have forced some creativity by the front office, but a team can always make room. The Jets have done so in recent seasons numerous times. Would all of the work have been worth a midround pick? That extra pick might be ammo when the team tries to trade up for the next Mark Sanchez or Shonn Greene.

In the end, this is not a major deal. It reminds me of the Yankees during the Roger Clemens saga in the winter of 2003-2004. Clemens seemed set to retire so the Yankees did not offer him arbitration, even though it would have cost them nothing. He ended up signing with Houston, and the Yankees did not get a Draft pick they would have receiving in compensation for offering him arbitration. This is nothing to lose sleep over, but it would have been nice to see the team try and cover itself to make sure it is getting maximum value.

I guess the team thought the potential headache its former quarterback's indecision would cause is not worth a relatively small return.