Favre's Retirement & Mismanagement 101

I'm sure someone will write a nice post about Brett Favre and his storied career in professional football. Yes, he was an awesome player. Yes, he was one of the best ever to play the game. Yes, he was the man. I loved the guy and the way he played football. No debate there.

But I'd rather write about bad blood in Packer-land and the total screw-up between Favre's agent, the team, and their leadership. That's the juicy stuff. It revolves around free agency, so I'll start with the ESPN article that says:

"Favre had spoken to Moss late last week and was willing to commit to more than just this season if Moss and the Packers could come to an agreement. But the Packers did not pursue Moss, who re-signed with the Patriots on Monday (emphasis mine).”

But then ESPN quotes McCarthy as saying, "But I can tell you one thing, never once in all my conversations with Brett this off season has he ever asked or told me that we had to have Randy Moss for him to come back and play...Randy Moss' name never came up once. And it bothers me that [Favre's agent] has made this an issue."

Something fishy is going on here. First of all, why is Favre playing GM, running around making overtures for free agents? Second of all, why wouldn't Favre tell McCarthy that he would return if they picked up Moss? I suspect that if McCarthy and Favre had a healthy relationship, none of these quotes would filter through ESPN; they would have been dealt with internally. The obvious conclusion is that someone is lying. Here is what probably happened:

1. Favre did tell the Packers that he wanted Moss and that he would probably retire unless they made that personnel decision. I’m sure Favre lobbied for other high-profile players, too. (And do you blame Favre for wanting his team to sign better players to win now?)

2. McCarthy and the Packers didn't have the guts to tell Brett flat out that they didn't want him next season. They instead refused to meet his demand for resigning Moss, which meant he wouldn't play next season.

Of course Favre wants to retire on a positive note, but he did understate the problem when he said, “Do I agree with them all the time? No. But the bottom line is, none of that stuff affected my decision.” Yeah right. If the Pack had signed Moss or Chad Johnson, I promise you that Favre would be out there again.

(And let’s not forget about Donald Driver. How do you think he feels when he reads that his QB is retiring because the Pack won’t sign a big-name receiver? Like it or not, this mess is a slight to Donald Driver, Lee, and Franks)

The reality is that the Packers wanted Favre out this season, but couldn't force the decision due to his wild popularity in Green Bay. While everyone was obsessing over Favre’s retirement, the team signed a ton of young players, a green coach, and managed their cap situation for future draft choices (a new QB?). The writing is/was clearly on the wall for him to retire.

But Favre and his agent clearly took advantage of his popularity and pressed the Packers to adopt the “win now” mentality. They used strong-arm tactics, but they ultimately backfired. And as a fan, it’s very interesting to see Favre and his agent play good cop / bad cop with the Packers, a team he’s been with for 2000 years. The bitterness of Favre not getting his receiver is tangible:

"I talked to Brett this morning and I told him, 'nobody forced you to make this decision to retire, but the flip side is nobody encouraged you to play…Two years ago, Ted [Thompson, the Packers' GM] encouraged him to play, but there was nothing this time around from them offering encouragement or him to come back."

Does "offering encouragement" mean signing big-name receivers? On the one hand you have Favre saying he’s tired and doesn’t want to play anymore, but on the other hand, you have his agent saying that the Pack left him in the dust. Bad blood anyone? Something doesn't add up here and for the Pack's best player to retire like this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. My questions are the following:

1. If Favre wants to play with a big name receiver, why doesn't he sign with another team?
2. How did McCarthy and Favre's relationship suddenly go down the tubes?
3. Why doesn't anyone criticize Favre for acting like a GM while he's a player?
4. Will he ever come back, considering how badly this retirement has gone with the Pack and the quote above which states he would have come back for multiple seasons had they signed a good player?
5. How do Packers fans feel about this debacle?

Anyone?