August 12, 2008 - Mikey "The Living Legend" Glover
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Are you ready for some Favreball?!?! |
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As DML’s resident NFL guru (self-appointed) I feel it is my duty and obligation to give my take on the whole Brett Favre saga and how it has played itself out. I have followed this thing daily ever since there were rumblings in late June that Brett was feeling “the itch” to come back and play again. Over the past month and a half, both the Packers and Brett Favre’s camp haven’t really given us a clue as to how this whole thing would play out. That was until earlier this week when commissioner Roger Goodell reinstated Brett and he showed up in Green Bay to report to the Packer’s training camp. There was a five-hour meeting between Packer’s management and Favre on Monday night and it appeared that after that meeting that both sides had agreed that it was better for everyone if they just parted ways. Brett has been wanting to part ways for almost a month now, but the Packers were not going to just let him go without compensation, and they damn sure weren’t going to let him go to a team within their division. Trade discussions heated up yesterday and it appeared that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the front runners to land Favre, but late last night the New York Jets were able to insert themselves and steal Favre away from Tampa Bay. I’m willing to bet you that the trade had nothing to do with the difference in compensation that the Jets were offering compared to the Bucs, but it had everything to do with both teams schedules. The Packers were able to ship Brett out of the NFC all together, and they were able to send him to a team that they do not play this year. Tampa Bay however was set to play the Packers in week 4 of the regular season, and would probably met up with them again in the playoffs. The Packers did not want to have to play Brett twice this year if they didn’t have to.
In the trade the New York Jets were able to acquire a Hall Of Fame quarterback, the NFL’s all time leader in almost every passing category, the 2007 Sports Illustrated Man Of The Year, the league’s only 3 time MVP, a 9 time Pro Bowler, and the runner up for the MVP in 2007. The Green Bay Packers traded all of this history, tradition, and production away for a conditional 4th round pick. You may look at that and ask why they only traded him for a 4th round pick, when everyone knows that he is worth so much more than that. Well that is where the “conditional” part of the pick comes in. It is only a 4th round pick if Brett Favre doesn’t play for half the regular season. Considering that Favre hasn’t missed a game in 16 seasons, I think it’s a pretty fair assumption that he is going to play more that 50 percent of the snaps this season. If he does play more than 50 percent of the snaps this season, that pick will then bump up to a 3rd rounder. If he plays more that 70 percent on the snaps this season and the Jets reach the playoffs, that pick then becomes a 2nd round selection. If Brett plays 80 percent of the snaps and the Jets reach the Super Bowl, then that selection will then become a 1st round pick. The other stipulation surrounding this pick is a “poison pill” clause that would prevent the Jets from trading him to the Minnesota Vikings. If they did so, the Jets would have to give the Packers their next three 1st round draft picks. That should easily prevent them from doing something like that. I think this pick will either pan out to be a 2nd or 3rd rounder, with either the Jets making the playoffs as a wild card team, or just narrowly missing the playoffs. The AFC is a very difficult division and it’s going to take at least 11 or 12 wins to even make it to the playoffs as a wild card team.
Training camp should be interesting, as we will all be watching how quickly Brett can pick up offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer’s offense. The Jets really believe they are a contender right now and they have made a ton of offseason acquisitions on both sides of the ball that would help to make that point. They bolstered their offensive line with the acquisition of guard Damion Woody from the Lions, and multiple time Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca from the Steelers. They also have two young stud linemen in former first round picks tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson and center Nick Mangold. This O-line should give Favre plenty of time in the pocket to make some big plays in the passing game. It will also help to keep him healthy and off the turf. The Jets have also revamped their running game when they brought in running back Thomas Jones from the Bears last season, and have added a former Pro Bowl fullback in Tony Richardson in the offseason. Brett will also have a couple of quality veteran receivers to throw to in Laveranues Coles and Jericho Cotchery, and they should both see their numbers increase with Favre under center. The tight end situation is very interesting, as Brett will be reunited with his former Packer teammate Bubba Franks, who the Jets picked up when the Packers released him this last offseason. They also two young dynamic tight ends in Chris Baker and Dustin Keller that should have a huge impact on the passing game. All in all, this should be a very potent and well balanced offense that should give opposing defenses fits when trying to game plan against it. If the running game can get going early in the regular season, look for Brett and the passing game to makes some noise down the stretch.
The Jets also have a solid and interesting young defense and added some pieces through the draft, free agency, and through trades. The weakness of the defense is in the secondary, where every starter and backup is young and inexperienced. New York is hoping to help their young secondary by putting pressure on the quarterback, which is why they acquired defensive tackle Kris Jenkins from the Panthers, and DE/OLB Calvin Pace from the Cardinals. They are relying heavily on Calivn Pace and this year’s first round pick LB Vernon Gholston to put a lot of pressure on quarterbacks and rack up the sacks in the process. If the defense can be solid and get the ball back to Brett and the offense, this team has a chance to be very good in 2008. Granted the Jets still have the Patriots in their division, and have to deal with the Bills who think they are a playoff contender as well, but this Jets team should be solid enough to win 10 or 11 games this season... which may or may not be good enough for a wild card spot. The AFC just got much more intriguing with Favre in the mix, and it’s hard to rank him among the other QBs in the conference. Favre was the best or second best QB in the NFC last year, but he may not even be in the top 3 in the AFC. That should make it interesting when the voting rolls around this year for the Pro Bowl, as someone who deserves to be there is going to get left out.
In closing, I’m just finally happy that we have an ending to this whole Brett Favre saga. Only time will tell what will happen to the Packers as they begin their life after Favre and officially begin the Aaron Rodgers/ Brian Brohm era. If the Packers only win 6 or 7 games this year, I will be intrigued to see what happens to coach Mike McCarthy and the Packer’s management. Keep in mind that the Packers are not owned by one person, they are owned by the city of Green Bay, and if they only win 6 or 7 games this year it could spell the end for several people in Green Bay, including Aaron Rodgers. Brett Favre may have a fresh start in New York, but unfortunately he may have left the Packers in a combustible situation that is a ticking time bomb ready to go off. Don’t be surprised to see the Packers rebuilding again in a few years. And don’t be surprised to see Brett Favre coming back to Green Bay in a few years for his jersey retirement ceremony and being greeted by the Packer’s new head coach and general manager.
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