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Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Saturday, July 26, 2008

Favre likely to report, but trade talks heat up

By Jason Wilde | Lee Newspapers

GREEN BAY — While Brett Favre has informed the Green Bay Packers he intends to report to training camp and will file his reinstatement paperwork with the NFL, sources said Friday the move is the beginning of the end of the legendary quarterback’s

16-year career with the team — not a let-bygones-be-bygones reunion.

Two NFL sources confirmed Friday afternoon that Favre — after announcing his retirement at a tearful March 6 news conference, being placed on the reserve/retired list by the team April 25 and demanding his outright release from the Packers in a letter July 11 — told Packers general manager Ted Thompson of his intentions earlier this week. NFL.com and the NFL Network first reported that news Friday morning.

But the sources said Favre’s stated intentions weren’t a signal he had accepted the Packers’ publicly-stated position that Aaron Rodgers is their starter and that Favre would be returning as his backup or to compete with him for the starting job.

Instead, those sources said the Packers have responded by stepping up their efforts to trade Favre, saying the Packers have given the New York Jets permission to talk to Favre about a trade. ESPN.com reported the Jets had sought permission to speak to Favre after Favre’s intention to play became more clear.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers also have been granted permission to talk to Favre, FoxSports.com reported.

A Packers spokesman said Friday afternoon the team would have no comment on any of the reports. After Thursday’s annual shareholders meeting, team president and CEO Mark Murphy reiterated the team’s stance on Favre.

“We said we would welcome him back, and he’ll have a different role,” Murphy said. “But what’s going to happen if that occurs, we’ll have to look and see the situation at the time. That’s a little bit of a technicality. But I guess there’s two questions. We have said we would welcome him back. But whether he will come back is another question. And a lot of it goes back to, we want to work with Brett, and be fair to him and help give him what he wants.”

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell earlier this week encouraged the Packers to seek a trade for their iconic quarterback after the sides’ very public falling out over Favre’s unretirement talk, which began in earnest when Favre called coach Mike McCarthy on June 20. News of Favre’s “itch” to play again leaked July 2.

While one source allowed it’s possible Favre has had a change of heart and is suddenly willing to return as Rodgers’ backup, the source said that seems highly unlikely.

At Jets’ camp, coach Eric Mangini eluded questions about whether the team had received permission to talk to Favre, but Mangini did not deny the report.

Yahoo! Sports reported Thursday night the Packers and Favre had agreed the team would come up with a list of teams willing to trade for Favre, then present the list to him to find out where Favre would prefer to play. The Packers initially had eight to 10 teams on a list of potential trade partners but reportedly had contacted more than 20 teams this week to gauge their interest in Favre.

It’s unclear whether Favre would accept a trade to the Jets, who went 4-12 last year after going 10-6 and making the playoffs in Mangini’s first year. The Jets’ quarterbacks are Kellen Clemens and Chad Pennington, but with a rebuilt offensive line following the offseason addition of tackle Alan Faneca and a solid defense, the Jets could be a playoff contender in the tough AFC East Division. New York also added defensive end Vernon Gholston and tight end Dustin Keller in the first round of April’s draft.

There would be an odd symmetry to Favre going to the Jets, however. Before the 1991 draft, then-Jets personnel director Ron Wolf wanted to use the team’s first draft pick, No. 34 overall, on a young, wild quarterback from Southern Mississippi — Favre. Wolf was even willing to swing a trade with the Cardinals to move up two spots to get Favre, the top player on the Jets’ board.

But the trade didn’t happen, and the Atlanta Falcons, picking at No. 33, took Favre first, forcing Wolf and the Jets to settle for Louisville’s Browning Nagle, a disappointment. Wolf then sent a first-round pick to Atlanta in 1992 for Favre after taking over as the Packers’ GM.

The Buccaneers, meanwhile, still would seem to be the more likely landing spot for Favre, who knows coach Jon Gruden (a Packers assistant from 1992 to ’94) and would be playing in a West Coast system similar to the one he’s spent the last 16 years in with the Packers. The Buccaneers won the NFC South last year before losing a wild-card playoff game to the Super Bowl-champion New York Giants.

The Jets would presumably be the Packers’ preferred destination for Favre, since they play in the AFC and are not on Green Bay’s schedule this year. The Buccaneers, meanwhile, would be competing directly with the Packers in the same conference — and the Packers and Bucs play Sept. 28 at Raymond James Stadium.

What the Packers don’t want to have happen, according to the sources, is for Favre to come to Green Bay and participate in training camp. The club remains resolute in its commitment to Rodgers as their starter and know what a circus Favre reporting would create.

Players are to begin moving into their St. Norbert College dorms in De Pere today and have to report to the camp-opening team meeting at 7 a.m. Sunday. The first practice is Monday morning.

In his three-part interview with Fox News Channel’s Greta Van Susteren, Favre said on the portion that aired July 15 that he wouldn’t report to camp just to cause problems for the Packers.

Asked by Van Susteren if being a backup — as the Packers have suggested — is unacceptable to him, Favre replied, “I think so. I’ve had a lot of people (say), ’Go back and hold them to it.’ I don’t see it that way. It’s tempting just to — because everyone’s (saying), ’Call their bluff’ or whatever. I think it’s going to be a circus in itself already, whether I go there (or not). ... I don’t want to make it any worse than it is.

“Do I play somewhere else? (That) remains to be seen. But I don’t want to go back there just to stick it to ’em.”