Favre in the AFC

[australianpackerbacker]

In my opinion, a great solution to this whole trade/release favre situation that would make the packers organization and Ted Thompson look good.

Give him what he wants. Release him, upon a few conditions and in my opinion if i were TT or MM, i would say something like this:

"We will release you out of your current contract if you promise the organization and the fans especially, that you do not sign with any team in the NFC North, or the NFC for that matter, and not any team that is on the Packers schedule in 2008."

Thereby, putting the ball back in favres court, making him give a public promise like that to the fans, it would be extremely selfish of him if he were to re-neg on his verbal agreement and say, sign with the vikes or bears. That way, IMO would shift some of the favre lovers in TTs court. But by releasing him, IMO teams would have to bid for his services, which would not only raise the cost of acquiring favre, but given the public opinion of favre is that he is a nice guy/plays for the love, it would be good to put him in a situation where he's playing for money rather than a championship, say for example, if he goes to a team like miami over a team like the ravens.

The way i see it is, the best were gona get from a trade of favre is a 3rd round pick, and thats if favre is willing to actually play for the team he is traded to(ala Plummer). If favre plays well(say 25TD 15int), coupled with a reasonably high salary(speculation at this point about cost to acquire favre) we will most likely recieve a third round compensatory pick for him anyway.

Your thoughts/opinions are most welcome.

[Zool]

I think you only get compensetory picks for FA's not players you release. I might be wrong. Wheres Patler?

[Bretsky]

I think you only get compensetory picks for FA's not players you release. I might be wrong. Wheres Patler?

You don't get compensation for a released player. Only if you lose free agents and that is no guarantee if you signed some new ones as well

[Bretsky]

If they are going to try to trade Favre, they should also try to do so to the highest bidder....put teams against each other. Tampa Bay might be a destination Favre would do well in and they might offer something legit as well.

I'm not of the belief AROD can lead us to a SB this year anyways. Who cares if Favre is in the NFC (although I'd prefer it not be in the division). I would not eliminate TB or Carolina if they are interested.

Get the auctioneer out and take the highest pick you can get

[HughC]

Yes, the AFC would be the best scenario, but where?

First, eliminate teams that are content with their QB: Colts, Patriots, Bengals, Steelers, and probably the Chargers and Browns.

Next eliminate teams due to the salary and salary cap (sorry, I don't have that info; maybe somebody can help out with that.)

It would then come down to four key points:

(1) The team's desire to bring him in, seeing it as a chance to go to the Super Bowl this year.
Teams: Baltimore, Buffalo, NYJ, Cleveland, Tenn, Houston

(2) The team's desire to bring him in and sell tickets, stabilize the QB position, or become more competitive even though the SB is highly unlikely.
Teams: Miami, KC, Jax, Baltimore, Buffalo, NYJ, Houston

(3) Brett's desire to start in warmer weather.
Teams: Miami, Houston, Indy, Jax, Tenn, KC, Oakland, SD

(4) Brett's desire to start for at least a playoff contender, if not a Super Bowl contender.
Teams: NE, Indy, SD, Pitt, Jax, Pitt, Cleveland, Buffalo, Tenn, NYJ


So where is the most likely destination? Maybe Houston, closer to home, can convince Brett that they are for real. Same with Baltimore, who was 13-3 a couple years ago, though I don't think many are taking them seriously this year and it's in the northeast. Jacksonville is another possibility but I don't think they are big spenders and it seems they are content to go with Garrard at QB.

One team that's been overlooked is San Diego. Philip Rivers was valiant last year in the playoffs, but he's not an elite QB and is coming off some major off-season surgery. If he's not 100%, that makes a perfect fit for both sides.

I've seen a lot of talk about Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Carolina, but San Diego is my dark horse pick as to where Brett may end up.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Baltimore isn't that cold, and there's some talent on that team, so they might fit all four criteria.

[sheepshead]

The Favre option
QB great in purple and black? Team should pass
Peter Schmuck
July 10, 2008
The Ravens announced the names of their two newest additions yesterday, and you're not going to be happy if you were hoping one of those names would be Brett.

The team, unshaken by the disapproval of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, conducted an Internet fan poll to decide what to call the two African white nape ravens that are going to be added to this year's pre-game festivities at M&T Bank Stadium. The new mascots will be called Rise and Conquer, which is fine by me, but I'm using them only as a literary device to burst your bubble if you've been fantasizing about the possibility that the Green Bay Packers will resist Brett Favre's rumored comeback overture and the Ravens will swoop in and sign him.

(In fact, you could make the case that I'm now the one exploiting a couple of innocent birds for my own selfish purposes, which I can only hope leads to an angry personal visit from PETA activist Pamela Anderson.)

There must be some logic to the Favre fantasy, because the Ravens have been mentioned by some national publications and Web sites as a potential alternative if the Packers tell him to stay retired. They lost Steve McNair to retirement and are faced with some difficult choices as they prepare to open training camp. Favre, theoretically, would give them an elite short-term quarterback and serve as a perfect mentor for QB-in-waiting Joe Flacco.

No question, Favre would upgrade the position and improve the Ravens' marginal postseason prospects, and he certainly would raise excitement about the coming season to a new level. The guy is a total gamer, and he proved last year he can still lead a team deep into the postseason - sometimes by the force of his amazing will - so it's not easy to argue against the Ravens' showing an interest in him if he's available.

Sorry, I'm going to do it anyway.

The same argument can be made in Baltimore that apparently is being made behind the scenes in the Packers' front office. There comes a time when you need to choose a direction and commit to it. The Packers took Favre at his word when he announced his retirement and have spent the offseason gearing the offense to Aaron Rodgers.

The Ravens have legitimate concerns about the viability of Kyle Boller and Troy Smith, but they have installed a new coach and a new offensive coordinator and appear to be in the midst of a dynamic transition that could be sidetracked if the team gave into the temptation to go for a quick fix behind center.

Favre is a wonderful player, but he had become a bit of a headache for the Packers with his annual retirement ritual. Presumably, any team that decided to sign him for the 2008 season would face the same kind of uncertainty a year from now. The Ravens, in particular, have had their share of Band-Aid quarterbacks, so it's hard to imagine them doing anything that might alter the timetable for Flacco's emergence as a franchise player.

The economics don't work, either. The Ravens would have to do somersaults to get Favre's $8 million salary to fit under the cap, especially with the 2008 payroll already burdened by the pro-rated portion of McNair's signing bonus.

This is one time when the Ravens might want to take a page from the Orioles' front office playbook. The O's spent a decade haphazardly plugging holes in their roster, which cost them valuable player development time and took them nowhere.

Though it's impossible to draw perfect parallels between an NFL team and a Major League Baseball franchise (the business models are too different), the Ravens might be better off settling for less this season and keeping their eyes on the horizon. We'll still have our new friends Rise and Conquer to put a charge in the crowd, and let's not forget about Poe, who was recently named the NFL's Fiercest Mascot in a bracket poll on CBSSports.com. And, if all goes well, Pamela Anderson might even stop by to lecture us on animal etiquette. I believe the fork goes on the left, but I'll try to keep an open mind.

[pbmax]

Remember LeCharles Bentley, who had a verbal agreement with the Eagles I think and the first night of FA he got a better offer from Cleveland and bolted Andy Reid.

Any agreement like the one described above would be based on everyone being taken at their word, and as this offseason has shown, I don't think that is the case between the Packers and Favre right now. It would be unenforceable by the League and the team.

[mraynrand]

"The Packers took Favre at his word when he announced his retirement and have spent the offseason gearing the offense to Aaron Rodgers. "

What a schmuck! OF course, they geared EVERYTHING to Rodgers and THERE'S NO GOING BACK! Now only Rodgers can run the offense - Favre would be lost, LOST I tells Ya!

[pbmax]

From KFFL, which is simply marvelous for keeping this stuff around back to 1999.

Packers | Favre Contract Terms - from www.KFFL.com
Tue, 6 Mar 2001 01:42:49 -0800

As an update to previous reports, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Green Bay Packers QB Brett Favre will pocket $16.2 million in the next two seasons as part of his new deal with the team. This year he will have a base salary of $477,000, $723,000 base salary and receive a $4 million roster bonus (2002); $4.3M and $3M (2003); $5.5M and $3M (2004); $6.5M and $3M (2005); $7M and $3M (2006); $11M base salary (2007); $12M base salary (2008); $13M base salary (2009) and $14M base salary (2010). For the most part, the deal basically boils down to $51.5 million over six years as the final years have inflated base salaries the team won't be able to afford. While the team received a cap savings this year, his cap hit in 2002 will be $9.72 million so restructuring down the road is very likely.

Mr. Schmuck mentions an $8 million cap number, but unless Favre really tweaked this deal for Sherman in a later year, his base salary is much higher than that. While its entirely possible for Favre to have restructured, been given a bonus or guarantee that pushed more money into the pro-rated bonus catagory, his original signing bonus was just $10 million, or one million per year amortized for the cap.

And if that cap number is $12 million, that is one good sized checkmark in Favre's favor as he might need to restructure to get more teams interested in bidding for him. And that is effectively a trade veto.