Donald Driver got the text message from Brett Favre shortly before Sunday’s Family Night scrimmage: I’m on the plane, getting ready to come that way.
“I just started smiling,” Driver said. “Texted him back and started laughing. I said, ‘Will I see you tonight?’ He said, ‘Probably tomorrow.’”
Like everyone else in the locker room, Driver said he was taking a wait-and-see approach to what the legendary quarterback’s return means for the Green Bay Packers.
But Driver has spoken out as favorably as any player as Favre’s comeback has progressed — slowly — over the past month.
“I love him,” said Driver, who has made three Pro Bowls with Favre throwing him the ball.
“That’s one thing I’ve always said. We have a very, very close relationship, so it’s good to have a close friend around, and that’s the biggest thing to me. He knows that I love him. He loves me the same.”
Few other Packers have as tight of a relationship with Favre, who at 38 is at least a decade older than all but six players in the locker room. Coach Mike McCarthy noted last week that 21 percent of the roster never had met Favre; five of the 10 receivers on the roster and three of the five tight ends never have taken the field with him.
“Everyone back home’s saying, ‘Have you met Brett?’” rookie tight end Jermichael Finley said. “I’m like, ‘Nah, man. He hasn’t showed up.’ It’s going to be great to meet him.”
Driver said he doesn’t think pulling everyone together will be a problem.
“I don’t think we ever separated, and that’s the good thing,” Driver said. “I think we kept our chemistry together, and that’s what we wanted to be able to keep. And right now, it’s just moving forward, and that’s the good thing about us right now, is that we can just continue moving forward.”
That phrase — moving forward — has been used often by members of the organization when speaking about Aaron Rodgers taking over as the starting quarterback.
With Favre apparently on course to take the field for practice on Tuesday afternoon, the connotations have changed.
“The only person I really worry about is Aaron, and I think he’s handling it real well,” receiver James Jones said. “However they play it out, they play it out. Aaron’s a man. He’ll handle whatever situation. If he’s the starter, he’s going to handle that as the starter. Something comes up where Brett is the starter, then (Rodgers) will handle it that way. He’ll be fine.”


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