Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers at the 2013 NFL Honors awards. (AP)
Before you run screaming into the streets, we should make clear that this headline is not meant to infer that Brett Favre is trying to un-retire again. No, it's simply that after years of bad feelings and unnecessary drama, the Green Bay Packers are ready to make nice with Brett Favre in an official way.
During the team's recent Tailgate Tour, an opportunity for fans to interact with players in an informal setting, Packers president Mark Murphy said that it's time to welcome Favre back into the fold as one of the team's all-time great players.
“I think each year it’s lessened a little bit,” Murphy said on Tuesday about the questions regarding Favre. “My first year was 2008, so we actually thought we might see Brett along the tour.”
Of course (and we'll keep this summary mercifully short), 2008 was Favre's first year away from Green Bay since 1992, when then-general manager Ron Wolf traded a first-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons that February for his future quarterback. Safe to say, that was a fairly one-sided deal. Favre threw for 61,655 yards and 442 touchdowns in 16 seasons for the Pack, but he was traded to the New York Jets in August, 2008 -- a few months after he retired, unretired, asked current general manager Ted Thompson to return to the team, and was rebuffed. After one iffy year with the Jets, Favre played two more seasons with the Minnesota Vikings -- a brilliant one in 2009, and an injury-plagued finale in 2010, before he finally hung 'em up for good in 2011.
There were bad feelings on both sides, and between Favre and successor Aaron Rodgers for a time, but the appearance by Favre and Rodgers on stage together at the 2013 NFL Honors show during Super Bowl week seemed to indicate that there had been some patching up along the way. Their dialogue in the show was pretty funny:
Rodgers: We’re here to present the award for best comeback player.
Favre: You know Aaron, everyone loves it when a great player makes a comeback.
Rodgers: (smirking) Yeah, well, not always. Some people wish great players would just retire and stay retired.
Favre: Good to see you, too, Aaron.
Rodgers: You too, man.
(Handshake, followed by awkward, possibly scripted quasi-hug)
Rodgers: That was awkward.
Peyton Manning, who won that award, riffed right off the Favre-Rodgers meeting.
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