Shutdown Corner

Listen, I don't like it any more than you do. But it's June, the NFL landscape is barren, and if one recently-retired NFL player makes disparaging comments about another recently-retired (but then unretired) NFL player, I'm going to tell you about it. Thus, we have another Brett Favre(notes) story. We're all going to have to suck it up and deal with it together.

It's not so bad, though. It's a story about people being sick about Brett Favre, which, according to one guy, includes a lot of the players in the NFL. Safety-turned-NBC studio filler Rodney Harrison was on the Dan Patrick show yesterday, and had this to say about the Brett Favre media circus.

"From the player's I've talked to, a lot of them seem to think Brett Favre is pretty selfish," Favre said. "Each and every offseason bringing so much attention to himself. It's just really a disappointment to hear that time and time again.

"If you've been in the league 13, 14, 15 years or so you know if you want to play. The circus shouldn't have to go on for three to four years. It's just a disappointment. Then the media they're just so caught up and in love with Brett Favre ... It's ridiculous because a lot of guys are doing good, positive things in the National Football League and those keep things keep getting overlooked."

I agree, Mr. Harrison. And I also enjoy the smell of you grilling a sacred media cow.

But in fairness to Favre, I don't think it's his fault that the good things NFL players do are overlooked by the media. Those things have always been overlooked. Give a media guy a choice -- and I'm including myself in this -- and 99 times out of 100 he'll take a story about an idiot getting a DUI over a story about a guy spending a weekend volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. For whatever the reasons, that's just how it's always gone. You can't pin that on Favre.

The rest of it, though? Bingo.

Gracias, NFL Gridiron Gab.

I had previously tagged it as a "crazy rumor," but it's looking now that it might not be so crazy. Pro Football Talk had the original report that Brett Favre had already signed a contract with the Vikings, and today, WCCO in Minneapolis has a seperate report saying pretty much the same thing.

Barring some unforeseen major physical setback, Brett Favre(notes) will be at training camp in Mankato when they open up the end of July, a source has told WCCO's Mark Rosen.

That source said that Favre and the Vikings have indeed come to a contractual agreement, with heavy incentives. The Vikings equipment manager has already ordered number 4 purple jerseys with his name on it.

Please note that "having signed a contract" and "having a contractual agreement in place" are not exactly the same thing. If it's the latter, Favre could -- and I know this sounds crazy -- still change his mind.

PFT says the Vikings and Favre are putting off the announcement until July 3rd, where, presumably, media people will be on vacation. The idea is to cut down on as much of the media circus as they can, but I don't know if that's the greatest plan, either. If anyone in the Vikings organization thinks John Clayton won't immediately throw down his hamburger, shove a child to the ground and sprint through a fireworks display in order to get close to Brett Favre, I believe they're mistaken.

If a media outpouring is really what they're worried about, you'd think they wouldn't drag it out another couple of weeks, deal with all the attention in the meantime, and then announce it. I'd think the best plan would be to get it over with. That's just me, though. I'm a "just rip the Band-Aid off" kind of a guy.

I'm on record as saying that I believe Brett Favre(notes) becoming a Viking is a matter of "when", and not "if". According to the latest scurrilous Favre rumors, we can throw "if" completely out the window, because the "when" has already gone down.

The rumor goes like this: Favre has already signed a contract with the Vikings, and he and the team are just waiting to announce it.

ProFootballTalk.com (surprise, surprise) is the source of the rumor, and their source is a military officer currently serving in Afghanistan. If that strikes you as odd, I promise you, you're not alone. PFT then took the info to another source, who would neither confirm or deny it.

So there it is, take it or leave it. For myself, I'm going to choose to leave it, as I don't know what the Vikings or Favre would gain by delaying a decision (other than some extended spotlight time for Favre, but even I don't want to be that cynical about him). It would seem to me that the best thing for both parties would be to wait until they're both certain, and when they are, just get the announcement over and done with as soon as possible.

And why would one of our nation's brave young men or women in Afghanistan have this news before, say, Peter King? Well, I have a theory about that, too. Hold on to your hats.

I think our military has a secret "Favre Squad" hunting down terrorists in Afghanistan, and as a modern warfare tactic, they constantly pelt them every day with news and rumors of Brett Favre's return to the NFL. It's a form of psychological torture designed to make terrorists give themselves up out of sheer, overwhelming annoyance. Ideally, we'd see terrorists waving white flags, throwing down their guns and turning themselves into U.S. forces while crying, "WHY? WHY? Why cannot this Favre man make up his mind? Does he know how annoying he is? Allah, PLEASE, make this man stop."

It's too early for '09 season previews, and too late for '08 season reviews. What's an NFL blog to do in the never-ending quest to overcover the bejeezus out of the NFL? Offseason progress reports. Let's go in alphabetical order. Today, the New York Jets.

Free agents lost: TE Chris Baker(notes), DB David Barrett(notes), LB Eric Barton(notes), LB David Bowens(notes), CB Tyron Brackenridge(notes), WR Laveranues Coles(notes), QB Brett Favre(notes), P Reggie Hodges(notes), LB Brad Kassell(notes), RB Marcus Mason(notes), DL C.J. Mosley(notes), K Mike Nugent(notes), CB Hank Poteat(notes), OT Stefan Rodgers(notes), LB Cody Spencer(notes)

Free agents gained: DE Marques Douglas(notes), DT Howard Green(notes), DT Anthony Harris, LB Larry Izzo(notes), DL Craig Kobel, OT Michael Kracalik, S Jim Leonhard(notes), TE Martez Milner, LB Bart Scott(notes), CB Lito Sheppard(notes), CB Donald Strickland(notes)

Lost via trade: S Abram Elam(notes), DE Kenyon Coleman(notes), QB Brett Ratliff(notes)

Acquired via trade: CB Lito Sheppard

Drafted: QB Mark Sanchez(notes), RB Shonn Greene(notes), OG Matt Slauson(notes)

The quick and easy storyline with the Jets is, once again, the quarterback position, although we're now talking about a guy who's 17 years younger than the last guy. Draftee Mark Sanchez is the new camera-friendly lightning rod, while Brett Favre has taken his media circus elsewhere.

In reality, though, the 2009 Jets will be more about the running game and their defense. Let's face it, they've got a rookie battling Kellen Clemens(notes) for the starting quarterback spot, and the fact that it's a close race probably isn't a good sign. The receiving corps isn't anything to get too fired up about, either.

If the Jets are going to have any success throwing the ball, it's going to be because it's been set up by a running attack spearheaded by Thomas Jones(notes) and Leon Washington(notes). Sanchez is pretty, and while you're not going to see Alan Faneca(notes) on the cover of GQ anytime soon, it's Faneca, the rest of the line, Jones and Washington that will be buttering the offensive bread of the Jets this year.

The defense has a lot of coming together to do, too. Rex Ryan has the Ravens' defensive pedigree, plus he's Buddy's kid, so you'd think he'd be able to build a pretty stout defense. There are question marks anytime a bunch of new faces have to gel, though, and that will definitely be the case here. With Bart Scott, Jim Leonhard, and Lito Sheppard, though, they're pretty good faces.

Progress: The Jets feel more like a 2010 contender than a 2009 contender. Whatever happens at quarterback, it seems a safe bet that the Jets will be in the bottom half of the league in production at that position. They need another receiver, too. Take 2009, develop a quarterback, build the foundation for a defense that should be great, and then we'll see what happens in 2010.

Minus 2 games. 9-7 last year, 7-9 this year.

Last night had to be rough for Chad Ochocinco. Usually, the flamboyant Cincinnati Bengals receiver is the center of attention, but on the premiere of "Joe Buck Live" Ochocinco was upstaged by not one, but two other guests. As a result, the one interesting nugget of information that Ochocinco dropped during his interview was forgotten in the uproar over the other two parts of the show.

Going into the evening, Ochocinco had to know that he was going to take a backseat to Brett Favre(notes) (whose monumental yawn-inducing appearance was chronicled by MJD earlier today). But Artie Lange stealing the show with his venomous outburst toward Joe Buck completely overshadowed Ochocinco's appearance as well, so much so that I had forgotten that the wideout had even appeared until I was reminded today by an item on the wire.

(For what it's worth, I agree with Tommy Craggs at Deadspin when he says that Lange did what Joe Buck needed: created buzz for a pretty awful show. But, I also think Buck isn't getting enough credit for the way he handled it. His line about Lange's four chins was far funnier that anything the Howard Stern sidekick said. I still think Buck is a smarmy know-it-all, by the way.)

During his time on stage with Michael Irvin, Ochocinco said that he was planning on moving in with Carson Palmer's(notes) family in July. Yes, Ochocinco is going to live with the Palmers so he and his quarterback can get on the same page.

On any other night that might have been the story the next morning. But between Favre and Lange, Ochocinco news barely made a ripple.

I, for one, want to see a reality show based on the stay. It'd be like "Perfect Strangers" only with more grills and incorrect Spanish. And if things were to ever get boring, I'm sure Artie Lange makes housecalls.

As promised, Brett Favre(notes) was the first guest on "Joe Buck Live" last night (though it's kind of hard to recall anything anyone said before Artie Lange lit the show on fire in the last segment), and Buck asked Favre most everything you'd have wanted him to ask. I'll try to hit the factual highlights for you, and then talk about how I interpreted things:

• When asked if he intended to play in '09, Favre replied, "Maybe."

• He confirmed that he did have surgery two-and-a-half weeks ago, and the doctor told him it would be four or five weeks before he knew if the surgery would be successful.

• He said the arm was to blame for his poor throws late in the season last year.

• He has talked to Brad Childress, but said it never went past "'Are you interested?' And vice versa."

• Childress never set any deadline for Favre to make a decision.

• Childress did want Favre to show up for the most recent set of OTAs, but Favre declined.

Now, here are a couple of other notes that might be me reading too much into things, or they might be nothing:

• Although he'd only commit to the original "maybe," Favre talked a lot about reasons why he would like to play for the Vikings (Adrian Peterson, how well he knows the offense) and didn't talk at all about reasons he might not want to play for the Vikings.

• At one point, as he was finishing a thought about the talent on the Vikings roster, he said, "We should be pretty good."

Again, the word he used was "we," as opposed to "they," and it wasn't the royal "we" that one might associate with former Deadspin editor Will Leitch.

Innocent slip on the part of Favre? Maybe. But that, along with the rest of the conversation and the amount of thought he's clearly put into it, really makes it seem like Brett Favre -- with the one caveat of arm health -- is already thinking of himself as a Viking.

The arm is the only obstacle here. The Vikings want it, it really seems like Favre wants it, and if Dr. James Andrews did what he was supposed to do, you can go ahead and start ordering your purple Favre jerseys.

I've got to hand it to Brett Favre(notes). If he's made it his goal to irritate the life out of NFL fans, he's done a masterful job so far, and this latest bit of news only makes his performance that much more impressive. Favre is now going to make you watch Joe Buck Live on HBO.

Favre will appear on the first ever episode of Joe Buck Live, tonight at 9 o'clock on HBO. That's the plan, anyway. From the sounds of things, Joe might just have a disgusting act in his pants.

Presumably, Buck will ask Favre if he intends on playing for the Vikings this year, and Favre will either say, "Yes, if my arm is healthy," or he'll lie and say, "Oh, Joe, I don't know," and then make some quip about mowing his lawn or something. Then maybe they'll cook omelets with Bobby Flay.

Actually, to tell you the truth, I probably would have watched Joe Buck anyway. I'm curious to see what he'll be like in a less-rigid setting, and I have to admit to being entertained by his Holiday Inn commercials. And since it's HBO, maybe we'll get to hear him say the f-word. I've always wondered what that might be like.

So that's what I have planned for my evening. Me, Joe Buck, and some, "Hey, I'm still a good guy, right?" quotes from Brett Favre. Now that I think about it, it's a pretty shrewd move by Joe Buck, too. Having Brett Favre on as his first guest will not only get headlines, but it also ensures that Buck will be the most likable guy in the studio. Win-win.

I like Jamie Dukes, and I think he does a terrific job on the NFL Network, but the latest viewpoint that he voices on NFL.com, I find to be, well, let's say "novel."

Dukes is of the opinion that Brett Favre has been made a victim through his retirement, his unretirement, interception-fest with the Jets, retirement, and then likely unretirement again. Dukes is a former player, and I think a player is more likely to take Brett Favre's(notes) side than a regular joe, and that's completely understandable. I strongly disagree, though, and I'd like to go through Dukes' latest blog post line-by-line to demonstrate how.

Brett Favre would still be a Packer if the front office didn’t push him out the door.

I guess that could be true, depending on how you look at his departure from Green Bay. I wouldn't characterize it as "pushing [Favre] out the door," but we'll get to that in a second.

Did Packers general manager Ted Thompson force Favre to retire? No. But he made it clear enough to Favre that he wanted to get his guy, Aaron Rodgers(notes), who had waited three seasons for the job since he was a first-round pick in 2005, into the lineup.

Did he? Or did Thompson get tired of waiting for Favre to make up his mind every off-season, because if he was going to have to put Aaron Rodgers in the line-up, he had to know as soon as possible so they could rebuild the offense to suit him?

Or did Favre retire, essentially tell the Packers to move on without him, and then change his mind, and expect the Packers to undo everything they did and cater to his every whim?

I don't think the Packers got tired of having Brett Favre as their quarterback, I think they got tired of waiting and waiting and waiting for Favre to make up his mind so they could see who their quarterback was going to be every year.

So what was Favre to do? The fire was still in his belly, but the clock was working against him.

If the fire was in his belly, I wish he would have just let someone know, instead of saying for months on end, "You know, I can't really tell if this belly-fire is completely extinguished or not. I'll let you know when I know, which might be tomorrow, or it might be in the middle of training camp."

If Favre is guilty of anything, it’s having pride.

Or of being unable to make a decision.

His pride told him that he didn’t want to stay where he wasn’t wanted. It was 49ers coach Mike Singletary who said it best a few weeks ago: “Players want to feel wanted.” Favre felt Thompson wanted him gone.

Even if Thompson was absolutely hell-bent on getting Favre out of Green Bay (which I don't think he was), would that really be so terrible? Would Brett Favre be the first player in the history of the NFL to feel the sting of a team not wanting him anymore? He's a victim because he's gone through something that thousands and thousands of other players have gone through before him?

I don’t understand why it’s a big deal that Favre wants to play football again.

It's not a big deal that Favre wants to play football again. What is a big deal, though, is that he can't make up his mind this year, couldn't make it up last year, and even struggled the few years before that. If you were a general manager, would you appreciate having that uncertainty at your quarterback position every offseason until Favre felt like making a decision?

If you were the Jets, would you appreciate Favre saying that he wanted his release so he could retire a Packer, only for it to become obvious weeks later that he really just wanted to be a Viking?

He should be allowed to play as long as someone is willing to sign him.

He is. He just happens to be doing it very childishly and very annoyingly.

The way I see it, Favre has done nothing wrong.

Wanting to play another year in Minnesota, just so he can "stick it" to the Packers ... you're okay with that? You think that's a good reason to play football? You think the Minnesota Vikings should turn themselves into a vehicle for Brett Favre's childish revenge?

He still has it. Look at last season — he played fantastic until he hurt his arm late in the season.

That part still counts, though, right? The part where he cost the Jets a spot in the playoffs? The Jets don't still get playoff money just because Brett Favre was good before then, do they?

Look, I understand if you don’t want Favre on your team, but it’s hypocritical to say he should stop playing because you think it’s time for him to stop.

Again, I'm not saying he should stop playing. It's not for me to tell anyone else, in any profession, when they should retire. I don't do that. It would be nice, though, if Brett Favre could act like an adult, make a decision, and stick with it.

What if I were to tell you that you have worked at your job long enough and it’s my opinion that you should look for something else to do?

It would be a completely different situation than what we're talking about here. No one's mad at Brett Favre because they think he should retire. People are mad at Brett Favre because he's acting like a real child about it.

You would tell me where to go.

Probably.

Favre is entitled to the same liberties as anyone else.

True. Everyone's got the right to be an ass.

So last night I was watching "SportsCenter" before the NHL and NBA games got under way, and all the sudden, we had "breaking news" flashing across the screen. This was followed by a report from Ed Werder that said the Vikings had "temporarily suspended their pursuit of Brett Favre(notes)" after Favre didn't show up for the first day of the newest session of OTAs.

My first thought was, "Well, this is significant breaking news, I should go post about it." I started to, and then I thought, "Wait a minute, what the hell does this mean? The Vikings are publicly admitting for the first time that they have actively pursued Brett Favre? They actually expected Favre to show up for minicamp yesterday? And how temporary is 'temporary'? Can we assume that since their suspension of their Favre pursuit is 'temporary' that it will resume at some point in the future?"

And then I decided that the report meant absolutely nothing, and I went back to needlepointing a poem I wrote about Philip Rivers(notes) into a throw pillow.

I can't figure out how this "breaking news" is consequential in any way. It tells us not one damn thing about the future between Favre and the Vikings. It doesn't mean he will be a Viking soon. It doesn't mean he won't be. It doesn't even give much of an indication, either way. All it does, really, is confirm that the Vikings once wanted him, and may want him again in the future.

I believe that makes it the least consequential and informative "breaking news" of all time.

Most importantly, it tells us nothing about the health of his arm, which seems to be the only real variable in the situation. We know Favre wants to play, we know the Vikings want him and we know that working out a contract won't be a problem. The arm is the only hold-up.

So until someone has an update on that arm, I vote that we all put away our shiny "breaking news" graphics and just relax a bit. I have no real expectation, of course, that this will happen.