In what has become a new NFL Tradition, Brett Favre is retiring according to multiple reports. Also according to multiple reports, Favre hasn’t made up his mind. And according to even more reports, Favre is definitely coming back, maybe.
The most recent reports tell us that Favre has not made a decision and is still unsure about what he is going to do. We’ve all heard every angle to this story, so like Wale’s newest mixtape, really this is just “More About Nothing”.
For what it’s worth, the Minnesota Vikings believe that Favre is leaning towards retiring, so they have resorted to world-class levels of begging to bring him back to Minnesota for one more year.
According to ESPN:
…the Vikings have offered to increase Favre’s salary to $16 million guaranteed — $3 million more than he was scheduled to make this season, plus another $4 million in incentives that could potentially pay Favre $20 million total for the 2010 season.
Basically, Minnesota is telling Favre we need you if we are going to have any chance at the Super Bowl, and we’re willing to pay you up to $7 million more this season to make it happen. They’re also telling Tavaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels that they have no faith in either of the two young quarterbacks abilities to lead them to a title this season.
We’ve come to expect this kind of behavior from Favre every off-season, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if he retired for a third time, then came back again and did this all over next season. The bigger issue here is the way the Vikings are reacting. The most logical thing for them to do would be to come out and say that they would love to have Brett back, but are confident in their chances with Jackson or Rosenfels leading them as well.
Doing this tells Favre he will be welcomed with open arms, but also lets the younger signal-callers on their roster know that they trust them to be able to take the reigns of a very talented team and lead them to the Super Bowl.
Right now, it looks like the Vikings are out there trying to lure Favre back by any means and leaving their other quarterbacks out to dry. Not a good move for a team that with or without Favre, is talented enough to make a serious Super Bowl run. It will be interesting to see what happens with this squad once Favre decides if he wants to retire, come back, retire again, and come back again.
Belal Abdelfattah comes from a long background in sports writing at the Sports Authority Blog and The Block Radio. You can check out his weekly radio show OSD Radio at http://tinyurl.com/OSDRadio or follow Belal on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/belal_a