Boomer Esiason Can Relate to Brett Favre Saga
What we are witnessing, Boomer Esiason was saying on Tuesday amid the dizzying swirl of developments surrounding Brett Favre, is a very public, very bitter divorce.
“This is a divorce between two people who have been married for a long time, and right now, it’s at the ugly stage,” the former NFL quarterback said. “This is a divorce between (Packers general manager) Ted Thompson and Brett Favre, and as long as those people stay in place, there’s no way this thing is going to come to a satisfactory agreement in the long term. You like both of them. You want the best for both of them. Unfortunately, they’re going to get dragged through the mud and the rest of us are getting dragged through right with them.”
Yes, it is ugly. And yes, the final papers have been drawn up, with Favre mostly likely settling on a trade to Tampa Bay after his request to be dealt to divisional rival Minnesota has been rejected. The Jets? A possibility, albeit remote, because they’ve had a chance to pull the trigger, only to get negative vibes from Favre on a move to New York.
Favre spent a tumultuous two days in Green Bay discussing his situation for hours on end with Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy. But as McCarthy explained Tuesday in his first public remarks since Favre’s return, he thought Favre wasn’t mentally prepared to carry on with the Packers.
“He was not in the proper mindset to move forward to be a part of the football team,” McCarthy said. “The team is moving forward. The train has left the station. He needs to jump on the train. If we can’t get past the things that have happened, I have to keep the train moving.”
Translation: Thanks for the memories, Brett. It’s over.
Too bad, says Esiason.
“If he wants to play, he should play,” Esiason said. “The Packers paid him for his services, and he delivered those services every single game since he got there in 1992. If you’re a Packers fan, who makes you a better team, Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers? There isn’t any question that it’s Brett Favre. That’s why this whole thing is so ridiculous. If they’re so convinced that Aaron Rodgers is the better player, then why didn’t he beat out Brett Favre before?”
Esiason can empathize with Favre over the lingering distrust he has of the organization, based largely on the “he said, he said” comments that surfaced throughout the offseason.
“It wasn’t remotely close to what Brett is going through, but I got really mad when I was with the Cardinals (in 1996). I claimed they didn’t start me for a game or two because they wouldn’t have to pay a $400,000 bonus to me. I basically told them I didn’t want to come back unless they pay me the money. And if they didn’t pay me the money, it would be in their best interests to release me.”
The Cardinals did release Esiason, and he rejoined the Bengals the following year.
“I understand where he’s coming from, especially if Ted Thompson is hostile to Brett Favre. There is a disconnect between those two guys. I don’t think he ever wants to play for Ted Thompson again.”
The soap opera has dragged on for months, and Favre’s image has taken a hit _ deservedly so, in many ways. After all, he told the Packers he was retiring, then changed his mind several times before finally declaring he was ready to play again shortly before training camp. He left the team in the lurch, then demanded to return, only to chafe at the parameters of the terms.
But the Packers were at fault, too, for being too rigid in shielding Rodgers from any true competition. And in not doing more to assuage Favre’s concerns about whether he was truly wanted back. After all, we are talking about a future Hall of Famer who last season got his team within an overtime of going to the Super Bowl.
“In the short term, his legacy will take a hit,” Esiason said. “But seven years from now, all this nonsense will be put behind everyone, and they’ll talk about how he was the Cal Ripken of the NFL and did something no other player was able to do, and everybody will celebrate a great career.”
In the meantime . . .
“There will be these Brett Favre detractors,” Esiason said, “either because they’ve never played before or they’re completely miserable and they sit in judgment about somebody and they don’t know how difficult it’s been to do what he has done.”
And so we move on to the next and final chapter of the Favre saga. Wherever that takes him.
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