justinsayne
Cody Rhodes is an excellant
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin -- The Green Bay Packers have said no to Brett Favre.
General manager Ted Thompson said Saturday that the team will not honour Favre's request for a release, another indication that the relationship between the parties is growing further strained.
The Packers did say that the former quarterback could rejoin the team as a backup to Aaron Rodgers. However, Favre had asked for a release, which would give him the opportunity to sign with another team if he decides to come out of retirement.
"Favre's welcomed back, but the scenery has changed," Thompson said. "There may be a different role. He becomes an active member of the roster, and then we'll see how it goes from there. We don't have the answers right now, because it hasn't happened, and we don't know that it will."
Favre's request came three days after a conference call with team officials in which the future Hall of Fame quarterback emphatically expressed his desire to play in 2008. On March 5, he announced he retirement during a tear-filled press conference.
"We understand this is a very volatile, sensitive thing," Thompson added. "Fans are unbelievably passionate about this team and passionate about Brett Favre. We understand that, and we're going to try to stay steady, consistent, and try to do the right thing for Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers."
The Packers issued a statement Friday afternoon acknowledging Favre's wishes, but ESPN.com reported that they were not receptive about his possible return to the team and wanted "to move forward", which prompted Favre's request for a release.
"Brett earned and exercised the right to retire on his terms," the statement read. "We wanted him to return and welcomed him back on more than one occasion.
"Brett's press conference and subsequent conversations in the following weeks illustrated his commitment to retirement. The finality of his decision to retire was accepted by the organization. At that point, the Green Bay Packers made the commitment to move forward with our football team."
During Tuesday's conference call, the 38-year-old Favre also said he felt pressured by the team and never was 100% when he decided to retire in March.
Currently on the reserve-retired list, Favre has three years remaining on his contract for a total of US$39-million.
If Favre was to write Commissioner Roger Goodell a letter to request his reinstatement to the Packers' active 80-man roster, the team would have to comply or release him, according to league policy.
Favre has been in communication with coach Mike McCarthy during the offseason but had not spoken to Thompson until this week.
Favre spent 16 of his 17 seasons with the Packers, becoming one of the most beloved players in franchise history. He is the NFL's all-time leader in touchdowns (442), completions (5,377), attempts (8,758), yards (61,555) and wins (160).
This makes me very happy, as I have been pissed off over those whole fucking bullshit since last night when the rumors of Favre returning were officially announced to be true, that after four months of retirement Favre decided he wanted to comeback and wanted to be released, personally since all this has happen I as a a Packer fan have lost more and more respect for Favre, I feel what he is doing is disrespectful to the franchise that made him what he is today, and given him everything he has, he is also tarnishing his whole legacy with this stupid stunt, personally I feel that if he wasn't ready to retire then he shouldn't have called a press conference and announced his retirement this past March, instead he should've done what he has in seasons past, and wait until he was 100% sure of what he wanted to do before making his decision, he announced he was retiring and Green Bay did as the y should, they moved forward giving the starting QB spot to Aaron Rodgers, who IMO has handled all of this very well, but now Favre decides "Ummm I changed my mind, I wanna come back", that's just fucked up, he has put the Packers in a no win situation where no matter what they do they are gonna look like the bad guy in all this, personally I think Green Bay has made the right decision in not granting Favre his release, after all what goes around comes around, maybe it's time the dude learn the football world doesn't revolve around him