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As another 4th of July passes, so too do the Favre retirement/un-retirement rumors surface. While officially the Packers have not responded to any of the rumors regarding Brett Favre's potential return to the NFL after his announced retirement in March, sources close to Favre assert that he is serious about continuing to play and reports have surfaced that he has contacted GM Ted Thompsen about the situation. The national media has of course leaped onto the story, much as it did when he announced his retirement, with the majority of opinions being that the Packers would NOT welcome the legend back if he were to return. Instead, there are reports he would seek a release or a trade to another contending team.

Now, I can understand the Packers' point of view here, to an extent. They are a bit tired of Favre's on again/off again decisions about retirement in the past few seasons, and wish that the guy would make a solid decision about his future. They thought they had finally gotten their answer when he announced his retirement, and so began to rally around 2005 draft pick Aaron Rodgers and support him as "the man" at quarterback. Favre's desire to play now throws a wrench in the works, as, if he is welcomed back, then Rodgers will have to wait for yet another year. For this reason, many believe that the Packers will either discourage Favre from coming back or get rid of him for the sake of building for their future.

So, now that this viewpoint has been explored, I have to ask the question: WHY? Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the goal of any franchise to win a championship in as reasonable an amount of time as possible? If I'm assuming correctly, then the Packers should see that having Favre back is the quickest way to do so. The reasoning behind developing Rodgers is to prepare him to take the Packers to the championship. But, Favre had one of his best seasons in years, and led them to a 13-3 record. They have a solid defense, great receivers who share a special bond with Favre, and an offensive line and a running back that were excellent last year and should continue to be solid. They had home field advantage in the playoffs last year and lost in overtime to a Giants team that no one saw coming. Favre was phenomenal, and they almost got there. Why would you let him go to another team, when he is playing at a very high level, you have a great team around him, and Rodgers is a still unknown commodity? You are ready to win, and Rodgers gets yet another year to learn. Is Rodgers' ego so important to them that they are willing to ostracize an NFL legend and fan favorite just to avoid damaging his morale? If Rodgers is upset by the outcome, then he is free to request a trade or release. The Packers seem to fail to realize that they have second round draft pick Brian Brohm waiting in the wings should Rodgers grow tired of waiting, or simply not work out as a player. I don't think Rodgers has shown enough in his limited playing time to warrant this treatment. Do the Packers know something the general public doesn't? Is Rodgers some superman in workouts? None of the evidence they have justifies jettisoning a future Hall of Fame quarterback, and face of the franchise, when the man waiting to replace him has very little game experience and is by far no guarantee to lead the Packers to glory. Favre is the sure thing. Rodgers is the wildcard. Thompsen would seem to be gambling with his team's fate by letting Favre move on.

If the Packers do as I suggest, and welcome Favre back with open arms, then there will certainly still be some problems. They might not win it all, as the NFC is still tough, and Favre's performance in last year's NFC Championship game was worrying. They also will have to deal with Favre in the offseason once again, if he decides that winning it all was still not enough to convince him to retire. But, at this point, if the Packers can take home the Lombardi trophy, which is a decent possibility considering the makeup of their team besides Favre, they will have done their job. Once they've gotten the franchise's first title since 1998, they can then send Favre on his way and begin developing Rodgers/Brohm. Should they not become champions, then they can either try to keep Favre, who has at least two years left in him, or then try to do it with one of the young guys. This would let them keep their options open, instead of taking an unnecessary chance with Rodgers and losing Favre. Rodgers won't die riding the pine for one more year, and Green Bay gets a shot at a title. This sounds perfectly logical to me, and if I didn't know any better, then I would say that maybe this issue is personal between the GM and the QB. Reports say that when Favre contacted Thompsen, the GM responded by saying he was on vacation and they would talk later, basically blowing him off. It's definitely possible that Thompsen could have felt some resentment toward Favre for "holding the team hostage" by not announcing his future sooner in past years while Thompsen was trying to build the team. Regardless of the reasons why the Packers are unwilling to welcome Favre back, I believe they are making a big mistake. Only time will tell what the Packers do, but there are 31 other teams that would be happy to see Favre leave Green Bay.