Football (american football to those across the pond!)

[Grimward]

You should be, chief; he's a great QB.

[Grimward]

And Cassel, it turns out today, will be expensive if the Vikes decide they want him, Parse. LOW's Pats just slapped the Franchise Player tag on him, meaning that anyone who signs him w/o the Pats matching the offer will have to cough up 2 (yes, TWO!) high round draft choices. The rich get richer......

[Parson]

No, that's 2 First Round Draft Choices! Too expensive for the Vikes. The Vikes are too close to being a Super Bowl contender, but have too little depth to trade some talent away. So unless some trade is worked out, which I doubt because Cassel has value, the Vikes stay pat or (shudder) take another look at Farve.

[Lady of Winterfell]

We'll see what happens, but it would be nice to have Cassel around in case Brady isn't ready at the beginning of the season.

[Cayal]

Originally Posted by Parson

All I can say is that Vikings need to walk away from any flirtation with Brett Favre. He might MIGHT have another good year left to him, but I've always felt that Brett Favre's reputation exceeded his ability. If you can hold the game close until the last two minutes, you've got like your chances. But if he throws 22 interceptions, and that was not all that unusual a year for Brett, your chances of Super Bowl are Super Bull!

Favre is done. He was done last year and he won't get any better.

[Grimward]

I'd argue that Favre, while possibly not getting any better, doesn't yet show signs of getting worse (there are 11 other starting quarterbacks, including Frerotte, who at a 73.0 QB rating is 8 points behind Favre). On the one hand, his 65.7 completion percentage is 5th in the league (Pennington, Warner, Manning and Schaub), but he threw 4 more interceptions than the next worst (Cutler, 18) among the starting quarterbacks. I agree that Favre is unlikely to take Minnesota (or most other teams) to a Super Bowl by himself (or even with considerable help), but it's REALLY easy to do worse! If it comes down to dollars, well, he's almost certain not to be worth it, but that might be premature....

Let's ask the Green Guy, who had reason to be following Favre rather closely this year; does he have another year in the tank, Py?

[jojajihisc]

Favre is certainly in decline and yet he's still better than a host of QBs around the league. If Minnesota can't get somebody better like Cassel or McNabb they'd still be better with him than T. Jackson.

[Parson]

Originally Posted by jojajihisc

Favre is certainly in decline and yet he's still better than a host of QBs around the league. If Minnesota can't get somebody better like Cassel or McNabb they'd still be better with him than T. Jackson.

You are exactly right for 2008, but you will note that T Jack's end of season was much better than his beginning. He is improving, Farve is not. It may well be that 2009 is the year that T Jack is the better choice.

[Cayal]

The Jets won when Favre was held back. They lost when he unleashed.

[jojajihisc]

Originally Posted by Parson

You are exactly right for 2008, but you will note that T Jack's end of season was much better than his beginning. He is improving, Farve is not. It may well be that 2009 is the year that T Jack is the better choice.

The question Minnesota has is can they wait for Jackson to develop when they've got a team built to win right now?

[Lady of Winterfell]

I'm just sick of the whole 'is he going to retire?' 'is he not going to retire?' thing every year.

[Parson]

Originally Posted by jojajihisc

The question Minnesota has is can they wait for Jackson to develop when they've got a team built to win right now?

Very insightful! Then the question is can they touch a QB who can probably be counted on to win right now. (At least as far as these kinds of prognostications go.) Both Mannings, Brees, and Brady about fill out the list and they are all untouchable. There are others who are good managers (Rothselburger etc.) , and some that carry occasional lighting in a bucket (Farve & Warner), but these are the kinds that might work, but might not either, dependent on the situation. Unless Minnesota can land one of the former, they have one of the later and giving away significant assets to gain another one does not make sense.

[Lady of Winterfell]

Well it appears that Favre has decided to retire. No big press conference this time, just a call to the Jets to inform them. Here is the article from ESPN.

I found this statement interesting, about Green Bay sending him to the Jets.

"They sent me to New York because they didn't play the Jets, they were 4-12, so they didn't have to play me, they knew we had very little chance of making the playoffs and they knew it was not likely that we'd have a better year than they did,'' Favre told Werder. "I was aware of all of that and more than up to the challenge because they felt they were shipping me off to Siberia and they'd never hear from me again. So was I coming back to play because I loved the game or to prove them wrong? Probably a little bit of both.
"Maybe initially I came back for the wrong reasons,'' Favre says now. "It was like, "OK, they don't want me to play, then I'll play somewhere else and show them I can still play.''

Favre also admits there were times when he regretted coming out of retirement to play again. Overall, an interesting article.

[J-Sun]

"The team doesn't expect Favre to change his mind."

Neither do I, as this seems more legit, but I'll only truly believe it on opening day.

Thanks for the link - it was interesting.

And if this holds (a gazillion picks (okay, just 310) notwithstanding) it's just a matter of waiting five years for Canton.

[Grimward]

Retirement announcements (save when the player's been injured beyond reasonable return to playing shape) that come right after the season are NEVER to be believed, folks. Favre's old enough, and he could very well be tired of the grind, but a LOT can happen between now and July. Now, the announcements made right before the start of training camp, those you can normally put stock in....