Favre remains Packer

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Packers aren’t about to let Brett Favre become a free agent. And while he’s now free to return to Green Bay for another season, there’s no guarantee he’ll be the Packers’ starting quarterback if he does.

In an interview with the Associated Press Saturday, Packers general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy said they don’t plan to grant Favre the release he is seeking from his contract and are committed to Aaron Rodgers as their starter.

“We’ve communicated that to Brett, that we have since moved forward,” Thompson said Saturday, in his first public comments since Favre requested to be released this week. “At the same time, we’ve never said that there couldn’t be some role that he might play here. But I would understand his point that he would want to play.”

And if Favre wanted to play for the Packers, he had the chance when he told them a few weeks after his tearful goodbye news conference that he was having second thoughts. With Thompson and McCarthy preparing to board a private plane to fly to Mississippi and seal the deal on a comeback, all Favre had to do was say yes.

He didn’t.

“Ted always wanted Brett back,” McCarthy said. “We always wanted Brett back.”

Favre, who led the Packers to a Super Bowl title after the 1996 season, held a tearful news conference to announce his retirement March 6. Through Packers offensive line coach James Campen, Thompson and McCarthy heard a few weeks later that Favre was having second thoughts. Campen is a friend of Favre’s who McCarthy said had been miscast as an official intermediary between Favre and the team in various media reports.

After several telephone discussions with Favre led them to believe he wanted to return, Thompson and McCarthy were preparing to board a private plane. Then Favre suddenly called McCarthy.

“He said he appreciated all the planning we were going to do,” McCarthy said. “But he felt that at this point, he had reached a point of closure, to use his words, and he was going to stick with his initial decision.”

Even after the March episode, McCarthy and Thompson said they regularly communicated with Favre. Thompson even went to Mississippi to visit Favre in May, and didn’t get the sense Favre was having serious thoughts about playing again as the two had lunch.

But the tone changed dramatically in June, when Campen said he was getting worried about Favre. McCarthy said he had a phone conversation with Favre on June 20, and the coach said the quarterback sent a clear message: “Give me my helmet or give me my release.”

Even then, McCarthy said when he asked Favre if he was ready to make a 100 percent commitment to football – an issue Favre had brought up in his retirement news conference – the answer still was no.

Next came a now-infamous text message exchange between Thompson and Favre on July 4. At the time, Thompson didn’t think it was a big deal that he wrote Favre back saying he was traveling and asked if they could talk Monday.

But then Thompson began getting texts from Favre’s agent, Bus Cook. Sensing rising tension, Thompson and McCarthy agreed to a conference call with Favre and Cook on Tuesday.

Only then, McCarthy said, did Favre say he was 100 percent committed to playing.