Before we break for the holiday, and I break for one of my favorite places in New York, I wanted to leave you with the words of perhaps the greatest quarterback to ever play.

All this Brett Favre talk has me thinking about legacies. About all the different uncomfortable finishes to legendary careers and whether anyone should care.

Johnny Unitas had one of the worst endings. After the Colts essentially forced him to retire against his wishes (sound familiar?), Unitas returned at forty years old to play with San Diego. His body was past broken down, and the Chargers were a mess.

In what proved to be the last start of his career, playing in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Unitas turned the ball over four times in the first half before being replaced by Dan Fouts. The Chargers trailed 31-0 at the time. After the game, the Steelers talked sheepishly of tarnishing Unitas' legacy. Unitas wasn't having any of it.

Asked what part sentiment played in a game like this, in his hometown, Unitas said, "The only thing I know about sentiment is that it comes in the dictionary between shit and syphilis."*

Have a great 4th of July everyone!

* Not actually true. But still awesome.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This week, Tiffany and I talk about where to draft the Chargers. Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates, and LaDainian Tomlinson all have varying degrees of injury questions. And are Chris Chambers and Vincent Jackson ready to be every week stars?

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As decisive as Brett Favre is on the field, he's a vacillating mess off it. But Favre must force the issue of returning to the field now if he truly wants to come back, and all indications are that he does despite his claims to the contrary. The Packers will not make it easy on him. They have already rebuffed his interest in returning. They have moved on.

Favre has plenty of leverage though if he doesn't care about his "legacy," which I suspect isn't his first priority. He can simply say, "I am coming back." Then GM Ted Thompson has to decide whether to keep him, release him, or trade him. Any choice is difficult.

If you have any doubt whether Favre wants to come back, read the excellent stories in the Green Bay papers this morning. The Gazette says that Favre was ready to un-retire in May if Thompson had just asked. Really? A legend needs to feel loved to make a commitment like that?

Thompson's frosty relationship with Favre was also in the cross-hairs in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Bonita Favre, Brett's mom, says what we all suspected: Favre didn't feel "wanted" enough by the Packers front office the last few years. That apparently affected his decision to finally quit.

Favre never formally retired with the league. It's certainly not too late to return. But he has to make a decision now. Does he care about protecting his legacy? Or does he just want to play football?

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

We all knew this day was coming. Brett Favre sorta maybe kinda thinks he wants to play football again. His family reportedly supports the decision. There is no doubt his Packers teammates would love him back. Packers fans would celebrate. His coach Mike McCarthy would probably love to take one last run with the legend. Even other NFL teams may like to see Favre return. But none of the above have the power to decide to let Favre back, if he really wanted to scratch that "itch to play" again.

GM Ted Thompson runs the Packers. And the Packers have built this entire offseason on moving on from Favre, something Thompson was ready for. I doubt Thompson wants Favre back.

"Brett's a high-quality person and he's not going to push it that far," a team source told Chris Mortensen. "He'll do the right thing [and stay retired]."

In the quietest of times during the NFL news cycle, leave it up to Brett Favre to stir up some soap opera worthy drama. Somewhere, Aaron Rodgers is stewing.

Update:According to the Wisconsin State Journal, they don't want him back. And won't release him.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)

Finishing off another magazine. Unless big news happened, I try not to adjust my projections too much. Often, we can overthink things and tweak too much based on minor news.

One player that got a slight tweak downwards was Ronnie Brown. I thought the carry split between him and the other Miami backs was too uneven. The minor downgrade left him tied for RB14 with Brandon Jacobs. But I'm not a huge fan of ties, and want to make a choice. I know how I'm leaning, but what say you Pancake Blockers?

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (38)

Since Larry Fitzgerald's second season, he and Anquan Boldin have always been drafted in close proximity. That has changed this year. Fitz is now a second-round pick, while Boldin is going early in the fourth. The question is whether there should be such a gap.

Continue reading "The Boldin-Fitzgerald gap" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Aaron Rodgers may lead the league in offseason features, and he's probably tired of "Taking over for Brett Favre" angle already. I know I am. Interviewed for a SI article this week on other players that took over for legends, Rodgers was quoted saying:

Continue reading "Aaron Rodgers doesn't need you" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 03:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

So Kevin Jones reversed course at the last minute and worked out in front of four NFL teams Saturday: Detroit, Miami, Green Bay, and Pittsburgh. Cleveland reportedly asked for a tape of the proceedings. Now it appears Tampa is in the mix or at least Jones is interested in them. I touched on the topic in my minicamp notes some, but here is what we know about Jones.

Continue reading "The latest in Kevin Jones" »

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)