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While discussing his denial of wrongdoing in the Mississippi welfare funding scandal and his thoughts about the Aaron Rodgers-Jordan Love quarterbacking situation, Brett Favre shared perspective from 12 years of hindsight about his own departure from the Green Bay Packers and the decision general manager Ted Thompson made to both draft and stay with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback.
“Ted felt like that was probably the best time, and it turned out to be a great move,” Favre told ESPN Wisconsin’s “Wilde And Tausch” Friday.
Favre was a 13-year starting quarterback with the Packers, on his way to a Hall of Fame induction, when Thompson drafted Rodgers in the first round in 2005. Rodgers has started for 13 years with the Packers, with his own ticket written to Canton, when Brian Gutekunst chose Love in the first round last month.
Then, in March 2008 after an MVP-caliber season and an overtime loss to the New York Giants where Favre’s last throw as a Packer was an interception that cost his team a spot in Super Bowl XLII, Favre retired.
He un-retired four months later and tried to return to the Packers, but Thompson, Mike McCarthy and Packers brass chose to stay with Rodgers as the starter and traded Favre to the New York Jets.
“Aaron was getting ready to have a new contract. At some point, you’ve got to make the transition. I’d tell Ted that to his face right now. It was a great move drafting Aaron Rodgers, and it was a great time to make that transition, and it’s worked out well for them,” Favre said.
“The jury is out whether or not the same will happen the same with Jordan and his transition. We will see.”
As for Favre, he admits his own retirement in 2008 should have had a different pathway, and it happened in a place of extreme frustration.
“If I could go back and do things differently, I certainly would have. When I made the decision to tell Mike McCarthy that I would retire, I was probably a month, month and a half removed. It was before the draft. I would be shocked if a veteran player Aaron’s age or older is ready for football a month or two after a devastating loss.”