DePack
Cheesehead
Following up on yesterdays rumor mill.
POSTED 8:21 a.m. EST; UPDATED 8:34 a.m. EST, March 23, 2006
PACKERS SANDBAGGING ON LORD FAVRE RETURN
We reported on Wednesday that Packers quarterback Brett Favre has told the team that he'll play again in 2006, but that no public announcement has been made.
Our report caused a mini-commotion. ESPN.com ran a story attempting to debunk it. Adam Schefter of the NFL Network asked Favre's agent, Bus Cook, about it.
Said Cook: "That's news to me -- and I spoke to Brett an hour ago."
G.M. Ted Thompson declined to address the matter, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "It's not our policy to respond, confirm or non-confirm things on a Web site," Thompson said. "We'd spend all of our day doing that."
The Wisconsin State Journal writes that Thompson "laughed off" the report. "I don't comment on Internet reports," Thompson said Wednesday. "Especially Internet reports."
Of course, a good follow up question would have gone something like this: "But, Ted, this is a site that has broken major stories, just in the past month, including the Vikings' efforts to trade Daunte Culpepper, the retirement of the Commissioner, the Vince Young Wonderlic score, the financial details of the Edgerrin James contract, the offer sheet signed by Steve Hutchinson with the Vikings, and the existence of the 'poison pill' in that offer sheet. Still no comment?"
Then again, that question wasn't necessary. Thompson knows about us, and he knows that we're much more than just some sports site that simply scours the web for stories reported by others.
So why wouldn't Thompson respond?
Because, in our view, he knows the report is right on the money.
Though we're not sure whether the Packers are trying to keep guessing the other teams who are or who might be inclined to get in front of them on draft day or whether the Packers want to allow Favre to create the impression that he wasn't pushed into making a decision or whether the team wants the fans and the media to ultimately conclude that the organization did enough to improve the team in the offseason since the end result prompted Brett to come back, Thompson's reaction tells us everything we need to know.
Favre is coming back, and the team and the player are keeping it under wraps.
Here's the best circumstantial evidence that, in our view, supports the fact that something is happening. In Thursday's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Tom Silverstein writes that the trigger for Favre's roster bonus has again been bumped, this time from March 22 to April 1. In that same article, however, Silverstein writes that the roster bonus "is mostly artificial because under the terms of the contract Favre doesn't receive the money until September if he returns and doesn't receive it at all if he retires."
Mostly artificial? If Silverstein is right on that, the deadline for the bonus is completely artificial. All the team had to do was to exercise the roster bonus and then sit back and wait. If Favre retires, they don't pay it. If he plays, they pay.
So this whole roster bonus postponement thing is part of the smokescreen. Favre is coming back. He knows it. His agent knows it. The team knows it.
And everyone involved has decided, for whatever reason, to keep it under wraps.
Again speculation but these guys seem adament. If he is right there is no way they can keep it under wraps until the draft!
POSTED 8:21 a.m. EST; UPDATED 8:34 a.m. EST, March 23, 2006
PACKERS SANDBAGGING ON LORD FAVRE RETURN
We reported on Wednesday that Packers quarterback Brett Favre has told the team that he'll play again in 2006, but that no public announcement has been made.
Our report caused a mini-commotion. ESPN.com ran a story attempting to debunk it. Adam Schefter of the NFL Network asked Favre's agent, Bus Cook, about it.
Said Cook: "That's news to me -- and I spoke to Brett an hour ago."
G.M. Ted Thompson declined to address the matter, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "It's not our policy to respond, confirm or non-confirm things on a Web site," Thompson said. "We'd spend all of our day doing that."
The Wisconsin State Journal writes that Thompson "laughed off" the report. "I don't comment on Internet reports," Thompson said Wednesday. "Especially Internet reports."
Of course, a good follow up question would have gone something like this: "But, Ted, this is a site that has broken major stories, just in the past month, including the Vikings' efforts to trade Daunte Culpepper, the retirement of the Commissioner, the Vince Young Wonderlic score, the financial details of the Edgerrin James contract, the offer sheet signed by Steve Hutchinson with the Vikings, and the existence of the 'poison pill' in that offer sheet. Still no comment?"
Then again, that question wasn't necessary. Thompson knows about us, and he knows that we're much more than just some sports site that simply scours the web for stories reported by others.
So why wouldn't Thompson respond?
Because, in our view, he knows the report is right on the money.
Though we're not sure whether the Packers are trying to keep guessing the other teams who are or who might be inclined to get in front of them on draft day or whether the Packers want to allow Favre to create the impression that he wasn't pushed into making a decision or whether the team wants the fans and the media to ultimately conclude that the organization did enough to improve the team in the offseason since the end result prompted Brett to come back, Thompson's reaction tells us everything we need to know.
Favre is coming back, and the team and the player are keeping it under wraps.
Here's the best circumstantial evidence that, in our view, supports the fact that something is happening. In Thursday's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Tom Silverstein writes that the trigger for Favre's roster bonus has again been bumped, this time from March 22 to April 1. In that same article, however, Silverstein writes that the roster bonus "is mostly artificial because under the terms of the contract Favre doesn't receive the money until September if he returns and doesn't receive it at all if he retires."
Mostly artificial? If Silverstein is right on that, the deadline for the bonus is completely artificial. All the team had to do was to exercise the roster bonus and then sit back and wait. If Favre retires, they don't pay it. If he plays, they pay.
So this whole roster bonus postponement thing is part of the smokescreen. Favre is coming back. He knows it. His agent knows it. The team knows it.
And everyone involved has decided, for whatever reason, to keep it under wraps.
Again speculation but these guys seem adament. If he is right there is no way they can keep it under wraps until the draft!
