Why Can't Get a Player Like This?

[milani]

I'm not aware of any examples of it working. Pre-salary cap/Free Agency, all players were forever tied to their teams until they were no longer wanted.

The closest examples of it working might be Brady -> Bucs and Manning -> Broncos, but both are incredibly odd situations to great players at the end of their careers.

Unfotunatelt, for Favre and Rodgers, finishing elsewhere never resulted in that " other " ring they both wanted.

 

[mradtke66]

Unfotunatelt, for Favre and Rodgers, finishing elsewhere never resulted in that " other " ring they both wanted.

I can't fault them chasing it. And honestly, Favre probably should have gotten his other in 2009. He just couldn't get out of his own way with the game on the line. Though after the beating he took, I wonder if he could have played well had they won.

 

[rmontro]

He and a handful of others sued the NFL, which ushered in the next epoch--free agency and the salary cap. Reggie and the other named parties on the suit got the added bonus of being exempt from the franchise tag, at least for the first year. They all got completely unrestricted free agency.

I never would have guessed that Green Bay of all places, would have been the first big beneficiary of free agency. It's always been a trope that players don't want to come here.

 

[mradtke66]

I never would have guessed that Green Bay of all places, would have been the first big beneficiary of free agency. It's always been a trope that players don't want to come here.

Green Bay is certainly a harder sell to a lot of players, even still to this day. Small down in rural Wisconsin vs. literally anywhere else? Born and raised here, but if I had 10s of millions? I'd be looking hard at moving.

Also didn't hurt that GB offered Reggie the most money...

 

[milani]

I never would have guessed that Green Bay of all places, would have been the first big beneficiary of free agency. It's always been a trope that players don't want to come here.

Reggie's motivations were different than many other players. When he was surfing free agency he recognized that Brett Favre was a QB that could take a team to a championship. He was also enamored by the Packer fans devotion to their team through thick and thin unlike his city of brotherly love that could turn on a dime. Recall that Reggie came to play a game in GB in 1992 against the underdog Packers. The Packers recovered a fumble in OT and upset the Eagles. That visit had an impact on him.