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Rhodes Wants Favre to Make 100-Percent Commitment to Offseason Workouts

Posted Jan 02, 2009 2:30PM By Ryan Wilson (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Jets, AFC East, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching

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Brett Favre Fallout, Day 5. The Jets were eliminated from the playoffs Sunday, and, apparently, we can attribute it to too much gungslingin'. On Wednesday, Jets running back Thomas Jones suggested Favre should've been benched during his Week 17, three-pick performance, and yesterday, safety Kerry Rhodes had a request of his own:
...Rhodes ... wants Favre to make a 100-percent commitment to the offseason program and training camp before agreeing to return:

"If he's dedicated and he wants to come back and do this, and do it the right way ... and be here when we're here in training camp and the minicamps and working out with us ... then I'm fine with it. But don't come back if it's going to be half-hearted or he doesn't want to put the time in with us."
Good luck with that. Everybody knows that Favre spends his offseasons fishing in Mississippi, before hastily announcing he's un-retired in early August, and then going through the motions for a few weeks of training camp. It's a tried and true formula that's worked (sorta).

Unlike his time in Green Bay, however, Favre doesn't have any built-in goodwill with the Jets or their fans. Which is why it'll be much tougher for him to come and go as he pleases without consequence. Jones and another unnamed Jets player have already made that clear. And Rhodes pretty much echoed those sentiments, too.

Something else to consider: despite his "I've decided to can the Mangenius and I want Favre back in '09" press conference earlier this week, owner Woody Johnson admits that he's a-okay with Favre retiring.
Nobody associated with the Jets is pressing Brett Favre to make a decision on his future, in part because they don't want to be seen as the team that ran a future Hall of Fame quarterback out of town.

But there are those, including owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum, who privately indicated they might be okay with any decision Favre makes -- despite Johnson's and Tannenbaum's public pleas for Favre to return next season.
One question: who cares if the Jets are the team seen as running a future Hall of Famer out of town? Don't the Packers already hold that distinction, anyway? Not only that, but there's nothing wrong with admitting you made a mistake and moving on. It happens every offseason.

As for Favre, I can't imagine he comes back ... to the Jets. Yes, he's unbelievably stubborn, but when a locker room full of veterans don't respect you, that changes things. Of course, now the Jets are in the market for a franchise quarterback, and presumably he isn't named Kellen Clemens.

Tags: Brett+Favre, BrettFavre, Kellen+Clemens, KellenClemens, Kerry+Rhodes, KerryRhodes, Thomas+Jones, ThomasJones, Woody+Johnson, WoodyJohnson

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