Brett Favre Retires Again

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast

N.Y. Jets quarterback Brett Favre has once again retired from playing in the National Football League. The Jets confirmed his announcement today at a midday presser with GM Mike Tannenbaum and owner Woody Johnson. Brett was not interested in going through another retirement press conference (thank God), but he did jump on a conference call tonight to share his thoughts. After having been on several of his conference calls over the years, I can tell you Brett always speaks his mind and is not short on words. And we (reporters, bloggers, whatever) have always loved that about him:

“Physically for the most part I feel the same, aside from the most important thing, and that’s my throwing shoulder. It progressively got worse throughout the year. Other than that, I can’t complain. I’m very thankful and blessed. I’ve played so much for so long. I guess it was just a matter of time before something broke down. For a quarterback, the most important thing is his throwing shoulder. It was something I was able to play with but I don’t think I was nearly as productive as the season progressed. It very well could be fine next year, I’m well aware of that. But then again, it could linger and bother me throughout the year. I just felt like it was time, that more than anything it was a wakeup call ….. With each week, just the wear and tear, it would tear just a little bit. I wouldn’t feel it tear, but I just got a little more fatigued. I threw most every day in practice. When I would throw, I didn’t have the velocity all the time or I started noticing that more passes were wobbly or whatever. So I think I started kind of altering my throwing motion.”

I can’t say I’m surprised by this news. As Brett mentioned, his performance tapered off late last season along with the Jets playoff chances. That being said, however, I wonder if a few months of R&R will cause Brett to rethink this whole re-retirement thing. But, he squashed that notion:

“I have no reason to wonder why you would be so skeptical. I have family and friends who’ll say, ‘All right, Brett, is this the real deal?’ It is, believe me. It’s been a wonderful career ….. It was worth a shot for me to go to New York. I wish I could’ve played better down the stretch. I didn’t. It’s time to leave.”

So, it’s good news and bad news for the N.Y. Jets. The good news is the team saves $13 million in cap space without Brett. The bad news is, unless another free agent veteran quarterback enters the picture, they are a team very close to the playoffs with an unproven Kellen Clemens (or Brett Ratliff or Eric Ainge) at quarterback. New head coach Rex Ryan has his work cut out.

Source: NewYorkJets.com, Photo: Newscom