Favre Deal A Win-Win for Packers & Jets

So, we finally solved the riddle as to where Brett Favre would ultimately end up, with the Green Bay Packers ultimately deciding to unload their Hall of Fame quarterback as far away as possible. The game’s all-time leading passer was sent to the Jets in a franchise-changing move for a team that went 4-12 last year. Career overachiever Chad Pennington will be released, and youngster Kellen Clemens will settle into his post as the Jets version of Aaron Rodgers. With this move, we can also finally definitively say that the keys to the Packers’ offense has been given to Rodgers, who has served as Favre’s backup for a very long three years.

Obviously, this makes the Jets a much better team. Their biggest problem in recent years has been the lack of a signal caller who could stretch defenses. This made New York a predictable team, and it showed as their conservative play-calling cost them over and over in close games. Receivers Jerricho Cotchery and Laveraneus Coles are a capable duo that was hindered by the lack of arm strength from Pennington. Despite this tremendous disadvantage, Cotchery had an 1100 yard season, leading the team with 82 catches. His best is yet to come, and with Favre on board as an unbelievable mentor, the 26-year old Cotchery may be the biggest beneficiary in the deal. It won’t take too long for Favre to build up a rapport with Cotchery the way he did with Greg Jennings in his rookie season. Coles is an accomplished veteran who caught over 50 passes, despite playing only 12 games. He’s never played with a quarterback of Favre’s caliber before either, so you could easily see a strong boost from both of the Jets’ talented wide receivers immediately. Supporting this claim is the tremendous investment that has been put into the offensive line. Signing Alan Faneca was enough to fortify the battered unit, but putting him together with Favre makes the Jets a pretty damn good team offensively, a laughable statement a few months ago.

The decision to trade Favre to the AFC should be considered a huge victory for the Packers as well. Ever since Favre announced his retirement, Green Bay has shifted the focus toward letting Rodgers become the main man. Through all of lame-duck Favre’s shenanigans, Green Bay kept their stance on what they projected for 2008. When Favre came blazing into training camp on his private jet earlier in the week, it made things painstakingly difficult for general manager Ted Thompson. To his credit, Thompson handled the crisis in the best way possible. He didn’t have to pay $20 million to a retired player, didn’t trade him to an emerging division rival (Minnesota), or even a team in his conference (Tampa Bay) for that matter. Now residing in the AFC East, the Packers won’t have to worry about seeing their quarterback of the last 16 years until 2014, unless they meet in the Super Bowl. If that were to happen, it’s easy to say that both teams would be happy with the trade.