On April 21, 1991, the Jets were just minutes away from drafting Brett Favre.

Jets general manager Dick Steinberg and coach Bruce Coslet knew the team needed a talented young quarterback and had correctly identified Favre as the one they should target. When the first round passed and only two quarterbacks — San Diego State’s Dan McGwire and USC’s Todd Marinovich — were chosen, it began to look like Favre, an unpolished but strong-armed passer out of Southern Mississippi, would be available early in the second round.

It didn’t turn out that way. The Falcons selected Favre with the 33rd pick and the Jets had to settle for Louisville’s Browning Nagle with the 34th. Favre was traded to Green Bay a year later and began his march toward the Hall of Fame. The Jets have started, among others, Nagle, Boomer Esiason, Frank Reich, Neil O’Donnell, Vinny Testaverde, Ray Lucas, Glenn Foley, Brooks Bollinger, Chad Pennington, and Kellen Clemens.

Through all of Favre’s MVP awards and NFL records, that nagging question has dogged Jets fans: What if the Falcons hadn’t drafted Favre? What might the Jets look like with Favre at quarterback?

There may finally be a chance for Jets fans to find out.

Favre, who announced his retirement in March, is talking about playing this season. The Packers have made it clear that they want to move on with Aaron Rodgers as their starting quarterback, and no one thinks it would be a good idea to have Favre serve as Rodgers’s backup. Packers general manager Ted Thompson says he has no interest in cutting Favre, mostly because he doesn’t want to give Favre the freedom to sign with a division rival like the Minnesota Vikings.

Neither the Packers nor Favre nor the NFL want training camp and the preseason marred by the spectacle of one of the most popular players in league history feuding with one of the league’s most storied franchises. Unless Favre changes his mind again and says he doesn’t want to play — which, with Favre, is always possible — the best thing for all involved would be for Favre and the Packers to agree to find another team he could play for.

The Packers trading away the man who has been the face of the franchise for 15 years seems far-fetched right now, but if he shows up to the Packers’ training camp and his relationship with his coaches and the Packers’ front office grows even more acrimonious, a trade will seem like the best move. At that point, Favre and Thompson would need to agree on a list of teams that he could play for, and the Jets would likely be on that list.

The Jets make sense for a few reasons. The last thing the Packers’ front office wants is for Favre to beat them while playing for another team, and with the Jets that’s not a concern because they don’t play again until 2010. The way the Jets have focused on building their offensive line this off-season would make them attractive to Favre. And Favre is, even at age 38, an upgrade for the Jets at quarterback when we compare him to Pennington or Clemens.

Of course, trades are easier to speculate about than they are to execute. For starters, Favre’s salary cap figure of $12 million would make it impossible for him to become a Jet without a restructuring of his contract. The Packers are one of the few teams in the NFL that have the cap space to fit Favre under his current deal; the Jets simply couldn’t make it work with Favre’s enormous 2008 salary.

But money isn’t what’s motivating Favre right now. Favre has made tens of millions of dollars in his career and has a reputation for enjoying a simple life, and if he gets the opportunity to play elsewhere, it’s unlikely that he would hesitate to restructure his contract for whatever team he thinks is the right fit.

The other issue is that the Jets would have to work out some type of compensation for the Packers in a trade. There’s not much precedent for trading aging Hall of Fame quarterbacks; the most similar scenario is probably the San Francisco 49ers’ 1993 trade of Joe Montana to the Kansas City Chiefs. In that deal, the 49ers got a first-round draft pick; a veteran safety named David Whitmore and a later draft pick were also part of the exchange.

Is Favre worth a first-round pick to the Jets? Not if he’s only planning to play the 2008 season. But if he is willing to consider playing beyond 2008 — and if he’s willing to restructure his contract — the Jets would at least have to consider giving up a first-round pick to acquire him. Favre could completely transform the team in a way that very, very few first-round draft picks can.

Until the situation has resolved itself, speculation will run rampant through the NFL about whether — and where — Favre is playing in 2008. If there’s any chance that he could play for the Jets, general manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Eric Mangini need to start working on a plan to make it happen.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.