Boldly Dreaming of a Super Bowl, Jets Acquire Favre

The Jets want to win the Super Bowl this year, and they made the boldest move imaginable to get it done.That is the ultimate takeaway from the stunning news that the Jets have acquired Brett Favre in a trade with the Green Bay Packers. Will Favre be the great player in New York this year that he was in Green Bay last year and most of his career? It’s impossible to say. But the Jets have decided that if there’s a chance, they’re willing to pull off one of the biggest trades in NFL history.In fact, they made the only trade that could possibly transform them into a better team than the New England Patriots. Favre doesn’t make the Jets favorites to beat New England when the teams meet at the Meadowlands on September 14, but he gives them a better chance than anyone thought they had 24 hours ago.The Jets’ win-now attitude has been apparent throughout the off-season, as they gave guarantees in March to four free agents — linebacker Calvin Pace, defensive lineman Kris Jenkins, and offensive linemen Damien Woody and Alan Faneca — totaling $74 million. Now, just in time for the season, they’ve taken an even bigger step toward making last season’s 4-12 record a distant memory.Favre will arrive in New York today and then fly to Cleveland to watch from the sidelines when the Jets take on the Browns in the preseason opener tonight. By the weekend, Favre will be on the practice field, wearing a Jets helmet, throwing passes to Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery.Favre putting on a Jets helmet is something that fans have dreamed about for 17 years, ever since the 1991 NFL draft, when the Jets knew they wanted to select Favre, a talented but unpolished quarterback out of Southern Mississippi. As the Jets’ second-round pick — 34th overall — approached, Favre got tantalizingly close to becoming a Jet, only to have the Atlanta Falcons select him 33rd overall. The Falcons traded Favre to the Packers a year later, he became one of the league’s all-time great players, and the Jets, who have started 15 different quarterbacks during Favre’s current 253-game consecutive starts streak, wondered what it would be like to have a Hall of Fame quarterback in their huddle.Until now. Favre has a month to develop a rapport with Coles, Cotchery, and his other receivers, learn the playbook and get prepared for his regular season debut on September 7 in Miami. When the Jets take the field that day, they’ll be led by a quarterback who will end up in the Hall of Fame for the first time since Joe Namath led them onto the field in 1976.Another piece of business on this busy day will center on what the Jets do with Chad Pennington, who has been the Jets’ best quarterback since Namath. In his early-morning press conference, the Jets General Manager, Mike Tannenbaum, described the trade as “a bittersweet moment for us” because it signals the departure of Pennington.The Jets are expected to cut Pennington, and that’s the best option for everyone. It makes no sense to keep Pennington on the roster as Favre’s backup and would probably be impossible to fit both of their salaries under the NFL’s cap. So Pennington will leave after eight seasons as a Jet, likely to sign with a team that could use a mentor to a young quarterback. He could reunite with old coach Herm Edwards with the Kansas City Chiefs.Kellen Clemens, who had been battling Pennington for the starting job, will now serve as Favre’s backup this season. The Jets’ 2006 second-round draft pick, Clemens might become a good NFL starter some day, but nothing he has done in his first two seasons gives the Jets much confidence to think he’s ready right now.The Jets have full confidence in Favre. He instantly becomes not just their starting quarterback, but their team leader, their most recognizable player, and the face of the franchise. Although his $12 million base salary for 2008 is steep, Favre will earn that money by creating buzz surrounding the team as it prepares to sell personal seat licenses for its new stadium.The terms of the trade state that the Jets will send the Packers a fourth-round draft pick, which can become a third-round pick if Favre plays 50% of the Jets’ offensive snaps, and a second-round pick if Favre plays 70% of the snaps and the Jets make the playoffs.The Jets would owe the Packers a first-round pick if Favre takes 80% of the snaps and the Jets make it to the Super Bowl. If the Jets do get to the Super Bowl with Favre, giving up next year’s 31st or 32nd pick will have turned out to be the most successful trade in franchise history. That possibility is what this trade was about.

Boldly Dreaming of a Super Bowl, Jets Acquire Favre

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