Conflicting reports re Ahman Green signing with Packers

Reports from earlier today indicated the deal had happened. However, Greb Bedard reported later this afternoon that it may not happen. Part of it depends on DeShawn Wynn’s knee and apparently whether or not he may be placed on injured reserve. Green’s agent says nothing has been done yet.

I wouldn’t be opposed to making Ahman part of the team again. He was a popular player who played hard – and watching him run over defensive backs (and sometimes LBs) was one of my favorite things to watch. I wonder if he was brought in at least in part because he is good at catching passes out of the backfield and because he’s not a bad blocker in pass protection. There may even be a mentor factor here for Brandon Jackson (Jackson, like Green went from Lincoln, NE to Green Bay). Even though I would prefer that we sign veterans for other positions where being old is less of a negative factor (Ahman is 32), I would welcome Green back.

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Tramon signs – nice

Read here from Packers.com. Tramon Williams has signed 1 year contract. While I wouldn’t mind locking a player like Tramon up longer term, it probably is smart to give it another season to make sure he truly can be a long-term replacement for Al or Charles at CB. Still, I’m glad this is done.

Favre to have surgery

Thanks to 56Coop for pointing this story out. Looking like things are lining up indeed for Favre to join the Vikings.

Packers pursued Jason Taylor?

Read the following from the Miami Herald:

Jason Taylor returned to the Dolphins on Wednesday, a hero who turned down the temptations of more money and grander promises from those villainous New England Patriots and New York Jets. Taylor accepted a bargain-rate contract to play for the Dolphins. He basically forced his way out of Washington this offseason and forfeited his $8.5 million salary in the process. Redskins owner Daniel Snyder flew to South Florida and met with Taylor at Joe’s Stone Crab to try to convince the player to stay with the Redskins. It didn’t work. Taylor turned down promises of a bigger contract offer from the Patriots and didn’t even let the Jets or Packers get deep enough in conversations to talk money.

I was surprised that there weren’t any reports prior to this one indicating the Pack had taken an interest in Taylor.  I just figured with his relationship with Capers etc, that Capers would have wanted to try to get him for a bargain. My interest in Taylor has declined throughout the off-season, but if we could have picked him up for a bargain (like Miami did), I would have been pleased. At the very least, I’m glad the Pack apparently looked into it.

More Favre speculation

So tired of this –  Favre apparently throwing to high schoolers again.

Favre to stay retired

Yahoo sports and others are reporting that Favre has decided to stay retired. Perhaps this latest thing was totally a media construct, but he didn’t have to agree to (or seek out?) the meeting with the Vikings. It’s almost as though he did it just to get back at TT. Lame.

I’m very much ready to put this behind me – so long as Favre doesn’t waffle on all of this in a few months (which is entirely possible). Favre on the Vikings would have really ticked me off – still not pleased with how he’s gone about all of this, but at least for now, it appears he won’t be playing for the hated Vikings.

Though I think it was important to pay attention to this whole situation because it may have had a direct effect on the Packers this year and because like it or not, Brett Favre is a major part of Packer history, I am very much ready to move on and focus on this year’s team and other stories in the NFL. Should be a fun year. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s spring and I can finally golf and release stress appropriately, but I’m feeling pretty good heading into this season. Go Pack!

Favre to talk to Childress this week

Check out this ESPN video with John Clayton discussing the latest news that Favre is apparently going to meet with Brad Childress this week. Concerning. One interesting thing Clayton said is that apparently when Favre retired from the Jets he told someone there that if he ever played again, the only team he’d play for would be Minnesota. Tony Dungy somehow told Chris Mortensen that if the Favre/Childress meeting actually takes place, chances are better than 50/50 Favre sports an incredibly ugly purple uniform this year. I’m not liking where this is going.

If Favre comes back, I’ll say it again, I won’t be too excited to play the Vikings. I think they would be very good. I heard a ton of people on Homer’s show (ESPN Radio Milwaukee) going on and on about how bad he’ll be and how we’ll finally get to be on the receiving end of his errant passes. I do hope that happens, but I doubt it. For 2009, assuming he will be healthy again by the beginning of the season, I think it’s more likely that Favre will make the Vikings better. Even though I still don’t think Tarvaris is that bad, the Vikes, like the Bears have not had much confidence in the QB position for a while now. Like the Bears acquiring Cutler, the Vikes acquiring Favre could have a massive impact on the team’s self-esteem.

From an Xs and Os standpoint, apparently the offense of Childress and Bevell is very similar to Mike Sherman’s offense with pieces of Mike Holmgren’s offense sprinkled in there too. So, it won’t be totally starting over for Favre at all. I think it’s also possible that Favre may not feel the need to press and make stupid throws as much because of the damage his superstar RB Adrian Peterson does on most plays. If this were 2008, I could have said “at least he doesn’t have anyone to throw to” but this year, I really believe Percy Harvin could cause fits for teams and TE Visanthe Shiancoe came on last year and proved he may have been worth the huge contract he signed a few years ago. Even though Favre did chunk it toward the end last year for the Jets (of course, so did the rest of the team – especially the running game folks), the Jets had a winning season after having a 4-12 record. Favre wins and he always has (1 losing season in all his years)  – so from the perspective of a Packer fan who just wants his team to win, I don’t want Favre going to Minnesota because it could very well interfere with the my plan for the Packes to make the playoffs. (And yes, it’s possible Favre could steer the Vikes to the playoffs only to choke badly due to diminished mental strength, but that won’t give me any satisfaction if the Pack doesn’t get to the playoffs.)

Alex Marvez with more on Favre

Alex Marvez has a nice brief article here outlining the suspicious behavior of Favre and others. Particularly curious is profootballtalk’s apparent evidence that an unidentified plane flew from Minneapolis to Favre’s hometown the day after he was released. Here is the full article:

ALL SIGNS POINT TO FAVRE RETURNING

Here we go again.

We all knew Brett Favre’s self-described “itch” to play football again would eventually return following his retirement. For the second time in two years, it appears he’s ready to scratch.

There were simply too many signs that emerged last week pointing to a Favre comeback:

Favre was granted his release request by the New York Jets rather than remaining on the team’s reserve/retired list. He issued a statement claiming “nothing has changed” and “at this time, I am retired and have no intention of returning to football.” So why ask for your release? Plus, with his history of retirement flip-flopping, the use of “at this time” is particularly intriguing.

Minnesota — the team that Favre wanted to play for in 2008 — is open to the possibility of signing him. Vikings coach Brad Childress said the team would discuss the subject after last weekend’s minicamp. Vikings owner Zigi Wilf, who months ago said his club would have no interest in signing Favre, instead issued a “no comment” about the topic Saturday when asked by the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that Favre has recently spoken with Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, a good friend from their days together in Green Bay.

The Pioneer Press reported that Favre has hired a personal trainer (tending to his farm apparently isn’t providing enough manual labor).

Profootballtalk.com reported an unidentified plane flew from Minneapolis to Favre’s hometown of Hattiesburg, Miss. the day after his release.

New Orleans safety Darren Sharper, a former Packers teammate, told the NFL’s web site that he believes Favre will try to play another season “because he’s such a competitor and he still loves football.”

More interesting Viking/Favre behavior

Read here from the St. Paul Pioneer Press. I’m not sure what is meant exactly by this statement, but I find it very curious:

If Favre is to become the Vikings’ quarterback for 2009, and it still appears he will, a deal is expected to be done within the next three weeks. The Vikings’ mandatory minicamp for players is May 29-31.

By adding “and it still appears he will”, I wonder what info this author has that leads him to being somewhat certain Favre signing with the Vikes is likely.

Packers interested in LB Travis LaBoy

It’s funny – after reading the other day that LaBoy was now available (former AZ Cardinal), I wondered if the Pack might be interested in him. Some confirmation here anyway, that we are. He is a decent LB with nice OLB size and skills (6’3″ 260LBS). Despite an off-season biceps surgery, he may be a nice rangy-type LB addition to compete with Chillar, Poppinga and Matthews for the OLB spot opposite Kampman.