It's been almost three months since there have been some good, solid rumors that Favre's coming back, so it's time to get back on that horse. ProFootballTalk got the ball rolling last week, and now Chris Mortenson is on the case. Favre's even asked for his release! Of course, Favre has denied it. 

It wouldn't surprise me if Favre is second guessing himself. He can still play, and at a very high level. His retirement shocked me, and therefore his return shouldn't shock me. But I don't think he's coming back. The explanation he gave for his retirement was similar to what Ron Wolf said when he retired back in 2000; the hours are longer than ever, and the job is just getting too hard. And Wolf has never returned to a full-time job in the NFL.

It will make me buy a copy of Sports Illustrated this week which was what SI is trying to do. They (SI) interview QB Aaron Rodgers and get him to cough up a choice quote:

“I don’t feel I need to sell myself to the fans,” Rodgers responded. “They need to get on board now or keep their mouths shut.”

Rodgers responds thusly:

"I do care deeply about the fans and I think anybody who has been to training camp and sees I'm a lot of times the last one out signing autographs sees I care about the fans, I care about their opinions," said Rodgers. "Everybody wants the fans to care for them and to pull for them and I am no different. That's why the thing that would bother me the most would be if anybody would be offended by the things that were stated because I do care about the fans."

Rodgers wasn't mad at some fan, he was quoted about what "they" think. Who is they? Probably the SI reporter, who's making up some fictional skeptical fan. Rodgers was snapping at the reporter, not at the fans, which is why he said he was quoted out of context. I'll find out more when the issue of SI comes out.

The Packers have been showing blitz more since the organized team activities (OTA) that were held back in May. If you read reports from the minicamp, there are a lot more references to linebackers rushing the quarterback. There is a lot of stuff that is tried early in the season and nothing comes of it, but now ESPN's Kevin Seifert has an article about what will change on defense in 2008. Expect LBs Nick Barnett and A.J. Hawk to blitz more.

This might seem like a good idea, but my first reaction was no way. My problem with the Packers blitz is that they've been lousy at it for the past few seasons. It seemed like every time a linebacker came on a blitz, some receiver was left open for a huge gain, and the linebacker was always late to the quarterback. I've preferred no blitz, and more players back in coverage.

The problem is, as Seifert writes in his article, that the Packers front four wasn't always good at creating a pass rush, especially later in the season. He points out KGB's injury, but it was a team effort and it did force them into calling more blitzes. The best example was the late November game in Dallas. Dallas scored on their first five possessions and no Packer was getting anywhere near QB Tony Romo. But Dallas only scored on two of their last five possessions once they started bringing their linebackers on the blitz.

The one player really missing from this discussion is S Atari Bigby. He could be an awesome pass rusher, but apparently bringing a safety up to the line of scrimmage would mess up the pass defense scheme. I would love to see them come up with something to get him after the quarterback.

Former Detroit RB Kevin Jones had a workout to show off his surgically repaired knee. Four teams sent representatives to watch, and the Packers were one of those teams. Why would the Packers be watching this guy?

He was released in March after another injury led to knee surgery last January which should keep him out for 10 months. Instead he says he's ready to go right now. He's young (25) and has been good at times. It's hard to say how good/bad he's been since Detroit had a lot of turnover during his tenure, and he had trouble staying healthy.

With RB Ryan Grant unsigned, Jones might be some insurance or maybe some added incentive to sign before we go shopping for your replacement. If Grant isn't signed, then Mike McCarthy would probably prefer a bigger back like RB DeShawn Wynn to start. The problem is that Wynn and the other big running backs on the roster are not very good. If Jones is really healthy, then he might be a better option than Wynn.

You might not know defensive backs' coach Lionel Washington, but he is a good one. He had a long NFL career as a cornerback, and has been with the Packers since early 1999 which means he has coached under the last three Packers' head coaches.

In the 2008 NBA draft tonight, Lionel's son Deron Washington was selected by the Detroit Pistons with the 59th pick. Jay Bilas on ESPN said that Deron isn't much of a shooter, but he is a solid defensive player. With a defensive backs coach for a father, it's no surprise he can play some defense. It's too bad he never tried to make it as a professional football player because a 6'7" cornerback would be something. And Deron said former Packer QB Aaron Brooks was a pretty good basketball player.

Brew Hoop is the SB Nation blog that follows the Milwaukee Bucks. Although they discuss the Bucks almost exclusively, content wise they write one of the best NBA sites on the internet.

Matt Millen does his best to keep the Detroit Lions a punchline by reaching for an undersized linebacker in the 2nd round of the NFL draft who had been arrested a week earlier.

Since the arrest came at such a short time before the draft, the Lions likely were not aware of the incident, but it is something that you have to just shake your head at.

This doesn't make or break LB Jordon Dizon as an NFL prospect, but it is a classic Matt Millen boneheaded move. Now he will miss important development time during his rookie season to deal with the legal mess he made, and he might be punished by the NFL too.

John Clayton has an article about the failure of the running back committee last season, and the rise of RB Ryan Grant. Grant is clearly the best back on the roster, but in hindsight it isn't a surprise he got a chance to start. Here's what Mike McCarthy told Clayton:

"First of all, Ryan is the big, physical back that I like," McCarthy said. "I've worked with backs like Deuce McAllister, Ricky Williams, Marcus Allen and Dorsey Levens, so I've had a lot of success with that body type. He can finish the back side of the run because he's up over 220 pounds. He fits our style."

He's lucky that it has worked out in Green Bay, and that his best running back is a big back. In 2005, McCarthy was the offensive coordinator in San Francisco and for most of that year made the surprising decision nearly every week to start RB Kevan Barlow in favor of RB Frank Gore. It was obvious Barlow was inferior, but at 6'1" Barlow was the tall back that McCarthy favored. Gore is only 5'9" and more similar in stature to backup RB Brandon Jackson. Although Jackson started the opening game of the 2007 season for the Packers, even if he had not gotten injured, McCarthy would have probably given Grant a chance at some point to start last season.

Despite his ability, Jackson is still a promising young player, and the Packers shouldn't ignore the other backs on their roster. Aaron Schatz looked at it a couple of seasons ago, and some committees outperform many NFL star running backs. They should be looking ahead at what roles they expect their backs to fill so Grant is not used exclusively and does not come anywhere near the Curse of 370.

As the Journal-Sentinel article says, the whole league is watching when the Packers release their annual financial statements. As the only publicly owned franchise, it has to release that data to it's shareholders while the rest of the teams hide their books so the players' union doesn't know exactly how much the teams are making.

Bottom line is that although the Packers revenues were up from $218 to $241 million, the net income was down from $21 million to $14 million. The J-S article comes across as putting the blame for the lower bottom line squarely on the players, who got $127 million in 2007 compared to $110 million in 2006. However, on the Packers own website, their article says first players' salaries did go up, but they also spent a lot on other stuff too.

The team also saw significant bumps in both team expenses (from $17.7 million to $26.5 million) and general and administrative expenses (from $27.5 million to $35.2 million). Those increases were due in part to the cost of strengthening the balance sheet through payments of long-term retirement obligations. The team makes annual payments to these funds but took the opportunity this year, coming off a successful season both on the field and financially, to make additional payments toward this future obligation.

There also was an impact from new contracts that were entered into with GM Ted Thompson and Head Coach Mike McCarthy, as well as costs related to the leadership transition to Murphy.

Paying expenses does not strengthen your balance sheet, but whatever. Strengthening the long-term retirement obligations? Maybe it had something to do with the costs related to new President Mark Murphy's "leadership transition" and a nice new golden parachute for him if he flames out like the team's last successor to Bob Harlan.

Overall revenues were up by 10%, players' salaries were up by 8%, and other administrative expenses were up a whopping 64%. Those administrative expense are probably all fine and legitimate, but don't lay any blame for a decline in net profit at the players' feet. Bottom line, the NFL and the Packers are making a lot of money and while the players are making their fair share, their bosses are doing very well too.

I don't know why the J-S article decided to point out "red flags" because the team is still showing a healthy $12 million net profit, which is a number they can fudge anyway. Their cash flow is probably even better. Plus they're sitting on a rainy day fund of around $150 million. The team has probably never been in better financial shape, and could weather any fiscal storm that might hit.

The Packers brought free agent QB Daunte Culpepper in for a visit before the April draft. I thought they might sign him after the draft if they didn't draft a QB. Instead it turns out that GM Ted Thompson didn't wait and offered Culpepper a $1 million contract as a backup, but he turned them down.

From Culpepper's perspective, he really blew it. He did want a chance to start, but any team that might sign him as a potential starter probably have a lot of problems on offense. And with the Packers, he would have been playing on a solid offense that is undergoing little change outside of the QB position, and he would have been second in line to an injury prone QB. He would have started some games next season, and really had a chance to make himself a viable starting candidate as a free agent in 2009.

As a Packer fan, I'm really glad he turned them down. Thompson needed to draft another QB to develop, and having Culpepper on the roster would have delayed that process. He might have been more of a help in 2008, but in 2009 and beyond QB Brian Brohm is going to be better for the team.

But in Miami DE Jason Taylor's world, the Packers don't count as a winning team since they play in the smallest NFL market. He's narrowed it down to 12 teams, but not the Packers. Since he plays the same position and is very similar to DE KGB, he's not the best fit in Green Bay anyway. But I don't buy that Green Bay is too small crap. If the Packers really wanted this guy and put the hard sell on him, then they could get into the mix. If they managed to recruit DE Reggie White 15 years ago when Green Bay was struggling through it's 20th straight season of mediocrity, then they can get anyone.

All that doesn't matter because the whole rumor was stupid. Too bad no one keeps track of all the times Chris Mortenson is wrong. It reminded me of the dumb McNabb-to-Minnesota rumor that was born last year. GM Ted Thompson did trade a lowly future 6th round pick for RB Ryan Grant last season (the only instance I can recall him trading a pick for a player), but Taylor is going to require a much higher pick as compensation. It would be completely against type for Thompson to trade their 2009 1st or 2nd round pick for a 33 year old defensive end that doesn't fill a need.