We continue to enjoy the work of Andrew Brandt over at the National Football Post. Brandt, a former Packers VP, wrote today and provided some clarity as to just how close Randy Moss was to joining the Packers after his time with the Raiders. There is all sorts of interesting "inside football" negotiations stuff. But the real money stuff is about Brett Favre and how he reacted after the Packers didn't get Moss in 2007.
Brett was livid. The rest of the weekend I was fielding calls from Bus Cook about what went wrong in trying to sign Randy. Ted did not want to deal with Bus, so I listened patiently to their rancor and tried to explain our position.
I truly empathized with Brett. He had befriended and admired Randy for years and the two of them had dreamed of playing together. Here was an opportunity for us to make it a reality. But ultimately, we stood on our principles requiring more than a one-year commitment.
I told Brett to trust what we had at the position; that Greg Jennings would be a star in a couple years. He said he didn't have a couple of years. Brett offered to give up some of his salary for the following season – although that was his last season with the Packers (see below) -- to bring in Randy. I told that was much appreciated but we would never take his money away from him to sign another player.
Brett was forever wanting a more aggressive attitude by the front office toward player acquisition than the present regime. My constant message that our method of drafting and developing talent rather than acquiring proven commodities only served to infuriate him and his resentment of a general manager that showed him none of the compassion and welcomed input of previous regimes.
Later on, Brandt notes how Favre retired (for the first time) a day after Moss re-signed with the Patriots.
