Ryan: Jets would have pursued Favre if Sanchez wasn't drafted 

* NFL.com Wire Reports
* Published: Oct. 4, 2010 at 02:31 p.m.
* Updated: Oct. 4, 2010 at 05:46 p.m.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Rex Ryan wanted Brett Favre flinging passes as his quarterback.

The Jets coach said Monday for the first time that he would have tried to bring Favre out of retirement last year to play another season in New York if the team hadn't drafted Mark Sanchez.

"There would have been some major recruiting done," Ryan said. "I can say that absolutely. And, maybe no one knows it or whatever, but I can promise you that's how I was feeling."

Favre briefly retired after playing with New York in 2008, when he injured his shoulder down the stretch and slumped. The Jets missed the playoffs after an 8-3 start, and it cost coach Eric Mangini his job.

After Ryan was hired as coach, he hoped Favre would stick around -- despite the quarterback's late-season struggles.

"You look at the body of work, he was impressive," Ryan said. "He led the team to nine wins and one game out of the playoffs. He looked like Brett Favre to me."

Instead, Favre retired, was granted his release by the Jets and eventually unretired -- again -- and signed with Minnesota. Meanwhile, Ryan had never previously let on that he privately wanted Favre back.

"Well, I was hoping we would be able to draft Sanchez," Ryan said. "And, we did."

Ryan said he thought Favre was sincere in his desire to retire at that point, but thought he could've persuaded him to come back for another year with the Jets.

"Yeah, I do, yep," Ryan said. "Because he would have seen how sincere I was, and the kind of passion I have. I'm not going to say it's equal to his, but maybe it is. We both want to win, I know that."

Ryan has a proven track record as a recruiter since coming to New York, taking some unorthodox tactics to try to get his players. He drove to linebacker Bart Scott's house in the middle of the night to persuade him to sign last year, and flew down to Florida last month to talk with Darrelle Revis to help the tense contract negotiations.

The Jets will see Favre for the first time since he left the organization when they play the Vikings at home next Monday night.

Ryan said he "really never" talked with Favre other than the day he retired from the Jets. He said he simply told the quarterback how much he respected him.

"I think it was a tough time for him," Ryan said. "I mean, he's basically announcing his retirement from football and I wasn't going to stay on the phone with him. He doesn't know anything about me. I was just some random guy talking to him, so I kind of felt uncomfortable. I'm sure he did also."

The Jets ended up trading up in the draft a few months later and taking Sanchez with the No. 5 overall pick last year. The rookie helped lead the Jets to the AFC Championship Game, while Favre had one of the best seasons of career with 33 touchdowns and only seven interceptions as the Vikings went to the NFC Championship Game.

"It worked out I'm sure for Brett and for the Jets," Ryan said. "We got a guy that's going to be the quarterback here for the next 10 years probably. And Brett Favre's a great player. Last year, those statistics, I kept saying, 'That can't be right.' I mean, the guy's a once-in-a-lifetime quarterback."

Ryan also revealed for that early in the recruiting process, the Jets were most impressed with Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman. That all changed when the team watched film and held workouts with Sanchez.

"Then it became clear," Ryan said, "that Sanchez was our guy."

Freeman ended up going to Tampa Bay with the 17th overall pick.
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Ryan also spoke about wide receiver Santonio Holmes, who is set to return to the team Monday after completing his four-game NFL suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy.

"If you trade them, generally they don't know your system, but Santonio went all through training camp with us, he was here in meetings, we shouldn't miss a beat with him," Ryan said. "To add a terrific player like Santonio to what we already have ... it's good because Mark just throws it to the open guy."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

I actually think Ryan would of been a good fit for Favre cause he would of benched his ass if he played careless

"CDNRodgersfan" wrote:

"They asked if I wanted to come back," Favre said on a conference call with the New York media. "I was like, 'I don't want to go though surgery and all that stuff.'"

Looking back, Favre said he probably should've rested his shoulder, admitting his "accuracy was affected considerably." That, of course, would've meant the end of his legendary Iron Man steak, now at 288 consecutive starts in the regular season.

"I pressed the issue a little bit," he said. "Should I have sat down, taken some time off? Hindsight would say yeah, but I was determined to lead that team to victory and to the playoffs. When you're in that moment, it's hard to take a step back. I felt a considerable amount of responsibility."

LTF, did Favre steal your high school sweetheart?

"Rockmolder" wrote:

I always liked Ted and I don't want to say I dislike him now," he said. "I'm disappointed."

Ted and I, I thought, have always had a good relationship. We don't talk a whole lot. We don't go out and eat and shoot the bull. But on three different occasions -- I don't want to say "lied," I think that's kind of a harsh word, but I think "untruth" or whatever is better. When first he took over as the GM, I was wishy-washy on my decision, if that's what you went to call it.


Then this from the Greta interview

Exclusive: Brett Favre 'On the Record' - Greta Van Susteren | On The Record With Greta - FOXNews.com


I said, You're right. You're absolutely right. And I said, But Mike -- and it was a good conversation, and we've always had good communication, the two of us. And I said, You're right. I totally agree. I was not 100 percent committed. And I said, But you guys wanted an answer in March, and I gave you the honest answer. And I said, you know, Had I been able to wait until training camp, that would have been great. He said, Well, why didn't you tell me that? We would have let you do it.

And I thought to myself, Well, you know, you told me before the draft, free agency. And he ended up drafting two kids in the draft. So that kind of tells you..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thompson flew to Favre's Mississippi home, and the quarterback thought the general manager was there to ask him to come back. Instead, Thompson told him that the team was going to do something special for him: dismantle his locker and send it to him.

"That was the craziest thing I ever heard of," Favre said. "What the hell am I going to do with a locker anyway? So, I said, 'OK, Ted, that's great.'"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FAVRE: I mean, I've always been a Packer. I always will be a Packer. Do I play somewhere else? That remains to be seen. But I don't want to go back there just to stick it to them.

Brett Favre on retirement, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets, more - Peter King - SI.com

~~~~~

I have to admit now, was sticking it to Ted,'' he said in a rather startling admission.




I dont care how they supposedly treated him up until this point...

He should not call out Ted for telling "untruths" then not tell them his true feelings such as telling Ted great about the locker..WTF??

If you hate Ted doing that then dont do it your self..that is called hypocrisy




Brett Favre on retirement, Green Bay Packers, New York Jets,

more - Peter King - SI.com

aas he told Ed Werder in his weekend ESPN interview,all he heard from the Packers after the 2007 season was "crickets,'' meaning he thinks they wanted him to walk away -- he was a convincing retiree.



Brett heard crickets? cuz he did say MM was calling him every week..


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,382744,00.html 
Mike McCarthy called every week. Mike would call, Hey, how's things going, you know? Where are you at with your decision?

Favre still unsure if he'll play this year - JSOnline

Favre acknowledged that the money being offered by Packers president Mark Murphy was not in exchange for him not to report to training camp.

He said that has been incorrectly portrayed in some media reports.

~~~~

Favre says of situation: 'This probably isn't going to work' - NFL - ESPN
"Then," Favre said, "they tried to buy me off to stay retired."

Wtf? One week to AL Jones it WASNT a bribe then the VERY next week he changes it to a bribe?


Those things are black and white to me..No fine line, no different ways to interrupt his words..