Tim Brown says Brett Favre should stay retired

[TheShadow]

www.latimes.com/




The receiver-turned-commentator says the quarterback would damage his legacy by returning.

By Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer


Former Oakland Raiders great Tim Brown says Brett Favre should stay retired and that there's "absolutely, positively" no way the star quarterback will return to the Green Bay Packers.

"There's no way he's going to be back in that locker room now," Brown said this week. "Absolutely, positively no way. They're just trying to say the right thing, hoping that he comes to his senses."

The latest twist in the Favre saga: Green Bay has filed a tampering charge to the NFL, claiming Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell -- a former Packers assistant -- has been talking to the star quarterback about playing for Minnesota.

Brown, who retired in 2005 after 16 seasons with the Raiders and one with Tampa Bay and has been an NFL commentator on FSN, said all Favre can do at this point by coming back is damage his legacy.

"I don't think he serves himself or anybody any good by coming back," he said. "Bottom line is this: If this was anybody else, this wouldn't be a conversation, because they'd be like, 'Man, you're retired. Go on about your business. What's wrong with you?'

"But because it's Brett Favre and it's the legendary quarterback, everybody's having these conversations. He puts the team and his teammates in a position where they have to say the right thing. You can't say anything bad about Brett Favre publicly. Are you kidding me? Who are you to say something bad about Brett Favre? But I know for a fact that the organization doesn't want him back. They didn't want him there last year.

"And for him to put them in a predicament where they have to even think about this again, when they've moved on, they've drafted a couple more quarterbacks. . . .

"Once you say you're retired, you're retired. Let somebody call you back. But don't put your team and your teammates and the organization in a position where they have to walk this line."

Brown, who is second to Jerry Rice in career receiving yardage, said it's not at all uncommon for a player who's still relatively healthy to feel the urge to un-retire -- until he comes to his senses.

"Everybody goes through what he's going through where you say, 'I'm going back. I can still do it,' " he said. "But it takes somebody around you to say, 'No, you're not. I remember what you said at the end of the season, and you're not going back.'

"Obviously, [Favre] doesn't have anybody around him to tell him that."