Yesterday, Brett Favre had a two hour conversation with Packer head coach Mike Sherman regarding the status of his return to the Packers for his 15th season.
Over the last couple of months since the disappointing loss at home to the Minnesota Vikings in the “Moss Moon” playoff game there has been speculation that this could be Favre’s last season. Brett has gone through much tragedy in his family with the loss of this father and brother-in-law as well as his wife's treatment and recovery from breast cancer. Many analysts thought he would trade in his cleats to lead things at home. With the love and support of his wife, Brett Favre has decided to play at least one more season for the Green Bay Packers as his love for the game is still strong. He also did not close the door for additional seasons should he stay healthy and the health of his wife continue to improve. This decision is just in time for this weekend’s Packers Fan Fest in Green Bay where Brett Favre will appear with other Packer greats like Bart Starr. Even though this question is now answered, there remains a couple of big questions are left unanswered.

The status of the offensive line is definitely one of the big questions. Unrestricted free agent Pro Bowl guard Marco Rivera signed with the Dallas Cowboys last week. New Packers Executive Vice President, General Manager, and Director of Football operations , Ted Thompson has been making several moves that have changed the face of the Packers on both sides of the ball. He decided to terminate both starting guard Mike Wahle and backup center/guard Greg Ruegamer leaving the Packers with some holes to fill to protect the returning Brett Favre and create holes for the Packers running attack. Additionally, restricted free agent tackle, Kevin Barry remains unsigned. The cohesive and strong offensive line that many believe was one of the best in the league over the last several seasons is now being dismantled due to many reasons including the salary cap. The Packers need to address this in free agency and the draft or this could be a long season for the returning Favre and the Green Bay Packers.

Secondly, last season’s Packers secondary was woeful at best. On many occasions the Players looked out of position and their tackling was atrocious. Due to salary cap considerations, the Packers have terminated Darren Sharper’s contract this week. He was one of the bright spots in the Packer’s secondary for the last several seasons not only for his ball hawking skills but also for his leadership skills on the field. The Packer terminated th e contract of Michael Hawthorne this past week also. In my opinion, this loss is not as great as the loss of Sharper. It will be interesting to see if any improvement will be made in the off season to the now even younger and less-experienced Packer secondary. Defense still wins championships and it remains to be seen if the Packers will field a good one next year.