Brett Favre: Coming Back or an Ankle Short?

Favre is headed to his 20th year in professional football, and an ankle injury is making headlines in the media recently. Will his ankle be the cause of Favre not returning to the Vikings this year, or will a guaranteed $18 million be the difference maker for this veteran quarterback?

Brett Favre said that all of the speculated text messages to team mates saying that he "will" retire are all assumptions and that he hasn't text messaged anyone. Favre also said that if his ankle is 100% healthy, then he will play.

After the 2009 NFC Championship Game Favre hurt his ankle, and after not healing fully, needed to be surgically repaired. It's hard to say if this will be the make it or break it for his game, but if his ankle isn't fully healed, you can start to think that money will begin to be meaningless. Especially after 19 years in the league, and several sacks later.

Aside from whether or not he'll play, a big question on everyone's mind is if Favre will be missing camp because of his bum ankle? More importantly than that, is it going to be fair for the rest of the team, or the fans, if he is able to miss camp to heal, but come back for the games.

Let's face it, as extraordinary as Brett Favre is with a football, an injured ankle could desperately affect his game. Legs are just as important as arms for a quarterback. It can work in a triangle form as they use their brains to effectively help coach the team on the field, their legs to move around, and, of course, their arms for passing.

Now an ankle injury is a pretty serious thing, especially after a surgical repair. Favre could heal up quickly and come back, or it could take several months. It all depends on the seriousness of the condition. It all comes back to whether Favre will suck up the pain for the money or finally call it quits after a 3-time retirement call.

Now a quote from Bleacher Report talks about the training a little more in depth saying:

"Of course, the argument could be that Favre indeed doesn't need to attend any sort of training camp. After all, he does know the in's and outs of the game like the back of his hand, and is more than capable of putting together a winning season without a few weeks practice."

So the question arises: Does Favre need the practice? After nearly 20 years in the game, should he train just as any newcomer would? Of course, they always say that practice makes perfect, and in something as important (and money-full) as the NFL it seems to be more of a necessity.

In the end, it always comes back to the same loop: Will Favre retire? Maybe his OCD will kick in and he'll work for an even 20-years before finally saying, "This is it."

Source: Bleacher Report
Source: Wikipedia