Jets Can't Touch Favre's Legacy

Who was the last team that Joe Namath played for? How about Johnny Unitas? Or Joe Montana? Chances are, when you think of Namath, you think of him leading the New York Jets to a miracle Super Bowl win. Or Johnny Unitas leading the Baltimore Colts. Or Montana finding Dwight Clark in the endzone for the San Francisco 49ers. And chances are, regardless of what Brett Favre does with the New York Jets, save the unlikely event of him leading them to the Super Bowl, Brett Favre will always be remembered for his many great years as a Green Bay Packer, and his time with the Jets will become an answer to an obscure trivia question.

But that isn't what some folks in the media would lead you to believe. When Brett Favre decided to come out of retirement, many members of media complained that Favre would be tarnishing his legacy, and that people would remember him as a bumbling old quarterback in a Jets uniform rather than Green Bay's superstar slinger. That couldn't be further from the truth, however. This idea is usually passed by members of the media who are trying to shape a story in storybook fashion, even though real life doesn't often work out that way.

The reality is that it is incredibly rare for most athletes to play their entire career with one professional sporting organization, especially in the NFL with such strict salary cap restrictions. The Packers would have owed Brett Favre $12 million if he had played for them this year, and that was far too big of a percentage of the salary cap for Green Bay to commit to an aging quarterback.

It's also important to consider that it is extremely hard for a professional athlete to retire in their prime, like many members of the media often want players to do. For most professional athletes, playing their given sport is all that they have ever known, and it is difficult for them to give it up so much earlier than the average person retires. Favre may have been dedicated to retiring at the end of last season, but he likely soon realized that he had nothing else to do. He has never shown an interest in broadcasting, and he has more than enough money so that he will never have to work again. So there was little else for Favre to do but play football until he physically couldn't.

While some people might say that Favre's time in a New York Jets uniform will hurt his legacy, the truth is, the greatest players create such long and lasting memories that nothing will ever erase them.