We often hear criticism of trades because the player for whom the trade was made never justifies the price that was paid. Some trades end up being criticized because the player becomes in his new home an incredibly great player. Or, as the case may be, a Hall of Famer. Or, possibly, one of the greatest of all time.
That was indeed the case nearly 20 years ago, when Brett Favre was shipped to the Packers after only one season in Atlanta.
Our buddy Thom Abraham of WNSR in Nashville passes along a clip of a recent interview with former Falcons coach Jerry Glanville, who defended the decision to trade Favre in blunt terms.
“I had to get him out of Atlanta. . . . I could not sober him up,” Glanville said. “I sent him to a city where at 9:00 at night the only thing that’s open is Chili Joes. You can get it two ways, with or without onions. And that’s what made Brett Favre make a comeback was going to a town that closed down. If I would have traded him to New York, nobody to this day would have known who Brett Favre ever was.”
Favre has been candid regarding his issues with alcohol and painkillers, which he eventually beat several years ago. (He was addicted to the same substance at the center of Ryan Leaf’s ongoing criminal woes.) Still, we can’t recall Glanville ever being quite so candid about the reason for the trade. He has mentioned needing to send Favre to a town that closes up early, but Glanville had never suggested that Favre’s problems were essentially continuous.
The reference to New York is interesting, given that former Packers G.M. Ron Wolf worked for the Jets when Favre was drafted — and Wolf was hoping to land Favre. One of Wolf’s first orders of business once arriving in Green Bay was to get Favre.