McClatchy-Tribune
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Quarterback Brett Favre has retired, but he’s not completely out of pocket.
Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy said he talked to Favre a couple times last week and the quarterback seems to be doing fine. He said the issue of Favre turning in his retirement papers came up.
"I talked to Brett the other day," McCarthy said Wednesday morning during an NFC coaches media breakfast at the NFL owners meetings. "He even made a joke about it, ‘Do you guys need that cap room?’ I said, ‘I think we’re OK.’ He goes, ‘I have to file those papers.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, but it’s not really for time. I don’t know what the severance pay is, but hell, after 17 years I think you’d have a pretty good nugget coming.’
"So, we kind of laughed about it."
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McCarthy said Favre went to Disneyworld last week and has been doing things with his family. Work on his property in Hattiesburg, Miss., consumes most of his time.
McCarthy admitted things are different around Green Bay without Favre.
"It’s going to be different for a lot of people," he said. "Just when you walk through the locker room, you have this locker standing there and you’re kind of laughing about it, like ‘What are you going to do with it?’ You can’t put anybody in it. So there’s definitely going to be an absence."
McCarthy said that no one will be getting Favre’s locker anytime soon.
"I don’t think so," he said. "Would you want that locker? You’ve got to be kidding me."
Asked if Favre’s nameplate would remain above the locker, McCarthy said, "I don’t know. We’re talking about a couple things. It’s still up there now."
As for any chance Favre would change his mind, McCarthy said no way.
"I think he’ll feel it about September when opening day starts," McCarthy said. "That’s when you have to worry about it. For 17 years in a row, his fall has always been around football. (But) he’s content with his decision."
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Owners say yes — mostly: Rarely are the NFL owners in such agreement, but on Wednesday they passed a slew of rule changes they hope will improve the game.
The one change they didn’t make was in playoff seeding. The league’s competition committee tried to bring to a vote a change that would guarantee only the top two or three division winners a home playoff game.
Any team after that would be seeded based on record, which means a wild-card team could host a home game against a division winner.
The owners didn’t go for that. Packers president Mark Murphy was one of those who voiced opposition during the meeting, saying he thought winning a division should earn a reward.
"I talked about the importance of division rivalries and how that would be devalued," Murphy said.
Search party: Sometime in mid-April, the St. Louis Rams are expected to take a tour of several sites in Wisconsin to see if they were adequate for training camp.
The Rams were considering UW-La Crosse and UW-Whitewater, but it appears both have facility issues that would rule them out. The Rams are expected to tour UW-Oshkosh, UW-Stevens Point and an unidentified spot in Madison not related to the university.
If the Rams train in the state, they may scrimmage with the Packers.
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Short yardage: Wide receiver Ruvell Martin signed his one-year exclusive rights free agent contract. The only remaining unsigned exclusive rights free agent is running back Ryan Grant . . . . The Packers will play at Denver in the third week of the exhibition season, according to the Rocky Mountain News. The Packers’ other exhibition opponents will probably be released next week.
