2008 Top 20, #9: Rodgers offers to not play for only $15 million

GREEN BAY, WI — After yesterday’s reports that the Green Bay Packers offered erstwhile QB Brett Favre as much as $20 million to stay retired, the Pack’s quarterback debacle has taken a turn for the bizarre as sources within Green Bay’s front office say heir apparent Aaron Rodgers came to the team looking for a similar offer.

“It pretty much caught everybody around here off guard,” said one high-ranking Packers official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I mean, we only offered the 20 mil-do to Favre so he would stay the hell out of Aaron’s way, but I guess when Aaron heard about it he thought that sounded like a good deal. To his credit, he did say he was willing to accept as little as $15 million to not play; you know, given his comparative lack of experience.”

Judging from an informal SSNN survey, Green Bay fans are largely on board with Rodgers’ plan, and would welcome the chance for the team to bring Favre back without a quarterback controversy.

“Listen, I understand the way this whole Favre thing has gone down, definitely. And I don’t really hold it against the organization, you know?” said die-hard fan and longtime Packers season ticket-holder Bud Wosniak. “But at the same time, we’ve got one guy who’s made a career of playing every damn game and getting the job done, and another guy who’s used to standing around and getting paid millions of dollars to not play, right? So it seems to me that paying the stand-around guy to play and the playing guy to stand around was kindof a weird plan in the first place.”

Neither Rodgers nor his agent was willing to comment on the report. Favre, on the other hand, was more than happy to give his perspective on the plan.

“To be honest, that makes a whole lot of sense to me. I’m a little surprised nobody thought of it earlier,” the surefire Hall-of-Famer told SSNN. “Actually, though, I would think A-Rodge could ask for even more than the $20 million they offered me to not play.

“I mean, at the end of the day, I’ve got virtually no practice at receiving money to not play football, and he’s been doing it professionally for years now. This could be his moment to cash in on all that experience.”

It’s going to be tough for this sport to sweep any nations, but it’s still pretty frickin’ cool!