ProFootballCentral.com

By PFC Bills Writer Jay Kommuru

There was a recent article published on USA Today regarding the much publicized Brett Favre saga. The writer put together a list of teams where Favre would be a “good fit”. The Buffalo Bills are on that list. Here’s what the writer says about Favre in Western New York: • Buffalo Bills: If it’s familiar surroundings Favre seeks, there’s no NFL town more similar to Green Bay than Buffalo, with its small but football-crazed community and wintry weather.

The Bills are also on the cusp of contending – though they need QB Trent Edwards to make a leap at present – have refurbished their defense, and boast left tackle Jason Peters, a rising star on an underrated offensive line. Coach Dick Jauron was also a Green Bay defensive assistant in Favre’s younger days.

Let’s put all the speculative moves on the part of the Green Bay Packers’ aside for a moment, and just play along with me here. Say they truly are willing to trade him (outside their division), and say that the Bills are interested in acquiring his services. What are the pros and cons to this?

Pros:
- Favre is an eventual hall-of-famer, and he still has the physical abilities to play for one or two more seasons.
- His name status will undoubtedly put Buffalo on the national media map, and could take a lot of pressure off of the ownership regarding the recent “Toronto initiative”
- He has a clean slate as far as off-the-field situations go
- He will teach a young Edwards a thing or two about the QB position.

Cons:
- His $12M + salary per year would be very hard to swallow
- Lee Evans and James Hardy are not at the level of Donald Driver and Greg Jennings. Granted, the argument can be made that Lee is just as proven as either of those two, but combined it’ll be a year or two before they start producing like this Green Bay duo.
- The Bills have been “re-building” for the past decade it seems like. They worked very hard to put together a young team with core players, and some veteran leadership sprinkled in there. This is not a team that has one or two more years left with their core group of players after which they’ll start rebuilding, this is a team that just needs consistency more than anything else at this point. Will a 38-yr old QB who may retire after this season provide that? I don’t think so.
- They have done very well in the ticket-sales department this year, they don’t exactly need a boost by acquiring Favre. The sales gained wouldn’t really outweigh his salary. Although I’m sure his merchandise would be flying off the shelves.
- I, for one, think that the QB position is learnt by tacking the licks on the field, not by holding a clipboard behind a future hall-of-famer. I don’t know if having Favre will help Edwards as much as it would if he had more starting experience himself.

Bottomline, the Packers themselves are a much better fit for Favre than Buffalo.

They are a playoff team right now, whereas Buffalo is still considered an outsider to the post-season. The Bills are on their way to the playoffs, but this isn’t a regular playoff-contender looking for that one player to get to the big game and win it. This is team with a lot of core players in key positions, has a young QB who has a lot of potential in Edwards, and has worked hard to get rid of the old, overpaid veterans.

This is a team that uses the “cash-to-cap” philosophy which will eventually be very popular around the league soon enough. Look, if you’re looking to sell jerseys and make money, and don’t really care about the mortgaging away the long-term success of your team for short-term results, then go get Favre. I think and hope that the Bills are thinking otherwise.