Packers Fantasy Preview

[The Lung]

From: http://fantasy.sportingnews.com/nfl/experts/ladd-biro/20080730.html

Packers: So close, yet so Favre
July 30, 2008

WHAT'S NEW

What's new, you ask? Aww, not much. Really. Nothing to see here. Move right along ...

Well, there is this minor distraction caused by a certain legendary quarterback who retired in March but later reconsidered, then contacted his old boss, who said, "Sure, come on back," but then he changed his mind again, and then after a while he decided he really did want to come back, but by then his boss said he had moved on and didn't want him back because he was going with a new guy now, and then Suzy left Billy after she heard he had fathered a child with Mandy, and then ... Ack!

Get the picture? There's a flipping soap opera playing out in Green Bay, and you can bet that while you're reading this, someone is saying or doing something to make it even more absurd.

With word that Brett Favre filed his reinstatement papers on Tuesday, he has officially forced Packers GM Ted Thompson's hand. Thompson reportedly "begged" Favre not to report to camp while he works to "resolve" the situation (read: trade the future Hall of Famer to a team outside the division, if not the conference).

Meanwhile, all eyes are on the confident yet inexperienced Aaron Rodgers, who has the unenviable task of proving that Thompson isn't completely insane. Let's just say Sporting News didn't make Rodgers last week's cover boy because everything in Green Bay is hunky-dory.

In fact, lost amid the hullabaloo has been another potentially ominous development: The training camp holdout of 2007 rushing sensation Ryan Grant. Grant's agent labeled the team's first contract extension offer "insulting," which isn't exactly the most diplomatic term he could have chosen. I'm thinking Thompson could use a hug right about now.

No wonder coach Mike McCarthy said his team "has moved forward with the emphasis on defense." His offense is a nightmare.

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