By PFW staff
Aug. 7, 2008

In a noon press conference that lasted about 50 minutes, the Packers’ primary braintrust — team president Mark Murphy, GM Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy — emphasized the need to move forward and stay on the same page now that Brett Favre has been traded to the Jets.

In an opening statement, Murphy emphasized that the front office has “been in total agreement on everything,” Murphy said Thompson “has no ego at all and handled a very difficult situation as good as it could be handled” and praised McCarthy for being “rock-solid throughout the whole process.”

All three men indicated that perhaps the situation could have been handled differently at different points in time.

Thompson refused to talk about specific trade terms, but did say, “The Jets were very aggressive and active, and did a great job of selling themselves.”

Thompson also said he had no ill will toward Favre.

“Despite opinions to the contrary, I like Brett a lot, and I wish him well,” Thompson said. “He is obviously an unbelievable legend in Green Bay, and even though he’ll be in a different uniform, I think everybody would like to see him do well.”
 
McCarthy reiterated that it was never a case of the team believing that Favre was not the best option under center moving forward.

“I was just never truly convinced that he WANTED to play in Green Bay,” he said. “Frankly, our last conversation was just a matter of taking the high road out of a tough spot and just moving on.”

Murphy said near the end of the press conference that the Packers still planned on retiring Favre’s No. 4 jersey — “when we’re sure he is retired for good.”