The letter was sent by Favre's agent, James "Bus" Cook, via overnight mail on Thursday and arrived at the Packers facility Friday morning. Cook, on behalf of Favre, expressed a desire to have an amicable parting, as the Packers have been reluctant to embrace his return. Favre announced his retirement in early March. In a statement, the Packers said: "Brett earned and exercised the right to retire on his terms.
We wanted him to return and welcomed him back on more than one occasion. At that point, the Green Bay Packers made the commitment to move forward with our football team.
During a conference call on Tuesday that included Thompson, McCarthy, Favre and Cook, sources say that the quarterback stated emphatically that he wanted to play again. Favre was reminded by the Packers' brass that he said publicly and privately in March that he wasn't percent committed to football, sources said.
Favre acknowledged his state of mind at the time, but added that he never felt he was percent committed in March of previous years, either. Favre felt he had to make a decision to retire because the Packers were pressing him for an answer, a source said. During the conference call on Tuesday, neither Thompson nor McCarthy was openly receptive or enthused about Favre's desire to unretire, the sources said, prompting Favre to direct Cook to request his release from the team.
He currently is on the reserve-retired list. Favre prefers a mutual parting rather than have to force the Packers' hand by writing a letter to request his reinstatement to the active man roster.
