Brett Favre finally makes it to New York

The Jets’ general manager at the time, Dick Steinberg, had Favre at the top of his chart, but he had no first-round pick. Steinberg tried to jump ahead of the Falcons in the draft order and thought he had a deal with the Cardinals. When the Cardinals backed out, the Falcons used their second-round pick on Favre and the Jets were left with Browning Nagle and the start of nearly two decades of quarterback shortcomings.

The Jets regretted the near miss — they have started 15 quarterbacks since the Falcons swiped Favre against the wishes of their own coach, Jerry Glanville — but Favre did not.

In 1997, he told The Star-Ledger of Newark: “I don’t know if I would’ve been too good in New York. That’s too big a city for me.”

In Atlanta, Glanville quickly grew exasperated with Favre. He did not quibble with Favre’s passion for the game or his desire to win, but he chafed when Favre was late to meetings and practices, usually because he had been out late.

“I’m sure I didn’t help my cause by trying to drink up Atlanta,” Favre once said.

By that time, Steinberg’s former assistant on the Jets, Ron Wolf, had become the general manager of the Packers. After Favre’s unhappy rookie season, Wolf traded for him, ultimately transforming the Packers into champions — they won the Super Bowl in 1997 — and Favre into a football legend.

Sprinkled on top of all those passes, the 275 consecutive starts (including playoff games) and the three league Most Valuable Player awards was an unbridled joy for the game — Favre frequently leaps into the arms of his teammates after touchdowns — and an unchecked reputation for preferring to draw plays up in the dirt rather than studying them in the playbook. He read aloud from a Jeff Foxworthy book as the team bus took the Packers to a National Football Conference championship game, the better to make his teammates laugh and relax.

“He was one of the guys,” said the former Packers receiver Antonio Freeman. “It was like we were a bunch of school kids, saying jokes and being competitive. He comes in in blue jeans, his shirt, a pair of sneakers. That’s his attire. You’re coming here to work. This isn’t a fashion show.”