But while it would be easy to see Favre’s absence from the first few weeks of training camp as nothing more than a contract holdout, Favre insists that the raise — to a reported salary of $16 million, with another $4 million in incentives — isn’t the reason he decided to come back.
“I knew that would be some peoples’ assumption,” Favre told NBC’s Al Michaels. “It was tempting, but I’ve always made a lot of money, and I knew I didn’t need it.” Obviously, Favre doesn’t need the money. His “regular guy” image aside, he’s made more than $100 million over the last 20 years. He’s doing just fine financially.
But wasn’t the money even a factor?
“Honestly, no,” Favre said. “It all came back to feeling obligated to the guys. That was really the strongest pull. I’m no fool. It’s a lot of money. But that in itself was not the biggest factor.”
In other words, Favre is saying Vikings owner Zygi Wilf tossed him a few million bucks for no reason. That must be nice for Wilf to hear.
