Today in Sports History: February 10th

2/10/1992 - Falcons trade away Brett Favre

After one season of bench-warming, the Atlanta Falcons trade Brett Favre to the Green Bay Packers for a first round draft pick. Favre had had an outstanding college career with Southern Mississippi, but in his rookie campaign with the Falcons he hardly saw any playing time at all. Falcons coach Jerry Glanville had made it clear that any QB they drafted would not get any playing time, as he was set with last year's starter, Chris Miller. That season, Brett appeared in only two games, threw only four passes, threw two interceptions and failed to get a completion.

"All he did was drink beer and eat chicken wings for a year," recalled Glanville in the book Brett Favre: A Packer Fan's Tribute. "He looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy."

Glanville's motives seemed right at the time, as the Falcons made it to the NFC divisional round in 1991. But as the years passed, it became painfully clear that forcing Favre off the roster was the worst decision of his career. In Green Bay, Favre revitalized a stagnant Packers team that had done nothing since the retirement of Vince Lombardi. He totaled three MVP awards, a Super Bowl ring, more 250 straight games, and a plethora of records in his time in Green Bay; on the flip side, Miller's career came to an end after multiple concussions.

In an interesting side note, the Falcons drafted Favre with the 33rd overall pick in 1991, while the New York Jets had planned on drafting him with the next pick. Ron Wolf, the Jets' personnel director, later jumped ship and joined the Packers, where he followed through with his old team's intentions to acquire the Southern Mississippi gunslinger. Ironically, Favre would later leave the Packers and played a season with the New York Jets anyway.