"If Jason Taylor and Jeremy Shockey could be traded this week, certainly there is hope for a Brett Favre deal.

But trading Favre is a more complicated proposition than trading Taylor and Shockey ever could have been.

First of all, the timing is not good.

You can eliminate the majority of NFL teams from consideration for the same reason the Packers are not exactly doing the "Beer Barrel Polka" over the possibility of Favre returning. That is, they have made other plans and are well into the process of executing them.

By this point of the year most teams have talked themselves into believing they are content with their quarterbacks. "We like Chris Redman," they say. Many of them will like those passers less in November.

It's considerably more difficult for a quarterback to learn an offense in a month than a player at any other position, though Favre's experience and commitment would serve him well in a crash course.

It would help if the team trading for Favre uses a West Coast-based offense similar to those Favre has played in most of his career.

Favre would be an ink spot on any team's long-range blueprint. Will he play only one year? Will he play two? Three? Will he say he'll play two and then play one? Will he promise to retire after 2008 and then make a play to come back next August? Perhaps, as the joke goes, he will open a chain of breakfast eateries — Brett Favre's Waffle House.

While I have advocated Favre's return and believe he remains one of the top quarterbacks in the game, any team interested in trading for him would have to consider the possibility that Favre suddenly could start to play like the 38-year-old he is.

He is, in any event, a temporary solution to any problem. And what might a temporary solution be worth in a trade? Given the standard the Redskins and Saints set when they traded for Taylor and Shockey, respectively, it should cost at least a second-round pick and a fifth-rounder for Favre.

Of course, the Packers will make the argument that he is worth more. And they will not be incorrect. Favre will give a new team more than TD passes. He'll give them sizzle. He'll raise their Q rating.

Favre will inspire fans to buy game tickets, and maybe even sausages and nachos. His new team will sell jerseys from triple-XL to onesies.

A team with a calculating general manager who has a big-picture plan in place would have to swallow hard to take on Favre and all he represents. That reduces the pool of possible teams further.

You could see a desperate head coach who is allowed to drive the train making a play for Favre. He could see the quarterback as a life preserver. And Favre might be just that.

Physically, Favre should be able to play another three years if he should decide to. Or if he should decide to, decide not to, and then decide to again."