In the summer of 2010, a group of Vikings players jumped into owner Zygi Wilf’s plane and flew to Mississippi, hoping to talk Brett Favre out of retirement.
At least most of them did.
During an appearance on A.J. Hawk’s podcast, former Vikings defensive end Jared Allen said he went along mostly to get out of training camp for a few days, and said he actually advised the soon-to-be Hall of Famer to stay there.
“I was the one guy who told him, ‘Stay retired,’” Allen admitted of the trip, which was spearheaded by kicker Ryan Longwell and guard Steve Hutchinson.
“Hutch and Longwell put the pressure on him,” Allen said, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “I was like, ‘Listen, dude. It looks like you got it pretty good down here.’ His place is amazing. I’m like, ‘I’m going to be real honest with ya. If I’m you, I stay retired.’ But I’m like, ‘Don’t come back thinking you gotta prove something. If you want to come back and have fun with us and try to win some football games, do it. If not, I might retire and move down here.’”
Favre did eventually come back, though he might have been better off taking Allen’s advice, since the Vikings went 6-10 that season.
And with Allen, there’s always the chance he was joking — except for the part about getting out of training camp, which we totally believe.
