Packers' Favre Decides To Play Another Year

Quarterback Brett Favre has decided to return for one more season with the Green Bay Packers.
The team announced yesterday that Favre had informed the club of his decision Tuesday.
"The Green Bay Packers are very pleased that Brett has come to this decision, and look forward to a successful 2006 season," Packers General Manager Ted Thompson said in a written statement released by the team.
Favre previously said that if he returned, next season would be his last.
The Packers put their plans for the future on hold for months while Favre mulled his options and, at times, spoke as if he was planning to retire. Former Packers coach Mike Holmgren said last month that when his current team, the Seattle Seahawks, faced the Packers at the end of the regular season, he believed that Favre would retire, but he'd changed his thinking since then and had become increasingly convinced that Favre would play another season.
It will be Favre's 16th NFL season and 15th with the Packers. He is coming off his worst season, having thrown a career-high 29 interceptions while the Packers went 4-12.
He said during the offseason that he wanted the Packers to be active in free agency in an attempt to return to competitive status, but Thompson took a mostly conservative approach until the Packers agreed yesterday to a seven-year deal with cornerback Charles Woodson worth as much as $52.7 million. Woodson, formerly of the Oakland Raiders, also had been negotiating with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Packers have the fifth overall selection in the draft Saturday, and Thompson has said he would not hesitate to use that choice on a quarterback if he feels that's the best player available at the time. The Packers used a first-round pick last year on quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Packers officials had hoped Favre would decide before the draft but had postponed a deadline tied to a $3 million roster bonus in Favre's contract until training camp in case it took him that long to make up his mind.
Favre, who turns 37 in October, will be playing for a new head coach after Thompson fired Mike Sherman following the season and replaced him with Mike McCarthy.
New Pair in Booth
The NFL Network announced yesterday that Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth will be in the booth for six of the eight regular season games that the league-owned network will carry next season.
Gumbel, host of "Real Sports" on HBO, last performed play-by-play duties more than 30 years ago on high school football games. Because of scheduling conflicts for Collinsworth, another analyst will work two games with Gumbel. . . .
The Minnesota Vikings released suspended running back Onterrio Smith, who, according to a report in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, has been informed by the league that he will not be reinstated in June.
Smith was suspended for a year for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy last year and missed the entire 2005 season. He must apply for reinstatement, and Commissioner Paul Tagliabue reportedly is not prepared to allow him to return to the league.
In April 2005, Smith was detained by airport security and found to be carrying a device designed to circumvent drug tests. His suspension was not based on that incident, however. Last May, he either failed or missed a drug test and was suspended. . . .
The Houston Texans have made progress in contract negotiations with former Southern California tailback Reggie Bush and are increasingly optimistic that they will be able to sign him in the coming days as a precursor to selecting him with the top overall choice in the NFL draft, a source familiar with the deliberations said last night. The Texans also have been negotiating with North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams. General Manager Charley Casserly told reporters yesterday that the Texans don't intend to trade the pick and plan to choose Bush or Williams.