Jared Allen to Favre in 2010: 'Stay retired'
In the summer of 2010, the Minnesota Vikings tasked three veterans - Jared Allen, Steve Hutchinson, and Ryan Longwell - with travelling to Mississippi on a private jet to convince Brett Favre to return to the club for another season.
While Hutchinson and Longwell toed the party line, Allen recently admitted he used the trip to "get out of training camp for a few days," and even tried to convince the quarterback that retirement might be the best option.
"I was the one guy who told him, 'Stay retired,'" Allen said on linebacker A.J. Hawk's podcast "The HawkCast," according to Brian Stensaas of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Allen added: "Hutch and Longwell put the pressure on him. 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.'''
In hindsight, Favre probably should've heeded Allen's advice.
The Hall of Famer saw his consecutive starts streak snapped at 275, the Vikings slumping to a 6-10 record, and, at season's end, Favre opted to ride off into the sunset for good.
- With h/t to NFL.com