Peter King of SI.com reported Monday that agent Bus Cook will send a letter to the Green Bay Packers within the next 10 days asking that quarterback Brett Favre be reinstated from the reserve-retired list.

After the letter is mailed, Cook should call G.M. Ted Thompson and shout, “Checkmate.”

Really, what option will the Packers have but to bring Brett back?  Cutting him would likely result in Thompson and/or coach Mike McCarthy being hanged in effigy (or, as Ernie Pantusso would say, right here in Green Bay).  Reinstating him only to then try to trade him, would cause the legion of pro-Favre members of the fan base to break out the No. 4 jerseys (as if they even put them away) and prepare for a season that promises to be even more magical than 2007.

The only way the team could contain the emotions of folks like the kid who wore a Favre jersey every day for something like eight straight years would be to announce upon reinstatement that the Packers will try to trade him.  But that would be the same thing as cutting him, and making such a declaration would hurt whatever little leverage the team would already have in trade talks.

Besides, the Packers would have little control over the outcome of a trade.  No team will want Favre unless Favre wants to play for that team.  He thus can block any trade by refusing to restructure his $12 million salary, or by making it clear that he’d simply retire, again.

(Then there’s the whole Jake Plummer angle on this one, where a team could trade for Favre’s rights based on a low-round pick, with a higher-round pick going to Green Bay if Favre reports.  If Favre doesn’t report, the team could then try to recover any signing bonus money that might still apply to the last two seasons of Favre’s contract.  However, the fact that the Packers didn’t file a grievance to recover any bonus money within 45 days after Favre initially retired could be an impediment to such a maneuver.)

The bottom line is that, even though the Packers apparently don’t want Brett and Brett apparently wants to play for a new team, these two parties might have no choice but to set aside their differences and coexist. 

Meanwhile, Favre has missed the entire offseason program, which has been premised in large part on tweaking the offense in order to fit Aaron Rodgers’ strengths.  Though Favre might not have needed the weeks of T-shirts and shorts practice to get himself ready to play, guys like rookie receiver Jordy Nelson have zero experience with No. 4, so it will place more pressure on Nelson and other members of the team to get ready for a season in which expectations will suddenly spike.

Perhaps that’s why the Packers have sent an intermediary to Mississippi.  Surely, the franchise is going to try to talk Brett into staying on his tractor instead of provoking a test of wills that will give neither side what they each seem to want.

If the Packers want to move forward without Favre and if Favre wants to move forward with another team, putting the Pack in checkmate will make it very difficult, if not impossible, for that to happen.

There is, however, one way out of this mess, for both sides.  If Brett is willing to admit publicly that he wants to play for another team (without blaming the team for his desires in this regard), then the Packers would be able to grant his release. 

Maybe.