We’ve previously speculated that, in order to get quaterback Brett Favre on board with the trade that sent him from Green Bay to New York, the Jets told Favre, “Give it a year.  If you don’t like it, we’ll let you walk.  No strings attached.”

The fact that the post-trade numbers available through the NFLPA’s web site still show Favre making $12 million in 2008, $13 million in 2009, and $14 million in 2010 suggests to us that, indeed, this is being regarded by both sides as a one-year proposition, for now.  If Favre sticks around for 2009, something will need to be done about his cap number. 

But there’s another wrinkle to all of this, which further supports our belief that the Jets will be prepared to let Favre walk after 2008, if he so chooses.

Inexplicably, the Jets have removed the bonus forfeiture provisions from Favre contract, along with terms requiring Favre to make appearances throughout the course of the year.

Our guess (and we’ll admit it’s just a guess), is that the Jets offered to take the language out in order to persuade Favre that they meant what they said when they told him that all they wanted was one year and nothing more.

Regardless of the motivation, it’s a horrible precedent, and other teams and the league office should be upset with the Jets for doing it.  Now that the cat is out of the bag, it could be difficult for other teams to maintain bonus forfeiture clauses in contracts with their own star players.

Then again, maybe other teams and agents will regard the Favre deal as an aberration — just as the Bears and the agent for Chris Williams did with respect to the overstuffed rookie deal that the Jets gave to cornerback Darelle Revis in 2007.

Back to our point, we think that Favre still wants in his heart to stick it to the Packers by joining the Vikings.  The foundation seems to be in place for Favre to give it a try in 2009.