Brett Favre Retirement Ends, Fantasy Implications Abound

Brett Favre passed his physical and signed a contract with the Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday says FanHouse's own Calvin Watkins in an exclusive report.

Favre was at practice on Tuesday afternoon, although he did not participate in contact drills. The plan is to have Favre start Friday night's preseason game, just three days away.

It's difficult to imagine the 39-year-old veteran will surpass his 2008 statistics with the Jets where he threw for 3,472 yards with 22 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. But, considering the Vikings were willing to pay so much and disrupt team chemistry to bring Favre in this late in camp, proves that they feel optimistic. In 2008, Gus Frerotte and Tarvaris Jackson combined for 3,213 yards with 21 touchdowns and 17 interceptions for the Vikings.

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If Favre matches or slightly surpasses his numbers from last season, he'll be ranked somewhere in the mid- to low-teens on the fantasy quarterback rankings list. That looks to me like he'll be a middle- to late-10th round selection, or somewhere close by. At least that's the initial reaction before Favre's taken a snap this season. He still shouldn't be your number one quarterback. But he will be a viable number two option.

When looking at this signing, concentrating on Favre is the wrong thing to do from a fantasy football perspective. The Favre signing is good for Brett Favre in the fact that he's getting paid well and doesn't have to sit on the couch at home and do nothing, something he's been unable to do for two seasons. It's not huge news for Favre in regard to his fantasy value. It does, however, directly affect a few players' fantasy value in great ways.

Adrian Peterson is the No. 1 fantasy player on the board. He can't be drafted any higher then that. However, you can feel safer by selecting him with your number one pick, as Favre playing quarterback may open up a few holes for the running back that Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson couldn't. If the linebackers or defensive backs have to spend just an extra little bit of thought on Favre's arm, Peterson's legs can benefit. And his rushing yardage and touchdown capabilities rise.

Bernard Berrian caught 48 passes last season for 964 yards and seven touchdowns. He's put up top-20 numbers for two consecutive seasons, but has never had a great quarterback throwing to him, much less a future Hall of Famer. With Favre throwing the ball, Berrian becomes a 1,000-yard receiver in 2009 and becomes a late-sixth or early-seventh round fantasy selection.