This is your yearly Brett Favre can still play in the NFL rumor

Legends never die. They just retire only to show up in the “Where are they now?” edition of Sports Illustrated to tell the world that they can still play football in the NFL. That’s what Brett Favre, aka the Ol’ Gunslinger, is doing this summer.

“I think I could play,” Favre told the magazine. “As far as throwing. Of course, we’re not trying to start some he’s-coming-out-of-retirement deal.

“Do I think I could play and lead a team? Look, no. But I could play. I could make all the throws I made before, I just couldn’t throw it near as far, but that never matters anyway.”

It wasn’t all that long ago that Favre had the chance to rekindle his career. In 2013, the perpetually quarterback-challenged St. Louis Rams reportedly gave him call, feeling him out as a potential replacement for Sam Bradford that season. He declined. Favre was also mentioned as an option for the Bears in 2011.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, probably something along the lines of what SB Nation’s official Gunslinger correspondent Jon Bois has said before on the annual occasion of Favre of his agent speculating publicly that the old man can still play -- “I’d like to see the Ol’ Gunslinger lace ‘em up one more time, teach these young kids a thing or two about football.”

That’s probably not going to happen, but you can soak in a little of that Favre magic with this chapter from Jon’s Breaking Madden series, from October 2013, that imagines Favre lacing ‘em up for the Rams and bringing along a few old friends, the better for showing the youngs a thing or two about how the game is really played.

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