Javon Walker received his exit finally; his draft day trade for a 2nd round pick was considered a steal by Denver, instantly giving them the playmaking #1 receiver (provided that he is healthy) that they have needed. This has several underlying storylines, such as Ashley Lelie's unhappiness with Denver and Brett Favre's return to football, but I think the biggest story is the one that hasn't been written about. Heading into last season, Javon Walker talked a great deal about wanting a new contract, even threatening to hold out and not show up to training camp. He had a phenomenal year the year before, putting up numbers to the tune of 89 receptions for 1382 yards and 12 TD's. His stats weren't a fluke, either; he had steadily improved; his first year he caught 23 receptions for 319 yards, in his second year he managed 41 receptions for 716 yards, then finally in his third year he broke out and put up the big numbers. In his mind, he was outplaying his contract and wanted to redo it to guarantee more money and lock him up for a couple years. Several other well known receivers were doing the same thing Javon was; Terrell Owens was in the midst of a very public feud and even Hines Ward was trying to get a better contract. When Javon Walker threatened to hold out, however, things became instantly different because Brett Favre sounded off to the national media about his opinion of the situation. Not only was he critical of Walker for what he was doing, he did so without talking to Javon directly or calling him up to explain why he said it. Instead, he let his words speak volumes as they were quoted through every national media outlet, instantly putting public pressure on Walker to end any thoughts of a holdout. Some people supported him, others criticized what he said, but to a teammate his words broke the unwritten rule that players stick together. It also seemed hypocritical, to some, that a quarterback who was given free reign of his team and given a nice contract would have anything to say about someone who wasn't valued quite so highly being disgruntled about it. As we all know, this public pressure undermined any leverage that Javon Walker had, so he reported to training camp on time while still hoping for negotiations to take place. The twist, as of last season, was how things ended up in the worst case situation-not only did Javon Walker get hurt, one of his major fears and why he had intended to hold out in the first place, but he was hurt in the very first game and forced to miss the entire season. Now he was out of luck and out of pay, not having any leverage to deal with management and forced to spend the entire season tying to rehab so that he could make a difference in some future season. Another twist was what happened to Brett Favre-after announcing to the world (and the media) that he didn't care if Javon held out, that they would win games without him, he went on to throw 29 interceptions and lead his team to victory exactly 4 games without his star receiver. To some, that is the extent of the story, but I followed that storyline through to this year, adding all the bitterness caused by what Favre did in the offseason. He took his time deciding, over the course of 4 months, whether he wanted to play again. This in and of itself is not a big deal, but how he did it is: He held the team hostage, not giving any sort of indication of whether he wanted to play again, not giving them any time to come up with a backup plan or sign a veteran quarterback in case he didn't come back. But that was considered okay, it was Brett Favre after all. Not only was he allowed all the time in the world to make his decision, they continually pushed back his roster bonus, giving him more time to commit before the team would be financially obligated to pay him for his service. While this was going on, he spoke his mind to the media again, telling everyone that he would only come back if the Packers made themselves better. Some sportswriters speculated that he was trying his best to be cut without retiring, thereby allowing him to resign with a winning team. In the end he came back to Green Bay and informed them that he would play; he had finally decided that he wouldn't retire for another year. Whether this helps a rebuilding franchise win is another question; whether they actually improved at all between the time he told them to and the time he signed is debatable as well. The reality is that it didn't matter-he decided what he was going to do and did it, and the team backed him through it all. Now if they had given that support to Javon Walker, he would still be playing in green and gold.