Thanks for the Memories, Chad

Despite the fact that Brett Favre's arrival in New York instantly makes the Jets a better team and makes them relevant, at least for a few days, it does come at a considerable price. No, I'm not talking about the conditional draft pick the team gave up to get Favre, which is fair compensation for a future Hall-of-Famer. Rather, I'm talking about the release of incumbant quarterback Chad Pennington.

Chad on the field has been a successful leader of this team when healthy. His first year as a starter he took over when the Jets were 2-5 and led them to a division title. In 2004 he led the team to the playoffs again despite having torn the rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder. And in 2006 he perhaps made his most unlikely playoff berth, recovering from the aforementioned shoulder injuries to give new coach Eric Mangini a wildcard birth in his first year, dubbing him "Mangenius".

Alas Chad was unhealthy far too often in his career. Wrist and shoulder injuries set him back, and as we recently found out, torn ankle ligaments hindered his play last year, leading to his benching. But Chad remained a classy guy throughout this. He never lamented about this being unfair; he just rehabbed as hard as he could and came back the following year.  He had to compete for the starting job twice in the last three years, and never criticized the organization or his teammates in the process. He just worked at getting better, ultimately winning the job in 2006 and having a slight edge this year before the competition was abruptly ended.

In fact throughout this whole Favre saga Chad has remained his classy self. He maintained that he wouldn't dwell on it and instead would just focus on the players on the team. He didn't complain publicly about the Jets seeming lack of confidence in him. Reports have surfaced that he did request a trade in the offseason, but unlike some players in pro sports today, he didn't let his unhappiness show. He always tried his hardest at whatever he did.

This determination led to some impressive statistics. He is the NFL's all-time leader in completion percentage, is the team's all-time leader in passer rating, and is fourth in team history in passing yards, touchdowns, attempts, and completions. While some of this is because the Jets haven't had a true franchise quarterback since Broadway Joe, they still show how great Chad was to the team.

But countless injuries derailed what could have been an even better Jets career. Favre simply gives the Jets a more explosive offense than Chad ever could. However, he still provided us with some great memories over the years, and Jets' fans can't help but root for his success wherever he lands.