Brett Favre is no longer the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. The 38 year-old future Hall of Famer was traded to the New York Jets for a conditional 2009 draft pick.

It was first reported by both ESPN and Fox Sports just after midnight on the East coast.

“We just felt like this was an opportunity to go get somebody of Brett’s stature and what he’s accomplished,” Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said during a conference call earlier this morning.

“We felt it was in the best interest of the team and when the opportunity presented itself, we felt it was the right move for us to make and we went ahead and did it.”

When it became apparent Favre would not be the man in Green Bay with the Packers opting to hand the reigns over to Aaron Rodgers, the Jets and Bucs were the final two teams in the running to land the NFL’s all-time leader in throwing touchdowns (442). Tampa dropped out making Gang Green’s destiny of landing the former Southern Miss star likely.

Favre was originally selected by the Falcons in the second round of the 1991 Draft. He only played in two games going 0-for-5 with two picks and a sack before Atlanta dealt him during the offseason to Green Bay for the 19th pick in the 1992 Draft in which they ironically selected another Southern Miss star Tony Smith, who lasted only three seasons. Perhaps that explains the Falcons legacy.

After becoming the starter with his new team, Favre went onto a brilliant career spending the next 16 years as arguably the best quarterback in the game leading the Packers back to the NFL’s elite winning Super Bowl XXXI over New England and losing to John Elway and Denver in Super Bowl XXXII. He is the only three-time AP MVP (1995-97) in league history.

Not only does Favre hold the NFL record for most TD’s thrown but most career passing yards (61,655), most career completions (5,377), attempts (8,758) and interceptions (288). He also holds the record for most consecutive starts among NFL QBs with 253 straight including 275 with playoffs. Not surprisingly, he also owns the most ever victories (160) for a starting signal caller.

Now, Brett will get the opportunity to turn around a Jets team which went just 4-12 a year ago as both Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens struggled. Before he decided to unretire getting league approval for reinstatement, the original plan was for the two QBs to battle it out in camp and preseason to see who would win the starting job.

Instead, the Jets will reportedly release the classy Pennington later today who twice cameback from rotator cuff surgery battling injuries during a respectable eight-year career finishing with 82 TDs and 55 Ints while tossing for 13,738 yards.

“It’s a bittersweet moment for us,” Tannenbaum pointed out. “I have all the respect in the world for Chad as a person, as a player. We’ve accomplished a lot of good things with Chad … He gave his heart and soul to this organization for a long, long time. I really appreciate everything he’s done.”

For his team, it’s the right move which of course comes with a lot of expectations. The pressure to win now while sacrificing the team’s future.

A high risk investment for a veteran QB who never seems to know whether he’s coming or going.

We doubt Jet fans will care. Today’s their day to celebrate arguably the franchise’s biggest acquisition.

Now the fun really begins.