Brett Favre is more than the man in those Wrangler Jeans commercials.

He’s a future Hall of Famer who is unretired again and now on the Minnesota Vikings.

He’s also going up against Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

Here’s Favre on the 2009 No. 1 overall pick in a teleconference today, courtesy of the Detroit Lions.

Stafford completed 16 of 37 passes for 205 yards with three interceptions in a 45-27 loss to New Orelans on Sunday.

Given all he’s gone through lately, Phil Mickelson was easy to root for in the U.S. Open. The rise from the ashes story of David Duval also was compelling.

Lucas Glover may not have captured the imagination in the rain-soaked major, but I could have cared less. I still remember Glover from when I wrote a feature on him when I covered high schools in Greenville, S.C., more than a decade ago. Glover won state titles as a freshman and sophomore.

After Glover won the Open, I tried to find the old clip I wrote on him and Kyle Thompson of Easley, S.C. They were two local stars going to the state schools. Glover headed to Clemson after graduating from Wade Hampton High in 1997 and Thompson went to South Carolina.

Georgia linebacker Rennie Curran said he watched plenty of the NFL Draft last weekend.

When three Georgia players were picked in the first 50 overall selections, Curran lived the moment with them.

“When one of your teammates goes, it feels like you’re going,” Curran said. “You’re just so happy to see them make it because you know how much work they put in and how big of a dream it is.”

Curran was a Butkus Award finalist and selected first-team All-SEC by the coaches last year as a sophomore when he led Georgia with 115 tackles.

Even if that production continues, Curran is well aware that his size will be an issue that NFL teams will have to grapple with in a way they wouldn’t if he was a few inches taller.

“No matter how much I dream, and I hope I get a couple of inches, it’s never going to happen,” Curran said. “I wake up 5-10 ½ every day”

Before the tragic triple murder in Athens on Saturday, I was trying to put Matthew Stafford’s Detroit Lions contract worth at least $72 million into perspective for a front page story.

The story ended up being scrapped because of the news of the day (we of course had coverage in the sports section), but here’s where I was going.

Stafford’s deal is worth an average of $12 million per season, which would have landed the 21-year old quarterback 110th on the CEO compensation list last year for the 500 biggest companies, according to Forbes. Stafford would be ahead of the top executive at Time Warner, General Electric, Heinz, Exxon Mobil and PepsiCo.

Halfback Charley Trippi, one of four No. 1 overall picks from Georgia, signed a four-year contract with the Chicago Cardinals worth a total of $100,000 or $25,000 per season.

After going up against Matthew Stafford in practice at Georgia the past three years, cornerback Asher Allen now could go up against the new Detroit Lions quarterback twice a year in the NFC North.

“Love it, love it, love it,” said Allen after being drafted in the third round by Minnesota on Sunday. “I think it’s going to be fun seeing a Georgia guy up there. We play Cleveland, so seeing Mohamed (Massaquoi) out there, I think that will be really fun.”

The Vikings open the season at Cleveland on Sept. 13 and play at Detroit in Week 2 on Sept. 20 in Stafford’s first home game.

Lions coach Jim Schwartz thinks Stafford being the man at Georgia prepared him well for the pressure of living up to the $41.7 million in guarantees coming his way and being the No. 1 overall pick.

He mentioned going out to eat with Stafford and Lions officials in Athens during a visit.

It wasn’t quite as exciting as breaking plates with Jimmy Fallon, but Matthew Stafford nailed the target on a football throw on the CBS Early Show this morning.

With the hours getting closer to Saturday’s 4 p.m. NFL Draft, Stafford and the Detroit Lions still apparently are working on nailing down a deal.

Asked if he was going to the Lions, Stafford offered about what you would expect: “I’m still not sure yet. We’ll see. A lot can happen between now and Saturday. I’m just happy to be here and wherever I go, I’m going to be happy to play.”

About playing for the rebuilding Lions: “Whoever ends up going there is going to have a big challenge in front of them, but I’m a competitive guy and I’d love to get a chance to play there. If it works out, it’s great. Hopefully, I can help them out.”

Matthew Stafford is getting around these days.

The former Georgia quarterback and possible No. 1 NFL overall draft pick was at G-Day in Athens on Saturday, reportedly visited the San Francisco 49ers on Monday and he’s scheduled to be in New York, where he’ll have appearances on ESPN2’s "First Take" and NBC’s "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" on Thursday.

Stafford’s on the cover of the latest Sporting News and was out in California recently on another trip for an ESPN The Magazine photo shoot.

“He flew out to L.A. and Maria Sharapova is giving him a makeover for ESPN The Magazine,” Georgia receiver Kris Durham, good friends with Stafford, said last week. “That’s the only thing he’s told me about.”

Just checking our Associated Press sports wire and saw this news alert: “Chiefs acquire Matt Cassel, Mike Vrabel from Patriots for second-round draft pick.”

Well, that could make things interesting for Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez, considered the top two quarterbacks in April’s draft.

Stafford, the former Georgia quarterback, could go No. 1 overall to Detroit. Lions brass took Stafford to dinner a week ago Thursday at the combine.

Conventional wisdom had Kansas City with the No. 3 overall pick and San Francisco at No. 10 also in the market for a quarterback.

Scratch the Chiefs off that list now.

Former Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli is now the general manager in Kansas City. He won’t have to take a chance on an underclassman quarterback at No. 3. He just got the 26-year old Cassel and Vrabel for the 34th overall pick.

Matthew Stafford is following the lead of Matt Ryan, JaMarcus Russell and Brady Quinn.

The former Georgia quarterback isn’t planning on throwing at the NFL combine that gets underway Wednesday in Indianapolis. He will wait until Georgia’s pro day on March 19th to go through passing drills, his father confirmed in an e-mail.

“I don’t think that’s any issue,” said Terry Shea, most recently the quarterbacks coach for the St. Louis Rams, who helped Stafford prepare for the combine in Tempe, Ariz. “I know Matthew has talked about possibly going through all the agility tests and the actual running if he’s feeling up to it. That’s great. Because once they get a chance to see him throw at pro day, he’ll lift the roof off the house.”

Stafford is considered the No. 1 quarterback prospect and some peg him as the No. 1 overall pick.

Matthew Stafford might be the first quarterback selected in April’s NFL draft, but at least one well-known draft analyst isn’t sure the former Bulldog is a top 10 pick or ready to start in the NFL.

The NFL Network’s Mike Mayock, speaking this afternoon on a teleconference while in Mobile, Ala. for Senior Bowl practices, said that Stafford and Southern California’s Mark Sanchez need more seasoning before taking over as a No. 1 quarterback in the NFL.