New York Jets’ interception of Brett Favre makes it a must-watch team

Brett Favre’s new career began just the way his old one ended.

With an interception.

The New York Jets stepped in front of a telegraphed pass – one from Green Bay to Tampa Bay – and, with a generous trade offer, picked off the 38-year-old quarterback to the surprise of just about everyone.

That had to be a huge relief for the Packers. Trading Favre anywhere is fraught with peril, but the Jets are about the closest thing to the other side of the moon for Green Bay.

That’s not to say Favre can’t win there. But he’s heading to an AFC team that was 4-12 last season, losing eight of its first nine games, and plays in a division owned by the New England Patriots.

Had Favre gone to Tampa, which some reports called a near-done deal, he would have been reunited with Coach Jon Gruden on a team that won the NFC South last season and plays host to Green Bay in a Week 4 game.

Seeing Favre in Buccaneers red wouldn’t have been as excruciating for the Packers as envisioning him in Minnesota Vikings purple, but it wouldn’t have been easy.

Wednesday night, Green Bay General Manager Ted Thompson and Coach Mike McCarthy probably got their first bit of decent sleep in weeks. Not only did they finally move Favre and end this nightmarish saga, but they got a remarkably good deal for him. From Green Bay’s standpoint, this is about as perfect as you can get.

According to the NFL Network, the Packers will get a fourth-round pick for Favre that becomes a third-rounder if he plays 50% of the snaps, a second-rounder if he plays 70% of them, and a first-rounder if he plays 80% and the Jets make it to the Super Bowl.

It’s a good deal for the Jets, too, whose second-class-citizen status in New York figured to be even more pronounced this season in the wake of the New York Giants’ Super Bowl victory.

To make room for Favre and his $12.7-million salary, the Jets almost certainly will dump oft-injured quarterback Chad Pennington, who showed flashes of promise earlier in his career. In a statement released by the team early today, Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum said parting ways with Pennington would be “a bittersweet moment for us.”

“I have not had an opportunity to talk to Chad as of this call,” he said. “I know [Coach Eric Mangini] has. I have all the respect in the world for Chad as a person and a player. We have accomplished great things with Chad, including winning playoff games, which is very hard to do. He gave his heart and soul to this organization for a long, long time.”

But Brett Favre is Brett Favre. The Jets just couldn’t pass on a chance to add that future Hall of Famer to their roster, a guy who leaves Green Bay as the NFL’s all-time leader in most major passing categories, including touchdowns (442), yards (61,655), completions (5,377) and attempts (8,758).

Suddenly, the Jets are a must-watch team with an intriguing schedule that includes four West Coast games: at San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco and Seattle.

Surely, Favre has eyeballed New York’s schedule and noticed that it’s bookended with games against Miami, which nearly lost every game last season. But things get much more interesting in Week 2 against the Patriots, who pulverized the Packers, 35-0, when Favre last faced them in 2006. (Then again, he was knocked out of that game with an elbow injury late in the first half when Tedy Bruschi body-slammed him.)

It’s not as if Favre is heading to a place where he can’t win. Just two years ago, the Jets rebounded from a 4-12 season to go 10-6, winning five of their final six games to clinch a playoff spot. Mangini was dubbed “Mangenius,” and Brian Schottenheimer went from a young offensive coordinator to a legitimate head coach candidate. The franchise – bolstered by the addition of guards Alan Faneca and Damien Woody, linebacker Calvin Pace and first-round pick Vernon Gholston – has potential.

As for the Packers, the only way they’ll see Favre again this season is if their teams meet in the Super Bowl. Somehow, they can live with that.

 sam.farmer@latimes.com