GREEN BAY -- Everyone chose their words carefully Wednesday, and Brett Favre did, too.
But while few of disgruntled cornerback Mike McKenzie's teammates were willing to publicly choose sides in the Green Bay Packers' family feud, Favre, the team's star quarterback and usually diplomatic leader, was McKenzie's most outspoken critic.
"He is one of the top corners in the league. I'll say that. But when you sign a contract, you sign a contract," Favre said after McKenzie skipped the opening practice of the Packers' post-draft minicamp Wednesday.
"We all make a lot of money, and sometimes it doesn't seem fair that other guys make more (even though) you know you're better than (them). But that's the way this business works, and I hope he realizes that. Because he will hurt our football team if he's away and he will really help our team when he's here.
"Hopefully he wakes up and comes back."
McKenzie, who has three years remaining on the contract extension he signed in January 2002 and has threatened to retire rather than play for the Packers again, is not expected to participate in the five-day camp. The Packers have yet to discuss any serious trade offers, according to a team source.
Because Wednesday's and today's practices are technically voluntary, McKenzie can't be fined until he misses Friday's practice, coach Mike Sherman said.
"If he's not here at the mandatory minicamp, I'll deal with it in-house," Sherman said.
Asked if he thinks McKenzie's holdout will be a distraction, Sherman replied, "Not at all. We plan to win with Mike or win without Mike, either way."
At practice, new defensive coordinator Bob Slowik and new defensive backs coach Kurt Schottenheimer tried to attend to business as usual, even though two of McKenzie's gripes are that Slowik isn't a signifcant change from previous defensive coordinator Ed Donatell and that the Packers hired Schottenheimer to replace Slowik instead of promoting assistant secondary coach Lionel Washington.
"We just coach whoever's here and shows up," Slowik said. "We just have to keep going."
It was clear in the Packers locker room after practice that Sherman had warned his players not to talk too much about their absent teammate. McKenzie has not spoken publicly since his trade request was made public, and his agent, Brian Parker, has not returned repeated messages.
While safety Darren Sharper claimed not to have talked to McKenzie -- despite calling him "a good friend" -- cornerbacks Al Harris and Michael Hawthorne both said they had spoke to McKenzie but refused to divulge what he'd said to them.
"I talked to him a couple times this offseason, and I never once asked him what's going on, what's the rift," Harris said.
Hawthorne, who replaced McKenzie at left cornerback with the No. 1 defense, said he spoke to McKenzie "a couple days ago. Asked what he told McKenzie, Hawthorne replied, "(I said), 'I respect your decision. I can't sit here and curse you out.' I will enjoy it when I see his face, whether it's in Green Bay or suited up for another team."
Favre was considerably less understanding.
"He should be here. We expect him to be here," Favre said. "The Packers have the upper hand. He says he wants to be traded and all that stuff, but they don't have to do that. When paycheck time starts coming around and you're not getting one, it's amazing how quickly you start waking up.
"I hope it doesn't come to that. Mike's a good guy. Sometimes we don't make good decisions or (we) have people telling us the wrong things."
Jason Wilde wrote: