According to ESPN.com, Brett Favre has denied sending text messages to Vikings officials and teammates telling them that he had decided to retire and also told Ed Werder that if he’s healthy, he will play this season.

Favre also insisted that the decision isn’t about money, even though Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that the Vikings have offered Brett a raise that would increase his 2010 base salary from $13 million to $16 million.

Favre responded to a Star Tribune report that the Vikings were prepared to offer him more money for the 2010 season if he would play by insisting that his salary is not a factor in the decision. “It’s not about money,” he said.

Well, I would hope it’s not about money considering he’s made over $100 million during the course of his career (which doesn’t include the millions more he has made through endorsements). Money has played a factor in everyone’s decisions at some point or another, but it would be asinine to think that he would play next season for $16 million, but not $13 million.

Here’s the part of the story that I don’t get:

On Tuesday, Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe said Favre texted his teammates and told them he plans to retire. Shiancoe added he did not receive any direct messages from Favre, but learned of the texts from several teammates.

“He told a couple guys on our team he’s going to retire,” Shiancoe said after practice on Tuesday. “He hasn’t told me yet. I’m going to check my phone right now, but it hasn’t been said publicly yet so I don’t know what to believe.”

So did Favre send the text messages or not? Because if he didn’t, why did Shiancoe say that Favre told some of his teammates via text messages that he was going to retire? Something doesn’t add up here. Either Brett is a lying windbag or there’s a bad game of telephone going on inside the Vikings’ locker room.

Regardless, this report proves that this situation is far from over. As reported all day yesterday, Favre has yet to make up his mind about whether or not to return. Shocking.

According to a report by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Vikings will sign free agent quarterback Brett Favre if he’ll agree to a contract that is largely incentive-based.

Yes, this is it: If Favre is willing to sign a contract with an option that will determine his pay based on how he performs and how much he plays, the Wilf family will go all out to add Favre to the team. The contract will not be guaranteed. It could have some good incentive clauses that will pay Favre well if he can perform like he did in 2007, when he led the Packers to a 13-3 record and was an intercepted pass away from going to the Super Bowl. On the other hand, if he fails to produce, he will get paid for just the time he was with the team. With the economy as poor as it is, the Wilfs aren’t going to sign Favre to a guaranteed contract and then find out he can’t perform. But they are willing to pay him big money if he can produce.

Once Favre agrees to that option clause in the contract, some coaches will meet the 39-year-old star here or at a mutually decided site, and he will work out to demonstrate to the coaches that his recent shoulder surgery was a success and he is ready to perform in the NFL like he did in the first eight games last year for the Jets until he was injured. Of course, he will have to pass a normal physical.

This is news, but then it isn’t. Of course the Vikings would sign Favre if he would agree to an incentive-based deal – why wouldn’t they? They would be signing a player they want, all while protecting themselves in the process.

It’ll definitely be interesting to see if Favre would be willing to play on an incentive-based deal. If he truly just wants to play for the love of the game (and stick to Packers’ GM Ted Thompson as he’s already indicated) then he should be willing to accept a deal in which he only gets paid if he plays and/or performs well. If he wouldn’t be willing to do that, then I question his motives for wanting to return.