Here’s a shocker: Brett Favre is unsure about something.

According to a report by ESPN.com’s Ed Werder, Favre is conflicted about whether or not to play this season.

With Minnesota Vikings players scheduled to report to training camp in less than a week, Brett Favre remains anguished about whether he should come out of retirement and join the team. That decision, according to sources, has become more difficult in recent days because of the efforts of Vikings players including Adrian Peterson, Jared Allen and Steve Hutchinson, all of whom have now begun calling and texting Favre in an attempt to convince him to become Minnesota’s starting quarterback.

“If it weren’t for the involvement of the Vikings players directly telling Brett they want him on their team, I think he might have already decided against playing again,” a source said.

A source said that Favre is beginning to feel a sense of obligation, not only to Vikings players but to a coaching staff that has been recruiting him since the moment the New York Jets released him in April. According to sources, Favre has been communicating regularly with Vikings head coach Brad Childress and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who was Favre’s offensive coordinator in Green Bay for three seasons.

Money is not an issue, as a source says that Favre and the Vikings have negotiated a one-year contract worth approximately $10 million. But the quarterback has not decided whether to sign it.
What seems unresolved in Favre’s mind is whether, at age 39, he can reasonably expect to be healthy enough to play 16-plus games for the Vikings while maintaining the standard of performance he expects of himself.

Hey Brett, do you want to play or not? You’re 39 years old – of course there’s a chance you might not be able to make it through an entire season. You didn’t technically make it through last season as you essentially had your biceps duct taped to your arm for the final couple weeks of the year. But again, do you want to play or not?

Favre shouldn’t feel like he has an obligation to the Vikings to play this season because ultimately, it’s his decision. But he does have an obligation to the Vikings to make a damn decision one way or another, especially considering we’re in late July now and not April. Minnesota has been patient this entire time with Brett, so he needs to make a decision so the Vikes can move on either with or without him.

He said he was going to make a decision by July 30. Then he said he should know by this Friday. All indications were that he was going to tell the Vikings yes, now he’s conflicted. It never ceases to amaze me how this guy can draw every last bit of drama out of a situation both for the good and the bad.

Vikings’ head coach Brad Childress said over the weekend that he hasn’t spoken with Brett Favre in a few weeks, but also noted that the free agent quarterback’s throwing motion looked fine when he recently viewed him on video.

“I liked his throwing motion, the little bit that I saw on tape,” Childress said. “It looked fine to me.”

Childress has received first-hand reports on Favre’s throwing from offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman, who both made the trip to visit Favre in Mississippi two weeks ago. Favre is recovering from arthroscopic surgery in late May to release the partially torn biceps in his throwing arm and how his arm feels is going to be the key factor in his decision on playing another season.

“I think [Bevell] thought he was progressing,” Childress said. “I think Suge felt the same way.”

Childress said he liked Favre’s throwing motion…I think I’ll wet myself.

Favre is supposed to make a decision by July 30 on whether or not he’s going to play this season. Until then, all of us continue wait on pins and needles, at the edges of our seats or grasping to our computer screens for him to announce his decision.

Count Minnesota defensive end Jared Allen in as someone who also finds Brett Favre’s dance with the Vikings annoying.

But even the most patient of hunters has his limits, and Allen pretty much has reached his when it comes to the Vikings’ months-long pursuit of Brett Favre.

“If we get Brett, then that’s a bonus,” the All-Pro defensive end said in a phone interview. “But let’s either get it done and get moving on with it or let it go.

“It’s not so much that it’s a distraction because we’re professionals and don’t really buy into that. But it’s annoying.”

“I say it all the time: If you can get a player of that caliber at any position, you take him,” Allen said. “If Lawrence Taylor came out of retirement, you take him just to see what he can do. … Brett absolutely has proven that he’s one of the best ever at what he does.

“But our goals going into the off-season weren’t, let’s win a championship if we get Brett Favre. It’s, we’re going to win a championship. And I feel like we have two able quarterbacks to get that done.”

One had to wonder what kind of an effect Favre’s song and dance with the Vikings would have on the players currently on Minnesota’s roster – and not just quarterbacks Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson. At some point, if you’re a player on the Vikings you get tired of trying to answer the same questions over and over again.

This is something that seems to elude Favre. Never mind that an entire organization comprised of coaches, players and front office personnel has to wait for his decision – it’s all about Brett and what he wants to do. I don’t blame Allen, or anyone else for that matter, if they’re becoming a little annoyed about this pending marriage.

According to SI.com’s Peter King, the “mating dance” that Brett Favre is currently doing with the Vikings (or is it the other way around?) will be over sometime this week.

He’s going to have a make a decision whether to join the Vikings very soon, probably by this weekend, because the Vikings want to know what their 2009 future is at quarterback. I’m told the organization won’t wait for a decision much longer, and if he has to get a minor operation to snip the damaged right biceps tendon that has been giving him pain, he has to do it soon. Like, within a week.

I get the strong sense that if the Vikings are going to do any deal with Favre that coach Brad Childress wants to be assured that Favre will report to training camp in game shape, with no restrictions on throwing or his condition. They’d also like Favre to be involved in the mental part of team activities before camp. He has missed the first week of Organized Team Activities (last week), and he’s all but out of this weekend’s final mandatory full-squad mini-camp before training camp. Ten OTA practices remain for the Vikings — June 2-5, June 8-11 and June 15-16.

Although he’s a very reliable source, the notion that this Favre-Vikings charade will be over by this weekend seems to be more of King’s opinion than a factual statement. Since he knows the Vikings won’t wait much longer, King seems to be estimating that Minnesota will have a decision by Favre by this weekend. But everyone knows that Favre has a tendency to drag things out, so who knows.

I agree that the Vikings probably won’t be willing to wait much longer on Favre. They traded for Sage Rosenfels this offseason and aren’t completely ready to give up on former second round draft pick Tarvaris Jackson either. So if Favre can’t make up his mind soon, I would have to image that Brad Childress and company will go forward with what they have.