According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Vikings are actively shopping quarterback Tarvaris Jackson.

Jackson has been the subject of trade rumors since Brett Favre arrived. However, it remains unclear which direction the Vikings will go if they are unable to trade Jackson.

Jackson, who started 20 games in his first three seasons with the team, admitted he feels a sense of uncertainty about his situation, but he said he is focused on preparing for Friday’s preseason finale against the Dallas Cowboys.

This move makes sense with Favre and Sage Rosenfels on the roster, although there’s a likely chance that Brett will break down at some point and the Vikings will only be left with Rosenfels. Still, Jackson arguably has the most trade value based on his age and given that he’s a free agent at the end of the year, now would be a good time to move him.

According to a report by ESPN.com, there appears to be schism in the Vikings locker room when it comes to whom the players want under center this year. Some favor Tarvaris Jackson, while others like Sage Rosenfels.

Either way, there appears to be little support for Brett Favre.

Sources with knowledge of the Vikings locker-room dynamics say some players believe Tarvaris Jackson gives the Vikings the best chance to win, while other players believe Sage Rosenfels gives the team the best chance to win — which is one of the new twists to this storyline. In the words of one NFL source, Favre has “little support” in the locker room as Minnesota prepares for its Monday night preseason game against the Houston Texans.

Vikings coach Brad Childress was even asked Wednesday about the speculation.

“I’ve seen the same reports you’ve seen,” Childress said. “Those are opinions. It’s hard to shoot holes in an opinion. It’s just that — an opinion. I certainly don’t see it.”

If this situation winds up blowing up in the Vikings’ faces, Childress will have nobody to blame but himself. In his desire to put Favre under center, he turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the rest of his team and their wants.

Granted, a head coach needs to do what he feels best for his team to win and not allow the players to run the organization. But in this particular situation, Childress will have to suffer the consequences if things don’t pan out, because he put Favre’s wants above all else.

It’s going to be an interesting season in Minnesota this year. Childress better hope this Favre situation works out in the end or else he’ll face massive criticism. But if Brett wins, then nobody is going to remember what went down in August.

Count SI.com NFL writer Peter King as someone who thought the Vikings’ signing of Brett Favre was a bad idea. In fact, King went as far to say in one of his recent articles that both Minnesota and Favre have made a mistake.

The perfect scenario would have been for the Vikings to see if Rosenfels or Jackson played well enough through a piece-of-cake early schedule (at Cleveland, at Detroit, San Francisco), and if the position was an Achilles heel, then reach out to Favre to see if he was interested. By doing it now, Childress tells his team he doesn’t trust Rosenfels or Jackson. That could come back to haunt him if Favre’s body breaks down.

Childress has looked like a desperate man throughout this melodrama. He made it known internally that Favre had to do at least some work in the offseason program or the veteran mini-camp to be considered. Favre never showed. Then he had to come by the start of camp. Favre didn’t come, opting for his third false retirement in 17 months. Now the Vikings let him come back after the team has gone through training camp. Favre’s the wishy-washiest player in memory — and the Vikings are his enablers. It’s ridiculous.

I agree with King that this situation was handled poorly by Childress and the Vikings, although in effort not to repeat myself, here’s a link to a post I wrote yesterday in which I go into detail about this saga. I break down how gutless Childress is for allowing Favre to dictate how the situation played out, how the signing was a slap in the face to Rosenfels, and yes, how the Vikings are a better team with Favre under center.

It would be ironic if Childress had to lean on Rosenfels at the end of the year if/when Brett breaks down. Rosenfels will probably conduct his business in a professional manner and put the team ahead of his personal feelings. But if I were him, I’d be livid about busting my ass in OTAs and training camp thinking I had a chance to start, only to be shoved to the backburner as soon as Favre was signed.

It’s official: Brett Favre is now a Minnesota Viking after signing a two-year deal. Below are six quick-hit observations on the topic.

1. Nobody should be surprised by Brett’s decision.
When Favre told the Vikings in July that he would stay retired, you would have had to been naïve to believe him. Thus, nobody should be shocked by this news today. The key to this situation was that Brett didn’t want to go to training camp. He doesn’t like practicing and given his experience in the WCO, he didn’t need the extra camp reps. He must have known that Brad Childress was okay with him skipping camp and signing a deal once preseason started.

2. Childress should grow a pair.
If I were a Minnesota player, I’d be wondering how much sack my head coach has after this situation. Childress allowed Favre to dictate everything that went down, including when he would sign. Childress wanted Favre to sign so badly that he was willing to look past Brett skipping training camp while the rest of his teammates were putting in hours of hard work on the practice field. It’s a joke that Childress and the Vikings didn’t walk away from this situation when Favre said he was going to remain retired (even if they knew he would eventually change his mind). And even if Brett gets the Vikings to a Super Bowl, they’ll still be the team that put a single player above an entire organization.

Read the rest of this entry »

According to a report by WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, free agent quarterback Brett Favre will sign with the Vikings sometime today.

Favre is on currently on his way to Minneapolis and is expected to sign with the team this afternoon, the source said.

WCCO-TV spoke with an official at the Hattiesburg, Miss., airport, who saw an airplane with the Vikings logo leave the airport Tuesday morning. The flight number for that plane has been blocked from tracking systems.

This is ridiculous. What has changed since July 28, when Favre told the Vikings that he would stay retired and not play football in 2009? What, does his arm feel significantly better today than it did at the end of July? Or did Favre just want to skip training camp and now that the Vikings have begun preseason play, he’s ready to join them?

If the Vikings sign Favre, it would be a massive slap in the face of Sage Rosenfels, who was brought to Minnesota this offseason in order to compete for a starting gig. Minnesota dragged Rosenfels through the ringer while flirting with Favre all summer, only to tell him that he was once again in line to be the starting quarterback after Brett said he would stay retired. Then, Rosenfels goes out and completes 10-of-13 passes for 91 yards in the Vikings’ preseason opener last week and now will once again take a back seat to Favre when/if the former Packer is signed.

I get that a legend like Favre would pull rank over a 31-year-old journeyman like Rosenfels, but it’s the principle of the matter. When Favre told Brad Childress that he was going to stay retired, that should have been the end it. But instead, Childress is so far down Brett’s pants that he’ll do anything in order to have Favre in purple and yellow this season.

Or maybe Childress knew all along that Favre was going to sign as soon as training camp was over. If that’s the case, then I still stand by the notion that Childress is sackless, because he should have told Favre to get his ass into training camp if he wanted to play this season.

What a load of crap.

According to FOX Sports.com’s Jay Glazer, the talks between the Vikings and quarterback Brett Favre may not be dead after all.

Here are the horrifying details:

After visiting the Vikings for two days, I am convinced — positively convinced — that Brett Favre will soon have talks with the Vikings to return to the team and could be joining them for this season after all. If my instincts are correct, all those purple Favre jerseys will have a home on Minnesota store shelves.

Granted, my camp stop occurred before Sage Rosenfels lit up the Colts in the preseason opener to the tune of 10-of-13 passing for 91 yards. And if Rosenfels can continue like this, he could squash this prediction as the preseason continues.

But until I see it more consistently, I’m absolutely convinced. Why? For starters, because everyone else on the Vikings seems to be convinced of the same thing. I mean damn near everybody!

During my two days in Mankato, nearly everyone I talked to within the team talked about Favre joining not as an “if” but rather a “when.”

So then what’s the holdup? What’s keeping the Vikings from signing Favre right now? It’s not that I don’t believe what Glazer is reporting, but something just doesn’t add up here.

The only explanation I have is that Favre doesn’t want to go through training camp and the Vikings are waiting to sign him until just before the season starts. If they do, that would be a massive slap in the face of Rosenfels and Jackson, who would have gone through training camp with the understanding that it was their job to lose, not Favre’s.

NFL preseason action continues tonight with four games on the schedule. Below are six quick-hit thoughts and things to watch for during tonight’s slate of games.

1. Are the reports true about Palmer?
All indications from Bengals camp is that Carson Palmer is in the best shape of his career after missing virtually the entire 2008 season with a right elbow injury. Palmer is expected to get 12-15 snaps tonight when the Bengals travel to New Orleans to take on the Saints. Just as the Patriots were hoping for a strong showing from Tom Brady last night (he threw for 100 yards and 2 TDs, by the way), Cincinnati is hoping that Palmer flashes the arm strength that once made him the top overall pick. Another thing to keep an eye on is how the young Cincinnati offensive line looks in protecting Palmer. The Bengals have a physical unit in Andrew Whitworth, Anthony Collins, Kyle Cook, Nate Livings and Bobbie Williams, but they’re an inexperienced unit on a whole and Cincy would love to see some cohesion from the group tonight.

2. The starting quarterback battle for the Vikings begins tonight.
Head coach Brad Childress reported that Sage Rosenfels will get the start Friday night against the Colts, which isn’t a huge surprise considering Tarvaris Jackson missed some time in camp with a sprained knee. Still, Rosenfels getting the starting nod tonight may be an indication that he’s pulled ahead in the race for the Vikes’ starting quarterback job. Rosenfels doesn’t have a high ceiling in terms of potential, but he’s steady and could be a good game manager for a Minnesota team that is expected to keep the ball on the ground a lot with Adrian Peterson. While Jackson will certainly get his opportunity to start in preseason, a strong first impression tonight would go a long way for Rosenfels.

Read the rest of this entry »

The annoying, ongoing song and dance being performed by Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings could be coming to an end soon.

According to the Associated Press, Favre will give the Vikes an answer on whether or not he intends to play in 2009 by July 30, which is when Minnesota opens its training camp. Favre said that he felt pretty good after a recent workout, but still has yet to commit himself to playing for the Vikings (or anyone for that matter) this season.

Apparently Favre has increased his workouts to four days a week and says his velocity is back after having surgery in early June to repair a biceps muscle in his throwing arm. At 39 years old, he wouldn’t increase his workout regiment if he didn’t intend on playing, so it’s probably safe to assume that he’ll give the Vikings a “yes” on July 30.

If he says that he needs more time, let’s hope that Minnesota officially pulls its offer off the table and tells Favre to stick it where the sun don’t shine. This charade has gone on long enough (even though technically this is a dead time in the NFL) and the Vikings need to show a commitment to either Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson if Favre can’t give them a commitment.

The NFL Network’s Mike Lombardi is reporting that there’s talk of quarterback Tavaris Jackson possibly demanding a trade if the Vikings sign veteran free agent Brett Favre. The 26-year-old Jackson would probably be low man on the totem pole if Favre signs, considering the team also traded for Sage Rosenfels earlier this offseason.

Although Jackson is still young and has put up fairly decent numbers thus far in his career, it’s safe to assume that he won’t garner much attention on the trade market. He only has experience in the West Coast offense and he’ll become a free agent at the end of the year, so why would any team give up a draft pick (assuming that that’s what the Vikings would want in return) to acquire him?

It’s only a matter of time before the Vikings sign Favre and while Minnesota might want to try and deal Jackson to get something in return for the former second round pick, there doesn’t appear to be much of a market for him. The Seahawks could be interested because they run the WCO, but all indications are that Matt Hasselbeck’s back is healthy and backup Seneca Wallace already has starting experience in that offense.

Another team that could be interested is St. Louis, who currently employs a walking stick figure at quarterback in Marc Bulger. But considering what they’re paying Bulger these days, the Rams are going to try and get everything they can out of him before finally waiving the white flag on that situation.

The Vikings might inevitably want to hang onto Jackson this season as insurance in case Favre’s arm falls off at some point. I’m sure Brad Childress would sleep a little easier at night knowing he could at least fall back on Jackson and Rosenfels if the Favre experiment backfires.

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.