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.

While fielding questions on Thursday about whether or not there is a schism (which means divide) between players in the Vikings’ locker room regarding who will start at quarterback this year, defensive end Jared Allen had this to say:

“I don’t know where this came from. Like I said, I don’t think anybody on this team knows what schism is, let alone could use it in a sentence. I thought it was an STD when I first heard it. And I was like whoa, we preach abstinence around these parts.”

That was the first thing I heard when I woke up this morning and I was freaking rolling. Thanks for getting my day started on the right foot, Jared.

When I first read the report that a player had used the term schism, I found it interesting…then I had to look the word up myself.

You know the game “telephone” right? That’s what happened here. Somebody in the media heard that some Viking players wanted Tarvaris Jackson to start, while others said they wanted Brett Favre under center. So they passed the story along, but somewhere along the line, somebody used the word “schism” and then the story got twisted into how a player had used the term.

But I’m with Allen – there’s no way a Vikings player used that word. There very well may be a divide in the locker room, but the word schism was never used to describe the situation.

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.

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.

A Minnesota judge has ruled that Vikings defensive tackles Kevin Williams and Pat Williams, who were appealing four game suspensions for violating the NFL’s policy on anabolic steroids, can play the entire season according to a report by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Per the report, the only way this ruling won’t be upheld is if a federal court claims jurisdiction over the Williams Wall’s lawsuit, challenging the NFL’s drug-testing procedures.

(District Court Judge Gary) Larson stayed action in his courtroom until the U.S. District Court determines whether it has jurisdiction on some of the players’ claims. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson said the court does not, but a federal three-judge panel is hearing an appeal of his ruling in St. Paul on Aug. 18.

If the federal court determines the case should be conducted in state court, Larson wrote, “it is not likely that the [Hennepin County] court would, or could force [the players] into trial during the middle of a playing season, based on the court’s schedule.”

This is obviously huge for the Vikings, who have the best run defense in the NFL with the Williams Wall intact. If Minnesota hopes to build upon the success it had last year, than it’ll need their stud defensive tackles manning the interior of its defensive line all season.

I wonder what this means for Saints defensive ends Will Smith and Charles Grant, who, like the Williams Wall, were given four-game suspensions as well. I’m assuming that since the Williams Wall will be able to play, so will Smith and Grant.

This is the never-ending saga.

Judd Zuglad of the Minnesota Star-Tribune posted a quote on his Twitter page from Vikings head coach Brad Childress that said:

“There is not a chance from my standpoint,” Childress said of Favre talks resuming.

Of course, NFL.com’s Jason La Confora writes that Childress would welcome Brett back under the right conditions.

Let’s see, in the past 24 hours Brett Favre has called Vikings coach Brad Childress to say he’s done, then he began telling various former coaches, media people, analysts, whomever, that he’s gonna keep throwing the ball, and how hard the decision was and that if somebody called him Nov. 1, well, heck, he’d probably have to listen and think about it some. So, in essence, it’s just the same old thing. This guy doesn’t know how to retire. Giving up football is so counter to his very nature that he’s becoming the poster boy for wishy-washy antics (John Kerry was dubbed a flip-flopper for far less, it seems), and drawing criticism for self indulgence.

Maybe the NFL is a league of skeptics, but I spoke to a lot of people who think it’s far from over. Injuries will occur and the opportunity to ride in as a savior could well develop. A lack of production from the quarterback position — a recent tradition for the Vikings and a reality across the league — could well put Favre right back in Minnesota, and there are people within that organization who believe that Childress would welcome him back under the right conditions.

Personally, I hope Childress means what he said about not reconsidering signing Favre. On one hand, he owes it to his players to field the best team possible to win. But on the other, he owes Sage Rosnefels and Tarvaris Jackson the opportunity to compete against each other in training camp knowing that Favre isn’t going to come in once all the hard work has been put in and stake the starting job.

It wouldn’t be fair to Rosenfels or Jackson if Favre skipped all the two and three-a-days, then was named the starter just because he’s Brett Favre. The Vikings gave Brett a chance to play and he decided not to. Cool, it should be a done deal in Minnesota then and hopefully Childress sticks to his guns.

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 a report by Profootballtalk.com and their unnamed sources (does PFT ever have sources who aren’t unnamed?), the Vikings have already signed Brett Favre and have authorized Reebok to begin making No. 4 jerseys. But Favre’s agent Bus Cook has denied the report and says that his client has not signed a contract yet.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune states that the Vikings might have to wait another week before making an official announcement regarding Favre because Minnesota head coach Brad Childress is off on a wild Alaskan adventure with his colleague and friend Andy Reid. Wait…Childress and Reid are on a wild Alaskan adventure right now? Together? That has to be more of a story than Favre, right?

Anyway, Peter King of SI.com is also reporting that Favre is throwing the ball with zip. Of course, King’s source is Oak Grove High School (Miss.) coach Neville Barr (whoever the hell that is), so take that information with a grain of salt.

It’s up to you to as what to make of all this. Personally, I think it’s only a matter of time before Favre signs with Minnesota, regardless of the scouting report by Oak Grove High School’s head coach, which we all know is incredibly valuable. Favre has stated all along that he wanted to wait to see how his surgically repaired arm would hold up in workouts before he makes a decision, but the bottom line is that he wants to jam a football square up Packers GM Ted Thompson’s rear end more than anything so that’s what he’s going to do (his arm be dammed).

The agonizing thing is that we may have to wait another week before anything is officially announced.

According to a report by Yahoo Sports, a federal judge has ruled that the NFL can suspend the five players that took StarCaps last season. The five players include Pat Williams and Kevin Williams of Minnesota, Charles Grant and Will Smith of New Orleans, and free agent Deuce McAllister.

A federal judge dismissed the claims of five NFL players who had been suspended last season for use of a banned diuretic in the diet supplement StarCaps. Among the five are four starting defensive linemen for the Vikings and Saints, including Pro Bowl defensive tackles Pat Williams and Kevin Williams(notes) of Minnesota and starting defensive ends Charles Grant(notes) and Will Smith(notes) of New Orleans.

All four are expected to sit the first four games of next season without pay. Their suspensions had been blocked last season while U.S. district judge Paul Magnuson heard arguments from the league and the NFL Players Association.

The league had suspended the four defensive linemen and then-Saints running back Deuce McAllister(notes) last season after they tested positive for the diuretic Bumetanide, which flushes water from the body and is considered a masking agent for steroids. McAllister is currently unsigned, but also faces a four-game suspension.

This is a massive blow for the Vikings and Saints. Minnesota loses the backbone of its defense, while New Orleans loses its two best pass rushers. A four game suspension only amounts to a fourth of the season, but it’s still enough to have a ripple effect that could carry throughout the rest of the year, especially if one (or both) of the teams starts 1-3 or 0-4.

Perhaps the only good news for both teams is that they now have an entire summer and preseason to prepare for not having these players at the start of the season.