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.