Word on the Street: Vikings May Already Have Brett Favre Under Contract

One way or another we'll know something about Brett Favre's NFL future by the end of next month. Training camps will be underway and he'll either be in Minnesota preparing to march the Vikings to the Super Bowl (even though it's not clear he's a better option than Sage Rosenfels at this point in the proceedings), or he'll spend his days at the ole fishin' hole, accepting the fact that he is, finally, retired.

But for now, Brett's still in the mix, and if his comments on Joe Buck Live (the only way to make this show more unbearable is to have Tim McCarver playing the role of Ed McMahaon) are any indication, he's "considering" playing for the Vikes this season.

And while Brett hasn't said much about his future, it hasn't stopped the media speculation. (And, yes, I'm as guilty as anybody.) With that in mind, here's the latest rumor from Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio: Favre might already be under contract with the Vikings.

Short version: a member of the military tipped off Florio to the report; Florio, looking to corroborate the tip, then checked with a source who explained that, "I will not deny it [the Favre report], I will leave it at that." And that led Florio to this:

If accurate (that Favre is already under contract), this means that the Vikings have a signed contract that they have yet to submit to the league office. Setting aside for now the question of whether league rules permit such tactics, it puts into perspective recent developments such as Favre's use of "we" when discussing the matter with Artie Lange's biatch, the visit by a Vikings trainer to Favre to check on his arm, and reports that coach Brad Childress wanted to see Favre participate in some of the offseason workouts.

These details all make much more sense if Favre already is a member of the team.

The other bit of information, which we also posed to the source who declined to confirm or deny the rumor, is that the Vikings already have green-lighted the production by Reebok of purple jerseys bearing the number 4 -- and the five-letter name that isn't pronounced like it's spelled.

So there ya go. Favre might already be under contract in Minnesota ... or not. If it's the former, we'll know soon enough and then we'll spend the next six months talking about how he will (or won't) be the final piece to the Vikings' Super Bowl puzzle.

If it's the latter ... well, we'll spend the next month talking about if he'll sign with the Vikings, and when he does -- and he will -- we'll spend the following five months talking about how he will (or won't) be the final piece to the Vikings' Super Bowl puzzle.

Added bonus: in February, more talk of fake retiring.