The Vikings and the rest of the NFL are waiting to see how the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit rules on whether the league deserves a permanent stay of an injunction granted to the players to block the lockout. That decision could come as early as today and certainly will be made this week.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier made it clear during a radio interview Monday morning that he already has plans in place and that if teams are ordered to open their doors the Vikings would report for a minicamp on May 10.

"We'll see what happens but that would be the date that we would report for a minicamp and go from there," Frazier told KFAN Radio (1130 AM).

Players were informed of this last week during the brief window when the lockout was lifted and before a temporary stay was granted. At that time, players also were told to arrive today at Winter Park but obviously that plan was scratched when the Eighth Circuit gave the NFL the ability to resume the lockout.

The Vikings will have a staff meeting today, according to Frazier, to talk about what happens if the lockout continues or if it is halted. "There are so many unknowns as we speak today," he said.

Frazier said the franchise has "gone through some things that we think are going to help us to prepare for the 2011 season, whenever it begins," adding, "we know what our schedule is, we know who the people are in our division, so we're doing some things as a staff that we think are going to help us be ahead of the curve when the time comes."

On another note, Frazier told host Paul Allen that he did contact Joe Webb during the brief time the lockout was lifted. Webb finished last season as the Vikings quarterback, but the team's decision to draft Christian Ponder 12th overall last Thursday means he is the likely candidate to take over.

"First of all I wanted to know how he and his family were doing," Frazier said of the call he made to Webb, "[because] he wasn't very far away from where the storm hit down in Tuscaloosa. He's from Alabama, he's from Birmingham, so I wanted to see how he and his family were doing. So that was great to be able to communicate with him and learn more about his family.

"But [I] also [wanted to] explain to him that although we drafted Christian in the first round, that by no means is an indication that we don't have confidence in him or don't believe that he can come in and compete for that starting job. I wanted him to know that. I told Christian that I want him to come back and prepare to win the starting quarterback job and I've told Joe to do the same thing.

"We need healthy competition between those guys who are currently on our roster in order for us to have a chance to beat a playoff-caliber team in the San Diego Chargers [in the opener on Sept. 11]. I hope that Joe buys into what I'm saying because I meant that."