MANKATO -- The bus carrying the Vikings rookies arrived in front of Julia A, Sears Residence Hall this afternoon but Toby Gerhart wasn't on it.

The second-round pick is the only one of the Vikings eight selections from last April's draft who has yet to come to terms and judging from what I've been hearing today about negotiations it wouldn't be surprising if something doesn't get done until Friday at the earliest. The Vikings' first practice isn't until 4 p.m. Friday so Gerhart certainly still has some time to get the deal done before he misses anything of real importance.

"He needs to get his tail signed," Coach Brad Childress told Sirius NFL Radio. "He needs to get down here and not miss a snap."

Meanwhile, we just got back from standing in front of the dorm for three hours and saw several players arrive, including Kevin and Pat Williams, Steve Hutchinson, Sage Rosenfels, Tarvaris Jackson, Jared Allen and Ben Leber.

Pat Williams said he had lost 18 pounds during the offseason and is now down to 324 pounds. Williams, who is entering the final season of his contract, actually looks like he dropped far more than 18 pounds. "I just want to feel good this year," Williams said. Williams had elbow surgery after the season and said he is fine.

Veteran players also continued to make it clear they are fine with the fact that Brett Favre is going to skip training camp and likely arrive in the middle of August. This is consistent with what they said at the end of last season. These guys know Favre gives them the best chance to win.

"We all know the situation and that's that there is going to be some time before we know the ultimate outcome of whether or not Brett's going to be back," center John Sullivan said when asked about the situation. "But we'll go out there, we'll work with the guys we have and for right now those are the guys that we'll focus on, proceed as if one of them will be your starting quarterback because they are the guys that are here, and if that situation changes you deal with it when the time comes."

Finally, middle linebacker E.J. Henderson said he met with Childress on Wednesday and is hoping he's allowed to start training camp on the field and not on the physically unable to perform list. Henderson is coming off a broken femur last December that some feared might end his career but he appears to have made a very nice recovery.

"Of course the decision [about the PUP] is his," Henderson said of Childress. "Hopefully we're leaning toward starting off slow and gradually increase the work that I'll do. That's what I would like. It's up to him and the trainers what we do."