Stay tuned: Childress cagey about most Favre questions

Brad Childress acknowledged he made a phone call to Brett Favre last week, but the Vikings coach spent the better part of his nearly 12-minute press conference Thursday dancing around his team's interest in the future Hall of Fame quarterback.

Peppered with Favre-related questions after his team's OTA workout, Childress offered mostly vague responses until finishing with a telling quote when asked if he thinks Favre can still be a "great" quarterback.

"Don't know. Don't know. Stay tuned," he said.

Despite Childress' best efforts to keep Favre-mania under wraps by reiterating that the 39-year-old quarterback is still retired, it appears almost inevitable that Favre will come out of retirement for a second time if the surgery on his right (throwing) shoulder ultimately is deemed a success.

In an interview with KFAN Radio on Wednesday, Childress said he's "anxious to see just exactly what he's got left in that cannon."

Childress declined to speculate about when he might watch Favre throw in person. Asked about his "anxious" quote, Childress said: "I am not that anxious. I am not going to lose any sleep or anything. I don't need mood elevators or anything like that. But you always would want to see that, yeah."

Childress reiterated that he never set a deadline for Favre to make his decision. The team still has time before it needs an answer. The Vikings conclude their Organized Team Activities today and don't report for training camp until July 29, with the first practice scheduled for July 31.

That means Favre speculation likely isn't going to end anytime soon. Several players said Favre rumors have not become a distraction though.

"It's not my place," defensive end Jared Allen said. "That's coach's decision and there are people that have that job. My job is whatever quarterback is opposing me, put him in the dirt. I honest to God do not worry about it. I don't say I don't care because obviously you care who your quarterback is but either way it's going to be a good quarterback. I'm not too worried about it."

Tight end Visanthe Shiancoe jokingly referred to the soap opera as "Favre-a-palooza."

"It's crazy," he said. "But every year is a circus. And you've got to expect it, man. But you know, he deserves the right to do that."

Asked if he thinks getting Favre is worth all the fuss, Shiancoe said: "Yeah, I do think it's worth all the fuss. That's Brett Favre, man. What is it, his 20th year, 19th year coming into the league? I wish I could play that long. And he still has that respect. It's not like he is on the down slope. He's on the up slope. So it's respect."

Tarvaris Jackson admitted that "Favre-a-palooza" isn't exactly enjoyable for the quarterbacks right now. Jackson and Sage Rosenfels for now are expected to compete for the starting job in training camp, but that obviously hinges on Favre's decision.

"You don't understand the text messages I get all day, every day from my family and friends about it," Jackson said. "But it comes with the territory. I won't lie and say it don't bother me. But I kind of got used to it."

Jackson went through the Favre drama during training camp last year, but he said that doesn't necessarily make it any easier.

"If you had to hear it year in and year out, all the time, eventually you're going to be tired of it," he said. "But I guess it just comes with being the quarterback for the Vikings right now. It is what it is."

Both Jackson and Rosenfels said ideally they would like to know where things stand with Favre, but they know that's out of their control. Childress said it would be "out of my lane" to discuss personnel decisions with players.

"Those guys play football and I coach football and look at personnel," he said. "So they would be out of their lane and I would be out of my lane in sharing any of our business, whether it be surgery, injury, talking about other players. We just don't do that. It is more of just a coaching relationship."

Jackson said he's followed the Favre situation by watching TV. Rosenfels said he's not paying attention to the media reports.

"I try not to follow all the stuff that is going on," he said. "I have other things going on that are a little more important right now. I have two kids and things I have to deal with everyday. I'm not sitting there watching ESPN and the news to figure out what the situation is. All I can control is my actions."