Contract with top pick Harvin still unsettled

MANKATO - The Vikings still were negotiating Wednesday evening with first-round pick Percy Harvin as players began reporting for training camp, and it was unclear whether a deal would get done before the first team meeting this morning.

Only a handful of first-round picks had signed as of Wednesday night, but Vikings coach Brad Childress and several players stressed the importance of Harvin finalizing a deal before the first practice this morning.

Harvin is expected to be used in a variety of roles on offense so he can't afford to miss much practice.

"It is important for him to get in here, particularly in that position [wide receiver] and the different things he has to learn," Childress said. "Not to mention getting here and getting in pads."

Said wide receiver Sidney Rice: "When I was coming in as a rookie, I think I missed one day and that set me back, it set me back a lot. So hopefully they get everything worked out."

The Vikings signed second-round pick Phil Loadholt, a right tackle from Oklahoma, reportedly to a four-year deal earlier in the day.

Defensive end Jared Allen and left guard Steve Hutchinson seemed to take offense to how their text messages to Brett Favre were portrayed in media reports. Both acknowledged sending Favre messages, but they said they were not actively recruiting him.

"To say that texting or Twittering or whatever you call it was used to try and get somebody here, I've been talking to [Favre] for a long time," Hutchinson said. "A lot of the conversations we have have nothing to do with football. Last week it had nothing to do with football. It's just funny how one of a million texts comes out and it's, 'We're trying to lobby for him.' It had nothing to do with that."

Allen also said the issue was overblown.

"It's not a big deal," he said. "It was just a personal text sent as leaders of this team, trying to get a feel for where [Favre] is at, here's where we're at. It's been blown up into this whole, 'We're trying to coax him in and begging him to come' and that's not the case. I text people 100 times a day and one of them gets out."

Rice suffered a sprained right posterior cruciate ligament in Week 2 of last season and never fully recovered. But a few weeks ago Rice was able to run without the knee brace he had been forced to wear for several months and Wednesday he reported the knee feels "really good."

Rice got in some valuable training this summer when he worked out with a group of current and former NFL standouts in the Twin Cities, including Arizona Pro Bowl receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr.

"[I learned] a lot of great stuff, a lot of technique work," Rice said. "It was hard training, a lot of running." Rice also picked up a few thing he needs to work on to improve. "Just certain things we do after practices," he said. "After conditioning, just staying out. This year I plan to stay out with the quarterbacks after every practice when I have time and catch at least 50 balls or however many they want to throw."