By Chip Scoggins and Judd Zulgad

The media was allowed to watch the Vikings second OTA workout on Wednesday and attendance was extremely light on veterans. Remember, OTAs are voluntary and Vikings coach Brad Childress prefers to use OTAs to develop rookies and younger players.

Only two starters took part in Wednesday's workout -- safeties Madieu Williams and Tyrell Johnson. Veteran cornerback Lito Sheppard also was present as he acclimates himself to a new team and defense. Sheppard likely will begin the season as the starter in place of Cedric Griffin, who is recovering from ACL surgery.

"We'll have different people trickle in and out," Childress said. "We had a different group here yesterday. There was a group that was out here practicing yesterday that wasn't here today. There's a group that's inside the building taking care of some of their strength needs and after the season needs. Some guys are rehabbing."

Here are some highlights and quotes from post-workout.

Favre update: Childress said he has not talked to quarterback Brett Favre recently and has not been told if Favre will have the surgery on his left ankle that could help him to return in 2010. Childress did say he has texted with his quarterback but that "texting is not talking."

While most assume Favre will eventually announce he's going play sometime in August, backups Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels are getting plenty of reps on OTAs and the upcoming mandatory minicamp.

Jackson and Rosenfels were in this same position last summer so they're familiar with the situation and what to expect.

"I don't really see a difference," Rosenfels said. "I'm just going to go out there and keep working, keep fighting and keep working every day and keep learning. That's all I can do. I can't worry about all the things that [Favre] might do or whatever. All I can worry about is myself and the guys out here that I'm working with."

Asked if he, like everyone else, just assumes that Favre will return, Rosenfels said: "You can't assume anything in this league. One thing you can count on in this league is change and you never know what's going to happen."

Webb to play QB: The Vikings took Joe Webb in the sixth round of last month's NFL draft with the intention of moving him to wide receiver. But after seeing Webb throw in rookie camp the Vikings have decided the Alabama-Birmingham product should be left at quarterback. "He has an aptitude to be a quarterback," Childress said. "We went and drafted him as an athlete but if you go back and look at the UAB numbers he put up outstanding numbers. So he knows what he's doing moving around back there as a quarterback. We worked him out on Sunday of the rookie minicamp just to kind of watch his arm and watch him move. He processes very quickly. I don't know that long term in three practices … but we are going to continue repping him at quarterback. It's hard to serve two masters. It's not like he's going to play quarterback one play and go out and play wide receiver on the next play. We're trying to get him immersed in the system." A backup plan: Childress did not express great concern about the fact starting defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams could have to serve four-game suspensions now that a judge has ruled against them in the StarCaps case. "We've always kind of had that," Childress said of a Plan B that would include Fred Evans, Jimmy Kennedy and Letroy Guion. "It's not like we are going to come out and defensive tackles are going to drop out of the sky. There's the guys on our football team and they understand with the number of guys that we have that those will be the first guys to step up. Will we need to go out and grab somebody else? That remains to be seen. Guion is maturing in there. Jimmy Kennedy, obviously, did a great job for us last year. Fred Evans played a little bit more in the system. Those are good players." Childress said he has not talked to the NFL about whether the Williamses suspensions could be served separately so they did not end up missing the same four games. "Really, that's Roger's deal, how he sees fit," Childress said, referring to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Random observations:

-- Childress said rookie Chris DeGeare will begin at guard. DeGeare, who was at left guard during team period, played both guard and tackle at Wake Forest.

-- The Vikings had seven players working on returning punts. That group included Sheppard, who said he has practiced at that spot before. Also used on punt returns were wide receivers Taye Biddle; Jaymar Johnson and Greg Lewis; cornerback Asher Allen; running back Darius Reynaud; and cornerback Marcus Sherels.

-- Veteran Ryan Cook worked at right guard in team period. Jon Cooper was the center and Patrick Brown the left tackle.

-- Rookie Everson Griffen worked at right defensive end in team period. Brian Robison was at left end.