Vikings suspend pursuit, for now

McClatchy-Tribune

The Vikings’ pursuit of Brett Favre apparently is about to take a hiatus.

ESPN reported Tuesday evening that the Vikings have at least temporarily suspended their pursuit of the retired quarterback after he failed to report to organized team activities that began Tuesday as coach Brad Childress had mandated.

ESPN’s Ed Werder cited team and league sources in his story.

This came a day after the all-sports network reported Childress had imposed a deadline of this week for Favre to decide whether he would play for the Vikings in 2009.

Pat Kirwan, a former NFL executive who now works for Sirius NFL Radio, later refuted that information, saying there was no deadline and that Favre would join the Vikings around July 15 or earlier.

The deadline made little sense considering Favre recently had arthroscopic surgery to repair a partially torn biceps in his throwing arm and wants time to see how the arm responds before making any type of commitment.

Vikings vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski told Favre’s agent, Bus Cook, of the organization’s decision Tuesday in a phone call, according to ESPN. Brzezinski and Cook were believed to have been negotiating a multi-year contract for Favre in recent days.

Cook has not returned calls this week and Childress did not return an e-mail on Tuesday evening. Childress will not be available to the media until Thursday morning after the Vikings OTA practice.

The leak of this cool-down period very well could have been orchestrated by both sides in an attempt to buy time for Favre to see how his arm feels in the upcoming weeks.

In fact, ESPN’s report stated that an eventual agreement that would put Favre in a Vikings uniform for a 19th NFL season remains possible and that Favre was encouraged to continue his rehabilitation.

No timetable was put on when either side might reconsider their position.