Brett Favre Signs Contract With Vikings?

According to Pro Football Talk, there are rumors circulating that Brett Favre is now "under contract" with the Minnesota Vikings.

The rumor that the source would neither confirm nor deny is that the Vikings already have signed Brett Favre, and that the team and Favre are waiting to release the news.

If accurate, this means that the Vikings have a signed contract that they have yet to submit to the league office.  Setting aside for now the question of whether league rules permit such tactics, it puts into perspective recent developments such as Favre's use of "we" when discussing the matter with Artie Lange's biatch, the visit by a Vikings trainer to Favre to check on his arm, and reports that coach Brad Childress wanted to see Favre participate in some of the offseason workouts.

These details all make much more sense if Favre already is a member of the team.

The other bit of information, which we also posed to the source who declined to confirm or deny the rumor, is that the Vikings already have green-lighted the production by Reebok of purple jerseys bearing the number 4 - and the five-letter name that isn't pronounced like it's spelled.

None of this news should be regarded as earth shattering, but it's the clearest sign yet that, come early 2010, Favre will be conducting his third annual retirement press conference.

The oddsmakers have not made the Minnesota Vikings a "runaway" favorite to win the NFC North despite news that Favre could be signing with that team.

Sportsbook.com has three teams vying as the favorite to win the 2009 NFC North though the Vikings have slightly shorter odds at +160 compared to Green Bay's +175 and the Chicago Bear's +200.  For the record, the Detroit Lions came in with +1000 odds and Minnesota would pay $2000 for every $100 bet if they were to win the 2010 Super Bowl.

This is Carrie Stroup reporting for Gambling911.com.