Steve Mariucci: Brett Favre Has Not Told the Vikings Anything

According to Fran Charles of NFL Network’s Total Access, Brett Favre has personally told former coach and close friend Steve Mariucci that he has not contacted the Minnesota Vikings to inform them of his impending retirement.

This, of course, directly contradicts Judd Zulgad’s earlier report that Favre had already begun informing Vikings officials and teammates that he wouldn’t be returning to the team in 2010.

I don’t care who Zulgad’s source is, I’ll take Mooch’s word on anything Favre-related before anyone Zulgad could have possibly spoken to. There is absolutely no way Favre would lie to Mooch, and given the reactions of Brad Childress and members of the Vikings when asked about the rumors, I was already beginning to believe they weren’t true.

Childress, and Visanthe Shiancoe especially, acted as if aliens had landed on Earth when asked about the rumors. It became obvious very quickly that neither of them had heard any such thing from Favre or anyone else.

Now this isn’t to say that Favre is coming back, but he still has yet to make a decision. His ankle, by his own accounts, is still bothering him and not coming along quite as fast as he would like, but with over a month before the season begins it’s possible his ankle is just fine by Week One.

This isn’t going to stop the reports or the discussion since everyone knows Favre talk equals hits, reads, and/or ratings, but for me this rumor can be put to bed. Mooch is the authority on Favre and everything going on around him, so if he says the rumors aren’t true, then they’re not true.