Tons of players are reacting to the Favre news, but the reactions from T-Jack and Sage Rosenfels are obviously the most important ones. Joel Segal, Jackson's agent, spoke with his client right after the news came down:
"He was his usual cool, calm and collected self," Segal said. "He said, 'Great, let's get ready for camp.'"
"I think the whole thing was sort of a weird circumstance. I understand what the organization was trying to do. We’re back to where we were when I came here, competing with Tarvaris for the starting job. I’m excited for training camp."
Good stuff from both guys, but obviously, the process of smoothing things over and looking forward has just begun. That's where this team will really be looking to its veterans for some leadership. The bottom line is that whichever quarterback wins the training camp battle will know he wasn't the team's first choice for the starting job. Moving beyond this ugly episode is certainly doable, but it also won't be easy.
The work starts with the coaching staff. Werder's report states that Darrell Bevell "pleaded" for Favre to reconsider his feeling that his body couldn't make it through a complete season. Start getting to work, Darrell -- because begging Favre to change his mind doesn't send a great message to Sagevaris Jacksonfels.
And then the lobbying efforts by several Vikings players must be dealt with. Adrian Peterson, Jared Allen and Steve Hutchinson all reached out to Favre to persuade him to come out of retirement, so they have some work in front of them in uniting behind Jackson and Rosenfels.
Putting this in the rear-view mirror is a major challenge. But it's critical that the team succeeds in doing so.