The Vikings are doing the sensible and obvious thing by keeping Brett Favre on a "pitch count" in practice -- a measure that should hopefully increase the 39-year-old quarterback's odds of making it through a complete season. He is, after all, coming off surgery on his right arm in May and currently has a rotator cuff tear.
"[We're] just kind of ramping up," said Childress, who along with several of his players waited tables at the Vikings Blitz celebrity server dinner at Wildfire in Eden Prairie. "You have a tendency to get on it a little bit harder with coaches around. I think by his own admission, he probably threw 200 balls in the Jets' first day of practice and probably set himself back last year. With the fans and the crowd and trying to throw deep, showing off a little bit. So you have to make sure."
He threw 200 passes in his first day with the Jets? I'd hope that's an exaggeration, but it underscores the need to keep Favre on a leash and make sure he doesn't do too much.
And that brings me to a topic that's been getting quite a bit of attention since Tarvaris Jackson posted a perfect quarterback rating on Friday: Does the chance of Favre getting injured make keeping four quarterbacks the sensible option for the Vikings when it comes time to finalize the roster? Two factors are causing my opinion to shift on this: The rotator cuff tear and the great performance by T-Jack against the Chiefs.
If the Vikings decide to drop T-Jack before the start of the season and Favre is forced out due to injury at some point, this team is one nasty hit on Sage Rosenfels away from having John David Booty under center. With all due respect to JDB, I'm not sure that's a chance the Vikings can be willing to take.
With both Rosenfels and Jackson behind Favre, you have a great insurance policy. Two guys who are capable of coming off the bench on short notice, as well as starting games if necessary. The best case scenario is Favre remaining healthy for the entire regular season and postseason -- but I just can't be confident in his ability to do so. Dropping T-Jack and relying on Rosenfels and JDB alone is too big of a risk for the Vikings.
Update: From Access Vikings...
Childress didn’t reveal much news in his press conference today. However, he did say it’s possible that the team could keep four quarterbacks this season.
“Perhaps,” he said. “There’s certainly a scenario where that could happen.”