"Quarterbacks Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels reclaimed their places in Brett Favre's shadow Tuesday while their future with the Vikings became cloudier than ever.

Mercifully, Jackson and Rosenfels should not have to spend another minute answering questions about Favre's numbing indecisiveness and the insecurity of preparing for a job that was theirs until it wasn't.

After another training camp of uncertainty, however, the two former starters are destined to pace the sidelines during games and battle for practice snaps behind Favre, who rejoined the Vikings on Tuesday.

And they are being stalked on the depth chart by rookie Joe Webb, a sixth-round draft pick and unrefined talent whom the Vikings are grooming for the future.

Rosenfels, who passed for 310 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday's 28-7 preseason blowout of the St. Louis Rams, is the most expendable.

His 10 years dwarf Jackson's and Webb's experience. But he did not play a snap last year after coming to the Vikings in an offseason trade with Houston to compete with Jackson for the starting job Favre claimed. Moreover, the $5.6 million remaining on Rosenfels' contract makes him an albatross as a No. 3 quarterback.

Jackson, a 2006 second-round pick who has not started a game since losing a wild-card playoff to the Philadelphia Eagles in January 2009, is under contract for $1.1 million this season and due to become an unrestricted free agent in March.

As news broke Tuesday that Jared Allen, Steve Hutchinson and Ryan Longwell were in Favre's hometown of Hattiesburg, Miss., lobbying the quarterback to return for one more season in Minnesota, Jackson and Rosenfels were finishing practice.

Off the field, a swarm of reporters peppered the pair with a familiar series of queries about Favre's status. "