Free Agency Update: LaDainian Tomlinson Visits, Benny Sapp Returns, and We Now Have a Kickoff Guy

The big Vikings news this week is their pursuit of LaDainian Tomlinson, who was recently released by the San Diego Charges, the team for which he once won NFL MVP.

Tomlinson will reportedly be in Winter Park to meet with Brad Childress and the gang on Thursday.  Chilly said in an interview at University of Minnesota Pro Day that he has already spoken to LT, and made sure the future Hall-of-Famer understands that, if he does sign with the Vikings, he will be a back-up to Adrian Peterson.

The Vikes’ interest in Tomlinson has seemingly signaled that they are not interested in Brian Westbrook, a man with Chilly connections but a disconcerting history of concussions.

Tomlinson’s interest in the Vikings seems to signal a few things as well:  that Tomlinson has found the market for his services less-than-vigorous, that LT at least thinks he can live with being a #2 back and, most importantly, that LT knows or at least thinks That Guy will be back as quarterback.

Moving from the running back situation to the cornerback situation:  the Vikings have avoided losing yet another top back-up by signing nickel corner Benny Sapp to a two-year contract.  The two-year deal shows how desperate the Vikes were to keep Sapp, who became a key cog in the defense last year, especially after Antoine Winfield got hurt.  The Vikes will still probably look around for another low-price veteran corner to cover themselves in case Cedric Griffin has to miss some time.

And the last bit of news:  the Vikings have moved to fix their occasional special teams coverage issues by signing Rhys Lloyd as a kickoff specialist.  Lloyd’s job will be to boom kicks into the end zone and hopefully help us avert disasters like the second half of the Bears game where every time we seemed to be getting back into it, the kick coverage broke down, giving the Bears field position.  If Lloyd sticks, it will mean one less roster spot for useless guys like Erin Henderson.