“Not so fast” says That Guy’s chief spokesman Ed Werder.

According to Werder, who spends the majority of his pitiful existence jammed further up That Guy’s butt than I would’ve thought physically possible, The Old Gunslinger played only a minor role in the Tomlinson push.

Far from providing assurances about his future, That Guy reportedly texted Tomlinson that he has “no clue” if he will play for the Vikings again.  The best TG could do was tell LT nice things about the Vikings organization and their unusually accommodating coach Brad Childress.

We will likely never know for sure if That Guy’s non-committal stance chased LT away from the Vikes.  But I’m guessing it didn’t help matters.

The Vikes courted Tomlinson late last week, hoping he could step into the third-down back role vacated by Chester Taylor.  Tomlinson left Minnesota without a deal, and flew to New York to meet with crazy Rex Ryan and the gang.

Whatever Rex Ryan said, and whatever money the Jets offered, it was all more to L.T.’s liking than the Vikings’ efforts.

And this leaves the Vikes still searching for someone to replace Chester Taylor.  It’s looking more-and-more like that replacement will have to come from within the organization – Albert  Young is the only likely candidate – or via the draft.

I wonder how That Guy feels about the team’s failure to secure LT.  Maybe he won’t want to leave Mississippi now.

If Tomlinson is looking for touches, New York would probably be the better destination.  If he’s looking for a chance to win a championship?

The conventional wisdom is that Minnesota would afford him the better opportunity to taste Super Bowl glory.  On the assumption that That Guy and not Tarvaris Jackson, Sage Rosenfels or Tim Tebow would be starting at quarterback.

It would be interesting to know what Chilly told Tomlinson about the That Guy situation.  Did he assure LT that TG will indeed be behind center in 2010?  Or did he have to confess that even he doesn’t know?

One thing we know Chilly told Tomlinson:  if he does join the Purple, he will be the #2 back behind Adrian Peterson.

Actually, make that the #1A back.

Chilly already backpedaling on his Adrian Peterson is the man in Minnesota talk, to make Tomlinson more comfortable.  They really want this guy bad.  They know they need to replace Chester Taylor, and they know there’s no one else out there who can give them anything close to Chester’s production.

It’s LT or bad news for the Vikings.

Let’s hope yesterday’s presentation impressed him.  He certainly had enough fuss made about him in the media.  If he likes silly attention from newspaper reporters – for instance, endless Twitter updates about his limo – he should love Minneapolis.

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.

Artis Hicks left over the weekend, signing with the Redskins, who will give him a shot to start.  This leaves the Vikings without their top back-up guard and tackle.

The prospective kick-off guy, Rhys Lloyd, a former Gopher, was scheduled to meet with the Vikings on Monday.  No report on how that went so far.  The Vikes are apparently hoping a kick-off guy could help their weak coverage by putting a few more in the endzone than Ryan Longwell is capable of doing at this point in his life.

Then there’s that old cornerback they may be after, Phillip Buchanon, former Lion, whose 2009 highlight was chasing and catching Adrian Peterson on what looked like a touchdown, and forcing Peterson to fumble.  The Vikes could lose Benny Sapp, which would leave them with old Antoine Winfield, injured Cedric Griffin and green Asher Allen as their top three cornerbacks.

Scary.

Other rumors:  Willie Parker?  That’s been shot down by Judd Zulgad.  Brian Westbrook keeps coming up, but who knows.  All I’m sure of is, if the Vikes don’t come out of this free agency period with replacements for Taylor and Hicks and another veteran corner, they will have to be considered a notch worse than they were last year.

What might be a little harder to come to grips with is the fact that the Chicago Bears are the team that has nabbed Chester, giving him two annual shots at the Vikings for the next four years.

There’s nothing really to say here except, thank you Chester for four great years.  The offense was always better when it involved you, but with Adrian Peterson on the team, and especially with all the weapons that emerged last season, it just wasn’t in the cards for you to be used the way you probably wanted and deserved.

Now Chester gets the chance to play for Mike Martz, an offensive coordinator known for making good use of pass receiving running backs.

Oh, and did I mention the Bears just signed Julius Peppers, aka Bryant McKinnie’s worst nightmare?

The NFC North balance of power may have just shifted radically.  Unless That Guy comes back.  Then everything will of course be fine.

The best thing about the evening for That Guy?  No big cheap-shot artist Saints pass-rushers blowing by his pitiful linemen and trying to take his ankles out.

Of course, any time That Guy goes anywhere in public, he is going to get grilled about his NFL future.  On Leno, he said what we all expected him to say:  nothing definitive.

He seemed pretty good-natured about the whole thing there with Jay on the Tonight Show set.  On the sidewalk after dinner with some idiot photographer getting up in his face?  He seemed…irritated.

But, he abstained from going full Sean Penn on the photographer, so that’s good.

Next up for That Guy:  guiding the Vikings’ free agent signings and draft activities from his hot tub in Hattiesburg.

With Griffin expected to be out until at least training camp and possibly not until well into the 2010 season, the Vikings figured to lean more heavily than ever on Benny Sapp, who was elevated to starter last season after Antoine Winfield’s foot injury and did a decent job.

Unfortunately, Sapp may not even be around to fill in for Cedric.  He is one of the Vikings’ handful of unrestricted free agents, and according to reports, he intends to test the market.

Even if the Vikings do flash enough cash to keep Sapp in the fold, cornerback will remain a position of concern.  Any promotion of Sapp to the starting role leaves you with a serious lack of depth at the position – especially now that you’ve given Karl Paymah his walking paypahs – plus, no one knows if Winfield will ever be able to recover his previous Pro Bowl form coming off the injury that hampered him throughout the second half of ‘09.

In other words, the Vikings could be in the market for a cornerback once free agency begins.

The top free agent corner is Leigh Bodden of the Patriots.  Unfortunately, he would come at a high cost, and is not generally seen as a good fit in the sort of zone defense the Vikings prefer to employ.  So strike him off the wishlist.

Dunta Robinson of the Texans is generally regarded as the second best UFA corner after Bodden, but many see him as overrated.  On the restricted free agent side, there’s Carlos Rogers of the Redskins, who received a 1st round tender from the team and is therefore not an option.

After that come some restricted free agents like Ellis Hobbs and Brent Grimes, both of whom are seen as nickelback options at best.  One other restricted free agent possibility is Richard Marshall of the Panthers, who has received a 2nd round tender from the team and will therefore likely not be moving.

None of the guys listed above, nor many of the guys further down the list, present ideal possibilities for the Vikings in upgrading at corner.  Their best hope is that Cedric heals quickly, Sapp can be retained and Winfield can get back to being Winfield.

Counting on your own guys isn’t as sexy as drooling over other people’s guys, but it’s often more sensible.

This has already been outlined, but I’ll thumbnail it one last time:  the Vikes are pretty much locked-in at left tackle (unfortunately), left guard and right tackle, leaving center and right guard as your two most upgradable positions.

Sadly, the big name guards like Logan Mankins and Jahri Evans are not realistic possibilities, nor is Bengals guard Bobbie Williams, though he’s slightly closer.  That would leave the Vikes sifting through some lesser-known names looking for that diamond in the rough.

Having sifted the names myself, I believe I have identified a guy who could make sense financially and in terms of draft pick compensation:  Chris Chester of the Baltimore Ravens.

On the surface, Chester would seem a less-than-ideal candidate to bump Anthony Herrera from the right guard spot.  Yes he started for Baltimore for a time, but he was bumped to back-up partway through last season, and overall, he is not seen as the most physical blocker in the world.

However, when searching around, a few intriguing bits came up about Chester.  One, from Rotoworld, mentioned that his demotion in Baltimore stemmed partly from the team’s belief that he didn’t fit their power blocking scheme, but was more of a zone-blocking type.  The Vikings, as we know, employ a (slightly controversial) zone-blocking scheme, which might make Chester a good fit for them.

Another thing in the pro column for Chester is his versatility.  He can play both guard and center, meaning that, even if he fails to beat out Herrera, you have yourself a good multi-position back-up – he’s even played tight end some – and a possible replacement for John Sullivan if you decide he’s not the long-term answer at center.

The best thing about Chester is that you can have him for cheap.  The Ravens have slapped a low tender on him and would only receive a third-round pick in compensation.  And there doesn’t figure to be a huge bidding war for his services, so it’s not like you’d have to break the bank for him.

Not saying there’s any reason to be excited about this guy – just saying, he might be someone to look at as an affordable, realistic option at one or the other of the Vikings’ two most troublesome positions.