Hello Fanball! (And Hello LaDanian?)

/Taps microphone

Check, check…hello, is this thing on? OK good.

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping over to the Vikings Throne. Please hold your “toilet/throne” jokes to a minimum–toilet humor is my territory here. I’m Eric, your brand new host for the foreseeable future, and I’m incredibly excited to be among the newest members of the Fanball Sports Network. So why should you bookmark this site and constantly check it for all your Vikings news? Let me share some of my credentials.

Wait, I’m a blogger…I don’t need any credentials! But just in case–I’ve been a co-writer over at Daily Norseman, the SB Nation Vikings blog, for a little more than a year. (I post under “ericj69″ if that wasn’t already blatantly obvious.) If you’ve read my stuff over there and enjoyed it, you’ll enjoy it here at Vikings Throne. I also actually write for a living! However, my day job is being a Technical Writer, which is probably the polar opposite of the “creative” writing I do here.

But enough about me–how about that craaaaaazy week of wheeling and dealing the Vikings have gone through so far in free agency? Oh wait, that’s right–we haven’t really done anything besides nabbing a kickoff specialist and losing a couple of key reserves to our offense.

Losing Artis Hicks to the Redskins is the type of loss that will only be glaring if we suffer injuries on our offensive line. Because that means…gulp…Ryan Cook would likely have to play a lot of downs. And all true Vikings fans know that Ryan Cook’s snaps and the Vikings’ chances of winning are inversely proportional to each other.

The big loss was obviously Chester Taylor leaving for (literally) greener pastures in Chicago. Taylor was easily the best backup RB in the league and a perfect compliment to AP. While I knew it was highly unlikely Minnesota would keep Chester, it stung to find out that he was going to my third most loathed team and we’ll have to play against him twice this year. (In case you were wondering, the Packers and Cowboys are the only two teams that rank higher for my disdain.)

With Chester gone, the speculation for his replacement has already run rampant. Our two in-house options, Albert Young and Ian Johnson, are nice players, but probably not ready for prime time just yet. My personal favorite option was Brian Questionable Westbrook.

…Wait, what? You mean Questionable isn’t his middle name and the (Q) was just due to his constant injury uncertainty? No way!

Yes, I do understand that Westrbook was going for Eric Lindros’ Philadelphia concussion record, but I still think he’d be a great fit for the Vikings offense if he could stay on the field. (HUGE if, I know.) He’s the prototypical third down back and he’s obviously familiar with Chilldress’ brand of offense from their time together in Philly.

So I was a little surprised when I read the reports yesterday that LaDainian Tomlinson is slated to meet with the Vikings tomorrow. On one hand, I’m fully aware that his production has gone in the wrong direction more than Jessica Simpson’s weight in the past few years. On the other hand, the dude is third all-time in touchdowns for a reason and I think he could flourish as a third down back in a loaded offense like Minnesota’s. Plus, could you imagine having the two guys that were consensus #1 fantasy picks for most of the past decade on the same team? If this was 2007, people’s heads would explode!

My main concern about LDT (like Bill Simmons, I refuse to call him LT, that was Lawrence Taylor’s name) is whether he’d actually be willing to take a diminished role. It was just over a year ago when Tomlinson was still claiming he was the best running back in the NFL–can his ego take being second fiddle to AP?

Will he be Mr. Pouty McPoutsalot that we saw so often in San Diego that they made an action figure out of it…

Or will he be fine with his new role and help the Vikings glide into the playoffs?

So yeah, I like the idea of LDT in Minnesota as long as he’s willing to play his part. My friend Ryan suggested that we should make reservations at Manny’s Steakhouse (the classic “free agent recruiting” restaurant in Minneapolis) tomorrow night just to…well, you know, nudge Tomlinson in the right direction. Couldn’t hurt, right? LT, I WANNA PARTY WITH YOU!!!

Tags: Adrian Peterson, Albert Young, Artis Hicks, Brian Westbrook, Chester Taylor, Chicago Bears, Ian Johnson, LaDainian Tomlinson, minnesota vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, San Diego Chargers, Washington Redskins