Vikings Franchise Five: Adrian Peterson, Randy Moss among Minnesota’s all-time most productive

Starting up play in 1961, the Minnesota Vikings are among the 15 youngest franchises within the NFL. They’re furthermore one of many 12 teams that has yet to glean a Huge Bowl. Real since the Vikings have not been round as lengthy or claimed their first Lombardi Trophy, however, would no longer indicate they have not churned out about a of the league’s top abilities over time. Amongst essentially the most a hit organizations with out a Huge Bowl title, the Vikings already like 22 representatives within the Professional Soccer Hall of Reputation, to no longer speak dozens extra who had been — or are — idea to be among the absolute best of their technology.

With that in thoughts, we decided to crown the Vikings’ all-timers, digging by strategy of crew history to single out the Franchise Five. CBSSports.com’s Franchise Five dives into five most impactful of us in every NFL’s crew history. Our ideas here bind us to decide apt one quarterback, three non-quarterback gamers and one head coach.

Real about every technology of Vikings soccer is represented in our checklist, with about a of the absolute best playmakers to ever swimsuit up within the NFL among the picks:

QB Fran Tarkenton

Vikings profession: 1961-66, 1972-78

Daunte Culpepper (1999-2005) modified into once quick among his technology’s top signal-callers, and Tommy Kramer (1977-89), Randall Cunningham (1997-99) and Brett Favre (2009-10) all had their time within the sun frozen tundra, however Tarkenton modified into once literally a sport-changer. A 9-time Professional Bowler who diagram apt about every passing document whereas winning NFL MVP and Offensive Participant of the Year all the intention in which by strategy of his 2nd stint with the crew, the slender Georgia product led Minnesota to some diversified Huge Bowls in a span of four seasons.

While he would perhaps per chance never carry the Lombardi Trophy to the Twin Cities, Tarkenton modified into once one of many largest reasons for the Vikings’ 1970s surge, to no longer speak one of many league’s first dominant dual-risk QBs. To this day, he ranks sixth in profession speeding yards by a QB, within the back of most productive Michael Vick, Cunningham, Cam Newton, Steve Younger and Russell Wilson.

Coach Bud Grant

Vikings profession: 1967-83, 1985

There is actually no competitors for Grant in this department. A local man who graduated from Minnesota, he went straight from a taking half in profession to a head teaching characteristic in 1957, with the Canadian Soccer League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and rivaled his pristine CFL document running the Vikes for the upper portion of twenty years.

After a 3-8-3 debut, Grant led the crew to 11 NFC Central titles in 13 years, establishing the Vikings as a moral convention energy. Four Huge Bowl appearances in his first 9 seasons would perhaps per chance presumably no longer win him a ring, however his teams’ great annual consistency is such as what Andy Reid did in Philadelphia and Kansas Metropolis decades later, making him one of essentially the most done coaches in soccer history. Grant’s 151 profession wins peaceable flawed within the discontinue 20 all time, and his 18 total years with the club indicate he’s coached nearly 30 percent of the franchise’s blended games since 1961.

RB Adrian Peterson

Vikings profession: 2007-16

Mute running tough at age 35 with the Washington Redskins, Peterson embodied the term “workhorse running back,” and actually modified into once the Vikings’ offense for great of his time in Minnesota. Fumbles had been a subject for the hulking ball-carrier, and merely about his total 2014 season modified into once worn out attributable to off-field points, however these are about the absolute best nitpicks you’re going to be ready to invent on a Hall of Reputation profession.

With as a minimal 1,200 speeding yards in every of his first four seasons, seven straight years of as a minimal 10 touchdowns and, presumably most critical of all, a document-breaking 2,000-yard season one yr after a serious knee hurt, Peterson wasn’t apt the absolute best Vikings RB of all time however one of many absolute best to ever play the sport. Sooner than departing in 2017, the Oklahoma product racked up an NFL MVP award and thrice led the league in speeding, totaling extra than 11,700 yards on the floor. 

WR Randy Moss

Vikings profession: 1998-2004, 2010

If Peterson is the direct of all-time Vikings, then Moss is the lightning. Inducted into the Hall of Reputation in 2018, the worn first-round decide managed to play alongside every carry out of franchise greats (Culpepper, Cunningham, Cris Carter, etc.) and peaceable stand out as the monumental name of the bunch. Moss wasted no time carving out a profession as one of many absolute best deep threats of all time, averaging a whopping 19 yards per glean whereas scoring a league-main 17 touchdowns as a rookie, then proceeded to put up five extra 1,200-yard seasons within the following five years.

Moss led the NFL in TD catches two extra times with Minnesota, together with all the intention in which by strategy of a 111-glean, 1,632-yard showcase in 2003, and despite a polarizing relationship with the crew that extended into his short-lived 2010 reunion, saw his distress-bright Vikings bustle pave the manner for even extra historical success, treasure his document 23-TD season with the Patriots in 2007.

DT Alan Page

Vikings profession: 1967-78

One amongst apt 11 Vikings to seem in all four of the crew’s Huge Bowls, Page is most productive identified as one of many defining contributors of the “Purple Folks Eaters,” the 1960-70s line of defense that helped gas Minnesota to NFC dominance. A 9-time Professional Bowler and All-Professional honoree, he’s furthermore a two-time Defensive Participant of the Year recipient and one of apt two defenders to glean NFL MVP since 1971.

Unofficially credited with six diversified double-digit sack seasons and 238 straight sport appearances, Page went into the Hall of Reputation in 1988 and is peaceable idea to be one of many absolute best internal D-linemen to ever glean the field. As a bonus, he stays a staple of the Minnesota neighborhood, serving as a direct Supreme Court dangle from 1993-2015.

Honorable mention

• WR Cris Carter
• OG Randall McDaniel
• DE Carl Eller
• DT John Randle
• S Paul Krause