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Building a Vikings Team With One Player From Each of the Past 22 Drafts

It's not an easy task to create a Vikings starting lineup using each of the last 22 NFL Drafts.

Creating an all-time Vikings team – or a team of the decade, or whatever specific time span you want to focus on – is a fairly straightforward task. That's not to say picking the best players at each position is easy, but at least the process is simple.

What I'm about to do is a bit more difficult. Here's the idea, which I got from my colleague David Boclair of SI's AllTitans: build a starting lineup of Vikings (11 players on offense, 11 on defense) using one player from each of the team's last 22 NFL draft classes. No free agents, trade acquisitions, or undrafted players. Just Vikings draft picks.

With the restrictions of only being able to use one player from each draft and needing to fill out a full offense and defense, some tough decisions must be made. As you'll see, I can't just pick the best player at each position or the best player from each draft. Sacrifices need to be made to give me the most overall talent while staying within the rules.

For the record, I'm giving myself the peak version of each player during their Vikings career. Also, for the title of this article to be accurate, I'm using the 2020 draft and going back until 1999. That unfortunately means no Randy Moss.

We're going with a three-receiver set and a base 4-3 defense, even if neither of those are the most common personnel packages for the current Vikings. I'll mix in some explanations on my thought process, but I'll save some of that for afterwards.

Without further ado, let's get to my selections. 

Offense

QB: Daunte Culpepper (1999 first round) – One of the best quarterbacks the Vikings have ever had, Culpepper is the only player with two single-season performances that made my top five in franchise history. He's an easy choice here.

RB: Michael Bennett (2001 first round) – I'd rather have Adrian Peterson or Dalvin Cook as my running back, but I had to take Bennett because there's no one else from the 2001 draft that I wanted on this team. The Wisconsin product was outstanding in his second season, recording 1,647 yards from scrimmage and averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

WR: Stefon Diggs (2015 fifth round) –  The Vikings' 2015 draft class is loaded with star talent, but it ended up making sense for me to take Diggs over Eric Kendricks and Danielle Hunter. Diggs is an elite route-runner who was consistently productive during his five years in Minnesota.

WR: Sidney Rice (2007 second round) – With Peterson off the table, I'm grabbing Rice as my 2007 representative. Like Bennett, he only had one great season with the Vikings, but that's all we need for these purposes. Rice posted an 83-catch, 1,312-yard, eight-touchdown season with Brett Favre as his quarterback in 2009.

WR: Percy Harvin (2009 first round) – Harvin was an incredibly dynamic playmaker for the Vikings before his career was derailed by migraines. In his first three seasons, he averaged 1,071 yards from scrimmage and 6.7 touchdowns per year. He's also returning kickoffs for this team I'm assembling. Diggs and Rice on the outside with Harvin in the slot is a heck of a receiving corps.

TE: Irv Smith Jr. (2019 second round) – Kyle Rudolph would be the pick without any restrictions, but Smith gets the call here. He was part of a tough six-player decision that I'll explain at the end. The Alabama product will likely see an expanded role in 2020.

LT: Bryant McKinnie (2002 first round) – This was a no-brainer; give me the gigantic McKinnie protecting Culpepper's blind side. The Vikings' history at left tackle since he left in 2011 isn't great.

LG: Marcus Johnson (2005 second round) – There are two reasons why I had to get a little creative here: the Vikings haven't drafted many successful guards since 1999 and their 2005 class (with Troy Williamson and Erasmus James as first-round picks) was weak from top to bottom. Johnson at least started 18 games in his first two seasons. He's definitely a weak link on our team, but that's what makes this difficult.

C: John Sullivan (2008 sixth round) – Another easy decision given the context of our options at center and the rest of his draft class. Sullivan never made a Pro Bowl, but he was pretty reliable as a six-year starter for the Vikings.

RG: Brandon Fusco (2011 sixth round) – Again, the pickings at guard are slim. Fusco, who had four solid seasons during his time in Minnesota, was an obvious choice, especially with fellow 2011 draftee Rudolph not on the squad.

RT: Brian O'Neill (2018 second round) – The right tackle spot was between O'Neill and Phil Loadholt, but taking Loadholt would've meant losing Harvin. Easy call. O'Neill is already quite good and his arrow is pointing firmly upwards.

Defense

DE: Everson Griffen (2010 fourth round) – One of the first players I penciled into this lineup was Griffen, who was the only real contributor from the Vikings' 2010 class. His 74.5 sacks and emotional leadership make him an all-time franchise great.

DT: Kevin Williams (2003 first round) – The Vikings somehow didn't get their pick in on time in 2003, falling from No. 7 to No. 9 as a result. It worked out pretty well, as they landed a dominant three-technique pass-rusher in Williams. He had 60 sacks as a Viking, including 22 in his first two seasons.

DT: Chris Hovan (2000 first round) – Minnesota went with back-to-back defensive tackles in the 2000 draft, taking Hovan in the first and Fred Robbins in the second. Robbins actually might fit our team better as a nose tackle, but Hovan was more productive during his time as a Viking, so he gets the nod.

DE: Kenechi Udeze (2004 first round) – A knee injury and a leukemia diagnosis limited Udeze to three NFL seasons, but he showed flashes during those years and put up five sacks in both 2004 and 2007. We've basically just replaced Kenny Mixon with Griffen on the starting defensive line of the '04 Vikings. Not too shabby.

LB: Anthony Barr (2014 first round) – Barr has been a consistently important player for Mike Zimmer during the last six years. We'll take the 2015 version of him, who had 3.5 sacks, seven pass breakups, and an elite PFF grade.

LB: Ben Gedeon (2017 fourth round) – Gedeon isn't an inspiring selection, but Kendricks is off the table and we need a 2017 representative. He's very limited in coverage but can make plays downhill against the run.

LB: Chad Greenway (2006 first round) – Greenway spent his entire career with the Vikings, including starting 111 of a possible 112 regular season games between 2007 and 2013. He was a tackle machine who also had 11 interceptions and 18 sacks as a Viking. Greenway's versatility ties everything together in our linebacker group.

CB: Xavier Rhodes (2013 first round) – The 2017 version of Rhodes was absolutely special, which is why it's a shame he declined so rapidly and was gone from Minnesota two years later. He's the shutdown corner for this defense.

S: Harrison Smith (2012 first round) – No doubt about this one. Smith was the best Viking of the 2010s and is already one of the most productive defensive backs in franchise history with 23 interceptions, 13 sacks, and over 650 tackles in eight seasons. And yet, he's somehow still underrated and underappreciated.

S: Jayron Kearse (2016 seventh round) – Anthony Harris isn't an option because he was a UDFA, but he would've had a tough time beating out Diggs anyways. So Kearse is our representative from the 2016 draft that is clearly Rick Spielman's worst since becoming GM. Because of Smith, Harris, and Andrew Sendejo, Kearse never got a chance to truly show what he can do.

CB: Jeff Gladney (2020 first round) – Justin Jefferson couldn't crack our stacked receiving corps, so Gladney is the pick from the Vikings' most recent class. He plays with the length, physicality, and competitiveness of someone taller than 5'10".

Notes

  • I'm taking Mike Zimmer as my head coach with Scott Linehan at OC and Leslie Frazier at DC.
  • 12 of our 22 players were first-round picks. We've also got four second-rounders, two fourths, two fifths, two sixths, and a seventh. No third-rounders, somehow (Hunter would've been nice).
  • Speaking of Hunter, I wanted to get him into this team but would've had to sacrifice elsewhere. I could've gone with Hunter ('15 DE), Jeff Dugan ('04 TE), and Bisi Johnson ('19 WR) over Udeze ('04 DE), Smith ('19 TE), and Diggs ('15 WR), but I didn't think that was worth it.
  • Another decision I debated briefly: Williams ('03 DT) and Gedeon ('17 LB) over E.J. Henderson ('03 LB) and Jaleel Johnson ('17 DT). I decided that I really didn't want to leave Williams off of the team.
  • One last one: Smith ('19 TE) and Fusco ('11 RG) over Rudolph ('11 TE) and Dru Samia ('19 RG). This was tight, but Fusco made 64 starts for the Vikings and Samia has made one.
  • The most loaded classes are 2003, 2006, 2007, 2014, and 2015.
  • The drafts where I had to stretch to get someone in were 2001 (Bennett), 2004 (Udeze), 2005 (Johnson), and 2016 (Kearse).

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