Inside The Vikings

Eight Vikings Named to ESPN's NFC North All-Decade Team

The Vikings have plenty of representatives on the list.
Will Ragatz|
Eight Vikings Named to ESPN's NFC North All-Decade Team
Eight Vikings Named to ESPN's NFC North All-Decade Team

Eight current or former Vikings made the cut for ESPN's NFC North All-Decade team, which was released on Wednesday.

  • RB Adrian Peterson
  • TE Kyle Rudolph
  • C John Sullivan
  • DT Linval Joseph
  • DE Jared Allen
  • LB Chad Greenway
  • S Harrison Smith
  • KR/PR Cordarrelle Patterson

Counting players only for the team they were more impactful to, the Vikings and Packers led the way with eight representatives each among the 25 total selections. The Lions had five, and the Bears had just four players on the team.

It's hard to argue or disagree with many of the Vikings' selections or non-selections to this divisional all-decade team. You can make a case for Everson Griffen over Jared Allen at one of the defensive end spots, considering Griffen had 74.5 sacks during the decade to Allen's 62. But Allen had a much higher peak with 22 sacks in 2011, compared to Griffen's career-best 13 sacks in 2017.

ESPN also chose a player of the decade for each team in the division. For the Vikings, the easy choice was Peterson, the 2012 NFL MVP. Here's what Vikings reporter Courtney Cronin wrote about the selection:

This was about as unanimous a decision as there is. Peterson was the only non-quarterback to win the NFL MVP award during the past decade and holds countless titles and awards from his time with the Vikings. He was the league's offensive player of the year (2012), a two-time first-team All-Pro selection (2012, 2015), went to the Pro Bowl four times and led the NFL in rushing in 2012 with 2,097 yards and again in 2015. Peterson ended his time in Minnesota as the franchise's all-time rushing leader and will go down as one of the best running backs in NFL history.

Smith and Patterson were named as honorable mentions. Former Packers coach Mike McCarthy was named the division's coach of the decade, with Mike Zimmer coming in as the honorable mention.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI, who also covers the Twins, Timberwolves, Gophers, and other Minnesota teams. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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