The future of the Minnesota Vikings linebacker group appears bright. That can happen when successive top picks are used at the position. In 2014 the Vikings selected UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr with the ninth pick. A month ago they selected Barr's former UCLA teammate Eric Kendricks with the 45th pick of the 2015 NFL Draft. Barr was terrific as a rookie at strong-side linebacker. Kendricks is penciled in as the starter at middle linebacker. The former UCLA teammates and roommates should have a long, productive partnership in the NFL. Veteran Chad Greenway or third-year Gerald Hodges will compete to take the field next to Barr and Kendricks at weak-side linebacker this year. It will come down to a battle between Greenway's experience and leadership and Hodge's speed and athleticism. No matter how it shakes out this season the Vikings future at linebacker likely looks like this:
Anthony Barr
Eric Kendricks
Gerald Hodges
That's a fast, athletic group. Each can race to the ball wherever it is on the field. Each can be a factor in coverage. This group has the talent to be the best in franchise history. Unlike their grand tradition of talent on the defensive line the Vikings have no linebackers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Their linebacker tradition has been one of solid play and production. A scattering of Pro Bowl-level performances and an occasional excellent season. It's a good tradition. Not a great one.
The earliest linebacker group that I vaguely recall as a little Vikings fan was the first to establish themselves as a group. They were the first in franchise history to play together for a few seasons. That sustained time together brought a bond on and off the field and the whole was better than the individual parts.
Roy Winston
Lonnie Warwick
Wally Hilgenberg
The Vikings were surrounded by teams with linebacker groups with brilliant middle linebackers. The Green Bay Packers had Ray Nitschke in the middle. The Chicago Bears had Dick Butkus. The Detroit Lions had Joe Schmidt and then Mike Lucci. The Vikings had Warwick. He didn't get anywhere near the attention of the others but he was a very good middle linebacker. The Vikings linebackers played behind an incredible defensive line. Alan Page and Carl Eller are in the Hall of Fame. Some think that Jim Marshall should be. The Vikings linebackers were overshadowed on their own team by the defensive line and by the linebackers around the league. This group was more tough than talented. More solid than great.
The earliest group that I remember best is the one that followed the Winston-Warwick-Hilgenberg trio.
Matt Blair
Jeff Siemon
Wally Hilgenberg
Hilgenberg somehow managed to fend off 1974 top pick Fred McNeil for a few years. This group played together for only one season but it was a Super Bowl season. It was the Vikings last Super Bowl season so it was pretty memorable. A group that included Blair, Seimon, and pretty much anyone had the potential to be great. Blair and Seimon each had a stretch of 3-4 seasons in which they were among the best at their positions. Unfortunately those stretches weren't at the same time. Siemon was selected to four Pro Bowls. Blair was selected to six. 1977 was the only year in which they made it together. Despite their single season starting together I always liked this group. It was a blend of the past (Hilgenberg) with the present and future.
The Vikings played in a 3-4 defense from 1981-85. As far as I know that defense might have been preferred because of the talent that the Vikings had at the linebacker position especially at inside linebacker. The group that played together the majority of those five years was this very nice group:
Matt Blair
Dennis Johnson
Scott Studwell
Fred McNeil
The chance to get Siemon and Studwell on the field at the same time was probably the catalyst for the switch to the 3-4. They only played together in the middle in 1981. For most of the 3-4 era it was these four. This was a good group. Blair was terrific. Studwell was a tackling machine. McNeil was solid. Johnson was an underrated Vikings football player.
The end of the short 3-4 era eventually led to a stretch that could have been great. As it was, it was often very, very good. The groups started with these two:
Mike Merriweather
Scott Studwell
Before the 1989 NFL Draft the Vikings traded a first-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for Merriweather. He was selected to the Pro Bowl three times in his career. All while he was with the Steelers. He should have made the Pro Bowl with the Vikings as it felt like he made big plays as a matter of routine. Studwell was always a tackling machine. Unfortunately Merriweather and Studwell were together for only two seasons. Ray Berry filled the third linebacker in 1989. Mark Dusbabek filled the spot in 1990. If only Jesse Solomon could have been matched with Merriweather and Studwell but he was part of the Herschel Walker trade in 1988. I always felt that Solomon had the talent to shine.
Through most of the 1990s the Vikings had a stream of linebackers that surrounded Jack Del Rio and then Jeff Brady in the middle. That stream included some decent to solid players like Carlos Jenkins, Fred Strickland, Dixon Edwards, Broderick Thomas, and the always frustrating Dwayne Rudd. Rudd was frustrating because he looked like a steal in the draft. A top-10 talent that the Vikings were able to grab later in the first round. At times he was brilliant. More often he was a knucklehead. The best Vikings linebacker of the 1990s was Ed McDaniel. He played on the outside for most of his career but some of his best years were the years in which he directed the defense as an under-sized middle linebacker. He was fun to watch and very underrated. The Vikings dominant 1998 season fielded a linebacker group that looked like this:
Dixon Edwards
Ed McDaniel
Dwayne Rudd
This was the strength of a shaky Vikings defense that greatly benefited from an offense that could score at will. McDaniel and the great John Randle were the Vikings only Pro Bowl players on defense. This was on a 15-1 team. The offense sent seven players to the Pro Bowl. McDaniel made this group fun. Rudd made it frustrating.
The early part of the 2000s was a shaky time for the Vikings. It was a revolving door at linebacker as it was at most positions on defense. That inconsistency changed in 2007. That was the year that the Vikings first fielded a linebacker group that is probably it's best. It was certainly the group that played together the longest.
Ben Leber
E.J. Henderson
Chad Greenway
This was a very good and versatile group. It helped that they were together from 2007-10. Henderson made a single Pro Bowl. He deserved more but made only one. He's in the conversation with Warwick, Siemon, and Studwell as the best middle linebacker in franchise history. Greenway has been very good, sometimes even great, for a long time. Leber was solid. So dependable. I believe that it was Troy Aikman that once mentioned during a broadcast that this linebacker group was the best in the league at that time. That's debatable but this group was definitely in that debate. As much as I enjoyed watching Jeff Siemon and Matt Blair take care of the second level of the Vikings defense this Leber-Henderson-Greenway group is my favorite.
Although the group that's being put together now looks promising. So promising.
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