Throwback Thursday: Vikings That Got Away

I have no idea why this was on my mind but I was thinking about the football players that got away from the Minnesota Vikings. These are the players that the Vikings weren't able to re-sign, decided not to re-sign, traded away, couldn't sign in the first place, whatever. Some of these players went on to do in other places what they should've/could've been doing in Minnesota. Others were simply at the end and finished their careers in the hideous uniform of another team. Here's an all-time team of the Vikings players that somehow got away.

Quarterback
Fran Tarkemton

This is a weird one in that the Vikings traded their young franchise quarterback to the New York Giants in 1967 and then traded for him in 1972. The Vikings went to a Super Bowl while Tarkenton was away. Joe Kapp had a fine season in 1969 but he was nowhere near the quarterback that Tarkenton was those years. Or any year. Those five years were mostly great years for the Vikings. Imagine how much better those years might have been if Tarkenton didn't get away for those years.

Running backs
Chuck Foreman
Terry Allen

Foreman was one of several Vikings stars that ended their careers in places other than Minnesota. Injuries had robbed Foreman of much of his wonderful running ability but it was still tough to see him in a Patriots uniform. Allen had some nice years with the Vikings but it's no stretch to say that his best years were in Washington.

Receivers
Randy Moss
Sidney Rice

The Vikings traded Moss while still in the prime of his Hall of Fame career. Moss on the Raiders. Moss on the Patriots. Both were painful. Rice didn't have Moss' incredible natural gifts but he was a big, smooth. sure-handed receiver. He was supposed to help fill the giant void left by Moss. As soon as he started to make an impact he had a hip injury and suddenly was in Seattle.

Tight End
Joe Senser

Senser didn't get away in the same sense as the others on this team. Injuries stole him from the Vikings. Before that he looked like he was well on his way to becoming the best tight end in franchise history.

Tackles
Gary Zimmerman
Todd Steussie

Like Moss, the Vikings traded Zimmerman while he was in the middle of his Hall of Fame career. He played long enough and well enough in Denver that many people think of him as a Broncos player. Winning a Super Bowl there helps that. Steussie was part of the sad, mass, free agency exodus of Vikings players in 2000.

Guards
Ed White
Randall McDaniel

White paired nicely with Ron Yary for a long time. White went on to some solid years with the Chargers. It was painful to see McDaniel in a Buccaneers uniform. So very painful.

Center
Matt Birk

Birk was still a team leader and productive player when the Vikings let him go in free agency but the team was ready to move on to John Sullivan. It worked out well for Birk as he finished his career with a Super Bowl win with the Ravens.

Defensive Ends
Carl Eller
Chris Doleman

Two Hall of Famers that moved on to other teams. At least Doleman returned to the Vikings to end his career.

Defensive Tackles
Alan Page
John Randle

Page playing for the Bears was the most painful site in all of my years as a Vikings fan. Painful, painful, painful. Randle with the Seahawks wasn't much better.

Linebackers
Bobby Bell
Jesse Solomon
Ben Leber

Bobby Bell was part of the AFL-NFL bidding wars when he left the University of Minnesota in 1963. He was drafted the Kansas City Chiefs as well as the Vikings. He chose the Chiefs and went on to a tremendous Hall of Fame career. It's so easy to dream of what might have been. Imagine what the great Vikings defenses of the late 1960s and 1970s might have been like if Bell had been playing behind Jim Marshall, Alan Page, Gary Larsen, and Carl Eller. It felt like Solomon was hitting his stride as an NFL linebacker when he was swept into the infamous Herschel Walker trade. Leber was a solid, steady, productive player in the 2000s. Along with Chad Greenway and EJ Henderson, he was part of one of the best linebacker trios in franchise history.

Cornerbacks
DeWayne Washington
Corey Fuller

Washington was the first cornerback that the Vikings ever selected in the first round of the draft. That was in 1994. He played well for the Vikings but most people probably remember him as Steeler, Like Washington, Fuller played more years with other teams despite starting his career with the Vikings.

Safeties
Joey Browner
Brad Edwards

If injuries hadn't torpedoed Bowner's career he'd be in the Hall of Fame. He still had a brilliant career and is as loved by fans as nearly any player in Vikings franchise history. It was only about half of one year but it was difficult to see him in a Buccaneers uniform. I thought that Edwards was going to be the next Paul Krause. He wasn't and he was soon in Washington.

***

The Seahawks have been pursuing Vikings players since they entered the league. Carl Eller, John Randle, and Sidney Rice from this team ended up in Seattle. Bob Lurtsema, Nate Burleson, Percy Harvin, Heath Farwell, Tarvaris Jackson, and Blair Walsh have made the same trek west. Tampa Bay is another popular destination.