Minnesota Vikings Receiving Leaders

Justin Jefferson’s immediate assault on receiving standards and Adam Thielen’s continued, steady play has me thinking about the career receiving leaders in Minnesota Vikings franchise history. Pro Football Reference is the perfect site for such things. 

Minnesota Vikings Receiving Leaders

Receptions

Rank	Player	Receptions
1	Cris Carter	1004
2	Randy Moss	587
3	Adam Thielen	520
4	Steve Jordan	498
5	Anthony Carter	478
6	Kyle Rudolph	453
7	Jake Reed	413
8	Ahmad Rashad	400
9	Sammy White	393
10	Stefon Diggs	365
11	Ted Brown	339
12	Chuck Foreman	336
13	Rickey Young	292
14	Justin Jefferson	284
15	Bill Brown	284
16	Percy Harvin	280
17	Darrin Nelson	251
18	Adrian Peterson	241
19	Hassan Jones	222
20	Dalvin Cook	210

The surprise of the Vikings career receptions leaders might be fullback Bill Brown at #15. He looked and played the part of the classic 1960’s NFL fullback. Those players didn’t catch passes. A Vikings fullback did. Vikings backs have always caught passes in my time as a fan of the team. That can be seen in the number of running backs in the top 20:

Ted Brown

Chuck Foreman

Rickey Young

Bill Brown

Darrin Nelson

Adrian Peterson

Dalvin Cook

I was a little surprised that Ted Brown leads Chuck Foreman. That lead is only three receptions but I would’ve guessed that Foreman was ahead by at least a dozen. 

Yards

Rank	Player	Yards
1	Cris Carter	12383
2	Randy Moss	9316
3	Anthony Carter	7636
4	Adam Thielen	6546
5	Jake Reed	6433
6	Sammy White	6400
7	Steve Jordan	6307
8	Ahmad Rashad	5489
9	Stefon Diggs	4623
10	Kyle Rudolph	4488
11	Justin Jefferson	4293
12	Hassan Jones	3733
13	Percy Harvin	3302
14	John Gilliam	3297
15	Paul Flatley	3222
16	Bill Brown	3177
17	Gene Washington	3087
18	Chuck Foreman	3057
19	Leo Lewis	2924
20	Ted Brown	2850

This is where Justin Jefferson’s ridiculous start to his career really pops. With five games to play this season, it’s likely that he exits his third season in the league at #9 on the Vikings career receiving yardage list. At his current pace, Jefferson will probably trail only Cris Carter and Randy Moss after only five seasons. 

The Vikings have a strong receiver tradition. When thinking about the receivers that have crafted that tradition, John Gilliam is often an afterthought. In his four seasons in Minnesota (1972-75), he caught 47, 42, 26, and 50 passes. Compared to today’s standards, at best, those are modest numbers. He made each catch count as he averaged 20 yards per reception. He made the Pro Bowl all four seasons. Gilliam was one of the league’s best deep threats during his era and he is a significant part of the Vikings great receiver tradition. 

Touchdowns

Rank	Player	Touchdowns
1	Cris Carter	110
2	Randy Moss	92
3	Anthony Carter	52
4	Adam Thielen	52
5	Sammy White	50
6	Kyle Rudolph	48
7	Ahmad Rashad	34
8	Jake Reed	33
9	Stefon Diggs	30
10	Steve Jordan	28
11	John Gilliam	27
12	Hassan Jones	24
13	Visanthe Shiancoe	24
14	Justin Jefferson	23
15	Bill Brown	23
16	Gene Washington	23
17	Chuck Foreman	23
18	Percy Harvin	20
19	Jerry Reichow	19
20	Sidney Rice	18

This is where Justin Jefferson’s ridiculous start doesn’t pop. By comparison, Randy Moss had 43 touchdowns in his first three seasons. Jefferson currently has about half that total. A reason for that difference is Moss often caught passes as he was running away from defenders. A lot of Jefferson’s downfield catches are contested catches. Jefferson’s touchdown catches should increase as the Vikings offense hopefully becomes more consistent. 

Visanthe Shiancoe makes an appearance on a Vikings career receiving list!

So does Jerry Reichow.

Anthony Carter should be in the Vikings Ring of Honor. His playoff run in 1987 is the stuff of legend. He was great. #5 in receptions, #3 in yards, #3 in touchdowns. Only Hall of Famers Cris Carter and Randy Moss put up better numbers.