100 Greatest Minnesota Vikings Players: 50-41

The Flea Flicker countdown of the 100 Greatest Minnesota Vikings Players continues with players ranked 50-41. 

100 Greatest Minnesota Vikings Players: 50-41

  50. Xavier Rhodes, CB

  49. Adam Thielen, WR

  48. Carl Lee, CB

  47. Dave Osborn, RB

  46. Grady Alderman, OT

  45. Tommy Mason, RB

  44. Henry Thomas, DT

  43. Bobby Bryant, CB

  42. Tommy Kramer, QB

  41. Kirk Cousins, QB

At his peak, Xavier Rhodes was the best cover corner in the league. I only wish that peak had lasted longer. 

Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs put on a weekly route-running tutorial. They were so much fun together. I wish that the pairing could’ve lasted longer. Thielen is an excellent receiver and the path that he took to get to the league was a great one.

It took a few years for Carl Lee to hit his stride as a cornerback for the Vikings. He even dabbled at safety his first couple seasons. By his fifth season, he was one of the league’s best cornerbacks. He made three Pro Bowls (should’ve been about five) and was named All-Pro once. 

Until Chuck Foreman joined the team in 1973, the Vikings running game was very much a committee affair. From 1967-70, Dave Osborn was the most productive ballcarrier. He got the tough yards and at times a few more. His 972 yards in 1967 was the franchise record until Foreman rewrote the books in the 1970s. 

There are a lot of former Vikings players that could be the next member of the team’s Ring of Honor. In my opinion, the next member should be Grady Alderman. I think that he should be the next member simply because he’s been waiting longer than anybody. He was the left tackle on the first Vikings team. He was the team’s left tackle for more than a decade. Six Pro Bowls. One All-Pro. 

One of the great mysteries of the franchise’s official 50 Greatest Vikings was Tommy Mason not being on it. He was the team’s first draft pick. He and Fran Tarkenton were the team’s first stars. I visited the Vikings Museum in 2019. I was surprised and ecstatic to find a display devoted to Mason. He deserves it. He also deserves greater appreciation from the Vikings and the fans for his Vikings career. 

Henry Thomas played in the shadow of Chris Doleman and Keith Millard on the Vikings defensive lines of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Thomas racked up 56 sacks over his eight years in Minnesota. His 93.5 career sacks is an impressive number for a player that often lined up on the center. Hall of Fame impressive?

Bobby Bryant played much bigger than his 170 lbs. He played big in big games. He had a pick-six of Roger Staubach in the 1973 NFC Championship game. He returned a blocked a field goal for a touchdown and intercepted two passes in the 1976 NFC Championship game. Bryant’s 51 interceptions rank second to Paul Krause’s 53 interception in franchise history. 

If only Tommy Kramer had better luck with injuries. It seemed that whenever he was hitting his stride he was sidelined with an injury. “Two-Minute Tommy” was a fun quarterback. He had the passing talent to be a great quarterback.

I’ve always wondered if Kirk Cousins would get less grief if he wasn’t such a goofy guy. His statistics are elite level. The only legitimate knock to his game is the occasional bad game. All quarterbacks have an occasional bad game but a Cousins bad game is a really bad game. I believe that it would take a Super Bowl win for Cousins to be embraced by the majority of Vikings fans. He might be one more really good season from becoming QB2 in Vikings franchise history.