Top 10 Minnesota Vikings Running Backs
1. Adrian Peterson (2007-16)
2. Chuck Foreman (1973-79)
3. Robert Smith (1993-2000)
4. Dalvin Cook (2017-22)
5. Bill Brown (1962-74)
6. Tommy Mason (1961-66)
7. Dave Osborn (1965-75)
8. Darrin Nelson (1982-92)
9. Ted Brown (1979-86)
10. Terry Allen (1991-94)
The first five are pretty easy. Adrian Peterson is one of the best running backs in league history. He’ll be fitted for a Gold Jacket in a few years. Chuck Foreman was arguably the best running back of his era. He was the best all-around back. If injuries hadn’t cut his career a little short, he’d have a bust in Canton. Robert Smith’s great Vikings career felt like it flashed by. It took him a few years to shake a series of nagging injuries and maladies. When he was at the top of his game he suddenly retired. From 1997-2000, Smith was one of the best, most explosive backs in the league. Like Foreman and Smith, Dalvin Cook’s Vikings career was too short. Injuries were a nagging part of his time in Minnesota. As a rookie in 2017, he was off to an outstanding start (averaging about 100 yards/game). Then a torn ACL took him off the field for the season in the fourth game. Through his first five seasons, Cook never played in more than 14 games. His sixth season was the only season in which he started every game. Bill Brown was a great fullback for the Vikings during their first decade. George Halas traded Brown to the Vikings after a single season in Chicago and always regretted it.
The final five aren’t so easy. The order and the players will vary wildly by viewer. Tommy Mason was the Vikings first offensive star. As rookies in 1961, he and Fran Tarkenton were the young headliners of the young expansion team. Mason made the Pro Bowl from 1962-64. He was All-Pro in 1963. After a wonderful start to his career, injuries started to whittle away at his talents. He only played in 10 and 7 games in 1965 and 1966. In 1967, Mason was traded to the Los Angeles Rams. Dave Osborn started to emerge as a productive runner during Mason’s final two years with the Vikings. His 972 rushing yards in 1967 was the team record until Foreman came along. Darrin Nelson will always be a problem for many Vikings fans of a certain age. Nelson’s only wrong-doing is that he wasn’t Marcus Allen. In the 1982 NFL Draft, the Vikings passed on the future league MVP and Hall of Famer to select Nelson. As a player, he might not have been the game-breaker expected of the seventh pick in a draft but he was a fun, productive back for the Vikings. Ted Brown was a first round pick in the 1979 NFL Draft. He was drafted to follow Foreman. A tough task. He was off to a decent start. 912 yards in 1980. 1063 yards in 1081. Unfortunately, he started to fade after those promising years. Injuries were part of the reason as he didn’t play in more than nine games over his final five seasons. If not for injuries, Terry Allen would be in the top half of this list. He gained 563 yards as a rookie in 1991. He exploded in his second season with 1201 yards. He missed all of his third season with a knee injury. He returned to the field and proved that his knee injury was behind him with an impressive 1031 yards. It was his last season in Minnesota as Dennis Green decided that the Vikings running back job would be handed to third-year Robert Smith.
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