Throwback Thursday: All-Time Minnesota Vikings 2nd Team

Seeing the Vikings play in Minnesota for the first time and visiting the team's museum has me feeling nostalgic. It doesn't take much for me to feel nostalgic for the Vikings but last weekend's trip to Minnesota had me closer to the real thing than I've ever been. I've done many All-Time Vikings teams over the years. It's actually a little silly to repeatedly do an All-Time Vikings team as it's mostly the same team every time. Most positions aren't up for debate. There might be some variation at a few positions (linebacker and cornerback) but most of the positions are taken, often by Hall of Famers. Just to do this All-Time Vikings team thing a little differently, I decided to dig a little deeper. An All-Time Minnesota Vikings 2nd Team. It's a fine bench.

Offense

Quarterback
Daunte Culpepper

Running Back
Robert Smith

Fullback
Chuck Foreman

Receivers
Ahmad Rashad
Anthony Carter

Tight End
Kyle Rudolph

Offensive Tackles
Grady Alderman
Todd Steussie

Offensive Guards
Ed White
Milt Sunde

Center
Matt Birk

Defense

Defensive Ends
Jim Marshall
Jared Allen

Defensive Tackles
Keith Millard
Kevin Williams

Linebackers
Anthony Barr
Jeff Siemon
Eric Kendricks

Cornerbacks
Bobby Bryant
Carl Lee

Safeties
Joey Browner
Corey Chavous

***

There's quite a career drop for Vikings quarterbacks after Fran Tarkenton. Several have had one or two brilliant seasons (Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham, Brett Favre). I give the second team nod to Daunte Culpepper due to his franchise QB status before his knee injury, his handful of solid seasons as the team's quarterback, and his ridiculous 2004 season. 

Putting Chuck Foreman at fullback is cheating a bit. He did line up at the position, mostly during his first few seasons, but he was a halfback for nearly all of his wonderful days in Minnesota. With Foreman at fullback I get Robert Smith at halfback. That way I get the second and third best backs in team history on the same team. That's a win. 

I wanted to get tackle Tim Irwin on this team. He was a very good player for 11 seasons. I ended up going with Todd Steussie because I thought that his best seasons were better than Irwin's best seasons. 

For reference, here's a recent All-Time Minnesota Vikings 1st Team:

Quarterback
Fran Tarkenton

Running Back
Adrian Peterson

Fullback
Bill Brown

Receivers
Cris Carter
Randy Moss

Tight End
Steve Jordan

Offensive Tackles
Ron Yary
Gary Zimmerman

Offensive Guards
Randall McDaniel
Steve Hutchinson

Center
Mick Tingelhoff

Defense

Defensive Ends
Carl Eller
Chris Doleman

Defensive Tackles
Alan Page
John Randle

Linebackers
Chad Greenway
Scott Studwell
Matt Blair

Cornerbacks
Antoine Winfield
Xavier Rhodes

Safeties
Paul Krause
Harrison Smith