When Did These Vikings Get Here?

I'm always curious as to how the Minnesota Vikings' football team is built. Where did the players come from? How did they get to Minnesota? When did they get here? It's that last question that's been on my mind recently. It's been a while since the Vikings could be considered a veteran team. 2009 comes to mind. In recent years, they've been considered a very young team, one of the youngest in the league. With those youthful thoughts in mind I decided to look a little closer at when the players on the current Vikings' roster arrived in Minnesota. This is an exercise that's probably more useful after the roster is trimmed to 53 players on September 5. I'll probably do it then as well. Until then, when did these Vikings arrive in Minnesota?

2011
Draft
Kyle Rudolph

2012
Draft
Harrison Smith

2013
Undrafted Free Agent
Adam Thielen

2014
Draft
Anthony Barr
Shamar Stephen
-Stephen departed for a year in 2018, returned in 2019

2015
Draft
Eric Kendricks
Danielle Hunter

Undrafted Free Agent
Anthony Harris

2016
Undrafted Free Agent
C.J. Ham

Free Agent
Rashod Hill
-Hill was plucked off the practice squad of the Jacksonville Jaguars late in the 2016 season.

2017
Draft
Dalvin Cook
Pat Elflein
Jaleel Johnson
Ben Gedeon
Ifeadi Odenigbo
-Odenigbo was a 7th-round draft pick of the Vikings in 2017. He had a walk-a-bout 2018 season that started and ended with the Vikings but included stops in Cleveland and Arizona.

Undrafted Free Agent
Aviante Collins
Eric Wilson

Free Agent
Riley Reiff

2018
Draft
Mike Hughes
Brian O'Neill
Jalyn Holmes
Tyler Conklin

Undrafted Free Agent
Mike Boone
Chad Beebe
Hercules Mata'afa
Holton Hill

Free Agent
Kirk Cousins
Ameer Abdullah
Dan Bailey
-Abdullah and Bailey were in-season additions. Bailey early in the season. Abdullah later in the season.

Trade
Brett Jones

2019
Draft
Garrett Bradbury
Irv Smith Jr.
Alexander Mattison
Dru Samia
Cameron Smith
Armon Watts
Oli Udoh
Kris Boyd
Dillon Mitchell
Olabisi Johnson
Austin Cutting

Undrafted Free Agent
Jake Browning
Alexander Hollins
Brandon Dillon
Stacy Keely
Nate Meadors

Free Agent
Sean Mannion
Dakota Dozier
Tony Brooks-James
Britton Colquitt

Trade
Mark Fields

2020
Draft
Justin Jefferson
Jeff Gladney
Ezra Cleveland
Cameron Dantzler
D.J. Wonnum
James Lynch
Troy Dye
Harrison Hand
K.J. Osborn
Blake Brandel
Josh Metellus
Kenny Willekes
Nate Stanley
Kyle Hinton

Undrafted Free Agent
Nevelle Clarke
Jake Bargas
Dan Chisena
Quartney Davis
Myles Dorn
Jordan Fehr
Nakia Griffin-Stewart
Jake Lacina
Blake Lynch
David Moa
David Reese II

Free Agent
Tajaé Sharpe
Anthony Zettel
Eddie Yarbrough
Hardy Nickerson Jr.
Steven Parker
Michael Pierce

***

Some roster thoughts.

Some key contributors have come to the Vikings as undrafted free agents.
Adam Thielen
Anthony Harris
C.J. Ham
Eric Wilson
Holton Hill
That's five starters. Perhaps Alexander Hollins is the next undrafted free agent to emerge.


The Vikings are occasional dabblers in free agency. There's only two "big-ticket" free agents on the current roster.
Kirk Cousins
Riley Reiff
Even though Cousins is one of the bigger (most expensive) free agents of recent years and he's a quarterback. Two "big" free agents on a roster of 80, or even 53, isn't much.

Michael Pierce was the Vikings' biggest free agent of the 2020 offseason but he's a COVID opt-out.

Only two players (Brett Jones and Mark Fields) were added through trades. Both were of the conditional 7th-round pick variety. With Rick Spielman calling the shots, draft trades are many. So many that it'd take too damn long to break them down here.

The 2013 and 2016 drafts have become no-shows. That's always disappointing and potentially franchise-wrecking. 2013, in particular, was disappointing. Three first-round picks.
Sharrif Floyd
Xavier Rhodes
Cordarrelle Patterson
Sharrif Floyd's NFL story should've been much different. A surgical hack-up ended his career. Xavier Rhodes was great for a few years and then he suddenly wasn't. Cordarrelle Patterson was fun but, my goodness, learn to run a route. 2016 is considered a bust simply because of the first round pick, Laquon Treadwell. I just don't think that he ever recovered from the brutal broken ankle that he had at Mississippi. Pre-injury, he looked explosive. He wasn't Julio Jones explosive, so few are, but he looked a lot like Michael Thomas does now. That's pretty good. Justin Jefferson has shown more promise in a handful of training camp practices than Treadwell ever showed in four years. Other than Treadwell, the Vikings did get some production from the 2016 draft.
Mackensie Alexander
Kentrell Brothers
David Morgan
Stephen Weatherly
Jayron Kearse
None stuck around for a second deal, I wish that Weatherly had, but each made at least a modest impact during time in Minnesota.

While the 2013 and 2016 drafts produced no players that are currently on the roster, it's important to remember that Adam Thielen (2013) and C.J. Ham (2016) arrived as undrafted free agents in those years.

At the other end of the draft-impact spectrum was the 2015 draft. Only Eric Kendricks and Danielle Hunter remain. Anthony Harris remains as an undrafted free agent. That's significant in terms of quality. Stefon Diggs and Trae Waynes were also part of this draft class. I wish that Diggs was still around but he sure made an impact while he was in Minnesota. Waynes might not have played to his 11th pick of the draft status but he was a quality starting corner for most of his five years with the Vikings. The 2015 draft was a high impact draft. I just wish that the class had stayed together longer, especially Diggs. 

Only 10 of the 82 players (Michael Pierce and Cameron Smith are on reserve lists) on the current Vikings' roster were with the team prior to 2017. That's about 12.2%. This is a young team.

I'm pretty sure that I'll be revisiting this after the September 5 roster-trimming.