Throwback Thursday: Minnesota Vikings Career Interception Leaders

This Flicker was originally posted on July 11, 2020. I bring it back today simply because I was thinking that the Vikings could really use some interceptions. 

 My stroll through the statistical history of the Minnesota Vikings moves to the defensive side of the ball. Interceptions. This is a fun one since the NFL's all-time interception leader is a Viking. Hall of Fame safety Paul Krause. His 81 interceptions is a league record that may never be broken. Since Krause spent the first four years of his career with that team in Washington, only 53 of those 81 interceptions came while in a Vikings uniform. A few of my favorite players in Vikings history populate the interception leader list. 

Minnesota Vikings Career Interception Leaders

Rank	Player	Interceptions
1	Paul Krause	53
2	Bobby Bryant	51
3	Ed Sharockman	40
4	Joey Browner	37
5	Nate Wright	31
6	Carl Lee	29
7	Harrison Smith	23
8	Orlando Thomas	22
9	John Turner	22
10	Antoine Winfield	21
11	Karl Kassulke	19
12	Audray McMillian	19
13	Darren Sharper	18
14	Robert Griffith	17
15	Matt Blair	16
16	Tom Hannon	15
17	Earsell Mackbee	15
18	Willie Teal	15
19	Corey Chavous	14
20	Vencie Glenn	14

Paul Krause is the only Vikings defensive Hall of Famer that didn't play on the defensive line. Joey Browner should get Hall of Fame discussion. He's right with Ronnie Lott and Kenny Easley as the best safeties of their era. Lott and Easley are in Canton. Browner could/should join them. Harrison Smith should've been on the 2010s All-Decade team and should get Hall of Fame attention five years after he retires. Antoine Winfield was so much fun to watch play football. He played the corner position like no other player I've ever seen. If he'd been 6' and still played like he did at 5'9" he would've received multiple All-Pro nods and already be in Canton. 

Matt Blair is the only linebacker among the Top 20. Six Pro Bowls. One All-Pro. While he played his first few years with Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall, Krause, etc., Blair's best years were the years between the Purple People Eaters and the great Vikings defenses of the late 1980s. Despite being in the team's Ring of Honor and among the 50 Greatest Vikings, I don't think that he's remembered as well as he should be remembered. In general, the early 1980s are something of a blindspot for many long-time Vikings fans. Blair was a terrific football player. It was probably during the lead-up to Super Bowl XI that I heard that he could leap and snatch a quarter off the top of a basketball backboard. That little bit of trivia fascinated me then and continues to fascinate me. 

Five of the defensive backs on the 1969 NFL Championship team are among the Top 20 interceptors:

Safeties:

Paul Krause

Karl Kassulke

Corners:

Bobby Bryant

Ed Sharockman

Earsell Mackbee

Bryant bumped Sharockman from the starting lineup during the season. 

Half of the Top 20 interception leaders in Vikings franchise history played safety:

Paul Krause

Joey Browner

Harrison Smith

Orlando Thomas

Karl Kassulke

Darren Sharper

Robert Griffith

Tom Hannon

Corey Chavous

Vencie Glenn

Orlando Thomas looked like he was going to be an all-timer. His nine interceptions as a rookie in 1995 led the league. He played for seven years but injuries throughout those seven years chipped away at his talent. 

Tom Hannon had the unfortunate task of playing safety for the Vikings after Krause. Hannon played strong safety while Krause played a roving free safety but he was always in the shadow of the guy that collected 81 interceptions. I thought that Hannon was a very underrated player. He and Blair were my favorites on those "forgotten" Vikings defenses of the early 1980s. 

Carl Lee was probably the Vikings first shut-down corner. He was great. The pass rush that he had in front of him helped. He helped them as well. The duo of Lee and Browner was as great a corner-safety combo as the Vikings have ever had. The peak 2.5 years of Xavier Rhodes and Harrison Smith come close.