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 August 31. I'll probably do it then as well. Until then, when did these Vikings arrive in Minnesota?

2012
Draft
Harrison Smith

2013
Undrafted Free Agent
Adam Thielen

2014
Draft
Anthony Barr

2015
Draft
Eric Kendricks
Danielle Hunter

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

2018
Draft
Brian O'Neill
Tyler Conklin

Undrafted Free Agent
Chad Beebe
Hercules Mata'afa

Free Agent
Kirk Cousins
Ameer Abdullah

-Abdullah was added during the 2018 season.

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

Undrafted Free Agent
Jake Browning
Brandon Dillon

Free Agent
Sean Mannion
Dakota Dozier
Britton Colquitt

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
Jake Bargas
Dan Chisena
Myles Dorn
Blake Lynch

Free Agent
Michael Pierce

Ryan Connelly

Jordan Brailford

Dylan Mabin

Andrew DePaola

Luther Kirk

Zack Bailey

-Due to health issues, Pierce opted out on the 2020 season. In that sense, he didn’t arrive on the scene until this season.

-Connelly was added during the 2020 season.

-Brailford was added during the 2020 season.

-Mabin was added during the 2020 season.

-DePaola was added during the 2020 season.

-Kirk was signed to the practice squad during the 2020 season.

-Bailey was signed to the practice squad during the 2020 season.

2021

Draft

Christian Darrisaw

Kellon Mond

Chazz Surratt

Wyatt Davis

Patrick Jones II

Kene Nwangwu

Camryn Bynum

Janarius Robinson

Ihmir Smith-Marsette 

Zach Robinson

Jaylen Twyman

Undrafted Free Agent

Blake Proehl

A.J. Rose

Myron Mitchell

Riley Patterson

Whop Philyor

Tuf Borland

Zeandae Johnson

Christian Elliss

Turner Bernard

Jordon Scott

Zach Von Rosenberg

Shane Zylstra

Free Agent

Dalvin Tomlinson

Stephen Weatherly 

Patrick Peterson

Mackensie Alexander

Xavier Woods

Nick Vigil

Greg Joseph

Zack Bailey

Parry Nickerson

Evin Ksiezarczyk 

Cohl Cabral

Trade

Mason Cole

***

Some roster thoughts.

The Vikings may or may not be at 88 players. It’s been reported that they intend to sign cornerback Amari Henderson after an apparently successful tryout at the rookie minicamp. That signing has yet to happen.

The Vikings are occasional dabblers in free agency. It’s usually at a modest level. There's only one "big-ticket" free agent on the current roster.

Kirk Cousins

Even though Cousins is one of the bigger (most expensive) free agents of recent years and he's a quarterback, a single "big" free agent on a roster of 88, or even 53, isn't many.

Patrick Peterson was a big free agent signing by name but he wasn’t a big free agent signing by money.

Mason Cole is the only player on the roster that was added through trade.

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 hacked-up surgery 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 did more in his first start 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
Jayson Kearse

The interesting thing about the above group is that Alexander and Weatherly are back on the roster this year after being on another team’s roster last year. 

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. That's significant in terms of quality. Stefon Diggs and Trae Waynes were also part of this draft class. Anthony Harris was as well as an undrafted free agent. 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. 

The Vikings added six players during the 2020 season. That seems excessive. I guest that’s what happens when a season is upended by a global pandemic. It’s also what happens when a team is dismantled by injuries.  

60 of the 88 players currently on the roster has joined the team since last offseason. 25 of those 60 players came from the 2020 and 2021 NFL Drafts. 

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