Current Vikings Hold High Ranks in the All-Time Franchise Records
Yesterday, I scribbled a few hundred words detailing how close Justin Jefferson is to surpassing Stefon Diggs’ career receiving totals from his five years as a Minnesota Viking. As I finished that one up, I got to thinking: just how highly do other current Vikings rank in the franchise’s all-time statistics?
Heading into the 2022 season, a number of players have extended tenures with the team. With that in mind, I took a quick trip over to our trusty old friend, Pro-Football-Reference, to check out the lists. As it turns out, there a number of prominent figures in Vikings history that should be passed by current players in 2022.
Kirk Cousins
Assuming Kirk Cousins has a typical season, he should make some very significant moves in terms of Vikings history. Currently, the Vikings QB ranks fourth in both passing yards and touchdowns. That should change by the time 2022 ends.
Particularly, it should take about a month or so for Cousins to pass Daunte Culpepper in passing touchdowns. Culpepper tossed 135 touchdowns as a Viking while Cousins currently sits just 11 behind him at 124. There’s a very good chance that this number will be surpassed in U.S. Bank Stadium when Minnesota hosts the Chicago Bears for a Week 5 matchup. Cousins also sits just under 3800 yards behind Culpepper’s career passing totals as well, meaning that is another number that likely gets beaten sometime in December or early January.
Moving up the list, there is a chance that Cousins could move as high as second on the Minnesota Vikings all-time passing touchdowns list. That spot currently belongs to Tommy Kramer with 159, meaning Cousins is 35 behind him. Cousins tossed 35 TDs in 2020 and 33 in 2021, so it is not unrealistic to think he could threaten that No. 2 spot.
However, it will take multiple years to catch Fran Tarkenton for both the passing yardage (33,098) and passing touchdowns record (239). I expect there are few Vikings fans out there that would want to see Cousins stick around long enough to break those marks.
Dalvin Cook
The Minnesota Vikings have had many talented running backs throughout their storied history, and it’s no news that Dalvin Cook is just the latest of these. Further proof of this is the fact that Cook has a very good chance to pass Vikings legend Chuck Foreman in both rushing yards and TDs this year.
Cook claims the fifth most rushing yards and touchdowns in Vikings history right now while Foreman sits in third for yards and tied for second in touchdowns with Bill Brown. Cook will also have to pass Brown in yards before he catches Foreman, but if he records his fourth consecutive season of 1100+ yards, the veteran will hold the No. 3 spot in rushing yards by the time 2022 wraps up.
In order to pass Brown and Foreman in touchdowns though, Cook will have to recreate the masterpiece that was his 2020 season. His 39 career scores are 13 behind the duo’s number of 52. Cook put together 16 touchdowns during his aforementioned 2020 season, so it’s doable. We’ll have to see how much his rushing totals are impacted by Kevin O’Connell’s new offensive scheme, though.
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Adam Thielen
As I mentioned right at the beginning of this piece, we’ve already talked about how high Justin Jefferson could climb towards the peak of the Vikings receiving rankings. That said, we still need to discuss the red zone machine, Adam Thielen. Minnesota’s veteran receiver is on the verge of passing both Sammy White and Anthony Carter in receiving touchdowns this season.
As things stand in May 2022, Thielen has recorded 49 touchdowns in his career. Meanwhile, White has 50, and Carter has 52. Thielen has never recorded three touchdowns in a game, so it will probably take him more than one week to catch Carter. It won’t take much longer, though. Thielen has recorded at least one touchdown in 18 of his last 28 games, so it would be a shock if he is not at least past White by the end of September.
Harrison Smith
Prior to only having one interception in 2021, Harrison Smith had recorded 3+ picks in each season from 2017-2020. If last year was a fluke and Smith goes back to his normal production, he will move into the top five in Vikings history for INTs.
The 10-year veteran is currently sixth all-time for the Vikings with 29 interceptions. The man holding the No. 5 spot right now is Nate Wright with 31. A year with usual production for Smith should at least match this mark, but once he breaks into the top five it will take mammoth efforts to continue moving forward. No. 4 is held by Joey Browner with 37.
Final Thoughts
The Minnesota Vikings are one of the most storied franchises in all of the NFL, so the fact that there are so many current players moving into significant rankings in team history is remarkable. Each of the players mentioned today are either inside of the top five or knocking on the door of the top five of statistics in Vikings history.
Team success may be down in recent years, but there is no doubt that so many players on this roster will go down in Vikings lore as some of the best performers this team has ever seen. Hopefully 2022 brings a return to the usual team success along with the individual accomplishments, but if nothing else, we can certainly track the race towards franchise records this season.
