3 strangest players to ever play in an Vikings jersey
Running back Roger Craig #33 of the Minnesota Vikings. (Photo by Joseph Patronite/Getty Images)
The Minnesota Vikings have always been really good, and they’ve always had stars, but they failed to win the big one. On their journey, they’ve made a few wild moves to try and get it.
Brett Favre always wanted to play for the Minnesota Vikings when he left the Green Bay Packers in 2008. However, they refused to trade him there, wouldn’t cut him, so he’d sign there, and then they traded him to the New York Jets and put a clause that he couldn’t go to Minnesota. It didn’t matter. Favre found his way to Minnesota. He played incredibly well in his first year there, taking the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game.
That season makes it less strange to see Favre in a Vikings uniform. However, a few Vikings players make absolutely no sense in purple. One player was a champion on one of the best teams of all time.
These are the most unlikely players we ever saw in a Vikings uniform:
3. Roger Craig
Roger Craig was one of the great dual-threat running backs. He was way ahead of his time. He had 1,000 yards receiving in 1985 to go along with his 1,000 yards rushing. We hear a lot about Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, but Roger Craig was just as great in his time. He gets overlooked historically because he played with some of the greatest of all time, but if Craig was with the Vikings in his prime, he’d be a Hall of Famer.
He did eventually go to the Vikings. It just came way too late. He left the 49ers and signed with the Los Angeles Raiders. It was already clear he was not the same player. Craig went to the Vikings for the final two years of his career.
Craig went to the Vikings to split time with other running backs. He split time with Terry Allen in the first year, then it was Barry Word, Scottie Graham and Robert Smith in his last year. He made the playoffs with the Vikings both seasons, but he didn’t make much of an impact as the Vikings got dispatched after one game.
