When Cris Carter, Randy Moss and Jake Reed posed for the photo, they never imagined what it would become.

You know the one.

Carter in the middle, holding a football with his right hand. Moss and Reed on each side of him, sharing a grip on the pigskin. The '90s-esque water reflection on the bottom two-thirds of the foreground, white clouds on blue sky in the upper third.

THREE DEEP

The photo was made into a poster, a giveaway item from a fast-food chain. Now, the original posters grace fan cave walls or are hot-ticket eBay items. Conversation threads on Reddit and similar social media platforms are built on nostalgia surrounding the poster – created around a 1998 Vikings season in which the trio of wideouts combined for 2,798 receiving yards and 33 touchdowns.

"We were just having fun. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought this poster would have the life it's had," Reed recently told Vikings.com's Tatum Everett at the Greenwood Pub in London.

"Almost 30 years," Carter added. "It's crazy."

The longtime friends met up across the pond last week, reuniting in the U.K. to help launch Mitchell and Ness' “Three Deep” apparel collection in partnership with the Vikings. Though Moss was unable to attend, Carter and Reed helped hype fans throughout the week leading up to the Vikings defeat of the Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Reed reminisced about the day of the would-be iconic photo shoot, noting it had been chilly "in the little shed" in which the session took place.

"We were having fun, tossing the ball around … but we were like, 'Man, let's get this over with,' " he laughed. "We were like, 'Oh, it's a giveaway. No big deal.' But I tell you what, that poster has really had a lot of legs. A lot of life. I love it. It's taken on a whole life of its own."

Carter also admitted they never knew how much of a "viral sensation" (in the days before social media) the poster would become.

What they did know, however, is they were building something special in the Vikings receivers room.

"Me and Jake knew how good Randy was from the first day. We knew. When Randy came to Florida to work out, it was like, 'OK, bro, it's on now,' " Carter said. "Because we knew what [Jake and I] had done, and we knew that … because Randy had skills that we didn't have. And to complement all three of us? It was something football had never seen."

The timeline of Carter, Reed and Moss donning the Purple and Gold is as follows:

1990: Carter signs with Minnesota as a free agent, having been cut after three seasons with the Eagles.

1991: The Vikings draft Reed 68^th overall.

1998: The Vikings draft Moss 21^st overall.

Prior to Moss arriving in Minnesota, Reed and Carter logged four straight seasons of 1,000 yards apiece.

"What a lot of people don't know is, I was starting in Jake's spot before Jake got there. So when we got Jake, I knew that his body type and mentality were more suited to be the X, boundary receiver, even more so than myself," Carter explained. "And then I moved to the slot and moved to the Z. So, Jake had his own little thing over there … and then I was able to give him a lot of pointers on how to play that position to make him real, real comfortable. So then once I moved, he had his own way to keep developing."

Reed emphasized the importance of not being selfish, of sharing the responsibilities and the spotlight so he and Carter could be a tremendous one-two punch.

"I knew when I was going to get the ball a lot, and some games I knew Cris would get the ball a lot. So I knew when they were bracketing me, sometimes I knew I had to just clear out. I was a decoy," Reed said. "I could run that route like I was getting open, and not be selfish. I think we were selfless with each other.

"And sometimes we'd come back to the huddle, if I'd run two or three, caught two or three balls in a row, and if I'm tired, I get to the huddle, they call the play for me, I look at Cris, 'Hey, man, I need you to take this one. I'm beat,' " Reed continued, "and he's like, 'OK. Go out there and run the clear out. Get out the way. I got it.' "

When Moss came in as a rookie, Carter noted "he was the perfect Z receiver" with incredible speed.

"And Jake and I knew immediately … he was gonna be a huge part of what we were doing," Carter said.

Reed said Moss "amplified" everything the Vikings offense was doing.

"You know, you just couldn't double me and bracket Cris in the slot and leave Randy 1-on-1, right? So the defense had to really start playing more balance," he said. "You had to feel it and pick your poison. 'Who're you going to double, who you going to bracket? 'Cause you're leaving someone open.' I think that was the great thing about having three great receivers like that."

Defenses that already had struggled to find an answer for the Carter-Reed duo found themselves floundering for a plan against a truly unstoppable trio.

Reed, Carter and Moss would walk alongside one another on the field pregame, intentionally passing in front of the opposing DBs going through their warmups.

"We'd sit there and intimidate them," Reed said.

Carter responded with a laugh, "What did I used to tell you, Jake? 'Get big, man. Let them see you. Let them see you, Jake. Swell up.' "

"The look on their faces? Maaaan," Reed drawled. "Sometimes they'd be working out, and we'd walk by real slow, they'd stop. They're staring, they look at their coach, like, 'Hey, man. Let's go.' And it was like, 'Yeah, man. Y'all about to get this business today. Y'all about to get it.'

"I still remember those moments. It felt good," Reed added. "We walked through there like we were giants, and they knew what they were getting into."

The Vikings truly have established a legacy at the receiver position.

"Three Deep" was special. It wasn't Minnesota's first group of talented wideouts, though, and it hasn't been the last.

Reed and Carter noted that during their playing days, they'd talk about the Vikings Legends who had come before them.

"From Sammy White. Ahmad Rashad. Anthony Carter. Cris Carter. Then came [tight end] Steve Jordan. [Even a] guy like Hassan Jones," Reed listed. "Then I came in the league, Jake Reed. Now here we come. Randy Moss, OK. Then you've got Percy Harvin. Then you've got…"

Smooth as if they'd rehearsed it, Carter stepped in.

"… Stefon Diggs. Adam Thielen. And now they've got that dude."

"That dude," of course, is Justin Jefferson.

The Vikings 2020 first-round draft pick has been impressing since day one, moving up the franchise record boards seemingly every week.

"[He's going] to break all my records. I told my wife, each year I keep getting knocked down the wall. After a while, I'm gonna be out the top 10," Reed said, laughing. "But I tell you what, though, this young man we've got right now, he stays healthy, he's gonna come after a lot of records. And that's great. Records are made to be made, and they're made to be broken."

Reed and Carter are thrilled to see Jefferson having the success he's having – and they hope they can inspire and push him to do even bigger and better things.

"I do remember [Jake and I] being on the field, and Ahmad Rashad showed up, and we'd be like, 'Man, we've gotta do something today.' And then when Anthony Carter retired, we was like, 'Oh, bro, we gotta set that thing on fire today,' " Carter said, a smooth twang to his voice.

Alongside Jefferson in Minnesota's current receivers group is second-year pro Jordan Addison, as well as Jalen Nailor, who's impressed early on this season after staying healthy throughout OTAs and training camp.

Will they be the next Three Deep?

We'll see, Carter said.

"I don't try to put any pressure on our guys," he emphasized. "Justin Jefferson is a special, special receiver. Now, we've done well drafting receivers, and I do believe that No. 3 (Addison) can be a super star.

"The Vikings did the most important thing. They signed Justin to a long-term contract, so now he doesn't have to worry about his money; he can keep developing these other partnerships with these other guys," Carter continued. "I do believe that they can definitely do what Jake and I had done, have multiple 1,000-yard seasons, and we just want them to win two more games than we did, all right?"

Carter referenced the 1998 season, in which the Vikings went 15-1 and advanced to the conference championship but lost.

"We got to the NFC Championship. We want them to get through that, then that next [game]," he said. "So we don't root for catches [and yards]. We're rooting for two more wins than we had."