A new decade is upon us, as the Vikings have their sights set on 2020 and beyond. But before we fully turn to what's next, Vikings fans looked back at some of their favorite players from the previous decade.
Minnesota went 81-77-2in the seasons between 2010 and 2019, winning a pair of NFC North titles and making four total playoff appearances during the decade (2-4 in postseason play).
There isn't an All-Decade Team for the Minnesota Vikings, but if there was one, who would be on it for their play with the team between 2010-19?
Vikings.com opened the topic for debate to a panel featuring "Voice of the Vikings" Paul Allen, analyst Pete Bercich, Mark Rosen and Kevin Seifert. Fans also were invited to vote online for their best players of the decade. More than 5,000 ballots were cast at each position.
Today's recap covers tight ends, where the Vikings 2011 second-round draft pick out of Notre Dame ran away with the votes.
Kyle Rudolph, 2011-19
Fan Vote: 5,053 of 5,491 total votes at TE (93 percent)
Stats from the Decade: 128 games (120 starts); 425 catches for 4,154 yards and 47 touchdowns; averaged 9.8 yards per reception
Thoughts from the Panel
"Kyle, from a touchdown-catching standpoint, statistically is the greatest tight end in the history of Minnesota Vikings football. … Kyle, for my money, not only did he win the New Orleans game, back-left of the end zone, with a tricky-difficult catch, but he morphed his game in 2019 to do things a lot of fans and media members felt he couldn't do. That was being a legitimately very good blocker in the running game, and his pass protection got better, too. So, it's Kyle Rudolph by a mile." – Paul Allen
"From his very first days in games, you could see how unique he was a red-zone receiver, just with his long arms, so tall and just reaching over people to grab the ball. He has had, as far as red-zone touchdowns, there's only been two other tight ends over the whole decade who have had more, and that's Jimmy Graham and Rob Gronkowski. You look at Graham, 153 targets in the red zone; Rudolph, 98 targets in the red zone." – Kevin Seifert
Also received votes…
Visanthe Shiancoe, 2010-11
Stats from the Decade: 32 games (23 starts); 83 catches for 939 yards and five touchdowns; averaged 11.3 yards per reception
Rhett Ellison, 2012-16
Stats from the Decade: 73 games (41 starts); 51 catches for 515 yards and three touchdowns; averaged 10.1 yards per reception
John Carlson, 2012-13
Stats from the Decade: 27 games (14 starts); 40 catches for 387 yards and one touchdown; averaged 9.7 yards per reception
Chase Ford, 2013-14
Stats from the Decade: 20 games (five starts); 34 catches for 391 yards and one touchdown; averaged 11.5 yards per reception
