15 September 2024
It went generally unnoticed last week, but Chuck Foreman was among 183 players nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame 2025 Seniors category.
Foreman played seven seasons for the Vikings (1973-1979) and is not in the established Pro Football Hall of Fame. Former Viking Adrian Peterson likely will be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, perhaps in his first year of eligibility in 2027.
But the Vikings’ greatest running back of all time isn’t Peterson. It’s Foreman.
Although Peterson was a tremendous runner, accumulating 11,747 rushing yards during a 10-season Vikings career, he was prone to fumbles, was not a good receiver and was an inept blocker.
Foreman was a great runner and receiver, and the years when he was dominant, the Vikings went to three Super Bowls (1973, 1974, 1976 seasons). With Peterson, the Vikings had no Super Bowl appearances.
Foreman, who rushed for 5,950 yards with 53 touchdowns, also had 350 receptions for 3,156 yards and 23 TDs. And those were in 14-game seasons, not 16 or 17. He led the NFL in receptions in 1975 and TD catches in 1974-75 as a hybrid running back.
A five-time Pro Bowl player, Foreman should also be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
As for his nomination in the senior category, Foreman, 73, said “it’s a privilege, special to be on the list.”
Other former Vikings nominated: Jim Marshall, Ed White, Joey Browner and Herschel Walker.
>> As for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2025 should finally be the class when former Viking Jared Allen is elected.
By the way, Allen, 42, this weekend was to fly from his home in Nashville to headline the sold-out Morrie Miller Athletic Foundation banquet.
>> The only other game during Kevin O’Connell’s three seasons as Vikings coach that the Vikings played as well as they did in the 28-6 victory at the Giants last Sunday was two years ago when they beat the Packers 23-7 in the season-opener in Minneapolis.
What we don’t know yet is how much of the victory over the Giants was due to a very good defense or a bad Giants’ offense.
But fans will find out Sunday afternoon when the NFC’s best team, the 49ers, play the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Vikings will need to play a perfect game to win. There’s a reason San Francisco is a strong Super Bowl contender — the 49ers are loaded everywhere, on offense, on defense and everywhere else.
>> The question with Vikings QB Sam Darnold, 27, has never been physical talent but interceptions. He has a strong arm and is more mobile than ex-Viking Kirk Cousins, 36, who considering his new $180 million contract, embarrassed himself and the Falcons in their 18-10 season-opening loss to the Steelers.
Against the Giants, Darnold had one interception, but during his seven-year NFL career, he’s thrown 57 interceptions. In two college seasons at Southern California, Darnold threw 22 interceptions.
>> The only other QB rumored as a free agent prospect before the Vikings signed Darnold was Jameis Winston, who this season ended with a $4 million, one-year deal with the Browns. Darnold accepted a $10 million, one-year contract. The Broncos were another possibility for Darnold.
>> It’s not immutable that Darnold is merely a one-year bridge for J.J. McCarthy.
>> Last year, the Vikings defense blitzed a lot. The team did not blitz much against the Giants. That’s because this year the defense has better personnel and depth and, at least against the Giants, didn’t have to gamble with blitz.
>> No doubt, the Vikings are hoping that QB Jordan Love doesn’t recover from his knee injury in time for their matchup in two weeks in Green Bay.
>> Vikings running back Aaron Jones has demonstrated he’s a major upgrade from Alexander Mattison, now No. 2 with the Raiders. The Vikings are rotating Jones with Ty Chandler so as to not wear out Jones, who is 29.
>> If next month the feeble Panthers continue to get blown out, there might be a team willing to take ex-Viking Adam Thielen, 34, if there’s a wide receiver injury. It’s unlikely that would be the Vikings because currently they have only three draft picks for 2025.
>> The Vikings will be the home team for their Oct. 6 game against the Jets in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England. Regarding international games, as part of the Vikings stadium lease, the team can only give up a home game every five years.
>> Duane Benson, who starred at linebacker for Hamline University in the mid-1960s before a 10-year NFL career, had his Pipers No. 50 jersey retired posthumously the other day.
>> In his first two games for Rutgers, ex-Gophers QB Athan Kaliakmanis has completed 29 of 47 passes for 377 yards and six TDs.
>> Matthew Hurt, 24, the former Minnesota Mr. Basketball at Rochester John Marshall, next week begins his season for South East Melbourne in Australia.
>> Daniel Oturu, 24, the former Gopher from Cretin-Derham Hall, is playing for Anadolu Efes in Turkey.
>> The Brophy Prep high school football team in Phoenix, Ariz., has three wide receivers whose fathers — Larry Fitzgerald Jr. of Minneapolis, Donovan McNabb and Darren Sharper — played in the NFL.
>> Among the 346 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, 75 are living, and among those, eight are former Twins — Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield, Bert Blyleven, Jim Kaat, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Jack Morris and Joe Mauer.
>> A local sports memorabilia collector the other day bought Hall of Fame former Twins Harmon Killebrew’s final career home run, No. 573, with his autograph, for $55.
>> Augsburg grad Devean George, 47, who spent 11 years in the NBA and now is a real estate developer in Minneapolis, remains the only Division III player ever selected in the first round of the NBA (Lakers in 1999) draft.
>> Keith Arnold, the former Cretin-Derham Hall and Notre Dame pitcher who was lead producer of the Netflix summer hit “Find Me Falling” starring Harry Connick Jr., controls movie rights for the St. Paul-based novel “Until They Bring the Streetcars Back,” which he’s working on. Arnold is also a lead private equity producer for Minneapolis-based Brown & Brown.
>> New Mexico senior Carson Herron, son of Deephaven’s Tim Herron of the PGA Champions Tour, shot 66-67-68-68 (11-under-par) to finish tied for 12th in the recent PGA Tour Americas tournament at Cragun’s in Brainerd.
>> Paul Bernabei, the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference basketball MVP from St. John’s in 1969, passed away the other day at 78 from pancreatic cancer.
>> Mike Larson, the former Gophers goaltender and pitcher and Mechanic Arts star who coached at Minnetonka, died a week ago in Orlando, Fla., from Alzheimer’s disease at 84.
>> Jason Nickleby from Lake Elmo has become a Big Ten football referee crew chief who worked the Syracuse-Ohio game.
>> Local basketball referee Eric Curry is expected to work a lot of Big Ten and Mountain West men’s games this year.
>> Cretin-Derham Hall’s 2024 Hall of Fame class: Nikki Conway, Michael Floyd, Julie Hamiel, Arvesta Kelly Jr, Katie Stephens, Jim O’Neill, Jeff Rosga, Dick Strutz and Tom Warner for a Sept. 26 dinner at the St. Paul school.
>> Goaltender Jaxson Stauber, 25, son of former Gophers Hobey Baker-winning goalie Robb Sauber, has agreed to a $775,000 deal with NHL Utah.
>> Goaltender Kam Hendrickson from Chanhassen has committed to Princeton.
>> In a recent Town and Country Club men’s scramble event that ended in the dark, two golfers — Dan Bettenburg and Doug Kottke — teeing off on the same par-three 18th hole, made holes-in-one.
>> Augsburg University midfielder Mitchel Munzinger scored three goals in the second half of his team’s 7-1 soccer victory over Crown College last week. He missed the first half to attend his physics class lab.
Don’t print that
>> The Vikings’ 2022 NFL draft was complex, for sure, but also telling. The Vikings ended up with just one starter, Ed Ingram, while picks they traded have become starters for three other teams: the Packers, Colts and Raiders.
Minnesota took safety Lewis Cine with its first-round pick, No. 32 overall, then released him before this season. The Vikings traded the No. 34 pick they got in a trade with the Lions to Packers, who took Christian Watson, who became their starting wide receiver.
The Vikings acquired the Nos. 32, 34 and 66 picks from the Lions for Minnesota’s No. 12 pick. The Lions used No. 12 on Jameson Williams, who had 121 yards receiving, including a TD in Detroit’s 26-20 season-opening OT victory over the Rams.
Watson and Williams are in the Vikings North Division. So is Josh Paschal, the Lions’ No. 2 defensive end they took with the No. 46 pick.
The Lions and Packers (with a healthy Jordon Love) are considered Super Bowl contenders.
For the No. 34 pick, the Vikings received the Nos. 53 and 59 picks. With No. 59, they chose Ingram, a starting right guard. With No. 53, traded to the Colts, Indianapolis took wide receiver Alec Pierce, who is a backup wide receiver. With the No. 66 pick from Detroit, the Vikings took linebacker Brian Asamoah, their No. 2 right inside linebacker.
The Vikings got the No. 42 pick in a trade with the Colts and chose cornerback Andrew Booth Jr., who they recently dumped on the Cowboys for cornerback Nahshon Wright, who the Vikings subsequently released. The Cowboys have kept Booth as their No. 2 backup.
Also in that ignominious 2022 trade, the Vikings sent the No. 77 pick to the Colts, who chose Bernhard Raimann, now their left tackle starter. With No. 192, the Colts chose Andrew Ogletree, their third tight end.
The Vikings traded Nos. 122 and 250 in the 2022 draft to the Raiders for Nos. 126 and 227. With the No. 122 draft pick, the Raiders chose Zamir White, now their starting running back. With No. 250, the Raiders took running back Brittain Brown, released two weeks ago.
With No. 227, the Vikings chose tight end Nick Muse. The Vikings traded the No. 126 pick back to the Raiders for No. 165 and 169. With No. 126, the Raiders took defensive lineman Neil Farrell Jr., who was traded to the Chiefs for a 2024 draft pick — Dylan Laube — who is the Raiders No. 4 running back.
With the No. 165 pick, the Vikings took defensive lineman Esezi Otomewo, who they released in August. At No. 169, the Vikings took Ty Chandler, their No. 2 running back to Aaron Jones.
Also in 2022, the Vikings traded a future seventh-round pick to the Raiders for backup QB Nick Mullens. That pick turned out to be cornerback M.J. Devonshire, released just before the regular season.
>> It’s telling that each of the players Vikings cut before this season’s deadline and who have ended up with other teams are on practice squads and not 53-man rosters.
>> It still looks like, behind the scenes, that the NBA is trying to get a deal done that would have Timberwolves-Lynx owner Glen Taylor buying out the Alex Rodriguez-Marc Lore-Michael Bloomberg group for more money than they originally invested as limited partners.
>> The NBA’s new $76 billion media rights deal could mean nearly $200 million per season for the Timberwolves over the 11-year contract span.
>> Tickets for the Timberwolves Oct. 4 exhibition game against the Lakers in Palm Desert, Calif., range from $132.95 to $738.10.
The Lakers, by the way, have hired former Benilde-St. Margaret’s guard Michael Wexler, who graduated summa cum laude, as their lead video coordinator.
>> Despite several options, look for the Twins to remain on WCCO-AM next year.
>> The state’s top prep boys basketball prospect, 6-11, 240-pound senior Tommy Ahneman of Cretin-Derham Hall, is making an official recruiting visit to Iowa this weekend. He still has official visits scheduled with Minnesota, Nebraska and Notre Dame.
Meanwhile, the Gophers on Friday offered 6-7 Cretin-Derham Hall sophomore Tyus Schlagel, who already has an offer from Iowa and this weekend was to make an unofficial visit to Wisconsin. Iowa has also offered Raiders’ 6-2 junior off-guard JoJo Mitchell.
>> With the recent coaching vacancy, it’ll be interesting whether the Polars end up with star alumnus Khalid El-Amin, now coaching at Anoka-Ramsey Community College.
>> There are wait lists for the Gophers’ three-night (starting at $1,419) and two-night ($1,049) fan packages to Los Angeles for the football team’s October 12 game against UCLA.
>> After teaching elementary school students for 20 years in the Robbinsdale district, Randall McDaniel, 59, has retired. Many of his students, grades one through five, never even knew of McDaniel’s Pro Football Hall of Fame background with the Vikings. And that, he said, was fine with him.
>> Nebraska freshman QB Dylan Raiola, who de-committed from Georgia, played for four different high schools in four years. The Gophers don’t play the Cornhuskers this season.
>> The Peacock Network has a lot of nerve charging for the Gophers’ football game against Rhode Island.
>> While the Warriors’ Stephen Curry’s new contract is 62.6 million for the 2026-27 season, the Timberwolves’ Karl-Anthony Towns already is signed for $57.1 million that season, and for $61 million the following season.
>> In the Houston Texans’ 29-27 season-opening victory over the Colts, ex-Vikings pass rusher Danielle Hunter, 29, with his new $49 million, two-year contract, had one tackle. Hunter returns to Minneapolis next Sunday to play the Vikings.
>> During Sunday’s Vikings-49ers national anthem ceremony, two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters will do a flyover.
>> The NFL’s best play-by-play voice, Kevin Harlan, will work Sunday’s Vikings-49ers game on CBS-TV.
>> It’ll be between Aaron Rodgers of the Jets and Kirk Cousins of the Falcons for NFL Comeback Player of the Year, but Sam Darnold of the Vikings will be in the running, per betOnline.ag.
Overheard
>> Former Vikings running back Chuck Foreman on Vikings running back Aaron Jones: “I’ve always said he’s the real deal — he runs with major, major attitude.”
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