Minnesota Vikings: Top 10 backup running backs of all time
By Tim Arcand
Some great running backs have played for the Minnesota Vikings and several of them found success as a backup. Here are the top 10 backup rushers of all time!
The Minnesota Vikings lost a valuable piece to their offense when running back Latavius Murray signed with the New Orleans Saints, the first of three, now former Vikings, making the move to Cajun Country. When the Vikings signed Murray to a three-year contract in March 2017, it looked like they had their replacement for Adrian Peterson. In three seasons with the Oakland Raiders, Murray started 31 of 45 games he played.
Then the Vikings selected Dalvin Cook with their first pick in the draft (second round, number 41 overall) and Murray’s status became less clear. Cook opened the season as the starter and it was crystal clear that Murray was the backup. It quickly became obvious an important backup. In Week 4 of 2017, Cook, making his fourth straight start, suffered a season-ending knee injury. Murray took over from there and started 11 of the remaining 12 games. He helped the Vikings go from 2-2 to finish 13-3 and win the NFC North. Murray led the Vikings with 842 yards and eight touchdowns.
Again, in 2018 Murray was invaluable to the Vikings as they eased Cook into the season as he recovered from his injury. Making only six starts, Murray finished second in rushing with 578 yards while still leading the team with six rushing touchdowns. In his two seasons with the Vikings, Murray started 17 games while Cook started only 14. That makes it tough to call Murray the backup.
With Murray signing with the Saints, that leaves Roc Thomas and Mike Boone, two undrafted free agents in their second year, and Ameer Abdullah, a five-year veteran the Vikings acquired last season, to take Murray’s place. No doubt before the roster is finalized other bodies will be in the mix.
Having a capable backup running back is extremely important in the NFL. Last season, only five running backs started all 16 of their team games—surprisingly at the age of 33, Peterson was one of them in Washington. Even though the NFL has evolved into a passing league coveting franchise quarterbacks, an effective running game is still essential for success.
Throughout Vikings history, there have been some important running backs to come off the bench. Here’s a look at the top 10. In order to qualify for the list, a player had to start less than 55 percent of the games they played for the Vikings. The criteria included the number of seasons with the team and how effective they played—yards per game and yards per carry. The greatest weighting was given for the average number of touchdowns per season.