5 forgotten former members of the Minnesota Vikings

Josh Freeman – QB

Josh Freeman was a part of the Minnesota Vikings for a brief time during the team’s disastrous 2013 season. The Vikings felt the need to bring him in as the top of their quarterback depth chart consisted of an injured Christian Ponder and an ineffective Matt Cassel.

Before we talk about the absolute crap show that was Freeman’s lone start in purple though, let’s get a little history on this big bodied quarterback.

He was selected 17th overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2009 NFL Draft. Freeman played with the Bucs for five seasons and he actually had a couple of very good years as their quarterback.

In 2012, Freeman threw for 4,065 yards with 27 touchdowns to 17 interceptions. Things then began to take a turn for the worse during the following season.

Freeman struggled out of the gate in 2013 and by Week 3 he was benched in favor of Mike Glennon. He became disgruntled and he suddenly found himself on the trading block. With no takers in sight, Tampa Bay eventually just cut their losses and released their former first-round pick.

Freeman then signed with the Vikings shortly after his release. As alluded to above, Minnesota’s quarterback situation at the time was a mess and just 10 days after he was signed, Freeman was named the Vikings’ starter for their Week 7 game against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.

That contest has to go down as one of the most painful to ever watch in the history of the NFL. Neither team seemed to want to win, and both quarterbacks were completely awful and ineffective.

The Giants eventually snoozed their way to a 23-7 win and Freeman finished the game completing just 20 of his 53 passes for 190 yards and one interception.

He was actually going to start Minnesota’s next matchup against the Green Bay Packers, but he ended up having concussion-like symptoms that forced him out of action. He never played another snap for the Vikings again and the entire Purple Nation was very thankful for that.