Once upon a time, the Minnesota Vikings had a first-round pick quarterback who did not start a game during his rookie season before being anointed the starter heading into his second year.
Before you say, "That just happened with J.J. McCarthy," long-time Vikings fans remember Daunte Culpepper well. He first landed on this writer's radar during his final collegiate season at Central Florida, when the Golden Knights took on Drew Brees and Purdue in September of 1998.
I have never seen a quarterback play so well, and have his team lose as Culpepper's team did. A box score review shows he went 30-for-47 for 368 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Memory says he had more than seven rushing yards in the game, but college football deducts sack yardage from a quarterback's rushing yardage.
UCF outgained Purdue that day, but three turnovers (including a pick-six by the Boilermakers) led to a 35-7 loss. In hindsight, with incomplete data, Culppepper likely accounted for at least one of the Knights' three fumbles (two lost).
After essentially redshirting as a rookie in 1999, Culpepper hit the ground running in his first season as the Vikings' starter, tying for the league lead with 33 touchdown passes while running for 470 yards and seven more scores.
The following two seasons weren't nearly as good, before a better campaign in 2003. Then in 2004, Culpepper led the NFL in passing yards (4,717) while finishing second in the league with 39 touchdown passes. A better season for the Vikings might have garnered him a significant chunk of MVP votes.
The Vikings started the 2005 season 2-4, heading into a trip to take on the Carolina Panthers the day before Halloween. The details of an off-the-field incident during the bye week a few weeks prior had begun to surface. They hung over that game (complete with Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith pretending to row a boat during a touchdown celebration).
Culpepper also suffered a major injury during that game, tearing the ACL, MCL and PCL in his right knee. He never played another game for the Vikings, and at 28 years old, his career was never the same.
The sustainability of Culpepper's skills as a quarterback could be (rightly) questioned at times, and he was fumble-prone. But the idea that the Vikings had their starter under center for at least a few more years crumbled along with his knee that day in Charlotte.
A recent Daunte Culpepper acknowledgement is a harsh reminder for Minnesota Vikings' fans about what could have been.
Lists of players who are underrated, overrated, and the like can be debated endlessly: who belongs, who doesn't, where they should be ranked (if at all), etc.
Nick Villano of FanSided recently put together a list of the 10 most underrated quarterbacks of all-time, starting with Culpepper at No. 10.
"Some talk about Daunte Culpepper as a great career that fell off due to injury, and that’s true, but there are multiple reasons why Culpepper isn’t considered one of the best of his era. Despite making three Pro Bowls and finishing second one season for Offensive Player of the Year, we don’t hear Culpepper’s name too often anymore. In 2004, Culpepper had a league-leading 4,717 yards and 39 touchdowns."
"Unfortunately, Culpepper will always be known as the player the Miami Dolphins chose over Drew Brees. While Brees went and won a Super Bowl in New Orleans, breaking records for them over more than a decade, Culpepper lasted just one season with the Dolphins, playing just four games after they traded a second-round pick for him that offseason."
"Culpepper played for the Raiders and Lions to finish out his career, but those seasons with the Vikings deserve praise. His 2004 season ranks among the 50 best quarterback seasons in NFL history. Only 23 times has a quarterback thrown more than Culpepper’s 39 that season, and most of those names start with Tom or Peyton. His peak was as good as any quarterback of that decade. And that’s a darn good decade of football from the position."
Even without his career-altering knee injury, how much longer Culpepper would have been the Vikings' starting quarterback is an unanswerable question. Brad Childress came in as head coach in 2006, and he may have been inclined to move on even if Culpepper was healthy.
McCarthy, being the Vikings' highest-drafted quarterback since Culpepper, says it all about where the franchise has been situated. Never bad enough to get the highest possible draft pick and get a top-tier quarterback prospect, yet never good enough to do anything other than pop up with a conference title game appearance every 10 years or so.
Culpepper's five-plus seasons as the Vikings' starting quarterback will be remembered for ups and downs. But the peak of his run is up there with as good as it gets for any Minnesota signal caller since Fran Tarkenton retired after the 1978 season.