NFL: Randy Moss and the Top 10 Vikings to Return to Minnesota

The biggest question on many Vikings fans' minds may be, when will the 2011 NFL season begin?

A close second could be to whom will Christian Ponder be throwing the football? With Sidney Rice set to test the free-agent market, and with Bernard Berrian's fabulous impression of the invisible man, that could leave only Percy Harvin. 

Perhaps Randy Moss could sign with the Vikings once again—after all it's said the third time's the charm!

This got me to thinking about other Vikings players whose Minnesota careers were interrupted by a stint on another team. 

As I searched Vikings rosters from the past, I was surprised to find 16 players who had returned to Minnesota after playing elsewhere.

Offensive players made up 13 of the 16 players; quarterbacks and wide receivers led the list with five each, followed by a couple of running backs and an offensive lineman.

Looking at their complete contributions over their entire careers with the Vikings, here's my attempt to rank the top 10 players who left and came back. 

What can I say, I know I'm reaching, but with no end in sight of the NFL lockout, there's not a whole lot left that hasn't already been analyzed to death!

No. 10: Everett Lindsay, OL (1993-1998, 2001-2003)

Everett Lindsay kicks off this ranking because I stated on the last slide there would be 10.

Lindsay was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fifth round of the 1993 draft out of Mississippi. In his first four years, he would start 15 games for the Vikings—12 of those were in his rookie season.

In 1999, Lindsay started all 16 games for the Baltimore Ravens. The following year he started all 16 games for the Cleveland Browns before returning in 2001 to the Vikings to play another three seasons and start another 13 games.

In total he would play in (or at least was active for) 104 games with Minnesota.

No. 9: Bob Lee, QB/P (1969-1972, 1975-1978)

A 17th-round draft choice of the Minnesota Vikings in 1968, Bob Lee joined the Vikings in 1969 as the team's punter. That year he averaged 40 yards per punt and completed seven of 11 passes for a touchdown.

In total, Lee spent eight seasons in Minnesota, separated by two in Atlanta.

In his first stint with the Vikings, Lee only started six games at quarterback. Upon his return in 1975, he played exclusively at quarterback, starting another five games over the next four seasons.

Lee played in 52 games for the Vikings with a 9-2 record as the starting quarterback. He finished his career in Minnesota with 15 touchdown passes and a 67.9 quarterback rating.

No. 8: Leo Lewis, PR/WR (1981-1990, 1991)

Leo Lewis was a kick and punt returner for the Vikings who played 140 of his 143 games in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings.

In 1990, he started the season with the Cleveland Brown returning punts. Only playing in three games and returning eight punts, Lewis would return to the Vikings for 11 games and finish his career with Minnesota in 1991.

Lewis is the Vikings' franchise leader in punt returns and yardage with 1,812 yards on 193 punt returns. He returned one punt for a touchdown, and he also caught 181 passes for 2,915 yards and 16 touchdowns. 

No. 7: Jake Reed, WR (1991-1999, 2001)

Jake Reed played 10 of his 12 NFL seasons with Minnesota.

A third-round draft choice of the Vikings in 1991, Reed played nine years in Minnesota before playing a single season with the Saints in New Orleans and returning to the Vikings in 2001.

He is fourth in Vikings history with 6,433 yards and sixth with 33 touchdown receptions. For four consecutive seasons from 1994 to 1997, Reed had consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons.

With the emergence of Randy Moss in 1998, Reed's receiving yards dropped to 474. He never achieved 1,000 yards in a season the rest of his career.

No. 6: Brad Johnson, QB (1994-1998, 2005-2006)

Johnson was a ninth-round draft choice of the Minnesota Vikings in 1992. He made the team as a backup quarterback in 1994 and backed up Warren Moon a couple of years before starting eight games in 1996.

Johnson had the bad luck of suffering an injury early in the 1998 season. Randall Cunningham took over, and the rest was history, as the Vikings would go 15-1 that season.

Cunningham played so well that the Vikings traded Johnson after the season to the Washington Redskins.

Johnson played two seasons with the Redskins, then moved on to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2002, he led the Bucs with a 10-3 record as the quarterback on their way to winning the Super Bowl.

In 2005, Johnson returned to the Vikings in 2005 and started another 23 games over the next two seasons. He finished his career fifth on the Vikings with 11,098 passing yards and 65 touchdowns, and he also finished with an 82.5 quarterback rating. 

No. 5: Moe Williams, RB (1996-2000, 2002-2005)

Moe Williams played nine of his 10 seasons in the NFL with the Vikings. He spent the 2001 season with the Baltimore Ravens.

In his return to the team in 2002, Williams switched from No. 21 to No. 20 and led the Vikings with 11 touchdowns.

In 117 games with Minnesota, Williams finished his career with 1,535 yards and 21 touchdowns.

No. 4: Darrin Nelson, RB (1982-1989, 1991-1992)

Another running back who left and returned wearing the No. 20 jersey, Darrin Nelson was the Vikings' first-round draft choice in 1982.

Nelson spent eight seasons with the Vikings. In 1989, he was a part of the trade with the Dallas Cowboys that brought Herschel Walker to Minnesota. Nelson refused to report to Dallas and would eventually end up in San Diego.

After the 1990 season, Nelson returned to finish his career with the Vikings.

In 1987, Nelson led the league with a 4.9 average per carry. That season, the Vikings made it to the NFC Championship game and eventually lost 17-10 to the Washington Redskins.

Nelson finished seventh on the Vikings' all-time rushing list with 4,231 yards, but only rushed for 18 touchdowns in 189 games.

No. 3: Chris Doleman, DE (1985-1993, 1999)

Defensive end Chris Doleman is the only defensive player to make the ranking.

The fourth overall pick in the 1985 draft, Doleman was a force on the Vikings' defensive line for nine seasons before playing two years in Atlanta, followed by three years in San Francisco. 

Doleman returned in 1999, starting 12 games for the Vikings.

His best season would be in 1989 when he led the NFL with 21 sacks. Six of his eight Pro Bowl appearances came as a member of the Vikings, and twice he was named First-Team All-Pro in 1989 and 1992.

In his career with the Vikings, Doleman finished with 96.5 sacks.

No. 2: Randy Moss, WR (1998-2004, 2010 (Four Games))

Even though Randy Moss did practically next to nothing in his return to the Vikings in 2010, he did plenty in his first seven seasons.

Moss is second all-time on the Vikings' receiving list with 9,316 yards and 92 touchdowns.

The Vikings' first-round draft choice in 1998, Moss led the NFL with 17 touchdowns that season and earned the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year. Twice more in 2000 and 2003 he led the NFL in touchdown receptions as a member of the Vikings.

Following the 2004 season, Minnesota traded Moss to the Oakland Raiders where he played two seasons before moving on to the New England Patriots. 

Last season, after making comments about his lack of a contract extension from the Patriots, New England traded Moss to the Vikings for a third-round draft choice.

Moss' second stint with the Vikings would only last four games before then-head coach Brad Childress released Moss following a loss to his former team, the New England Patriots. 

No. 1: Fran Tarkenton, QB (1961-1966, 1972-1978)

Who else but Francis Asbury Tarkenton!

Tarkenton is the franchise leader with 33,098 yards. He came off the bench in the Vikings' very first game against the heavily-favored Chicago Bears and shocked the world, throwing four touchdown passes to lead the Vikings to a 37-13 victory; it would be one of only three for the team that season.

He spent six seasons in Minnesota before being traded to the New York Giants for the 1967 season—Bud Grant's first as the Minnesota Vikings head coach. 

Tarkenton returned in 1972 and quarterbacked the Vikings in three of their four Super Bowls.

Along with the franchise record in passing yards, Tarkenton is also the leader with 239 touchdown passes.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.