5 Best Running Backs in Minnesota Vikings History

While Dalvin Cook's free agent saga began after he refused to take a pay cut from the Vikings, his career in Minneapolis was still exceptional.

Cook ranks third on the Vikings' all-time rushing list with 5,993 yards, doing so in just 73 games with the team. For comparison, Bill Brown took 180 games to compile 5,757 yards, albeit playing a different style of football in a different era.

Cook's 82.1 yards per game is second in Vikings history, further underscoring the brief, but electric nature of his time in the Twin Cities. The FSU product made four straight Pro Bowls from 2019 to 2022, recording at least 1,100 yards in each. His 2020 campaign was his breakout, where he rushed for 1,557 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Cook has several records on his mantle for elite single-game performances, including finishing with the franchise record for rushing yards in a first half (153) on December 9, 2021 against the Steelers.

3. Chuck Foreman (1973-1980)

While Cook surpassed Foreman on the all-time rushing yards leaderboard, judging a running back on that one stat often diminishes their performance. The fact is, Foreman was an elite dual-threat back, bursting onto the scene as a 1973 first-rounder by rushing for 800 yards and hauling in 37 receptions for 362 yards, winning Offensive Player of the Year.

That dual threat success would only continue. Foreman made five straight Pro Bowls out of the gate, finished in the top four in AP MVP voting in 1974 and 1975, leading the league in receptions with 73 with a then-league record 22 combined touchdowns in the latter season.

Foreman was exceptional in the 1976-77 playoffs, leading the league in rushing yards (267) and touchdowns (3) and rushing for 118 yards in the Vikings' 24-13 win over the Rams in the NFC championship. The Vikings again fell short in the Super Bowl, through no fault of Foreman's own.

2. Robert Smith (1993-2000)

Smith's mid-to-late-career run in Minnesota was nothing short of exceptional; the Ohio State product, who left the Buckeyes amid tremendous controversy over his pre-med studies, struggled with injuries in his first four seasons in the NFL.

When it all came together for Smith in 1997, he was must-watch. Smith rushed for 1,000 yards in the final four years of his career, all spent in Minnesota, making two Pro Bowls and setting the franchise record for most rushing yards in a playoff game with his 140 yards against the Cowboys in a 27-10 wild card win in 2000.

That fall, Smith finished his career with by far his best season, rushing for a career-high 1,500 rushing yards and seven touchdowns while averaging 95.1 yards per game.

1. Adrian Peterson (2007-2016)

Peterson isn't just the best running back in Vikings history but one of the most decorated halfbacks in NFL history.

When the Vikings held the No. 7 pick in 2007, it felt like an impossibility that Peterson would still be on the board. He was formerly the first college freshman to finish as the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy while with Oklahoma, where he rushed for 1,925 yards in his first season, though he'd wind up hampered with injuries in his final two seasons in Norman.

Peterson lived up to his draft pick and then some, finishing as the fifth-leading rusher in NFL history, and the last non-quarterback to win MVP, after rushing for a league-leading 2,097 yards (his second of three rushing titles) and averaging a stupefying 131.1 yards per game.

Peterson made seven Pro Bowls during his time in Minneapolis, four of which came right out of the gate from 2007 to 2010. He finished as either the All-Pro running back in the NFC or the runner-up in seven seasons, winning in four of them.

No. 28 on the Vikings is a hollowed number, and Peterson firmly earned his place in the conversation for the greatest running back of all time.

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