Three retired Vikings are Hall of Fame finalists
Three of the 17 players who are finalists to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH, are former Minnesota Vikings. The most notable is wide receiver Cris Carter, who famously came to the Vikings after being cut by Eagles coach Buddy Ryan for “only knowing how to catch touchdowns.”
History has revealed that Ryan’s reason for uttering such a foolishness was to protect Carter’s career; Cris had allowed a drinking problem to get the better of him at that point, and when he was claimed off waivers for $1 by the Minnesota Vikings, a side-benefit was having access to Minnesota’s Hazelden treatment facility, one of the most nationally recognized addiction treatment facilities in the nation.
The rest is football history; Carter went on to set records for catches in a season and become one of the most recognizable receivers ever to don a Vikings uniform. While he never made it to a Super Bowl, he came close a couple times and was rarely a part of the reason the Vikings didn’t go deeper in the playoffs.
Offensive linemen Randall McDaniel and Gary Zimmerman are also finalists. There’s no multi-night stays in Las Vegas hotels that come with being selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but Carter does represent the best chance for a retired Viking player to be selected to Canton induction on a first-year ballot basis.
None of them will have to wait much longer to know if their time for acknowledgment has come round at last; final selections - usually consisting of five players or so - will be made on February 2.
Tags: Canton, Cris Carter, Gary Zimmerman, Las Vegas hotels, Minnesota Vikings, NFL, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Randall McDaniel
