Five Vikings On Football Outsiders All-NFC Team

We have another website that has put together a mid-season all-conference team, and once again the Minnesota Vikings are well-represented on it.

We love Football Outsiders around here, and with the depth of their analysis every week, it's nice to see that they have five members of our favorite football team on their mid-season All-NFC team. Oh, and of those five guys. . .none of them are named Percy Harvin.

So, who are they? Well, I'm guessing the picture gave one of them away, but let's take a look at the entire list.

Obviously, you can't have an all-NFC North, all-NFC, or all-NFL team this year without the most obvious choice, that being running back Adrian Peterson.

Showing absolutely zero signs of any lingering knee issues. If anything, he's been better than he was before.

Adrian Peterson. . .better than before? Glad he's on our side.

The next one down might surprise some folks, but not those of us that have been paying attention to the Vikings this season, as rookie left tackle Matt Kalil makes the squad as well.

Adrian Peterson's favorite lineman throws one of the best pass-blocking punches in the game. It's evident that this sport comes very naturally to the No. 3 overall pick in this year's draft.

Well, Kalil was the fourth overall pick in the draft, but that's nit-picking. He's been everything the Vikings could have hoped for and more as a rookie. Shame that offensive linemen have no shot at Rookie of the Year awards amongst the "beautiful people" (i.e. skill position players) in the NFL.

Next we have a guy that Football Outsiders has been high on for a very long time in center John Sullivan.

Sullivan's an up-and-comer with good feet in confined areas. Improved strength has means he is no longer a liability in pass protection or inside road-grading.

Defensive end Jared Allen makes the list as well.

Productive as ever. And another star who is also better than his stats.

Allen might have dropped off a little bit compared to last season. . .but, after a season like the one he had in 2011, there really aren't many other directions he could have gone.

The final member of the Vikings to make the squad is kicker Blair Walsh.

His outstanding accuracy is all the more impressive when you look at the distance he's kicking field goals from.

The Blair Walsh Project™ is already one of the NFL's better kickers. . .and as far as rookies are concerned, with all the ink that St. Louis Rams rookie Greg Zuerlein has been getting (ink relative to the kicker position, anyway), Walsh is the better kicker. He's missed just one of his 20 field goal attempts this season, and his touchback percentage of 74.5% (35 touchbacks in 47 kickoffs) is significantly higher than the next-highest kicker in that category (Denver's Matt Prater at 67.4%).

Always nice to see members of our favorite football team getting recognized for their performances.