The $75 All-Time Minnesota Vikings Team Challenge

Over the past week or so, I'm sure you've seen the "$15 NBA Team Challenge" that has been going around the internet, and it's a cool little idea. The concept is that you get $15 to put together the starting five for the NBA that you feel is the best from a list of all-time greats.

(In case you're curious. . .Stockton, West, Bird, Garnett, Kareem.)

So, I thought this was a cool enough idea that I wanted to apply it to our favorite football team, the Minnesota Vikings. But football has a lot more spots to worry about than basketball does. And that's fine. . .we just increase the budget by a lot. With that, I bring to you. . .

The $75 All-Time Minnesota Vikings Team Challenge

The idea is the same. . .you have $75 to build a full Minnesota Vikings' lineup on both sides of the ball. . .eleven guys on offense, eleven guys on defense, one kicker, one punter, and even a coach. You can build your team how you want to. . .want to load up on defense? You won't be able to get a lot of big name offensive guys, and vice versa.

To start, let me give you the players, and then a couple of minor constraints that you need to follow. We'll start with the offense. (By the way, you can click on both of these pictures to embiggen.)

And now, the defense.

(Tremendous thanks to our friend Jesse Lund over at Twinkie Town for putting together the graphics. And, yes, there may be a typo or two on them that I didn't catch. Just roll with it. . .you know who everyone is.)

So, here are the guidelines.

• Offense - Must consist of one quarterback, one running back, three wide receivers, one tight end, one center, two guards, and two tackles.
• Defense - Must consist of two defensive ends, two defensive tackles, one middle linebacker, two outside linebackers, two safeties, and two cornerbacks.
• And, if you didn't have this figured out already, you get one punter, one kicker, and one coach.
• For the positions that you need multiples of, you can take any of the players that are listed at the position. For example, taking Chris Doleman at defensive end does not preclude you from taking Jared Allen simply because they're under the same column. You can have any two defensive ends, defensive tackles, guards, tackles, etc.
• Your total for all 25 spots can not exceed $75. You can be under $75, of course, but. . .why the heck would you not want to spend your entire budget?
• You may disagree with some of the players that are included and/or some of the values that have been assigned to them. Just roll with it. . .this is supposed to be a fun sort of thing.

And that's about all I've got for this one. Have at it in the $75 All-Time Minnesota Vikings Team Challenge, ladies and gentlemen!