Minnesota Vikings By The Numbers: #89

We have now gotten into the 80s in our Minnesota Vikings By The Numbers series. The next group of 10 numbers will feature some of the greatest and most dynamic players in the history of the franchise.

Unfortunately, not many of them wore #89.

Of all the players to don the #89 for the purple and gold, the greatest might have been the first. That distinction belongs to wide receiver Jerry Reichow, who came to the team in their inaugural season of 1961 after a fairly nondescript career to that point. In his first season in Minnesota, however, he was outstanding, reeling in 11 touchdown passes and gaining 859 yards on 50 receptions. He couldn’t duplicate that success in his following Vikings’ seasons, however, as he had just eight scores in the next three seasons combined.

If you look at the list of players from Pro Football Reference’s database of #89s in Vikings history, that stretch for Reichow puts him significantly above everyone else in team history that’s ever worn the number. In terms of Approximate Value, which you can find an explanation of here, Reichow is pretty much lapping the field with an AV of 22. Only one other 89 in Vikings’ history, wide receiver Mike Jones, even gets into double figures.

Andrew Jordan had a couple of nice years for the Vikings, and Matthew Hatchette had some mild success as the fourth guy in the “three deep” era, but overall I think it’s pretty easy to give Reichow the nod here.

Vikings that have worn the #89:

• Jerry Reichow (1961 - 1964)
• Bill Martin (1968)
• Kent Kramer (1969 - 1970)
• Robert Brown (1971)
• Doug Kingsriter (1973 - 1975)
• Douglas Cunningham (1979)
• Ken Sanders (1980 - 1981)
• Harold Jackson (1982)
• Mike Jones (1983 - 1985)
• Ed Schenk (1987)
• Greg Richardson (1987)
• Paul Coffman (1988)
• Ira Hillary (1990)
• Terry Obee (1991)
• Joe Johnson (1992)
• Olanda Truitt (1993)
• Andrew Jordan (1995 - 1997)
• Matthew Hatchette (1997 - 2000)
• Cedric James (2002)
• Matt Cercone (2002)
• Kenny Clark (2003)
• Richard Owens (2004)
• Travis Taylor (2005 - 2006)
• Robert Ferguson (2007 - 2008)
• Allen Reisner (2011)
• John Carlson (2012 - 2013)
• David Morgan (2016 - present)

Yeah, that’s. . .yeah. That’s #89, folks.

If you’re looking for a rousing debate. . .well, you’re not going to get it with tomorrow’s number, either. But I think most of us knew that already.