Minnesota Vikings By The Numbers: #83

We’re getting towards the end of the 80s in our Minnesota Vikings By The Numbers series, and we’ve come to the #83. There haven’t been a lot of prominent 83s in the history of the team, and the two top players at the positions are a couple of tight ends.

First, there was Stu Voigt, who played for the Vikings during the 1970s. He got to Minnesota in 1970 and played 11 seasons for the Vikings, leaving the team after the 1980 season. Voigt was never really an explosive player or anything. . .in his 11 seasons in purple, he got just over 1,900 receiving yards and scored 17 touchdowns. To date, he’s also the last member of the Vikings to score a touchdown in a Super Bowl, having been on the receiving end of a garbage time touchdown pass from Bob Lee in the Vikings’ loss to the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XI.

After the number took a break for a year, it was bestowed upon Steve Jordan at the start of the 1982 season. Jordan, for my money, is still the best tight end the Minnesota Vikings have ever employed, and though he never put up truly eye-popping numbers, he was a very consistent contributor to the Vikings through most of his 13 years in Minnesota. He didn’t find the end zone very many times. . .he had just 28 touchdowns in 13 seasons and only twice had at least five scores in a season. But, with all the great wide receivers the Vikings have had in their history, it’s actually Jordan that ranks #6 in receiving yardage in team history with 6,307. His 498 receptions actually rank him third in team history, behind only Cris Carter and Randy Moss. He also made his way to six consecutive Pro Bowls from 1986 to 1991.

I think Steve Jordan is the fairly easy choice here, and Voigt is really the only one that’s even close to being on the same page. Jeff Dugan had a decent run as a tight end/blocking back for the Vikings for a few years, but didn’t light things up on the stat sheet or anything.

Vikings that have worn the #83:

Don Joyce (1961)

Don Hultz (1963)

Larry Vargo (1964)

John Powers (1966)

Stu Voigt (1970 - 1980)

Steve Jordan (1982 - 1994)

Andrew Jordan (1994)

Mike Tice (1995)

David Frisch (1996)

Robert Tate (1997 - 1998, pre-switch to CB)

Nate Jacquet (2000 - 2001)

Hunter Goodwin (2002 - 2003)

Jeff Dugan (2004 - 2010)

Allen Reisner (2012)

Rodney Smith (2013 - 2014)

MyCole Pruitt (2015 - 2016)

That’s a look at the #83, ladies and gentlemen. Tomorrow, we’ll move on to the #82, and there might actually be some debate to be had. Maybe. Possibly.