Steve Hutchison headlines the group of offensive guards seeking to land on our Vikings All Quarter Century Team.
Now that we’ve got our bookends of the offensive line voted on, it’s time to work inside and figure out which players will make up the interior!
The Vikings haven’t been nearly as lucky with their offensive guards as they have been with their tackles this century. However, the top end of the guards is ELITE, it’s just that the rest of the players who make up the pool have a ceiling of long-term starter with no accolades to go along with them.
At the very top of the list is obviously former Vikings great Steve Hutchison who you will
Steve Hutchinson (2006-2011)
I think we all know who the runaway favorite will be in this first poll, but we’re going to run through it anyway.
Hutchison was originally drafted in the first round by the Seahawks in 2001, but he made his way to Minnesota in 2006 as a free agent with a then-record deal for an offensive guard at seven years and $49 million.
During his time with the Vikings, Hutchison was named a First-Team All-Pro three times (2007-2009) and a Second-Team All-Pro in 2006. He also made the Pro Bowl from 2006-2009, as well. Hutchison was such a dominant guard in his day (7 total First or Second-team All-Pro selections in his career) that he was named to the NFL’s All-Decade Team of the 2000s and was recognized as one of the 50 greatest Vikings of all time.
In 2020, Hutchison was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Anthony Herrera (2004-2011)
Herrera joined the Vikings in 2004 as an undrafted free agent following a collegiate career at the University of Tennessee. He started six games as a rookie while making an appearance in 10 total contests. After being limited to two games (zero starts) in 2006, Herrera would go on to start double-digit games in every season for the Vikings through the rest of his career, including a career high 16 games in 2008.
David Dixon (1994-2004)
Dixon may be the longest-tenured Vikings offensive guards in franchise history as he started 134 games while playing in 152 total. This century, roughly half of those starts were made with 77 in 78 games played from 2000 until his career ended in 2004.
The 6’5, 343-pound Dixon was an active rugby player before joining the Arizona State football team and getting drafted by the Patriots in the ninth round back in 1992. His success was not only unlikely, but the ability to stay with one football team long enough and play in over 150 games for the same franchise is dang near miraculous.
