StaTuesday: Best Vikings draft picks ever

There is no tried and true method in determining the best NFL players.

But pro-football-reference.com has one scientific option: Approximate Value.

Is this a perfect way to determine, say the best all-time draft picks for a certain team? Maybe, maybe not, but it seems like a decent way to go. There are flaws to this methodology, such it really begins in 1960 and perhaps you don't agree with the computations. For more on the Approximate Value you can read much more about it here.

For our purposes, we're going to use Weighted Career Approximate Value (described as "100% of the player's best season, plus 95% of his 2nd-best season, plus 90% of his 3rd-best season, plus 85% of his 4th-best season" and so on).

To determine the best draft picks in Minnesota Vikings history, we ordered it by the Approximate Value only for when that player appeared in a Vikings uniform. For example, Fran Tarkenton was drafted by Minnesota but also played for the New York Giants. You'll see in the chart below both Tarkenton's Career AV but also his Vikings AV. This also eliminates someone like Bobby Bell, who was selected by Minnesota in the second round of the 1963 NFL Draft and has the highest Career AV of any player ever draft by the Vikings but who chose to sign with the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs (and never played a down for Minnesota).

So, with that out of the way, here are the top draft picks in Vikings history, according to their time spent playing for Minnesota:

Player	Pos	Year	Rd	Pick	CarAv	DrAv
Carl Eller	DE	1964	1	6	123	123
Alan Page	DT	1967	1	15	135	120
Randall McDaniel	G	1988	1	19	119	111
Ron Yary	T	1968	1	1	97	96
Kevin Williams	DT	2003	1	9	99	95
Fran Tarkenton	QB	1961	3	29	149	88
Adrian Peterson	RB	2007	1	7	88	88
Chris Doleman	DE	1985	1	4	114	87
Daunte Culpepper	QB	1999	1	11	86	81
Chuck Foreman	RB	1973	1	12	82	80
Roy Winston	LB	1962	4	45	80	80
Randy Moss	WR	1998	1	21	123	79
Matt Blair	LB	1974	2	51	72	72
Joey Browner	DB	1983	1	19	72	72
Bobby Bryant	DB	1967	7	167	71	71

Perhaps not surprisingly, most of the players above were taken in the first round. The good: Minnesota has hit on a lot of its top picks. The bad: The Vikings don't have a good history of finding gems later in the draft.

Minnesota did get a find in Tarkenton, though, who is the best third-round pick in NFL history, at least according to Weighted Approximate Value.

For reference, here are the top picks in each round from 1-7, with anyone from round 8 or on (the NFL moved to a seven-round draft in 1994) included in one batch. Since quarterbacks are more likely to have a higher value, we've included the top non-QB as well, when applicable. Also, when an AFL player was the highest-rated, we've also included the highest NFL-rated draft pick in that round.

Round - Player, AV

1 - Peyton Manning, 177; Ray Lewis, 160
2 - Brett Favre, 156; Mike Singletary, 121
3 - Tarkenton, 149; Terrell Owens & Jason Taylor, 119
4 - Jahri Evans, 108
5 - Tarkenton (AFL); Zach Thomas, 118
6 - Tom Brady, 164; Greg Lloyd, 93
7 - Bobby Bell (AFL), 103; Tom Nalen, 102
8-plus - Johnny Unitas, 9th round, 114; Paul Krause, 12th round, 113

Here's the top-five picks by the Vikings in every round since their inception, using Career AV rather than the AV just with the player's time in Minnesota:

First Round

Player	Pos	Year	Pick	CarAv	DrAv
Alan Page	DT	1967	15	135	120
Carl Eller	DE	1964	6	123	123
Randy Moss	WR	1998	21	123	79
Randall McDaniel	G	1988	19	119	111
Chris Doleman	DE	1985	4	114	87

Second Round

Player	Pos	Year	Pick	CarAv	DrAv
Bobby Bell	LB	1963	16	163	0
Ed White	G	1969	39	87	28
Matt Blair	LB	1974	51	72	72
Lance Rentzel	WR	1965	23	55	1
Fred Robbins	DT	2000	55	52	9
Sammy White	WR	1876	54	52	52

Third Round

Player	Pos	Year	Pick	CarAv	DrAv
Fran Tarkenton	QB	1961	29	149	88
Henry Thomas	DT	1987	72	83	53
Tim Irwin	T	1981	74	68	67
Kirk Lowdermilk	C	1985	59	57	31
Jake Reed	WR	1991	68	53	49

Fourth Round

Player	Pos	Year	Pick	CarAv	DrAv
Roy Winston	LB	1962	45	80	80
Joe Phillips	NT	1986	93	56	1
Tom Keating	DT	1964	53	50	0
Paul Flatley	WR	1963	44	47	31
Brian Robison	DE	2007	102	43	43

Fifth Round

Player	Pos	Year	Pick	CarAv	DrAv
Ed Sharockman	DB	1961	57	64	64
Ed McDaniel	LB	1992	125	49	49
Tony Williams	DT	1997	151	33	15
Hassan Jones	WR	1993	120	32	31
John Kirby	LB	1964	62	29	25

Sixth Round

Player	Pos	Year	Pick	CarAv	DrAv
Matt Birk	C	1998	173	84	65
John Sullivan	C	2008	187	43	41
Larry Bowie	G	1962	73	33	33
Steve Bono	QB	1985	142	32	0
Brandon Fusco	C	2011	172	28	28

Seventh Round

Player	Pos	Year	Pick	CarAv	DrAv
Bobby Bryant	DB	1967	167	71	71
Carl Lee	DB	1983	186	67	66
Steve Jordan	TE	1982	179	48	48
Jason Fisk	DT	1995	243	47	6
Oscar Reed	RB	1968	167	26	26

Eighth Round Plus

Player	Pos	Year	Rd	Pick	CarAv	DrAv
Jerry Mays	DE	1961	11	141	81	0
Brad Johnson	QB	1992	9	227	74	24
Scott Studwell	LB	1977	9	250	70	70
Terry Allen	RB	1990	9	241	61	23
Brian Habib	G	1988	10	264	60	11

Among active Vikings, Robison could obviously still move up among the fourth-rounders but he also should be aware that Everson Griffen (37 AV) could pass him up soon, too.

Players like Anthony Barr (25), Xavier Rhodes (22), Kyle Rudolph (22) and Harrison Smith (30) have a long way to go to reach their respective top-fives (all were first-round selections, with the exception of Rudolph, a second-rounder).