Tag: Henry Thomas

97 days until Vikings season opener: Every player to wear No. 97

Everson Griffen wore the number for a long time before giving it to Harrison Phillips, but who else has worn No. 97 for the Vikings?

It’s the final countdown…

Well, sort of.

The Minnesota Vikings will kick off their 2023 regular season in 97 days at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 10.

From now until then, we will take a trip down memory lane and count each day by revisiting the players that have worn that specific jersey number.

Defensive tackle Harrison Phillips currently wears the number for the Vikings, and began wearing it last season. The real star of this group, though, is Everson Griffen, who wore the number from 2010 to 2022.

With 98 days until kickoff, here’s a look at every player to wear No. 97 with the Vikings (via Pro Football Reference):

Minnesota Vikings history with the franchise tag

Here’s who the Minnesota Vikings have used the franchise tag on

Each offseason, the NFL has a window where teams can put free agents on the franchise tag. What that does is prevents a free agent from being able to sign with another team without their previous team being able to match or lose without compensation, which will be two first-round picks.

The amounts for the franchise tags have been revealed and they are position by position.

QB: $32,416,000
RB: $10,091,000
WR: $19,743,000
TE: $11,345,000
OL: $18,244,000
DE: $19,727,000
DT: $18,937,000
LB: $20,926,000
CB: $18,140,000
S: $14,460,000
K: $5,393,000
P: $5,393,000

The Minnesota Vikings could franchise one player this year, but it would be somewhat of a surprise. They have done a good job in using the tag in a smart fashion, having done so five times prior.

Top 101 LSU football players of all time: No. 90-81

The countdown continues with the next 10 players on our list.

LSU football has been around for a long time. Since 1893, to be exact.

In that span, plenty of great football players have come through the program. Before we begin the journey of the 2022 season, I thought I’d take a stab at ranking the 101 best players in LSU history.

A few days ago, we began our countdown with Nos. 101-91.

I have tried to avoid recency bias as much as possible. It can be hard to get enough information about older players, but I did my best to get them about in the ballpark of where they should be.

Anytime there’s a list this big, people will disagree. There’s so little that separates the 50th player from the 70th, and so on.

I tried to balance consistency over multiple seasons with some players that had one great year. Both have been rewarded here. With that in mind, let’s continue the countdown.

Dwyane Wade promised a documentary with …

Dwyane Wade promised a documentary with unprecedented access and never-seen footage, and he certainly delivered. The film on Wade’s life – which ESPN will air at 9 p.m on Feb. 23 after a screening for fans at AmericanAirlines Arena earlier that day – shows us Wade speaking with agent Henry Thomas (now deceased) throughout the 2010 free agent process, when Wade met with multiple teams and told Thomas: “I’ve never seen Pat Riley so nervous.” It shows Wade watching LeBron James’ 2010 special announcing he was “taking my talents to South Beach,” with Wade insisting he wasn’t certain James would even pick Miami, and Wade’s joyful reaction suggesting as much.