Should This Minnesota Vikings Number be Retired? Let the Great Debate Begin!
After reading the story the other day that Irv Smith Jr. was going on injured reserve, and the Minnesota Vikings had acquired Tight End T.J. Hockenson from the Detroit Lions, I blurted out to my boyfriend,
There's no way Irv Smith Jr. remains a Viking after this, right?
The injury is a high ankle sprain and he's not expected to return for 8 to 10 weeks. For those keeping record, that would bring him back for essentially the playoffs, maybe for the last game or two. But lets be honest Hockenson and Mundt perform like they're supposed to, will we need Irv Smith Jr. back? Did this seal his fate with the team?
Apparently I wasn't the only one thinking that, but this person took it one step farther than me. Presuming Smith Jr. leaves the purple and gold, should the Minnesota Vikings organization consider this:
It's been talked about before, but lets bring the great debate back again and ask, do we
Retire No. 84
Yes? No? What do you think? Plenty of people have their arguments and as you can imagine when it was brought up recently on reddit, a number of points were brought up for both sides. Lets go through both and start with reasons;
To Retire 84:
Not a strong argument, in my opinion, but arguments can be made that Randy Moss was the better receiver over Cris Carter, or as referenced here as CC.
Another suggestion on why it's okay to go ahead and retire it;
Again, not much of a point in favor, but a point none-the-less.
The best point that was made, came from user IHSV1855 when they shared this:
Long time Vikings fan here and if I went off that argument alone, Randy Moss will always be the true holder of 84 to me and when I see that particular number I will think him.
The pros, to me don't feel all that strong though when you start comparing them to the arguments of:
To Not Retire No. 84
Right off the bat, you have this point made:
Followed not long after with PuckyNumberSix writing;
It's one of those instances where it's more about team legacy. Carter has more history and tenure as a Viking than Randy, and was considered a team leader for essentially his entire time as a Viking. He was a major part of ushering in a new era with Denny Green as a lower tier team into one of the better teams in the NFC on a consistent basis...
Or maybe you have an opinion similar to this on retiring any number:
Besides if you did retire it, could this then happen?
There are a lot of good points, but whether or not the number 84 gets retired well this might be why it never does:
But what debunks that theory is the fact that numerous NFL teams have more than 6 numbers retired, can see a little more on that here.
At the end of the day, we won't really have a say if it's retired or not, but we can keep on debating and for me I'll just keep on cheering my Vikings. SKOL!
TACKLE THESE: Check Out the Best Uniforms In Each NFL Team's History
CHECK IT OUT: 100 sports records and the stories behind them