Reusse: T. Johnson assumes unsung stalwart role held by Larsen
Vikings DT Tom Johnson assumes unsung stalwart role once held by Gary LarsenThere were 255 players taken in the 2006 NFL draft and Tom Johnson was not among them but now is on on a defensive line made to win.
There are 11 players who made their careers with the Vikings in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and four are defensive linemen: Alan Page, Carl Eller, John Randle and Chris Doleman.
Jared Allen will make it in due time, and he spent six of his 11 NFL seasons and had 85½ of his 136 sacks with the Vikings. And some day, the veterans committee will do the right thing for Jim Marshall, as it finally did for Mick Tingelhoff, and the NFL’s ironman of line combat will gain a place in Canton.
As you go through the Vikings’ 57 years, all moments of glory have included excellence along the defensive line — most notably, of course, the Purple People Eaters that first carried and then helped the Vikings to their four NFL/NFC championships from 1969 to 1976.
Marshall was an original Viking in 1961; former Gopher Carl Eller joined as a first-round draft choice in 1964; Gary Larsen arrived in a 1965 trade that sent reluctant first-rounder Jack Snow to the Los Angeles Rams and, as the pièce de résistance, Alan Page came in 1967.
Marshall, Eller, Page and Larsen played every game alongside one another from 1968 through 1973, with all four making the Pro Bowls of 1969 and 1970. Doug Sutherland did a three-year apprenticeship and replaced Larsen as a starter at the tackle opposite Page in 1974.
“Gary Larsen … I’ve been told about that man,” said Tom Johnson, current Vikings defensive tackle. “People say that I’m like Larsen, the ‘other guy’ on a great defensive line.”
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-dt-tom-johnson-assumes-unsung-stalwart-role-once-held-by-gary-larsen/462924783/
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
Johnson signed with the Saints in 2011 and spent three years as a backup. The Vikings took a flier on him for the modest salary of $845,000 in 2014. He was a backup in 2014 and 2015, and then missed 11 games because of a torn hamstring in 2016.
He is 33 now and finally the starter next to Linval Joseph, inside Everson Griffen and Danielle Hunter, on a defensive line made to win.
“They brought in a guy for the job this year, but I beat him out,” Johnson said. “Mike Zimmer is one of the most standup guys I’ve ever been around in pro football. If he tells you you’ll have a chance to compete for a job, it’s the truth.”
There are six contributors on this line: the starters, plus Shamar Stephen as a backup run stopper and 11-year veteran Brian Robison as a pass rusher.
“We go into every game with a chip on our shoulders,” Johnson said. “Everson and ‘D’ both were drafted lower than they should have been; the Giants let Linval go; Shamar was way late in draft, and I kicked around everywhere to get here.
“And Brian Rob, he’s the dad of this bunch. We all listen to him.”
Gary Larsen, meet Tom Johnson.
OK, the game’s different, the rotation is different, but they also have been two reliable tackles that complete an outstanding defensive front.
Larsen was a great player. As the article implies he lived in the shadows of those great players. Come game time he was every bit the player as the more famous ones around him.
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