vikings/nfl
Dan Wiederer began covering the Vikings in 2011, enthusiastically delivering insight on the team across the Star Tribune's print and digital products. Prior to joining the Access Vikings team, he spent seven seasons covering ACC basketball at The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer. He also covered the Chicago Bears in 2003 and 2004. Follow him on Twitter @StribDW.
Mark Craig has covered football and the NFL the past 20 years, including the Browns from 1991-95 and the Vikings and the NFL since 2003. Since 2008, Craig has served as one of the 44 Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors. He can be followed on Twitter at @markcraignfl.
Pro Bowler Felton hopes he's found long-term home with Vikings
Posted by: Mark Craig under Vikings, NFC, Adrian Peterson Updated: December 31, 2012 - 5:45 PM
After four relatively non-descript years in Detroit, Carolina and Indianapolis, Vikings fullback Jerome Felton is hoping he has found a long-term home as the lead blocker for Adrian Peterson. Now, it’s just a matter of that one-year contract he’s playing under.
“I mean, I would hope [I’m coming back],” he said. “I feel good about it. Obviously, we have a good thing going here and I want to be here. So hopefully everything works itself out.”
Felton is only 26, so he fits the Vikings’ youth movement. He also made his first Pro Bowl, proving that it can be sunny even in Peterson’s shadow.
With the top four running teams and six of the top eight making the playoffs this season, including the No. 2 Vikings, Felton believes his position might not be heading toward extinction after all.
“I was talking to [FOX analyst and former Cowboys fullback Daryl] Moose Johnston a few weeks ago when they were doing our game and I was saying, ‘Man, keep pumping up the fullback. We’ve got to bring it back,’” Felton said. “It’s a cyclical league, so I think it will come back. I think the run game is important. I think everybody knows that and you always hear about it, you always hear people say it. You look at the teams that just pass the ball, outside of maybe the Patriots this year, they struggle sometimes. So I feel good about how we’re built and I feel good about the running game.”
Peterson fell eight yards short of Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards this season. He’s made it a goal to get the record next year. Sounds good to Felton.
“I think he’s got it,” Felton said. “I told him after the game, ‘Man, if I’m back here, we’re getting that record next year.’ So, obviously we knew the most important thing was making the playoffs, but we feel like we’ll get that record next year.”
Felton a deep threat?
Felton didn’t just block on Sunday. He also pulled in a 17-yard reception.
“Actually, I was talking to Coach [Bill] Musgrave [the offensive coordinator] after the game when we were walking out to the parking lot,” Felton said. “And he was like, ‘How about that Seattle?’ And I was like, ‘Seattle?’ Thought he was talking about the Seahawks. I was like ‘What do you mean?’ And he’s like ‘Seattle.’ That’s the play we called. And as the ball was in the air I was like, ‘Hold on, is that coming to me?’ So ya know, I caught it. I tried to revert to my old days. I did a little something with it. But it was interesting.”
Felton was asked if he was surprised that cornerback Tramon Williams gave him an extremely soft cushion.
“Hey, I can go deep too, now,” he said. “Don’t sleep on me.”
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