A metric ranks Vikings with one of best, and worst, hauls in NFL modern draft era

Only four classes in the modern NFL draft era failed to register an "approximate value" (AV) for their team, based on the unique metric at Pro Football Reference.

One of those notorious labels belongs to the collection put together by the 1989 Vikings, a year after the franchise took future Hall of Fame guard Randall McDaniel in the first round.

PFR describes the stat as a compound measurement based on games played and started, key stats, individual awards and team wins. And ESPN's Brian Burke and Tony Moss recently boiled down the AV stat to include only what a player did for the team that drafted him.

The results showed four classes with a zero, zip and zilch AV: the 1989 Vikings, 1989 Raiders, 1976 Redskins and 1975 Chiefs.

Here's what Burke and Moss wrote on that Vikings class:

"The Vikings traded their first-round pick to the Steelers for linebacker Mike Merriweather on the eve of the draft, making linebacker David Braxton (second round) their first pick. Braxton joined tight end Darryl Ingram (fourth round) as the only two of the team's nine draft picks to play a game with Minnesota — and neither lasted long there. The lone bright spot in the Vikings' draft was running back Brad Baxter (11th round), who went on to score 35 career touchdowns … for the Jets."

Baxter, the 303rd-overall pick when the draft went 12 rounds, didn't make the Vikings roster and went on to start 73 games for the Jets in seven NFL seasons — the longest professional career out of Minnesota's nine picks that year.

One of the best draft classes in modern NFL history also belongs to the Vikings, according to the analysis by Burke and Moss.

Selecting a future NFL MVP, the Vikings used the 15th-overall pick in 1967 on defensive tackle Alan Page.

Page anchors the 18-pick draft class that PFR ranks as 13th-best in modern draft history with an AV of 365. The No. 1 class, the 1975 Cowboys, boasted a 551 AV.

Three more Pro Bowlers came to the Vikings in the 1967 draft between cornerback Bobby Bryant and receivers Gene Washington and Bob Grim. Minnesota would make its first Super Bowl appearance three years later in 1970.