Minnesota teams love to recycle No. 1 overall picks

It must be rough: lose a player to a major injury … and then go out and get a player who was once highly regarded enough to be the first player overall chosen in the draft.

The Vikings have done that not once but twice this season — first getting 2010 No. 1 overall pick Sam Bradford in a trade following Teddy Bridgewater's season-ending knee injury and then Tuesday signing 2008 No. 1 overall pick Jake Long in an attempt to bolster an offensive line that has been both injury plagued and often ineffective.

Minnesota teams have a history of circling back to get top picks. Examples? (Keep in mind, these are not players originally drafted by Minnesota teams, just the ones who were later acquired).

The Vikings also did it with 1990 No. 1 overall pick Jeff George. The Timberwolves acquired two No. 1 overall picks (Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett) in 2014 as part of the Kevin Love trade. They also dabbled in Joe Smith (1995) and Michael Olowokandi (1998) on the rebound. The Twins traded for 2003 No. 1 pick Delmon Young in 2007 and also gave 1992 No. 1 overall pick Phil Nevin one more shot in 2006.

And we're not done yet. A decade after being the No. 1 overall pick in 1993, Alexandre Daigle scored 20 goals for the 2003-04 Wild. And 1990 No. 1 pick Owen Nolan finished his NHL career with the Wild as well. Former Gophers star Janel McCarville, the No. 1 pick in the 2005 WNBA draft, landed with the Lynx later in her career. The Lynx also briefly had 2003 No. 1 pick LaToya Thomas.

So let's have some fun: who could be the next former No. 1 overall pick to land with a Minnesota team on the rebound? After all, just a couple of months ago, few would have predicted Bradford or Long would be in purple.

• VIKINGS: The Vikings are already the first team in the NFL since 2007 to acquire two former No. 1 picks in the same season. To be honest, the pickings look pretty slim for adding another one anytime soon. Either the former No. 1 pick is too good to go anywhere (like Chiefs tackle Eric Fisher and Carolina QB Cam Newton) or doesn't seem like a good fit for a variety of reasons. Maybe defensive end Mario Williams (2006)? Or in a bizarre universe, Michael Vick (2001).

• WILD: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2011) was a fixture of trade talks during this past offseason and was linked to the Wild in possible deals for a young defenseman. Those talks cooled when the Oilers traded Taylor Hall (the 2010 top pick). The Wild also signed Eric Staal, diminishing their need for a center. Still, keep Nugent-Hopkins' name stashed away.

• WOLVES: If we're talking about a year or two from now when the Wolves theoretically could be one player away from a serious playoff push, maybe we're talking about something like a trade for Dwight Howard (2004).

• LYNX: This is the hardest one of all because most of the recent top WNBA picks are franchise-type players and the Lynx would have to give up an awful lot in return from an already great team. So how about just for fun: Diana Taurasi (2004) in a WWE-style move from rival Phoenix?