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Fran Tarkenton's trade built the Vikings. Then the Vikings bought him back.

October 19, 2026

On January 27, 1972, the Minnesota Vikings reacquired Fran Tarkenton from the New York Giants for three players and two draft picks.7 It was the second time the two franchises had traded him, and the second time the price was steep. The difference was that this time, Minnesota was paying for a quarterback to finish something its defense had already started.

The strangest part of the return package was wide receiver Bob Grim. Five years earlier, the Vikings had drafted Grim 28th overall — with one of the very picks the Giants had sent them for Tarkenton in the first place.1 Minnesota traded Tarkenton away, spent his price on a receiver, and then traded the receiver back to buy Tarkenton home. The chain folds in on itself like that, which is how you know it's a trade tree worth writing about.

Why he left

Tarkenton was Minnesota's original franchise quarterback, a third-round pick in the Vikings' first-ever draft who started all but three games across six seasons.2 The problem was his coach. Norm Van Brocklin hated Tarkenton's scrambling — the improvisation that made him "Fran the Scram" read to Van Brocklin as indiscipline. In week 13 of the 1966 season, Van Brocklin benched Tarkenton for Bob Berry against the 1-10 expansion Atlanta Falcons, and the Vikings lost 20-14.2 Tarkenton demanded a trade. Van Brocklin resigned in February 1967. The trade demand stood anyway.

On March 7, 1967, Minnesota sent Tarkenton to the New York Giants.1 The Giants were coming off a 1-12-1 season, the worst in franchise history, and Wellington Mara needed something to put in Yankee Stadium besides Gary Wood and Earl Morrall.2 There was a structural quirk that made the price possible: as part of the AFL-NFL merger terms, the Giants had been awarded a bonus first-round pick, usable in 1967 or 1968, on top of their own picks.3 Minnesota collected all of it: a 1967 first-rounder, a 1967 second-rounder, a 1968 first-rounder, and a 1969 second-rounder.

The database gives the exact ledger. The Giants' own 1967 first-rounder became the second overall pick — the Saints had been awarded the top selection as an expansion team and dealt it to Baltimore, who took Bubba Smith — and Minnesota spent it on Smith's Michigan State teammate, running back Clint Jones.18 The 1967 second-rounder, 28th overall, became Bob Grim.1 The Vikings saved the bonus pick for 1968, and it landed as the first overall selection: offensive tackle Ron Yary of USC, the first lineman ever taken first overall.34 The 1969 second-rounder, 39th overall, became Cal guard Ed White.1

What the price became

This is where the trade stops being a quarterback deal and becomes the foundation of a decade. Minnesota used all four picks itself — no re-trades, no chains to follow — and three of the four became load-bearing parts of the Vikings' Super Bowl machine.

Ron Yary played 14 seasons in Minnesota, made first-team All-Pro six straight years from 1971 to 1976, went to seven consecutive Pro Bowls, and entered the Hall of Fame in 2001.4 He played in all four of Minnesota's Super Bowls — IV, VIII, IX, and XI — one of 11 Vikings to do so.45

Ed White started on the Vikings' line for nine seasons, made the Pro Bowl in each of his last three years in Minnesota, then played eight more seasons in San Diego and made a fourth Pro Bowl there. He is one of the same 11 Vikings who appeared in all four Super Bowls, and he retired with 241 games played, then the most ever by an offensive lineman.6

Bob Grim, drafted as a halfback out of Oregon State, converted to wide receiver and peaked in 1971 with 45 catches for 691 yards and seven touchdowns — a Pro Bowl season.7 He started on the 1969 team that won the NFL championship and lost Super Bowl IV.

The honest accounting includes Clint Jones, the second overall pick, who never justified the slot. He was a useful all-purpose back and kick returner — his nine rushing touchdowns in 1970 ranked second in the league — but he led the team in rushing only once, in 1971, and was gone to San Diego by 1973, finished with 2,178 career rushing yards.8 Three franchise cornerstones and a bust, from one quarterback. General managers would take that ratio forever.

Five years in New York

Tarkenton, meanwhile, played the best football of his life for a team that couldn't use it. In 1967 he threw for a then-career-high 3,088 yards and 29 touchdowns — career highs in both — dragging the 1-12-1 Giants to 7-7.2 He has said that 1967 season remains the highlight of his career.2 The numbers stayed strong: 2,555 yards and 21 touchdowns in 1968, another 7-7 finish; 2,918 yards and 23 touchdowns in 1969, a 6-8 finish.13 That 1969 season opened with Tarkenton throwing two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to beat his old team 24-23 — the 24 points allowed were the worst defensive outing of Minnesota's season, one point more than the Vikings gave up losing Super Bowl IV.2

His best Giants season was 1970. New York started 0-3, won nine of the next ten, and walked into the finale at Yankee Stadium with a chance at the NFC East. The Rams beat them 31-3.2 The Giants finished 9-5, one game behind Dallas and the wild-card Lions — the closest they came to the playoffs in a 17-year drought that ran from 1964 to 1980.2 Tarkenton finished third in the league MVP voting.9

Then 1971 collapsed everything. Tarkenton walked out of training camp in a salary dispute, came back on a one-year deal, feuded with coach Alex Webster, and threw 11 touchdowns against 21 interceptions as the Giants fell to 4-10 and last place.1011 After the season he asked out, and the Giants obliged.

Five seasons, no playoff appearances. The Giants got a star who sold tickets and played brilliantly in stretches; they never got the contender they were paying for.

The return

On January 27, 1972, Minnesota sent the Giants quarterback Norm Snead, Bob Grim, running back Vince Clements, a 1972 first-round pick (24th overall, used on Larry Jacobson), and a 1973 second-round pick (40th overall, used on Brad Van Pelt) to bring Tarkenton home.7

Grim's round trip deserves a pause. The Vikings drafted him with the Giants' pick, started him on a championship team, and then spent him — plus a quarterback and another pick — to reacquire the man they'd originally traded for the pick that drafted him. He played three seasons for the Giants, then came back to Minnesota for two more and suited up for Super Bowl XI.7

The reunion did not work immediately. Minnesota went 7-7 in 1972, one of only two times in the decade it missed the playoffs, and Gary Cuozzo was shipped to St. Louis for John Gilliam.12 Then the machine engaged: 12-2 in 1973, a run to Super Bowl VIII, where the Dolphins won 24-7. A 10-4 1974, a second straight Super Bowl, lost 16-6 to Pittsburgh.14 Tarkenton won the NFL MVP award in 1975 — leading the league in attempts, completions, completion percentage, and touchdowns — but the Vikings lost the famous Hail Mary game to Dallas.15 In 1976, one more run: Super Bowl XI, and the Raiders won 32-14 on January 9, 1977, with Tarkenton throwing the interception Willie Brown returned 75 yards for the exclamation mark.16

Three Super Bowls in four years. Three losses. Tarkenton retired after the 1978 season owning every major NFL passing record — 47,003 yards, 3,686 completions, 342 touchdowns — and entered the Hall of Fame in 1986, the first-ballot kind of career that still had a hole in it.15 He said of the Super Bowl defeats: "I've not forgotten. Every day and every night, it pisses me off."17

The ledger

Count what each side got. The Giants paid four premium picks and received five years of excellent quarterbacking, one near-miss season, and no playoff games — then paid again in the return deal and got Norm Snead's one good year and a long, dark stretch afterward. The Vikings paid their franchise quarterback and received, directly, Ron Yary and Ed White: two linemen who started on four Super Bowl teams, plus a Pro Bowl receiver, plus a bust at number two. Then they bought the quarterback back and lost three more Super Bowls with him.

Nobody won the championship. But the strangest fact of the whole tree is the simplest one: Minnesota built the offensive line of its greatest decade with the picks it got for Tarkenton, and Tarkenton never took a snap behind that line until the line was already built. The trade made the team, and the team finally made the quarterback — five years too late to matter for anyone's ring finger.

Trade terms, teams, and dates verified against the site's trade tree for this deal and cross-checked with the sources below.

Sources

  1. Pro Sports Transactions: Fran Tarkenton transaction log — 1967-03-07 trade terms (#2 Clint Jones, #28 Bob Grim, #1 Ron Yary, #39 Ed White); 1972-01-27 return terms (Snead, Grim, Clements, 1972 1st #24 Larry Jacobson, 1973 2nd #40 Brad Van Pelt)
  2. Wikipedia: Fran Tarkenton — Van Brocklin feud, week-13 1966 benching for Bob Berry, trade demand, March 7, 1967 trade terms, 1967 career highs (3,088 yds, 29 TD) and 7-7 after 1-12-1, 1969 opening-day 24-23 comeback over Minnesota, 1970 9-5 and 31-3 finale loss, 1964-1980 playoff drought
  3. Vikings.com: Museum highlights 55th anniversary of 1967 NFL Draft — March 7 agreement, Giants' merger bonus pick usable in 1967 or 1968, Jones at No. 2, bonus pick saved for 1968
  4. Pro Football Hall of Fame: Ron Yary — first overall pick 1968 via the Tarkenton trade, first lineman taken No. 1, 14 seasons in Minnesota, six straight first-team All-Pros (1971-76), seven Pro Bowls, played in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX, XI, HOF 2001
  5. Wikipedia: Ron Yary — first overall pick of the 1968 draft by Minnesota via the Tarkenton trade; one of 11 Vikings to play in all four Super Bowls
  6. Sports Illustrated: Top 50 Cal Pros No. 31 — Ed White — second-round 1969 pick, four Pro Bowls, four Super Bowls, 241 career games, most by an offensive lineman at retirement
  7. Wikipedia: Bob Grim (American football)) — 28th overall 1967, 1971 Pro Bowl season (45 rec, 691 yds, 7 TD), Jan 27, 1972 return trade package, three Giants seasons, back in Minnesota 1976-77, Super Bowl XI
  8. Wikipedia: Clinton Jones (American football)) — 2nd overall 1967, Michigan State, Vikings 1967-72, 2,178 career rushing yards, 9 rushing TDs in 1970 (2nd in league)
  9. UK Vikings Fans: Vikings Legends Vol. 2 — Fran Tarkenton — trade request despite Van Brocklin's resignation, third-place 1970 MVP voting
  10. StatsCrew: 1971 New York Giants statistics — 4-10 record, Tarkenton 2,567 yards, 11 TD, 21 INT
  11. Wikipedia: 1971 New York Giants season — 4-10, last place NFC East, Tarkenton's final Giants season, trade back to Minnesota
  12. Wikipedia: 1972 Minnesota Vikings season — return of Tarkenton, 7-7 record, Cuozzo traded for Gilliam
  13. Encyclopedia.com: Fran Tarkenton — Giants year-by-year passing (1968: 2,555/21; 1969: 2,918/23)
  14. Minnesota Vikings team history — 1973 12-2, Super Bowl VIII 24-7 loss to Dolphins, 1974 Super Bowl IX 16-6 loss to Steelers on Jan 12, 1975
  15. PSA CardFacts: 1965 Philadelphia Fran Tarkenton — five New York seasons (1967-71), 1975 NFL MVP, retired owning every passing record (47,003 yds, 3,686 completions, 342 TDs), HOF 1986, nine Pro Bowls
  16. Vikings.com: Flashback Friday — Raiders 32, Vikings 14 (Super Bowl XI) — 32-14 final, Willie Brown 75-yard interception return, dejected Tarkenton on the sideline
  17. NBC Sports — Tarkenton on the Super Bowl losses, via the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Nov 2013) — "I've not forgotten. Every day and every night, it pisses me off."
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About this article: it was drafted with AI assistance from the Football Trade Trees database and public reporting, then reviewed by a human editor. Spot an error? Email [email protected].