Peterson one of four Vikings named All-Pro

For the fifth time in six years, Adrian Peterson was named to the NFL's All-Pro team, which honors the elite players from both conferences. He is joined by three other Vikings -- kicker Blair Walsh on the first team and linebacker Chad Greenway and fullback Jerome Felton on the second team.

Adrian Peterson was one of four Vikings named to the NFL’s All-Pro team Saturday, one of two unanimous selections to the prestigious team that combines players from both conferences to come up with a merit-based all-star team.

Peterson was one of just two unanimous selections, along with J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans – both of whom earned all 47 possible votes.

Peterson and rookie kicker Blair Walsh were the two Vikings who earned first-team All-Pro honors. Fullback Jerome Felton and linebacker Chad Greenway were second-team All-Pro selections.

Peterson has been in the discussion for league MVP with his incredible season coming off of devastating knee surgery. The other frontrunner for the award, Denver quarterback Peyton Manning, earned 43 of 47 votes for All-Pro quarterback, with the other four votes going to Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers.

Walsh took first-team honors, distancing himself from Cleveland’s Phil Dawson, who finished second in the voting.

Felton finished second in voting among fullbacks, trailing only Vonta Leach of the Ravens. Greenway finished third in the voting among outside linebackers, behind only Von Miller of the Broncos and Aldon Smith of the 49ers. Six outside linebackers got selected to the All-Pro team because, after Greenway, three players tied for the second spot on the second team with one vote each (Ahmad Brooks, Clay Matthews and DeMarcus Ware).

For Peterson, it is the fifth time in six years that he has been named to the All-Pro team. For Greenway, Felton and Walsh, it was their first time selected to the team. It also marked the first time that the Vikings had multiple players named to the All-Pro squad since 2009. In 2010-11, Peterson was the only Viking to make the All-Pro team. In 2012, Jared Allen was the only Viking named to the team.

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John Holler has been writing about the Vikings for more than a decade for Viking Update. Follow Viking Update on Twitter and discuss this topic on our message boards. To become a subscriber to the Viking Update web site or magazine, click here.

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