Darrin Nelson
Darrin Milo Nelson
Born: January 2, 1959
Sacramento, CA USA
Position: RB
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 184
College: Stanford
High School: Piux X (Downey, CA)
Career: 1982-1992
Drafted: 1982 in Round 1, #7 overall by the Minnesota Vikings
Darrin Nelson played from 1982 to 1992 during his career with the Minnesota Vikings and San Diego Chargers. Nelson ran for 4,442 yards in his career on 1,020 attempts, scoring 18 rushing touchdowns. He also caught 286 passes for 2,559 yards and 5 receiving touchdowns..
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Year | Team | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 25 | 25.0 | 1 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 25 | 158.3 |
| Totals | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 25 | 25.0 | 1 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 25 |
Rushing:
| Year | Team | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 44 | 136 | 3.1 | 18 | 0 |
| 1983 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 154 | 642 | 4.2 | 56 | 1 |
| 1984 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 80 | 406 | 5.1 | 39 | 3 |
| 1985 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 200 | 893 | 4.5 | 37 | 5 |
| 1986 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 191 | 793 | 4.2 | 42 | 4 |
| 1987 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 131 | 642 | 4.9 | 72 | 2 |
| 1988 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 112 | 380 | 3.4 | 27 | 1 |
| 1989 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 31 | 124 | 4.0 | 24 | 0 |
| 1989 | NFL San Diego Chargers | 36 | 197 | 5.5 | 28 | 0 |
| 1990 | NFL San Diego Chargers | 3 | 14 | 4.7 | 5 | 0 |
| 1991 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 28 | 210 | 7.5 | 29 | 2 |
| 1992 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 10 | 5 | 0.5 | 9 | 0 |
| Totals | 1020 | 4442 | 4.4 | 72 | 18 |
Receiving:
| Year | Team | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 9 | 100 | 11.1 | 22 | 0 |
| 1983 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 51 | 618 | 12.1 | 68 | 0 |
| 1984 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 27 | 162 | 6.0 | 17 | 1 |
| 1985 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 43 | 301 | 7.0 | 25 | 1 |
| 1986 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 53 | 593 | 11.2 | 34 | 3 |
| 1987 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 26 | 129 | 5.0 | 13 | 0 |
| 1988 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 16 | 105 | 6.6 | 27 | 0 |
| 1989 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 7 | 52 | 7.4 | 11 | 0 |
| 1989 | NFL San Diego Chargers | 31 | 328 | 10.6 | 49 | 0 |
| 1990 | NFL San Diego Chargers | 4 | 29 | 7.2 | 10 | 0 |
| 1991 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 19 | 142 | 7.5 | 13 | 0 |
| Totals | 286 | 2559 | 8.9 | 68 | 5 |
Punt Returns:
| Year | Team | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 23 | 180 | 7.8 | 21 | 0 |
| 1985 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 16 | 133 | 8.3 | 21 | 0 |
| 1990 | NFL San Diego Chargers | 3 | 44 | 14.7 | 33 | 0 |
| Totals | 42 | 357 | 8.5 | 33 | 0 |
Kick Returns:
| Year | Team | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 6 | 132 | 22.0 | 33 | 0 |
| 1983 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 18 | 445 | 24.7 | 50 | 0 |
| 1984 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 39 | 891 | 22.8 | 47 | 0 |
| 1985 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 3 | 51 | 17.0 | 26 | 0 |
| 1986 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 3 | 105 | 35.0 | 40 | 0 |
| 1987 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 7 | 164 | 23.4 | 42 | 0 |
| 1988 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 9 | 210 | 23.3 | 30 | 0 |
| 1989 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 14 | 317 | 22.6 | 32 | 0 |
| 1990 | NFL San Diego Chargers | 4 | 36 | 9.0 | 26 | 0 |
| 1991 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 31 | 682 | 22.0 | 50 | 0 |
| 1992 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 29 | 626 | 21.6 | 53 | 0 |
| Totals | 163 | 3659 | 22.4 | 53 | 0 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Year | Team | Tackle | Brup | Fum | F Rec | FYds | FTD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 2 | 0 | -8 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1983 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1984 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1985 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 7 | 2 | 16 | 0 | |||
| 1986 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1987 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1988 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1989 | NFL San Diego Chargers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1990 | NFL San Diego Chargers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1991 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1992 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 32 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points |
| 1983 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| 1984 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | ||||||
| 1985 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | ||||||
| 1986 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | |||||||
| 1987 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||
| 1988 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| 1991 | NFL Minnesota Vikings | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||
| Totals | 18 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 138 | |
Playing Career:
| Year | League | Team | GP | GS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | NFL | Minnesota Vikings | 7 | 4 |
| 1983 | NFL | Minnesota Vikings | 15 | 9 |
| 1984 | NFL | Minnesota Vikings | 15 | 8 |
| 1985 | NFL | Minnesota Vikings | 16 | 10 |
| 1986 | NFL | Minnesota Vikings | 16 | 16 |
| 1987 | NFL | Minnesota Vikings | 10 | 9 |
| 1988 | NFL | Minnesota Vikings | 13 | 11 |
| 1989 | NFL | Minnesota Vikings | 5 | 0 |
| 1989 | NFL | San Diego Chargers | 9 | 0 |
| 1990 | NFL | San Diego Chargers | 14 | 0 |
| 1991 | NFL | Minnesota Vikings | 16 | 0 |
| 1992 | NFL | Minnesota Vikings | 16 | 0 |
