Vikings Legend · Free Safety · No. 22
Paul Krause
Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 1998 · Vikings Ring of Honor, 1998
The free safety who played centre field for Minnesota and walked away with a number no defensive back has touched since — 81 career interceptions.
Krause arrived in Minnesota by trade in 1968 after four seasons in Washington, settled in behind the Purple People Eaters front four, and played twelve seasons in purple. He retired after 1979 holding the NFL’s all-time interception record, and he holds it still.
- 81Career interceptions
- 53Interceptions as a Viking
- 8xPro Bowl selection
- 1998Hall of Fame induction
Overview
Paul Krause at a Glance
Sixteen NFL seasons, twelve of them in Minnesota, and one record that has outlasted every defensive back who has chased it.
Player Snapshot
- Full name
- Paul James Krause
- Born
- February 19, 1942, Flint, Michigan
- Position
- Free safety
- Listed at
- 6 ft 3 in, 200 lb
- College
- Iowa
- Drafted
- 1964, second round, 18th overall, by Washington
- Teams
- Washington 1964–1967; Minnesota Vikings 1968–1979
- Jersey
- No. 26 in Washington, No. 22 in Minnesota
Why He Mattered
Krause was not a thumper. He was a deep-field interceptor who read quarterbacks, broke on the ball early and caught what he reached — a skill he traced to a childhood spent in baseball, which is why Minnesota teammates and writers took to calling him the Vikings’ “centre fielder”.
He led the NFL in interceptions as a rookie with 12, and sixteen seasons later he left the game with more of them than anyone in league history. He missed only two games to injury across those sixteen years.
The Record
Eighty-One, and Still Nobody’s Close
Krause finished his career with 81 interceptions. It is the most in NFL history, and it has not been passed since he set it in December 1979.
NFL all-time record
NFL career interceptions, all-time leaders
The record did not arrive quietly. Krause entered his final season of 1979 needing to pass Emlen Tunnell, who had retired with 79 — and who, like Krause, had played his college football at Iowa. On December 2, 1979, against the Los Angeles Rams, Krause intercepted a pass in the second quarter to move past Tunnell, then intercepted another in the fourth quarter of a 27–21 overtime loss. Those were the last two interceptions of his career.
He returned his 81 interceptions for 1,185 yards and three touchdowns. He also recovered 19 fumbles, returning those for 163 yards and three more touchdowns — six defensive scores in all.
Krause has led the all-time interception list since 1979. Through the completed 2025 NFL season — forty-six seasons later — no player has passed him, and the margin over second place remains two interceptions. Interception rates across the league have fallen substantially since the 1970s, which is the usual explanation offered for why the record has proved so durable.
Career
Washington First, Then Twelve Years in Purple
A four-year start in Washington, a 1968 trade, and the twelve Minnesota seasons that made the record possible.
Krause came out of Bendle High School in Burton, Michigan, where he earned all-state honours in four sports, and went on to the University of Iowa. Washington took him in the second round of the 1964 NFL Draft with the 18th overall pick; the Denver Broncos also selected him in the 12th round of that year’s AFL Draft, and he signed with Washington.
His rookie year was immediately the best interception season of his career. He picked off 12 passes to lead the NFL, was named first-team All-NFL and made the first of his eight Pro Bowls. Over four seasons in Washington he intercepted 28 passes in 54 games.
In 1968 he was traded to Minnesota, and the fit was close to perfect. Bud Grant’s defence was built on a ferocious front four that forced quarterbacks to throw early and throw deep, and Krause was the man waiting at the back of it. He intercepted seven passes in his first Vikings season and never stopped: 53 interceptions in 172 games as a Viking, the most in franchise history.
He was the Vikings’ starting free safety for essentially the whole of that run — 204 career starts in 226 games — before finishing with the 1979 season and retiring at 37.
Season by Season
Sixteen Seasons of Interceptions
Every year of Krause’s career, in Washington and in Minnesota, with his interception totals and return yardage.
With the Minnesota Vikings (1968–1979)
Full NFL career (Washington, Vikings)
| Season | Team | Games | Int | Int return yards | Int TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Washington | 14 | 12 | 140 | 1 |
| 1965 | Washington | 14 | 6 | 118 | 0 |
| 1966 | Washington | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 1967 | Washington | 13 | 8 | 75 | 0 |
| 1968 | Minnesota Vikings | 14 | 7 | 82 | 0 |
| 1969 | Minnesota Vikings | 14 | 5 | 82 | 1 |
| 1970 | Minnesota Vikings | 14 | 6 | 90 | 0 |
| 1971 | Minnesota Vikings | 14 | 6 | 112 | 0 |
| 1972 | Minnesota Vikings | 14 | 6 | 109 | 1 |
| 1973 | Minnesota Vikings | 14 | 4 | 28 | 0 |
| 1974 | Minnesota Vikings | 14 | 2 | 53 | 0 |
| 1975 | Minnesota Vikings | 14 | 10 | 201 | 0 |
| 1976 | Minnesota Vikings | 14 | 2 | 21 | 0 |
| 1977 | Minnesota Vikings | 14 | 2 | 25 | 0 |
| 1978 | Minnesota Vikings | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1979 | Minnesota Vikings | 16 | 3 | 49 | 0 |
| Career | 16 seasons | 226 | 81 | 1,185 | 3 |
His longest single interception return was 81 yards, in that 1975 season — the same figure as his career total. The 1975 campaign was also the second time he reached ten interceptions in a year, after his rookie season of 12.
The Purple Era
The Last Line Behind the Purple People Eaters
Krause was not one of the front four, but his record is inseparable from them — and from four Super Bowls that all ended the same way.
The Purple People Eaters were the defensive line: Carl Eller, Jim Marshall, Alan Page and Gary Larsen. Krause played behind them, and the arrangement was mutually flattering. A pass rush that relentless produced hurried throws and bad decisions; a free safety with Krause’s range and hands turned those into possessions. He is the clearest statistical beneficiary of that front four, and they are the clearest reason the numbers reached the height they did.
Minnesota won the 1969 NFL Championship Game, beating the Cleveland Browns 27–7 at Metropolitan Stadium on January 4, 1970, with Krause recording an interception. That title sent the Vikings to Super Bowl IV, and it remains the closest the franchise has come to the sport’s final prize.
Krause was one of eleven players to appear in all four of the Vikings’ Super Bowls. Minnesota lost all four.
- Super Bowl IV 1969 season Lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 23–7. Krause recorded an interception.
- Super Bowl VIII 1973 season Lost to the Miami Dolphins, 24–7.
- Super Bowl IX 1974 season Lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 16–6. Krause recovered a fumble.
- Super Bowl XI 1976 season Lost to the Oakland Raiders, 32–14.
More on that defence
The front four Krause played behind has its own page on this site, with their years, their records and which of them reached Canton.
Honors
Accolades and Career Timeline
Eight Pro Bowls, three first-team All-Pro seasons, and a 1998 that brought both Canton and the Ring of Honor.
Pro Bowl Selections
Eight in total, spread across both teams — two in Washington, six in Minnesota.
- 1964
- 1965
- 1969
- 1971
- 1972
- 1973
- 1974
- 1975
All-Pro Honors
Three first-team All-Pro selections, bookending his career — two as a young Washington safety and one in his ten-interception 1975 season. He was also named second-team All-Pro three times.
- 1964 · 1st
- 1965 · 1st
- 1975 · 1st
- 1968 · 2nd
- 1969 · 2nd
- 1972 · 2nd
League Leader
Krause led the NFL in interceptions in 1964 with 12 as a rookie, a total he never bettered. He finished second to teammate Charley Taylor in that year’s Rookie of the Year voting.
Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor
Enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 1998, and inducted into the Minnesota Vikings Ring of Honor the same year.
His No. 22 has not been retired by the Vikings; the club’s retired numbers are 10, 53, 70, 77, 80 and 88.
University of Iowa
Played college football at Iowa, the same programme that produced Emlen Tunnell — the man whose interception record he would eventually break.
Drafted, and immediately the best in the league
Selected 18th overall in the second round by Washington. Led the NFL with 12 interceptions as a rookie and was named first-team All-NFL.
Traded to Minnesota
Joined the Vikings and intercepted seven passes in his first season in purple, beginning a twelve-year run as Minnesota’s free safety.
NFL champion
Intercepted a pass in the 1969 NFL Championship Game on January 4, 1970, a 27–7 win over Cleveland that carried the Vikings to Super Bowl IV.
Ten interceptions at 33
Recorded 10 interceptions for 201 yards, still a Vikings single-season club record, and earned his eighth Pro Bowl selection and third first-team All-Pro nod.
Passes Emlen Tunnell
On December 2, 1979 against the Los Angeles Rams, his 80th career interception moved him past Tunnell’s 79 and into first place all-time. He added an 81st later in the same game and retired after the season.
Canton and the Ring of Honor
Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 1998, and into the Minnesota Vikings Ring of Honor in the same year.
Legacy
What Paul Krause Left Behind
Records in football tend to fall. Passing marks get rewritten every decade; rushing totals climb; sack numbers accumulate as careers get longer. Krause’s does not move, and the reason is structural rather than personal: the modern passing game produces far fewer interceptions per attempt than the game he played in, so the raw material for a challenge simply is not there in the quantities it once was.
What that leaves is a number that functions almost as a monument. Eighty-one. Fifty-three of them in Minnesota, still the franchise record, collected behind the most celebrated defensive line in franchise history, in an era when the team reached four Super Bowls and lost every one of them. Krause’s career is the argument that a great player’s legacy need not be measured in rings.
He waited nineteen years after his final season for Canton to call. When it did, in 1998, the Vikings put him in their Ring of Honor the same year.
Explore Vikings History
Krause’s twelve seasons sit at the centre of the most successful stretch of football the franchise has had, alongside Ring of Honor names like Alan Page, Carl Eller and Jim Marshall.
Where these records come from
Career and season statistics, honours and biographical details on this page are drawn from the Pro Football Hall of Fame player profile for Paul Krause, the Minnesota Vikings official team pages, and publicly documented NFL season and career records. Season-by-season interception figures reflect official NFL records for the 1964 through 1979 seasons. The all-time interception standing is stated as of September 13, 2026, reflecting completed play through the 2025 NFL season. Minnesota Vikings IO is an independent fan site and is not affiliated with the Minnesota Vikings or the NFL.
Forty-Six Seasons and Counting
Paul Krause retired in 1979 with 81 interceptions. Every NFL season played since has ended with the record exactly where he left it.