Super Bowl LIV is less than a week away, as the Chiefs and 49ers are now in Miami preparing for the matchup.
Patrick Mahomes and Jimmy Garoppolo will make up the 62nd and 63rd quarterbacks, respectively, to start in a Super Bowl.
With that in mind, Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com recently went through and ranked all 63 players, putting Vikings Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton at No. 13 on his list.
Rosenthal wrote:
Tarkenton was an undersized, undervalued but consistent star with an incredibly long run of statistical dominance.
At the time of his retirement, Tarkenton led the league in passing yards (47,003), passing touchdowns (342) pass attempts (6,467) and completions (3,686). Tarkenton currently ranks 12th all-time in passing yards and 10th in passing touchdowns.
He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986 and became an inaugural member of the Vikings Ring of Honor in 1998.
Tarkenton helped lead Minnesota to three Super Bowl appearances, one of 11 quarterbacks on Rosenthal's list to start in at least three title games.
Rosenthal also noted that his list wasn't based off Super Bowl performances alone.
I ranked all quarterbacks based on career achievements, with regular-season excellence, All-Pro/Pro Bowl appearances and seasons as top-five and top-10 players at the position carrying more weight than just Super Bowl success.
Former Vikings quarterback Joe Kapp, who led Minnesota to its first-ever Super Bowl appearance, was ranked 55th on the list.
Hasan: Potential target areas for Vikings from Senior Bowl
The 2020 Reese's Senior Bowl wrapped up over the weekend, as dozens of players had the chance to impress NFL teams in Mobile, Alabama.
Besides the game on Saturday, players also went through three days of practices at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Arif Hasan of The Athletic was in Mobile for the festivities and pointed out a handful of position groups the Vikings could focus on in the coming months.
Minnesota has been unusually fond of Senior Bowl players, who often only make up about 18-20 percent of a given draft class. In the past two years, half of the Vikings draft picks have come from the event, and in the Mike Zimmer era, over a third made their way to Minneapolis by way of Mobile.
Hasan wrote that Minnesota could look at a handful of offensive linemen who participated in the Senior Bowl.
The Senior Bowl did feature some offensive linemen that both performed well and would be good fits for the Vikings. Jonah Jackson, a guard from Ohio State, has played right and left guard over the past several years and has only given up one sack in over 1,000 pass-blocking reps.
The best tackle for the Vikings in this group might be Josh Jones from Houston. Jones primarily played tackle in practices this week, but also took snaps at guard. He looked much better as a tackle but did generate some pretty good reps while playing on the inside, including against one of the top performers along the defensive line in North Carolina's Jason Strowbridge.
Hasan also highlighted a group of wide receivers, beginning with Denzel Mims of Baylor.
But this year, a third-round pick or later could nevertheless produce a high-quality receiver, and the Senior Bowl had more than a few.
The Vikings should add another body at the position in order to develop depth for a corps that found itself extremely susceptible to injuries and without many plans to deal with them in 2019.
The consensus top receiver in Mobile this week was Baylor's Denzel Mims, who showcased phenomenal ball-tracking, concentration and awareness of space to create some fairly spectacular catches.
Hasan also wrote that Minnesota could look to add a defensive back or defensive tackle somewhere in the draft.
The Vikings will have their work cut out for them, and these players don't represent the totality of their options. But there's a good chance that one or more of the prospects from Mobile ends up at TCO Performance Center.
The 2020 NFL Draft will be held in Las Vegas from April 23-25.
