Throwback Thursday: Three 1's Again

The Minnesota Vikings walked out of the 2013 NFL Draft with three first round selections. They entered that first day with two but that wasn't enough. They grabbed another when they had the chance. The Vikings selected Florida defensive tackle with the 23rd pick. That was their own pick. Thanks to the trade of receiver Percy Harvin to the Seattle Seahawks in March, the Vikings had the 25th pick as well. Florida St. cornerback Xavier Rhodes was the choice there. As the first round was approaching it's end the Vikings sent a bunch of later picks to the New England Patriots for the 29th pick. Tennessee receiver Cordarrelle Patterson completed the Vikings first round haul. No matter how much excitement the big free agent dance creates each year championships are built through the draft. Teams fill holes in their roster and increase their overall talent through the draft. Having three picks in the first round should increase the talent in a hurry. It's not often that teams come out of the first round with three picks. It was the second time that the Vikings were able to do so in their 53-year history.

The Vikings entered the 1967 NFL Draft with the 8th selection. They supplemented that pick through trades of their offensive stars. As with Harvin this year, quarterback Fran Tarkenton wanted a trade out of Minnesota. The Vikings accommodated their young quarterback with a blockbuster deal with the New York Giants. Among the bushel of picks that the Vikings received was the 2nd pick in the draft. A trade of running back Tommy Mason and tight end Hal Bledsoe to the Los Angeles Rams added the 15th pick. With the 2nd pick in the draft the Vikings selected Michigan St. running back Clinton Jones. They added another Michigan St. player with their own pick in receiver Gene Washington. With the 15th pick from the Rams the Vikings found a franchise-changer in Notre Dame defensive tackle Alan Page. Jones and Washington may not have made the impact of Page but they were solid players. This draft and the next, thanks to the Tarkenton bounty, turned a sad Vikings expansion team into a team that would challenge for the Super Bowl for more than a decade. The latter part of the run was helped when the Vikings got Tarkenton back but that's another story. Page was an incredible, dominant football player. He's in the argument for the greatest defensive tackle in league history. Page also started a defensive tackle legacy in Minnesota. John Randle would later join him in the Hall of Fame. If Keith Millard had played his entire career like he did for a handful of years, he'd be there too. Current Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams might join Page and Randle in Canton. It's now Sharrif Floyd's time.

The dream for 2013 would be for Floyd, Xavier Rhodes, and Cordarrelle Patterson to all have Hall of Fame careers like Alan Page. The hope would be for these current players and this 2013 draft to have the same championship building impact for the Minnesota Vikings as that 1967 draft.