Monday Morning Mailbag: A Look at the Offensive Line & Jim Marshall's HOF Chances

[Viktor]

A quick aside: you all should be thankful that my colleague Craig Peters, the senior editor at Vikings.com, isn't responding to this because he'd furiously pound away at his keyboard for hours stating Jim's case.


I will say that I don't believe the number of Super Bowls someone appears in is a qualifier for their candidacy, but rather their overall resumé. And man, does Jim have a strong resumé.


To start, pun intended, the man made 270 consecutive starts in Purple. His total streak spanned 282 regular-season games played in a row from 1960 with Cleveland and 1961-79 with the Vikings, setting a league record that was later broken by Brett Favre.


If that sounds like a lot, it is. The current longest starts streak by a defensive end is 145 by Cameron Jordan. After that, Brandon Graham and Arik Armstead are tied at 48.


The Vikings Ring of Honor member ranks second in franchise history with 127 sacks behind Carl Eller's 130 and ninth with 988 tackles (team stats), which is the second-most by a Minnesota defensive lineman behind Alan Page. Marshall set the NFL record for recoveries of fumbles by opponents (30), including 29 with Minnesota. Jason Taylor, who was enshrined in Canton in 2017, recorded 139.5 sacks and recovered 29 fumbles during his career. Taylor started 199 of the 233 games he played.


Jones was enshrined in 1980, six years after wrapping his impressive career (eight Pro Bowls) as a contemporary of Marshall. Jones may have benefitted from voters who were more familiar with Jones. The reality is that there should be room for both in the Hall of Fame.


And yes, Marshall started in each of Minnesota's four Super Bowl appearances during a dominant run.


But even if you don't believe me about Jim's credentials, I'll let Fran Tarkenton — a Hall of Famer himself — have the last word.


"Jim was the leader of the team, unequivocally, for 19 years. He made everyone around him better. He was as good a pass rusher as there was during all 19 years," Tarkenton said. "He had enormous talent, relentless competitiveness and was respected by everyone in football. No offensive lineman could keep Jim Marshall from harassing the quarterback."