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Lunchbreak: Checking in on Fran Tarkenton; Hall of Fame Announces Modern-Era Nominees for 2025

Sep 19, 2024 at 12:00 PM

Rob Kleifield

Seasonal Editor

The creative scrambling of NFL quarterbacks today isn't new.

Matter of fact, it's a style of play, of quarterback ingenuity that's at least 63 years old thanks to "Scramblin' Fran" Tarkenton.

The Hall of Famer and Vikings all-time leader in passing yards (33,098), completions (2,635), touchdowns (239) and wins (91) met recently with Alec Lewis of The Athletic. Unsurprisingly, the conversation at Tarkenton's office in Atlanta was entertaining, with topics ranging from QB mobility and business pursuits to him striking a hole-in-one at Augusta National and Pebble Beach.

"I watch Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes doesn't do anything I didn't do. Nothing."

You mea–

"Nothing," Tarkenton interrupted. "I was just the first one who did it … with a fullback and two halfbacks!"

The feature timed up nicely with the anniversary of Tarkenton's heroics in Minnesota's first game Sept. 17, 1961.

There's insight, too, on his "tragedy" of losing three Super Bowls; his rocky relationship with original Vikings Head Coach Norm Van Brocklin and his trades – in a way by individual design – to-and-from the Giants.

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Tarkenton enjoyed the glitz and glamour of New York, but in the end, the team's struggles dragged him down. Once, shortly after Joe Namath had risen to prominence with the Jets, Giants owner Wellington Mara asked Tarkenton to come into his office for a meeting.

"Can you cut your hair real short?" the owner asked.

"Cut my hair? Why?" Tarkenton responded.

"We want you to be the anti-Namath," Mara said.

"I don't want to be the anti-Namath," Tarkenton quipped. "I came here to win football games!"

In the second year of his return to Minnesota (1973), Tarkenton and the Vikings won 12 games and advanced to the Super Bowl. Two years later, Minnesota won 12 again, and Tarkenton was the league's MVP. He knew what he wanted in New York and got it in his second Vikings stint, winning 64 games over his final seven seasons.

Tarkenton's famous fleeing of San Francisco's pass rush in 1966, in which he scrambled for approximately 14 seconds then launched a pass that was tipped into the arms of Preston Carpenter for a touchdown, was tabulated in 2019 as the 53^rd greatest play in NFL history. Maybe he did invent the art of scrambling.

At the age of 84, only 63 years after debuting for the expansion Vikings, Tarkenton is still on the move.

He played golf at Pebble Beach. He traveled with his wife, Linda, to Paris. He befriended Nick Saban.

"My last hole-in-one was in 2022," he said. "At Pebble. I had one at Augusta National, too, years ago. I asked the guys at Augusta and Pebble how many people have had a hole-in-one at both courses. Small number," he said, smiling because he knows how he's coming off.

It was confidence bordering on arrogance. Tarkenton often blurs this line, and who could blame him? He went from a preacher's son near the country's capital to a symbol of hope at a huge university in the South. He went from third-round draft pick to one of the most recognizable athletes of his generation.

Here is Lewis’ article about “The Scrambler.” Also, here's more fun reading on Tarkenton.

Pro Football Hall of Fame Announces Modern-Era Nominees for Class of 2025

Tarkenton was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986. His bust has been joined in Canton, Ohio, by newcomers every year since.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame on Wednesday announced the names of 167 Modern-Era Players who have been nominated for the Class of 2025. The group includes 16 players in their first year of eligibility.

There are 94 offensive players, 56 defensive players and 17 special teams players.

*In the next step in the selection process, a Screening Committee will reduce the list to 50 (plus ties, if any, for the 50^th spot). The results of that reduction will be announced in mid-October.

The full 50-person Hall of Fame Selection Committee then will reduce the list further – to 25 Semifinalists, later this fall. Another vote will create the list of 15 Finalists who will be discussed at the annual meeting ahead of Super Bowl LIX that will produce the new class, which can consist of three, four or five Modern-Era Players under the Hall of Fame's bylaws.*

There are 12 players who spent part of their careers with the Vikings in the group of 167 (bolded below; * indicates a player who was a finalist in 2024; underlined players are in their first year of eligibility).

QUARTERBACKS (10): Marc Bulger, Randall Cunningham, Jake Delhomme, Doug Flutie, Rich Gannon, Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, Eli Manning, Steve McNair, Tony Romo.

RUNNING BACKS (31): Shaun Alexander, Terry Allen, Jamal Anderson, Tiki Barber, Larry Centers (FB), Jamaal Charles, Stephen Davis, Corey Dillon, Warrick Dunn, Charlie Garner, Eddie George, Priest Holmes, Steven Jackson, Chris Johnson, Thomas Jones, John Kuhn (FB), Vonta Leach, Dorsey Levens, Jamal Lewis, Marshawn Lynch, Eric Metcalf (also WR/PR/KR), Glyn Milburn (also WR), Lorenzo Neal (FB), Clinton Portis, Tony Richardson (FB), Robert Smith, Darren Sproles (also PR/KR), Fred Taylor*, Chris Warren, Ricky Watters, Ricky Williams.

WIDE RECEIVERS (21): Torry Holt, Joe Horn, Chad Johnson, Brandon Marshall, Derrick Mason, Herman Moore, Muhsin Muhammad, Jordy Nelson, Andre Rison, Jimmy Smith, Rod Smith, Steve Smith, Sr., Demaryius Thomas, Hines Ward, Reggie Wayne, Wes Welker, Roddy White.

TIGHT ENDS (6): Ben Coates, Vernon Davis, Antonio Gates*, Jeremy Shockey, Delanie Walker, Wesley Walls.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN (26): Willie Anderson* (T), Bruce Armstrong (T/G), Matt Birk (C), Lomas Brown (T), Ruben Brown (G), Jahri Evans* (G), Travis Frederick (C), Jordan Gross (T), Ryan Kalil (C), Lincoln Kennedy (T), Olin Kreutz (C), T.J. Lang (G/T), Nick Mangold (C), Logan Mankins (G), Tom Nalen (C), Jeff Saturday (C), Mark Schlereth (G/C), Josh Sitton (G), Chris Snee (G), Joe Staley (T), Dave Szott (G), Brian Waters (G), Richmond Webb (T), Erik Williams (T), Steve Wisniewski (G), Marshal Yanda (G).