vikings/nfl
Dan Wiederer began covering the Vikings in 2011, enthusiastically delivering insight on the team across the Star Tribune's print and digital products. Prior to joining the Access Vikings team, he spent seven seasons covering ACC basketball at The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer. He also covered the Chicago Bears in 2003 and 2004. Follow him on Twitter @StribDW.
Mark Craig has covered football and the NFL the past 20 years, including the Browns from 1991-95 and the Vikings and the NFL since 2003. Since 2008, Craig has served as one of the 44 Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors. He can be followed on Twitter at @markcraignfl.
Chad Greenway, Matt Kalil, John Sullivan are Pro Bowl alternates
Posted by: Dan Wiederer under Vikings, NFC, Leslie Frazier, Adrian Peterson, Chad Greenway, Jared Allen, John Sullivan, Leslie Frazier Updated: December 27, 2012 - 8:25 PM
Most NFL players love being picked for the Pro Bowl, but hate actually playing in the Pro Bowl. So alternates tend to have a very good chance of ending up in the game.
The Vikings have three alternates. They are linebacker Chad Greenway, who made his Pro Bowl debut last year; rookie left tackle Matt Kalil; and center John Sullivan, who would be making his first appearance.
Greenway's Pro Bowl debut came when he had 174 tackles a year ago. This year, he's even better with more big plays, not to mention a career-high and team-leading 181 tackles. He'll finish as the team's leading tackler for the fifth straight season, second-longest in team history behind the six straight years that Scott Studwell led the team in tackles.
Kalil has started all 15 games and hasn't had his name mentioned much in a long time. Unlike rookie QBs Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck, not getting noticed sort of defines outstanding play for a rookie left tackle.
If Sullivan gets in, it would be his first Pro Bowl in a five-year career that's saw him go from being a sometimes overmatched smallish late-round draft pick early on to a legitimate long-term answer as Matt Birk's replacement. A Pro Bowl berth for Sullivan also would be a deserving feat considering he's the best and most consistent linemen on a team that has a running back that's 102 yards from becoming the seventh player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards.
Yesterday, it was announced the defensive end Jared Allen, kicker Blair Walsh, fullback Jerome Felton and running back Adrian Peterson had been voted into the Pro Bowl.
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