While we wait for the Super Bowl next week, the NFL's center of attention this week is the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama.
Coaches, scouts and personnel departments from around the league are in Mobile scouting and evaluating senior draft prospects.
There is no shortage of draft experts who offer opinions and analysis on prospects, but we especially like and have a ton of respect for the job that Mike Mayock of the NFL Network does in his draft preparation. Mayock rolled out his list of top five players at each position at the beginning of the week.
The rankings are likely to change after the Senior Bowl and NFL Combine, but Mayock provided an early look at his top prospects. We're going to list quarterback, offensive linemen, cornerback and safety since those positions seem to be the Vikings biggest areas of need.
All of the position groups can be found right here. (Mayock wrote that it's too early to rank quarterbacks so he grouped them.)
The Vikings own the No. 12 overall pick.
Quarterback: First-round potential
Blaine Gabbert, Missouri
Jake Locker, Washington
Cam Newton, Auburn
Ryan Mallett, Arkansas
Next level
Andy Dalton, TCU
Ricky Stanzi, Iowa
Colin Kaepernick, Nevada
Pat Devlin, Delaware Guard/center: 1. Mike Pouncey, Florida
2. Stefen Wisniewski, Penn State
3. Danny Watkins, Baylor
4. John Moffitt, Wisconsin
T-5. Rodney Hudson, Florida State
T-5. William Rackley, Lehigh Tackle: 1. Nate Solder, Colorado
2. Anthony Castanzo, Boston College
3. Tyron Smith, Southern California
4. Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin
T-5. Ben Ijalana, Villanova
T-5. Derek Sherrod, Mississippi State Cornerback: *1. Patrick Peterson, LSU
2. Prince Amukamara, Nebraska
*3. Brandon Harris, Miami (Fla.)
*4. Aaron Williams, Texas
5. Jimmy Smith, Colorado Safety: *1. Rahim Moore, UCLA
2. Ahmad Black, Florida
3. Deunta Williams, North Carolina
*4.Robert Sands, West Virginia
*5. Will Hill, Florida * Represents underclassman
