He ranks third all-time in team history in career tackles on defense with 1,375, a number that trails only Scott Studwell (1,928) and Matt Blair (1,404), according to team stats. Siemon teamed with both of those players, as well as fellow 50 Greatest Vikings linebackers Roy Winston and Wally Hilgenberg.
Siemon was selected to the Pro Bowl for the first time following the 1973 season and earned three consecutive nods from 1975-77. He also started three Super Bowls for the Vikings (VIII, IX and XI).
Siemon came up with big takeaways in consecutive playoff games to help Minnesota advance to Super Bowl VIII. He recovered a fumble and returned the ball 16 yards against Washington in Minnesota’s 27-20 victory in the Divisional Round.
The following week, in the 1973 NFC Championship Game against the Cowboys, Siemon — along with teammates Bobby Bryant (twice) and Jeff Wright — picked off Roger Staubach a total of four times to help the Vikings record the franchise’s first postseason road win and advance to the Super Bowl.
Bryant, another member of the 50 Greatest Vikings, appreciated teaming with Siemon for nine seasons because of who Siemon was as a player and person.
“Jeff was a great teammate — a leader for us on the field and a really good linebacker. He was key to our teams,” Bryant said after learning the news. “As good of a player that Jeff was, he was a better person — truly one of the best guys we had. You never heard anyone speak cross of Jeff. His faith was his guide, and he was not afraid to share it with people. He touched so many.”
Born in Rochester, Minnesota, when his father was a doctor at Mayo Clinic, Siemon attended high school in Bakersfield, California. He returned to the North when the Vikings drafted him 10th overall in 1972 after his All-America career at Stanford that eventually garnered placement in the College Football Hall of Fame and a silver anniversary Dick Butkus Award.
Siemon made an immediate impact, starting eight of the 13 games he played as a rookie and recording 87 tackles (60 solo), two tackles for loss, a sack and two interceptions, in addition to contributing on special teams. In just his second season in Purple, he rose as the team’s leading tackler (155), a title he took home three additional times (1974, 1976, 1978).