Christian Darrisaw is prepping for his fourth season with the Vikings, and he recently was ranked the NFL's fourth-best tackle.

Analytics site Pro Football Reference ranked its top 32 tackles across the league, and PFF's Zoltan Buday slated Darrisaw fourth overall behind Trent Williams (49ers), Tristan Wirfs (Buccaneers) and Penei Sewell (Lions). Buday wrote:

Darrisaw enjoyed an elite 2022 season in which he earned a 90.4 overall grade, which ranked second at the position. However, injuries slowed him down and forced him to miss time in 2023. As a result, his overall grade declined to 82.4, though his 85.3 pass-blocking grade was still good for third.

According to Buday, Darrisaw was assessed with allowing six sacks and committing seven penalties across 982 snaps at left tackle for Minnesota last season.

Buday noted that Sewell, the Vikings division rival, "showed significant improvement during the 2023 season." He received a 95.1 run-blocking grade and 92.8 overall grade, both of which ranked first among tackles.

Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata rounded out Buday's top five.

Vikings right tackle Brian O'Neill also was featured among Buday's top tackles, but he did slide a bit in the rankings after missing three games to injury last season. O'Neill came in at No. 23 after playing 884 snaps at right tackle.

O'Neill was slowed down by injuries in 2023 and was not able to replicate his amazing 2022 season, but he still put together a solid campaign. He finished top-25 in both pass-blocking and run-blocking grades and was just one of 15 players at the position to earn 70.0-plus grades in both facets of the game.

All in all, six NFC North tackles made it onto the list of the top 32:

3. Sewell
4. Darrisaw
5. Taylor Decker (Lions)
6. Zach Tom (Packers)
7. O'Neill
8. Braxton Jones (Bears)
9. Darnell Wright (Bears)

Buday said the following of Tom, whom Green Bay drafted 140^th overall in 2022:

While he had to play at four different positions along the offensive line as a rookie in 2022, Tom's performance was still very promising. However, he improved when he got the chance to play right tackle exclusively in 2023. In fact, his overall grade of 79.7 ranked seventh among all right tackles last season, while his 81.2 run-blocking grade ranked sixth among all players at the position.

Battista makes annual 'bold predictions' for upcoming NFL season

With Minnesota's minicamp already coming up next week, it really does feel like the 2024 season is right around the corner.

NFL.com's Judy Battista annually makes "bold predictions" ahead of a new season, and she released her 2024 list Tuesday.

While none of Battista's predictions directly feature the Vikings, there are a few notable items that would impact Minnesota should they come to fruition. Battista's first bold prediction? Chicago will make the playoffs for just the fourth time since 2006. She wrote:

Caleb Williams is bringing his bear claw to Soldier Field and changing the fortunes of one of the league's most historic and historically quarterback-lacking franchises. Williams is a favorite for Offensive Rookie of the Year because among the rookie quarterbacks, he is joining what is easily the best team. The Bears won seven games last season – don't forget, that first overall draft pick was theirs because of a trade – the defense took off after they traded for Montez Sweat, the receiving corps has Keenan Allen, DJ Moore and rookie Rome Odunze, running back D'Andre Swift has a new contract coming off a Pro Bowl season and new [Offensive Coordinator] Shane Waldron was brought in with preparation for Williams' arrival in mind.

Another NFC postseason prediction by Battista is that Philadelphia will return to the Super Bowl. The Vikings are not slated to play the Eagles during the regular season but will face them in Preseason Week 3.

Cover your eyes, Giants fans, because [Saquon] Barkley is going to have a throwback season running behind the best offensive line he's ever had and playing in an offense with enough weapons that opposing defenses won't only have to worry about shutting him down. He won't reach his rookie year 2,000-plus yardage, but I can envision a 2022-like 1,600-plus-yard effort. Given how aggressively [General Manager] Howie Roseman upgraded the team this offseason, it should be enough to take some of the load off Jalen Hurts and get the Eagles back to the Super Bowl.

In the AFC, Battista predicted the Bengals will make it again to the Conference Championship Game, Derrick Henry will surpass 1,600 rushing yards for the Ravens and new Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh will post "an immediate threat" to the Chiefs.

Click here to read Battista's full list of bold predictions.