Drafting a CB in 1st Round for Vikings Is Not a Dumb Idea
Dustin Baker
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The annual comedy surrounding the Minnesota Vikings alludes to the notion that the team will probably take a cornerback with its 1st-Round pick in the draft. Head coach Mike Zimmer is borne of a defensive secondary background, so folks presume it is he – and he alone – that forces the team to draft cornerbacks each year.
38% of the Vikings 1st-Round selections since Zimmer joined the franchise have been allocated to the cornerback spot – Trae Waynes (2015), Mike Hughes (2018), and Jeff Gladney (2020).
As for 2020, the team employs the following men at CB: Cameron Dantzler, Patrick Peterson, Mackensie Alexander, Mike Hughes, Harrison Hand, Kris Boyd, Myles Dorn, Dylan Mabin, and maybe Jeff Gladney. The second-year corner, Gladney, is embattled in legal turmoil after an alleged assault of a Texas woman this week.
General Manager Rick Spielman holds the 14th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Aside from running back, the Vikings could realistically choose anything with that pick. Offensive lineman and EDGE rusher are the frontrunners per team need, but it is certainly not ironclad for the team to use their 1st Rounder on one of those spots.
If Spielman, indeed, selects a cornerback at #14, the candidates are likely Patrick Surtain II (Alabama), Caleb Farley (Virginia Tech), and Jaycee Horn (South Carolina).
And it may not be as silly as some believe for the Vikings to use the pick on a CB.
Peterson, Alexander FAs in 2022
Suddenly, the Vikings are deep-deep at cornerback for 2021. Dantzler and Peterson should patrol as the CB1-CB2 punch. Peterson is a three-time All-Pro talent entering the second act of his career. So long as he does not struggle in a new system (he probably won’t), Minnesota is in good hands.
Cameron Dantzler was Pro Football Focus’ top-rated rookie cornerback in 2020. Much like Peterson’s “so long as he doesn’t..,” Dantzler should progress aptly if he does not encounter a sophomore slump.
Mackensie Alexander returned home to the Vikings recently at a severely discounted price. He will be around for one season, at minimum.
Yet, that’s just the thing. Peterson and Alexander are not scheduled to play for the 2022 Vikings. That would leave Dantzler [for sure], maybe Mike Hughes (depending on his 2021 performance), and probably-not Gladney.
The immediate future, 2022, is bleak at CB if Peterson and Alexander are merely making pit stops in the North Star State. It would be Dantzler, maybes, and depth guys thereafter.
The Rest Can Only Be Considered Depth
Do you trust Harrison Hand, Kris Boyd, Myles Dorn, Dylan Mabin, Mike Hughes, or Jeff Gladney to be true-blue CB2s opposite Dantzler in 2022? Hughes and Gladney have the God-given skill to do the job, but who knows if they will sniff U.S. Bank Stadium in 2022?
Hand showed excellent glances of promise at times in 2020 – especially against the New Orleans Saints in the yuletide shellacking. For now, Boyd, Dorn, and Mabin cannot be anointed starters. One, some, or all of those men could turn out to be fabulous – or they could all be out of the NFL in a few years.
Moral of the story: Those men are depth dudes at the moment and should not be considered long-term, startable assets.
Gladney Uncertain
CB-in-Round-1 became a simultaneous reality the moment the news hit your phone that Gladney turned himself in to Texas authorities. A very high draft pick was spent on his multi-year CB candidacy for the Vikings, but that is now on very shaky ground. Although extremely unlikely, the charges against Gladney may be bogus. Due process will figure that out in the coming months. If this was a situation to wager, it is more likely that he will not play for the Vikings again rather than the inverse.
Therefore, the downstream outlook at cornerback is murky. It might be Dantzler and “the rest.” The pandemic season dramatically proved a Minnesota team that is skimpy at cornerback – is not a fruitful one. Overall, the Vikings defense finished as the league’s fourth-worst team via points allowed. That’s why so many free-agent transactions have been enacted for defensive personnel. Zimmer never wants to experience that helplessness again.
In 2021, the cornerback segment of the depth chart is rather deep. Beyond that, though, the prognosis is abruptly skimpy.
A cornerback at the 14th hole of the draft in late April isn’t all that silly – when assessing the big picture.