PFF Predicts Steelers Free Agent for Vikings
Dustin Baker
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Minnesota Vikings fans have roughly 19 more days to stuff the team’s rumor mill full of free-agent rumors, as NFLers without contracts can sign with new teams the week of March 13th. Formal free agency begins on March 15th.
And the rumor mill accommodated another name this week when Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger detailed possible whereabouts for the league’s Top 50 free agents. For the Vikings, the rumored splash into free agency involved cornerback Cameron Sutton from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
PFF Predicts Steelers Free Agent for Vikings
Minnesota has three corners under contract right now — Andew Booth, Cameron Dantzler, and Akayleb Evans. Adding a fourth with veteran experience assuredly makes sense.
Sutton, 27, has been in the NFL for six years and was a 3rd-Round selection in the 2017 NFL Draft. He’s played in 84 games, starting 39 and recording 168 total tackles, 38 passes defended, 8 interceptions, 8 tackles for loss, and 5 force fumbles. Sutton was a depth cornerback for about four seasons and transformed into a starter in 2021 and 2022.
Spielberger explained his Sutton-to-Vikings prediction, “The Vikings really need to improve their secondary this offseason, and given that Brian Flores is their new defensive coordinator, they could target players familiar with his scheme, such as Sutton. While Flores didn’t work directly with Sutton in his lone year on the Steelers coaching staff, the overlap should help Sutton acclimate.”
“Additionally, Sutton offers inside-outside flexibility, as he played most of his snaps at slot corner prior to 2021 and has now spent the last two years as the Steelers’ top cover corner on the outside,” he concluded.
Flores, the Vikings new defensive bossman, served as the Steelers linebackers coach in 2022, and Sutton, of course, is a cornerback. There isn’t a direct connection per se, but the two were on the same team for a full season and likely have a relationship.
Here’s the PFF tale of the tape on Sutton since 2017:
- 2017 = 50.8
- 2018 = 54.2
- 2019 = 74.5
- 2020 = 68.6
- 2021 = 61.9
- 2022 = 71.6
And passer-rating-against:
- 2018 = 122.3
- 2019 = 54.1
- 2020 = 78.9
- 2021 = 104.9
- 2022 = 65.3
In addition to Booth, Danzlter, and Evans — maybe Sutton if Spielberger is correct — Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has decisions on free agents Patrick Peterson and Duke Shelley. Both corners performed tremendously in 2022, and it might be a wise idea to bring at least one back for 2023.
Other interesting predictions from Spielberger? Derek Carr to the New Orleans Saints, Tremaine Edmunds to the Houston Texans, Jimmy Garoppolo to the Las Vegas Raiders, and Michael Thomas to the Kansas City Chiefs, among others.
Sutton was teammates with Alvin Kamara at Tennesee.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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