Minnesota Vikings: Grading every 2018 NFL Draft pick

Grade: B

All in all, this was an exceptional pick for the Vikings. They had a hole to patch up at nickel cornerback with Terence Newman still unsigned. Although Mackensie Alexander could fill the void, Mike Hughes now steps in as competition for the No. 3 role.

And what a fit he could be. The UCF product has the athleticism, aggressiveness and coverage skills Minnesota wants out of their cornerbacks. Although he doesn’t have typical size for a Mike Zimmer cornerback, he makes up for it with his toughness and tenacity as both a cover man and run defender. Plus, he was a pretty good return man for the Golden Knights.

The big knock on him is his size (5-10, 189 pounds). Even then, it won’t hurt him much as the underneath cornerback, which the Vikings deploy more often than their base defense.

There is some concern about his off-field history — he left the North Carolina football team in 2015 after he was accused of sexual assault. Charges were eventually dropped, and the Vikings did “extensive research” on Hughes (via the Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling) before deciding to spend the No. 30 overall pick on him.

Still, I had to scratch my head a bit when they left Will Hernandez (one of my 2018 draft crushes) on the board. Investing in the protection of their $84 million quarterback seemed like the way to go on Day 1, but instead the Vikings kept building up what was already the best defense in the NFL a season ago.