Minnesota Vikings: 5 Bold predictions for the 2020 season
2. Minnesota’s rookie cornerbacks will step up
On the defensive side of the ball for the Vikings, a big question mark remains at the cornerback spot and how exactly that group will look going into a new season in 2020.
This offseason, the cornerback unit in Minnesota took a big hit, seeing the likes of Xavier Rhodes, Mackensie Alexander, Trae Waynes and others depart the organization to join teams elsewhere in the NFL.
With those departures, that basically left third-year cornerback Mike Hughes as one of the remaining options at cornerback for the Vikings and he could emerge as a solid starter in the back end of the defense this season.
Outside of Hughes, Minnesota went to work to add to that cornerback unit most notably in the draft when it selected Jeff Gladney in the first round of the draft and later selected Cameron Dantzler to pair alongside Gladney as a rookie defensive back.
In the early days of training camp, Dantzler surprised some people and raised some eyebrows, notably with Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen, and he could be a strong candidate to obtain the No. 2 or No. 3 spot on the depth chart in Minnesota this year.
While both Gladney and Dantzler will get plenty of opportunities on the field along with Hughes, the rookie cornerback duo will ultimately step up and hit the ground running in Mike Zimmer’s defense with the purple and gold.
Gladney, who was the last pick in the opening round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of TCU, played in a total of 50 games over four seasons in college, finishing with 145 total tackles, five interceptions and one forced fumble. In his senior campaign alone, he finished with 31 tackles and one interception.
A physical player with a lot of length and the ability to match up against any receiving target, Dantzler recorded 108 career tackles, five interceptions, 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recover for Mississippi State. In his junior season in 2019, Dantzler tallied 40 tackles, two interceptions, one fumble recovery and 0.5 sacks in nine games.
Among the many things to keep an eye on this season, one, in particular, is the duo of Gladney and Dantzler and how fast they will be able to adjust in their rookie campaigns for the Vikings.