Training camp preview: Cornerbacks

Diving into one of the most stable positions on the field heading into camp

Photo courtesy Minnesota Vikings

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By Matthew Coller

We continue our series analyzing the entire Vikings roster before camp with the cornerbacks…

The depth chart

Byron Murphy Jr. — Murphy Jr. enters his fourth year as a Viking. He has been remarkably healthy in Minnesota, playing 48 of a possible 51 games.

Isaiah Rodgers — A part-time player before being signed by the Vikings last year, Rodgers emerged as a reliable starter. He played 963 snaps in 2025, nearly double his previous career high.

James Pierre — The Vikings added Pierre in free agency after he put together a strong 2025 with the Pittsburgh Steelers. His 377 snaps in 2025 were the second most of his career.

Charles Demmings — The fifth-round pick out of Stephen F. Austin is considered an outstanding athlete who may need development time to adjust from FCS to the highest level.

Dwight McGlothern — The former UDFA has only seen 51 snaps at corner over the last two years and hasn’t seen much special teams action either.

Zemaiah Vaughn — Saw a lot of development time and showed promise in camp in 2025 and spent the year on the practice squad.

Marcus Allen — Former North Carolina corner played a ton of football in college, racking up over 2,500 snaps as a TarHeel. He only picked off three pases but had seven pass breakups last season.

Da’Veawn Armstead — Armstead spent time at TCU, Sam Houston State and North Texas in college. Last year he played 702 snaps and allowed just a 62.0 passer rating into his coverage, per PFF.

Tyreek Chappell — Another experienced player, Chappell had just over 2,500 snaps at Texas A&M over his career.

The numbers

— Byron Murphy Jr.’s performance over the last two years demonstrates how circumstances can dictate a corner’s data set. In 2024, he ranked as the 18th best starting corner (out of 77) by PFF coverage grade and allowed a 79.8 passer rating against despite being targeted 108 times (second most in the NFL). That caliber of play earned him a big contract extension from the Vikings.

Last year, however, he was 55th out of 77 in grade and gave up a 96.1 rating against. What was the difference? One is that he did not have as many interceptions. His six picks led all corners in 2024. The other was penalties. PFF dings corners significantly for penalties and he had the ninth most in the NFL in 2025. He was also only targeted 56 times, giving him nearly half the chances to make plays on the ball.

The longest completion that Murphy Jr. allowed last year was only 30 yards, making him one of just seven starting corners to have their longest completion allowed 30 yards or fewer.

— Isaiah Rodgers finished as PFF’s 13th best overall corner in the NFL. His area of weakness was tackling, where he ranked 65th in PFF tackling grade. He also did not make a lot of plays on the football with just three pass breakups and one INT. Rodgers' 99.9 PFF grade in his game against Cincinnati may have impacted his overall grade quite a bit.

— James Pierre may have only played 377 snaps last year but he made a huge impact on Pittsburgh’s defense. He made nine pass breakups and only gave up 14 completions on 33 targets into his coverage. The sample size is small but even between 2022 and 2024 he only gave up 23 completions on 43 passes in his direction.

— Pierre has played 1,173 career snaps as an outside corner and only 45 in the slot.

— Dwight McGlothern has been used as much as any player on the team over the last two years in preseason action, playing 184 snaps with only 65 yards allowed into his coverage.

— Charles Demmings was targeted 37 times last season at Stephen F. Austin and still had four interceptions and six pass breakups. Opposing QBs had a 39.8 passer rating when throwing in his direction.

The storylines