By Matthew Coller
The Minnesota Vikings’ cornerbacks will enter training camp with a heavy heart following the death of Khyree Jackson on July 6. His talent and enthusiasm will most certainly be missed.
Here is each player’s outlook heading into camp….
The starters
Byron Murphy Jr.
On paper the Vikings’ 2023 offseason signing looks like he did not have a particularly productive year, grading 60th out of 80 starting corners in PFF grade and allowing a 102.0 QB rating on throws into his coverage. But there is some context required. First, he only allowed 17 catches on 29 targets and an 88.4 rating after Week 3 and he was asked to take on a heavy workload with the majority of his snaps on the outside and playing a lot of off zone coverage that required him to come downhill and make high-difficulty tackles. This year the Vikings have vowed to play more man coverage and get him into the slot more often, which appeared to be the original plan last year before Josh Metellus emerged (and they struggled to find outside corner help).
We will be looking for any hints that Murphy Jr.’s assignment has been adjusted to fit his skills a little better than last season.
Shaq Griffin
Once upon a time (2019) Griffin was considered a major part of Seattle’s operation but after playing out only two years of his three-year, $40 million deal with the Jaguars and then bouncing between Houston and Carolina last year the Vikings picked him up for just $4.5 million on a one-year contract.
Despite the modest dollar figure, it appears the Vikings are looking to Griffin to be their starting outside corner. Based on his past that could either work out very well and they could find a free agency steal or it could end up being a stretch. Griffin hasn’t played over 500 snaps since 2021 and has 61.9 and 67.0 PFF coverage grades over the last two seasons.
Can he become a Brian Flores reclamation project at 29 years old? The first hints of whether that’s possible will come in camp.
Mekhi Blackmon
The rookie from USC quietly put together a strong rookie season. He graded by PFF as the third best rookie at his position and had the fourth most pass breakups. Blackmon allowed an 87.8 QB rating on 44 throws into his coverage and recorded the highest PFF tackling grade of all NFL corners.
That was in 434 snaps. Now his challenge is to continue that level of performance with an increased workload.
Depth
Akayleb Evans
Through 15 weeks, Evans was ranked as PFF’s 26th best corner (out of 70). He allowed only 16 receptions into his coverage at that point and was starting to look like a solid outside corner option for the future. But once Murphy Jr. went down with injury and the Vikings played tough competition everything fell apart. Evans ranked 84th of 84 corners that played at least 70 snaps over the final three weeks of the season.
Is there a competition between Evans, Griffin and Blackmon or did the 2022 fourth-rounder fall so far out of favor with his play in Weeks 16-18 that Flores is focused elsewhere? Having a player on the bench who is capable of starting over long periods is a plus that the Vikings haven’t had for some time but it seemed midway through last season they might be looking at a long-term starter rather than above average depth. Will anything in camp change that viewpoint?
NaJee Thompson
Going into camp last year it didn’t seem that Thompson had a snowball’s chance in Minnesota summer but he proved to be a highly aggressive special teamer and earned the belief of special teams coordinator Matt Daniels. He ended up making the 53-man roster and playing 193 snaps on ‘teams. The gunner position is not always easy to find so if Thompson continues his hard-hat stylings this year, particularly in the preseason games, he has a very good chance at being on the club again.
On the bubble
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