Matthew Coller's Vikings training camp preview: Cornerbacks

Is this Andrew Booth Jr.'s last chance to stick with the Vikings?

Andrew Booth Jr. / Image courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings

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.

Shaq Griffin / Image courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings

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

Andrew Booth Jr.

There are pluses and minuses to Booth Jr.’s 2023 campaign. On the positive side, he was not injured during the year, which was a major issue in his rookie season. When he did get an opportunity to play, the results weren’t bad. He graded slightly above average in coverage and the longest pass he allowed in his direction was just 11 yards. The downside is that he was active and still barely played. Booth Jr. only saw a total of 151 snaps despite appearing in every game. The 2022 second-round pick only played more than 20 defensive snaps in three games, while regularly appearing on special teams.

We can only mildly call this a make-or-break camp for Booth Jr. because they are unlikely to cut him due to his ability to play special teams and provide some caliber of depth. It is only make-or-break from the perspective of the ex-Clemson corner becoming more than a highly-drafted bench player. If he can prove to Flores that he can handle a different style than he was drafted to play (in Ed Donatell’s defense) than he could have a shot to play more than we expect heading into camp.

Jaylin Williams

The undrafted free agent appeared in three games and played 24 total snaps in 2023. He came out of Indiana as a UDFA last year with a reputation as a smart, hard-nosed player and gained enough of the team’s attention during camp to hang around on the practice squad. They liked enough of what they saw to bring him back, which means that the ex-Hoosier has a shot to make the 53 as depth.

Dwight McGlothern (R)

Quite possibly the most interesting UDFA going into camp this year, McGlothern is a 6-foot-2 corner with a nose for the football. He racked up eight career interceptions and made All-SEC second team in 2022. How did he go undrafted? Injuries last season and some issues with tackling and penalties may have turned teams away in the draft but he flashed some potential in minicamp to be intrigued.

AJ Green III

Green III signed with Cleveland as a UDFA in 2020 and played 319 snaps with the Browns between 2021 and 2022 but saw very limited action on special teams last year. At 26 there isn’t much upside to talk about with Green III but he might be able to fight for a practice squad job at a position that regularly has lots of injuries.

The storylines

Will Andrew Booth Jr. get another chance?

In minicamp there didn’t appear to be much rotating going on with the cornerback group — Griffin appeared to be locked into the starting job. Is there anything that Booth Jr. could do during the summer to take the job from the veteran free agent? Over the last two years we have only seen small flashes of the talent that earned Booth Jr. a high draft pick (and he was ranked even higher on draft boards in 2022 but dropped due to injury). Is this the year we see it consistently? Or will he fade into the background again?

Will they add someone else?

There are remaining veteran free agents like Stephon Gilmore and Adoree Jackson still on the market. Will the Vikings make a last-minute addition or get a look at their corners on the field for a few weeks before deciding whether to make phone calls? That might depend on how much they buy into Griffin and the depth players.

Can McGlothern be the next UDFA to shine?

Maybe Ivan Pace Jr.’s success made us believe a little too much in the idea that the Vikings could land a standout undrafted free agent every year but we are always on the lookout for intriguing players who could eventually develop into something down the road and McGlothern’s size and skillset put him at the top of the list this year.