Vikings CB Andrew Booth Jr. Could Be One of the Biggest Steals of the 2022 NFL Draft

If Booth is able to stay healthy, the Vikings might've gotten a future elite corner with the 42nd pick.

Despite not making their first selection until the 32nd overall pick, the Vikings have reason to believe they added two legitimate first-round talents to their secondary during the 2022 NFL Draft. At 32, they took Georgia safety Lewis Cine, a "heat-seeking missile" who will be an immediate force at the back of Ed Donatell's defense.

The player the Vikings took next might have an even higher ceiling. That's not a knock on Cine, it's just that Clemson cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. might only be scratching the surface of how good he can be. The Vikings traded up to get Booth with the 42nd pick, and if he stays healthy, that has a chance to be an absolute heist.

Here's what's equally exciting and concerning about Booth: he says he hasn't played fully healthy football since he was in high school. He has a lengthy injury history and played through various ailments during his entire collegiate career. That makes it even more impressive that Booth was able to record 5 interceptions, 14 total passes defended, and 5.5 tackles for loss over the past two seasons — while being penalized just once.

There's an inherent level of risk that comes with taking someone with the kind of injury history Booth has. He was diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter disease — a temporary inflammation below the knee — when he was a kid. Booth dealt with some knee tendinitis in high school, then had surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon after his freshman year at Clemson. Most notably, he played through a hernia issue in college; Booth had surgery to get it fixed in April 2021, but that didn't fully solve the issue so he had another surgery on the same spot in March of this year. He also missed a game last season because of a hamstring strain and another because of a stinger, and he skipped the combine after suffering a quad strain during a workout.

That largely explains why Booth was available in the second round. Talent-wise, he could've easily been a top-20 pick. What excites the Vikings is that they're confident Booth is healthy and can be an even better player now that the hernia issue is finally fixed.

“Yeah, you talk about extensive conversations," said Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. "We’re watching him play, but he didn’t show up at the combine. So you’re doing your research and I call the agent. His agent put me in tough with his trainer. So I’m talking to the trainer [asking], 'Hey, what was he running? How’s he doing?' And he goes, 'Hey, Kwes. This guy has never been healthy. He’s had this hernia thing his whole career and he’s getting it fixed.' So you think about that, and I thought he was a pretty good player as it is. So the chance to be even better was too good of a possibility to pass up."

Booth is excited, too.

"I know I’m more healthy than the guy that was on tape [at Clemson]," he said. "Ten times better than the cat on tape."

“I mean, truly, lockdown," Booth said when asked what he can be when he's at his healthiest. "Just being able to move how I want. I’m making no excuses. Zero excuses. But when you’re out there [on the field], you try to trust your skills and your athleticism a lot. And so when you’re injured, you can’t really do that, physically, out there. But like I said in a couple more weeks, at minicamp, I’ll be ready to go. And I feel great."

Again, you can look at it both ways. The injury history is concerning, but if Booth can stay healthy, there's almost no ceiling to his game. He was never 100 percent during his college career and he was still one of the best cornerbacks in the nation.

Booth has all of the tools to become an elite corner in the NFL. He's big, long, and physical, which helps him in coverage and as a tackler. He's got the quickness and fluid movement ability to stay with receivers in man coverage. He has great anticipation and instincts, and when the ball is in the air, his incredible tracking ability and hands allow him to make spectacular plays. Perhaps most importantly, he's a fierce, electric competitor who flies to the ball and is always playing at full speed.

"[Studying] him this fall, the one thing that stuck out about Andrew Booth besides his athleticism and the way he competes is how much he cares," said Vikings senior football advisor Ryan Grigson, formerly the GM of the Colts. "He just seems like a guy that — it just speaks to his background, his football character, he loves football. He's a football junkie, that's all I'd tell you there. He's really devoted to the game, he loves the game. And his passion shows on the field."

Booth's passion got him in trouble once. As a freshman in 2019, he got tangled up with a Louisville receiver and was ejected for throwing a punch. As punishment, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney made Booth ride the managers' bus back to campus instead of flying with the rest of the team. He grew a lot from that moment and successfully changed the narrative surrounding him by playing hard, producing at a high level, and avoiding penalties.

Now Booth will look to take his game to another level in the NFL. Staying healthy will obviously be key, and there are some technique things the Vikings' coaches will work with him on, but he has the physical tools, football IQ, and raw ability to become a perennial Pro Bowl-caliber player.

ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay listed Booth as his favorite pick the Vikings made over the weekend.

"The Vikings traded back in the first round and took Georgia safety Lewis Cine to close out Day 1," he wrote. "Good pick. But the team's first selection of Day 2 was the one that really caught my eye. I thought Booth might be a first-rounder, and I put him at No. 27 on my board. The Vikings managed to land him 10 picks into Round 2. Booth is a top-end press-man corner, but he's scheme-versatile and can play in off-man or zone looks. He has playmaker instincts and ball skills, and he's a willing run defender who flies in on ball carriers. Booth is explosive and has a fluid transition out of his pedal. I love his game."

Booth was the seventh cornerback drafted this year, but ESPN's Jordan Reid ranked him as his No. 3 corner before the draft and listed him as the best value pick of the entire second round. "The Vikings getting him with the No. 42 pick has a chance to be a massive steal," he wrote.

Booth ranked 22nd on The Athletic's consensus big board, which averaged rankings from over 80 draft analysts. The Vikings got him 20 spots later than that.

Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings are making a big bet on their medical team's confidence in Booth and his ability to stay healthy. If that bet works out, they could end up with one of the best players from this entire draft class.

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