Vikings Training Camp Recap, Day 2: Hunter Shines, Booth and Smith-Marsette Battle

The final practice at TCO Peformance Center without fans featured some fun WR-CB battles.

Rookie cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. stole the show at the first day of Vikings training camp on Wednesday with an impressive interception. One day later, he made his presence felt again, both with his play and his voice.

Thursday's practice was the final session at TCO Performance Center without fans for the rest of camp. After a practice at U.S. Bank Stadium on Friday, fans will be welcomed in Eagan for the first time on Saturday. On Monday, the pads will come on for the first of 11 times.

There's nothing new to report on the injury front. Jordan Hicks missed practice again with a non-COVID illness, which head coach Kevin O'Connell described as "day to day." Nate Hairston is also day to day with an ankle issue that landed him on the Non-Football Injury list. O'Connell expects him back shortly, but said "there’s no need to push him too early and turn a short-term setback into a longer deal."

Here are my observations from Day 2 of Vikings camp.

Danielle Hunter shows out

It's not exactly major news when a star player looks good in training camp, but in Hunter's case, it's worth noting. After missing the final nine games of the season with a torn pectoral muscle (and all of the 2020 season with a herniated disc in his neck), Hunter is back to full health and looking like himself.

The Vikings like to pit their first-team offense against their second-team defense at times during live reps, and vice versa, to give the backups opportunities to go against the team's best players. Sometimes, that creates moments where second-string players can step up and turn heads (like Booth's interception of Cousins on Wednesday). Other times, it shows the talent gap between stars and backups.

There was a two-play stretch involving Hunter on Thursday that fell into the latter category. On one play, he burst past right tackle Blake Brandel and made a tackle for loss in the backfield on a handoff (though with no pads, there's no actual tackling). On the next play, he beat left tackle Oli Udoh with ease for a "sack." It almost felt a bit unfair to the second-string tackles.

Hunter was also disruptive against the first-team offensive line later in practice. He said on Wednesday that he feels more "loose" in the Vikings' new defense, and it should be a lot of fun to see how Ed Donatell deploys Hunter and Za'Darius Smith this year.

Andrew Booth Jr. and Ihmir Smith-Marsette get after it

We've got a budding practice rivalry developing between a pair of young players. 

Booth and Smith-Marsette were going at each other hard during both 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 reps. It began in 7s when Booth locked up Smith-Marsette with some physical coverage, then got in his face and started yelling "you don't want to get physical with me!" Smith-Marsette, never one to back down, responded with plenty of trash talk of his own.

On one of the very next plays, the ball went towards Smith-Marsette again, but Booth had ridden him out of bounds and it fell incomplete. A flag flew for pass interference, but that didn't stop Booth from continuing to talk.

Later, in 11s, Smith-Marsette went for a deep route up the sideline on a double move against Booth, who played it well. Sean Mannion's pass sailed long, so Booth celebrated with the incomplete sign. Justin Jefferson, thinking there was contact, picked up one of the official's flags and threw it in their direction.

It was a lot of fun. Finally healthy, Booth is incredibly confident, and it appears he has the skills to back it up.

"We’re in helmets, and one of the things that I loved about him coming out was his willingness to be physical, tackle," O'Connell said about Booth before Thursday's practice. "But what I saw yesterday was a guy who used all those jog-through reps. When you have an injured player like that who can’t take part in full-speed reps, that jog-through portion banked a lot of reps for Andrew and a lot of our other guys. It was great to see some of those reps come to fruition. He made a play on (the interception), he made a lot of plays where quarterbacks had to say ‘no’ to their first progression because of where he was, and it was a great start for him. As I did yesterday, I just challenged him to continue to stack that. As the installations start to stack up and we ask you to do a lot more, can you maintain?"

"There was no ‘safe’ feeling to how he was playing," O'Connell added. "Playing the technique, playing it true, and he’s going to get a lot more opportunities against No. 18, and we’ll see how those go."

Booth did have some reps against Justin Jefferson that didn't go so well, including one where he got roasted over the middle for a long touchdown. But for the most part, he's been very impressive.

The competition should be good for Smith-Marsette too, as he competes for the No. 4 receiver job. O'Connell gave him a shoutout for how he made an adjustment mid-practice on Wednesday.

"Some of the best moments and real coaching, in my opinion, takes place out on these fields when we can have those interactions and then watch a guy improve from rep to rep," he said. "A rep that comes to mind yesterday, Ihmir runs a route early on in the first rack of plays, I hear Keenan (McCardell) talking to him about how he could do it better, and then about 30, 40 minutes later, kind of a different concept but similar route for him, he absolutely nails it. That’s just an example of a guy taking one rep, being able to be coachable, and then applying that – without having to come and watch the tape, go home and study, ‘OK, this is what I need to do. Coach said this.’ He was able to do it in real time, and that’s the kind of improvement – that’s the kind of practices you need."

Cameron Dantzler isn't giving up his starting job without a fight

Booth has been the early standout of camp as the shiny new object at cornerback. It's interesting to think about how it was just two years ago when that was Dantzler's spotlight. The 2020 third-round pick was a breakout star of training camp as a rookie and has mostly played well in his two NFL seasons, although he's dealt with some injuries and inconsistency in big moments.

Being on the wrong end of some highlight plays, plus struggling in last year's camp — he was beaten out by Bashaud Breeland for a starting job — has caused the excitement around Dantzler to fade a bit. Still, he's the starter right now, getting all of the reps with the first-team defense. And for all of the talk about Booth's start to camp, Dantzler was pretty impressive in his own right on Thursday, and he did it against superior competition.

Dantzler has found himself covering Adam Thielen frequently, with Patrick Peterson going against Jefferson on the other side. He has more than held his own. Dantzler was in good position against Thielen on several reps, although one arguably should've been a penalty. That culminated with a nice one-handed pass breakup in 11-on-11s when Dantzler timed Thielen's route and jumped in front of it at the last second.

Booth is applying pressure early, but Dantzler isn't going to give up his starting spot easily at all.

Other notes

• Sean Mannion seemed to take all of the QB reps with the second-team offense, while Kellen Mond was relegated to running with the 3s. We'll see how that unfolds going forward.
• It's tough to evaluate running plays in padless practices, but Kene Nwangwu continues to look remarkably quick and shifty. Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison have looked strong as well.
• Unsurprisingly, Jefferson and Thielen are far and away Cousins' top two targets during these practices, as both are able to get open with regularity.
• I thought slot corner Chandon Sullivan had a nice day, making at least one play on the ball while rarely giving up separation.
• Two other starters who looked good: Irv Smith Jr. and Eric Kendricks.
• The Vikings ran a few plays with each of their top three safeties on the field. In those situations, starters Harrison Smith and Camryn Bynum were lined up deep while rookie Lewis Cine moved into the box.
• For the second day in a row, Jesse Davis took all the first-team reps at right guard.
• I mentioned WR Myron Mitchell as a sleeper yesterday. He very nearly came down with the catch of the day on a deep ball from Mannion, but couldn't quite haul it in against double coverage as he fell to the ground. It was still a nice route from Mitchell and a great throw by Mannion.

That's all for today. Look for my recap of tomorrow's practice at U.S. Bank Stadium, and from every practice for the remainder of camp. I tweet out plenty of observations and quotes every day, too, so toss me a follow to see those.

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