The re-signing of veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson loosened the necktie a bit for the Minnesota Vikings ahead of the 2022 NFL draft.
They are no longer in a position where they must take a cornerback with the No. 12 overall pick. However, there’s a big difference between the words “must” and “should” for a Vikings team that still needs to be careful of getting too comfortable with their current roster.
Peterson, who turns 32 in July, will be permanently enshrined in Canton one day with a golden jacket, but he is no longer the type of player that can carry a secondary as the top man on the depth chart. He can’t just snap away half of the field like Thanos and consistently force quarterbacks to throw away from him.
Make no mistake, he’s still a formidable defensive player, but those prime Arizona Cardinals days are long gone.
Injuries should also factor into the equation at some point, even given his nearly impeccable track record of availability. Age and attrition has a funny way of rearing its ugly head at the worst possible times.
The talent is top-heavy in the draft this year with players like Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, Trent McDuffie and Derek Stingley Jr. all being tied to the Vikings in mock drafts at least at some point. There’s a strong possibility all three could be gone in the first round, which would then leave the team hoping they can get in on the next crop of players like Florida’s Kaiir Elam or Clemson’s Andrew Booth Jr.
The problem for Minnesota is their cornerback room is a quick fix job like last season. There is no stability at the position with Cameron Dantzler being the only starter under contract beyond the 2022 season.
And then his contract is due as well after 2023.
The Vikings not only need high-end talent in the defensive backfield, but they also need a bit of stability as well.
Over the last two seasons, the secondary has ranked in the bottom-half of the league in average passing yards allowed. They gave up the fifth-most passing yards in just last season alone.
The secondary was getting charred on a weekly basis, like the downside of a steak seared to perfection by Gordon Ramsay himself. This Vikings team can’t afford a third straight year of bad defensive play on the backend.
Chandon Sullivan will help in the slot, and the monstrous combination of Danielle Hunter and Za’Darius Smith will force opposing quarterbacks to adjust their internal clocks.
But the Vikings clearly need help.
Football analyst Warren Sharp recently dropped the ugly statistic that Minnesota has given up touchdowns on an average of 32.4 percent in the last four minutes in games in 2021. No other team came close to that percentage with the league-average hovering around 12 percent.
This is a big season for the Vikings to determine the direction they go for the foreseeable future. Will they stay in a win-now mode or tear everything down and begin the brick-by-brick rebuild?
What they ultimately decide to do with the No. 12 pick will have a significant impact on that decision.
