Cornerback is a position where the Minnesota Vikings are in need. In fact, they need three players to fortify the position before training camp. They don’t necessarily need one in the first round, but getting one early isn’t a bad option.
Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar did what 35 analysts have done before him and sent the Vikings Maryland cornerback Deonte Banks in his latest mock draft.
Under new defensive coordinator Brian Flores, you can expect the Vikings to be focused on man coverage, aggressive press pre-snap, and a lot of blitzing that forces cornerbacks to ply their trades on relative islands. Banks would be an ideal fit for what Flores prefers — he had the highest rate of press coverage (45%) among all cornerbacks in the 2023 draft class, and when pressing receivers, he allowed nine catches on 23 press targets for 46 yards, and only seven of those targets were deemed successes. Watching Banks’ press tape is funny, because it’s just bust after bust after bust for opposing receivers.
Banks needs to learn how to trust his technique, but the results speak for themselves. He was very successful in press coverage this past season at Maryland, including against the likes of Marvin Harrison Jr.
