Minnesota Vikings: 5 players who came on strong late in 2015

5. Trae Waynes

2015 was a pretty crazy year for Trae Waynes.

It started with Waynes being drafted no. 11 overall by the Vikings, a move many draft experts heavily questioned.

Draft wonks agreed that Waynes has great speed and good size but disagreed on whether his footwork and technique would ever be good enough for him to thrive in the NFL.

Waynes seemed to vindicate his critics when he struggled mightily in the preseason and wound up on the bench to start the 2015 regular year.

Thanks to the presence of veteran cornerback Terence Newman, Mike Zimmer had the luxury of bringing Waynes along slowly. The rookie played sparingly on defense for much of the year, only getting a chance to start when injuries forced the Vikings to shuffle their defensive backfield going into a Thursday night game against Arizona.

Waynes went back to the bench after his one start but was ready when the Vikings again needed him. And they happened to need him in a key spot.

Terence Newman went down with injury in the second half of the Vikes’ playoff game against Seattle, and Waynes was thrust into action. The rookie made the most of his opportunity by picking off Russell Wilson, his first career interception.

After a season of being questioned, Waynes finally got to show a flash of promise at the very end.

But any hype about Waynes was quickly tempered by Mike Zimmer, who reiterated after the season that on his team everyone has to earn their spot (via Vikings Update):

"“I feel like he could be a starting corner next year, but it’s up to him,” Zimmer said. “He’s got to come in and compete just like everybody else. I’m not really going to hand out jobs (in January).”"

Typical Zimmer.