Morris Claiborne drew interest from the Minnesota Vikings

Morris Claiborne drew interest from the Minnesota Vikings but ultimately re-signed with Dallas.

The Vikings appear happy with Terence Newman as the man to mentor/push their younger cornerbacks, but earlier this offseason Minnesota actually showed interest in a different veteran corner in free agency.

According to a report in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Vikings made inquiries about Cowboys corner Morris Claiborne before signing Newman to a new one-year/$2.5 million deal.

Claiborne eventually returned to Dallas on a one-year/$3 million deal laden with incentives, an indication that whatever offer Minnesota made to Claiborne could not have been very large.

Former first-rounder Claiborne has had a very disappointing run in Dallas, which is why the market for his services was so soft this offseason. Claiborne battled a hamstring injury in 2015, appearing in only 11 games for Dallas and grading out as the no. 112 cornerback in the league according to PFF.

Terence Newman may be 12 years older than Claiborne but to my mind he’s the better player at this point. Newman showed his age at times last year, but he was still able to perform at a more-than-adequate level.

The Vikings may have looked at Claiborne as a possible Mike Zimmer reclamation project along the lines of Adam Jones, but clearly were unwilling to take much of a financial risk. Ultimately, giving a bargain basement contract to the known-quantity Newman was probably a wiser move than bringing in Claiborne.

It’s always possible Minnesota wanted to bring in both Claiborne and Newman and let them battle it out in training camp.

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The Vikings of course are hoping that second-year corner Trae Waynes can take another step in his development and grab hold of the starting outside cornerback spot opposite Xavier Rhodes.

The wild card in the whole cornerback mix is Mackensie Alexander, the rookie second-rounder. Alexander is looked at as a probable down-the-road replacement for Captain Munnerlyn at slot corner but there has been talk about his potential to cover outside receivers as well.