Should the Minnesota Vikings give Kurt Coleman a second chance?

The veteran safety was recently released by the Carolina Panthers and could at least provide some depth for the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive backfield.

During Mike ZImmer’s first training camp as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings in 2014, Kurt Coleman was competing for a spot on the team’s starting defense. Coleman was coming off four solid seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and was believed to be a contender for the one of the Vikings’ two starting safety spots.

However, Minnesota didn’t like what they saw from Coleman in camp or during the preseason and decided not to include him on their regular season roster for 2014.

Since then, the safety has spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs and Carolina Panthers. With the Panthers for the last three seasons, Coleman has started 42 games, racked up 11 interceptions, and averaged around 86 total tackles per year.

Minnesota Vikings

Prior to Minnesota’s Week 3 matchup with Carolina in 2016, Zimmer said that cutting the safety back in 2014 was a mistake.

Now 29-years-old, Coleman was recently released by the Panthers, making him a free-agent this offseason. Is it possible Zimmer may want to give the safety another shot with the Vikings?

He is coming off his worst season with Carolina, but that probably had something do with him injuring his knee just four games into the year.

Minnesota adding him to their roster wouldn’t necessarily mean he would be coming in to compete for a starting spot.

At the very least, Coleman could add some much needed depth behind Harrison Smith and Andrew Sendejo. The Vikings’ lack of safety depth was especially evident during the team’s two playoff games last season, when the defense took a bit of step back without Sendejo on the field.

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Could Zimmer attempt to make up for his past mistake and give Coleman another chance to make the roster this year?