A recently published coverage chart shows how well the young Minnesota Vikings cornerback played in just his second NFL season.
When the Minnesota Vikings used a second-round pick to select Clemson cornerback Mackensie Alexander in the 2016 NFL Draft, some believed the team got a steal in the talented defensive back.
Alexander’s rookie season with the Vikings was a little shaky. But that was expected by many since corner is one of the hardest positions to adjust to when making the transition from college to the pro level.
During the rare times he actually did get on the field in 2016, Minnesota normally had him line up in the slot. Something Alexander admitted last offseason that he was not too fond of. But he also said that his own stubbornness contributed to his lack of playing time on defense as a rookie.
Last season was a different story for Alexander.
The young corner saw a significant increase in his time on the field (323 defensive snaps compared to 68 in 2016) and he made the most it.
According to a 2017 coverage chart compiled by the About The Labor podcast’s BJ Reidell, Alexander allowed the second-lowest passer rating (61.71) among Vikings defenders who were targeted at least 30 times in the regular season.
Opposing quarterbacks actually had a lower passer rating when throwing at Alexander than they did against any other Minnesota corner last season, including Xavier Rhodes (70.73) and Trae Waynes (81.25). Alexander allowed a lower catch-rate last season (51.1 percent) than Rhodes (53.6) and Waynes (55.8) as well.
Progression was definitely made by Alexander in his second year with the Vikings. Which makes it even more interesting that a recent report came out saying Minnesota is interested in possibly adding a new slot corner for 2018.
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Given that Alexander’s performance improved so much last season, could it be possible that the Vikings may want to see if he’s a better fit on the outside instead of Waynes? That would definitely make for an interesting training camp in Minnesota this summer.