Who has a chance to be the Minnesota Vikings’ nickel corner in 2018?
By Adam Patrick
Mike Hughes
Given that it’s only May, Hughes’ role for the Vikings in 2018 is still pretty unclear. However, Mike Zimmer did have the young corner spending some time in the slot during the team’s recent rookie minicamp.
Hughes does have the size of a typical nickel corner (5-foot-11, 191 pounds), but the slot is not a place where he spent a ton of his time in 2017 at Central Florida (just three percent of his total snaps on defense). Although his head coach from last season, Scott Frost, says that Hughes is, “perfectly capable,” of lining up as a team’s nickel corner.
Even though Zimmer is known for not giving rookies a ton of playing time (especially defensive backs), Minnesota’s latest first-round pick may have just enough talent to break that trend this year.