Despite not being able to play until Week 9, the young cornerback seems to still have a good chance at keeping his job with the Minnesota Vikings this season.
Following the news of his second four-game suspension of the offseason, many figured that the Minnesota Vikings were done giving chances to cornerback Holton Hill.
However, as the Vikings approach the end of their 2019 training camp, Hill’s chances of remaining with the team this season may actually be better than most had assumed.
After getting basically no reps during the first few days of this year’s camp, the young corner has worked his way up the depth chart and during Thursday’s practice, he was seen getting snaps with Minnesota’s second-team defense.
If the Vikings had plans to get rid of Hill before the regular season, it doesn’t appear like they’re leaning in that direction anytime soon.
As long as he doesn’t get into even more trouble before final cuts this year, his chances to make Minnesota’s 2019 roster certainly seem much better than they did a few weeks ago.
If he does remain with the Vikings for the season, is the team making the right decision? Or is Minnesota just enabling someone who could potentially slip up again in the near future?
Even if he cannot play or practice until Week 9 because of his eight-game suspension, the Vikings clearly think Hill has the chance to help their defense this season or he would have already been released.
If Minnesota doesn’t include him in their final cuts this year, he also won’t count as part of the team’s active roster until his suspension comes to an end. With the Vikings’ depth behind their top three corners a little unstable currently, they might feel like they don’t really have a lot of choices other than to keep Hill around for the season.
If this ends up being Minnesota’s decision, he should know that any more off-the-field problems will likely result in his departure from the team.