Cornerback
As the Vikings enter the second half of the 2019 season, one need has clearly stuck out most of all and that is cornerback.
Minnesota has been prepared for this to be an issue after the 2019 season though. Both Mackensie Alexander and Trae Waynes are slated to be free agents and with the cap-space the Vikings don’t have, losing them both has been a possibility that the team has realized. What Minnesota didn’t see coming this season was the poor play of their star corner Xavier Rhodes.
Rhodes has been terrible the last few games. He’s getting beat by rookies and he has looked lost in coverage. He also can’t tackle, he has been flagged multiple times for pass interference, and he has become a liability for the Vikings’ defense.
Frustration has set in with Rhodes and it shows with the way he’s reacting after giving up a huge gain. There has been talk of Minnesota just letting him walk at season’s end to create some much-needed cap space, but those are just rumblings.
It’s unclear if the Vikings would do that and if they cut Rhodes, they could also lose both Alexander and Waynes too. That would make Mike Hughes and Holton Hill their starting corners for 2020 and the depth behind them would be horrifying with Mark Fields and Kris Boyd as the next best options.
Whatever they end up doing, cornerback is a need Minnesota will address early in the 2020 draft. There could be some nice players on the board in the late first round and the Vikings could go that route.
They could even look to take multiple corners in the first four rounds, as this once solid and deep unit will likely be undergoing a massive overhaul in 2020.